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Fear and Opportunity: Immigration Scams Surged as Trump’s Sweeps Lured Desperate People to Eager Defrauders
The post Fear and Opportunity: Immigration Scams Surged as Trump’s Sweeps Lured Desperate People to Eager Defrauders appeared first on ProPublica.
Jasmir Urbina was scammed and then deported. Across the U.S., immigration scams have spiked amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort. Photo courtesy of Jasmir Urbina As an asylum-seeker living in the U.S., Jasmir Urbina worried as she watched violence break out amid the military-style immigration sweeps across the country. Then she read about legal residents being arrested at immigration court and wondered when federal agents would set their sights on her city. Urbina had fled Nicaragua in 2022 and legally resided with her husband, a fellow asylum-seeker, in New Orleans while reporting to immigration agents for check-ins as she awaited her day in court. Finally, the date was approaching, in late November 2025. Days later, the Trump administration would flood the region with federal officers in “Operation Swamp Sweep.” Urbina, 35, began searching for a Spanish speaker who could help her, and said she stumbled on a Facebook post advertising the services of Catholic Charities, a prominent aid organization whose services include assisting immigrants. After a few clicks, she connected via WhatsApp with “Susan Millan,” who claimed to have a law degree. The woman’s photo looked professional, showing a small library in the blurry background, according to a screenshot Urbina shared with ProPublica. The asylum-seeker said she discussed her predicament with the woman she thought was an attorney. Millan told Urbina the ordeal could be settled over a virtual hearing with U.S. immigration authorities. Millan sprinkled in details about her own life — a sick husband, two kids, a supportive church — so Urbina felt comfortable. In an interview, Urbina said she completed paperwork to be sent to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for a fee. Millan’s organization asked her for documentation, including five character references; for another fee, it would submit these up the line. Through the payment app Zelle, Urbina and her husband paid nearly $10,000, according to her financial records, money they had set aside to buy their first home. On Nov. 21, Urbina made the case that a “credible fear” was keeping her from going home. In the virtual hearing, which lasted five minutes, she said she spoke to a man dressed in a green uniform, stitched with what looked like government insignia, seated in front of an American flag. A day later, via WhatsApp, Millan told her she “won residency.” Her documents would be in the mail. In an instant, Urbina’s fears had been assuaged. She asked if she should still attend her court date, Nov. 24. “No, don’t worry,” she remembers the woman replying. “There’s no need.” But when Urbina asked to speak with someone in a message to Millan’s phone number the next day, according to screenshots she shared with ProPublica, the WhatsApp chat fell silent. After two days, she suspected she’d been duped and wrote in anger: “God is with us and He fights for His children; today you messed with the wrong person and you will get your payment from the Most High, you cowards.” There was no attorney named Susan Millan associated with Catholic Charities, and the deceit was just one example of hundreds that the group has become aware of when desperate immigrants eventually reach the real organization. “There’s a reason why we have a good reputation,” said Chris Ross, vice president of migration and refugee resettlement services at Catholic Charities. “And so for someone to be trading on that goodwill with nefarious intent is very frustrating.” Urbina had fallen prey to “notario fraud,” in which scammers provide legal advice, often by saying they’re public notaries or other legal professionals. In many Latin American countries, a public notary is the equivalent of a lawyer, and notario fraudsters rely on this mistranslation to fake credentials. Urbina shared documents that detail how she was lured into the scam, and ProPublica corroborated her story with her husband and Catholic Charities. After Urbina told local and federal authorities she had been tricked out of her day in court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement switched her scheduled December virtual check-in to an in-person meeting. When she showed up, agents arrested her. In January, she said, officers shackled her hands and feet and loaded her on a plane to Nicaragua. She’d been scammed, then deported. A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to questions about Urbina’s case but said, “Anyone caught impersonating a federal immigration agent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” New Orleans police did not answer ProPublica’s questions about a complaint she filed. Scams like those that destroyed Urbina’s dreams are on the rise, federal data analyzed by ProPublica shows, as profiteers seize on the fear and confusion wrought by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Complaints of immigration scams have doubled since Trump was elected, ProPublica found in analyzing more than 6,200 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission by victims and advocates over the last five years. From the start of 2021 through the election in fall of 2024, the FTC — the nation’s top consumer protection agency — fielded about 960 immigration complaints per year, such as reports of fake attorneys offering services or people impersonating federal officers. In 2025, the commission received nearly 2,000 complaints. In all, at least $94.4 million was reported stolen in complaints to the FTC over five years. That number is certainly an undercount, as not all immigrants report wrongdoing for fear of deportation, and not every report included dollar amounts. The spike in complaints is so severe that many states and legal organizations have alerted the public about them. California’s and North Carolina’s attorneys general released statements in late 2025, as did the American Bar Association and AARP. In June 2025, the New York City Council passed legislation increasing notario fraud penalties, and a similar law passed in Florida. “Immigration scammers contribute to a lawless environment, undermining our immigration system,” said Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency Urbina falsely thought had awarded her residency. Online, the agency provides guides on how to spot immigration fraud and warns consumers that it does not use WhatsApp. The agency tells people who think they’ve been scammed to complain to the FTC. Old Problem, New Sophistication Scams targeting those mired in the U.S. immigration system are not new, but advocates say predators have become more sophisticated, using technologies like artificial intelligence and targeted ads. At the same time, immigrants have become increasingly anxious about speedy mass deportations, creating a bonanza for those looking to cash in. “I believe AI is being utilized in these scams pretty effectively. People think they’re talking to a real person, or the logos and stuff look pretty professional to the untrained eye,” said Ross, of Catholic Charities. Many victims say they were duped by scammers who had professional-looking photos, wore immigration uniforms and staged realistic virtual hearings. A review of the image of the person named Millan who was supposedly helping Urbina suggests that it was AI-generated. Ross added: “The biggest thing is the desperation — that’s really what’s driving this.” In San Diego, attorneys working for the city have been impersonated by scammers. City Attorney Heather Ferbert told ProPublica her office has forwarded these cases to the FBI and warned residents to be on the lookout for advertisements that promise a government official or lawyer can help with immigration proceedings. The FBI declined to comment. “When you add the title and you add the government weight behind it — the city attorney’s office, the district attorney’s office, for example — the targets are sort of lulled,” Ferbert said. “We’ve heard stories where they promise that they can solve their immigration problems for them. No real lawyer is ever going to promise an outcome to you.” Other scams extend beyond impersonating lawyers. The FTC complaints include a case in which people posing as Department of Homeland Security immigration officers received more than $600,000 from a family by claiming one of the relatives’ identities had been stolen and they needed to pay to protect it. In West Virginia, a “federal agent” threatened to deport a college student who was close to graduating unless they paid nearly $4,000 in gift cards. “They claimed that if I did not comply immediately, I would be arrested, detained or deported,” wrote the student, who was legally residing in the U.S. on a student visa. The student, whose name was not disclosed in federal data, used prepaid Dollar General gift cards and then went broke and turned to family for help. Immigrants from India and Bangladesh were told they had failed to update a necessary form and would be arrested and deported immediately unless they shared their Social Security numbers. Other scammers claimed the government had intercepted packages full of money and drugs addressed to immigrants, who were told to make a payment or face arrest. “Well-Oiled Machine” Most victims find the fake attorneys advertising on Facebook or TikTok. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has pledged to delete scam accounts and announced new tools to track them. Charity Anastasio, practice and ethics counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the ads are often pay-per-click and targeted at Spanish-speaking users. “They’ve designed such a well-oiled machine,” Anastasio said. The ads appealed to those in deportation proceedings, clinging to any means to stay in the U.S., but also those who may have wanted to get their paperwork in order ahead of Trump’s crackdown, said Adonia Simpson, an attorney with the American Bar Association. “A lot of people are trying to preemptively get representation to see what their options are,” Simpson told ProPublica. “The enforcement has been a big driver. It’s caused a lot of people to be very fearful.” The White House declined to comment. In October 2024, 56-year-old José Aguilar, who had been granted temporary protected status under George W. Bush’s administration, was in just that position when he came upon a Facebook ad. The advertiser claimed to work for Jorge Rivera, a well-known Miami immigration attorney, and promised Aguilar they could get him permanent residency. It would take $15,000. ProPublica sought comment from the real Rivera, who is not accused of wrongdoing; he did not respond. A leather factory worker in Minnesota who had fled El Salvador, Aguilar cobbled together the money in installments through loans from friends and that year’s tax refund. Over several months, he had four video calls with the fake attorney and two calls with immigration agent impersonators. He was initially skeptical but became convinced when they sent him videos of residency cards with the Citizenship and Immigration Services logo. “Don’t try to deceive me, because I’m borrowing money, I’m a man of faith, and I’m a person who has had a heart transplant, so I can’t get angry because it hurts me,” Aguilar remembered saying. “No, don’t worry, sir,” Aguilar said the scammer responded. “This is real. It’s super real.” During one of their last conversations, Aguilar says the scammer appealed to their shared Christian faith, thanking God for approving the paperwork and earning him residency. By February 2025, the scammers had stopped responding. A month later, Aguilar realized he was probably never going to get the residency cards and contacted an attorney who confirmed he had been duped. Aguilar, who has two young daughters, says his family is subsisting on food banks and relies on donations for rent. “It’s unforgivable,” Aguilar said. “Even bringing God into it.” Mother and Daughter Torn Apart For Mariela, an undocumented Honduran mother of three, financial stress began long ago. In 2021, the father of her children headed for the U.S. along with one of their daughters, seeking construction work. Two years later, when she traveled 2,000 miles in blistering heat to join them, she broke her arm in three places after falling into the Rio Grande while crossing the border. ProPublica is withholding her last name because she fears being deported. And then, in October 2025, immigration agents detained her 20-year-old daughter. Desperate, the mother reached out to what she thought was a Catholic Charities Facebook page. She was pulled into a scheme involving a man who posed as a priest, another posing as an immigration judge, and another posing as Oscar Carrillo, an attorney licensed in Texas who practices tax law. The real Carrillo told ProPublica he began getting calls from frustrated immigrants last spring, all of them Spanish speakers who claimed they had been referred by Catholic Charities. When he realized his name and photo were being misused, he alerted the FBI and FTC. The State Bar of Texas has posted a public warning on its webpage about Carrillo impersonators. “Most of these clients, because of their immigration status, are afraid to report this to the police,” Carrillo said. “I feel sorry for these clients. We’re not talking about wealthy individuals.” In January, after her daughter was deported, Mariela realized the fraudsters had cheated her out of more than $18,000 over three months. She said she had borrowed $3,000 from an uncle in Honduras, another $1,500 from a cousin, a few thousand from her boss, and another $2,000 from a friend from her Honduran hometown who had also emigrated to the U.S. In addition, she burned through her savings and her daughter’s. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1128" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman in a striped collared shirt and wearing a scrunchie with pearls on it faces away from the camera. There is an ornate blue wallpaper behind her." class="wp-image-75153" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260422-Rios-ICE-Scammers-005_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Mariela said she was cheated out of more than $18,000 over three months after being pulled into a sophisticated immigration scheme. Desiree Rios for ProPublica Public Alerts, Little Recourse Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, local law enforcement, advocacy groups, state attorneys general and law firms have published notices warning immigrants about an uptick in scams. “Our best advice is to make direct contact, outside of social media channels, with the organization you’re seeking help from,” said Kevin Brennan, vice president for media relations at Catholic Charities. “Call the organization on the phone or visit an office in person.” Scammers show no signs of retreat. In April, three months after her deportation to Nicaragua, Urbina received a call from someone claiming to be a lawyer. He said that he’d been referred to her by a bishop with Catholic Charities and that he’d help her obtain immigration papers. The stress of being scammed and separated from her husband, who remains in the U.S., had taken a toll. “I’ve been through a lot of things, one right after the other,” Urbina said. She’s living with her mother in a remote village, afraid to step outside in a country where the government has ramped up surveillance of those who previously moved to the U.S. Desperate, she gave the “lawyer” her personal information. After earlier saying his help would be free, he then asked for money, she said. “Where did you get my number?” she asked. Intrigued but skeptical, Urbina followed up with WhatsApp messages, hoping he might really be an immigration attorney. She never heard from him again. The post Fear and Opportunity: Immigration Scams Surged as Trump’s Sweeps Lured Desperate People to Eager Defrauders appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Naisha Roy.
One night a year, humans command this march of frogs and salamanders
The first warm, wet spring night sends frogs and salamanders from the forest, bearing fresh evidence of threats from warming winters, drying pools, and traffic.
On a Tuesday night in April, beneath a sky mottled with clouds, a slick stretch of road in Cumberland, Maine, erupted in sound. It started with a few high-pitched chirps, like the coos of chicks. Within minutes, dozens, then hundreds more joined a chorus punctuated by low clucks. By the time the sun dipped below the horizon and rain began to splatter the pavement, the sound had risen to a din. Cars stopped on the shoulder and people spilled onto the road wearing neon vests and waving bright flashlights. They fanned out, and raised their voices as they spoke, like guests at a bustling cocktail party. “I got a big one!” called a youngster in a yellow raincoat. She held out her hand for other volunteers who crowded around her. A yellow-spotted salamander about 9 inches long stretched across her gloved palm, its slick tail draped between her fingers. Each year in New England, on the first warm, wet night of spring, when the ground has thawed, and the temperature is just right, armies of frogs and maelstroms of salamanders emerge from the woods. They hop and undulate through the night, following the same routes their ancestors traveled to the vernal pools of their birth, where they lay their eggs, chirping and clucking all the while. “They’re calling to the ones that are still in the woods, telling them to come,” said Penny Asherman, who leads the Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust. For the past decade, “Big Night” has drawn dozens of people who drop everything at a moment’s notice to help the amphibians migrate safely. But climate change is scrambling that ancient trek. The journey begins less predictably, has grown deadlier, and become more tenuous as the seasonal wetlands they depend on are transformed by climate change. That has prompted the volunteers to become citizen scientists, tracking when the animals emerge and how many survive. Coordinated by Maine Big Night, the effort, which came on April 14 this year, is generating data that is reshaping how communities think about culverts, road maintenance, and other infrastructure. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1152 1152w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/salamander-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Volunteers hold a yellow spotted salamander after ferrying it across the road in Cumberland, Maine." data-caption="Volunteers hold a yellow spotted salamander after ferrying it across the road. " data-credit="Grace Benninghoff"/> Volunteers hold a yellow spotted salamander after ferrying it across the road. Grace Benninghoff In the past, these amphibian protectors were little more than crossing guards, shepherding the tiny creatures to safety. But a nonprofit formed in 2018, Big Night Maine, has asked them to meticulously document what happens along these migration paths. This year, more than 1,200 observers at 650 migration sites statewide submitted observations. Tim Kaijala has been a regular for seven years along with his children, Theo, 10, and Kai, 8. “The data side is pretty cool,” he said. “When we first came, it was just bringing frogs and salamanders over, but the last couple years it’s been more about counting and keeping track.” As he spoke, Theo and Kai peered into a pool, watching a wood frog they’d helped across the road kick through the clear water. “Remember that one time, Theo,” Kai said, looking at her brother. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Tell it,” she urged. “One time there was a car coming down, and I ran out and saved the peeper,” he paused, solemnly. “I do not want any peepers to die. If I stepped on one, I would never forgive myself.” When data last year showed that eight out of 10 amphibians were hit by motorists in Orono, at the state’s most ecologically diverse migration site, Big Night worked with city officials to secure a grant for cameras and fencing that guide the animals toward an existing culvert beneath the road. When the group also saw rising numbers with edema linked to road salt runoff, it pushed for alternative deicing methods, including pickle juice. Greg LeClair founded Big Night Maine. By day, he’s a municipal planning biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. He started the organization because he knew data collection would be essential for protecting the amphibians he’s adored since childhood. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/frog-inline.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A wood frog considers taking a leap into a vernal pool after being helped across the road by volunteers on April 14, 2026." data-caption="A wood frog considers taking a leap into a vernal pool after being helped across the road." data-credit="Grace Benninghoff"/> A wood frog considers taking a leap into a vernal pool after being helped across the road. Grace Benninghoff It’s easy to see why. Wood frogs are palm-sized, dappled brown creatures with dark markings smattering the skin around their wide eyes. Spring peepers are the size of a thumb and camouflage so well with the leaf litter of the forest floor that they’re nearly invisible until they unleash calls that echo through the night. But loving them and saving them are two different things. “I knew that in order to make change, you needed data, especially when we’re talking about critters folks aren’t as keen on,” LeClair said. Conserving land and installing culverts, two effective ways to protect the amphibians, aren’t cheap. “Nobody will give you the money unless you have data,” he said. “That money for infrastructure and conservation is not just floating around.” Trouble is, little data exists on amphibian migration patterns. They’re small, spend most of the year burrowed in the woods, and are hard to track. “Any time anyone has a collision with a deer or moose and an insurance claim is filed, a data point is collected, but nobody files an insurance claim when they hit a frog.” Good data does more than help amphibian advocates win protections. It ensures conservationists spend limited resources where they’ll do the most good. The fencing project in Orono is one example. For years, scientists thought specialized culverts were the only reliable way to get the hoppers and creepers off roads. But cameras there have already captured frogs and salamanders using an existing crossing. If the new fencing the town recently installed proves nearly as effective, it could save tens of thousands of dollars. Protecting amphibians matters far beyond frogs and salamanders themselves. They are foundational to New England’s food web. Eggs, larvae, and adults all sustain a surprising range of animals from owls and herons to foxes and even moose. “If you remove one piece of the puzzle or two, you don’t know which piece could kick the whole system out of whack,” said Sally Stockwell of Maine Audubon. “But there are huge trickle-down impacts when you lose the base of the food chain.” Amphibians are also particularly vulnerable to climate change. They can’t regulate their body temperature, and they need moisture to move. In the winter, when they burrow into the soil to stay warm, dwindling snowpack can leave them without enough insulation, and they freeze to death. Unusually warm winter days can draw them out of their hiding places, and the return of freezing temperatures kills them. A dry spring or sudden heatwave can dry out the vernal pools where they lay their eggs, killing the next generation. As the climate warms, fungi adapted to warmer, drier conditions are becoming a greater threat. Among them is the deadly chytrid fungus, which grows on amphibians’ skin, impairs their ability to breathe, and has been seen more frequently in recent years. Yet we remain their greatest threat. Development eliminates their habitat, and cars kill untold numbers of them. That is why data is so important: It reveals what would otherwise go unseen. In Cumberland this year, volunteers counted 10 species crossing, including more than 100 spring peepers, 34 wood frogs, and 18 spotted salamanders. Just nine amphibians were found dead. “Anything we can do to reduce mortality is a benefit,” said Stockwell. And on that rainy night in April, volunteers did all they could. Until nearly midnight, children and parents, college kids, and retirees patrolled the road and forest beyond, jotting notes on clipboards and ferrying frogs to safety in Tupperware. They paused only to watch as the tiny cold-blooded critters stretched their limbs and swam, sometimes bobbing at the surface to call — at shocking volume — to the ones still in the woods. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/critter-volunteer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A father and son look for amphibians to assist." data-caption="A father and son look for amphibians to assist." data-credit="Grace Benninghoff"/> A father and son look for amphibians to assist. Grace Benninghoff This story was originally published by Grist with the headline One night a year, humans command this march of frogs and salamanders on Apr 29, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Grace Benninghoff.
Indigenous peoples bear the brunt of climate change — and get almost none of the money to fight it
Billion-dollar climate funds have structural barriers that keep Indigenous peoples from accessing them. Advocates say that's not a bug, it's a feature.
Billions of dollars have been pledged to fight the climate crisis, but almost none is reaching Indigenous peoples, even as world leaders credit them as essential to solving it. “From the Amazon to Australia, and Africa to the Arctic, you are the great guardians of nature, a living library of biodiversity conservation, and champions of climate action,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City last week. But global funding hasn’t followed those words. Multi-billion-dollar financial institutions set up to address the climate crisis have largely failed to deliver money to Indigenous communities, or even track whether they’re benefiting. At the Permanent Forum, Indigenous advocates described how their communities have been devastated by flooding and wildfires and called on governments and global funds to provide direct access to climate finance. “The demand for direct access to finance by Indigenous peoples is a matter of right. It’s actually explicitly mentioned in the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that because of the historical injustices and the need for us to develop, we need direct access to finances,” said Joan Carling, who is Indigenous Kankanaey Igorot from the Philippines, a former expert member of the Permanent Forum and executive director of the organization Indigenous Peoples Rights International. An analysis by the Rainforest Foundation Norway estimates that between 2011 and 2020, Indigenous peoples and local communities involved in land tenure and forest management received less than 1 percent of global funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Indigenous peoples are often combined with “local communities” in conservation spaces, despite calls from Indigenous U.N. experts to distinguish them. “We are not asking for charity. We are not asking for privilege,” Carling continued. “This is a matter of right for us because it’s a matter of social justice. It’s just enabling us to adapt to the impacts of climate change that we did not create in the first place.” The climate crisis is forcing many Indigenous leaders to make painful choices: rebuild homes after major disasters or relocate entire villages from ancestral lands. Those decisions are made harder by a lack of financial resources and despite international court rulings affirming the right to reparations for those harmed by climate change. “We are protecting forests, we are protecting biodiversity,” said Deborah Sanchez, who is Indigenous Miskito from Honduras. Sanchez is the director of the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative, which was created in 2021 to address the need for more direct climate financing. “Once the rights are realized for the communities, that’s the basis where everything can really be sustainable over time.” The Green Climate Fund, or GCF, the official global climate fund designated by the Paris Agreement, has a portfolio of $20 billion. But not a single Indigenous peoples organization has been accredited to receive money from it, according to Helen Magata, who is Indigenous Kadaclan Igorot and serves on the fund’s Indigenous advisory committee, established in 2022. “That goes without saying that access to the fund by Indigenous peoples is near to nil,” said Magata. Getting accredited involves meeting stringent criteria — financial management and accounting standards, environmental and social safeguards — and can take years. The fund’s minimum grant of $10 million can also be difficult for smaller communities to manage. “We have to jump through hoop after hoop in order to even qualify,” said Janene Yazzie, who is Diné and a member of the climate finance working group of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. “They literally created a problem that is on us to prove our capacity to solve.” A 2025 report by the fund’s Independent Evaluation Unit found that “the Green Climate Fund has not actively pursued a portfolio with Indigenous peoples” and that its processes lacked the flexibility to serve them. “For Indigenous peoples, this challenge is often compounded to the point of being insurmountable,” the report concluded, recommending the fund create a dedicated funding window for Indigenous peoples. Magata said the fund also lacks a mechanism to track how much money Indigenous peoples actually receive. Funding recipients may claim their projects will serve Indigenous peoples, but it’s often unclear what percentage of the money reaches those communities. “If you don’t have a framework like that, then how could you say how much Indigenous peoples are really benefiting or not?” she said. Rebecca Phwitiko, a communications specialist for the Green Climate Fund, acknowledged in an email that the fund does not yet have “a dedicated marker to track funding flows specifically to Indigenous Peoples’ organisations.” She said the fund has revised its accreditation process and supported projects benefiting Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, Australia, and the Pacific. “Strengthening tracking, reporting, and accountability around Indigenous Peoples-related finance is an area GCF recognises as important and is continuing to work on,” she said. The fund recently held its first-ever Indigenous peoples conference in South Korea and last year accredited the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, which works to secure land tenure rights for Indigenous peoples and local communities. The Global Environment Facility, another major international climate fund, has disbursed more than $27 billion over three decades, including $50 million in dedicated funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities over the past eight years. Adriana Moreira, the fund’s head of partnerships, said it plans to increase that to $100 million for the next four-year funding round and intends to partner with five Indigenous-led trust funds. “We are constantly seeking to learn and improve,” she said. Unlike the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility doesn’t require an extensive accreditation process and offers $75,000 capacity-building grants to Indigenous-led organizations. It has also set a goal of directing 20 percent of all its funding to Indigenous peoples and local communities. But like the Green Climate Fund, it is still working on ways to verify whether money actually reaches those communities. Sarah Wyatt, a senior biodiversity specialist at the fund, said it recently tested a new tracking method within one program and plans to expand it. “It is admittedly not going to be an exact science,” Wyatt said. “But still, if you don’t count, you can’t try to improve, right?” Even if both funds improve their processes, neither can reach Indigenous peoples in the Global North. Both rely on governmental contributions classified as “official development aid” — funding that flows exclusively from wealthy countries to developing ones. At the U.N.’s annual climate conference in 2022, Yazzie was part of a caucus of Indigenous peoples who called on states to recognize the “false dichotomy of developed and developing countries in regard to funding initiatives and actions directed to Indigenous Peoples.” At the Permanent Forum, delegates from Indigenous nations in North America described how melting ice and rising seas are causing irreversible harm to their traditional homelands — communities excluded from the current global climate financing structure. “We are dealing with the same issues and same forms of disenfranchisement across those global barriers,” said Yazzie. “It actually invisibilizes the way that the so-called ‘developed North’ profits from the theft of lands of Indigenous peoples within their own territories. To demand that those flows only go to the South is a continuation of those same colonial policies.” Yazzie also criticized the widespread use of the phrase “Indigenous peoples and local communities,” which U.N. experts have called on climate treaties to abandon. Representatives from the Global Environment Facility said they use the description of local communities in the Convention on Biological Diversity, which describes local communities as embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. “So you see how much more narrow that truly is,” said Wyatt from the Global Environment Facility. “But I would give the example actually in the Pacific, where folks may not always call themselves Indigenous, but they would fit that type of definition.” She added the term also helps channel funding to communities in countries that don’t formally recognize Indigenous peoples — but acknowledged they don’t know what share of their grants go to Indigenous communities specifically versus local communities more broadly. The challenge of receiving global climate finance is pushing some groups to build alternatives. “We were in the communities, we saw that the funding didn’t go to the ground,” said Sanchez from the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative, whose organization draws mostly from private philanthropy to provide grants to Indigenous peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant organizations. Magata remains hopeful that the major funds can change. “At the end of the day, the ultimate objective is we want to bring as much money as near to the ground as possible,” she said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Indigenous peoples bear the brunt of climate change — and get almost none of the money to fight it on Apr 29, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Anita Hofschneider.
Illinois is feuding with itself over endangered species protections
The state Department of Transportation has sidestepped endangered species protections in 11 cases, according to public records.
In the creeks and rivers of southern Illinois, a school of bigeye shiners darting along the edge of a stream is a sign of healthy water. The freshwater fish, which is on the state’s endangered species list, has managed to survive despite habitat loss driven by decades of construction and industrial farm runoff. But an ongoing dispute between two state agencies over state species protections is testing how the tiny fish will endure. Last summer, the state’s top wildlife regulators faced resistance from the Illinois Department of Transportation, or IDOT, when trying to protect the shiner. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, or IDNR, recommended that the transportation agency crews mapping out construction at a site in Union County should first survey the area and find out if the shiner was present. If so, IDNR would ask them to apply for a permit to minimize impacts to the paper clip-sized fish before proceeding. IDOT declined. The department’s reason, among others, was simple: “Fish swim away.” The standoff between the two agencies, outlined in internal documents obtained by WBEZ and Grist, is at the center of an ongoing clash that broke out last year after the transportation department repeatedly ignored recommendations from state experts to pursue permits designed to protect imperiled species during road, bridge, and other transportation work. The transportation department, which is the state’s largest public landowner, may have overridden Illinois’ Endangered Species Protection Act in 11 cases in the past year, according to public records. Endangered species laws are meant to shield imperiled animals and plants from publicly funded projects. The federal Endangered Species Act, which was passed in 1973, currently safeguards nearly 1,700 species in the United States and has saved close to 300 species from extinction. Almost every state has its own version of the law for protecting critters within its borders. The Illinois Endangered Species Act, which predates the federal act, operates similarly, protecting 513 species, including federally listed species like the rusty patched bumblebee, piping plover, and gray wolf. The safeguards, often criticized as slow and pricey, block crews from breaking ground on nearly any project until they first minimize harm to listed species. Despite massive popularity, the federal law, which has been credited with resuscitating the bald eagle, grizzly bear, and gray wolf populations, is under attack by Congress and the Trump administration. On Earth Day last week, House Republicans tried and failed to pass a bill that would’ve shredded those protections at the federal level. Weeks earlier, after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump convened the “God Squad,” a committee of high-ranking officials across his administration to bypass the Endangered Species Act entirely and open the Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling. The Trump administration also recently unveiled a proposed rule to revoke the federal law’s definition of “harm” to species. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="An oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico seen from the shoreline at Fort Morgan, Alabama." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-rig.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 ‘God Squad’ blocks endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico Jake Bittle Species protections aren’t just breaking down on the federal level. States like Illinois are also failing to keep up with local rules to protect species from disappearing forever. In response to the transportation department’s handling of species protections, IDNR ended a decade-old agreement with the agency last fall that allowed it to fast-track environmental reviews. The agency’s impact assessment manager, Bradley Hayes, pointed to “IDOT’s apparent automatic response to decline ITA recommendations” in his cancellation letter obtained by WBEZ and Grist. An ITA, or incidental take authorization, is a permit that allows for the accidental harm of a protected species during the construction of an approved project, such as building a road or fixing a bridge. These permits involve lengthy reviews in which applicants must outline potential impacts to listed species, require a public comment period, and incorporate feedback from conservation specialists. The entire process can take at least five to six months. Still, experts say these permits are crucial because they minimize harm to protected species and provide legal cover from criminal charges that can accompany the unintentional killing of a state-listed species. IDOT’s Jack Elston responded to the termination letter at the end of last year disputing the initial allegations from the environmental regulators, saying that the agency “does not make automatic responses regarding the IDNR recommendation for an ITA.” In a joint statement from IDOT and IDNR to WBEZ and Grist, IDOT spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said, “IDOT continues to consult with IDNR and considers recommendations from IDNR along with multiple other factors, including known information about the species, other environmental surveys, engineering, costs, and public safety.” Castaneda added that the agencies are currently drafting a new agreement and that the agreement on file was outdated. “Updated language was needed,” she said. Despite the agreement expiring at the beginning of 2019, IDOT continued to conduct environmental reviews until lDNR stepped in to stop them last fall. Email exchanges between IDNR officials obtained by WBEZ and Grist show concern about how IDOT was conducting its environmental reviews. Last December, IDOT’s Elston wrote that “fish swim away from construction noise” as justification for several projects that could harm fish and molluscs, like the harlequin darter and the American brook lamprey, which are found in rivers and streams in southeastern and northeastern Illinois, respectively. In another instance, Elston wrote that the relocation of state-endangered mussels in White County was unnecessary and would delay a project by at least a construction season and add about $2 million in costs. But internal emails show that IDNR officials were increasingly concerned by that rationale. The American brook lamprey, for example, spends much of its life burrowed in sediment, dies not long after spawning, and is unlikely to simply swim away “We are the experts,” wrote Todd Strole, IDNR assistant director, in an email earlier this year preparing for a meeting with IDOT. “Fish are not the same, some don’t swim away.” In another email, Ann Holtrop, head of IDNR’s division of natural heritage, wrote: “We are open to professional dialogue with IDOT, but planning and engineering needs don’t negate or override the recommendations by scientists.” The Illinois dispute reflects a broader erosion of species protections nationwide, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Rebecca Riley. During his first term, President Donald Trump advanced new guidance that undercut species protection. The Biden administration undid the Trump-era rules, but the Trump administration has yet again proposed a new rule to weaken the federal law. WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times reached out to Governor JB Pritzker’s office for comment on how the state’s internal dispute fits into the Trump administration’s ongoing rollback of federal species protections; however, the Governor’s office offered no comments beyond the statement from IDOT and IDNR. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Illinois is feuding with itself over endangered species protections on Apr 29, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco.
‘Self-defence’ and the contradictions of Western exceptionalism in our media
COMMENTARY: By Jason Brooke 1news tonight featured a report on the War in Ukraine. The reporter, a foreign war correspondent, explained to viewers how Ukrainian soldiers were increasingly using long-range high-tech drones to target Russian infrastructure. Now while not explicitly stated, the narrative being delivered through our particularly “Western-centric” media lens is that Ukrainians are
COMMENTARY: By Jason Brooke 1news tonight featured a report on the War in Ukraine. The reporter, a foreign war correspondent, explained to viewers how Ukrainian soldiers were increasingly using long-range high-tech drones to target Russian infrastructure. Now while not explicitly stated, the narrative being delivered through our particularly “Western-centric” media lens is that Ukrainians are legitimately resisting and defending their homeland from an evil invader. While for some this narrative may be contentious, what’s interesting is when you apply this same narrative to the people of Palestine, Lebanon and Iran. Because when we apply these same values of “legitimate resistance” and self-defence of homeland in the context of Palestine or Lebanon or Iran, we see the contradiction of Western exceptionalism. READ MORE: Trump says Iran requesting end to US blockade; Israel kills three medics Other war on Iran, Gaza and Lebanon reports For Palestinians, Lebanese and Iranian people, the rules around what constitutes legitimate resistance — whether militarily or otherwise — do not apply. At least they do not apply within the framework of the Western narrative, the narrative that’s seemingly ever-present in our mainstream media institutions like 1news. There is another narrative of course, one whose legitimacy is not tied to the notion of Western exceptionalism. This narrative points out the hypocrisy of a Western exceptionalism which assumes itself as the sole determinant in defining what is or isn’t “legitimate” resistance. Many journalists from the Middle East such as the Palestinian author Mohammed El-Kurd in his recent book Perfect Victims: And The Politics Of Appeal describe this “contradiction” in great detail. Yet his and the many other voices which could help our comprehension of what is happening in places like Palestine, Gaza, Tehran and Southern Lebanon are consistently — and some might argue deliberately — overlooked. Jason Brooke is a New Zealand hospital worker and activist on environmental social justice issues. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Indian police invoke anti-terror law to unmask anonymous news handle TeluguScribe
New Delhi, April 29, 2026—Indian authorities in the southern state of Telangana must drop their investigation into social media news outlet TeluguScribe and stop the misuse of anti-terror legislation to silence criticism in the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On April 18, the Intelligence Department of the Telangana Police issued a formal...
New Delhi, April 29, 2026—Indian authorities in the southern state of Telangana must drop their investigation into social media news outlet TeluguScribe and stop the misuse of anti-terror legislation to silence criticism in the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On April 18, the Intelligence Department of the Telangana Police issued a formal notice to social media company X requesting the registration details, usage logs, and activity data of the account @TeluguScribe, which provides anonymous coverage of the state’s politics and is known to post content critical of its Indian National Congress government. The notice, a copy of which has been reviewed by CPJ, cites Section 43F of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), India’s main counterterrorism law, which compels individuals and organizations to release information requested by an investigating officer, and carries a penalty of up to three years in prison for non-compliance. Police have alleged the account contains “derogatory content” and “objectionable language” that could incite hatred, violence, and public unrest. “Invoking anti-terror legislation to unmask an anonymous news account on social media is a gross overreach of official power and risks having a chilling effect on press freedom,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s Asia-Pacific program coordinator. “The Indian National Congress government in Telangana must stop weaponizing draconian laws to silence critical reporting and ensure that digital news platforms can operate without fear of surveillance or criminal prosecution.” TeluguScribe in a statement denied the allegations made by police and said that use of the UAPA was a “blatant abuse of power.” The outlet said nearly 70 police cases had been registered against it in the past two-and-a-half years to “muzzle” coverage. R. Bhaaskaran, deputy inspector general of police with the intelligence department, and X did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
The Culting of America: From Children of God to the MAGA Playbook
Is America a cult? How can we help those trapped in cult-like thinking? Discussing her new book The Culting of America, Daniella Mestyanik Young, a US Army veteran, intelligence officer, and survivor of the notorious Children of God cult, joins Gaslit Nation to help us identify coercive control in our own lives, and in our White House. Daniella breaks down the "sex cult math" of her upbringing, identifying the same tactics of coercive control now fueling the MAGA movement. Trump has pulled disparate groups into a singular cult of personality, where he is viewed as a "flawed vessel" of a "perfect God" delivering a Christian theocracy coming after our rights. As a counter-terrorism expert, Daniella warns that the "arrogance" of Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner's war of choice in Iran is a classic cult leader trap. Tyrants lose when they start "sampling their own Kool-Aid," she points out. She also advises on how to help those in your life who have fallen down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole of cult-like thinking, to help them find their way to reality. This is an episode not to miss. Save the date! At the Gaslit Nation Salon on Monday May 11 4pm ET, we'll start with a special reading of an excerpt of one of Andrea's screenplays. To join the festivities, become a member at Patreon.com/Gaslit - thank you to everyone who supports the show. Want to hear Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chats, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit! Show Notes: Yes, Some Government Conspiracies Are Real, like MKUltra: Welcome to The Church Committee Report https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2026/1/28/the-playbook-for-defeating-maga-the-church-committee-report?rq=The%20Playbook%20for%20Defeating%20MAGA%3A%20The%20Church%20Committee%20Report EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit 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. The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult. Join on Patreon. Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect. Join on Patreon. Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join. Join on Patreon. Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group. Join on Patreon. As always, keep it kind in our chat groups, extend grace and assume good faith. A culture of care is how we build a better world.
Is America a cult? How can we help those trapped in cult-like thinking? Discussing her new book The Culting of America, Daniella Mestyanik Young, a US Army veteran, intelligence officer, and survivor of the notorious Children of God cult, joins Gaslit Nation to help us identify coercive control in our own lives, and in our White House. Daniella breaks down the "sex cult math" of her upbringing, identifying the same tactics of coercive control now fueling the MAGA movement. Trump has pulled disparate groups into a singular cult of personality, where he is viewed as a "flawed vessel" of a "perfect God" delivering a Christian theocracy coming after our rights. As a counter-terrorism expert, Daniella warns that the "arrogance" of Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner's war of choice in Iran is a classic cult leader trap. Tyrants lose when they start "sampling their own Kool-Aid," she points out. She also advises on how to help those in your life who have fallen down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole of cult-like thinking, to help them find their way to reality. This is an episode not to miss. Save the date! At the Gaslit Nation Salon on Monday May 11 4pm ET, we'll start with a special reading of an excerpt of one of Andrea's screenplays. To join the festivities, become a member at Patreon.com/Gaslit - thank you to everyone who supports the show. Want to hear Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chats, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit! Show Notes: Yes, Some Government Conspiracies Are Real, like MKUltra: Welcome to The Church Committee Report https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2026/1/28/the-playbook-for-defeating-maga-the-church-committee-report?rq=The%20Playbook%20for%20Defeating%20MAGA%3A%20The%20Church%20Committee%20Report EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit 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. The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult. Join on Patreon. Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect. Join on Patreon. Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join. Join on Patreon. Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group. Join on Patreon. As always, keep it kind in our chat groups, extend grace and assume good faith. A culture of care is how we build a better world. This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
In January, photojournalist Wali Khan documented ICE’s assault on the Twin Cities.
In January, photojournalist Wali Khan documented ICE’s assault on the Twin Cities. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Wali Khan.
The Response We Need to the Cesar Chavez Revelations
Every organization can take steps to prevent misconduct and hold themselves accountable when leaders abuse their power.
Every organization can take steps to prevent misconduct and hold themselves accountable when leaders abuse their power. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Ellen Bravo.
Israeli restrictions on the entrance of electronic devices into Gaza has made life even harder for students and freelancers.
Israeli restrictions on the entrance of electronic devices into Gaza has made life even harder for students and freelancers. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Mariam Mushtaha.
The Project Censored Newsletter—April 2026
Censored Press News Truthout ran an excerpt from Terms of Servitude by Omar Zahzah (The Censored Press/Seven Stories Press, 2025). The article, Palestinians Battle the Algorithms of Israeli Censorship and Surveillance, looks at how Palestinian digital ...
Censored Press News Truthout ran an excerpt from Terms of Servitude by Omar Zahzah (The Censored Press/Seven Stories Press, 2025). The article, Palestinians Battle the Algorithms of Israeli Censorship and Surveillance, looks at how Palestinian digital autonomy has been constrained by settler colonialism and neoliberal privatization. “Even as the contours… The post The Project Censored Newsletter—April 2026 appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
Satellite imagery reveals increased activity at North Korean nuclear complex
Steam plumes and construction at Yongbyon suggest Kim Jong Un is making good on his five-year nuclear buildup plan.
At North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Complex, heightened activity observed on satellite imagery indicates that Pyongyang is increasing its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, experts told Radio Free Asia. The imagery shows new buildings and plumes of steam in previously inactive areas of the complex, which lies roughly 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the capital. North Korea has long claimed that Yongbyon serves peaceful, civilian energy purposes, but the international community and monitoring organizations say that the complex produces fissile materials to produce nuclear weapons. The increased activity observed in April follows Kim Jong Un’s announcement at the Ninth Congress of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party in February that the country would build up and diversify its nuclear arsenal over the next five years. Where there’s smoke… Images captured by Planet Labs on April 18 and 20 show steam emitting from the thermal generating plant at the radiochemical laboratory. On March 12 and April 25, images showed the reactor discharging water into the nearby Kuryong River. These discharges are consistent with many other images captured since January. Steam escapes from the thermal plant at the Radiochemical Laboratory at the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex in North Korea on April 18 and 20, suggesting at least limited operations at the laboratory. (Analyzed by Jacob Bogle/RFA) The evidence suggests that North Korea is producing weapons grade plutonium, Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, told RFA. “It looks that North Korea still continues to produce plutonium in the 5 megawatt reactor and it’s on a campaign basis,” he said, using a technical term to indicate a start-to-finish production cycle. “So it operates for about a year or so and then they discharge the fuel which is a very quick operation.” <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/IVXDABTD25FBRPGWUHT4INWGZM.png?auth=9219853e8f8275d257bfc3182e78c71d103b4615af647e7bea0559be73c249e8&smart=true&width=1500" alt="Water discharge is visible from the 5-megawattt reactor on high-resolution imagery from January to April this year. This discharge is one of the indicators that the reactor has been operating for that timeframe as part of the plutonium production cycle at the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex in North Korea." height="1751" width="1500"/> Water discharge is visible from the 5-megawattt reactor on high-resolution imagery from January to April this year. This discharge is one of the indicators that the reactor has been operating for that timeframe as part of the plutonium production cycle at the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex in North Korea. (Analyzed by Jacob Bogle/RFA) Jacob Bogle, a U.S.-based private satellite imagery analyst, told RFA that since October 2024, the complex has been in its seventh cycle of fuel irradiation and reprocessing for plutonium production. “This multi-year cycle of activity has continued to the present and is supported by two key pieces of visual evidence - consistent water discharge from the 5 MW reactor throughout 2026 and occasional activity at the Radiochemistry Lab as indicated by steam generation,” he said. The findings are consistent with confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, that North Korea has significantly expanded its nuclear activities at Yongbyon. During a visit to South Korea on April 15, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told reporters that many of the facilities at Yongbyon, including the main reactor, were active. “This suggests a serious increase in North Korea’s nuclear weapons production capacity, which appears sufficient to produce dozens of warheads,” Grossi said, adding that the construction of a new nuclear enrichment facility comparable to existing ones had also been confirmed. Construction ongoing Satellite imagery also confirms that new buildings are appearing at the complex. Exterior construction on one of the new buildings–suspected to be a new uranium enrichment facility–was completed in either November or December of last year. <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/5RDITEJCKNDF7GCCTYNWIDMVIY.png?auth=996dbedf7ef0614b4f8382bbbc24c94f2a52f97efaef71d5aab558d1a73300d5&smart=true&width=1500" alt="A new building at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, suspected to be for uranium enrichment. High-resolution images from March to April all show that the facility is being well-maintained and occasionally vehicles can be seen on the premises, such as on April 15." height="1314" width="1500"/> A new building at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, suspected to be for uranium enrichment. High-resolution images from March to April all show that the facility is being well-maintained and occasionally vehicles can be seen on the premises, such as on April 15. (Analyzed by Jacob Bogle/RFA) Bogle said that melting snow on the roof of the building was visible, suggesting the building is connected to electricity and that interior construction is at a minimum still ongoing. A vehicle was observed next to the building on April 15, though no external indicators have emerged to determine whether interior work is still in progress or whether the facility has become operational. Additionally, in March, the roofs of two buildings within the radiochemical laboratory were replaced. New high-rise residential buildings have also been erected in the area, likely needed to house an expanded workforce. At the old fuel rod fabrication area of North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Complex some buildings have been renovated while others were newly built. The purpose of these changes is unknown, experts told RFA. (RFA) Heinonen said that the satellite images showed changes to the complex that are not yet understood. In the southern part of the complex, in an area where fuel rods were fabricated, four entirely new buildings have appeared. “Some of them seem also to be quite well-built and one is even separated from the others with a fence which tells me that it’s very important,” he said. “We don’t know what it is, but I think that these buildings have to do with a plan of Kim Jong Un to enhance the nuclear weapons production and to produce nuclear material and components for nuclear weapons. 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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 – April 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 – April 28, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
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Sudan’s war leaves children at mercy of increasing drone strikes, warns UNICEFSyria: UN Human Rights reports discovery recent mass graves Gulf land routes already expanding amid Strait of Hormuz shipping freeze
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‘We’ve all been changed by this’: Sharif Abdel Kouddous on documenting Israel’s (ongoing) war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Colleagues and relatives of the Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, Mohammed Wishah, who was killed when Israel violated the ceasefire by targeting a civilian car in an airstrike mourn during the his funeral ceremony at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Palestine on April 09, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="343082" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/sharif-abdel-kouddous-israels-war-crimes-gaza-lebanon/gettyimages-2269920051" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" 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="GettyImages-2269920051" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Colleagues and relatives of the Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, Mohammed Wishah, who was killed when Israel violated the ceasefire by targeting a civilian car in an airstrike mourn during the his funeral ceremony at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Palestine on April 09, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> “People think that there's a ceasefire and it's over, but it's not,” Sharif Abdel Kouddous of DropSite News tells us. “We can't normalize what happened. We can't start talking about peace and reconstruction. There has to be accountability, otherwise this will go on forever.”
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Colleagues and relatives of the Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, Mohammed Wishah, who was killed when Israel violated the ceasefire by targeting a civilian car in an airstrike mourn during the his funeral ceremony at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Palestine on April 09, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-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="343082" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/sharif-abdel-kouddous-israels-war-crimes-gaza-lebanon/gettyimages-2269920051" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" 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="GettyImages-2269920051" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Colleagues and relatives of the Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, Mohammed Wishah, who was killed when Israel violated the ceasefire by targeting a civilian car in an airstrike mourn during the his funeral ceremony at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Palestine on April 09, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269920051-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> Sharif Abdel Kouddous has reported from war zones and disaster areas across the world—from Egypt, Syria, and Libya, to Iraq, Algeria, Haiti, and the United States—but nothing compares to what he’s seen in Gaza. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Abdel Kouddous about the impossible task of documenting the full scale of devastation Israel has wrought on Gaza and, increasingly, on Lebanon. Guests: Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a journalist and editor for DropSite News based in New York and Cairo. He has reported from across the Arab world, including Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, and Algeria as well from across the United States and internationally. He received a George Polk Award for his investigation into the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, an Emmy award for his coverage of the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban, and an Izzy Award for his coverage of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Additional links/info: Sharif Abdel Kouddous, DropSite author page Kavitha Chekuru & Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Fault Lines, “The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza” Credits: Producer: Rosette Sewali Studio Production: Cameron Granadino Audio Post-Production: Stephen Frank Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Marc Steiner: Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s great to have you all with us. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Dropsite’s editor for the Middle East and North Africa. He’s based in New York and in Cairo and has reported from across the globe, in the Arab world, including Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, and Algeria, as well as from across the United States and internationally. He received a Peabody Award for his Gaza documentary, The Night Won’t End, George Polk Award for his investigation into the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Acla and an Emmy Award To boot and joins us now from his home. So Sharif, welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here in the Real News. It’s good to have you with us. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Thank you for having me. Marc Steiner: And thank you for the work you do. I want to start by talking to people about your work, both your written work and your documentary work, because I think you bring the depth of what people are facing in those two places that we don’t see on the news, we don’t read about, we don’t hear about, the utter devastation. I’d just like you to begin there, just from your own work as a journalist, what you’ve seen, what you’ve been through, the idea that people just don’t really understand what’s happening in places like Gaza and Lebanon and the pure devastation that people are living through. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Well, I think, I mean, that’s a broad question. I think that actually a lot of people do understand what’s happening because for the first time in terms of at least the genocide in Gaza, this is something that unfolded in real time on people’s phones because of the heroic work of Palestinian journalists and of the just residents of Gaza who are documenting the genocide of their people themselves and livestreaming it. That’s why we always hear this was a livestreamed genocide. The problem has been the coverage by legacy media, mainstream media, corporate media institutions in this country, in Europe and elsewhere that have really shown the mask has come off and that their bias has really been betrayed and they’ve lost a lot of confidence because they have consistently adopted the Israeli narrative about what’s happening in these places, a very skewed narrative, and they have not spoken to the people on the ground. I think the work that I have done that many other journalists, independent journalists have done that places like Dropsite News is doing is actually not groundbreaking. This is simple journalism. This is speaking to and working with journalists on the ground, doing simple reporting about what’s happening. And the reality shows itself and what the reality is is horrifying. We are seeing the most brutal military campaigns in our lifetimes. There have been genocides before, but never livestreamed like this and never in the modern era, with the explicit backing and enabling of the most powerful countries in the world, the United States and Western Europe. And so this is what’s happening. I mean, we can paint a picture of where Gaza is today over two and a half years into this genocide and what the groundwork looks like and also what’s happening in Southern Lebanon as well. We’ve seen also for the first time in my life, a groundswell of opposition to Israeli policy across the political spectrum in the United States. When I first covered the second Palestinian intifada, which went from 2000 to 2005, I think, I don’t know, many listeners and viewers might not remember, but there used to be an acronym called PEP, progressive except for Palestine, that this was such a vilified people and such a topic that was so attacked that there could be something like that, that you could have somehow be a progressive except on Palestine, support a colonial settler state. 20 years later, this is a sea change. Palestine has become definitional to your politics, and it is at once a polarizing and mobilizing force in our society today. And that’s a testament to both the activism, the work, and the heroic work of Palestinian journalists, and also to the horrors that Israel has meted out, not just on Palestine, but on so many countries in the region. Marc Steiner: And I think part of that is the work that you and others have done, but some of the work you’ve done, that when you watch it, when you see it in real time on your documentaries, the pain and suffering, the utter devastation that’s taking place right now is unfathomable to most people. It is. I mean, even years back with the invasion of Cambodia and other places that some of us covered, it’s nothing like what you’re seeing now, which is the utter destruction of an entire society. What you showed the world in these two documentaries is almost, it’s difficult for people to comprehend how bad it is. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Yes. I mean, I would admit that it was difficult for me to comprehend also. Gaza is a place that I’ve been to many times as a reporter, had the privilege of getting there first in 2011 and almost every year after that, covered different wars there, the 2012 war, 2014 war, the great marches of return in 2018 when people were gunned down by Israeli snipers en masse. But as we all know, Israel and with the collusion of Egypt has not allowed international journalists into Gaza for the past two and a half years, more than two and a half years. That’s not to say that Palestinian journalists can’t cover what’s happening there, but international journalists need to get in to help shoulder some of the labor of covering this war and also to act as a shield for these Palestinian journalists who have been killed and slaughtered in an unprecedented way. I think we’ve all been changed by this. On our phones, we’re seeing these horrific images every single day of children being killed, of hospitals being bombed, and all of this to applause by elites, by the establishment, and by both the Democratic and Republican parties. The level of devastation, I mean, when we talk about genocide, genocide, you don’t actually have to kill anyone. If you look at the definition, it’s you’re creating the conditions for life not to be able to exist, for the capacity of life not to be able to exist. So in addition to that, there is mass, mass killing happening, The count is over 73,000, and that’s an absolute minimum. Those are the confirmed numbers by the Ministry of Health, the bodies that they have been able to absolutely confirm. The numbers, by no question, much, much higher. But in addition to that, the complete erasure of life, the raising of complete communities in Bethan, in Rafah, and other villages and towns, the bombing and attacking of every single hospital where only a few hospitals are partially functioning, a starvation policy imposed on an entire population and then taking over the so- called aid distribution system. And then you have starving people being gunned down as they try and get some food. Over 2,600 Palestinians were killed while the so- called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israel-backed group with US military contractors and Israeli troops in conjunction shot starving people as they’re trying to get food and killed them, and over 19,000 were wounded. The massacre of children, thousands and thousands of children, I think the numbers over 18,000 that are confirmed, the largest number of child amputees in the world ever, the bombing of every school, the bombing of bakeries and water facilities and electricity infrastructure and road infrastructure, the wiping out of urban life, it is very difficult to comprehend. What we tried to do in the documentary was we get these small snapshots on our phones and it’s shocking to see, but also with a long form documentary, it’s over an hour, we followed three families that you can sit with them a little bit and see what the effects of this are. And we tried to cover their stories as microcosms of the larger war, of the larger genocide. So airstrikes, which of course is the main feature of the war. We spoke with the Salem family who over a hundred people of their family were killed in a massive airstrike on a building in Gaza City. Also, people were told to go to the South and go to so- called safe zones. So we also follow a family who went to the South, but were bombed there and the children were killed. We also cover very specifically the case of Hind Rajab, the six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed alongside her family in a car. She had a three-hour call with the Red Crescent. She was the only surviving member of her family. They had all been shot by an Israeli tank in this car in Gaza City, and they had just called the Red Crescent. Her cousin, her 15-year-old cousin had called. You can hear her 15-year-old cousin get shot and be killed in the call. And then so they call back and she picks up and it’s this six-year-old’s voice speaking to them for three hours. I translated about an hour of it for the documentary, and that was still one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. It’ll stay with me forever. And they fired on this car over 350 gunshots on a family. They gave explicit permission. The Red Crescent has to ask permission to be able to go and evacuate people, medical workers, paramedics, emergency workers to go evacuate people. They got the permission. They were provided an approved route. They went, they were bombed. They were shelled by an Israeli tank, and the ambulance driver and his colleague were killed, and then she died. And finally, we covered what’s been less covered in this genocide is the arbitrary and summary execution of Palestinians by Israeli ground troops. So the same family, the Salem family that withstood that horrific airstrike then were sheltering in a building, Israeli troops come in, separate the women and girls from the men and boys, and then just execute all of the men and boys in front of them, shoot them point blank in the head. But this documentary was only made possible by the work of these incredible journalists in Gaza who are relentless and who are suffering all of the things that they’re covering. They’re all hungry, they’re all displaced, they’ve all lost family members, they’ve all lost colleagues. The press vest has been turned from a shield into a bullseye. Marc Steiner: What you just described, I think is for most people unknown, people don’t realize exactly what’s happening inside of Gaza at this moment or southern Lebanon. And I think that the shocking part of your documentary work is bringing that to light, is hearing the voices of the Palestinians themselves, seeing the faces of mothers holding their babies who have been killed for no reason. I think it’s something that most media has refused to cover and people do not know what’s going on. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: And I think also a problem is that there was a so- called ceasefire agreement of last year of 2025 that was signed on October 10th and Israeli troops withdrew to what’s called the yellow line. They still control about 50% or close to 60% of Gaza. But the genocide is still ongoing. This is not my words. These are the words of human rights groups like Human Rights Watch, Doctors without Borders, Amnesty International. They have all said recently, the genocide is ongoing. The conditions of life are being erased. Not enough life essentials are coming in. When we talk about aid, it’s not aid. These are life essentials, food, medicine, shelter materials. They are still killing Palestinians almost every single day in attacks. It’s not the same level of scorched earth bombing that we saw at the height of the genocide, but it’s still happening. And so the world’s attention has shifted as we have these forever wars happening, wars on Iran, wars on Lebanon. People think that there’s a ceasefire and it’s over, but it’s not. And we can’t normalize what happened. We can’t start talking about peace and reconstruction. There has to be accountability, otherwise this will go on forever. The entire world order was always problematic and the International law was always based on something to serve the powerful, but it has been completely upended in a way, in a new way. And all of this to protect Israel look at the lengths to which the government and institutions in this country will go to trample on academic freedom, to crush freedom of speech, all to protect Israel’s to continue committing genocide. It’s really beyond the pale, but I think it’s also mobilized people across the globe in a very, very profound way. We saw two, for example, general strikes held in Italy over weapons shipments to Israel. Organizing a general strike is extremely difficult. Marc Steiner: Very difficult. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: I think we’re also seeing the most internationalist movement on the left in this country that we’ve seen in a very long time. And all of this is coalescing around Palestine. So it’s a very bleak picture, but there are also, I would argue, signs of change. Marc Steiner: Let me pick up from that point. Watching the work that you do, one of my first reactions was, there is no hope. It’s done. The Palestinians are being slaughtered. It almost feels hopeless. There’s nothing to stop the madness from taking place. So expand on your last point in what you meant. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Well, I mean, it is very bleak. And I think we can all strive for that Gramsci way of optimism of the Mind and pessimism of mind optimism of the will. And I don’t know that maybe this is another moment like 1967 where there’s a complete reordering of the power structures in Malisa last for decades and the genocide continues for a long time. And maybe this is the beginning of the end for Palestine. It’s possible. But it also may be the beginning of the end for Zionism, a very violent and could be long end, but the beginning of the end nevertheless. Historians like Elan Pape say this as well. And the reason for that is that there has been a massive political shift in this country. The Palestinian historian, Rochitaldi, said part of any anti-colonial struggle, the war is won in the metropol. So part of the liberation of Algeria was fought in Paris and it needs to be there. And the metropolitan Israel, it’s not Tel Aviv, it’s DC and Washington. And so there has been very significant changes across the political spectrum. In this country, I’ve seen the largest protests for Palestine that I’ve ever seen in this country. We’re seeing for the first time Democrats and Republicans or mostly Democrats calling for ending weapon sales to Israel. This is unheard of even a few years ago. Unheard of. It’s by far not enough, but something is changing. You’re even seeing the right fracturing over Palestine with people, anti-immigrant and racist Tucker Carlson, even being against US policy in backing Israel. And so it takes a long time for these, because the US is far from being a democratic country in very many ways, but these things do eventually filter into the halls of power and policy might change. And policy has to change because Israel cannot exist without its backing from the United States. I think that’s very, very clear. So there are signs of hope for that. Another sign for hope is that Palestine exists. Palestine has not been defeated. Despite all of this, it still exists. It fights back. There’s been just an efflorescence over the last 20 years of different kinds of movements, of the BDS movement, of new solidarities with groups like Black Lives Matter and the different movements around the world. There’s been different armed resistance movements that have popped up that have been very effective. So yeah, this could be, I think we’re in a moment where it’s either annihilation or liberation. I don’t think there’s anything in between at this point. And this can be over a very long time period, can be years, but I don’t think the myth of some two state solution or everything, I think that’s been shattered across anyone’s perception. Only ridiculous people even talk about that now. And also the protests in this country, they’re not against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in Gaza. They are against Zionism as a settler colonial ideology. And that is also a massive shift that people are talking about that. It’s not just that they want to end the occupation and everything’s okay. They recognize that this is a settler colonial state that practices apartheid, that is a racist ideology that we can see in practice how it has unfolded over the last nearly 80 years. Marc Steiner: There’s so much to say about what you said. Over the last 50, 60 years, I’ve seen those changes take place inside the Jewish world as well, massive amounts of people losing. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Jewish voice for peace and other groups have led the charge in many ways. Marc Steiner: Not in our name. It’s been something that goes across the planet at this moment. And I wonder, given the horrendous nature of what you’ve seen, what you showed us in your documentary work, how it has affected you. I mean, you in the middle of a slaughter watching this go on. You can document it. You can tell people’s stories, bring their pain and the anger to life, but you’re witnessing it in real time. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: I mean, I have swung between rage and despair. It has been very difficult. I mean, a journalist that I worked with very closely, Hossem Shabet, was assassinated. I was speaking to him literally hours before he was killed. I felt like I could do nothing to protect him. And so no, it’s been very, very difficult. I feel like I’ve changed as a person because of this. I have covered … I traveled to Yemen and Syria and Libya over the years, and I’ve covered many conflicts, but this one where I’m not even there on the ground has affected me, I think, more than all of them combined. Speaking to people in Gaza every day has affected me. And yes, there have been moments, like I said, of despair where it’s like, what’s the point? What’s the point of this journalism? What’s the point if we keep doing this and it just keeps getting worse? And it still is getting worse. I mean, sometimes I despair, but the only thing that really keeps me going is that the people I’m speaking with want to get this out. They continue to call on people to broadcast their voices to tell their stories. And so we need to honor that. We need to keep working. And over the long term, I think it does have an effect, or at least it’s an archival record of what’s happened because the mainstream media in this country has abrogated its responsibility. And so we need to keep doing this. And also at the end of the day, it’s like, okay, fine. It’s difficult for us to document this, but it’s nothing compared to the people who are enduring it. Marc Steiner: Exactly. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: So you have to also keep that in mind that it’s not about us. It’s about what’s happening to Palestinians. That is in our name also. I’m not Jewish, but it’s happening as I’m an American taxpayer. Marc Steiner: Right, exactly. Yes, right. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: It’s happening in my name as well. Marc Steiner: Exactly. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: I’m responsible. And yeah, I oscillate between kind of having the little bit of hope, being extremely angry, being extremely despairing. And yeah, I mean, I think it’s affected everyone. Marc Steiner: We’re going to really, with these clips that we’re seeing from your documentary and more, and people actually should really see it on their own time and watch it and sit with it. It’ll take a while. You’ll have to stop. You have to think, you have to wrestle with it and hold it. The work you’ve done, I’m going to just say is extremely powerful, an important documenting of a genocide taking place in real time, real people and their lives and who they are. They could be my next door neighbors. The way you depicted this is who they are. And I think that the work you’re doing now is really critical to changing people’s consciousness and to changing the political forces to stop this. So it’s more than a documentary. It’s important political work, I think. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Thank you. I mean, I hope it … I mean, this also, this documentary came out in the summer of 2024. So much has happened since then. And there is still great journalism happening, great documentaries coming out, important ones documenting things like the shooting of children, the attacks on hospitals, the starvation policy, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, all of these things that are backed by the United States. There’s been incredible work on these things, and I encourage people to check out fault lines and Al Jazeera does a lot of this incredible work and other filmmakers as well. Marc Steiner: And we have to get them out. People have to see them to understand what we’re allowing to happen in our name in America. And Sharif, I really do appreciate you taking the time and also for the work you do. I think as someone who has produced documentaries, who has interviewed about documentaries for the last 35 years, your work is one of the most powerful I’ve seen in a long, long time. And you brought a story home for people to really wrestle with. So I want to thank you for your work. And whatever we can do to push it out there, I’m right here. Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Thank you, Marc. I appreciate it. And I appreciate your work as well. Marc Steiner: Thank you very much. And once again, I want to thank Sharif Adul Kaduce for joining us and we’ll be linking to his work so you can read and see it for yourself. And thanks to David Hebdon forrunning the program today, audio editor of Steven Frank for working his magic, Rosette Sowali, for producing the Marc Steiner Show and the Titleist Keller Rivera for making it all work behind the scenes, and everyone here at the Real News for making this show possible. Now please let me know what you thought, what you heard today, what you’d like us to cover. Just write to me at mss@renewnews.com, and I’ll get right back to you. And once again, thank you to Sharif Abdul Kadus for his work and for his joining us today. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Marc Steiner.
Belarus frees journalist Andrzej Poczobut
New York, April 28, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release by Belarus on Tuesday of journalist Andrzej Poczobut, as part of a Polish-Belarusian prisoner exchange involving the United States, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The swap, which included ten prisoners from various countries, took place at the Polish-Belarusian border and was confirmed by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who posted a picture of...
New York, April 28, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release by Belarus on Tuesday of journalist Andrzej Poczobut, as part of a Polish-Belarusian prisoner exchange involving the United States, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The swap, which included ten prisoners from various countries, took place at the Polish-Belarusian border and was confirmed by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who posted a picture of Poczobut on X. “Andrzej Poczobut is free! Welcome to ​your Polish home, my friend,” Tusk ⁠wrote, adding that the exchange was “the finale of a two-year-long intricate diplomatic game, full of dramatic twists.” Poczobut had been a political commentator, a correspondent at Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and producer of Nad Niemnem, a television program focused on Belarus’ Polish community, for independent Poland-based broadcaster Belsat TV and Polish public broadcaster TVP Polonia. “CPJ welcomes today’s release of Andrzej Poczobut after 1,860 days of unjust imprisonment,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia. “He should never have spent a single day behind bars. We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release the 22 journalists still detained today for their work.” In December, the European Parliament awarded him its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. “Today, in my role as President Trump’s Special Envoy for Belarus, my team and I helped secure the release of three Poles and two Moldovans,” U.S. Special Envoy John Coale wrote on X. According to Belarusian state news agency BelTA, Poczobut was released following a personal appeal to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko by the journalist’s mother and by Andżelika Borys, head of the Union of Poles in Belarus, which represents the country’s Polish minority and of which Poczobut is a member. Poczobut, who has been detained since March 2021, was sentenced in February 2023 to eight years in jail on charges of “inciting hatred” and “calling for sanctions aimed at harming national security,” stemming from his coverage of 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus and statements he made in defense of Belarus’ Polish minority. In 2024-2026, 19 journalists were freed in Belarus before the end of their sentences. Still, in March alone, four journalists were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 14 years because of their work. In total, 22 journalists remained imprisoned in Belarus as of April 28. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Can the new leader of Canada’s NDP revive the left-wing party?
Israel destroys solar panels in southern Lebanon
This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.
CPJ joins call for Turkey to repeal disinformation law for its use against journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 press freedom and human rights organizations in an April 28 joint statement condemning Turkey’s frequent use of its disinformation law for prosecuting and imprisoning journalists. The signatories urged the Turkish authorities to release all journalists imprisoned under this law and ultimately repeal it. “Turkey’s disinformation law is structurally...
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 press freedom and human rights organizations in an April 28 joint statement condemning Turkey’s frequent use of its disinformation law for prosecuting and imprisoning journalists. The signatories urged the Turkish authorities to release all journalists imprisoned under this law and ultimately repeal it. “Turkey’s disinformation law is structurally incompatible with international press freedom standards. Its language fails to define clearly what constitutes ‘untrue information’ or to specify what content poses a threat to national security or public order,” the statement said. Read the joint statement here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
Reporter pushed, threatened with arrest while trying to question Florida mayor
U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database
WPLG investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier was shoved and threatened with jail by a plainclothes Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputy while approaching the county’s mayor for an interview in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 11, 2026.The TV station reported ...
WPLG investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier was shoved and threatened with jail by a plainclothes Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputy while approaching the county’s mayor for an interview in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 11, 2026. The TV station reported that the incident took place while the mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, was appearing at an event at a public park. Weinsier tried to ask her why electric city buses that cost taxpayers more than $60 million were taken out of service. The reporter sought out the mayor at the public event because, for weeks, her communications staff had told him that she would not do an interview on the issue, according to WPLG. After Levine Cava finished an interview with the county’s own television channel, Weinsier walked up to her and asked a question. WPLG’s video report on the incident shows a woman standing next to the mayor saying, “We can speak after the program.” Then, a man wearing a black jacket and sunglasses but no visible badge or credentials steps forward and pushes Weinsier back. The man — later identified as a Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy, Lester Aguilar, part of the mayor’s security detail — tells everyone to move back, and shoves Weinsier several times. The reporter repeatedly says, “Don’t push me,” to which Aguilar replies, “Do you want to go to jail? “For what? Standing and trying to interview the mayor?” Weinsier asks. At no point does Aguilar identify himself as law enforcement or as a member of the mayor’s security team. Aguilar alleged that the reporter made contact with him. “The next time you put your hands on me, you will go to jail. I was just trying to do my job,” he says later. “And I as well,” Weinsier replies. Later that day, the mayor agreed to answer Weinsier’s questions about the buses. WPLG reported that the Sheriff’s Office had opened an internal affairs investigation into the incident. Weinsier told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that WPLG submitted a public records request to the Sheriff’s Office, seeking its policies and procedures about plainclothes officers identifying themselves when interacting with the public, “particularly before or while giving orders.” He said the incident hasn’t deterred their reporting. “Our focus remains on getting answers regarding the taxpayer-funded electric bus program and continuing to ask questions of public officials.” “That said, I do think there are broader questions that come out of this. If there are specific protocols, boundaries or a defined perimeter around the mayor when she is in a public setting, that is something journalists and the public should clearly understand,” Weinsier added. The Miami-Dade Mayor’s Office and Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment. “Ultimately, I think the key issue here is clarity. If plainclothes officers are going to engage with members of the media or the public in that way, there should be clear identification and clear rules governing those interactions,” Weinsier said. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Colombia Hosts Global Summit on Transitioning from Fossil Fuels in Attempt to Break U.N. Deadlock
Democratic Socialist Avi Lewis Elected Leader of NDP, Canada’s Main Progressive Party
Trump vs. Dreamers: Justice Dept. Moves to Make It Easier to Deport 500K+ DACA Recipients
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 28, 2026
Colombia Hosts First Global Summit on Transitioning from Fossil Fuels in Attempt to Break U.N. Deadlock
More than 50 countries are gathered this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, in a groundbreaking effort to establish another forum of international cooperation on phasing out fossil fuels and halting the climate crisis. This comes after years of fr...
More than 50 countries are gathered this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, in a groundbreaking effort to establish another forum of international cooperation on phasing out fossil fuels and halting the climate crisis. This comes after years of frustration over the United Nations-led COP process, which requires consensus. The initiative was launched in the final hours of the COP30 conference held in Belém, Brazil, last year, as fossil-fuel producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia blocked the formal commitments sought by more ambitious nations. “This gathering in Santa Marta is about breaking the deadlock, creating a space where mission is not held hostage, and where real pathways to phase out fossil fuels can be discussed openly and honestly,” says South African activist Kumi Naidoo, president of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
New Report Exposes Trump Cryptocurrency Corruption
President Donald Trump and his sons have approximately $1 billion tied to crypto venture World Liberty Financial, which was founded by the Trumps, alongside Steve Witkoff, now Trump's special envoy for peace. A new report by Public Citizen details how...
President Donald Trump and his sons have approximately $1 billion tied to crypto venture World Liberty Financial, which was founded by the Trumps, alongside Steve Witkoff, now Trump's special envoy for peace. A new report by Public Citizen details how the venture hinges on Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, which pleaded guilty in 2023 to sanctions and money laundering violations tied largely to Iran—the country Trump has taken the United States to war with. The Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled the enforcement tools that would hold crypto outfits like Binance accountable—pardoning its founder, dismissing an SEC lawsuit against the company, and issuing a directive to stop prosecuting crypto platforms. The report, “<a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCxXwZR0L9lem-2B5XpAYqIXzMpY8Y-2FYDYBU137qb4eugzR-2BiQOxuY-2BKDaQooBwm3lfX2ueb1MKYjQ7JEeF0PqtRNDh7boGV8q5MkT2Td5wmAuTwpyAGQKWj8lGGxApt867ew-3D-3DBaEF_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3IHguNLFpJOYXUMZCoT6kt5PfDZxUDgyDW0BlTUhN5NjcSpIUf4a0eParWb8UkXls6A8vDH0ZXiyvTOazx1xqYIWg3pxatQyRVFt4I4mzhA9EmC8zb-2FZPwXEvASHIiwuHI3CpnfA6eXFP2CZKu-2B4NZqRtcYfd4xjJunzS2SfFpt2OcJdOwJLY7w0CIGNTrj-2FTMlBkpcpLNsI4W6YWAjan0g-3D-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" >Conflict Coin: How the Trumps’ Billion-Dollar Crypto Stake Depends on a Company That Helped Iran Evade Sanctions”, reveals how Trump has leveraged investments in cryptocurrency to enrich himself and officials in his administration, specifically through working with Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to conduct deals. Binance has hosted accounts used by at least eight entities and individuals that the Treasury Department has sanctioned for supporting terrorism or terrorist-designated groups linked to Iran, some of whom were sanctioned or prosecuted by Trump's own administration, according to court filings. In 2023, Binance reached settlements with the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department, pleading guilty to anti-money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting and sanctions violations, with the U.S. government saying the exchange failed “to implement programs to prevent and report suspicious transactions with terrorists.” The report states, “The Trump family's entanglement with Binance exposes a dangerous contradiction at the heart of U.S. foreign policy: The same exchange that built the infrastructure for and holds the vast majority of Trump's USD1 stablecoin has facilitated billions of dollars in transactions for Iran and designated terrorist organizations. The opacity that defines crypto isn't a bug. It's the feature that makes it useful to both speculators and sanctioned regimes, and the president of the United States is profiting from it.” “Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange. It pleaded guilty in 2023 to sanctions and money laundering violations, and paid $4.3 billion in penalties to the United States, one of the largest corporate penalties ever. Its CEO and founder, CZ, pleaded guilty to failing to maintain effective anti-money laundering programs, and served four months in prison,” said Zach Everson, Research Director for Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project. “Now, this happened in 2023, about a year before World Liberty Financial launched. But the Trumps made the decision to go into business with these guys anyway, which is just flagrantly corrupt. Recent media reports suggest that Binance has continued to support Iranian interests. And yet rather than pull back, the Trumps’ company has been strengthening its relationship.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Avi Lewis, New Socialist Leader of Canada’s NDP: “Life Just Doesn’t Have to Be So Grindingly Unfair”
As Democracy Now! broadcasts from Toronto, we speak with Avi Lewis, the new head of Canada’s progressive New Democratic Party. Lewis was elected leader in a landslide last month, winning over party members on a democratic socialist platf...
As Democracy Now! broadcasts from Toronto, we speak with Avi Lewis, the new head of Canada’s progressive New Democratic Party. Lewis was elected leader in a landslide last month, winning over party members on a democratic socialist platform that vowed to prioritize affordability, address the climate crisis, fight the Trump administration’s attacks on Canada and more. Lewis takes over as the NDP has only five seats in Parliament and just as Prime Minister Mark Carney secured a majority for his Liberal government following three special elections in April. Lewis acknowledges that “the NDP has a lot of rebuilding to do,” but says there is “wide-open political space” in Canada for a populist left-wing agenda. “I think young people in particular are really responding to a vision where life just doesn’t have to be so grindingly unfair,” Lewis says. “We need nonmarket solutions to a time of market failure.” Lewis is a longtime activist and filmmaker whose late father Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP in the 1970s. He is married to the acclaimed author Naomi Klein. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The Trump administration is continuing its attacks on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, that has given deportation relief and work permits to immigrants who came to the United States as children. The Board of Immigratio...
The Trump administration is continuing its attacks on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, that has given deportation relief and work permits to immigrants who came to the United States as children. The Board of Immigration Appeals — an administrative court within the Justice Department — recently ruled that DACA status is not enough to spare someone from deportation, a decision that sets a precedent potentially putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk. Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez from Illinois, whose husband is a former DACA recipient, calls the BIA decision “very concerning” and part of a larger effort “weaponizing the court system” against immigrants. She says Congress must act and pass legislation to end the legal limbo of DACA recipients and millions of other immigrants. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Trump Appears Unlikely to Accept Iran’s Proposed Deal to Reopen Strait of Hormuz, U.N. Warns of Global Food Emergency as Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed, German Chancellor Says Iran Has “Humiliated” U.S. in Its War with Iran, Israel Orders More Residents of Southern Lebanon to Flee Homes or Face Death, Palestinians Cast Ballots in First Elections in Two Decades, Ex-Biden Official Says Netanyahu Created a “Genocide” in Gaza with U.S. Participation, Human Rights Groups Warn of “Dire” Conditions in Sudan’s Darfur Region, Florida Gov. DeSantis Unveils New Congressional Map to Create Four New GOP-Leaning House Seats, Supreme Court Appears Split over Roundup Weed Killer Case, Google Workers Urge CEO to Reject Classified Artificial Intelligence Work with the Pentagon, California Billionaire Tax Proposal Has Enough Signatures to Land on Ballot, Trump Welcomes King Charles and Queen Camilla to White House , Suspect in White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting Charged with Attempted Assassination of Trump, Melania Trump Calls on ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel
Trump Appears Unlikely to Accept Iran's Proposed Deal to Reopen Strait of Hormuz U.N. Warns of Global Food Emergency as Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed German Chancellor Says Iran Has "Humiliated" U.S. in Its War with Iran Israel Orders More Residents of Southern Lebanon to Flee Homes or Face Death Palestinians Cast Ballots in First Elections in Two Decades Ex-Biden Official Says Netanyahu Created a "Genocide" in Gaza with U.S. Participation Human Rights Groups Warn of "Dire" Conditions in Sudan's Darfur Region Florida Gov. DeSantis Unveils New Congressional Map to Create Four New GOP-Leaning House Seats Supreme Court Appears Split over Roundup Weed Killer Case Google Workers Urge CEO to Reject Classified Artificial Intelligence Work with the Pentagon California Billionaire Tax Proposal Has Enough Signatures to Land on Ballot Trump Welcomes King Charles and Queen Camilla to White House Suspect in White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Charged with Attempted Assassination of Trump Melania Trump Calls on ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Tuesday, April 28, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Girmitiya ancestry the inspiration behind Fiji writer’s debut novel
By Christina Persico, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor A woman whose great-grandparents — all eight of them — were Girmitiya labourers has put their stories into her debut novel. The result is Banjara, a novel partly based on what she found, which is told through the eyes of two women more than 100 years apart. Author,
By Christina Persico, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor A woman whose great-grandparents — all eight of them — were Girmitiya labourers has put their stories into her debut novel. The result is Banjara, a novel partly based on what she found, which is told through the eyes of two women more than 100 years apart. Author, Shana Chandra told RNZ Nine to Noon she knew her grandparents were Girmitiya, but nothing of their origin stories. READ MORE: Other Fiji literature reports “I knew that they were part of this larger geopolitical movement under colonialism, but I didn’t have their personal stories,” she said. “I didn’t know where they came from in India. I didn’t know what made them vulnerable to coercion. I didn’t even know their names. So really, writing the story was a way for me to write their origin story not only for me, but for them.” Chandra said the former head of New Zealand’s Girmitiya Foundation told her that Indo-Fijians were prohibited from writing about indenture. “It felt very important for me to write this origin story, because there was so much silence – I think, because there was so much shame over what happened. ‘Angry about the silence’ “And it was my way of saying to my ancestors, they no longer need to be silenced, and… thank you, in a way, because I used to be quite angry about the silence, but then I realized it was their gift to me, and their gift to all of us — they didn’t want us to be burdened with what they endured.” Chandra said a lot of research went into the book, but historical records only tell so much. “When I saw my great-grandmother’s immigration pass, she boarded the Hereford, which is actually the same boat that Avani, my character, boards in the book. “She was only eight when she boarded, and she boarded the boat with her younger brother, her older sister and her father, and there was actually no record of her mother being on board. So because of the way indentureships were partitioned with men on one side and women and children on the other, I know that those women on board would have helped my great-grandmother and her siblings survive in a myriad of ways. “One day, I just had this compulsion to wake up and say all of those women’s names because I knew that they would have helped them survive.” There were shocking discoveries, too. One immigration pass was that of a 15-day-old baby who had died. “And on the left-hand side, written in cursive writing by a colonial official, was that her mother had suffocated her. And though I know that could be true, there was something about that intuitively that just didn’t sit right in my body.” Real oral histories Chandra later came across a post from a site called Cutlass Magazine, featuring real oral histories. “One about a woman who said that when her grandmother was indentured, the women on board had to hide the children because crew members would find them a nuisance and want to throw them overboard. “And there was an actual story from an indentured man who kept on repeating the same story, how on his ship that had a particularly rough passage, the captain came, took a newborn baby and fed it to the sea as a sacrifice. “Even just me writing the names of those women afterwards, just burst into tears… It was important to weave those other stories, those oral histories, into the book to show that other side of history.” Chandra believes a lot of labourers were duped into signing the labour agreements, and many were promised a “paradisical island full of abundant opportunity”. “But what they actually faced …was hard labour up to 14 hours a day or over six days a week. And a lot of them were subjected to brutal physical and sexual abuse. “At one point, Fiji had the highest suicide rate in the world due to indenture.” The ‘women’s gang’ Chandra said there was “amazing forms of resistance” from the women. “There’s something known as the women’s gang. “These women would form these gangs, and they would go to known abusers and use the only thing, only weapons they had, which was their bodies, and retaliate and beat their abusers. So my book really showcases that female solidarity.” She said it was tough to navigate all the cultural practices and language of the time to be accurate. But what also became important was the “emotional truth”. “That emotional honesty was almost just as important, because that’s what it’s really trying to capture, but I was lucky. When I was writing this novel, it did feel like something larger was guiding my hand. So I do partly dedicate this novel to my ancestors, who felt like they were conspiring with me from the heavens. “I think what’s so amazing to me is that, and this is what I hoped the book would do — it would provide an emotional landscape for other Indo-Fijians to rebound off and to start talking about these stories.” Shana Chandra will be appearing as part of the Auckland Writers’ Festival next month. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families
The post The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families appeared first on ProPublica.
A planned Trump administration regulation will penalize disabled young adults like Shy’tyra Burton, pictured with her father, Rondell, if they live with their parents. Caroline Gutman for ProPublica Even a glance at Shy’tyra Burton’s life reveals her need for the sort of federal government assistance that helps disabled Americans stay in their homes. Born two months prematurely into a poor family in Philadelphia, unable to breathe or swallow without tubes and largely confined to medical facilities until age 4, Burton was diagnosed with a litany of developmental and intellectual disabilities that left her with an IQ below 70. She persevered and graduated from a high school special education program, then attempted community college. But she struggled to grasp basic tasks and information. She couldn’t get hired, including at McDonald’s. After multiple medical and psychological evaluations and a hearing before a judge, the federal government approved her for the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides a basic income to those with severe disabilities and to indigent older people. For Burton, now 22, the $994 monthly benefit is lifesaving but not enough to completely support herself on her own. So, like many SSI recipients, she has continued to live with her father, who makes around $2,000 a month as a Philadelphia sanitation worker. Now, President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to penalize people like Burton simply for living in the same home as their families, according to four federal officials, internal emails and a federal regulatory listing. The administration is working on a rule change that would deduct the value of a disabled adult’s bedroom from their SSI allotment, even if the family members they live with are poor enough to qualify for food stamps. This would mean slashing the benefits of some of the most low-income SSI recipients by up to a third — about $330 a month in Burton’s case — or ending their support altogether. The effort to cut SSI for families who also rely on food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, was initiated by top White House and Department of Government Efficiency officials last year, multiple Social Security officials said. It marks a second attempt by the Trump administration to quietly but dramatically downsize disability benefit programs overseen by the Social Security Administration, despite those programs’ strict eligibility standards and minimal instances of fraud. White House Budget Director Russell Vought and Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano abandoned a different proposed regulation involving disability payments last year after ProPublica and other news outlets reported on the harm that the plan would cause to hundreds of thousands of largely blue-collar workers in red states. (The disability programs are administered by the Social Security Administration but separate from the retirement program for which the agency is named. The Trump administration has promised not to cut Social Security retirement payments.) The likely SSI cut will affect not just younger adults with disabilities such as Down syndrome and severe autism who are still living at home with their low-income parents, but also older people with health or financial problems who have had to move in with their adult children on tight budgets. All told, as many as 400,000 poor and disabled people and indigent older people across the United States could have their support cut or eliminated, according to a ProPublica analysis of actuarial figures from the Social Security Administration. Protecting the SSI program from such a fate is “about how the faithful will be judged, and our care for the most vulnerable,” said Galen Carey, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals and himself the father of a 35-year-old son with Down syndrome who lives at home and receives SSI. Carey said it’s wrong to reduce a disabled person’s SSI benefits for choosing or needing to live with loved ones. “Knowing that they are contributing and not a burden to the family can be a source of great pride,” he said. (Some 40 Down syndrome organizations recently sent a letter to Bisignano expressing their opposition to the planned change.) The reason this will especially affect SNAP families is complicated. Essentially, under a long-standing federal policy that was updated during the Biden administration, if a household has already demonstrated its poverty via SNAP or other public assistance programs’ own extensive income-reporting requirements, then the family is officially deemed unable to financially support a disabled loved one living at home. (The typical SNAP household that is also supporting a person who receives SSI has an annual total income of just $17,000, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.) The Trump rule will undo this approach. It won’t matter if the SNAP program has already determined a family is poor enough to receive aid; anyone living at home beyond age 18 without paying full rent will be treated as if they have a benefactor. The value of their bedroom as well as any income and assets their family may have will be calculated and recalculated as often as every month and deducted from their SSI check. The SSI rule change is being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, a process that involves editing the draft regulation and considering where it falls on the list of the president’s priorities. Once it’s returned to the Social Security Administration for initial publication, there will be an opportunity for public comment; it could take until next year to be finalized, depending on the amount of opposition it faces. Presented with a detailed list of this article’s findings, Rachel Cauley, the OMB’s communications director, asserted that “this story is false because it speculates about policies that have not yet been decided.” Asked to specify what was false, Cauley did not identify anything, instead reiterating that the story is “trash.” A Social Security Administration spokesperson said “Commissioner Bisignano remains committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security and serving America’s most vulnerable populations.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1003" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A mother, wearing glasses and a leopard-print shirt, and son, wearing a bright yellow shirt, smile and pose with their heads leaning together. The mother’s eyes are closed and the son is smiling." class="wp-image-75019" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 2250w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=225,300 225w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,1024 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1152,1536 1152w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,2048 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,1151 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,563 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,736 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,744 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,703 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,1003 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,1532 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,1600 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,533 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,1067 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,2133 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260308-Gutman-SSICuts-06_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,2667 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Opal Foster’s son Jeremiah has Down syndrome and receives SSI. He turned 18 last year but is still living at home as he tries to start a career as a chef. Caroline Gutman for ProPublica ProPublica interviewed families who rely on the SSI program in Philadelphia and across the country. We talked to a young couple struggling to support not just their kids but also a parent with Alzheimer’s. We heard from a mother, Opal Foster, whose 18-year-old son has Down syndrome and lives at home as he strives to become a chef. And we spoke with a middle-aged woman with schizophrenia and panic disorder who lives with her brother’s family because she can’t hold down a job and fears being left alone in a nursing home. All of these people could have their SSI benefits cut because they live with family, even though disability advocates, evangelicals and budget experts agree that it’s more humane and less expensive for adults with disabilities to live at home rather than in institutional facilities. The potential cut to Burton’s SSI benefit, for example, would save taxpayers about $11 a day. But if her dad as a result of the reduced support can’t afford to provide for her anymore, then it could cost taxpayers many hundreds of dollars a day or more to house her at a residential facility, according to the state of Pennsylvania’s fee schedules. Supplemental Security Income, which serves 7.5 million Americans who are unable to make a living because of severe disabilities or destitution in old age, has never been easy to qualify for. Fewer than a third of applicants are approved, and the process often takes years. Recipients of these benefits in turn regularly have their finances reevaluated, and are also intermittently examined by medical and vocational experts, to determine whether their payments will continue. This paperwork-and-review-heavy process generates hefty overhead. The SSI program distributes just 5% of all Social Security Administration benefits yet accounts for nearly 35% of the agency’s administrative budget. Month after month, staffers have to pore over microscopic changes to SSI beneficiaries’ living arrangements and family members’ incomes and assets. Current and former Social Security officials have told ProPublica over the past year that the SSI program’s complexities and absurdities remain perhaps the agency’s biggest bureaucratic headache. As ProPublica reported last summer, DOGE did nothing to address this, mostly ignoring SSI despite its obvious inefficiencies. In fact, DOGE and the White House pushed out roughly 7,000 Social Security employees, many of whom had been working on SSI reforms and backlogs. The Biden administration had tried to do something about SSI’s excessive red tape. Under existing law, disabled people whose families have already established themselves to be poor by qualifying for certain other public assistance programs, such as veterans’ benefits or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, don’t have to do all of the same check-ins, over and over again, to receive SSI. In 2024, Biden added SNAP — which is more widely used now than when these SSI rules were created — to the list of such programs. This was ultimately an act of government efficiency, said Marianna LaCanfora, who was for years the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration, including during Trump’s first term. Safety net programs like SSI don’t have to be so complicated and thus expensive, LaCanfora and others at the agency said. But they often are that way because of all the effort spent triple-checking that the poor are actually poor. Nevertheless, conservative think tanks opposed the Biden SNAP policy, with some claiming that paying these low-income SSI beneficiaries less could save the federal government $20 billion over the next decade. And the White House included the rule change as one of its agenda items for the SSA heading into 2025. It was part of a broader push by the administration and DOGE to undo anything that the Biden administration had touched. If enacted, the change will require intellectually disabled young people like Burton as well as very elderly people to file extensive monthly reports if they want to continue their benefits even at the reduced level. They’ll have to provide details about the property where they live: whether it’s leased or owned, as well as the names of anyone in the home, and whether any of these people has any new income or assets. They’ll also have to include documentation of all household bills and expenses, showing how much they do or don’t contribute personally, as well as financial documents such as bank statements and any pay stubs. Burton will likely have to make an appointment and report in person at a Social Security field office any time her father’s hours or wages change even slightly; any time she and he switch up how they split utility bills; and any time an adult sibling spends even a few nights at the house and helps her with living expenses. If she doesn’t, she could later receive bills accusing her of having been overpaid by Social Security. For his part, Bisignano, the Social Security commissioner, wants to be seen as a leader who’s making the agency more businesslike and efficient, according to interviews with agency staff and recordings of him speaking in private executive meetings. But the SSI rule change, by all accounts, will increase the administrative burden not just on families like Burton’s but also on the staff who’ll have to constantly assess the living arrangements and family incomes of her and millions of other people. Given the tension between what the rule will do and the sense of efficiency that Bisignano says he wants to instill at Social Security, some agency insiders told ProPublica that he could still push the White House to drop the plan. Shy’tyra Burton’s monthly SSI support check is what allows her to contribute to her household, by paying her own phone and internet bills and buying many of her own meals, according to her father, Rondell. “I’m still barely managing, though,” he said. He has largely been a single parent to Shy’tyra and her siblings, who need some support too, although they’re more self-sufficient. Groceries and gas have only gotten more expensive. Burton is calmer and better at managing her disabilities when she can sense that her family’s economic circumstances are relatively stable, her father said. When he blew out his shoulder last year trying to hurl a heavy recycling bin onto a garbage truck, and had to have surgery and take time off work, the loss of income soon manifested in her behavior, he said. “It’s a trickle-down effect,” he explained. “My daughter absorbs money stress in her body.” One recent 75-degree afternoon, sitting on the front stoop of the rowhouse where she lives with her dad, Burton was rubbing her hands together vigorously, as if it were cold out. When asked why, she claimed it reminded her of being a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit and touching her parents’ hands through the small opening in her incubator. Burton still has some childlike ways. She grips her stuffed animals when she’s nervous, which is often. She talks to imaginary friends out loud, the same ones she talked to when she was a girl. What she likes about living at home is in part that she can be herself, and her family will still be there to care for her. She doesn’t like the lack of freedom and that she can’t truly be “out there” like her adult siblings. Burton wanted to go into the child development field, to help kids growing up with disabilities like hers, but some of the concepts were a bit too difficult. Now, she’s excited by cosmetology and intends to support herself one day as a hair stylist. She spends much of her time practicing on mannequin heads in her childhood room. The post The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Eli Hager.
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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.
Maldives police raid Adhadhu newsroom, impose travel bans on editor and CEO
New Delhi, April 28, 2026—Maldivian authorities must immediately return seized equipment to the independent news outlet Adhadhu, lift travel bans on its staff, and cease using criminal allegations to silence reporting on the president, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On April 27, police raided Adhadhu’s headquarters in the capital city, Malé, and seized electronic devices,...
New Delhi, April 28, 2026—Maldivian authorities must immediately return seized equipment to the independent news outlet Adhadhu, lift travel bans on its staff, and cease using criminal allegations to silence reporting on the president, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On April 27, police raided Adhadhu’s headquarters in the capital city, Malé, and seized electronic devices, the news outlet said. It added that officers entered the property under a court order issued following the March 28 release of “Aisha,” a documentary in which a former employee in the President’s Office alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power against President Mohamed Muizzu. The search warrant cited Section 612(a) of the Penal Code, which refers to the offense of “Qazf,” or the false accusation of adultery under Islamic law, as grounds to search the office. “The raid on Adhadhu and subsequent travel bans are an attempt to criminalize investigative journalism under the guise of religious and national interests,” said CPJ’s Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator Kunal Majumder. “Using religious laws to bypass civil media regulations sets a chilling precedent. Authorities must allow the press to hold government offices accountable.” The raid occurred hours after an Adhadhu journalist questioned Muizzu about the allegations during a televised press conference, said Mohamed Junayd, executive director of the Maldives Journalists Association, in a text message to CPJ. Following the raid, authorities imposed travel bans on Adhadhu CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and Managing Editor Hassan Mohamed. Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusaan defended the police action, saying: “Spreading fabricated serious accusations is not journalism. Police are upholding the rule of law and the President’s constitutional rights. Responsible freedom comes with accountability. No one is above the law.” The Maldives Police Service and the President’s Office did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Tunisia rearrests journalist Zied el-Heni, who launches hunger strike
New York, April 28, 2026—Tunisian authorities must immediately release journalist Zied el-Heni, who has been placed in pretrial detention over a social media post last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. El-Heni, editor-in-chief of independent news site Tunisian Press, was arrested on April 24, 2026, after complying with a summons to appear before...
New York, April 28, 2026—Tunisian authorities must immediately release journalist Zied el-Heni, who has been placed in pretrial detention over a social media post last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. El-Heni, editor-in-chief of independent news site Tunisian Press, was arrested on April 24, 2026, after complying with a summons to appear before the Fifth Central Unit for Combating Information and Communication Technology Crime in the capital, Tunis. He started a hunger strike on April 26 in protest of his detention, his daughter Ela el-Heni told CPJ via email. He is being investigated under Article 86 of the telecommunications code over a post in which he criticized a judicial decision related to journalist Ghassen Ben Khelifa, who was sentenced in March 2026 to two years in prison. El Heni’s trial is scheduled to begin on April 30, according to a local journalist who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. “Detaining Zied El-Heni over a social media post critical of a judicial decision is a clear example of how Tunisian authorities are weaponizing the law to silence journalists,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Authorities must immediately release El-Heni and stop using vague legal provisions to target the press.” El-Heni is being investigated under Article 86 of the telecommunications code, which carries penalties of up to two years in prison. Press freedom advocates have repeatedly warned that the provision is overly broad and prone to abuse in cases involving online expression. By applying ordinary criminal laws to journalistic work, authorities are directly violating Decree-Law 115, which guarantees that journalists are tried only under the press code. El-Heni has faced repeated judicial harassment in recent years tied to his public commentary. In 2023, he was arrested twice over remarks made on independent radio station IFM’s program “Émission Impossible.” He was later handed a six-months suspended prison sentence. He is currently being held in pre-trial detention at Mornaguia prison in Tunis, according to the local journalist. El-Heni’s detention comes amid a broader pattern of escalating judicial harassment on journalists in Tunisia, . On March 30, 2026, journalist Ghassen Ben Khelifa was sentenced to two years in prison in a case dating from 2022, and journalist Sonia Dahmani was sentenced to 18 months in prison on April 13. Both journalists are free but risk arrest at any time. CPJ emailed the Tunisian presidency for comment but did not receive a response. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
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He Died in a Florida Jail. The Company in Charge Should Have Sent Him to the Hospital, Experts Say.
The post He Died in a Florida Jail. The Company in Charge Should Have Sent Him to the Hospital, Experts Say. appeared first on ProPublica.
<img src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0021_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="Six printed photographs laid across a table show a man at various points in his life. One shows him posing with a birthday cake, another shows him with a dog by a swimming pool, and others show him with friends and family members."> Family photos of Brian Tracey kept by his sister, Lillian Scharf, who has tried for three years to get answers about how her brother died at a jail in St. Johns County, Florida, in 2023. The company that was contracted to care for inmates, Armor Health of St. Johns County LLC, has declined to release Tracey’s medical records, citing privacy laws. Greg Kahn for ProPublica For 30 minutes, Brian Tracey lay naked and unable to breathe on the floor of the medical ward at the St. Johns County Detention Center, a low-roofed building south of Jacksonville, Florida. It was Dec. 15, 2023, the day Tracey was supposed to be released from jail. By the time deputies noticed him, it was too late. His girlfriend, who’d posted bond for Tracey after nine days, waited outside for him but was instead greeted by a deputy and chaplain, who told her Tracey was dead. Medical staff working for the jail’s health provider, Armor Health of St. Johns County LLC, an affiliate of Miami-based Armor Health, said Tracey, 62, was showing flu-like symptoms and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that makes it difficult to breathe. In the days and hours before his death, Tracey had passed out and appeared confused, according to a police report from the county sheriff’s office, which investigated the death. Much of what is known about how he died comes from this report, which includes Tracey’s autopsy, interviews with deputies and medical staff, and a description of a video of Tracey in the medical ward. Four experts reviewed available detention and autopsy records for The Florida Trib and ProPublica. All four — two retired jail commanders and two medical doctors with extensive knowledge of jail treatment — determined that Tracey should have been hospitalized based on the symptoms he showed at the jail, which were later determined by an autopsy to be caused by pneumonia with COVID-19. He never was. For people like Tracey, who arrive in poor health, jails can be particularly dangerous, according to a growing body of medical research. Jailhouse deaths have been rising in the United States for the past decade, with about half due to illness, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Yet even as the death rate climbs, improving healthcare in jails has proven difficult. Many jails have turned to private contractors to care for inmates. But when those contractors perform poorly, there’s little pressure on the sheriffs or local governments to make a change. That’s even more true in Florida, where the vast majority of jails are run by elected sheriffs with little oversight from local and state officials. “Healthcare overall in Florida prisons and jails is a difficult and frankly ignored issue that’s put on the back burner,” said former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes, who was vice chair of the state’s Criminal Justice Committee. “And it’s one that has no independent accountability or oversight. It’s kind of a black box that operates in the state.” Contracts Despite a Conviction In the decade leading up to Tracey’s death, Armor Health Management LLC, known as Armor Health, and its predecessor, Armor Correctional Health Services Inc., faced allegations that they failed to hospitalize patients who needed more intensive care, according to court records obtained by The Florida Trib and ProPublica. (Armor Health had previously been operating as Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. until legally converting to an LLC in 2021.) From 2014 to early 2021, Armor Correctional Health Services was sued over 450 times, the company reported in documents submitted to St. Johns County as part of a contract-bidding process in 2021. Lawsuits over subpar jailhouse healthcare are frequently filed and often dismissed, as was the case in two-thirds of the suits filed against Armor. The bid documents show the company has settled at least 56 suits that alleged medical negligence or inappropriate medical care. Court records show that at least 13 of those cases alleged a delay in hospital care. More than 100 cases are still pending, according to the documents. In a 2020 wrongful death suit against Armor Correctional Health Services, lawyers hired a medical expert to review internal company reports of inmate deaths at Armor facilities obtained through discovery. The expert claimed the company failed to hospitalize patients in more than 70 instances, according to court documents. Armor denied claims that it has provided poor care or that its staff failed to hospitalize people, saying of the expert review that “each case involves unique medical circumstances, and deaths referenced were related to drug overdoses, natural causes, or other clinical conditions that were not associated with decisions regarding hospital transfer.” Other states have taken action against Armor. After 14 inmates died at two county jails in New York where Armor Correctional Health Services of New York Inc. provided healthcare, the state sued the company in 2016 for breach of contract and fraud. The New York State Commission of Correction’s Medical Review Board found what it called “egregious lapses in medical care” in seven of the deaths, and a separate investigation by the state attorney general found that the company failed to keep accurate records. Armor settled the suit and denied responsibility, but the agreement barred the company from doing business in New York for three years. Armor is now allowed to operate in the state. In Wisconsin, prosecutors said Armor Correctional Health Services failed one jail inmate to such a degree that they charged it with a felony. In December 2018, Milwaukee prosecutors levied eight criminal counts against the company for its role in the death of a Wisconsin inmate who died from dehydration while under its care. The charges included seven counts of falsifying a record and one felony count of abuse of a resident of a penal facility. A jury in 2022 found the company guilty of all charges. Prosecutors had hoped the conviction would push jails to cancel contracts with Armor, they said in an interview. And at least in Florida, they had reason to believe that might happen. Under Florida law, companies convicted of crimes directly related to transactions with government agencies must report the conviction to the state within 30 days and are barred from working with Florida public entities. Barred companies are also placed on a public list of convicted vendors. But the Florida Department of Management Services told reporters in 2023 that the company did not report its conviction to the state — a claim the company rejects. The company also continued to do work in Florida under a range of names linked to entities that had similar leadership and structure. After it was charged but prior to its conviction, the company filed paperwork with Florida converting itself to a new corporation under the name Armor Health Management LLC, according to corporate records. When the verdict came down in December 2022, it was against the defunct company. A series of new LLCs, which were formed under the holding company Armor Health and have Armor Health in their names, then signed new contracts with seven Florida jails. Florida business records show those limited liability companies have the same chief executive officer and street address in Miami as Armor Health. Manuel Fernandez, chief operating officer of Armor Health, also testified in court that the new entities assumed the liabilities of Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. after that company dissolved. Fernandez said the LLCs were created for tax purposes. In at least one document, the company seemed to acknowledge a connection between the defunct company and one of its newly formed companies. When Armor Health of St. Johns County LLC was asked in bid documents to provide a list of all litigation for the past seven years, the company listed hundreds of suits filed against the defunct Armor Correctional Health Services. Within three years of the company’s conviction, six of the seven Florida jails using an Armor entity stopped contracting with those companies, with at least two ending their contracts early: one citing poor performance and contract violations, and the other saying the termination was in the county’s best interest. St. Johns County, where Tracey died, holds the only known remaining contract with an Armor entity in Florida. Sheriff Robert A. Hardwick, who is responsible for signing contracts with vendors, declined to comment. An attorney for Armor defended the ongoing contract, telling the news organizations last month that it disclosed the conviction to the state and that the convicted company no longer exists. “Each Armor entity is in full compliance with all applicable State of Florida requirements and each remains eligible to operate in the state,” J. Alfredo Armas, the attorney for Armor Health of St. Johns County LLC, wrote in an email to The Florida Trib. The state of Florida does have safeguards to ensure its contractors are providing good services. However, in multiple ways, the state did not employ those tools when it came to Armor. In 2023, the state’s Department of Management Services, which is responsible for maintaining the list of convicted state vendors, said that it was investigating the company after a man died in the Duval County jail under Armor’s care. The inmate’s family alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2024 against the sheriff that the man was denied life-sustaining medication for a heart transplant. Armor said at the time that it had located and ordered the medication, but it arrived after the man had been released. That suit was later settled. The Department of Management Services has declined repeated inquiries over two years to say whether it has investigated Armor Correctional Health Services or Armor Health Management, or if it ever took action against any of the company’s entities. Armor does not appear on a public list of banned companies on the department’s webpage. The fact that there is a known vendor that has basically allowed people to die while under their care and they can continue to work in our prisons and jails is something that I have a problem with. Angie Nixon, former state representative for Jacksonville, Florida The state has also failed to reply to public records requests that might shed light on how it handled its investigation, if one was conducted. When a reporter went to the Department of Management Services headquarters in Tallahassee in February, the department would not make any agency representative available and told the reporter to contact the same spokesperson who has repeatedly declined to answer questions. In addition, at the time of the transplant patient’s death, former Jacksonville state Rep. Angie Nixon and a state senator wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice and stated that Armor had failed to report its conviction and should be barred from operating in the state. They asked the DOJ to conduct an investigation into “potential violations of federal law” by Armor. The DOJ acknowledged receipt of the letter to Nixon, but she said they never heard from the department again. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment. The office of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appointed the interim Department of Management Services secretary, Tom Berger, declined through a spokesperson to comment about the agency’s investigation, or to say if the governor has a stance on convicted companies working in Florida. The Florida attorney general, who represents state agencies and issues formal legal opinions, also declined to comment. Nixon, who is now running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, said she would be raising the issue of Armor again with the DOJ, the Department of Management Services and the governor’s office. “The fact that there is a known vendor that has basically allowed people to die while under their care and they can continue to work in our prisons and jails is something that I have a problem with,” said Nixon. “Repetitive Conduct of Delaying” When Jose “Pepe” Armas, a Miami physician and business owner, started Armor Correctional Health Services in 2004, he had very different ambitions. He had learned about jail deaths and substandard care that plagued the Broward County jail in South Florida for decades. So he consulted with other physicians and told a medical professor whom he attempted to recruit that he wanted to raise the standard of correctional care across the country. Armor’s first contract was a $127 million deal in Broward County to handle medical care for all of its roughly 5,000 inmates. The company grew rapidly, winning additional contracts in Brevard, Hillsborough, Martin, Palm Beach and Sarasota counties and, in 2007, St. Johns County. By 2011, Armor had also signed contracts in at least 12 other states. In a 2021 wrongful death lawsuit, Pensacola attorney Joe Zarzaur argued that those contracts incentivize Armor entities to keep sick inmates in the jails because Armor is paid a flat fee to provide healthcare; that means, he argued, there’s no billable benefit for adding additional services, such as hospitalization. “This is why Armor’s contractual partners, inmates, and families see this repetitive conduct of delaying or outright denying inmates medical care, which leads to their deaths,” Zarzaur argued in court filings. In that case, 44-year-old Misty Williamson died of pneumonia with sepsis after she was sick for five days at the Santa Rosa County jail. Armor said no Armor entity assumes financial responsibility for offsite medical costs, therefore there is no financial incentive to delay or avoid sending a patient to the hospital, adding that delaying hospital care is counterproductive. “Allowing a serious condition to deteriorate only increases the likelihood that the patient will ultimately require more intensive, expensive and specialized treatment,” Armor’s attorney, J. Alfredo Armas, said. The suit alleged in court records that since 2011, at least 72 people died under the care of Armor Correctional Health Services after they were not hospitalized or their hospitalization was delayed, including 11 other people who died from pneumonia or sepsis. The analysis was conducted by an expert in jailhouse medical care who reviewed hundreds of pages of Armor’s internal death reports gained through discovery. Armor attempted to block the analysis from being used in the trial by arguing the allegations had no bearing on whether the medical treatment its employees provided to Williamson met its standard of care. A judge allowed the death reports and a written affidavit by the expert to be entered as exhibits in the trial. A jury sided with the family of Williamson, whose estate was awarded $6 million in compensatory damages. Jurors found both Armor and its employees were negligent in delaying her transfer to a hospital and awarded her family an additional $10 million in punitive damages. But there was a larger issue at play: Was it individual employees or a larger company policy that was at fault? During the Williamson trial, Amy Dixon, a former Santa Rosa County jail nurse, testified that Armor had an ambiguous standard for sending patients to the hospital without preapproval, and that she could transfer someone if they were having a heart attack, but that something like a seizure should wait. Jurors ruled against Armor, saying the company’s policies and its employees were at fault for Williamson’s death. But the judge overruled that, striking down the $10 million award and finding that attorneys did not prove Armor’s policies led to Williamson’s death. Armor said the deaths in the analysis involved unique medical conditions and were related to drug overdoses, natural causes or other clinical conditions that were not associated with decisions regarding hospital transfer. Despite that outcome, in other cases nurses have similarly testified that Armor delayed transfers to hospitals. Carolyn Rubin testified in a Sarasota case that “there was a strong corporate push for the doctor not to send patients out.” She added, “It was our duty to keep them there as long as possible, to prevent costs of the hospital.” Armor denied the allegations that it failed to hospitalize a detainee who died of a brain hemorrhage after she complained for days about health problems including trouble walking. The lawsuit was later settled and Armor made no admission of wrongdoing. In 2018, Katherine McCormack Grange, an Armor nurse working at a New York jail where an inmate died of a heart attack, testified in a civil trial that she was personally told by an Armor manager that the company did not want patients to be sent to the hospital because of the expense. The lawsuit accused Armor Correctional Health Services of a “long and pervasive history of deficient health and medical care” at the Nassau County jail, which the company denied. The case was eventually settled and Armor made no admission of wrongdoing. The New York State Commission of Correction later determined the man’s death may have been prevented if he received proper care, according to the commission’s report, and that Armor Correctional Health Services staff did not properly fill out documentation after his collapse, which the company also denied. Sheriffs Canceled Contracts In the years leading up to Tracey’s death but before the conviction in Milwaukee, a handful of Florida sheriffs dumped Armor, blaming the company for inmate deaths and failed accreditations, and claiming it provided lax medical care. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly publicly fired Armor Correctional Health Services in 2019 after a 23-year-old was found seizing and unresponsive in his cell earlier that year; he had been complaining of a high fever. He was taken to a hospital and died there. Staly said the medical provider failed to recognize the man “was having a reaction to medicine they had prescribed to him and the seriousness of his illness.” “In response to this tragedy, Armor has shown little interest in anything other than denying responsibility and trying to bill us for even more money,” Staly said then. The next year, an annual audit by the Florida Model Jail Standards at the Flagler County jail “found expired medications, lapses in medical care by Armor and other deficiencies in Armor’s services.” In 2020, Sarasota County Sheriff Thomas Knight wrote in a declaration during a civil employment case that Armor filed against an employee that he fired Armor because he was “not satisfied with their performance,” including lack of proper medical staffing. Wakulla County Sheriff Jared Miller also wrote a declaration, explaining that he was “not satisfied with the service levels the WCSO had been receiving from Armor” when he ended the contract. In response to this tragedy, Armor has shown little interest in anything other than denying responsibility and trying to bill us for even more money. Rick Staly, Flagler County sheriff, after an inmate died Then, in 2022, Armor Correctional Health Services was criminally convicted in Milwaukee for abuse and falsifying records after a man died of dehydration in a Wisconsin jail. “We understood that this would likely have some broader impact if we were successful,” Milwaukee prosecutor Nicolas Heitman told The Trib, adding that the district attorney’s office wanted to make sure the company could not operate in other jails. “If you look at the history and their performance as a corporate partner with these institutions, you see they have a history of problems and an inability to reform themselves.” One sheriff cited the conviction as a reason for ending a contract. Duval County first hired Armor in 2017, but Sheriff T.K. Waters ended a renewed contract early, saying that Armor failed to disclose its felony conviction, failed to maintain accreditation with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and failed to comply with Florida’s open record laws. The decision came after the heart transplant recipient died after not getting antirejection medications while in the Duval County jail. Waters did not cite the death as a reason to cancel the contract. Mariloly Muller, a spokesperson for Armor Health, said the canceled contracts “relate to a prior leadership team and legacy operations that are not reflective of the current organization, its leadership, or its ongoing business practices.” Piecing Together a Death The only public record of Tracey’s nine days in jail comes from a 26-page police report from the St. Johns County sheriff’s major crimes unit, which investigates in-custody deaths. Tracey had been taken to jail on Dec. 6, 2023, for pushing an elderly woman he had been dating. The report shows that upon his arrival, jailers placed him in the infirmary to monitor a dog bite wound that doctors at University of Florida Health Flagler Hospital had treated shortly after he was arrested. Soon after he arrived at the infirmary, medical staff noticed Tracey was having trouble breathing and prescribed him an oxygen mask, according to the report. A nurse said that on Dec. 14, Tracey was sweaty and complained of shortness of breath. The report noted that Tracey repeatedly removed his mask, something nurses interpreted in the report as noncompliance, and reprimanded him. The nurse who treated Tracey noted that his blood oxygen level dropped to 89%. The Cleveland Clinic, an academic medical center, recommends on its website that people seek immediate medical treatment when their blood oxygen level falls below that. The next day, a different nurse told medical staff that Tracey needed to be watched because of his “decline in health,” that his blood oxygen levels were still “very low,” and that Tracey had passed out in his cell, according to the sheriff’s incident report. According to the report, the nurse practitioner on staff later told investigators he was never told Tracey passed out. Another staffer quoted in the report said no one had discussed whether to send Tracey to the hospital. One person told investigators that Tracey was asked if he’d want to be hospitalized, but he declined. There is no standard “refusal” form that detainees have to sign if they say no to medical care, the report noted. About an hour after he passed out, at 7:09 p.m. on Dec. 15, Tracey’s girlfriend had paid his bond and the deputy went to his cell to give him street clothes. He was found naked and lying in his bed. Investigators noted that it took “a lot of effort” for Tracey to get dressed. At 7:56 p.m., Tracey, who was still in the cell, appeared to yell something, waved his hands and then used an inhaler and put his hand on his chest, investigators saw in the videotape. By 8:16 p.m., Tracey had removed his pants and was visibly struggling to breathe, the report says. However three minutes later, in the inmate log report, a separate document maintained by sheriff’s deputies who conduct routine checks of medical patients, deputies noted they checked on Tracey and he was “OK.” Over the next 26 minutes, as Tracey lay alone in his cell, nobody came to his aid. At 8:35, Tracey appeared to stop breathing, according to investigators who watched the surveillance video. Investigators noted two deputies went into his cell two minutes later, then left. They came and went three more times over the course of a few minutes, without giving Tracy medical care, the report says. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="139" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="An excerpt from a document reads: At approximately 2016 hours, Brian removes his pants and lays down on the bed. Note: Brian appears to have labored breathing. At approximately 2027 hours, Brian lays down on the bed on his back naked. Note: Brian appears to have labored breathing. At approximately 2035 hours, Brain appears to stop breathing while on the bed on his back. At approximately 2057 hours, Deputy Jackson and Deputy Torrey Cox enter the cell, check on Brain and shortly after they both exit." class="wp-image-74828" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 1478w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,56 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,142 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,190 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,160 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,78 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,102 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,103 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,98 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,139 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,213 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,74 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,148 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-2.57.43-PM-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,222 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> A report from the St. Johns County Sheriff Office’s major crimes unit describes Tracey struggling to breathe and eventually stopping altogether. Obtained by The Florida Trib and ProPublica In the jail log, deputies wrote that they checked on all medical inmates at 8:45 — 10 minutes after investigators noted Tracey stopped breathing — and wrote that “all appears secure.” No one gave Tracey CPR until 9 p.m., when he had already lost his pulse, according to the investigative report. An ambulance was called, but Tracey was declared dead at the jail. Dr. Marc Stern, a correctional healthcare expert and University of Washington Public Health professor, said based on the information known about Tracey’s symptoms from the investigative report, Tracey should have been hospitalized. Rich Forbus, a former jail commander who currently serves as vice president at the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, reviewed the sheriff’s report at the request of The Trib and agreed with Stern. The private nonprofit company offers accreditation services to jails upon request. While some Florida county jails, such as Duval, have received accreditation from the company, St. Johns confirmed it doesn’t use the firm now, though its 2022 contract with Armor Health of St. Johns County LLC required the company to maintain accreditation with the commission. “You know the person’s a COPD patient and you know he’s sick, I’ll be honest, I question why he didn’t go out” to a hospital, Forbus said. “If I’m the jail commander, I’m questioning why he’s not at the hospital.” “He Just Fell Over and Died” That’s a question that Tracey’s sister, Lillian Scharf, is also asking. About five hours after he died, at 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2023, Maryland police went to her house. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="564" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman on a living room sofa looks off to the side with a serious expression." class="wp-image-74826" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,317 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,419 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,862 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1200 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Lillian Scharf, Brian Tracey’s closest remaining relative, didn’t learn the true details of her brother’s death until this year, when The Florida Trib and ProPublica sent her the autopsy and police report, obtained through a record request. “I sat in my chair for 30 minutes and cried reading them,” she said. Greg Kahn for ProPublica Scharf, Tracey’s closest remaining relative, said police told her to call the Florida sheriff for more information. “They told us he died of a heart issue, that it was sudden, he just fell over and died,” her daughter, Tracey Letourneau, recalled being told. But when Scharf asked for her brother’s full medical documents, the sheriff declined to give them because she’s not his legal next of kin. Tracey’s wife, Brenda, died a year before he did. When asked about Tracey’s death, J. Alfredo Armas, the attorney for Armor Health of St. Johns County LLC, cautioned against drawing conclusions regarding Tracey’s death because his medical records have not been released. The company has withheld those medical records from The Florida Trib, ProPublica and Tracey’s sister, citing medical privacy laws. Scharf also contacted a handful of attorneys in Florida and Maryland, but because the jail told her he died of a heart issue, each attorney turned her away. Scharf didn’t learn the true details of her brother’s death until this year, when The Trib and ProPublica sent her the autopsy and police report, obtained through a record request. By then, the two-year statute of limitations to sue for a wrongful death or neglect had passed. Florida also doesn’t allow monetary lawsuits in cases where the deceased doesn’t have a spouse or children. Her younger brother’s ashes are now in Glen Burnie, Maryland, in a box in Scharf’s closet. His pug, Thor, lives with Brenda’s sister. “You know, only the Lord knows the truth as far as if he would have survived or if he would have died, but I just feel like they didn’t give him the opportunity to try to save his life,” Scharf said. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="564" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A small wooden box sits on a shelf inside a closet, next to an American flag and above clothing on hangers." class="wp-image-74827" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,317 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,419 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,862 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260131-KAHN-FloridaPrisonDeaths-0222_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1200 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Scharf keeps her brother’s ashes in a box in her closet. Greg Kahn for ProPublica The post He Died in a Florida Jail. The Company in Charge Should Have Sent Him to the Hospital, Experts Say. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Nichole Manna.
He’s the only lead tester in this contaminated neighborhood. He graduates next month.
The lack of inexpensive and comprehensive toxics testing has created a fragile public safety net in polluted towns across the country.
Kim Booker never thought much about lead during her roughly 27 years living in Trenton, New Jersey. Born and raised in the once-industrial powerhouse, she first heard about the heavy metal at community meetings organized by the East Trenton Collaborative, a local nonprofit that works on environmental health and safety issues. There, she learned that the prevalence of lead-laden pipes and paint, a legacy of the city’s industrial past, could have contaminated the drinking water in her home and the soil around her property. She knew that her three-bedroom home was old, making it likely it had lead pipes. Booker noticed the paint on the walls chipping off. And she realized, too, that her late grandmother and sister were both diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which researchers have tied to lead exposure. She wanted to know if she was being poisoned by the lead in her environment. With few free, comprehensive testing resources available to her, Booker turned to Shereyl Snider, one of the leaders of the collaborative, who in turn connected her with Sean Stratton, a doctoral student in public health at Rutgers University in late 2023. At the time, he was taking samples of lead to get a clear picture of how lead had contaminated Trenton homes for his dissertation work. Once Booker agreed, Stratton was soon at her home, testing for lead in her paint, yard, and water. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/home-visit-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Two women and a man standing in a living room" data-caption="Stratton visits Amber DeLoney-Stewart’s home in October to provide a full inspection with Shereyl Snider, a community member with East Trenton Collaborative. " data-credit="Anna Mattson"/> Stratton visits Amber DeLoney-Stewart’s home in October to provide a full inspection with Shereyl Snider, a community member with East Trenton Collaborative. Anna Mattson When the results came back, Booker learned that her home was — as she’d suspected — contaminated with lead and that she had low but detectable levels of lead in her bloodstream. Stratton’s testing revealed that lead levels in her yard were more than 450 parts per million, above the Environmental Protection Agency’s hazard level. If not for Stratton, she would not have known. “The city shouldn’t rely on a student to do this work,” Stratton said. Comprehensive lead testing of the kind that Stratton provided costs upwards of $1,000. Over the past two years, Stratton has tested the soil, water, or paint in more than 140 Trenton homes and has been assembling the clearest, most cohesive picture yet of a crisis that permeates the state. Last July, the EPA added the entire neighborhood of East Trenton to the Superfund National Priorities List after testing found widespread soil contamination in residential yards, schools, and parks. Despite the designation, there has been no comprehensive door-to-door testing effort, leaving residents like Booker to rely on Stratton. But Stratton’s project is coming to a close. He defended his dissertation in February and will graduate in May, leaving uncertain who — if anyone — will continue the work. Community groups like East Trenton Collaborative worry the neighborhood could lose its only accessible source of household testing. “We don’t want to stop working together,” Snider said. “I don’t see it ending, but I don’t know how we can continue unless we have big supporters to help support our future endeavors together.” New Jersey has some of the highest legacy lead burdens in the country. The state has an estimated 350,000 lead service lines — placing it among the top 10 states, behind Illinois and Texas. It has received more than $100 million in federal funds for lead pipe replacements, but it doesn’t address legacy soil contamination, interior lead paint, or proactive household-level screening. Despite the patchwork of testing options available — blood lead screening through the health department, water sampling through Trenton Water Works, and occasional environmental assessments from state or federal agencies — Stratton said the system rarely functions as a coherent whole. The state health department conducts home paint surface inspections, but only after a child has been poisoned, which is often first detected by mandatory lead testing. In New Jersey, children are required to test for lead at 1 and 2 years of age. Testing is free from local health departments for kids who are underinsured or uninsured. But older children and adults have to pay their own way. Trenton Water Works provides lead water test kits for homes built before 1986, but residents must coordinate testing with a private lab and pay for the cost of the analysis, which can run from $20 to $100. No agency reliably tests for lead in soil unless the EPA steps in to investigate. Each test only addresses a narrow slice of the problem, leaving families with fragmented or incomplete information. Results can take weeks to arrive, if they arrive at all. One resident, Amber DeLoney-Stewart, said she never received her home inspection results from the city, even after blood tests revealed her child was lead-burdened. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1152 1152w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4_Samples.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Vials of samples on a shelf" data-caption="Stratton takes his vials of samples back to his lab at Rutgers University for processing. " data-credit="Anna Mattson"/> Stratton takes his vials of samples back to his lab at Rutgers University for processing. Anna Mattson Without coordination, door-to-door outreach, or a mandate for proactive household-level screening, the burden falls on residents to navigate a maze of programs — and too often, Stratton said, people who need the information most don’t receive it. “It just doesn’t ever seem to be enough,” Stratton said. “It’s very siloed.” Stratton’s work reflects a broader pattern in environmental health research across the United States. In some communities concerned about pollution, residents turn to university researchers for help testing soil or water when government monitoring is limited. In Atlanta, for example, a soil-testing project launched by a graduate student at Emory University and community partners uncovered elevated lead levels in residential yards, prompting a federal investigation. And last year, the University of California, Los Angeles, offered free soil testing to residents affected by wildfires. Efforts like these often depend on temporary research projects, meaning they can end when students graduate or grant funding runs out. Stratton’s research in East Trenton has been supported by two grants — one from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and another directly from the federal government. As the Trump administration cuts billions of dollars of grant money, Rutgers’ Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute saw some grants rescinded entirely. Other projects remain in limbo. But Stratton’s grants somehow made the cut, even with “environmental justice” in their titles. Brian Buckley, the institute’s executive director, said further budget cuts mean far fewer opportunities to continue future research. “We’ve been playing dodge the bullet,” he said. Stratton didn’t originally set out to investigate lead contamination. After graduating from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science in 2015, he worked in environmental consulting in New Jersey, sampling soil, air, and water and designing remediation strategies for contaminated sites. Around that time, Flint, Michigan, switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River, and triggered a public health crisis when corrosive water from the river caused pipes to leach lead, exposing more than 140,000 people to dangerous levels of the metal. A friend who was concerned about the events asked Stratton to sample water at his New Jersey home and send it to a lab to test for lead. The results came back extremely high: more than 78 parts per billion of lead — more than five times the EPA’s action level. Confused, Stratton began digging through public records, water reports, and federal regulations. He noticed that his own town of East Brunswick was not testing the correct location type. Federal rules require that cities test homes that are most likely to have lead service lines, but Stratton said the agency was largely testing homes less likely to have them. Alarmed at the discrepancy, he began filing public records requests with water utilities across the state to see whether similar gaps existed elsewhere. “I started arguing with the DEP,” Stratton said, referencing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. “And then I decided I needed to go back to school, because I felt like I needed to get more credibility.” A spokesperson for the state agency said in a statement that East Brunswick’s lead testing plan follows federal rules that require water systems to prioritize homes most likely to have lead service lines. It added that when there are not enough of these higher-risk homes available or willing to participate, utilities can test lower-risk homes to meet the required sample sizes. Spurred by what he’d learned about the prevalence of lead contamination, Stratton ran for State Assembly as the Green Party candidate for East Brunswick in 2017. His candidate profile says that he will “continue to fight to ensure that our water is suitable to drink.” Stratton lost the race, but he returned to Rutgers three years later to earn a master’s degree in public health and then continued into a doctoral program. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1152 1152w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/6_Lab.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Man standing in a laboratory" data-caption="Stratton has sampled more than 100 New Jersey homes for traces of lead in pipes, soil, and paint. " data-credit="Anna Mattson"/> Stratton has sampled more than 100 New Jersey homes for traces of lead in pipes, soil, and paint. Anna Mattson Stratton’s doctoral project had three main objectives: verify whether Trenton residents are exposed to lead, determine where the exposure was coming from, and uncover how residents can reduce exposure. In his testing, Stratton used an X-ray fluorescence gun to scan every wall in a willing volunteer’s home to see how much lead was in the paint. He dropped off water vials for residents to fill in the morning from the kitchen sink — first thing in the morning, before using any water. Out in the yard, he took a small vial and filled it with soil. Then he packed up his bag, put it all in the trunk of his car, and made the drive back to the cluttered Rutgers lab, where he would run tests. Afterward, Stratton provided residents with full results, information on what to do next, medical information about where to get blood lead checked, and his phone number, along with his supervisor’s at Rutgers, to call if they had questions. In late February this year, Stratton presented his findings to a team of Rutgers professors during his official dissertation defense. His findings were stark. Most homes he tested had lead, whether it be in the dust, paint, or pipes. All homes measured for floor dust had detectable levels of lead, with 86 percent of them exceeding the EPA’s action level. He also found that homes without lead-based paint in Trenton are still at risk of elevated levels because of the legacy lead dust outside. That outside dust in Trenton comes from a myriad of sources, including gasoline, atmospheric aerosols, and coal and soil contamination from its history of lead-based ceramics manufacturing. He also found that running the tap for five minutes before using the water — a common recommendation from public health experts — was still not an adequate amount of time to flush traces of lead. He suggested, in his results, that lead safety guidelines should expand to include reduction strategies, like using a water filter. A week later, he welcomed more than 30 people into a Rutgers classroom for a presentation of his findings. He wanted collaborators and community members to celebrate with him. As gifts, he handed out little square 3D printed urban maps of East Trenton, with streets and raised buildings, to those he’d worked with over the years. Among those in attendance were partners who helped connect Stratton with residents, including Snider of East Trenton Collaborative and Anthony Diaz of the Newark Water Coalition. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5_Defense.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A room full of people sitting at desks" data-caption="In early March, more than 30 friends, family, and colleagues gathered in a Rutgers conference room to celebrate Stratton’s work on lead contamination in New Jersey. " data-credit="Anna Mattson"/> In early March, more than 30 friends, family, and colleagues gathered in a Rutgers conference room to celebrate Stratton’s work on lead contamination in New Jersey. Anna Mattson The EPA’s decision this summer to list East Trenton as a Superfund site means a cleanup is coming — but slowly, and only for the soil, not the pipes or the paint. The designation triggers more sampling, long-term soil removal plans, and years of federal oversight. Still, none of that has started yet. A remediation plan hasn’t been developed. And in a state dotted with Superfund sites that have languished for decades, residents know what a long wait can look like. For now, Stratton’s research has offered immediate answers for concerned residents. Since learning about the lead in her home, Booker has tried to reduce her exposure. “I use a vacuum to clean my floors and carpets instead of stirring up dirt and dust particles by sweeping,” Booker said. “When my nieces come over and want to run around in the yard, I make sure they remove their shoes when they come inside and wash their hands.” She said Snider, Stratton, and the East Trenton Collaborative have sounded the alarm on the lead issue in Trenton. Now, she hopes that the community will continue to fight so that the city can be a place where children and families can be healthy and thrive. “Knowledge is only powerful and beneficial if its effects change,” Booker said. “We can know there is a problem, but without action, the problem simply remains.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline He’s the only lead tester in this contaminated neighborhood. He graduates next month. on Apr 28, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Anna Mattson.
This Supreme Court ‘victory’ for oil giants is not what it seems
A recent ruling puts $745 million to restore Louisiana's coastline in doubt. But the effort to get Chevron and other oil majors to pay is far from over.
For millions of years, the Mississippi River flowed unchecked, carrying roughly 400 million metric tons of sediment down to Louisiana, where it spilled into the Gulf of Mexico to create new land. But in the early 20th century, a series of dams and river-training structures were built to prevent flooding — leaving the river tamed and unable to produce new terrain at anywhere near its previous pace. Oil and gas development, which ripped broad canals through vulnerable marshland, made matters worse. As sea levels rose, existing land subsided, and more brutal storms battered the coast. Louisiana lost more than 2,000 square miles of wetlands over the last century, a slow dismantling exacerbated by climate change. About a football field or more land disappears every 100 minutes, and the state’s southern parishes are expected to lose another 3,000 square miles by 2050 unless drastic action is taken. After years of devastating hurricanes, many of Louisiana’s southernmost towns have been emptying out. Complex restoration efforts remain the state’s best hope, but the Supreme Court hampered these initiatives earlier this month when it unanimously ruled that a lawsuit filed by Plaquemines Parish against Chevron — accusing the company of damaging coastal wetlands and accelerating land loss — should be moved to federal court, rather than the state court in which it was filed. The ruling effectively cancels a $745 million judgment against Chevron, decided before its appeal landed in front of the Supreme Court, and sets up a rematch of a decade-long legal fight. “Frankly, it’s a ridiculous situation,” said Patrick Parenteau, emeritus professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. “All this time and effort has gone into litigating these issues before a jury in Louisiana. Now you have to do it all over again, but you’re doing it sort of up the street in the federal courthouse.” Federal courts are generally seen as more industry friendly, and the Supreme Court’s ruling was applauded by the Trump administration. Critics are calling it a win for oil majors, but legal experts say it’s only a brief reprieve for oil companies, which will still have to face a Louisiana jury in federal court. Plaquemines Parish’s lawsuit is one of dozens filed by Louisiana’s parishes against oil majors. Chevron appealed the state court’s ruling in favor of Plaquemines Parish last year, because the case focused on the company’s work drilling off the Louisiana coast back in World War II. Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the lawsuit should be moved to federal court, as the company was working as a military contractor during that time. “I was surprised that the case was not removed to federal court originally,” said Edward P. Richards, a professor of law at Louisiana State University. He said that the lawsuit involves a number of aspects — dredging permits in navigable waterways, for example — that fall under federal purview. “I think that might be the reason the more liberal justices also went along with the ruling,” Richards said. “There were a lot of reasons that this should be in federal court.” What’s more, Richards explained, so few people are left in some of the southern parishes that it’s difficult to find an impartial jury — although it’s also unlikely companies will find a much friendlier audience in federal court. Louisiana might be one of the most conservative states in the country, but residents in these low-lying parishes don’t need to believe in or care about climate change to see that sea levels are rising and flooding has become more frequent. Governor Jeff Landry, for example, has been a longtime supporter of oil and gas, going so far as to call climate change a “hoax” and packing state environmental offices with fossil fuel executives. Still, the Republican has explicitly backed these parish lawsuits demanding damages from oil companies. The transfer of the Plaquemines lawsuit to federal court is sure to be frustrating for parishes looking for funds to restore their coastlines. Last year, Louisiana lost its most ambitious plan to combat sea level rise when Landry canceled the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project. The initiative was formed as part of the state’s “coastal master plan” and aimed to harness Mississippi’s former land-making power through an intricate series of locks and dams, funneling sediment into Barataria Bay off Plaquemines Parish, where it would support the growth of new wetlands. The project would have been one of the largest ecosystem restoration undertakings in the country’s history, according to The Audubon Society, and was supposed to be funded in part by remediation money from the Deepwater Horizon Spill. But Landry scuttled it, citing concerns about construction costs — even though the project had received $3 billion in funding from the Deepwater Horizon settlement —and the possibility that the project would damage the state’s seafood industry. Many shrimpers and oyster farmers opposed it over worries that the influx of freshwater from the Mississippi River would drive their catch out of the bay. Both Richards and Parenteau said that the Supreme Court’s decision is unlikely to have any impact on the climate lawsuits filed by other states, such as Hawaii and Rhode Island. Those lawsuits are not concerned with the damage the oil industry has done to any specific area, but rather what companies said and when: Oil majors, those lawsuits contend, knew that climate change was real and ran disinformation campaigns to avoid the consequences. “We’re a long way from finding out what these individual cases are going to result in, in terms of damage awards,” Parenteau said. “But it could be a very, very significant amount of money, that’s for sure.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline This Supreme Court ‘victory’ for oil giants is not what it seems on Apr 28, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Rebecca Egan McCarthy.
Filmmaker, interviewer, and Track Star host Jack Coyne on shaping culture in a positive way
When did your love for stories/storytelling begin?
When did your love for stories/storytelling begin? I’ve always been a fan of entertainment. As a kid, I loved watching TV and movies. At some point, probably in high school, it clicked for me watching Goodfellas. I was like, “Yo, somebody’s job is to make this.” I realized not only is it their job, but there are artistic choices that are going into it. The end result is this thing that makes me happy. I thought that that was very noble. The idea of having any sort of job where you’re adding some value, some good in the world. My dad was a doctor, one of the most altruistic jobs you can have. When we had his funeral, there were thousands of people there that had been his patients. It’s incredible that he was able to have this impact on so many people’s lives by taking care of them. He was like, “Don’t ever be a doctor. It’s not a good industry.” But I think there was an element of, “What can I do that adds a little bit of value and positivity into people’s lives?” And I was like, “Oh, I’m getting so much out of watching this movie. It makes me happy. It cheers me up.” When I was in college, I was an Economics and Film major. I did this paper on the economics of movie theater going, and it was during the Great Depression that movie theater attendance was at its all time high, which is kind of surprising. But people, with whatever money they did have, they used it to get that sort of escape that gave them hope. That’s sort of how I justified it to myself, this is the thing that I’m interested in and want to do. I had to figure out how to do this as a career. When I was introduced to the Neistat brothers, Casey and Van, and their old TV show, I was like, “These guys are just picking up a little camera and making something.” It became accessible. Working with Casey, he was like, “You’re in New York City. There’s a thousand stories that just punch you in the face every day.” It was that kind of mentality. Were there other ‘guy on the street’ shows or accounts you took cues from? Right around the same time that we started, Subway Takes started, Caleb was doing apartment tours, going into people’s houses. That started around the same time that we started doing New York City Trivia and it just exploded. There were other things, but a lot of them that were standing out were prank videos from that earlier YouTube era of people going up to someone on the street and almost making fun of them. We knew there was a lane to do this in a positive way, and that’s what we found appealing. It felt like a turning point was realizing the limitations of only focusing on NYC trivia. My goal from when we first started was, if you’re going to do a man on the street type show, you’ve got to talk to people. It was always a turnoff for me seeing these interviewers that would just run up to someone with a camera in their face, and so that wasn’t appealing. Then you’re kind of shy and you’re like, “How do I get this person to stop and talk to me?” So you need something appealing to get as many interesting people as possible interested in you and saying, “Okay, I’ll spare 10 minutes or whatever to do this thing.” At first, New York City Trivia, win a hundred bucks, people were like, “I want to do that.” It was just the hit rate of someone who could actually have an interesting conversation to answer those questions. A lot of times people would just be like, “I don’t know that much about New York. I’m moving on.” So probably two months in, three months into doing it, we were getting a lot of great people. It took a lot of time. I started thinking, what about music? What does this look like? We tweaked the format a little bit to make it even more eye-catching and grab your attention. I knew because of doing the other thing that more people were going to stop. There was no question in my mind, but it wasn’t about making a show that was going to be viral or talking to musicians. It was literally just about standing on the corner, catching people’s attention. How do you make people feel comfortable with you quickly during interviews? Getting reps in is the big thing. I see a lot of interviews where people aren’t really paying attention and it’s like, “Why the fuck are you asking this person a question? I can see you’re thinking about the next thing, you’re not even listening to them.” Pretty early on that was an unlock for me. When I started talking to people, I knew I had to be present. Outside of the content thing and outside of work, it’s just this valuable life lesson that if you tap into that vein, you can get something special out of it. Standing face-to-face with someone, talking to someone for real in real life is something that’s more and more rare and precious. That’s the thing that we’re latching onto. When I was a kid, my grandfather, we would hang out and he would talk to everybody. He would just be chilling somewhere. We’d go shopping with my grandma and we’d be sitting outside the store and he would just talk to everybody. “How are you doing? What’s going on?” It was natural. There was probably a lesson there. Openness and kindness unlocks a lot. What are net positives/negatives of the algorithm having “figured out” Track Star? Especially with Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, there’s a pretty low barrier to entry. If you have a formatted idea that you’re able to do consistently, you’ll learn quickly whether or not that has traction or is appealing to people. The algorithm can help tell you that. If you are making something that’s formatted that’s consistent, but that just isn’t interesting, then it’s not going to show it to people. If it’s working and it’s appealing to people on a small scale, the algorithm will share it with more people and it’ll be able to grow, and you’ll be able to learn from that thing. I think it’s very easy to get a good idea out there. I think we’re at the tip of the iceberg. There’s lots more shows that could exist like this on social platforms, and I think they need them. It makes sense for these platforms to say, “Hey, this dude is putting something out every day at the same time, and puts out a video that people like. We should keep showing it to more people. That’s good for us, more people engaging with our platform.” There’s a big opportunity because of the algorithm, but also it narrows in creativity a little bit, makes people try and be more and more similar to the other stuff, but I don’t know if that wasn’t always true. Before algorithms, there were human versions of algorithms like record labels being like, “Hey, make the same song that you made last time because people like that one,” instead of taking creative risks. There is comfort in consistency. How different is it from Jeopardy? Okay, I’m home from work. It’s six o’clock, Jeopardy’s on. You know it’s going to be there, the same as “Oh, open Instagram at whatever time, there’s Track Star.” Is it that different? There’s so much of the stuff that I think, was like our comfort food, is gone. Wheel of Fortune, same thing. Price is Right, same thing. Some of these classic shows have not changed at all, and they’re still equally entertaining. What’s the approach when someone wants to come on as part of their new album or movie, etc., rollout? The thing that makes the show great, the thing that people like about it is hearing an interesting person talk about music and share their love of music. It’s not reliant on celebrity, whereas the publicists and the movie people and the music people think that we need them. There’s a power dynamic that’s a little bit misunderstood. I don’t have to do the show with celebrities, so I have to want to talk to LeBron. It’s like, “Oh yeah, of course I’m going to talk to LeBron. That’s awesome. That’s going to be cool.” The reason I could do it was because of Beats. So I was like, “You know what? We’ll give a shout out to his new headphones sort of thing,” because I’m willing to make that exchange of values there, even if it probably hurts the entertainment value of the show. Whereas I can just go out in the street and find an interesting character and make an episode that’s going to be more viral and more people are going to love. That’s what I have to remind myself of all the time. That’s what makes the show special, that’s why people want to be on it. So I don’t have to choose to do those things. I’m not going to just promote a movie that I’ve never seen for no reason, but I am interested in speaking to an artist who has an interesting perspective. As a consumer, you can click on their profile. You can be like, “Oh, this person looks interesting.” And then it’s almost like you feel like you discovered them instead of having it being force-fed to you. People are pretty smart that are consuming this stuff. Tell me about your newsletter, podcast, live series, etc. How do they all fit into the Track Star universe? It’s back to my personal curiosity and interest. The more that I’ve been doing this show, the more I’ve been learning about music, the more interested I am, and talking to people who can teach me more about music. Let’s do a podcast where we dig into something a little bit deeper and let that person explain something. The audience is like, “That was cool. I learned all this new stuff I didn’t think about before.” Or like, “Oh, there’s an opportunity for…” I obviously love music, so there’s an opportunity for an artist to come and perform and play a show in our office. That’s really cool. The way to make it sustainable is to have it be consistent and have people watch it over a lot of times so we can find sponsors or whatever. It has to be a good product. That’s incentivizing us or encouraging us to make a product that people want to watch, people click on and pay attention to. Ultimately it just comes down to, I think it would be cool to have someone play a song at my office. So let’s run with that. It all stems from the things that I’m interested in. We do these videos on Public Opinion that are like, what’s the point of making a video about the horse track? It’s like, well, I went to the horse track three years ago and was blown away by how weird and interesting and different it was. In the back of my mind, I’d love to tell that story, not because I think that it’s going to go viral or win us an award, but because I want to dive into this thing. The thing that makes me excited is figuring that stuff out. What are some current challenges you’re up against? In order to make this sustainable, you always have to be growing, otherwise you can become stagnant. So we’re always adding new people to the team and bringing in their creativity and helping them shape what we do. Everything has happened organically, and now it’s like we’re actually starting to think about this more as a business so that we can create this type of work on a larger scale because we do truly think we can change the media landscape. I used to work at CNN, and I thought that the way that they did things was kind of stupid and broken. I thought I had better ideas of how to do that, and I still want to figure out that thing. It’s never going to be the monoculture level of CNN and TV, whatever, but I do think you can make interesting video work and share it with people at a larger and larger scale. You can move and shape culture in a positive way. What have you learned about yourself through making these videos? I realized when we started this company that I could use myself as a host, as a tool for storytelling, that’s just the same thing as editing. That’s the same thing as the type of camera you use, graphics, whatever. I think of it from a distance. I do a little bit of reflection sometimes, where I see, “Oh, I guess I saw myself there.” For the most part, what I’m trying to do is be as present as possible. I’m not thinking about myself, I’m thinking about the story and the way that I sound as a piece of the story. I don’t insert myself into it that much. My life story is not really in it. My personality is, my vibe and my tone, but I’m not talking about myself that much. What makes for a “good” question? For me, it’s simplicity. Just like in anything in life, the simplest things are the most elegant and beautiful. How simple is the question that you’re asking, but how thought-provoking can that simple question be? That’s what’s appealing to me. What is this song? Who is this? Why do you like them? What happens when you flush the toilet? What’s bringing you hope and joy right now? Obviously the thing that’s bringing me the most joy is my son who’s two months old. It’s just a constant reminder that life is this beautiful, precious thing that we get to be a part of. It’s definitely a life reset where you’re like, “Okay, let me refocus my priorities to a certain extent.” I’m such an optimistic person and I tend to just see the good in people and everyone, probably to my own fault. As someone who spends a lot of my time talking to strangers, I see a lot of positivity in the world, and I think I see the good. And so I’m less scared, I think, and I’m less like the world is going to shit because I see all these people on a daily basis who are good. Jack Coyne Recommends: Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys..: A Memoir by Vivienne Albertine Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture by Fab 5 Freddy Imitation of Life (1959) dir. Douglas Sirk Dove Ellis’s album Blizzard Peaches! album by the Black Keys (check out their session in our office) This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Jeffrey Silverstein.
Again To the Grisly Well, With Ballrooms
Leave it to this still-repugnant regime to instantly twist a Keystone Cops security breach - not a so-distant-it-was-on-another-floor "assassination attempt" - to their own skeevy purposes: blaming Democrats for "this dark moment," demanding a $400 mi...
Leave it to this still-repugnant regime to instantly twist a Keystone Cops security breach - not a so-distant-it-was-on-another-floor "assassination attempt" - to their own skeevy purposes: blaming Democrats for "this dark moment," demanding a $400 million gold ballroom for "national security," burnishing the Brave Dear Leader myth of an addled old man who barely registered it, and what gun control issue? Meet the Epstein class: When shots (again) ring out, they get a friggin' ballroom, kids get thoughts and prayers. The latest "clown show on steroids" - and grim proof of Trump's relentless corrosion of political discourse - unfolded Saturday night at an evidently sloppily unsecured Washington Hilton, where in 1981 John Hinckley shot Reagan, who survived. The already contentious White House Correspondents' Dinner drew the black-tied, preening, profit-driven remnants of a craven legacy media - and a growing right-wing slopaganda brigade - both willing to pretend it was normal to party with an abusive enemy of free speech who's spent years attacking, belittling, suing, bullying and name-calling them as an "enemy of the people" for seeking to do their jobs and tell the truth, thus turning the evening into a queasy "case study in institutional self-abasement." Even before the vitriolic, incendiary Trump - who led a Jan. 6 riot, urged fans to “knock the crap out” of protesters, bade Proud Boys "stand by," mused "the 2nd Amendment people" could do something" about his opponents, warned of "a bloodbath" if he was defeated, killed schoolgirls and threatened genocide in an illegal war he doesn't know how to end - let loose with what he dubbed "the most inappropriate speech ever made" (which Press Barbie called "shots fired") - before all that came a few muffled thuds of a dud of an assassination attempt, on the floor above, by a suspect who ran past a security checkpoint before being tackled. One shot was fired - it's unclear by whom - and one cop was wounded through a bulletproof vest; he is expected to be okay. On the floor below, meanwhile, "absolute chaos" reigned. Panicked women in gowns and men in tuxedos hit the floor, flipping over chairs, lunging under tables and sometimes holding phone cameras aloft as a horde of Secret Service agents swarmed the ballroom, leaping on stage, yelling "Get down! Get down!", running in all directions at once, weapons poised and flailing. A crowd of security guys whisked J.D. Vance out of his chair first; then another cluster went for Trump, dazed and stumbling, guys holding him up on both sides. Video later showed alleged FBI head Kash Patel crouching absurdly behind a chair and RFK Jr. heroically leaving his wife behind; an idiotic "USA!" chant that "absolutely nobody wanted to hear" flared briefly before dying a well-earned death. The suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, a Torrance, CA. mechanical engineer, game developer and teacher with a Masters degree in computer science; on Facebook, he also called himself "an amateur entomologist, casual composter and occasional artist." When he tried to breach the metal detectors above the ballroom, he was armed with a shotgun - loaded with buckshot not slugs "to minimize casualties" - a handgun and several knives. He was charged with two counts: Using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. Earlier, he'd posted a lucid, relatively mild missive from "a Friendly Federal Assassin" to explain his actions; it began with, "Hello everybody!" and apologies to "everyone whose trust I abused." He apologized to his parents "for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for 'Most Wanted,'" to his colleagues and students, to "everyone abused or murdered before this or after, any "person raped in a detention camp, fisherman executed without trial, schoolkid blown up, child starved... I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes." As a Christian, he noted, "Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is rather complicity in the oppressor’s crimes." He blasted the "insane" incompetence of the lax security he encountered, said he felt "awful" about what he thought he had to do, and expressed "rage thinking about everything this administration has done...Stay in school, kids." Despite its placid tone, MAGA world promptly dubbed it "a manifesto" of "anti-Christian bile" from "a depraved crazy person." Press Barbie blasted the "demonization (and) hateful rhetoric directed at Trump...Nobody has faced more bullets and violence." Similarly, nobody in the cult wants to admit they're adamantly declining to acknowledge years of vicious Trump rhetoric that have shaped "an angry, polarized nation," or the role of rabid MAGA responses, say, to AOC noting she's glad everyone was safe - "There is a special place in hell for demons like you," "Go fuck right off with the other Commie losers" - or the "vibes for security" so lax - no photo ID, attendee list, checkpoint to enter the ballroom, basic competence - even attendees and the would-be assassin both denounced it. - YouTube www.youtube.com Despite faux-thoughtful deadlines - "Stunned Washington Faces Searching Questions About Political Violence" - Trump entirely missed the point, rambling and deflecting in his clueless, bonkers, self-serving way. He said he wanted the dinner to go ahead: The show must go on. He (weirdly) crooned about the "very strong, really attractive law enforcement." He babbled he'd "studied assassinations...The most impactful people, they're the ones they go after. Like Abraham Lincoln. I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot." He called the presidency "a dangerous profession," worse than bullfighting. He declared the "manifesto" “strongly anti-Christian," and the perp "a very sick person...a lone wolf whack job," though he's an incomparably more dangerous one. Mostly, relentlessly, he shilled for his ballroom: "This event would never have happened...The conditions that took place, I didn't wanna say it but this is why we have to have it...We need levels of security probably like no one's ever seen...This is exactly the reason our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and every President for the last 150 years have been demanding a large, safe, secure Ballroom be built," which is bullshit 'cause only he's demanding it. Still, miraculously, within six minutes of the lone shot fired, MAGA pivoted, lockstep, online to the same skeevy, amidst-a-war-and-ravaged-economy-how-is-this-a-thing refrain: This is why Trump needs the ballroom. Also, the lawsuit against it "puts the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at grave risk." As if the whole corrupt ballroom shtick, "the definition of a non-sequitur,” wasn't grotesque enough, there was the right's virtual ignoring of any recognition of guns as a relevant part of the deadly equation - this, in a country with more guns than people, with 120 mass shootings since the start of the year, with over 3,800 people dead and over 6,500 wounded, with 100 people shot every day, with Trump having dismantled gun safety and mental health measures, with as yet no accountability for Renee Good and Alex Pretti being gunned down in the street, with the awful, prevailing, willfully blind, "gun violence for thee but not for me" admonishment that, "Every few months, Americans are asked to resume their banquet, and pretend a shooting didn’t just happen." Which is what we regularly ask of our kids. "Last night, powerful people hid," wrote Digital Drumbeat. "Journalists, lobbyists, and politicians dove under tables, pressed against walls, and ran for exits..Secret Service moved. Protocols activated. And within hours, everyone went home. Welcome to the reality American children, teachers, and parents live every single day. Except they do not get the protocols. They do not get the security detail. And not all of them get to go home." It was not "crouching in a locked, darkened classroom for three hours while your phone dies and you cannot call your mother," or a teacher saying "to be very, very quiet," which is "a Tuesday in America." What we can't imagine: "Wanting an entire secure ballroom for one man, and not wanting gun reform for every child." Other obscenities abound: The billions in ballroom funding from corporations, most of which are seeking billions more in federal contracts; the latest grift of secretly awarding the ballroom-building company a no-bid $17.4 million contract to repair two fountains in Lafayette Park that Biden estimated would cost $3.3 million; the "brazen inversion of reality" that is the MAGA claim criticism of Trump's hateful, violent rhetoric is what somehow incites more violence, when he's done more than anyone in recent history to normalize it; the righteous indignation - Fire Jimmy Kimmel (again) for joking Melania looks like an expectant widow! - when anyone notes the gross hypocrisy. Color America skeptical: "Fuck him, he can only go to the well so many times." Also, we're still gonna need those Epstein files. See Trump lash out at CBS' Norah O'Donnell when she quotes Cole Allen's "pedophile, rapist, and traitor": "I was waiting for you to read that (because) you're horrible people..I'm not a rapist...I'm not a pedophile... You're disgraceful." Will Bunch: "This is our country now." The Rude Pundit: "We live in the goddamn United States. We're never far away from someone shooting a gun. It's what we are debased enough to call 'freedom.'" And in the two days before the shooting, Trump made a racist attack against Hakeem Jeffries, called for Hillary and Obama to be arrested, boasted of more war crimes. In brief, "We don't have to pretend that a motherfucker isn't a motherfucker just because someone wanted to kill him." This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.
Sister Helen Prejean on Trump’s expansion of the federal death penalty
Solomon Islands’ political crisis will ‘not fundamentally change’ ties with Beijing
Whether Prime Minister Manele is ousted or not, China's presence will remain extensive, experts say.
Regardless of how the current political crisis in the Solomon Islands unfolds, experts told Radio Free Asia that they anticipate no change in the country’s close-knit relationship with China. The crisis was kicked into full gear in March, when 19 members of parliament defected from Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele’s ruling coalition, called the Government for National Unity and Transformation, or GNUT, to join the opposition. This created an opposition coalition of 28 parliament members, a majority of the 50-seat legislative body. They immediately filed a motion for no confidence, and called on Manele to convene parliament so a vote could be held. But Manele has been refusing to convene, so he remains Prime Minister. Shift to Beijing Manele has been described by observers as pro-Chinese, just like his predecessor Manasseh Sogavare, under whom Manele served as foreign minister. <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/Y34EYK634F4IW3I4W63QG5NMWM.jpg?auth=baee6be5b44c55af25a7af609c4d2e62b77c266cca98b1615611abba30cc2b9c&smart=true&width=1500" alt="(L-R) Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 9, 2019." height="1000" width="1500"/> (L-R) Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 9, 2019. (Reuters) Then-Foreign Minister Manele signed the 2019 agreement to recognize China instead of Taiwan, and was a central figure in negotiating the 2022 security pact with Beijing that opposition leader Matthew Wale has criticized as being too secretive and undermining the security of the Solomon Islands, based on leaked drafts of the agreement prior to its signing. Beijing has even set up a police station in the capital Honiara, a move that sparked concern among the U.S. and Australia that China was expanding its security and surveillance capabilities beyond its borders. Violent civil unrest broke out in 2021, with protesters claiming that Sogavare was selling off the country’s sovereignty to Beijing, and calling for him to resign. Rioters attacked Chinatown businesses in the capital Honiara, torched one of Sogavare’s homes, and attempted to storm parliament. Anti-government messages adorn a burnt-out building in Honiara, Solomon Islands Nov. 27, 2021, after two days of riots. (Charley Piringi/AFP) Three years later, Chinese influence in the Solomons was very much on the ballot in 2024, with opposition candidates even saying that if elected as prime minister, they would cancel the security agreement and switch back to recognizing Taiwan, but Manele’s party prevailed and he was sworn in. Manele’s government is a continuation of the Sogavare’s pro-Beijing stance, Joseph Foukona, a history professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who hails from the Solomon Islands, told RFA. “So in his role in the previous government, which was where Sogavare was the prime minister, It’s obvious that he promotes the one China policy and his government is sort of aligned with that policy as well,” Foukona said. But when asked what the current rift in the government is about, Foukona said that there was not really much detail about why the 19 members of parliament defected, only saying that they must be having “internal issues.” The rift is over more than just the pro-China stances of Manele’s government, Kathryn Paik, deputy director and senior fellow with the Australia Chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, told RFA. “There’s a lot more going on domestically and there’s a lot of power plays domestically happening within the parliament that might have nothing to do with China and the China relationship,” she said. “Parliamentarians are also going to use that relationship with China for their advantage whether it’s to oust Manele or if that’s a good argument against it. But she said it is likely that China has started to build relationships with other politicians in the Solomon Islands as a hedge, just in case they come into power in the future. What next? The opposition, now referred to as the New Coalition, won a legal challenge in mid-April, with the country’s High Court ruling that Manele was unconstitutionally delaying the vote. Manele’s government has filed an appeal to that decision and sought a stay while the appellate case is heard, and the Court of Appeal should rule soon on whether or not to grant the stay. But sooner or later, Manele will have to convene parliament. Legally, the country’s constitution mandates that parliament must meet at least once per year, and practically, parliament must pass yearly appropriations budgets to avoid shutting down. Barring a breakup in the New Coalition or a withdrawal of the motion of no confidence, Manele will have to face the music eventually, and that could lead to his ouster. Regardless of whether Manele survives the vote or is ousted, the country’s relationship with China will not change much, Paik said. “I don’t expect there to be a fundamental change,” she said. “China has established a pretty regular presence on the ground as of right now and we haven’t seen any real push by any parliamentarians to change that significantly outside of Wale and some other opposition leaders.” Manele has already survived one vote of no confidence roughly a year ago, defeating a motion led by his predecessor Sogavare. Shortly after the 19 parliament members switched sides in March, Manele swore in Sogavare as his deputy prime minister in an attempt to stabilize the remaining pieces of his coalition. <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/4KVPGLE2T3SYNTV4VEHBQOVAX4.jpg?auth=55d6faedea3879244534d93d886488100479e0eed2d43ba318c31ef89c3fd393&smart=true&width=1500" alt="Manasseh Sogavare [right] is pictured at a press conference in Honiara on Apr. 29, 2024 announcing he will not seek reelection as Solomon Islands’ prime minister and that Jeremiah Manele [left] will be the OUR Party’s candidate for leadership of the country. (Charley Piringi/BenarNews)" height="1000" width="1500"/> Manasseh Sogavare [right] is pictured at a press conference in Honiara on Apr. 29, 2024 announcing he will not seek reelection as Solomon Islands’ prime minister and that Jeremiah Manele [left] will be the OUR Party’s candidate for leadership of the country. (Charley Piringi/BenarNews) Foukona said the off-again, on-again alliance between Sogavare and Manele is driven by their respective personal interests. “They usually say that in Solomon’s politics there’s no permanent enemy,” he said. China’s foreign ministry and its embassy in Honiara have not made any direct statement regarding the Solomon Islands since the beginning of the political crisis. Edited by Charlie Dharapak. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Eugene Whong for RFA.
‘I Still Hold My Head Up, and I Still Know Who I Am’
Ten stories of people with histories living in Skid Row, in their own words.
Ten stories of people with histories living in Skid Row, in their own words. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Amelia Rayno.
As Trump’s narrative on negotiations flails, Iran is setting its own terms for ending the war
ANALYSIS: By Jeremy Scahill Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been on a strategic tour to prepare for two dramatically different paths that could unfold in the coming days — a return to diplomacy or a resumption of the war with the US and Israel. While President Donald Trump has claimed that the Iranian government
ANALYSIS: By Jeremy Scahill Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been on a strategic tour to prepare for two dramatically different paths that could unfold in the coming days — a return to diplomacy or a resumption of the war with the US and Israel. While President Donald Trump has claimed that the Iranian government is in a state of internal chaos and his administration is waiting for Iran to capitulate, a senior Iranian official told Drop Site News that Tehran is establishing the conditions under which a new round of direct talks could take place. “We’re currently moving forward with our own design, and we feel continuing negotiations doesn’t make sense until the US government lifts the maritime blockade,” said the official who has direct knowledge of internal diplomatic deliberations in Iran. READ MORE: Top US officials review Iran’s proposal to end war and open Hormuz Strait Other US-Israel war on Iran reports He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to publicly discuss the negotiations. “The scope of the conflict has expanded, and naturally the issue is no longer purely nuclear.” Tehran, the Iranian official said, remained firm in its demand that the US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz be lifted as a condition to move forward. If that happens, a formal second round of top level direct talks can happen. “Araghchi is Iran’s top diplomat. So even if there’s a 1 percent chance for a breakthrough, he would embark on it,” said Hassan Ahmadian, a prominent Iranian analyst and associate professor at the University of Tehran. A multi-phase outline He told Drop Site that Iran has crafted a multi-phase outline for ending the war: A real ceasefire must be imposed on Israel in the region, specifically Lebanon, and a settlement must be reached in the Strait of Hormuz “without harming Iran’s national security and also regional security.” Once these conditions are met, comprehensive negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and a long-term non-aggression agreement could commence. “The Iranians are saying time is working in our favor for the three Ms: munitions, markets, and the midterms. These three Ms help Iran in its position and weaken US positions,” Ahmadian said. “Obviously in the US, they want something to say, ‘We squeezed Iran and we got this.’ My perception is that the Iranians are keen to deny the United States that — they wouldn’t give what Trump wants as a victory.” While White House officials claim Iran presented the US with a “new” proposal over the weekend and pushed this narrative through their preferred media outlets, the Iranian official said the characterisation was false. Trump claimed Iran softened its stance over the weekend, but not enough for a deal. Ahmadian said there has been a recent Iranian shift, but it is toward a clearer set of conditions for resuming negotiations, not acceding to American demands on its nuclear programme. “There are changes, as I understand,” he said. “The main change is for Iran to insist on the stop of the war regionally. That’s pivotal in Iran agreeing to discuss other issues.” Unprecedented challenge As a practical matter, Tehran is facing an unprecedented challenge in dealing with Trump. Twice in one year, Israel and the US have bombed Iran in the middle of negotiations. Trump is erratic and frequently contradicts himself — vascillating between expressing optimism for a deal and claiming Iran has surrendered to sweeping US demands only to turn around and threaten to destroy Iranian civilisation and to carpet bomb its civilian infrastructure. Iran also believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given unprecedented influence over US intelligence estimates and White House decision-making. “Our country has had negotiations with the Americans at various levels over the past 30 years — formal and informal, public and back-channel,” the senior Iranian official said, referencing previous US-Iran negotiations that involved months — at times years — of diplomacy and technical talks. “It’s as if they are showing up to a football match with rugby rules.” Iran has total disdain for Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and views him as both oblivious of diplomatic processes and totally ignorant of technical issues. Kushner is viewed by Iran as Israel’s man at the table. Iran, the senior official said, does not see any reason to deal with these two without a figure like Vice-President JD Vance present. Flurry of speculation Last week, the Iranian government announced that Araghchi would be visiting Islamabad for bilateral talks with Pakistani leaders. This set off a flurry of media speculation that a new round of negotiations would happen. Trump announced that Vance was en route to Islamabad and once again characterised Iran as pleading for new negotiations. But Vance, it turned out, was not on a plane, and Iran continued to deny it had any intention of meeting with US officials in Pakistan. Trump then said he was dispatching Witkoff and Kushner, and the media was flooded with stories about a meeting with Iran. Some news outlets, citing White House sources, claimed that planes were en route to the meetings, and the White House suggested Iran was lying about the forthcoming talks. “The Iranians want to talk, they want to talk in person,” said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Friday. “Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out.” Iran continued to reject suggestions that any talks would happen. “No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US,” Iran’s Foreign Minister spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said soon after Araghchi arrived in Pakistan. Iran, he said, discussed a range of issues, including trade. On Sunday, Islamabad announced it was expanding the transportation of third-country goods through Pakistan destined for Iran. While the transit routes had been under discussion since 2008, the timing — with Trump claiming his naval blockade was “strangling” Iran — was impossible to ignore. Scrambled to spin After Araghchi left Islamabad on Saturday and flew to Oman, Trump scrambled to spin the narrative and control the damage, claiming he had actually called off the planned negotiations. “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” Trump then claimed that as a result of his refusal to send his emissaries, Iran had softened its stance, submitting a new proposal to the US. “They gave us a paper that should have been better. And interestingly, immediately, when I canceled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better,” Trump said. Trump continues to claim that he extended the initial two-week ceasefire agreed on April 7 because Iran’s leadership was in a state of disarray and infighting. This narrative has been widely parrotted in Western media. “That’s part of the cognitive warfare on Iran,” said Ahmadian. “It’s targeted at the society, the elites, and the position of the Supreme Leader. It’s not news, it’s not intel that they’re talking about. “It’s basically an agenda to create what they are calling division. And I think the main aim within Iran is to increase mistrust and decrease trust among elites, which I think the Iranians are now very well aware of.” Ahmadian said that Iran’s perception is that it is the US leadership that is in deep disarray, as evidenced by Trump’s flip-flops, unrealised threats and the recent chaos over which officials would be heading to Islamabad to negotiate with Iran. Clear Tehran message During the first round of direct talks held in Islamabad on April 11, the Iranian team arrived with “a clear message coming out of Tehran, with a team that represents all of the system, and it came with a very strong case for showing the unity within the country,” Ahmadian said. He added that the Iranian side left the talks with the impression that there were stark differences between Vance on the one hand and Witkoff and Kushner on the other. “The Iranians see Witkoff and Kushner as representatives of the Israeli interests, not those of the United States, as opposed to Mr Vance, who is representing the US interests in those talks,” he said. “They were divided in their way of approaching the Iranians.” Jeremy Scahill is a journalist at Drop Site News, author of the books Blackwater and Dirty Wars. He has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, and other countries. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Hegseth Calling Journalists ‘Pharisees’? Let’s Fact-Check That.
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.
In villages throughout the West Bank, Palestinian shepherds face violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers.
In villages throughout the West Bank, Palestinian shepherds face violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Davide Bonaldo.
Fiji PM Rabuka gives govt support for controversial waste-to-energy project
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Prime Minister has thrown his government’s support behind a controversial waste-to-energy project at Vuda Point in the country’s Western Division despite “a delay”. The multi-million-dollar “Fiji Energy from Waste Project”, backed by Australian billionaire Ian Malouf and Fiji-born businessman Robert Cromb’s company The Next Generation (TNG) Fiji, has been making headlines
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Prime Minister has thrown his government’s support behind a controversial waste-to-energy project at Vuda Point in the country’s Western Division despite “a delay”. The multi-million-dollar “Fiji Energy from Waste Project”, backed by Australian billionaire Ian Malouf and Fiji-born businessman Robert Cromb’s company The Next Generation (TNG) Fiji, has been making headlines across local and Australian media. The proposed development in the Vuda-Saweni area between Nadi International Airport and Lautoka city has sparked a major backlash from concerned Fijians about its potential to damage the environment at the mainstream tourist hotspot. READ MORE: Other Pacific waste reports The project is reported to plan to burn up to 900,000 tonnes of waste a year, far exceeding Fiji’s local waste production, requiring the import of waste from across the South Pacific. On Friday, Fiji’s Environment Ministry announced that the waste incinerator project has moved into the technical review stage. The ministry also confirmed that it had received 875 written submissions during the public viewing period of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) review process, as well as, almost 9000 signatures — on and offline — opposing the project. Environment Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Sivendra Michael said no decision had been made to date. “The decision can only be issued following the completion of the full technical and regulatory review.” ‘Remains committed’ However, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said his government “remains committed to progressing the project”, according to a report by the state broadcaster. “There has been a delay in discussions,” Rabuka told a vernacular radio programme,” adding that “as a government, we support the project”. “If you look at it, a waste-to-energy plant can help supply electricity to more communities, while allowing the government to redirect resources to areas that still need power,” he was quoted as saying by FBC News. In a report on April 1, The Australian described the proposal as: “Three years after losing the battle to build a waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney, Australian Dial-a-Dump billionaire Ian Malouf is pushing to build one on Fiji’s prized west coast that would burn up to 700,000 tonnes of imported garbage. “Mr Malouf said his proposal had the backing of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his cabinet, and that ‘just a few selfish people don’t want it in their backyard’,” The Australian reported. Rabuka’s Environment Minister Lynda Tabuya said at the time that the claims in The Australian report were “not accurate” and that cabinet had not approved the project, according to an FBC News report. A ‘toxic’ project Fiji’s Ambassador to the United Nations Filipo Tarakinikini, in a social media post on 20 April 20, described the project as “a toxic one”. “If this project could not meet Australia’s environmental and health standards — and was rejected after seven years of scrutiny by one of the most sophisticated planning systems in the world — why should Fiji, with far less regulatory infrastructure, accept it?,” he wrote. “Fiji must not become the Pacific’s ashtray,” he said. The Environment Ministry said the public should “respect the process” and allow it “the space to complete its work in accordance with the law”. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
ACTION ALERT: NYT Falsely Reports That Attempts on Presidents’ Lives Are Rare
Please tell the New York Times to correct its false report about the uncommonness of presidential assassination attempts.
<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9051680" class="size-medium wp-image-9051680" src="https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/NYT-Assassination-1981-350x153.png" alt="On July 13, 2024, Mr. Trump became the first current or former U.S. president to face an assassination attempt since 1981, when a bullet nicked his ear while he was giving a speech in Butler.The 20-year-old gunman was able to fire several shots at Mr. Trump before the Secret Service returned fire and killed the shooter. But the fact that he came so close to killing Mr. Trump prompted immediate demands for changes at the Secret Service. The agency’s competence was called into question." width="350" height="153" /> The New York Times‘ Luke Broadwater (4/26/26) wrongly wrote that Donald Trump was “the first current or former US president to face an assassination attempt since 1981.” Following the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner, the New York Times (4/26/26) wrote: On July 13, 2024, Mr. Trump became the first current or former US president to face an assassination attempt since 1981, when a bullet nicked his ear while he was giving a speech in Butler. That is absurdly wrong; there have been numerous efforts to kill current or former US presidents since 1981, many of which were covered in real time by the New York Times. In 1993, there was allegedly a plot to kill former President George Bush—the first one—on a visit to Kuwait. “Clinton Administration officials said tonight that they now believe that Iraqi saboteurs sought to assassinate George Bush during the former president’s visit to Kuwait,” the Times (5/8/93) reported. “The Kuwaitis said they had seized two cars loaded with remote-controlled explosives that were intended to kill Mr. Bush and his entourage.” There are questions about whether this plot was invented by the Kuwaiti government (New York Times, 10/25/93), but the Clinton administration took it seriously enough to bomb Iraq in retaliation for it (New York Times, 6/28/93). The 1994 attack on the White House is one of numerous assassination attempts that have gone down the New York Times‘ memory hole. A year later, the Times (10/30/94) reported that “a 26-year-old Colorado man carrying a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle sprayed the north face of the White House with a score or more of bullets.” President Bill Clinton was inside at the time, but was unharmed. The gunman, Francisco Martin Duran, was later convicted of attempted assassination (New York Times, 6/30/95). In 2005, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live grenade at George W. Bush during a speech Bush was giving in the former Soviet republic of Georgia (New York Times, 7/22/05). The grenade reportedly didn’t go off because the firing pin had been wrapped too tightly in a handkerchief (FBI, 1/11/06). Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez shot up the White House with a semi-automatic rifle in 2011. The Times (11/17/11) reported: Federal authorities on Thursday charged a 21-year-old Idaho man with attempting to assassinate President Obama—saying he had told one friend that the president was “the Antichrist” and that he “needed to kill him.” After Obama left office, he was repeatedly sent letters laced with the nerve toxin ricin (NPR, 5/20/14; CNN, 7/16/14). These are among the more prominent presidential assassination attempts since 1981; many others were stopped by law enforcement before they got so far. This is not mere history trivia; by erasing the long record of attempted violence against US presidents, the New York Times plays into Donald Trump’s martyr complex, and makes it more likely that the government will take draconian action against a problem that the United States has lived with for decades. ACTION: Please tell the New York Times to correct its false report about the uncommonness of presidential assassination attempts. CONTACT: corrections@nytimes.com This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Jim Naureckas.
This content originally appeared on Vincent Moon / Petites Planètes and was authored by Vincent Moon / Petites Planètes.
Independent journalist held overnight for documenting city curfew in Virginia
Mickey Barker, an independent journalist, was arrested by police in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as he documented the city’s curfew on April 18, 2026.Barker was recording on his iPhone in the oceanfront area, where an all-ages curfew had been imposed afte...
Mickey Barker, an independent journalist, was arrested by police in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as he documented the city’s curfew on April 18, 2026. Barker was recording on his iPhone in the oceanfront area, where an all-ages curfew had been imposed after two earlier shootings in March and April. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was looking for local business owners and residents to interview about the effects of the curfew when officers stopped him. Though the City Council exempted members of the media from the curfew, Barker said he was treated differently because he is an independent journalist. In a video Barker posted of the interaction, an officer asks, “Sir, do you have credentials?” “The First Amendment, yes, of the Constitution,” Barker replies. “That’s not how that works,” says the officer, who was joined by other police asking Barker to leave the oceanfront area. Although credentials are not a requirement under the city ordinance, the officers demanded them after Barker asserted that he was an independent journalist gathering content for a story. “You’re not press,” an officer was heard telling the journalist, before Barker insisted that he hadn’t broken any law and refused to provide his identification. The officer then took Barker’s phone and detained him in an overheated police van for about 45 minutes before taking him to jail. “I’m an Iraq veteran, and I’ve never sweat so hard,” Barker told the Tracker, adding, “They handcuffed me so tight that I had numbness and tingling in my fingers for about three days afterward.” Barker was released from jail early the next morning, and his case was dismissed April 24, according to Barker and his attorney, Tim Anderson, who say they’re preparing a civil suit. “The First Amendment issue is as simple as this — CNN could have been there, but this guy couldn’t,” Anderson told The Virginian-Pilot. “That’s the shocking part of this. If the guy had a CNN jacket on, he would have been allowed to be down there, but this independent, amateur journalist gets put in handcuffs.” Barker documents happenings in his community to a small following on his Facebook page, titled Billy the Billy of Rights Billy Goat, which contains occasional political commentary and documents Barker participating in protests. “Anybody who documents and tries to make some of it publicly accessible is a journalist,” he told the Tracker. “Journalism is an activity, not an occupation. It’s the activity that is protected in our constitutional 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 – April 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 – April 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 – April 27, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Trump uses Correspondents’ Dinner shooting to justify expanding spying powers as deadline nears
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 27, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. An exchange of gunfire between an armed suspect and law enforcement outside the White House Correspondents’ D...
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Getty Images photographer Andrew Harnik takes photos as agent points his weapon after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner April 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C801&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-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="343057" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/trump-uses-correspondents-dinner-shooting-to-justify-expanding-spying-powers-as-deadline-nears/security-scare-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-with-president-trump" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1708&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1708" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 25: Getty Images photographer Andrew Harnik takes photos as agent points his weapon after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner April 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. According to reports, President Donald Trump, along with other government officials, were evacuated from the Washington Hilton after what sounded like gun fire. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1777149315","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Security Scare at The White House Correspondents' Dinner with President Trump","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Security Scare at The White House Correspondents&#8217; Dinner with President Trump" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Getty Images photographer Andrew Harnik takes photos as agent points his weapon after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner April 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2273153912-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 April 27, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. An exchange of gunfire between an armed suspect and law enforcement outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday came days ahead of a deadline for extending far-reaching government surveillance powers, and President Donald Trump wasted no time in claiming that the attempted attack on the event proved that the FBI must be permitted to spy on Americans without obtaining warrants. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Trump repeated his previous remarks that he is “willing to give up [his] security” in favor of extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on Thursday—and suggested other Americans should do the same for “the safety of our nation.” Section 702 allows US intelligence agencies to surveil the electronic communications of foreign nationals overseas without a warrant. Since some of the nearly 350,000 foreign nationals whose communications have been collected under the law are in touch with Americans, Section 702 allows for the collection of emails, text messages, and phone calls of US citizens. Fox anchor Jacqui Heinrich emphasized that “we don’t know right now” whether the suspect in Saturday’s shooting, Cole Tomas Allen, “was radicalized” by a foreign individual or group, but asked whether the attack drove home “the importance of having these tools to protect our country from these kinds of threats.” The president responded by complaining that former FBI Director James Comey used FISA to obtain warrants to surveil a former Trump aide as part of the agency’s investigation into the 2016 Trump presidential campaign’s communications with Russia, before saying FISA has been used in the US-Israeli war on Iran and in the US military’s invasion of Venezuela earlier this year. “It’s really needed for national security,” said Trump. “Iran is decimated, and we got a lot of information by using FISA… I’m willing to give up my security for the military because ultimately that’s to me the highest cause is, you know, the safety of our nation.” Pres. Trump, under prodding from Fox News, exploits White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting to push for Congress to approve FISA domestic spying program: "It's really needed for national security…" He reiterates that he's willing to give up his liberties for safety. pic.twitter.com/tmcepp0Wgn — Chris Menahan (@infolibnews) April 26, 2026 Jordan Liz, an associate professor of philosophy at San José State University, wrote last week in a column at Common Dreams that while Trump, Republican lawmakers, and US intelligence agencies “make sweeping claims about the terror attacks that Section 702 has prevented, there is little publicly available evidence to support this.” “According to the Cato Institute, there is only one well-documented, independently corroborated case of Section 702 preventing a terrorist attack on American soil: the 2009 New York subway bombing plot,” wrote Liz. “In that case, Section 702 was used by the [National Security Agency] to track an exchange between an al-Qaeda courier and Najibullah Zazi, who was living in the US. The NSA passed this information to the FBI, which identified Zazi and disrupted the attack before it took place. Importantly, however, the NSA allegedly received the courier’s foreign email address from the government’s British intelligence partners. At best then, this success was a byproduct of productive intelligence sharing between allies. Rather than proving the necessity of Section 702, this incident underscores how Trump’s inane attacks against key US allies undermine our national security.” The suspect in Saturday’s shooting is believed to have acted alone, and no evidence has been released that he was in communication with any foreign entities. A document he wrote alluded to his Christian beliefs and to reports of the administration’s abuse of immigrants in detention centers, its boat-bombing operations in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, and the bombing of an elementary school in Iran. The president has been pushing in recent weeks for an extension of Section 702. The program was last reauthorized in 2024, and earlier this month two efforts to extend the program—one for 18 months and the other for five years—failed, with opponents objecting to a lack of privacy reforms and to a loophole allowing data brokers to sell private information about Americans to government agencies that have not obtained judicial approval to seize the data. After those proposals failed, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week unveiled a new bill to extend Section 702 for three years and require the FBI to submit monthly reports on its reviews of Americans’ private data to an oversight official, as well as imposing penalties for abuse—provisions that were dismissed by privacy advocates. The House Rules Committee was set to convene on Monday, a step toward advancing the new bill toward a vote in the House, and according to NPR, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) circulated a memo late last week urging his colleagues to reject the Republicans’ latest proposal. The bill, he wrote, “continues the disastrous policy of trusting the FBI to self-police and self-report its abuses of Section 702 and backdoor searches of Americans’ data… FBI agents can still collect, search, and review Americans’ communications without any review from a judge.” Four Democrats in the House—Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Tom Suozzi (D-NJ), Marie Gluesencamp Perez (D-Wash.), and Jared Golden (D-Maine)—broke with the party and joined the GOP earlier this month in supporting a procedural vote to advance the reauthorization of Section 702, and privacy advocates are ramping up pressure on them to oppose the latest proposal for an extension. “It all comes down to those four and where they are going to land,” Hajar Hammado, a senior policy adviser at Demand Progress, told The Intercept Monday, “and if they are going to continue to try to hand Trump and [White House homeland security adviser] Stephen Miller warrantless surveillance authorities without any sort of checks or reforms that make sure they’re not violating civil liberties.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Julia Conley.
New Report Shows That Hardening of US Sanctions on Cuba Since 2017 Fueled a Sharp Increase in Cuba’s Infant Mortality Rate
A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba beginning in 2017 were likely the primary cause of a major increase in infant mortality in Cuba. The report, by Alexander Main, ...
A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba beginning in 2017 were likely the primary cause of a major increase in infant mortality in Cuba. The report, by Alexander Main, Joe Sammut, Mark Weisbrot, and Guillaume Long examines the unprecedented increase in Cuba’s infant mortality rate (IMR), which soared by 148 percent from 2018 to 2025. During this time, US unilateral economic coercive measures against Cuba were greatly tightened by President Trump and then largely maintained under President Biden before being tightened even further during the second Trump administration. Had Cuba’s IMR remained stable over the last eight years, then approximately 1,800 deaths of infants would not have occurred. “The Trump policy of ‘maximum pressure’ on Cuba has killed a lot of babies — and, although we don’t yet have data for the last few months, it’s highly likely that more babies are dying now, and at an even higher rate than last year as a result of the current US fuel blockade targeting Cuba,” CEPR Director of International Policy and report coauthor Alexander Main said. “The question is how many more babies will have to die before the current economic siege against Cuba is lifted.” The report notes that “In Cuba, where for decades the state has invested substantially in health care services, the IMR was … among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, and lower than in the US,” but that “Since 2018 … Cuba’s IMR has increased from an annual rate of 4.0 per 1000 live births to a rate of 9.9 as of 2025.” The paper also notes that Cuba, unlike its neighbors in the region, has not rebounded economically from the COVID-19 pandemic, averaging just 0.4 percent annual per capita GDP growth from 2020 to 2024, versus 3.2 percent for the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole. The report looks at the economic and social effects of the hardening of US sanctions since 2017, focusing in particular on the impact on Cuba’s health-care sector. Trump administration pressure on Cuba has included restrictions that have sharply diminished the island’s important tourism sector; severely limited exports of goods to Cuba — including essential medication and medical equipment; cut Cuba’s access to international financial markets by putting the country back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list; curbed remittances; pressured countries to end their partnerships with Cuba’s medical missions, and notably imposed a recent fuel blockade that prevents Venezuelan oil from reaching the island. “US sanctions have targeted Cuba’s key sources of export earnings, such as tourism, remittances from Cuban Americans to their family members, and even by putting pressure on other countries to end primary care programs staffed by Cuban doctors. These measures sharply reduced Cuba’s capacity to pay for needed food and medicines,” CEPR International Research Fellow and coauthor Joe Sammut said. “Cutting off medical services exports is doubly cruel as these programs mostly serve marginalized communities in poorer countries, while bringing in foreign currency revenues to Cuba in a mutually beneficial trade. As such the increasing US sanctions have a negative health-care spillover even beyond the island of 10 million people.” As the report discusses, recent research has shown that unilateral, broad economic sanctions are as deadly as armed conflict, killing some 564,000 people annually, according to a study by CEPR economists Francisco Rodríguez, Silvio Rendón, and Mark Weisbrot published in August in The Lancet Global Health. More than half of these deaths are children under five, and deaths of infants are even more disproportionate, since they are three-quarters of the under-five population. “The sanctions on Cuba starkly illustrate how these economic sanctions work: they target the civilian population, often with the goal of provoking regime change,” said Mark Weisbrot, CEPR Co-Director. “This can dramatically increase death rates, as shown statistically in the Lancet Global Health study of economic sanctions throughout the world. The increased mortality in Cuba fits this pattern, and the causality is visible.” The US Senate may vote as early as Tuesday, April 28, on a War Powers Resolution introduced by Senators Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff, and Ruben Gallego to “to prevent [US] Armed Forces from engaging in hostilities [against Cuba] unless authorized by Congress.” “This legislation pending in Congress right now argues persuasively that the current blockade constitutes a military participation in hostilities that is unlawful according to the US Constitution and law because it has not been authorized by Congress,” Weisbrot said. “The collective punishment of civilians is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention when there is armed conflict, and can be prosecuted as a war crime. This would appear to be applicable now that the current naval blockade involves the US military.” The report also describes the vulnerability of newborn babies in Cuba to the impact of blackouts and fuel scarcity — as recently reported by The New York Times. “The blockade has had a particularly dire effect on Cuba’s health-care infrastructure, with frequent power outages interrupting the use of critical equipment for the treatment of patients, including incubators for premature babies, and ventilators to help sick newborns breathe,” Guillaume Long, CEPR Senior Research Fellow and coauthor said. The report notes: “Given the effects of the US energy blockade, it is highly likely that Cuba’s infant mortality rate has increased significantly since December of 2025, when it had reached 9.9 per 1000 live births. Other key health indicators, such as life expectancy and maternal mortality have also very likely deteriorated since the beginning of the year.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
New Mexico becomes the latest state to end cooperation with ICE under new law
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Demonstrators hold signs and gather to listen to speakers at Lafayette Park in front of the White House for a protest against the Trump administration on January 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="343048" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/new-mexico-becomes-the-latest-state-to-end-cooperation-with-ice-under-new-law/activists-protest-in-d-c-against-trump-administration-policies" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z6_3","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: Demonstrators hold signs and gather to listen to speakers at Lafayette Park in front of the White House for a protest against the Trump administration on January 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.The demonstrations include a "Free Iran" rally, a protest against the ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good and a "U.S. out of Venezuela" rally. (Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1768050266","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"33","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.002","title":"Activists Protest In D.C. Against Trump Administration Policies","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Activists Protest In D.C. Against Trump Administration Policies" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Demonstrators hold signs and gather to listen to speakers at Lafayette Park in front of the White House for a protest against the Trump administration on January 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Activists say ending local and state cooperation with ICE is a key way to obstruct Trump’s mass deportation machine.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Demonstrators hold signs and gather to listen to speakers at Lafayette Park in front of the White House for a protest against the Trump administration on January 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-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="343048" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/new-mexico-becomes-the-latest-state-to-end-cooperation-with-ice-under-new-law/activists-protest-in-d-c-against-trump-administration-policies" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z6_3","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: Demonstrators hold signs and gather to listen to speakers at Lafayette Park in front of the White House for a protest against the Trump administration on January 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.The demonstrations include a \"Free Iran\" rally, a protest against the ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good and a \"U.S. out of Venezuela\" rally. (Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1768050266","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"33","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.002","title":"Activists Protest In D.C. Against Trump Administration Policies","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Activists Protest In D.C. Against Trump Administration Policies" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Demonstrators hold signs and gather to listen to speakers at Lafayette Park in front of the White House for a protest against the Trump administration on January 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255006992-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" 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="auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This article was originally published by Truthout on April 26, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Grassroots coalitions in a growing number of states are working to pass legislation to cut municipal or state ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The efforts are gaining momentum as the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda throws long-standing problems with the nation’s immigration regime into sharp relief. “We see a tremendous upswelling of this type of legislation being proposed in different states across the country,” Rebecca Sheff, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, told Truthout. “I think it speaks to the moment that it’s really a time to make the most of the political willingness to take bold action in light of how aggressive ICE has become.” Sheff helped draft New Mexico’s Immigrant Safety Act, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law in February. The law prohibits state and local governments from entering into agreements to detain individuals for civil immigration violations, stops the use of public land for immigration detention, and bans agreements that turn local law enforcement into immigration agents. It will come into force in May. Comparable laws to curb civil immigration detention are already on the books in at least half a dozen other states, including New Jersey, California, Washington, Illinois, Colorado, and Maryland. Many have been passed under the banner “Dignity, Not Detention,” following a national campaign launched in 2010 by the Detention Watch Network and hundreds of supporting organizations nationwide. California was the first to pass its Dignity, Not Detention legislation seven years later. New Mexico’s is the most recent. Elsewhere, organizers are still hard at work on similar bills. Tania Mattos, executive director of UnLocal, a legal services provider for immigrants in New York City, is one of those organizers. She began working with Abolish ICE New York–New Jersey in 2018 and was part of the coalition that succeeded in passing New Jersey’s law ending certain contracts with ICE three years later. Mattos got involved after learning about conditions in immigration jails. “During my immigration advocacy work, I realized that people had a huge fear [of immigration detention], and people were dying in immigration detention,” she told Truthout. “It’s a black hole, and people go into these black holes not knowing whether they’re going to come out, how long they’re going to be in, not having legal representation — it’s literally kidnapping and disappearing folks into these systems.” Now, Mattos is working to abolish immigration detention in New York with the state’s Dignity Not Detention Coalition. That coalition includes more than 150 public health and safety organizations, labor unions, and civil rights and faith groups that are pushing forward Senate Bill 316 and Assembly Bill 4181, sponsored by New York State Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Karines Reyes, respectively. The companion bills, together known as the Dignity Not Detention Act, would prohibit New York entities and persons from owning or operating immigration detention facilities, entering immigration detention contracts, or renewing existing contracts. The act would also require government entities to terminate existing immigration detention contracts. The coalition estimates there are more than 70 such agreements in place statewide. The number of people detained by ICE and booked into New York’s county jails skyrocketed last year since Donald Trump returned to the White House. Because New York already prohibits private prisons, if the Dignity Not Detention Act’s requirement that public facilities terminate their contracts with ICE is met, it should effectively mean the abolition of immigration detention in the state. “It’s about thinking about folks’ survival,” Mattos told Truthout. “It’s about, ‘Let’s eliminate that system that is essentially killing people and making people suffer.’” The nation’s immigration jails have always been bad. When the 2010 Dignity, Not Detention Campaign launched, the American Friends Service Committee wrote in an infosheet that 300,000 immigrants per year were being held in 350 private, federal, state, and local jails and prisons. It reported that, between 2003 and the campaign’s launch, 107 people had died due to the horrific conditions in immigration jails. Those numbers have only climbed since. The second Trump administration arrested 300,000 migrants in its first six months in office alone. Currently, over 60,000 are jailed in 425 facilities nationwide. Meanwhile, the mortality rate in the nation’s immigration jails is now at its highest level in more than two decades, surpassing even the records set during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. At least 48 people have died in ICE custody since inauguration day last year. “People are being tortured. People are suffering medical neglect, and now this year is the deadliest year on record for immigrants in detention,” Sophia Genovese, an attorney and teaching fellow at Georgetown University, told Truthout. “That’s in part because the population is so high, but more substantively because the Trump administration is making these conditions such that it deters future migration and it punishes people for migrating.” Genovese, who worked on both the New Jersey and New Mexico campaigns and now researches and teaches about immigration detention, said ending local and state cooperation with ICE is an important way of throwing sand in the gears of the Trump administration’s mass deportation machine. “ICE almost always puts someone in detention prior to executing their deportation, and so going after detention contracts shrinks the number of beds that are made available to ICE for detention, and that has the net impact of affecting the mass deportation campaign,” she told Truthout. “There cannot be mass deportations without detention.” States have taken different approaches to chipping away at ICE detention, but most have targeted intergovernmental service agreements (IGSAs). Often, under those agreements, local jails or prisons rent bed space to ICE for immigrants in federal custody. But some private prisons are also used under IGSAs, with a local government serving as a middleman between the prison company and the federal government. Those so-called “pass-through” contracting schemes are particularly problematic because they allow ICE and the prison company to sidestep standard federal procurement, open competition, and transparency requirements. Those requirements would usually include assessing the prison company’s health and safety records. More than 30 percent of the total population in ICE jails are held at facilities operated under pass-through agreements, according to Genovese’s research. “These are ICE’s preferred contracting arrangements and have been for a very long time,” said Sheff of pass-through IGSAs. In New Mexico, both the Torrance County Detention Facility and the Cibola County Correctional Center are owned and operated by the private prison company CoreCivic under such agreements. Those agreements will no longer be legal when the Immigrant Safety Act comes into force next month. The law requires public bodies to terminate such agreements at the earliest date permitted under their terms once the law goes into effect. “While we can’t tell ICE what to do directly, we are doing our part now to force ICE out of those corrupt sweetheart deals and to withhold our state involvement in ICE detention,” Sheff told Truthout. The Immigrant Safety Act also bars 287(g) agreements, which delegate immigration enforcement powers, including the power to arrest individuals on behalf of ICE, to state and local law enforcement. Sheff told Truthout that the New Mexico coalition took aim at the agreements because “our law enforcement should not be co-opted by ICE, should not be out there in our communities distracted from their basic duties and instead acting as ICE officers and snatching people from our streets.” There is so much that we have the authority to do at the state level to keep our communities safe, and this is one of those. Radical changes like these are achievable thanks to federalism principles and the 10th Amendment, which places significant power in the hands of states and the people. “There is so much that we have the authority to do at the state level to keep our communities safe, and this is one of those; we are not required to cooperate with ICE when it comes to civil immigration detention,” Sheff told Truthout. Civil immigration detention is itself a policy choice, one that has only begun to be made in recent years and affects only a small proportion of migrants. Even with the number of people in immigration detention at a historic high of over 60,000, that number represents less than 2 percent of the 3.4 million people in removal proceedings. Although Dignity Not Detention-inspired legislation differs somewhat from state to state, the campaigns that have succeeded in passing it have many things in common. For starters, “being dignity-focused is critical,” Genovese told Truthout. “It’s easy … to fall into the ‘good-versus-bad immigrant’ divide. [But] successful campaigns for abolition live up to their values and don’t shy away from hard, nuanced conversations.” Jessica Inés Martínez told Truthout the Immigrant Safety Act’s success also hinged on its centering those most affected by the long shadow of immigration detention. Martínez is the director of policy and coalition building at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center and helped draft and organize around the Immigrant Safety Act. “When you’re truly listening to those most impacted, and you center them, and build the law around that — that’s how you really make a meaningful piece of legislation,” she said. For organizers who might be feeling discouraged, Mattos told Truthout it is important to remember that efforts to end immigration detention are larger than any one state’s campaign. Plus, a bill often requires several iterations before it becomes law. New Mexico’s recent success came after a bill with similar aims was first introduced in 2019. A Dignity Not Detention Act was first introduced in New York in 2021. “My advice is just to not give up,” Mattos told Truthout. “People are fighting all over the country in the movement towards ending the suffering of immigrants in detention.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Marianne Dhenin.
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‘These are murders’: Trump killing spree hits at least 185
<img width="1024" height="562" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C562&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A boat in the Eastern Pacific just moments before it was destroyed, and everyone on board killed, by the US military in a bombing on Sunday, April 26, 2026. Photo: Screenshot/SOUTHCOM unclassified video" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="343040" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/trump-killing-spree-hits-185/screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1-15-41-pm" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1405&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1405" 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="Screenshot 2026-04-27 at 1.15.41 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A boat in the Eastern Pacific just moments before it was destroyed, and everyone on board killed, by the US military in a bombing on Sunday, April 26, 2026. Photo: Screenshot/SOUTHCOM unclassified video " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=780%2C428&ssl=1"> “The International Criminal Court is prosecuting the former Philippines president [Rodrigo] Duterte for the exact same thing.”
<img width="1024" height="562" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C562&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A boat in the Eastern Pacific just moments before it was destroyed, and everyone on board killed, by the US military in a bombing on Sunday, April 26, 2026. Photo: Screenshot/SOUTHCOM unclassified video" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=300%2C165&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=1024%2C562&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=768%2C422&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C843&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=2048%2C1124&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=1200%2C659&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=2000%2C1098&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=780%2C428&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?resize=400%2C220&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C562&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="343040" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/trump-killing-spree-hits-185/screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1-15-41-pm" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1405&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1405" 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="Screenshot 2026-04-27 at 1.15.41 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A boat in the Eastern Pacific just moments before it was destroyed, and everyone on board killed, by the US military in a bombing on Sunday, April 26, 2026. Photo: Screenshot/SOUTHCOM unclassified video " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-27-at-1.15.41-PM-scaled.png?fit=780%2C428&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" 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="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /> This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 27, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. The murder spree being conducted by the US government under the direction of President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth climbed to an estimated 185 people on Sunday after the Pentagon announced another bombing of a boat it claims was trafficking illegal narcotics. “On April 26, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” the US military stated in a social media post. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed.” While no specific evidence was provided publicly to back up the claims made by SOUTHCOM about Sunday’s strike, human rights experts and legal scholars have made clear for months that such lethal operations at sea—whether or not those targeted are in fact trafficking drugs—have no justification under international maritime law and that the extrajudicial killings should be seen for what they are: cold-blooded murder. Footage released by SOUTHCOM showed the moment the vessel was attacked, and those aboard were killed: On April 26, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/br2znnUM1x — U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 27, 2026 In a separate attack on April 24, also carried out by SOUTHCOM, two other individuals were murdered when their boat, filmed stationary in the ocean, was bombed by US forces: On April 24, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/FRHwqXsHm2 — U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 25, 2026 Nick Turse, an investigative journalist with The Intercept, which has been tracking the attacks, said the latest pair of attacks means five “more people have been murdered since Friday,” bringing the total—since the attacks began last year—up to nearly 190 people. “The Trump administration keeps summarily executing, rather than arresting, drug suspects,” said Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and now a visiting professor at Princeton University, on Sunday. “These are murders. The International Criminal Court is prosecuting the former Philippines president [Rodrigo] Duterte for the exact same thing.” Last week, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber unanimously confirmed all the charges levied against Duterte, paving the way for his trial to begin. Duterte, who served as mayor of the city of Davao and later as the nation’s president, is accused of crimes against humanity over his violent crackdown on drugs that included extrajudicial killings and other brutal tactics by police and security forces. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Jon Queally.
Nearly two decades after landmark Indigenous rights declaration, countries still aren’t complying
At the UN, global leaders say governments must stop talking and start implementing protections they adopted.
Nearly two decades after the United Nations adopted a landmark declaration on Indigenous rights, advocates say countries still aren’t living up to their promises to uphold and respect those rights. Indigenous people are being killed for protecting their territories, criminalized for practicing their culture, and seeing their lands stripped of resources without consent. Last week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, the world’s largest gathering of Indigenous peoples, leaders called for countries to fully implement the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or UNDRIP, and other international human rights standards. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted UNDRIP, a sweeping resolution that established international standards for Indigenous land, language, health, and more. The United States and Canada were among a handful of countries that initially opposed the declaration and later adopted it. But in the years since, Indigenous people in those countries, and around the world, say nations are not living up to the framework. At the UN, Kenneth Deer, a member of the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawà:ke, delivered a joint statement on behalf of the Canadian Coalition for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He called for states to establish independent monitoring systems to “ensure the full and effective implementation” of UNDRIP. “You need to have a group of independent, Indigenous individuals who will have access to how the government is implementing the declaration,” he said. “They should be able to study what they’re doing and make an evaluation whether they’re being effective or not, and then whether there’s failures. They need to highlight those failures to the government, and that’s how you get effective implementation.” Deer acknowledged how complicated that process could be, which he said highlights the need for a monitoring body. “To implement the declaration, they need a watchdog,” he said. “They need somebody over them to make sure they’re carrying out their responsibilities.” For many Indigenous nations, health also means cultural and spiritual health. Moses Goods, who is Kanaka Maoli, spoke on behalf of the Nation of Hawai’i and highlighted “the right to remain who we are.” He explained how Indigenous languages serve as memory, identity and medicine—and are a protected right under UNDRIP. “Language is a link to our culture. It’s a link to who we are as a people and our identity, which is linked to health. When you take those things away, the health of the people start to decline,” he said. “It was intentionally taken away from us as Indigenous people, as Indigenous Hawaiians, so that we would decline. And it worked to a degree, until now.” Today, culture continues to be weakened including with the disruption of access to lands, such as the wildfires that have caused displacement in Lahaina. Despite the challenges, Goods noted that coming together as Indigenous Peoples in places such as the UNPFII is an important step. “We keep telling our stories, we keep telling the truth over and over again to each other, and we strengthen each other. And with those numbers, we can make something happen,” he said. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1562.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Delegates address the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. " data-credit="Tristan Ahtone / Grist"/> Delegates address the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Tristan Ahtone / Grist In 2021, Canada passed a law that committed to aligning all government policies with UNDRIP, but Indigenous advocates at the UN said there’s still a long way to go for those rights to actually be upheld. Ryan Fleming is from Attawapiskat First Nation in the remote Mushkegowuk territory of Northern Ontario and described his community as “frozen in time,” a symptom of the poverty he said is created by Canada. In 2019, Attawapiskat Chief — then councilor — Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin and former chief Theresa Spence endured a 15-day hunger strike to secure change from provincial and federal governments to reenact a dormant task force to address the urgency of water quality in the community and other issues affecting the members. “Until Canada addresses those structural conditions, then you can’t properly move forward with UNDRIP,” Fleming said. In an emailed statement, Jennifer Cooper, spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, responded to concerns about Indigenous rights and highlighted the Crown’s efforts, which include an Indigenous advisory council and increased funding. “As we implement the Building Canada Act and advance nation-building projects, we will honour our commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, Duty to Consult, and Modern Treaties and Self-Government Agreements,” Cooper said. “We have made real progress together, but we know there are still barriers that slow things down. We’re improving how we work internally and bringing greater clarity to the process. We continue to develop rights-based agreements together with our partners in the true spirit of reconciliation, shared prosperity and partnership.” The Province of British Columbia, which enacted legislation to enforce UNDRIP in 2019, has recently been under fire for seeking to suspend or amend parts of that law, after a court ruling found the province inconsistent with its own rules. The province has since backtracked, saying it would collaborate with First Nations leaders on a path forward. “The inherent pre-existing rights of First Nations are part of, and are protected by, international human rights law,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak in a statement at the UN. “[UNDRIP] affirms First Nations rights as human rights. Neither Canada nor British Columbia can extinguish, amend or suspend First Nations’ human rights and remain a respected member of the international community.” Fleming noted that discussions and reports at the UN don’t always mean action is being taken to follow UNDRIP. “In practice, you don’t see that coming to fruition,” he said. “We don’t need a new treaty. We don’t need a new agreement. We just need [Canada] to implement the original agreement. We need to honour that and then we can move forward.” As the UNPFII heads into its second week, Indigenous people around the world continue to fight for survival and the rights outlined in UNDRIP. Ercilia Castañeda is Kichwa and the vice president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, which represents 15 nationalities and 18 Indigenous Peoples. “We cannot speak of health while there is tear gas in our communities, while 60 percent of the water sources in the Amazon are contaminated, while 40 percent of our children live with chronic malnutrition, while around 10,000 people have been murdered in 2025,” Castañeda said in statement at the permanent forum. “We cannot speak of human rights while the fabric of community life is being ripped apart.” Castañeda called on Ecuador and international bodies like the UNPFII to strengthen and follow legal human rights frameworks. Indigenous leaders also repeatedly highlighted the need for direct funding to support UNDRIP implementation. In a presentation, Aluki Kotierk, who is Inuk and the chair of the permanent forum, explained the importance of the UN Trust Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which she said “contributes directly to facilitating the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” But Kotierk also said support from member states for the fund is minimal. Kotierk noted that there are only three states who contribute annually to the fund. New systems, including a policy marker system by the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, are set to help track that funds reach Indigenous Peoples directly. Indigenous leaders hope that funds for climate and development will reach them without getting delayed through state intermediaries, but the exact process is unclear. The UNDP did not immediately return a request for comment. As Indigenous leaders from around the world demanded change on international and domestic levels, Kenneth Deer said that UNDRIP implementation should be a collaborative process. “The relationship is about coexistence. It’s not about domination of Canada over Indigenous people,” he said .“What we need to offer is solutions, not just come to the UN and complain about Canada, but come to the United Nations with solutions.” The UNPFII is set to run till the end of the week. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Nearly two decades after landmark Indigenous rights declaration, countries still aren’t complying on Apr 27, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Dionne Phillips.
The Violation and Capitulation of Higher Education
First up, Eleanor Goldfield sits down with Zachary Levenson to talk about the war on sociology and what happens when the academic governing body deems all existing sociology textbooks illegal to teach in the state of Florida. Zach highlights the purpos...
First up, Eleanor Goldfield sits down with Zachary Levenson to talk about the war on sociology and what happens when the academic governing body deems all existing sociology textbooks illegal to teach in the state of Florida. Zach highlights the purposefully vague verbiage of new policies, the anti-intellectualism fueling them, and why educators must never self-censor or comply in advance. Next up, cohost Mickey Huff sits down with Nolan Higdon to talk about his latest book, MAGAcademy, on how corporatism paved the way for the hostile takeover of Higher Ed. Nolan discusses the neoliberalization of academia, the purposeful devaluing of professors, and the treatment of students as customers that all predate the current attacks on higher ed. Nolan also warns of the dangers of compliance in advance and the smooth rhetoric of corporate takeovers wrapped in social justice ideologies. The post The Violation and Capitulation of Higher Education appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
What to the slave is the 250th anniversary of the US?
<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="The Life of George Washington: The Farmer (1853) by Junius Brutus Stearns. Credit: The Library of Congress, USA." data-attachment-id="343031" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/what-to-the-slave-is-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-us/sequence-13-00_01_59_22-still003" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.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"}' data-image-title="Sequence 13.00_01_59_22.Still003" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" The Life of George Washington: The Farmer (1853) by Junius Brutus Stearns. Credit: The Library of Congress, USA. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1"> “America at 250” celebrations rely on a national mythology about the American Revolution that only really includes Patriot and Loyalist elites. Through the eyes of enslaved people, the story of the birth of the US looks very different.
<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="The Life of George Washington: The Farmer (1853) by Junius Brutus Stearns. Credit: The Library of Congress, USA." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?w=1920&ssl=1 1920w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=780%2C439&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?resize=400%2C225&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.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="343031" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/what-to-the-slave-is-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-us/sequence-13-00_01_59_22-still003" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.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"}" data-image-title="Sequence 13.00_01_59_22.Still003" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" The Life of George Washington: The Farmer (1853) by Junius Brutus Stearns. Credit: The Library of Congress, USA. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sequence-13.00_01_59_22.Still003.jpg?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1" /> 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War. While the national mythology behind the “America at 250” celebrations focuses on the 18th-century battle between Patriot and Loyalist elites, what does the story of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States look like through the eyes of enslaved people? In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Professor Justene Hill Edwards, author of Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina. Guests: Justene Hill Edwards is an associate professor of History in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Her research explores the intersection of African American history, the history of slavery, and the history of American capitalism. She is the author of Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina and Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank. Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Mansa Musa: This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, a conflict that we typically frame as a struggle between the colonialists and the British. However, we rarely examine the age of revolution from the perspective of the enslaved and the enslaved has a voice in this matter, as we will see. Join us today as the University of Virginia Professor of History, Justine Hill Edwards, an author of Unfree Market: The Slave Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina. And Saviors and Trust. Professor, welcome to Rattling the Bars again. Justine Hill Edwards: Thank you for having me again. Mansa Musa: And we want to dial down because our last conversation, you educate our audience on the economics of slave from a different perspective, more from the perspective of how we as enslaved people not only view money, but viewed money with an economic plan that we had. Although it might have been embryonic and in terms of the collectivity of it, they made a relationship between money, freedom, and generational wealth. They might not have called it that, but in terms of application and practice, it was everything, that and some. So let’s talk about today, your book, Unfree Market. Okay. Unfree marketing explores the slave economy. What drew you to this subject and why did you focus specifically on South Carolina? Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. Well, I mean, I didn’t realize until I began to do my PhD that I was really interested in the history of money. And I was drawn to ideas about how the enslaved were making money. And even though I really started this research when I was starting my PhD in 2008, I did a master’s degree in African diaspora studies before then. And I remember reading and being introduced to scholarship about what was called the slaves economy. And this was a tradition of enslaved men and women being able to and taking advantage of opportunities to make money for themselves, whether it was selling goods in a local marketplace, trading between and amongst themselves, trading with their enslavers, trading with anyone who would buy and sell goods to them and from them. And this kind of economy was actually not underground. It was not invisible. In some places, in places like Bridgetown Barbados, in places in Jamaica, even in places like Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, this type of activity was actually very visible. And so when I started to dig into the archive, look at primary sources, look at the historical record, I saw that not only was this economy visible, but it was incredibly important to the growth of the economy of slavery in general. And I focused on South Carolina because I knew that South Carolina as a slave holding colony and then state was at the forefront of pro- slavery activism, that the slaveholders and slaveholding politicians in South Carolina were vehement about protecting slavery as an institution and protecting their property rights in slaves and black slaves. And so I found these two ideas really fascinating that there was so much in the archive that revealed that the enslaved were managing money, they were making money, they were saving money. But at the same time, South Carolina was, at this period of time, during the period of legalized slavery, the most staunchly pro- slavery state in the nation. And this continued up until the outbreak of the American Civil War. And so that’s how I came to this topic and this question of looking at the slaves’ economy in South Carolina. Mansa Musa: Okay. Now let’s talk about how the impact that the Revolutionary War had on disrupting the lives of enslaved people in South Carolina. Talk about the impact that the war had on Revolutionary War had on the slave economy and how the enslaved people leverage that in order to get the edge. Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. I mean, studying the history of the American Revolution from the perspective and experiences of enslaved communities is incredibly fascinating because as you mentioned in the introduction, it kind of flips the narrative of this kind of patriotic moment on its head. Interestingly enough, most slaves in the American colonies, even in places like South Carolina, weren’t partisan. They didn’t care necessarily about the colonist or the loyalist cause. They didn’t care about the Patriots’ cause. They were only concerned with the ability to emancipate themselves and they would throw their political affiliation behind anyone who would promise them freedom. And interestingly enough, in a revolutionary period, by and large, this was the British. And so because the British forces were offering to free enslaved Africans if they would leave their enslavers and fight on the east sides of the loyalists. And so it kind of flips this narrative of the kind of patriotic moments of the American Revolution on its head. And South Carolina was no different. The enslaved in South Carolina were actually similar. And they found ways to support themselves during the tumultuousness, the unpredictability of the war. They would trade and buy goods and sell goods to loyalists, to patriots. They continued Their lives because by and large, they wanted their own protection and survival. And if trading with the British would help them do that, then that’s what they would do. If it meant staying on the plantations in which they were enslaved to stay out of this wartime conflicts, that’s what they did. And so again, looking at the American Revolution from the perspective of the enslaved, I think is a really fascinating exercise. Mansa Musa: And then we find ourselves after the war. Unpack that for our orders. How did the contradiction between the slave master or the institution of slavery and the slaves, how antagonistic was, and then how was it resolved? What’s your investigation or your historical study to come up with? Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the most interesting pieces of this, the story actually happens in Virginia. There was the royal governor of Virginia. He was the earl of Dunmore, and he issues a proclamation in December of 1775 off the coast of Virt Virginia, off the coast of Norfolk. And he actually says, “I will offer freedom to any slaves who leave their masters and join me in fighting for the British.” And he publishes this, this circulates, and this terrifies patriot enslavers like George Washington, for example. Because the idea of slaves taking up arms, leaving their enslavers, joining the British cause, and not only that, doing so to gain their freedom was a terrifying prospect. And this happens. There are a few hundred that reach done more. He creates what he called an Ethiopian regiment of slaves who he later offered freedom. But yeah, but there are these moments during the American revolution where you have enslaved families thinking critically about, look, I will take my freedom if the British refers it to me, or I will wash my hands of both sides and just leave and flee. And so about a fifth of the enslaved population in the American colonies leaf, they go and seek ref refuge with Native American nations, they flee to Canada, they flee to Florida with the Spanish. And so we see actually an exodus of slaves who choose this moment of war to leave and take their freedom for themselves. Mansa Musa: And how did this impact the slave economy during that era? Because you got a situation where I can leverage my existence, I can leverage my existence, I’ve got people bidding on me going left or right. Well, like you say, we got a position that where I can remain on the plantation, I’m out the way of the conflict and when the dust settled, all of them killed each other, I can just get up and leave. How did this situation really impact the slave economy? Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. Well, I mean, really, but between 1775 and 1783, which is the Treaty of Paris, which officially ends the revolution, we see the enslaved again, they either fight for either side for one side or the other. They choose to stay where they live, whether they live on plantations or not, or they choose to just flee. And so it is in this kind of eight-year period of time when we see the kind of economy of slavery, even the slaves economy weather this unstable moment. But after 1783, we shortly thereafter, well, four years after that, have the Constitutional Convention where we have the Constitution being debated about and ratified in the summer of 1787. And it is in that moment in particular that the kind of future of slavery starts to shift. We see delegates from the South and the North try to come to compromises about the future of slavery in this new nation. And one of the major issues that they are talking about is whether the US would be invested in the transatlantic slave trade. They put this question off for about 20 years, but it is in this period of time, interestingly enough, between 1787 and 1807, when we see this massive kind of expansion and investment in bringing in more slaves Mansa Musa: Into Justine Hill Edwards: The nation. But interestingly enough, what happens in 1791, we have the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution, which absolutely terrifies enslavers like Thomas Jefferson, for example, he Mansa Musa: Writes Justine Hill Edwards: That he is incredibly scared of what’s going to happen, not just in modern day Haiti and it’s not in Domain, but in the US Mansa Musa: If Justine Hill Edwards: Rebellious slaves are allowed to infiltrate slave communities in the new nation. And so all of these things are going on at the same time. Mansa Musa: Talk about the skill level of slave and how their skill level impacted not only the economy, but our workers, like whites and other ethnic groups, how did their skill level? Because as we well know, we was innovative and we smart and we definitely … One thing about us, we always found a way to improve our situation, even though we don’t get the credit for it. In our mind, I can do this different, I’m going to do it different. And that’s my goal, to do it different, to make it easier for me to be able to do what I do, somebody else come along a patent and make it their invention. Talk about that. Justine Hill Edwards: Sure. No, and this is a great question. There is often the idea that the enslaved were not as skilled, but that’s absolutely not true. In places like South Carolina, the enslaved populations were highly skilled, skilled as blacksmiths, skilled as seamstresses, as dress makers, skilled as fishers and bakers. And so we are talking about an incredibly highly skilled community of slaves, both men and women, who were, again, trying to use their skills to make money for them, themselves and their families. And it was not uncommon for enslavers and slave traders to use the skills that the enslaved develop to try to get higher prices for them. And so the idea that you have an unskilled slave population was not at all true, Mansa Musa: Especially if Justine Hill Edwards: We look at low country South Carolina. It was the enslaved population that kind of helped to grow and expand the rice economy in South Carolina, which was incredibly important. South Carolina rice in the 18th and 19th century was seen as being an incredibly important commodity. All of that was grown and produced by slaves. And so we have a slave population that was incredibly highly skilled, so much so that those skills were often used to increase their prices within slave markets in visible ways. Mansa Musa: And what would T. Washington come to mind when Booker T. Washington’s, his perspective was that reconstruction, that we move into vocational, but was more take our skills and institutionalize them in form of doing things that we ultimately have control over that economy. Talk about the impact that this particular skill level had on white people in general and what type of regulations started coming out to try to control it. Because now you got, like you say, we looking at it from the perspective of, all right, I got a product to offer you that you can’t produce this. You don’t know how to manufacture you too lazy. Whatever your reason is that you can’t do this, I can do it. You need it and you can’t take it. So now you’re in a position where you in a violin system with me. I might not be getting the most out of it, but it’s creating anxiety within y’all that y’all depending on me now to provide y’all a service that you got to pay for. Talk about the anxiety that came out there and what kind of revelations came out to try to control it from the slave Institution. Sure. Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. I mean, really at the beginning of the 19th century, we start to see there being kind of battles between skilled enslaved Black workers and their white counterparts, so much so that you have white or organizations who represented white mechanics, for example, petitioning state lawmakers saying that they wanted to bar black slaves from doing these same types of jobs. But of course, if you have an enslaver who wanted his or her slaves skilled in a certain trade, they would push back on this. And so this is one of the instances where you see white class conflicts, conflicts between the white working classes and the white elite classes who own slaves. And all of this was around the role and the place of skilled black slaves within this marketplace of labor. And so this begins at the beginning of the 19th century, and it increases really up until the breakout of the American Civil War. These really contentious debates, again, between white skilled workers and black skilled workers around this kind of labor question. And so it is a kind of interesting way to look at how white class conflicts in the period of slavery erupts in this period. Mansa Musa: And that makes sense because, like you say, you got competing interests. You got the slave owners that they benefiting from it. And this is the reality of this country. Everybody don’t get along with everybody because you racialize. You just look at it, you got issues with us, but you got issues with your own class of people and your own ethnicity. Talk about, because you was real vivid on the picture that you painted the 18th, 19th century about the police and how policing became like the institution of this particular phenomenon. Talk about the fines, fees, and confinement, how they use these things to control slave black coal laws, and what was our response? What was people’s response to those things? Now I’m walking down the street, I’m going from one area to another. I’m working and I look up, I’m being leased out to somebody for the next 10 years because I got a fine of $5, but it’s growing every day. Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. I mean, this is kind of the topic the history of policing in this country is really fascinating in the way that it dovetails with the history of slavery and slave regulation. And so you have what were called slave patrols. And slave patrols were kind of militias that were groups of white men primarily who were made responsible for regulating the movements of slaves when they were not on their plantations. And so these groups were first and foremost kind of non-elite white men, non-wealthy white men, white men without status within their communities. And they were often put on these patrols given the role to dominate the enslaved when they were not being directly dominated by their enslaver or wide overseer. And so slave patrols continued to evolve in the colonial period, really take on new meeting in the Antebellum period, which is the 1820s through the 1850s. And we start to see groups of white men in the South take these roles really seriously because it felt like it gave them domination for slaves in these communities, especially slaves, as I just talked about, who were equally as skilled and were often taking their jobs and positions by employers who didn’t want to hire white workers. Mansa Musa: What was the impact of, because you talked about rights earlier, what was the impact of this particular product and then the cotton coming into it? What was the issue with that and how did it resolve that contradiction? Because that was a major shift. Like you say earlier that in South Carolina, we nominated, we had rights, we controlled it, we produced it. Wherever we went at, so they knew we had that skill level, nine times until they used it. Now you got cotton, cotton become king. How did that contradiction resolve on economic level? Justine Hill Edwards: Yes. I mean, so in the colonial period, in South Carolina, in Georgia, the major product that was exported was rice, short staple rice. And that was exported to regions of Western Europe, to the Caribbean. And this product was mostly cultivated and planted by enslaved Africans. When we talk about the beginning of the 19th century, really the 18 teens and 1820s, we’re talking about the introduction of a new product in that short staple cotton. And so because of technological innovations made to cotton ginning, this made the production of short staped staple cotton much, much easier, less time consuming, and more of it could be planted and harvested and then sold. And so this is what happens. And this dramatically transforms the American economy. It transforms the slave south and it transforms the lives and experiences of the enslaved, especially in the south. And so really from 1800 to 1860, a short staple cotton is the most important export of the US, the vast majority of which was planted and cultivated by the enslaved, so much so that by 1860, I think 60 or 65% of total American exports were cotton products. And so it was incredibly important. And increasingly as the US is continuing to grow West, as new states are being added, Mansa Musa: Especially Justine Hill Edwards: In the South, all of these states are being dedicated. All of the land is being dedicated to producing cotton, and the vast majority of that cotton was being produced by slaves. Mansa Musa: And as you say, that changed the whole landscape in terms of treatment, because now you’re competing, whoever got the most acres going to get to have the most slaves going to try to produce the most cotton, because that’s the number one thing is generating the economy. So that shows that in and of itself kind of give you a perspective on how brutal the institution of slavery became because of the economics that’s now economic shift in terms of money because money now you got a lot of money being made off of cotton versus rice. Talk about Denmarkvest. How did his rebellion or his thinking impact the economy during that period there? And then tell all us a little bit about Democrats as you unpack that. Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. I mean, the Denmark Vesey story is really interesting. So he was an enslaved boy and then man. Some believe that his early history began in the Caribbean. He was purchased apparently by a slave trader who brought him to Satin Doming, modern day Haiti, and they traveled around the Atlantic and made a stop in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1799, he is living and working as an enslaved young man in South Carolina. He purchases a lottery ticket, which slaves could do. And it just so happened that he got the winning ticket. I forgot how much he won, but it was a large sum, probably like a thousand dollars. And so he negotiates with his enslaver for his freedom. He buys his freedom, and then he lives between 1800 and about 1820 within the increasingly large free Black population of South Carolina of Charleston. And this is where the historical record gets a little fuzzy. In 1821, there supposedly was a planned slave revolt and rebellion in Charleston. The plan was foiled, and he and his subsposed co-conspirators were arrested, found guilty and hung. And so this was kind of a foiled slave rebellion. Now, historians over the past 30 years or so have kind of looked at the historical record and they actually aren’t sure if one there was a slavery revolt. And if there was, they weren’t even sure if Veese was a part of it. But all of this is to say is that Vesi was hung … Well, he was tried, found guilty, and he was hung. And so his story kind of tells us quite a bit about just the culture of slavery, the threats against the lives of not just enslaved men and women, but free blacks as well, but also the fears that whites had within slave societies. They feared what would happen to rebellious slaves. They were in constant fear about what would happen if slaves terrorize their masters in other whites. And so in many ways, the Denmark Vesey story kind of brings that to a head in I think really clear ways. Mansa Musa: And speaking of fear, talk about their fear of just mundane stuff like us learning how to read, those things that they fear And how these things … We recognize that, and rightly so, they should have naturally, you should recognize Haiti, you should because this is an action that goes beyond your thinking, mainly in Haiti where you have a country that gain the independence that we can govern ourselves. And the threat with that is, not only can we govern ourselves, but once we get established, then we going to open the door for anybody to want to come here and get trained up to go back and do what they got to do. But talk about just this mundane, anxiety and their fear of just us doing this mundane stuff like reading and being educated. Justine Hill Edwards: Sure. Yeah. I mean, enslavers were under constant fears of what their slaves would do because they recognized the horrors of slavery. They were constantly afraid of slaves poisoning them, right? Their enslaved cooks poisoning them. They were constantly afraid of the enslaved women who cared for their children, killing their children out of spite. They were not just afraid of slaves running away, but afraid of slaves being armed and what they would do with weapons. And so this was a constant fear and they had a right to be afraid because the enslaved were constantly thinking about how to free themselves, whether with violence or not. Mansa Musa: Okay. And can you discuss the ratio of enslaved women in the colonial archives? How did you read against the grain of these forces to recover their stories? Justine Hill Edwards: Yeah. Well, I think about this a lot, and I think I’ve kind of shifted actually how I even talk about this. I think I am less and less convinced the more research that I do and the more that I read of colleagues in the field who study the history of slavery, that there really are silences. I think being a historian of slavery has forced me to think creatively about the sources that I use, helped me to think creatively about where I might find the voices of the enslaved in places where I might not think. And so when I researched my first book at Freemarket, I was surprised that I found court cases of slaves in court. They were testifying both in their own defense and against whites. They were there. There were thousands of records where I found slaves being tried for unruliness or selling liquor, buying liquor, being out, being drunk. And so it just proved to me that I think these sources are there and And enslaved women, we’re there as well. They’re visible in so many of these sources. And so I think it requires us being creative and really committed to the process of research because I think those voices are there. We just have to be patient and know where to look for them. Mansa Musa: We recognize that the brutality of the institution of slavery in this country is not nothing that can undermine that in terms of that being what it is. You take people and strip them of their freedom and their identity and have complete control on. However, in our response, our response is a response that shows our resilience, that we always find a way to be resilient. We always find a way to self-actualize until we get to a space where we can really maximize on that. Justine Hill Edwards: And our humanity too. I mean, much of what you’ll find by going into the archive is you find despite the brutality and violence and the kind of traumatic foundations of slavery, you find very human stories about families and relationships and loss and celebrations and striving. And I think it is you can find the fullness of human experience Mansa Musa: Under Justine Hill Edwards: This horrible institution. I’m going Mansa Musa: To let you have the last word on that. And mainly in terms of our humanity, because that’s something that we, as a people, we need to really stay in that space. When we look at whatever going on, we should always remember that despite all that, we still maintain our commander, like Maya Angelou say, steal our rise. Justine Hill Edwards: I mean, I just think that I am happy to be here talking about a topic that I’ve spent much of my life to this point really trying to understand. And as always, it’s a privilege to be here and be in conversation with you about it. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Mansa Musa.
Afghanistan: refugees from Iran ‘returning to nothing’: OCHAStrait of Hormuz crisis sparks rush to use Gulf’s land corridors – UNECEMali: UN aid chief highlights dangers, urges access to assistance
Afghanistan: refugees from Iran ‘returning to nothing’: OCHAStrait of Hormuz crisis sparks rush to use Gulf’s land corridors – UNECEMali: UN aid chief highlights dangers, urges access to assistance This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
The American Revolution Through a Slave’s Eyes
Death by Firing Squad: Sister Helen Prejean on Trump’s Moves to Ramp Up Executions
Kash Patel Got Arrested for Public Urination After a Night of Drinking #politics #trump
This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by The Intercept.
"Slow Civil War" Author Jeff Sharlet on the Growing Normalization of Violence at Home & Abroad
CPJ demands transparency as German reporter confirmed detained in Syria
Beirut, April 27, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on Syrian authorities to provide immediate and transparent information on the detention of German journalist Eva Maria Michelmann and the continued enforced disappearance of Kurdish-Turkish journalist Ahmed Polad, who sources say is being held in a Syrian detention facility. Despite confirmation from Michelmann’s...
Beirut, April 27, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on Syrian authorities to provide immediate and transparent information on the detention of German journalist Eva Maria Michelmann and the continued enforced disappearance of Kurdish-Turkish journalist Ahmed Polad, who sources say is being held in a Syrian detention facility. Despite confirmation from Michelmann’s family and the German government that she is in Syrian custody, officials continue to deny to CPJ any knowledge of the detention. The two journalists, who worked for Istanbul-based socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA) and Özgür TV, which operates across several cities in Europe, were last seen on January 18, 2026, when witnessed reported they were forced into a Syrian government vehicle during the takeover of Raqqa amid military operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). For months, Michelmann’s family was unaware of their fate or whereabouts, with authorities providing no information. This month, Syrian authorities acknowledged that Michelmann is in their custody, according to her family and lawyer Roland Meister, who said a German government representative visited her at a detention facility in Damascus on April 23. When contacted by CPJ, a source from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said: “following intensive and high-level efforts through various channels, we gained direct access to Ms. Michelmann last Thursday and will now continue to provide her with consular assistance.” Authorities have reportedly initiated criminal proceedings, though the legal basis, charges, and responsible authority remain unclear. Meister and Avin Ibrahim, the co-chair of the Free Media Union in northeast Syria, said they have received information that Polad is being held in a detention facility in the northern city of Aleppo. A released SDF fighter reported sharing a cell with him, and said the journalist had been injured and received medical treatment but was last seen in stable condition. “The Syrian government’s lack of transparency regarding the detention and whereabouts of journalists Eva Maria Michelmann and Ahmed Polad is unacceptable and raises serious concerns about press freedom in Syria,” said Joud Hasan, CPJ’s Levant Program Coordinator. “Authorities must immediately clarify their legal status, ensure their safety, and grant them access to legal counsel and family members.” CPJ contacted multiple Syrian officials at the Ministry of Information and Aleppo governor’s office, who said they had no information about the detention of the two journalists. The organization also emailed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and reached out to officials from the Ministry of Interior, but did not receive a response at the time of publication. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Rep. Ro Khanna on WHCA Dinner Shooting, Political Violence, Epstein Files & More
Did Trump Fake Another Assassination Attempt?
We've received questions and comments from Gaslit Nation listeners about the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend. Here's our response. We can discuss at today's Gaslit Nation Salon at 4pm ET, along with whatever is happening in your neck of the woods. Sign up on Patreon.com/Gaslit to join the discussion: https://www.patreon.com/posts/zoom-link-for-156366425?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Join our community of listeners, get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats, 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 Show Notes: Opening Clip: Obama Roasts Trump in 2011: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4H47RaRDadY Dr. Bandy Lee Interview on Gaslit Nation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/confederacy-of-114975456?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link MAGA Is Increasingly Convinced The Trump Assassination Attempt Was Staged https://www.wired.com/video/watch/maga-is-increasingly-convinced-the-trump-assassination-attempt-was-staged
We've received questions and comments from Gaslit Nation listeners about the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend. Here's our response. We can discuss at today's Gaslit Nation Salon at 4pm ET, along with whatever is happening in your neck of the woods. Sign up on Patreon.com/Gaslit to join the discussion: https://www.patreon.com/posts/zoom-link-for-156366425?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Join our community of listeners, get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats, 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 Show Notes: Opening Clip: Obama Roasts Trump in 2011: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4H47RaRDadY Dr. Bandy Lee Interview on Gaslit Nation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/confederacy-of-114975456?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link MAGA Is Increasingly Convinced The Trump Assassination Attempt Was Staged https://www.wired.com/video/watch/maga-is-increasingly-convinced-the-trump-assassination-attempt-was-staged This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 27, 2026
[Full Uncut Conversation] General Russell L. Honoré: Decades after Katrina, Louisiana is weatheri…
This content originally appeared on Laura Flanders & Friends and was authored by Laura Flanders & Friends.
The Justice Department is bringing back the use of firing squads and lethal injection using pentobarbital as it seeks to expedite and expand federal death penalty convictions and executions. No federal executions have been carried out since 20...
The Justice Department is bringing back the use of firing squads and lethal injection using pentobarbital as it seeks to expedite and expand federal death penalty convictions and executions. No federal executions have been carried out since 2020, when the first Trump administration broke with over a decade of precedent and executed 13 people on death row. The second Trump administration is now pursuing the death penalty in dozens more cases across the country. Renowned anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean says Trump’s push to restart federal executions is entirely unsurprising. “His first instinct almost always seems to be demonize someone as an enemy and then kill them and destroy them.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
“Slow Civil War” Author Jeff Sharlet on the Growing Normalization of Violence at Home & Abroad
Writer Jeff Sharlet responds to the shooting event at White House correspondents’ dinner this weekend. We discuss the motivations of Cole Allen, the man accused of breaching security in an attempt to assassinate members of the Trump admi...
Writer Jeff Sharlet responds to the shooting event at White House correspondents’ dinner this weekend. We discuss the motivations of Cole Allen, the man accused of breaching security in an attempt to assassinate members of the Trump administration, as well as gun access in the United States and the growing violence across the political spectrum of what Sharlet calls a “slow civil war.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Martyn Bradbury: Why Iran is winning and will continue to win
COMMENTARY: By Martyn Bradbury How insane is it that, a Theocracy is winning the propaganda war against a Democracy? How badly has Trump screwed up when religious zealots are beating you in the marketing game? It’s not just the social media meme burns where Iran is winning, they are actually winning the war strategically. READ
COMMENTARY: By Martyn Bradbury How insane is it that, a Theocracy is winning the propaganda war against a Democracy? How badly has Trump screwed up when religious zealots are beating you in the marketing game? It’s not just the social media meme burns where Iran is winning, they are actually winning the war strategically. READ MORE: ‘Vengeance for all’: How Iran’s Lego videos won narrative war against Trump Trump’s inane decision to get conned into an illegal war against Iran by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has swiftly become the biggest geopolitical blunder since Vietnam. By shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Iran finally has a weapon that is forcing Trump to back down. Here’s the future timeline: Late May – June 2026 → noticeable fuel price increases globally July – September 2026 → inflation spike, food costs rising Late 2026 → real economic slowdown / recession risk Causing global economic pain is the only way the Iranian regime can force Trump to stop the violence. If this is still blocked come the midterms, Trump and the Republicans are finished and he’ll be swamped with impeachments attempts. Iran’s information war at home and abroad Video: Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post There is NO WAY Iran are giving that leverage up now they have been forced to use it. For the Theocracy, Trump’s insanity has opened an unexpected door to not only have all the damage rebuilt but the economic sanctions off as well. Did you read that? Trump has given the Theocracy the chance to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people they have repressed. If the Iranians can force America and Israel to agree not to attack them again, pay for all the damage they caused and lift economic sanctions, they will gain legitimacy with the Iranian population they could never have dreamt of. There’s no way they are handing over the Strait, so Trump either surrenders or nukes the entire Iranian coastline. Martyn Bradbury is the editor and publisher of New Zealand’s The Daily Blog. Republished with permission. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-24-at-7.27.55-AM.jpg" alt="Donald Trump" width="762" height="1000" data-eio="p" data-src="https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-24-at-7.27.55-AM.jpg" data-srcset="https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-24-at-7.27.55-AM.jpg 762w, https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-24-at-7.27.55-AM-229x300.jpg 229w" data-sizes="auto" data-eio-rwidth="762" data-eio-rheight="1000" /> The choice: Donald Trump either surrenders or nukes the entire Iranian coastline. Image: The Daily Blog This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
Rep. Ro Khanna on White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting, Political Violence, Epstein Files & More
We speak to Congressmember Ro Khanna about the apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump and members of his administration at the White House correspondents’ dinner. “Political violence strikes at the very heart...
We speak to Congressmember Ro Khanna about the apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump and members of his administration at the White House correspondents’ dinner. “Political violence strikes at the very heart of democracy. We cannot have a democracy if people are saying we’re going to kill you if we disagree with your viewpoint. And that has to be condemned in the most strong, unequivocal terms,” says Khanna. He also gives an update on his work calling for the full public release of the Epstein files and comments on Trump’s attacks on press freedoms. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting Suspect Set to Be Formally Charged in Court Today, Trump Cancels Witkoff and Kushner’s Trip to Pakistan for Ceasefire Negotiations with Iran, Israeli Strikes Kill 14 People in Lebanon Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces Kill at Least 12 Palestinians in Gaza, Justice Department to Allow Firing Squads for Executions, Justice Department Makes It Easier to Deport People with DACA Status, ICE Detains Family Less Than Two Days After Court Orders Their Release, NYT: DHS Seeks to Deny Green Cards to Immigrants Who’ve Criticized Israel, Appeals Court Rules Trump Unlawfully Banned Asylum Cases at Southern Border, Pentagon Claims It Killed Three in Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Mexico Says CIA Agents Killed in Car Crash Were on Mexican Soil Without Authorization, Russian Drone and Missile Attacks Kill 16 Across Ukraine, Tuareg Separatists Join al-Qaeda Affiliate in Coordinated Attacks Across Mali, Maine Gov. Janet Mills Vetoes Statewide Moratorium on AI Data Centers
White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Suspect Set to Be Formally Charged in Court Today Trump Cancels Witkoff and Kushner's Trip to Pakistan for Ceasefire Negotiations with Iran Israeli Strikes Kill 14 People in Lebanon Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire Israeli Forces Kill at Least 12 Palestinians in Gaza Justice Department to Allow Firing Squads for Executions Justice Department Makes It Easier to Deport People with DACA Status ICE Detains Family Less Than Two Days After Court Orders Their Release NYT: DHS Seeks to Deny Green Cards to Immigrants Who've Criticized Israel Appeals Court Rules Trump Unlawfully Banned Asylum Cases at Southern Border Pentagon Claims It Killed Three in Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific Mexico Says CIA Agents Killed in Car Crash Were on Mexican Soil Without Authorization Russian Drone and Missile Attacks Kill 16 Across Ukraine Tuareg Separatists Join al-Qaeda Affiliate in Coordinated Attacks Across Mali Maine Gov. Janet Mills Vetoes Statewide Moratorium on AI Data Centers This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Sister Helen Prejean on Trump’s Move to Bring Back Firing Squads & Expand Executions (Part 2)
Renowned anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean reacts to the Justice Department announcement that it will use firing squads and single-drug lethal injections to kill condemned federal prisoners, as it seeks to ramp up and expedite capital punishment.
Renowned anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean reacts to the Justice Department announcement that it will use firing squads and single-drug lethal injections to kill condemned federal prisoners, as it seeks to ramp up and expedite capital punishment. Watch Part 1 of this interview here. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Monday, April 27, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Starlink set to return to PNG after court quashes ban, clearing path
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor A Papua New Guinea National Court ruling to overturn a ban on Starlink has been widely welcomed, fresh off the back of a natural disaster which highlighted the need for low-orbit satellite services in the country. Last December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) announced that
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor A Papua New Guinea National Court ruling to overturn a ban on Starlink has been widely welcomed, fresh off the back of a natural disaster which highlighted the need for low-orbit satellite services in the country. Last December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) announced that the Starlink network’s parent company, SpaceX, had been instructed to cease all services in PNG due to a directive from the Ombudsman Commission. But a court ruling on Friday quashed this, paving the way for NICTA to liaise with Starlink to approve its licence to operate in PNG. READ MORE: Other Starlink reports This is good news for many Papua New Guineans in remote and rural parts of the country who struggle for reliable telecommunication services. Earlier this month, Tropical Cyclone Maila caused major damage to various provinces in PNG. During the Category 5 storm, when VHF radio services were down, broadband internet services provided a vital communication link for some affected communities. Disaster experience Prime Minister James Marape said the court decision provided clarity and allows the country to move ahead with practical solutions to improve telecommunications services. “Our recent disaster experience has shown us clearly that communication is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity,” Marape said in a statement. PNG Prime Minister James Marape . . . “Communication is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity.” Image: Nathan McKinnon/RNZ “When communities are cut off during cyclones, floods, earthquakes, or other emergencies, lives can depend on real-time communication. We must ensure our people are never isolated in times of crisis.” Jelta Wong, the MP for Gazelle Open in East New Britain, one of the parts of PNG badly affected by Cyclone Maila, said Starlink should be allowed to operate since not all of PNG can get service. “As we have seen in the past month with Cyclone Malia causing havoc on all coastal hamlets, if we had Starlink in strategic areas in the remote parts of Papua New Guinea we could have planned a much quicker and better response,” Wong said. Game changer The Governor of East Sepik Province, Allan Bird, said an easily accessible and affordable service like that which Starlink provided was “absolutely indispensable” in most parts of PNG outside of the capital. “You see, my province is bigger than Fiji. So getting access to rural communities is extremely expensive, extremely difficult. With something like Starlink, we can have things like tele medicals,” Byrd said. He said the ratio of doctors to people in East Sepik was around 22,000 people to one doctor. “So having things like Starlink changes the game, because you can have a doctor sitting in our provincial capital, talking to someone trying to do a delivery in a location that’s 50 minutes away by plane. So it’s absolutely critical.” Wong also pointed out that Starlink’s services would make service delivery more accessible, helping people trade and do banking from remote locations, creating opportunities for rural people to achieve goals. ‘Coordinated rollout’ In early 2024, the commission blocked licensing efforts for Starlink, arguing that existing regulations may not be adequate to manage potential risks to public interest and safety. But in her National Court ruling last week, Judge Susan Purdon-Sully strongly criticised the Ombudsman Commission for its move to halt Starlink’s licence process. Finding no breach of PNG’s leadership code, nor evidence of corruption, the judge said the Ombudsman’s concerns were more administrative, meaning its directive to NICTA had been “an unconstitutional exercise of power”. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister again urged Starlink to work collaboratively with state-owned Telikom PNG to “ensure a coordinated rollout that complements national infrastructure priorities”. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Meet the Mayor of a Tiny Texas Town Who Wants to Limit How Cities Can Govern
The post Meet the Mayor of a Tiny Texas Town Who Wants to Limit How Cities Can Govern appeared first on ProPublica.
<img src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ProPublica_Final_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="An illustration shows a bald man with a goatee, wearing glasses and a white shirt with blue dress pants. He’s holding a magnifying glass over the skyline of the city of Dallas and police officers while stepping through a maze of highways, oil fields and houses."> Margaret Flatley for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit accusing Dallas officials of failing to adequately fund the city’s police department and violating a voter-approved measure requiring it to hire up to 900 new officers. “I filed this lawsuit to ensure that the City of Dallas fully funds law enforcement, upholds public safety, and is accountable to its constituents,” Paxton said in a news release demanding that the city adhere to a 2024 change in its charter. “When voters demand more funding for law enforcement, local officials must immediately comply.” The reason Paxton could pursue such action, the reason the Dallas city charter even requires hiring more officers, was due in large part to a man named Art Martinez de Vara. A private attorney with a law practice based in Houston and a tiny South Texas town called Von Ormy, Martinez de Vara was one of the driving forces behind the changes in the charter that opened Dallas up to such a lawsuit in the first place. Martinez de Vara’s personal website lists him as a state historian, an anthropologist and an attorney, in that order. He’s also the mayor of Von Ormy, a community of 1,100 people. But over the past two decades, Martinez de Vara has been much more than that. He has made a name for himself in Texas conservative circles as the architect behind the formation of a handful of small towns with austere — nearly nonexistent — local governments. His push for limited-government concepts is not out of the norm in Texas, a state that has long worn that badge with pride. But the so-called “liberty city” experiment, in which communities agree to lean governments, little to no taxation and scant regulation, never grew into a large-scale movement. So in recent years, Martinez de Vara and other limited-government advocates have taken a different tack: They’ve ramped up efforts to restrict local governments’ ability to decide how they spend their money and which policies they can adopt. That’s what happened in Dallas. Two years ago, Martinez de Vara joined a coalition of power players associated with a nonprofit called Dallas HERO, a group funded in part by Republican megadonor and Dallas-area hotelier Monty Bennett. As HERO’s attorney, Martinez de Vara helped draft and lobby for ballot measures that required the city to dedicate a large share of its budget to hiring more police officers and significantly increase starting pay, even if it meant cutting other public services. Last year, the city agreed to fund hiring 350 more officers to begin meeting the new requirement, which has no timeline for compliance. Another measure Martinez de Vara helped draft made the city more vulnerable to lawsuits from opponents of its actions, by stripping the city of its immunity from litigation. The measures, the group argued, would make Dallas safer and ensure local officials were more accountable to their constituents. But Dallas’s elected officials, nearly all of whom were opposed to the measures, say the reality has been detrimental. They are cutting city services and staff to ensure they have the money for the new recruits, even as crime continues to drop. And they’ve already had to spend additional money to defend themselves against a lawsuit brought by a couple who argued that the city violated its own noise regulations by allowing the construction of a church basketball court near their home. (A judge dismissed the couple’s claims tied to the city charter amendment, but that ruling is now on appeal.) Paxton’s lawsuit — which Dallas maintains it still has immunity from — now puts a new microscope on the city more than a year after the propositions passed. “The Republican officials running Texas have long sought to gain leverage over the Democrat officials running the state’s largest cities, so I am not surprised that Attorney General Paxton joined with HERO lawyers to sue Dallas,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. Dallas is not the only city dealing with the fallout from efforts pushed by Martinez de Vara. Earlier in his career, he persuaded five small towns to incorporate. At least two of them still struggle to provide basic services. In Von Ormy, just outside of San Antonio, the town still doesn’t have a sewer system 18 years after it was created, relying entirely on septic tanks. And about 60 miles away in the town of Kingsbury, Mayor Shirley Nolen, a supporter of Martinez de Vara, acknowledged that the low-tax, small-government model has been hard to maintain. “That’s kind of a double-edged sword,” she said. “There’s no regulation.” During the past year, Martinez de Vara also served as the attorney for the nonprofit Texas Government Accountability Association. According to Republican former Texas Rep. Matt Krause, previously a member of the association board, the organization is funded in part by Bennett, who has used his fortune to advocate for the passage of school vouchers, end transgender care for youth and upend homeless services in big cities. Bennett and Martinez de Vara declined to talk to WFAA for this story. When WFAA traveled to Von Ormy to ask Martinez de Vara about HERO, he declined to talk, citing pending litigation. When asked about his work in Von Ormy, he said, “I can’t because it’s all tied in.” The accountability association’s leaders spent most of 2025 trying to entice, and sometimes force with petition drives, various cities and other government entities across Texas to enter into contracts that required them to pay membership fees to the organization and adhere to a set of prescribed accountability and transparency requirements. If they failed to do so, they risked being sued. Odessa, a Republican stronghold in West Texas, became one of the first cities to sign on. But the city quickly sued TGAA to get out of the deal, arguing in court documents that the group sought to “illegally transfer” local rulemaking power to itself and wanted the right to veto decisions made by city leaders. Elected officials should not give up government immunity or their ability to make their own decisions, said Bill Helfand, a municipal law expert and Houston attorney. “I cannot imagine how any responsible government official or body would agree that they are not capable of self-governance, literally,” Helfand said. “I would vote against any person running for any elective office who agreed they need outside oversight to ensure they are doing their elected duties.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="862" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A gravel road runs between over a dozen cars parked alongside multiple single-wide housing units, with electricity wires running from a row of telephone poles." class="wp-image-75133" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,317 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,419 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,862 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-11_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1200 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Art Martinez de Vara is mayor of Von Ormy, outside of San Antonio. It’s one of the small Texas towns he helped turn into so-called liberty cities. Christopher Lee for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune The Rise of the “Liberty City” Over the course of a career that began nearly two decades ago, Martinez de Vara has worked for two state lawmakers and served as assistant general counsel for the Republican Party of Texas. He also has at least 15 years of experience in local government, including terms as either mayor or city attorney in several small towns near San Antonio. That journey started in 2006, when Martinez de Vara was still a law school student at St. Mary’s University and he began a campaign to incorporate Von Ormy, a 2-square-mile community just southwest of San Antonio on Interstate Highway 35. By forming their own local government, Von Ormy citizens would have the legal authority to make their own laws. Martinez de Vara worked with residents who feared annexation from sprawling San Antonio, framing the effort as an example of how Texans could resist what he saw as creeping municipal overreach. Von Ormy, he said, would form a government that would work toward eliminating property taxes while still providing basic services to its residents, and would offer free business permitting and few regulations. “We were fighting not only for sewer, potholes and police protection but for self-determination and empowerment of our community,” Martinez de Vara wrote in a firsthand account of the incorporation campaign. In May 2008, Von Ormy residents said yes to becoming their own city in a vote of 117 to 16. Martinez de Vara, who did not grow up in Von Ormy but whose family has lived there for generations, became its first mayor. The town’s incorporation and his election garnered statewide attention for the model of government he proposed, one he said made Von Ormy the “freest little city in Texas,” according to a 2017 story in the Texas Observer. He later called the community “a unique opportunity to experiment with democracy,” describing it as the kind of place where people can freely set off fireworks and smoke cigars wherever they want. But cracks quickly began to form. Martinez de Vara had pushed incorporation partly to help fund construction of a sewer system for the community, whose residents relied on septic tanks. But the sewer service was going to cost millions of dollars and would require the city to borrow money. Martinez de Vara opposed taking on any extra debt. Tensions escalated over Martinez de Vara’s plan to eliminate property taxes, according to interviews, City Council minutes and previous news accounts. Some City Council members began to question whether the zero property tax approach was sustainable, possibly creating an overreliance on sales taxes. Martinez de Vara eventually succeeded in eliminating the city’s property taxes. But the move threw the City Council into disarray and eventually led to misdemeanor charges against council members who were charged with violating the Texas Open Meetings Act in an attempt to override his action. Those charges were later dropped, and Martinez de Vara eventually decided not to seek a subsequent term as mayor amid the turmoil. Council members reinstated the property tax in his absence. The challenges, however, were not a deterrent for his vision of expanding the liberty cities model. Over the years, he helped various communities in some capacity to incorporate and eventually started working to enshrine the liberty cities model into law. Doing so, Martinez de Vara told attendees at a January 2015 forum sponsored by the influential conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, would prevent future elected leaders from abandoning the model by, for instance, raising taxes. The group supported such legislation in a policy brief calling the liberty city model a “new concept for self-governance.” Martinez de Vara by then had become chief of staff for state Sen. Konni Burton, a Republican who represented portions of North Texas west of Dallas and was a leader in one of the founding tea party chapters. In February 2015, Burton filed a bill that would bar leaders of liberty cities from adopting a property tax without approval from at least 60% of voters, mandate voter approval before taking on public debt and allow a citizen’s bill of rights “expressly limiting” city authority. The bill did not pass. Burton, who left office in 2019, declined to speak to WFAA for this story. The idea behind the liberty city movement in Texas, especially for small rural cities, was to promote incorporation for basic public services at low cost. But in practice, the model has not proven successful, said Jillson, the SMU political science professor. “A few towns, like Von Ormy, tried it, but the results were disappointing,” Jillson said. “Turns out meaningful public services do cost money, so mayors and city councils were left fighting over tax cuts and poor services until everyone simply threw up their hands.” More than a decade after its formation in 2015, the town of Kingsbury, which Martinez de Vara helped to incorporate, has only one paid employee. Everything else is handled by volunteers. “We don’t have water or sewer. We don’t have trash pickup,” said Nolen, the town’s longtime mayor. “It’s all very self-reliant farmers and ranchers out here. We don’t want any property tax.” The liberty cities model of fewer regulations, however, has also brought with it the challenge of dealing with a landfill that moved in just outside the tiny city’s boundaries. Some balked when Nolen began talking about passing zoning rules, she said. “People are like, ‘Well, I don’t want anybody telling me what to do on my own property,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t either.’ However, I don’t want Joe Bob’s unlined-hole-in-the-ground battery disposal coming in next to my house,” she said. Sixty miles away in Von Ormy, two truck stops make up a significant part of the city’s revenue. Residents and businesses still rely on septic tanks, and locals say larger businesses have been hesitant to relocate there because of the lack of sewer service. “I’m sure you’ve driven around,” said Alex Quintanilla, a former city commissioner. “There’s nothing around here. What is there?” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="862" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A small green sign on a post stating, “Von Ormy city limit” and “ pop 1,300,” alongside the silver backs of two other signs, on an empty country road lined with low trees and shrubs." class="wp-image-75134" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,317 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,419 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,862 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20251221_VonOrmy_ProPublica_CL-15_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1200 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> The small town of Von Ormy lacks basic public services like sewer systems, which makes recruiting new investment for the community difficult. Christopher Lee for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune A New Tactic, an Uncertain Future Martinez de Vara’s vision for a liberty city, and whether he can carry it out, will be tested once again. Von Ormy reelected him as mayor last year, a few months after the passage of the Dallas HERO initiatives. Even as he returned to the leadership role of the town, Martinez de Vara and his allies, through the Texas Government Accountability Association, continued efforts to dictate how other cities make budget and policy decisions. The TGAA branded itself as an initiative focused on helping local governments embrace stronger ethics and transparency. But officials in cities that encountered the new organization questioned that goal. Some argued the organization’s real aim was to find a way to control cities, similar to what happened with Dallas HERO in 2024. The connections between Dallas HERO and TGAA go beyond kindred philosophies and the legal services of Martinez, who also served as TGAA’s lawyer. The man who handles finances for TGAA is the chief accounting officer for a hotel company founded by Bennett, the business owner who provided financial support for the Dallas HERO propositions. Dallas HERO and TGAA share a mailing address, according to the organizations’ 990 tax forms from 2024. The same mailing address is also listed on the 2024 IRS filing for Dallas Express Media, the parent company for the conservative online site Dallas Express, of which Bennett is publisher. The website posted several pieces championing Dallas HERO and lambasting city leaders who opposed it. Similarly, the site criticized city council members of one community for declining to join TGAA. Krause, the former state representative and former TGAA board member, said he has known Bennett and Martinez de Vara for years through his work in conservative politics. As with HERO, he said, Bennett financially supports the accountability association. “When I knew I was going to be working with Art again on TGAA, I was really excited,” Krause said. “He’s just a brilliant guy. It doesn’t surprise me that that’s somebody that Monty would have trusted and respected to be kind of the final voice on these kinds of things.” TGAA’s model has been to hold cities to frequent audits and, in general, bind future councils to an externally written rulebook that limits local officials’ discretion, critics say. If a member entity is accused of violating the agreement, the TGAA agreement requires it to waive governmental immunity from citizen lawsuits. TGAA tapped at least two of the cities Martinez de Vara had helped incorporate to sign on, including Kingsbury, where he is still city attorney. The town was the first to join. The group also approached Providence Village, a planned community in North Texas that Martinez de Vara had helped to incorporate more than a decade earlier. Leaders of the town declined. Representatives from TGAA started a door-to-door campaign in the small city. They sought to gather signatures to “force the town to hold and pay for, at taxpayers’ expense, an election to add a provision to our town charter requiring TGAA membership,” Mayor Linda Inman posted on Facebook last June. Inman, who did not respond to repeated requests for comment, wrote on Facebook that TGAA was using a recruitment strategy “that relies on buzzwords and scare tactics to mislead voters into signing their tax dollars away to a nonpublic, third-party entity with no interest in the towns and cities they’re targeting.” In the end, only Kingsbury and Odessa, a city of 124,000 people, joined the organization. Von Ormy officials considered joining but took no action. Odessa signed on at the behest of its conservative city manager, John Beckmeyer, former head of the state GOP. Beckmeyer did not return messages seeking comment for this story. After new City Council members were elected in Odessa in November 2024, the city sued to get out of the deal. The terms of the contract were steep: After a grace period, Odessa would have to pay roughly $24,000 annually to maintain its membership, an amount that could increase and had no cap. The contract had no end date. And the only way the city could get out of the agreement was to hold a citywide election. Layne Rouse, an attorney representing Odessa in the case, said the TGAA is an example of “dark money controlling politics through a backdoor contract” because its donors aren’t public. In December, a judge declared Odessa’s TGAA contract “void and unenforceable.” The association appealed the ruling but, on Feb. 12, withdrew the appeal without explanation. TGAA officials did not respond to questions about the lawsuit or its efforts to recruit cities. Now TGAA’s future, and Martinez de Vara’s role with the group, appear up in the air. Besides withdrawing its appeal of the Odessa lawsuit, the group hasn’t had any meetings since December. Recent efforts to contact TGAA employees and board members have resulted in emails bouncing back. But Martinez de Vara remains busy. When Paxton, the state attorney general, filed the lawsuit in February suing Dallas, a P.O. Box associated with Martinez de Vara’s law office in Von Ormy was listed on the petition. He represents two Dallas residents in the lawsuit who say they’ve been harmed by the city’s failure to grow its police force. He told The Dallas Morning News that Dallas HERO had “no formal role in the litigation” but confirmed that he remains its attorney. “I coordinated with the attorney general’s office. They were in need of someone to represent the private plaintiffs and I agreed to do so,” Martinez de Vara said. “I was a logical person to reach out to.” The post Meet the Mayor of a Tiny Texas Town Who Wants to Limit How Cities Can Govern appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Tanya Eiserer.
Eugene Doyle: Iran demands hundreds of billions in reparations for being attacked. Guess who’ll pay?
ANALYSIS: By Eugene Doyle If Iran succeeds in extracting reparations for the damage done to it in the US-Israeli war, it will be a world historic moment. Iran may be bloodied but it remains unbowed and is seeking compensation from the Arab states over “direct involvement” in the US-Israeli war of aggression. Iran sent a
ANALYSIS: By Eugene Doyle If Iran succeeds in extracting reparations for the damage done to it in the US-Israeli war, it will be a world historic moment. Iran may be bloodied but it remains unbowed and is seeking compensation from the Arab states over “direct involvement” in the US-Israeli war of aggression. Iran sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this month outlining its claim against Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. They also intend to apply a transit toll on the Strait of Hormuz as an instrument of restorative justice. READ MORE: Iran’s FM arrives in Russia as Strait of Hormuz remains closed Other US-Israel war on Iran reports Under international law — if anyone still pays attention to such things — the Iranians have a strong case. What will determine if justice is done, however, is victory over the aggressors. More than 100 US-based international law experts, professors, and practitioners have released a letter stating that the United States and Israel violated the UN Charter by launching strikes on Iran on February 28. The signatories include leaders of prominent international law associations and former Judge Advocates General — the top legal advisors to the US armed forces. They cite the complete lack of evidence of an imminent Iranian threat that could support a self-defence claim. Under international law the aggressor is responsible for all the destruction that follows. The white-dominated Western countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand should stop banging on about the illegality of Iran taking control of the Strait and address the root causes of why it did so. The case against the Arab states In the early days of the war, radar systems operating from these countries were fully engaged in the war. Thousands of US troops were operating from 14 US bases in their territories. Attack planes, refuelling planes and aerial surveillance planes all operated from bases like Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd Air Base, as reported by Middle East Eye. Major Western outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times documented missile launches and multiple other ways Jordan and the Gulf States were directly involved in the war despite the mainstream media portraying them as innocent bystanders and victims of Iranian aggression. Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have both described the Gulf States as fighting “shoulder to shoulder” with the US and Israel. In filing their letter with the UN the Iranians have also provided satellite and other data to support their claim. Iran argues that the Arab states, under international law, are co-belligerents. The UN’s International Law Commission (ILC) Articles on State Responsibility (2001) defines the concept of “Aid or Assistance” in the commission of an internationally wrongful act. It is not hard for Iran to prove that these states did not maintain neutrality. In reality, for Iran to get justice, deterrence and reparations, there is no international body or court to turn to; it must win by making a continuation too painful for the aggressors. There are signs it might just succeed. Iran has achieved something few on the Western side anticipated: the destruction of most of the US bases. Marc Lynch, director of the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University told Middle East Eye, “The bases around the region are suffering real damage, and I think it’s very unlikely that we’re ever going to go back and put our Fifth Fleet back in Bahrain. It’s too vulnerable. “This is the physical architecture of American primacy, and Iran has essentially rendered it useless in the span of a month.” The War on Iran is a long way from finished. Even if the ceasefire holds, the Israelis and Americans will see this only as a stage in their multi-decade project to wreck Iran as a major regional competitor. The victims are usually the ones who must pay At the end of imperial wars, the victims are traditionally made to pay. In the 19th Century, the British fought the Chinese over the latter’s resistance to the British government’s lucrative opium trade into China. The imperialists won and imposed the infamous Unequal Treaties on China, including awarding to Britain the island of Hong Kong. Queen Victoria even shamelessly named a stolen Pekingese dog “Lootie” after the British sacking of Beijing’s Summer Palace, one of the great cultural crimes of history. When the genocidal US war on Vietnam ended, decades of harsh US sanctions on their victims began. As the US moved towards accepting it had lost the war, Nixon promised $3.3 billion in reconstruction aid under the Paris Peace Accords (1973). The Americans never paid a cent. The US also pressured the IMF, World Bank, and UN agencies to block Hanoi’s applications for loans, seriously retarding reconstruction. When the slave revolt in Hispaniola (present day-Haiti) drove out the French, the Western powers returned in force a few years later and imposed harsh “reparations” for being dispossessed of their “stolen” land and humans. From 1825, Haiti was forced to pay 150 million francs to France to compensate former slaveholders for their “lost property”. This debt was only fully paid off in 1947, permanently crippling the nation. The US-Israeli war on Iran is something different. Iran, like the Vietnamese, the Algerians and the Indians may have what it takes to prevail over imperial aggression. Iran may also have something different: the power to impose reparations on the aggressor. Across the West we are subjected to the astonishing chutzpah of Western leaders decrying the “illegality” of Iran’s declaration of sovereignty over the Hormuz Strait in response to the war launched against them. These same leaders stood silent and complicit and lifted no more than an eyebrow as hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren were killed, hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure destroyed, and leader after leader were assassinated. Cowards, all of them, they at best offered whispered rebukes when Trump threatened the destruction of Iranian civilisation in a single night. But tax a barrel of oil and “Oh my god, this is intolerable!” Iran has every right to insist on reparations but they will only come about if Iran succeeds in imposing its position on the belligerents. The Israelis and Americans are unlikely to face justice at the International Criminal Court (ICC) or International Court of Justice (ICJ), so reparations must be extracted from the other enabling states like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and France. It is an elegant solution. One thing the Iranians will hopefully recover soon is their stolen money. Experts estimate more than $100 billion remains blocked in foreign banks (including in the US, Qatar, South Korea, and Iraq). We should remember that since 1979 the Western world has grievously damaged Iran’s economy via sanctions and the weaponisation of international trading systems, as well as blocking its integration within the community of nations. A world historic moment is possible If Iran succeeds in extracting reparations, it will be a world historic moment. It will be an achievement that will benefit countries around the globe which are similarly assailed by major powers. Nuclear powers like the US and Israel should respect the territorial integrity of non-nuclear states. They have done the opposite — and should face consequences. For these reasons and more, I hope the Iranian government succeeds in its historic mission to preserve the territorial integrity of the sovereign state of Iran and that they can receive just compensation for the terrible crimes committed against them. I will give the last word to Mohaddeseh Fallahat, a mother who spoke to the UN Human Rights Council this month about losing her daughter to a US airstrike at Minab at the very start of the US-Israeli war on Iran: “As they walked out the door, they simply said, Mum, come pick us up after school. That simple sentence now repeats in my mind a thousand times. Each time my heart burns with pain. No mother ever thinks she will send her child off to school with a smile, only to be met with silence.” 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.
Is The US Naval Blockade On Iran Working?
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.
Some Connecticut Towing Companies Are Ignoring New Law Aimed at Helping Low-Income Residents
The post Some Connecticut Towing Companies Are Ignoring New Law Aimed at Helping Low-Income Residents appeared first on ProPublica.
Tawana Galberth, a tenants union leader and resident at Sunset Ridge Apartments in New Haven, Connecticut. Residents say the frequency of towing has picked up in recent months after the formation of a tenants union. Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Connecticut legislators overhauled the state’s towing law last year to make it more fair for low-income residents who couldn’t afford the fees to get their cars back. Those residents sometimes saw their cars sold after being towed for breaking one of their landlord’s parking rules. The new law, which took effect in October, requires tow truck companies to give owners notice before hauling away a car for minor issues like failing to display an apartment complex’s parking permit or parking in the wrong space. They also now have to be available after hours to allow people to retrieve their vehicles. They have to accept credit cards and provide change when people pay in cash. But when Elias Natal went to work one evening in December, he discovered his Buick had been towed from his home at Sunset Ridge Apartments in New Haven. And the towing company seemed to ignore the new rules. The law requires apartment complexes to post signs warning of towing, but interviews with tenants and visits to Sunset Ridge show there were none at the complex, where many people receive state or federal rental aid. The towing company, Lombard Motors, told Natal he was towed for not having a parking permit, even though Natal has photos showing the sticker was displayed on the windshield, as he said the apartment manager instructed him. When Natal and his partner, Jasmin Flores, discovered where the car was and went to pick it up, Lombard was already closed, and no one was available to return their car, triggering additional storage fees. By the time they got the money together to pay the fees, it had only been four days, and the tow didn’t require excessive mileage charges since Lombard’s lot was a few blocks away. But Lombard’s fees stacked up to nearly $500. The company demanded cash, which the couple paid. They got their car back but had to argue to get any change. “Especially after the copious amounts of money that they asked of us, to then not give us back like our minuscule change is just, it’s dehumanizing,” Natal said. Over the past year and a half, the Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica have investigated towing practices in Connecticut, revealing how state laws favored towing companies, particularly at the expense of people with low incomes. The stories led to a new law, but reporting shows that some towing companies aren’t following it. While the legislature required most involuntary tows from apartments to be triggered by specific complaints, residents said towing companies are continuing to patrol public housing and low-income apartment complexes and tow cars for minor violations. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?w=752" alt="Brick buildings and trees stand next to a lot with parked cars and a black police car. The scene is framed by window panes." class="wp-image-74998" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_1219_SR_NorwalkHousing_017.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> A police car patrols the parking lot at Samuel Roodner Court in Norwalk, Connecticut. In Norwalk, the top seven property parcels for tows belong to the public housing authority. Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Few landlords had more tows in New Haven from 2022 to 2024 than the company that owns Sunset Ridge. And residents say the frequency of towing has picked up even more in recent months after the owner, Capital Realty Group, became more aggressive in response to the formation of a tenants union. In the five months since the new law took effect, Sunset Ridge has had 64 tows, compared with 146 from 2022 to 2024, according to police data. Capital Realty did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment. Whether landlords and towers are following the law matters because towing in Connecticut has disproportionately occurred in low-income areas. In many cities, public housing complexes and low-income apartments were some of the biggest hot spots for towing before the reforms passed, according to a new CT Mirror and ProPublica analysis of police department tow logs. The analysis of data from nine of the largest Connecticut cities showed that census tracts where the most tows occurred from 2022 to 2024 tended to have larger populations of renters, larger Black and Hispanic populations and much higher rates of poverty than the state as a whole. The census tract where Natal and Flores live had the second-most tows in the city and a high population of Hispanic and Black residents. In Norwalk, the top seven property parcels for tows belong to the public housing authority. “It’s such a fish-in-a-barrel situation where people have to put their car somewhere,” said Luke Melonakos, vice president of the Connecticut Tenants Union, about the difficulty finding parking in some of these housing complexes. “They have no choice but to try to abide by these often very arduous, confusing, often-changing-frequently parking rules.” Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson Shaun Formica said that the agency hasn’t received any complaints of towing companies not following the law, but that complaints about towing overall have gone down. Since the law went into effect in October, there have been seven complaints, compared with 32 from October 2024 to March 2025, records show. Natal did not file a complaint. Lombard Motors and another company owned by the same group, Anthony’s Hightech Auto Center, were the subject of nine complaints that resulted in fines between 2023 and 2025 before the law took effect, records show. In two cases, the DMV fined them a total of $5,000 for overcharging people to get their vehicles after a tow and ordered Lombard to return more than $1,000 to the vehicle owners. Lombard did not attend the hearings to offer a defense in either case, records show. The owners of Lombard and Anthony’s did not respond to multiple calls for comment. The Biggest Towing Hot Spots <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?w=752" alt="A brick building with stairs and windows reflecting a blue sky. A permit parking sign hangs on a wall with a notice saying vehicles without permits will be towed." class="wp-image-75000" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_066.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> One of the most common towing spots in Waterbury, Connecticut, from 2022 to 2024 was the Berkeley Heights public housing complex with 318 tows — more than one tow for each of the 254 apartments there. Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Like at Sunset Ridge, the effects of towing have been felt most by people of color and poor families in Connecticut, in part because they are more likely to rent than own their home. Statewide, about a third of people are renters. In census tracts where the most tows occurred, more than three-quarters are renters. The 50 census tracts where tows occurred most were about 27% Black and 38% Hispanic, compared with 10% and 18% statewide. Connecticut’s overall poverty rate is 10%, but it’s 26% in these census tracts. Residents of these areas say they face higher levels of towing because public housing authorities and landlords of low-income apartment complexes often have towing companies on contract to patrol their areas. Though the intent might be to deal with abandoned cars or a lack of parking for residents, they say it’s led to overly aggressive towing for minor mistakes that people in wealthier neighborhoods don’t have to worry about. One of the most common towing spots in Waterbury from 2022 to 2024 was the Berkeley Heights public housing complex with 318 tows — more than one tow for each of the 254 apartments there. Dyshawn Key was visiting his mother there in April 2024 when shortly after 11 p.m. he noticed a tow truck lifting his car, which was parked outside his mother’s apartment. He had forgotten to move his car from his mother’s spot, which required a parking permit, and rushed out and begged the driver to stop, but it was too late. Key’s car has been towed at least eight times from Berkeley Heights since 2022, mostly for parking without a sticker. “They make sure that people are sleeping and there’s nobody around, and they just tiptoe through here and take your vehicle,” Key said. Data shows that almost 90% of tows there happened between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., when apartment offices are typically closed and it’s unlikely that property managers would complain about parking. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="861" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?w=1149" alt="An aerial view of a snow-covered parking lot with some cars parked on snow." class="wp-image-74999" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=1024,767 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=1536,1151 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=422,316 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=558,418 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=1149,861 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=1200,899 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0212_SR_HarrisCircle_006.jpg?resize=1600,1199 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> A parking lot at the Berkeley Heights housing complex. Residents of public housing say they face overly aggressive towing for minor mistakes that people in wealthier neighborhoods don’t have to worry about. Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Fewer tows have happened at Berkeley Heights since the law passed, according to Waterbury tow logs. Waterbury Housing Authority executive director Chris D’Orso said there is a public road that runs between two of the buildings at Berkeley Heights, and the city monitors it carefully to ensure that people don’t block emergency vehicle or bus access. He said there have also been problems with people leaving stolen cars in the parking lot. “We were turned into a dumping ground for stolen cars for a while,” D’Orso said. Still, there isn’t enough parking, he conceded. Though he said most of the tows are driven by complaints, the agency contracts with a towing company. Like Capital Realty in New Haven, several other landlords showed up multiple times in the data. Zvi Horowitz, a New Jersey-based landlord, through several companies, owns three of the biggest towing locations in Waterbury — Diamond Court Apartments, Wyndham Court Apartments and Bunker Hill Apartments. The three locations, which have 256 apartments combined, had 522 tows over two years. Horowitz also owns Seramonte Estates in Hamden, a large town north of New Haven, where a tenants union held protests after residents said they were frequently towed for small infractions. The complex accounted for more than half the city’s tows from January 2022 to June 2024. Paul Boudreau, one of the tenants union’s founders, said it had negotiated for towing to stop at all of Horowitz’s apartments. But since then, he’s gotten calls from tenants who say the towing hasn’t stopped despite the new law. Horowitz didn’t respond to requests for comment. Boudreau said that in his work as an organizer around the state, he often hears of people getting towed soon after asking for repairs or reporting problems with housing conditions at their properties. “They’re still using these tow trucks like hired hitmen to go after tenants, to take their stuff when they complain,” Boudreau said. “It’s So Retaliatory” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman wearing a headscarf and gold hoop earrings stands inside pointing toward a glass door. A parking lot with cars and piles of snow is outside the door." class="wp-image-75001" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0302_SR_SunsetRidge_060.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Galberth, Elias Natal and Jasmin Flores’ neighbor at Sunset Ridge, says a tow truck driver often patrols the complex at night to look for vehicles. Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Natal and Flores said they believe they were targeted by their landlord in retaliation for joining a tenants union that is trying to improve conditions at Sunset Ridge. The day before their car was towed they had canvassed the complex with neighbors and outside organizers as part of the Sunset Ridge Tenants Union, a group of renters calling on Capital Realty to make changes at the apartment complex. In addition to requesting repairs at the complex, tenants said they have been towed unfairly. “Everyone has had an issue with management or with parking or with the towing company, because it’s so retaliatory,” Flores said. Tawana Galberth, a union leader, said one of the top complaints about the apartment complex when the union polled residents was towing. Many people reported being towed for small reasons, like being parked over the line. A tow truck driver often patrols the complex at night to look for vehicles, she said. “When I moved in, I never received clarification. How do we park? Where do we park? Where do we have visitors?” Galberth asked. Kristy Kaik said the use of parking stickers at the Rockview public housing complex in New Haven hadn’t been enforced for more than a decade. But when her son came home from college for Christmas after the new law took effect, he discovered his car had been towed for not having a sticker. “I live there for a reason,” she said, describing the assistance including the public health insurance she receives. “I have food stamp benefits, Husky medical, my son is in school. I’m struggling.” Kaik said there were no signs about parking rules at the complex, which a visit to the site confirmed. So Kaik asked the housing authority to reimburse her for what she says was a wrongful tow. It refused. The New Haven housing authority, Elm City Communities, did not respond to requests for comment. Like Flores and Natal, Kaik found that the company, York Service & Towing, would only take cash, telling her that sometimes, people would pay with a credit card then cancel the card before payment went through. She said she also had to argue to get them to hand over her change. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?w=1149" alt="A blond woman wearing a brown jacket and jeans stands next to a window that has light streaming through the sheer white curtains. Hanging on the wall behind her is a basket of flowers." class="wp-image-75002" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_0202_SR_KristyTowing_106.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Kristy Kaik at her home in New Haven. After her son’s car was towed, she said, the towing company would only take cash, even though a new law requires companies to accept credit cards. Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Cheryl Maselli, owner of York, said her company follows all the new laws, although something like what happened to Kaik could occur if the person working doesn’t know how to use the credit card machine. She said some of the drivers “are not capable of learning new things.” They also don’t keep much cash on hand in case of robbery, she said, which could have led to the issue with change. Maselli said her company is “one of the nicest towing companies out there.” But she said she has to respond to her clients. “My client is a property manager. They want their property neat, clean,” Maselli said. “They don’t want people hanging out. They don’t want cars with faulty equipment, and these are some of the rules that we enforce. So when we do tow a car, the people are obviously angry.” How We Reported This Story In Connecticut, towing companies are legally required to report cars towed from private property to local police. The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica built a database of private property tows by requesting logs of these reports from 12 of the state’s largest cities for 2022 to 2024. The logs were typically received as PDFs and then converted to databases using Tabula. We received towing logs from three cities that could not be used. In Stamford, Connecticut’s second-largest city, dispatchers rarely record the address where a car was towed. Berlin listed all addresses as the tow yard. Willimantic Police provided a handwritten log that was inconsistent and sometimes illegible. Because multiple addresses can be associated with a multifamily housing complex, the newsrooms identified the parcel associated with each tow by using two geocoding services. We overlaid the coordinates on a statewide parcel database. The services identified the same parcel about two out of three times. When they differed, it was often because one provided far less accurate coordinates than the other. We relied on matches that identified the rooftop and locations that were estimated based on the number range of a street. We could not match 6% of tow log addresses with a parcel — about 4% of all tows. Thirteen addresses matched with multiple, overlapping parcels. We manually reviewed each, keeping the largest one. Parcels were matched to census tracts based on their centerpoints. Our demographic analysis focused on the 50 census tracts with the most tows. Those outliers made up a massive portion of all tows. Other tracts had far fewer tows and were much more uniform. Demographic information came from the 2024 American Community Survey 5-Year data. To learn about the effects of the new law, we received additional data for Waterbury from October 2025 through January as well as for New Haven, covering October 2025 through March. We did not include this data in our overall analysis. The post Some Connecticut Towing Companies Are Ignoring New Law Aimed at Helping Low-Income Residents appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Ginny Monk.
The world is getting too hot to feed itself
A new UN report maps how extreme heat is tearing through every layer of the global food system — and mostly overlooks the people at the heart of it.
Two years ago today, an intense heat wave engulfed much of Brazil. For five days at the end of April 2024, temperatures in the central and southern regions climbed to sweltering heights. Many affected were still reeling from another extreme heat wave that had walloped southern Brazil. Just the month before the heat index in Rio de Janeiro reached a staggering 144.1 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest in a decade. The two events were part of a cycle of prolonged and severe periods of heat that hit one of the world’s largest agricultural powerhouses over several years. Yields of soy and corn, two of Brazil’s biggest commodities, fell in southeastern states like São Paulo. Peanuts, potatoes, sugarcane, and arabica coffee also suffered widespread losses. Droves of livestock pigs in the central-western region were afflicted with severe heat stress for the better part of a year. And when an atmospheric cold front was blocked by the prevailing heat dome and triggered devastating rainfall and flooding throughout the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, the supply chain and markets for pink shrimp were disrupted throughout Brazil. Much of this data is documented in a new joint report released last Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Merging weather datasets with agricultural ones, the report traces the compounding effects of extreme heat on the global agricultural system and outlines how to produce food in a world where extreme heat is becoming a baseline. In the report, Brazil is the sole country-level case study explored in detail; the country’s exports face outsize pressure from warming temperatures and the oscillating extremes of natural weather cycles El Niño and La Niña. But a few dozen other nations are mentioned in the 94-page document, too. The authors cite how, in Chile, warming seas in 2016 prompted massive algae blooms that killed off an estimated 100,000 metric tons of farmed salmon and trout, creating the largest aquaculture mortality event in history. In the U.S.’s Pacific Northwest, when one of the strongest heat waves ever recorded struck in 2021, entire raspberry and blackberry harvests were lost, Christmas tree farms saw 70 percent timber volume declines, and the intersection of extreme heat, vegetative drying, and wildfires led to an increase of between 21 and 24 percent of forest area burned in North America that year. After a record heatwave hit India in 2022, wheat in over a third of Indian states fell anywhere between 9 and 34 percent, dairy animals afflicted with heat stress produced up to 15 percent less milk, and some cabbage and cauliflower yields were halved. And last spring in Kyrgyzstan’s Fergana mountain range, a region known for its year-round snow, spring temperatures rose 50 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the seasonal average — a bout of weather so unusual that it contributed to a locust outbreak and dramatic declines in cereal harvests. Human-caused warming has already been increasing at an unprecedented rate. The past 11 years are also the 11 warmest years on record. “We’re not moving at a speed that is good enough,” said Martial Bernoux, senior natural resources officer at the FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environment. “And we have, really, a residual risk that is increasing.” On a high-emissions trajectory, much of South Asia, tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Central and South America could experience as many as 250 days a year that are simply too hot to work outside by the close of the century, according to the report. Dangerous exposure to heat is already an occupational crisis for much of the world’s agricultural workforce. A 2024 report by the International Labour Organization found that extreme temperatures had put more than 70 percent of the global workforce, or some 2.4 billion people, at high risk. Those findings spurred a call to action on extreme heat by António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in the summer of 2024. He urged governments and the international community to prioritize four areas: caring for the most vulnerable; stepping up protections for workers exposed to excessive heat; boosting resilience using data and science; and quickly and equitably phasing out fossil fuels. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A man walks on rocks along the shore as oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?resize=1200%2C674&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?resize=330%2C185&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?resize=1536%2C863&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26070516536942.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="899" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> The war in Iran could plunge the world into hunger Ayurella Horn-Muller “Heat is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year,” said Guterres at the time. “That’s about 30 times more than tropical cyclones. We know what is driving it: fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change. And we know it’s going to get worse.” According to Bernoux, the joint FAO-WMO analysis is a direct response to the UN Secretary-General’s call to action. “The UN said, ‘We have a problem,’” said Bernoux. “So FAO and WMO, we decided to work together to be able to reply to that.” Naia Ormaza Zulueta, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia studying extreme heat and the agricultural workforce, questions whether their report focuses enough on the people who grow, harvest, and raise the world’s food. “The diagnosis in this report is sharper than anything we’ve had before, and that matters,” said Zulueta, who calls it a breakthrough in perspective — one that underscores how climate change and food systems can no longer be studied in isolation. “The prescription is where the system hasn’t caught up.” First, the worker exposure calculations omit both hourly and nighttime wet-bulb exposure; Zulueta argues that these finer-grained metrics capture the severity of heat exposure for outdoor workers better than daily averages — meaning that she thinks the number of days of dangerous heat identified in the report is likely an undercount. The report’s recommendations on how the sector can best adapt also center entirely on crops, livestock, and ecosystems — such as planting earlier or later in the season, developing heat-tolerant breeds, and investing in large-scale irrigation systems. Direct recommendations for agricultural laborers, though, only appear in passing references to existing international agreements on worker safety and health adopted more than a decade ago. For instance, the FAO and WMO call for dramatically increasing global climate-related development finance for food systems and increasing early-warning systems to lessen extreme heat’s compounding risks, but no concrete roadmap is provided for how best to adapt food production in order to protect the billions of outdoor workers exposed to intensifying heat. Perhaps the oversight, says Zulueta, is because UN agencies tasked with worker rights — like the International Labour Organization — weren’t involved in the report. Even so, she finds it hard to justify, given the UN Secretary-General’s own emphasis on protecting the workforce from escalating temperatures. “The workers are present in the diagnosis, but they’re largely absent in the prescription,” Zulueta said. “It’s a little sad, to be honest with you. It almost feels like the human dimension is missing, and everything that comes with it.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The world is getting too hot to feed itself on Apr 27, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Ayurella Horn-Muller.
The huge, untapped potential of planting rooftop gardens in cities
To adapt to a rapidly warming world, metropolises are looking to green roofs, which boost biodiversity and reduce temperatures and flooding.
The city has long been a beacon of opportunity, where folks flock to make it big. But metropolises the world over are wasting a major opportunity — many, many square feet of it: Flat rooftops are painted white, when really they should be green. Not, mind you, shades of mint green, forest green, or lime green, but with the lushness of actual plants. Adding vegetation to roofs — even if it’s just a coating of grass, moss, and succulents — bestows many overlapping, reinforcing benefits not only on a building’s occupants and owner, but on the surrounding community. Like parks on the ground, gardens in the sky reduce local temperatures and help prevent flooding, all while improving urban biodiversity and feeding pollinators like bees. According to a recent report prepared for the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, if cities accelerated the transformation of these unused spaces into oases — and converted empty walls into vertical yet verdant surfaces — they’d make themselves more comfortable for urbanites as temperatures climb. Burgs might even start growing crops under solar panels, a burgeoning field known as rooftop agrivoltaics, simultaneously generating food and electricity. The technique could be especially powerful as urban populations continue to balloon: According to the United Nations, another 2 billion people could be living in cities by 2050. At the same time, a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect, in which the built environment warms much more than surrounding rural areas, is driving temperatures to increasingly dangerous levels. “Our goal is to get our cities more dense, but keep them livable and climate-safe,” said Vera Enzi-Zechner, co-lead author of the report and a vice president at the European Federation of Green Roof and Living Wall Associations, based in Vienna, Austria. “Of course, also water comes in, energy comes in, multi-functionality, social cohesion, engagement, and biodiversity.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vertical-Bifacial-Panels-on-an-Oslo-office-building_Credit-OverEasySolar.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Even simple vegetation, like grasses and mosses, turns a roof into a thriving ecosystem. " data-credit="Courtesy Over Easy Solar"/> Even simple vegetation, like grasses and mosses, turns a roof into a thriving ecosystem. Courtesy Over Easy Solar The green roof is a surprisingly old technology. Consider the Moos Water Filtration Plant, near Zurich, whose rooftops have hosted nine acres of meadows for over a century. Less of a planned amenity and more of a serendipitous colonization of plant life, the rooftops have nevertheless transformed into refuges for native species. These days, architects would rather not have their buildings bloom by accident. Instead, they’re incorporating the requisite infrastructure into the design. To keep the garden from leaking into the top floor, for instance, they add waterproofing and barriers to contain roots. Designers also must consider the additional weight of the plants and water that soaks into the substrate. How much weight, exactly, will depend on what they want to grow: It might be simple grasses and mosses, like at the Moos Water Filtration Plant, or shrubs, or even trees, whose roots require a thicker layer. And it’s never too late to do this. An owner can add a green roof after construction is finished, though it might require reinforcement. The investment, though, could pay serious dividends over time. Whereas a traditional roof absorbs the sun’s energy, a green one sweats like a human, as its plants release water vapor during photosynthesis and shade the surface. This cools the air, and the substrate and waterproofing insulate the top floor. Beyond reducing cooling and heating costs, the greenery can extend the life of a roof, the report notes, because relentless sunlight, and extreme heat waves and hail, aren’t aging shingles and paint and such. (Traditional roofs are constantly stressed by expanding and shrinking, as the sun heats them during the day and the night cools them off.) Down at street level, building owners can cover walls with vegetation, protecting them from the elements and providing habitat for birds and bats. Cities, too, could save money by embracing gardening in the sky. As the planet heats up and rainfall gets more intense, gutters and sewers — designed for the climate of yesteryear — are struggling to keep up. Green roofs soak up some of that deluge, and slow the flow of water into these systems, preventing costly flooding. Some designers are even going a step further with blue-green roofs, which incorporate systems that store rainwater to flush the toilets inside. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1240553416a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Green roofs, like here in Hamburg, Germany, provide stepping stones for flying animals to move across the urban landscape. " data-credit="Markus Scholz / Picture Alliance via Getty Images"/> Green roofs, like here in Hamburg, Germany, provide stepping stones for flying animals to move across the urban landscape. Markus Scholz / Picture Alliance via Getty Images So instead of all that precipitation flowing into sewers and out to sea, some of it goes instead to plants and people. “That is the basic principle for improved resiliency for many cities around the world,” said Steven Peck, founder and president of the nonprofit industry association Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. “We’ve got to capture that water and use it to support plants, because plants will do good things for us, like clean the air. They’re good for our mental health. They’ll cool the city.” Beyond reducing temperatures and flooding, all this additional greenery creates much-needed habitat for local plants and animals. It’s all well and good to have parks and gardens dotting a city, but this creates better pathways for species. Ideally, green roofs and walls would form a citywide network of stepping stones for flying creatures to move around safely, settle down in shelter, and tap reliable supplies of food. Indeed, the report notes that study after study has shown that this not only boosts biodiversity, it provides havens for endangered and rare species of flora and fauna. “We cannot just integrate green roofs or green walls into the urban environment,” said Maria Manso, co-lead author of the report and an assistant professor of engineering at Lusófona University in Lisbon, Portugal. “They have to be connected with other nature-based solutions in order to have this urban connectivity.” Free-roaming insects and birds will support the next frontier of green roofs: Scientists are now trying to figure out what crops might grow well up there, under the shade of solar panels. These rooftop agrivoltaic systems shelter the plants from fierce winds and excessive sunlight, and in turn the vegetation releases water vapor, cooling the panels above and increasing their efficiency, meaning they can generate more electricity. Early research is finding that warm-season crops in particular, like watermelon, do astonishingly well high in the sky, with cucumbers growing as big as baseball bats. The fliers visiting these plants may well travel to nearby urban gardens on the ground and pollinate crops there, or even head to traditional agricultural fields abutting the city. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/54789632138_165e29e527.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Corn grows on the roof of Colorado State University, where scientists are researching which crops might thrive high off the ground. " data-credit="Courtesy Kevin Samuelson, CSU Spur"/> Corn grows on the roof of Colorado State University, where scientists are researching which crops might thrive high off the ground. Courtesy Kevin Samuelson, CSU Spur The early results with rooftop agrivoltaics are so promising, in fact, that projects are popping up around the world. In Italy, for instance, the Florence airport’s roof will soon host solar panels and a vineyard. “They couldn’t decide between renewable energy generation or their cultural heritage of growing grapes,” said horticulturist Jennifer Bousselot, who studies rooftop agrivoltaics at Colorado State University but wasn’t involved in the report. “So they decided to actually combine the two.” While photovoltaic panels increase the upfront cost, they too can pay dividends, and not just with the energy they provide. Because their shade reduces evaporation, rooftop gardeners need to apply less water. That could also mean that a designer might not need as thick a layer of soil to retain water, if less of it is evaporating away. “So in theory, you can actually have a shallower green roof if you’ve got shade integrated, and still have high diversity and high plant success,” Bousselot said. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1570w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?resize=1200%2C689&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?resize=330%2C190&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?resize=768%2C441&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?resize=1536%2C882&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Threecorner-milkvetch-plant.jpeg?resize=150%2C86&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="902" width="1570" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Solar farms can be havens for rare plants. Just ask the threecorner milkvetch. Matt Simon Given all these benefits, how can cities encourage the proliferation of verdant roofs and walls? The report points out that starting decades ago, Basel, Switzerland provided subsidies for greening the city’s roofs, then changed its building codes to mandate that all new and retrofitted flat roofs get the treatment. By 2010, the city had increased its green roof surface area from 10 to 100 hectares (247 acres). “This tenfold increase,” the report notes, “positioned Basel as a leading example of how coordinated policy, financial support, and ecological standards can effectively accelerate the adoption of biodiversity-friendly green roofs in urban environments.” In the United States, cities set their own building codes, so they could do much the same. A growing number of municipalities in the U.S. are also starting to charge property owners for the rainfall runoff they produce: The more impervious surfaces you have, the more you pay. Rip out more concrete, though, and install gardens high and low, and you can reduce those fees. This being American real estate, developers will want to know that even in the absence of subsidies, the things can make money over time, whereas traditional roofs lose it because they have to be replaced within decades. Buildings can even rent out their verdant rooftops for private events. Cities the world over stand at an inflection point: Invest now in as much green space wherever they can get it, or risk withering as the world warms. “They’re going to be healthier places to live in the face of ongoing climate change impacts,” Peck said. “And that’s where the money is going to be. That’s where the creativity is going to be.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The huge, untapped potential of planting rooftop gardens in cities on Apr 27, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Matt Simon.
Michigan wins key legal battle over Line 5 pipeline
A unanimous Supreme Court ruling clears the way for state court proceedings in the decades-long dispute over the pipeline crossing between Lakes Michigan and Huron.
Michigan’s decades-long fight to shut down the Line 5 pipeline will be heard in state court after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the dispute belongs there, clearing the way for judges to weigh whether the aging oil pipeline can continue crossing the Straits of Mackinac. The ruling is seen as a win for tribes, environmentalists, and state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who preferred to keep the fight in state court. She has since 2019 been trying to revoke the easement that allows the pipeline to cross the Straits, which connect lakes Michigan and Huron, citing the risk of an oil spill. “For far too long, following years of Enbridge’s delay tactics, the fear of a catastrophic spill from Line 5 has haunted our state, threatening to turn our most vital natural resource into a man-made disaster,” Nessel said in a statement. The pipeline, owned by the Canadian company Enbridge Energy, transports crude oil and natural gas liquids 645 miles from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, a route that includes a critical 4.5-mile segment along the lakebed of the Straits. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Enbridge waited too long to move the case to federal court and that the company’s “counterarguments are not persuasive.” Legal experts said the procedural ruling was significant because it determines which court will decide the pipeline’s future. Enbridge’s lawyers argued that a federal court was the proper venue because federal safety laws and international agreements are involved. (The Canadian government opposes shutting down Line 5, which provides half of the oil supply for Ontario and Quebec). Michigan’s lawyers countered that the pipeline violates the state’s ability to manage its natural resources, making this a matter for state court. With the question of jurisdiction answered, legal experts said state courts can now decide whether the portion of the pipeline spanning the Straits should be shut down. A unanimous decision by the high court is a “big deal,” said Andy Buschbaum, lawyer for the Great Lakes Business Network, which filed briefs in support of the attorney general. “The justices of the court, regardless of ideology, agreed that it’s the state court that’s the proper court to hear this dispute,” he said. “We’re finally in a position for the state court to actually decide whether Line 5 belongs on the bottom of the Great Lakes, or whether there are alternatives.” Arguing the case in Michigan’s 30th Circuit Court also is expected to sharpen the focus on tribal sovereignty. All 12 federally recognized tribes in the state have called for Line 5 to be shut down, saying it threatens their waters, treaty rights and ways of life. They were not part of the Supreme Court proceedings. “It will really create space now for tribes to uplift their voices in the proceedings, to uplift tribal treaty rights, to uplift the protection of natural resources and ultimately the preservation of our cultural lifeways,” said Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, one of the parties involved in separate litigation against Line 5. The case won’t be heard until an appeal of a separate case moves through federal court. Enbridge sued Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for trying to shut down Line 5 in 2021, arguing that the state has no authority over pipeline safety. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the company in November, and Whitmer appealed the decision in January. Asked about the Supreme Court decision, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy cited the Sixth Circuit ruling that said the federal government regulates Line 5’s safety. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has found “no safety issues that would warrant its shutdown,” Duffy said. The legal back and forth comes amid ongoing court and regulatory battles over Enbridge’s plan to replace the aging dual pipelines beneath the Straits with a tunnel housing a segment buried beneath the lakebed. The company is awaiting various state and federal permits, with decisions expected this summer. And last month, the Michigan Supreme Court heard oral arguments from tribes and environmental groups trying to overturn a permit the Michigan Public Service Commission issued in 2023. Lawyers for Enbridge defended the proposed tunnel last month, claiming it would make a safe pipeline even safer. “Under any standard, this safety and environmental upgrade is more protective of the environment than the status quo or any alternative,” said John J. Bursch, a lawyer for Enbridge. And in Wisconsin last week, a state court heard arguments in the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s bid to stop construction on a segment of Line 5 that crosses the tribe’s watershed. Gravelle said the Bay Mills Indian Community is supporting the Wisconsin tribe’s litigation against the pipeline. “Line 5 is such a complicated issue. But those are not just legal questions. They’re also moral ones and they ultimately ask us what kind of future we choose to protect,” Gravelle said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Michigan wins key legal battle over Line 5 pipeline on Apr 27, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Vivian La.
Myanmar junta denies journalist Sai Zaw Thaike medical care, adding to pattern of prison abuse
Bangkok, April 27, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Myanmar’s military junta to immediately provide journalist Sai Zaw Thaike with adequate medical care after sources at Insein Prison in the country’s largest city Yangon said authorities have refused him treatment for grave health conditions. Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist with the independent Myanmar Now...
Bangkok, April 27, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Myanmar’s military junta to immediately provide journalist Sai Zaw Thaike with adequate medical care after sources at Insein Prison in the country’s largest city Yangon said authorities have refused him treatment for grave health conditions. Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist with the independent Myanmar Now who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for treason, is suffering from severe kidney disease and hemorrhoids and requires urgent major surgery, according to a Myanmar Now report and confirmed to CPJ by the exile-run publication’s editor-in-chief Swe Win. Prison authorities have refused to allow him access to either the prison hospital or an external medical facility, and are treating him only with oral medication, those sources said. It remains unclear whether the medicines required are even available inside the prison, they said. “Every day that passes without journalist Sai Zaw Thaike receiving the surgery he needs is a day his life is placed at greater risk,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must immediately end its abuse of the reporter and grant him access to medical treatment without delay.” Sai Zaw Thaike was arrested by the military in Sittwe in May 2023 while covering the destruction caused by Cyclone Mocha in Rakhine state. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with hard labor later that year. In January 2025, Sai Zaw Thaike was subjected to “daily physical abuse” and “retaliatory torture.” The abuse was believed to be in response to Sai Zaw Thaike and two other prisoners informing visiting National Human Rights Commission representatives that prison staff were violating other inmates’ human rights, Myanmar Now said, citing a source connected to the prison. Myanmar Now reported that it attempted to contact prison authorities for comment about the Sai Zaw Thaike’s condition, but received no response. CPJ also sought comment from junta officials via email but did not receive a reply. Myanmar currently holds at least 18 journalists behind bars, according to CPJ data, and ranked second worldwide on CPJ’s annual prison census conducted on December 1, 2025. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Sculptor Maddy Inez on the power of legacy and community-based practice
What drew you to ceramics? My grandfather was a ceramicist. When he babysat me, he would give me a bag of clay and leave me in the corner. I have lots of young memories just playing with clay. But I didn’t really think of clay as a medium until college. I was looking at Beatrice Wood and the Dada Movement, and I started to break down that wall of craft versus fine art in my own brain, which is something I was exposed to when I was little. My mom and grandma [artists Alison Saar and Betye Saar] both ride that line and also reject that line. I grew up knowing that quilting from Gee’s Bend was as valuable as Van Gogh. There’s something innately human about the medium that is approachable to people who don’t look at art all the time. Humans have such a long history with clay that it evokes a lot of memories. So I think that’s in part why I love working in it. Also, it’s meditative. I mean, I’m rolling coils all day and squishing things together. There’s something therapeutic about that. Maddy Inez, Black-eyed Angel, 2026, glazed ceramics, 26 x 18 x 5 in, 66 x 45.7 x 12.7 cm, photo by Paul Salveson; courtesy of Maddy Inez and Megan Mulrooney. I loved your fountain (The Sower, 2023) that was at Felix Art Fair this year. How do you navigate those imagined divisions between art and design when you’re making something functional? All of my pieces are sculptural in my brain. But with the fountain I was looking at the idea of the body as a vessel. The fountain is a portrait of my mom. She’s got two babies on her side, and she’s feeding into them and then they feed into her, like a cycle. I think my work now is like a little bit more alien. That fountain piece is very uniform, monochrome, aesthetically pleasing in those kinds of ways. My recent work is more whimsical. Either way, making objects feels really impactful. They take up physical space. And ceramics last forever. I mean, I used to joke like, “Maybe I’ll get a retrospective when the aliens are uncovering things on Earth.” The permanence of ceramics can feel kind of daunting. There are definitely times where I will recycle a piece if I’m not feeling it. I always think I should be going through people’s studio trash cans. That’s my mom and my grandma for sure. Speaking of your mom and grandma, family comes up again and again in your work. How do you stay connected to your familial heritage? Growing up with my family in the art world, the main things I learned from them was that we make art because we have to make art. Even though they’re successful in the art world, I think if it fell apart, if the art world disappeared, we’d still be making art every day. That’s a really freeing notion that helps me with my practice. They remind me that this is what we do to exist. It’s how we digest the world and think critically about the world, and it’s how we survive. My grandma turns 100 this year and I was like, “How do you keep doing this? You’ve lived for 100 years and you haven’t seen it grow or change,” and her answer was just, “You just have to keep making art. That’s how you keep moving. That’s how you keep going and how you don’t lose hope.” Maddy Inez, Gumbo Rising, 2025, glazed ceramic, 15 x 9 1/2 x 2 1/2 in, 38.1 x 24.1 x 6.3 cm, photo by Paul Salveson; courtesy of Maddy Inez and Megan Mulrooney. So those are the parts of my upbringing that I bring into my practice. In my last show I was thinking about the soil in my mom’s garden, where my studio used to be. I was thinking about the lost language of how to care for soil. I made sculptures based on plants that help heal soil, leaching out heavy toxins and heavy metals. And then, after the fires, I made sculptures based on fire followers, which are wildflowers that need smoke and fire to germinate. Nature can be this metaphor for a lot of the problems that we have in society. I think the root of a lot of our issues is that separation from earth and nature. I think almost everything stems from that. Capitalism, racism can be broken down to a very simple removal from nature. This show started because I found this certificate of my great-great-great-grandmother who was a midwife through slavery. And I read this book called The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson, which talks about midwives through slavery as well. It’s dystopian science fiction. Maddy Inez, Benne Blessing, 2026, glazed ceramics, 26 x 18 x 6 1/2 in, 66 x 45.7 x 16.5 cm, photo by Paul Salveson; courtesy of Maddy Inez and Megan Mulrooney. Anyway, I started thinking about what her garden may have looked like. Basically, they used both African medicine and Western medicine. But because of the way they incorporated spirituality in medicine, they were way better doctors than Western doctors. So, when slavery “ended,” they were allowed to be certified, which is where her certification comes from. It was revoked a couple of years after because they were taking all the White people’s clients. Wow. That’s horrible. They were too good. And it was because they had knowledge of all of these plants that had spiritual meanings to them, which was also medicinal. Usually, the spirits of a plant will reflect what they heal in a person. From there I looked at plants that were brought over during the slave trade and also widened my scope to look at the native gardens and plants of people that have been displaced or forcibly removed from land due to colonization, like in Sudan, Congo, Palestine, or during the slave trade. How do you go about the research process? I love reading science fiction, which leads me to other nonfiction books. The Land in Our Bones was a book that I read for this show, which is more in Lebanon and Syria, looking at what happens to your relationship to land, even in the third or second-generation of removal from it. I started reaching out to land stewards and education and community garden people in Los Angeles who were working with the same ideas of gardening as an act of revolution or just as an act of resistance. I started this research when Trump cut all the lunches for kids in public school and I was thinking about how we’re going to rely on people that provide food for their community, how our relationship is about to start changing so drastically. I started talking to all these really cool people and that has definitely ended me on a note of hope. It has been really nice getting to know people who have similar ideas about how we’re supposed to show up for each other or what our future might look like. Maddy Inez, Okra Weaver, 2025, glazed ceramic, 25 x 19 x 5 1/2 in, 63.5 x 48.3 x 14 cm, photo by Paul Salveson; courtesy of Maddy Inez and Megan Mulrooney. Wow. I wouldn’t have connected those dots in your work before. Definitely. A lot of people ask me, “Are you annoyed that people won’t look at your piece and think about the research that you’re doing and where you’re coming from?” and I’m like, “No, it’s just where the research has led me.” If people love them for how they look, that’s totally fine for me. Viewing your work also feels like what it would be like to encounter one of these gardens, where there is a kind of esoteric knowledge that is required to decode them. And that leads the viewer on a different educational journey. Oh, that’s interesting. I think about Anne Spencer’s garden a lot. She was this amazing woman and she had a garden that a lot of people from the Harlem Renaissance would come to and they treated her house like a little refuge. They would come and write. Langston Hughes used to go all the time. She’s a beautiful poet too. But I was drawn to this idea of refuge, creating a little space of peace and maybe beauty too. It reminds me of when you were talking to your grandma and saying, “Oh, how do you make art through this?” and it sounds like that’s been a question for you too. Has there ever been a period of time where you couldn’t make art, or found it difficult to do so? I think it goes in ebbs and flows for me. After you make a show, you feel almost postpartum. You push this entire thing out of your body and you’re like, “I need to sleep or rest or not think.” I really feel that way after I make a big body of work. I’m lucky because I make art about plants. I like spending time in community gardens or with plants or cooking. I love cooking. My creative practice is tied to so many other parts of my life that other kinds of creativity can feel encouraging. Maddy Inez, Juju Bean, 2026, glazed ceramic, 9 x 9 x 4.5 inches, photo by Paul Salveson; courtesy of Maddy Inez and Megan Mulrooney. How did you learn to build your own artistic practice? I mean, as an adult, I rely on how much money and space I have. Ceramics is usually a community-based practice. Los Angeles is so lucky. We have the best clay community ever. I have friends that I can call and be like, “My kiln’s broken,” or, “Can you help me do this? I need this chemical right now for my glaze,” and we’ll show up for each other. But I have also juggled full-time jobs with having the time to create. I just recently made the shift to working part-time. What were those day jobs like? How did you find a balance? Before 2025, I worked at Tierra Del Sol as an artist mentor and ceramics teacher for adults with developmental disabilities. I was there for five years and that has always been my dream job. I loved teaching and working with people with developmental disabilities. My cousin has autism and it’s just always been something I’ve been drawn to. I loved that job so much but it was full-time and I still couldn’t afford a studio space. It was really important to me, though, and it was a huge part of my art practice. It shaped the way I think about art. But then I thought, “Okay, I need actual space.” And then me and my mom decided to get a studio together. Do you ask each other for feedback? All the time. We have lunch together and she helps me unload and load the kiln with these giant pieces. She’s one of the most physically strong people I’ve ever met. She deadlifted the kiln with my brother. It’s 600 pounds. Now I make art part-time and I’m helping my grandmother at her house half the time. I’m archiving everything in her house. She’s lived in the same house since 1962. She literally has her diaries from when she was in kindergarten. And that’s where I found the midwife certificate of my great-great-grandmother. I feel grateful that I get to be with her almost every day and see her making art every day. Maddy Inez, Za’ atar Pistil, 2026, glazed ceramic, 16 1/2 x 13 x 8 in, 41.9 x 33 x 20.3 cm, photo by Paul Salveson; courtesy of Maddy Inez and Megan Mulrooney. Wow, that’s amazing. So inspiring. So nice to witness. She really is a force to be reckoned with. Was it ever daunting to you to go into the same field as your matrilineal line? I had no real concept of what art fame was growing up. I do know that I loved my grandma’s friends. They were all super sweet, but I also knew that they had to make their space for themselves in the art world, which I also really respected. So, I grew up with these people, feeling like the art world was family. I feel like that would be helpful in navigating the business side of art. Yes. I’m grateful for that. I do still think there needs to be accessible classes on doing taxes for young artists. But I’m lucky because I witnessed very strong women navigating a world that is very male driven and also very white. They taught me that you can work with people that you really love. Yeah, I was going to say it means you know that you don’t have to stomach poor treatment. Everyone should advocate for themselves as young artists too. Oh, here’s my mom. You want to say hi? Alison Saar: Hi. How are you? Sorry to interrupt. Hi! Nice to meet you. No, all good. Maddy: Is it already 5:00? It’s about to be. Maddy: Oh, she’s leaving early. Alison: I’m the boss. I can check out whenever I want. Maddy: Love you. Talk to you later. Alison: Happy St. Paddy’s Day. Bye, guys. Love you, Maddy. [Alison Saar leaves] You guys are so sweet. I have just one more question. Do you have any pipe dream projects you’d love to do? My dream of dreams would be one day to have a garden space that also doubled as an education space and as my studio. Or like a residency. It’d be really cool to host people in that way. I also have this funny pipe dream of a sculpture for a community garden that’s based on this type of gardening called keyhole gardening that was invented by engineers in Africa for drought resistance. And basically, it was compost in the middle and then around it, the compost will leach out to feed everything. It also retains moisture better. I want to make a giant sculpture that shares the same ideas, and have kids be able to come and plant in it. I’ll do that one day, when I find space to do it. Maddy Inez recommends: Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler Revolutionary Letters by Diane Di Prima A Monastic Trio by Alice Coltrane Look at the newts in Millard Creek, Altadena Eat at Miya in Altadena, CA This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Claudia Ross.
Rights & Wrongs: Whats Social Media Got To Do With It?
This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.
CPJ urges new Bangladesh government to fulfill poll promise and release imprisoned journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists has written to Bangladesh’s Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, H.E. Md Asaduzzaman, urging the new government to fulfill its election promise to withdraw politically motivated cases against journalists, and to drop charges and release Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mozammel Haq Babu, and Shyamal Dutta. The journalists have...
The Committee to Protect Journalists has written to Bangladesh’s Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, H.E. Md Asaduzzaman, urging the new government to fulfill its election promise to withdraw politically motivated cases against journalists, and to drop charges and release Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mozammel Haq Babu, and Shyamal Dutta. The journalists have been detained for more than 18 months on murder charges, for which no credible evidence has been presented and no charge sheet served. In the letter, CPJ noted that the journalists’ arrests under the previous government appeared to be in retaliation for perceived political affiliations. In almost 600 days, and in violation of legal regulations, the police have failed to file charge sheets substantiating the charges on which the journalists were arrested. CPJ also raised serious humanitarian concerns: Dutta has documented cardiac and severe sleep apnea conditions that remain unassessed; Babu underwent major invasive surgery for prostate cancer in late 2023, but has not received follow-up care; and Rupa was held for two weeks in November 2024 in a “condemnation cell” reserved for death-row inmates. Read the full letter here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ calls on Zambian president to champion the media as World Press Freedom Day host
The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema expressing concern over recent attacks on journalists and legislation that negatively impacts the media, as the country prepares to host the United Nations’ World Press Freedom Day 2026 Global Conference on May 3. The letter also calls on Hichilema to create a safe and...
The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema expressing concern over recent attacks on journalists and legislation that negatively impacts the media, as the country prepares to host the United Nations’ World Press Freedom Day 2026 Global Conference on May 3. The letter also calls on Hichilema to create a safe and enabling environment for the media to operate freely and independently during Zambia’s August 13 election period. While acknowledging Hichilema’s public commitments to media freedom, CPJ said April’s harassment of journalists by suspected ruling party supporters and the enactment of unduly restrictive cyber laws undermine these convictions. CPJ highlighted the sedition and criminal libel cases against Zambian Whistleblower journalist Thomas Allan Zgambo as emblematic of how unduly restrictive laws can be misused to intimidate and silence the press. Read the full letter here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Injured Fiji police officer in checkpoint incident ‘is my daughter’, says Tikoduadua
By Anish Chand in Suva Fiji Minister for Defence and Veterans Affairs Pio Tikoduadua has confirmed that a police officer seriously injured during a checkpoint incident in Laqere is his daughter. In a statement, Tikoduadua said the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday at a joint checkpoint involving the Fiji Police Force and
By Anish Chand in Suva Fiji Minister for Defence and Veterans Affairs Pio Tikoduadua has confirmed that a police officer seriously injured during a checkpoint incident in Laqere is his daughter. In a statement, Tikoduadua said the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday at a joint checkpoint involving the Fiji Police Force and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. “At approximately 3am, officers on duty encountered a vehicle that failed to stop. A pursuit followed through the Nakasi corridor and back toward Laqere,” he said. READ MORE: Other Fiji security reports “During the attempt to stop the vehicle, a police officer was struck and sustained serious injuries. She is currently receiving treatment at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital and remains in a serious but stable condition.” Tikoduadua revealed the injured officer was on duty at the time of the incident. “The officer is my daughter. She was on duty at the checkpoint at the time of the incident,” he said. He confirmed that suspects have been arrested and that items believed to be illicit drugs were recovered from the vehicle, with investigations continuing. Risk faced by officers “This incident reflects the level of risk that officers face in responding to drug-related activity. Drugs are not only a policing issue — they present a national security concern. They are linked to organised activity and increase the likelihood of violence,” he said. Tikoduadua stressed that joint operations between police and the military will continue to address such threats and maintain public safety. “I am concerned as a father. I am also clear in my responsibilities as minister. The work being carried out by our officers must continue, and those responsible for this incident will be dealt with through the law,” he said. He also called on the public to allow authorities to carry out their investigations without interference. “I ask the public to allow the police to complete their investigations and to avoid speculation. My focus remains on her recovery and on supporting the officers who continue their duties.” Republished from The Fiji Times with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
PRIMAVERA DE COROS • 25 de Abril, 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal)
In defense of Yugoslavia: Max Blumenthal on Michael Parenti’s bravest work
How New Mexico is ‘building a forest’ by solving a seedling shortage
A Q&A with the New Mexico Reforestation Center director about what it takes to replant a burn scar post-wildfire.
Recovery from the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire has been daunting. Residents are still waiting for disaster relief payments even as floods sweep through the ashy burn scar, contaminating the drinking water downstream. And then there’s the forest itself: in desperate need of new trees but lacking the necessary seedlings. Wildfires have burned 7 million acres across New Mexico since 2000, and millions of seedlings are needed to replant the burned areas. The Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire alone, the largest in state history, needs 17.6 million seedlings. Trees play an integral role in restabilizing burned hillsides and protecting the drinking water sources below them. But current reforestation facilities lack the capacity to keep up with demand, creating a dire shortage. Experts estimate it would take 50 years to replant the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon burn scar at current rates. That’s where the New Mexico Reforestation Center comes in. Conceived in 2022 as a collaboration between the state Forestry Division, University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, and New Mexico Highlands University, the center is now about to break ground on an “absolutely massive” greenhouse facility that expands existing infrastructure in the northwestern part of the state, Director Jennifer Auchter told High Country News. The greenhouses, which will eventually total 155,000 square feet in size, are an essential part of the seed-to-seedling-to-tree post-fire reforestation pipeline, which involves processing over 1,500 pounds of native seed for future planting while researching ways to help seedlings survive an even hotter and drier future. (The enterprise has a uniquely New Mexican flavor: Auchter said that a repurposed chili roaster is used to extract seeds from cones and pods at the existing seed-processing facility.) High Country News caught up with Auchter in mid-April as she prepared for the greenhouse groundbreaking to talk about how the center will more than triple the state’s current seedling production capacity and why a “right tree, right place” approach is important for the success of modern reforestation. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Q. Why is re-planting a forest after a wildfire so important? A. This is my favorite part of the whole story. My background is in earth science, watershed management, fluvial systems, and that sort of thing. So I think about this from a “forest being water infrastructure” perspective, particularly in New Mexico and the Southwest. Here, it’s the snowpack in the winter that feeds our rivers and streams. People have tried to quantify this a bunch of different ways, but it’s something like 70 percent of all the water we use is coming from a forest, whether it’s the snowpack or the precipitation that streams capture. The likelihood of a forest actually regenerating (after a high-severity wildfire) is not very likely in our lifetimes. It could be decades to even centuries. For us, because of our water infrastructure here, we really need to conserve forests even just to have a water source. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=512&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jenniferauchter.webp?quality=75&strip=all 768w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Courtesy of Jennifer Auchter"/> Courtesy of Jennifer Auchter Q. What are New Mexico’s current reforestation needs, given several large wildfires in recent years? A. The state’s current burn scars need 385 million trees, and that doesn’t include future wildfires. That’s just the existing backlog. Q. How many seedlings can current operations in New Mexico grow right now? Tell us about the gap the New Mexico Reforestation Center is seeking to fill. A. We say 300,000, but we don’t even usually hit that mark. It’s usually more like 250,000 seedlings per year, and those are grown at the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, which is a pretty small and pretty old nursery. Most of our tree seedlings are purchased from growers in Idaho. That’s not terrible, but they’re not exactly from the right climate, they’re not exactly from the right elevation, and then when they travel over land, they don’t do as well in planting. They’re kind of shocked when they get here. Q. What kind of research has been going on to help set the New Mexico Reforestation Center and its replanting efforts up for success? A. What the University of New Mexico is responsible for is doing a lot of the research on modeling: predicting seedling survival based on the site and based on the projected climate. So, when we’re selecting sites and planting out trees, we’re actually doing this for the 2100 climate, not for today’s climate. We want to make sure that these trees are surviving long-term. Then, once they plant it out, they will also do monitoring with drones, and on-the-ground monitoring as well. Q. How else are researchers trying to ensure seedlings can survive in hotter, drier conditions? A. New Mexico State University researchers are doing drought conditioning, so putting the seedlings under a lower amount of irrigation. They’re drought-stressing ponderosa pine and some of the other species as seedlings, so that when they plant them out, they are ready for that dry environment. There’s another thing that they’re doing specifically for aspen seedling survival in a post-fire environment: planting the seedling next to a log, for example, and trying to give it just a bit of shade while it’s in those early establishing months and years. They’re seeing higher survival for the seedlings that are planted in the shade areas. There’s a lot of research going on to try to optimize this, bigger-scale. Once we jump from 300,000 seedlings to 5 million seedlings, ideally, by that time, we will have sorted out the very best methods that are the most successful across the whole reforestation pipeline, from seeds to seedling to planting. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024 1024w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=1366 1366w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ponderosapine1.webp?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Pine cones are sliced in two" data-caption="Ponderosa pine cones are cut to extract seeds. " data-credit="Courtesy of New Mexico Reforestation Center / Josh Sloan"/> Ponderosa pine cones are cut to extract seeds. Courtesy of New Mexico Reforestation Center / Josh Sloan Q. Did you look to any other states for reforestation inspiration? What did you learn? A. The Pacific Northwest is really great at reforesting. At least in the early days, I think there was an idea that we would model reforestation in the Southwest after reforestation in the Pacific Northwest. But we really just need to have our own regionally tailored methods, regionally appropriate stock — the genetics of the seedling — all of that is really important. Q. How will the new forestry center benefit the broader region? A. We do anticipate that, particularly in other areas of the Four Corners states, our seedlings will be appropriate. For example, northern Arizona, Flagstaff — that’s a similar elevation, similar species. That could be said for some areas of Colorado as well. So, I think we probably will focus on New Mexico first, but we do expect to actually be able to provide more seedlings longer term, once we start reforesting our own burn scars. There’s not an official sort of hub or resource collaboration for the Southwest. There are a lot of groups working here — NGOs, government agencies, universities — there’s a lot of people doing a lot of different things, but they’re generally pretty disjointed. We envision the NMRC bringing those people together. Q. What’s an important part of the reforestation process that’s sometimes overlooked? A. I think it’s important to highlight the whole reforestation pipeline. The seed collection work that New Mexico Highlands University does is sort of this hidden part of it, right? The greenhouses and the seedlings are flashy, and it’s easy to take pictures and cover that, but the seed collection work is tedious, time-consuming, and requires a massive labor development approach. It’s rugged, it’s hard. Q. What do you wish more people knew about reforestation? A. I’ve heard a couple of different times, “Wow, that’s an expensive greenhouse.” It’s really not just a greenhouse. There’s so much more that goes into building a forest. It’s quite a daunting action, bringing that to the forefront in any way we can, raising awareness of how many bodies have touched the seed or the seedling or planted it out from the time that seed is collected to when it’s actually growing. Q. What kind of long-lasting impact can reforestation have on a community post-fire, and how are you going about that in New Mexico? A. I’ll use one example that we just finished last week. We had 48 students across grades from a charter school near Mora come to the seed collection facility, and we had the kids, who lived through wildfire, create a piece of art that was something special to them. During this whole workshop, while they were creating this art, we had some of our forestry experts talk about just the process of reforestation and what all goes into it. The point of it is really to get kids engaged locally at a younger age, so that as they go through school next year, those same kids will come back and get to see maybe some of the seeds they worked with are now in pots as seedlings, and maybe in three years, they get to go see that tree planted out in the forest. Keeping them engaged along the whole timeline of reforestation, to sort of imprint upon them how important conservation is. Because once it’s gone, it takes a long time to bring it back. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How New Mexico is ‘building a forest’ by solving a seedling shortage on Apr 26, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Kylie Mohr.
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Ralph welcomes Professor Nicholas Chater, co-author of “It's on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems.” Then, as most of the media turns its attention to Iran, we return to ...
Ralph welcomes Professor Nicholas Chater, co-author of “It's on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems.” Then, as most of the media turns its attention to Iran, we return to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and welcome back Dr. Feroze Sidhwa to break down his three-part series published in Zeteo called “The Truth About Gaza's Dead.” Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. He has written and co-written more than two hundred research papers and six books, including It’s on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society’s Deepest Problems (co-written with George Loewenstein). I was on a UK government committee as the representative of behavioural science for six years, where my role was (at least I understood my role to be) coming up with smart-aleck ideas about what individual nudges or bits of useful information we could give to the public—how that would help people reduce their carbon emissions. And I came away from that experience extremely chastened. Because almost all the interesting issues were nothing to do whatsoever with individual behavior. They were all about big systemic changes… And the shock for me was realizing that the tools that I was hoping to wield were in fact completely ineffective. Nick Chater I think it’s absolutely true that many of the things that behavioral scientists are supposedly “discovering” [are] the things that campaigners and activists and indeed people in the political world generally and journalists intuitively have long known, and indeed probably have good evidence for. It’s simply— it’s sort of a sad process of trailing-along-behind which I think the academic world has been engaged in, where we’ve been slowly realizing that things that everybody else knew initially are actually true after all. Nick Chater One of the most powerful things that each of us has is the ability to propagate our own perspective and to campaign for change…I think getting people pulling together and pushing for change can be incredibly powerful. So seeing ourselves as citizens who are actively able to have our voice, make our voices heard, I think that’s where the real power lies. And I think that the campaigners and political activists and so on have always known this. And of course, also, big businesses have always known this too. And they certainly don’t want us to be doing too much of that. They want us to be focusing on quite the opposite. They want us to be focusing on our own gardens and not worrying about the big picture. They don’t want organized opposition. Nick Chater Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a general, trauma, and critical care surgeon in California. He is also a humanitarian surgeon who has worked in Palestine, Ukraine, Haiti, Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso. He most recently volunteered at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza. He was blocked from entering Gaza by Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service in November 2025. In the first 25 days of the assault on Gaza, more children were killed than in the entire worst year of conflict that Airwars had ever studied previously, which was Syria in 2016. In the first 25 days in Gaza, between 2,200 and 2,600 children were killed in Gaza, compared to 1,900 in Syria. So again, if you adjust for the size of the population (because Syria is a much bigger country than Gaza is a territory), the rate of killing of children in Gaza was 71 to 142 times higher than it was in the worst year on record for children in conflict—Syria in 2016. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa Gaza is a place where infants freeze to death if they are not sheltered. Well, there are no sheltered infants in Gaza for any practical purposes. They’re all unsheltered. So we have a list of the actual names of a dozen or two dozen children who have actually frozen to death…And there is shelter—ready-made mobile shelters for hundreds of thousands of people right outside of Gaza. It’s in Egypt and it’s in Jordan. The only thing that’s stopping anybody from bringing it in is the US and Israel…This is just dastardly. We should think about it for a second—we (meaning Americans) [are] living in a country where neither political party seems to care that we are freezing infants to death. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa Right now, the Israelis are blocking cough medicine from going into Gaza. And the reason (they say) is because it contains glycerin. Now, glycerin, in theory, can be used to make explosives. But it’s one picogram or something—it’s just part of a pill or the syrup that goes into it, right? This is children’s cough medicine. The idea that Hamas or Islamic Jihad or anybody else in Gaza has the laboratory equipment and facilities that would be needed to extract the 0.01% of glycerin that’s in a pill or a medical syrup to then make a bomb is beyond idiotic. Furthermore, we all know that there’s (and I’m speaking literally) hundreds of tons of unexploded Israeli bombs—actually I should say unexploded US bombs—all over the Gaza Strip. That’s where Hamas gets all of its explosives from. It just repurposes unexploded Israeli munitions. So all of this is just sheer nonsense. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa News 4/24/26 * Our top stories this week have to do with people losing their jobs. First up, Apple CEO Tim Cook – the handpicked successor of Steve Jobs who has led the tech giant for the past 15 years – announced this week that he would transition away from the CEO role. While he will remain on as Executive Chairman, John Ternus, the company’s head of hardware engineering, will take over at the helm, PBS reports. Cook’s tenure at Apple has received mixed evaluations, with many applauding the steady handed executive for adding an estimated $3.6 trillion in market value to the company, while others have critiqued his supposed lack of innovation compared to his predecessor. Some hope his more technical-minded successor will put more emphasis on product development moving forward. Like many tech CEOs, Cook went to great lengths to ingratiate himself with President Trump in his second term, donating $1 million to his inaugural committee and gifting Trump a glass plaque set in 24-karat gold last August. * Meanwhile, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned this week amid “an internal investigation into her conduct,” which included “instructing staff to buy her bottles of sauvignon blanc on work trips… [stashing] liquor in her office, [encouraging] young female staffers to ‘pay attention’ to her father and husband, [having] an affair with a member of her security detail, and [arranging] work travel to visit family and friends,” per Vox. For the time being, the Labor Department will be headed by Keith Sonderling, whom POLITICO calls a “quintessential Washington insider who is well-connected in the capital’s Republican circles and his home state of Florida.” Sources quoted in this piece identify Sonderling as a key behind-the-scenes player in the administration whose accumulated influence “extends well beyond DOL.” The choice of Chavez-DeRemer, a former Congresswoman who was seen as perhaps the most labor-friendly Republican in the House, was supported at the time by Trump-aligned Teamster boss Sean O’Brien; her ouster therefore, represents the latest humiliating setback for his strategy of cozying up to Trump to win favorable treatment for his membership. In the words of a recent Current Affairs piece published before the downfall of Chavez-DeRemer, “Sean O’Brien Sold Labor to Trump, and Got Nothing.” * In the House, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned her seat this week, just minutes before the House Ethics Committee was set to weigh punishment for the Congresswoman, whom the panel had previously found guilty of “a slew of ethics violations, including accusations that she stole millions in pandemic relief funds and used it to bolster her 2021 campaign,” according to CNN. Cherfilus-McCormick was one of the four Members of Congress included in the proposed bipartisan expulsion deal some weeks ago, along with Representatives Swalwell, Gonzales, and Mills. With the first two gone, a tremendous amount of pressure is sure to be exerted on Congressman Mills to resign as well. Prior to resigning, Cherfilus-McCormick was already facing a stiff primary challenge from young progressive Elijah Manley. Now, it seems her seat – representing hundreds of thousands in Broward and Palm Beach counties – could remain vacant until a new member is sworn in next January, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unlikely to call a special election before then. * Also in Congress, Axios reports Representative David Scott of Georgia, a powerful Black Georgia Democrat who served in the lower house for over 20 years, passed away this week at age 80. Scott, who rose to become the first Black chair of the key House Committee on Agriculture, had filed to run again in 2026 despite rumored resistance from his colleagues. His death leaves Georgia’s 13th district without representation in the House and amounts to a stunning fourth death-based Democratic House vacancy in the past year. Like the ones that preceded it, this must be seen as a bright red warning signal to Democratic leadership. * In DC more broadly, the employment picture looks even worse. According to a new report in the Guardian, the combined purging of 300,000 jobs from the federal government – the piece notes this is the “region’s largest employer” – by Elon Musk’s absurd Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, with another 13,000 job cuts in the private sector, has left DC with the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 6.7%. With little sign of increased hiring in the public or private sectors, there is no indication this trend will reverse itself any time soon. * Elsewhere in the DMV, this week Virginia voters approved a referendum to amend the state constitution allowing Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional districts in their favor. Currently, Virginia Democrats hold six districts to the Republicans’ five; under the new map, Democrats are poised to hold 10 districts and the Republicans just one. This is the latest episode in the mid-decade redistricting fight begun last year, when Texas Republicans sought to redraw the Lone Star state’s maps to be more favorable to the GOP. This set off a stampede of states seeking to redraw their district lines. Now, in light of the Virginia referendum passing, Florida is threatening to redraw their maps to the detriment of Democrats there. The Hill reports House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, taking a sharper tone than usual, responded to news of the Florida redistricting attempt with a statement reading “If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas…[he vowed] maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.” * In California, the downfall of Eric Swalwell has resulted in the unexpected rise of another candidate – former Congressman, California Attorney General, and Biden-era Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. Between April 10th and April 22nd, Becerra surged from a polling average of under 4% to an average of 13% – and in some polls, even moved into first place. While Becerra seeks to consolidate this spike in support, progressives are airing long-held grievances. David Sirota, former Bernie Sanders campaign advisor and founder of the Lever, cited that publication’s 2021 report on how “As California AG, [Becerra] demanded the HHS secretary use existing law to lower medicine prices - and then he became HHS secretary & literally refused to do that.” Others have pointed out that, according to Transparency USA, Becerra’s campaign has received massive donations from the likes of Chevron. Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer on the other hand this week received the endorsement of Our Revolution, closely aligned with Bernie Sanders, which noted that “Yes, Tom Steyer is a billionaire. But it matters what he is doing with that power: pushing for taxes on the wealthy, expanding universal programs, and dismantling corporate influence in our politics.” * In another case of politics making strange bedfellows, the Chicago Tribune reports the political arm of Planned Parenthood is making an endorsement in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García in Illinois 4th congressional district. Except, in this case, the reproductive rights group is not endorsing the Democrat in the race. Listeners may recall that Congressman García was sharply criticized for his maneuvering to ensure his chief of staff Patty García would be the Democratic nominee. This has forced other potential aspirants to run as independents. These include DSA-aligned Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-López and activist Mayra Macías – the latter of whom won the Planned Parenthood Action endorsement this week. The Tribune notes that Macías served on the board of Planned Parenthood Action until the beginning of this year. In a statement, Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson called Macías “a proven leader,” who “will be unrelenting in the fight to protect access to sexual and reproductive health care.” * Turning to international news, in South Africa, leftist politician and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party Julius Malema was sentenced to five years in prison this week for “firing a rifle in ⁠the air at a party rally,” Al Jazeera reports. Unsurprisingly, given that the EFF is the fourth largest political party in South Africa, this case has become a rallying cry for Malema’s supporters, with those same supporters accusing the prosecution of being politically motivated. Presiding Magistrate Twanet Olivier disputes this, contending that it “is not a political party who has been convicted here … it is a person, an individual.” Malema’s lawyers immediately applied for – and were granted – leave to appeal, but if these appeals fail Malema could be barred from serving as a Member of Parliament. * Finally, in more positive news from abroad, Reuters reports that the much-trumpeted summit of the global Left held in Barcelona this week – designed to help progressives rally their forces to defeat modern reactionary Right-wing nationalism characterized by figures like Trump – drew over 6,000 attendees from over 40 countries. Headline speakers included Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Brazilian President Lula, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. From the United States, an ecclectic group addressed the summit, ranging from video messages of support from Hilary Clinton to Bernie Sanders to Zohran Mamdani, with an in-person address by Minnesota Governor and former Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz. A recurrent theme, hammered home by Isabel Allende, former Senate president ​of Chile and daughter of Salvador Allende, Chile’s leftist president ousted in a U.S.-backed coup and replaced with the dictator Augusto Pinochet, was that the left has become too distant from the daily concerns of workers, stating in no uncertain terms that “It’s unimaginable to fight against the right ‌if we can’t ⁠get closer to ordinary people.” 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 Grayzone visits ruins of US aircraft in Iran
One of the best Reggae songs! #reggae #music #bunnywailer
This content originally appeared on Playing For Change and was authored by Playing For Change.
Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin safe following detention in Kuwait
New York, April 25, 2026—Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been reunited with his family and is in a place of safety, a legal team acting for his sisters said on Saturday. The award-winning U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist was detained on March 3 in Kuwait, where he was visiting family. “We are delighted that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been released...
New York, April 25, 2026—Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been reunited with his family and is in a place of safety, a legal team acting for his sisters said on Saturday. The award-winning U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist was detained on March 3 in Kuwait, where he was visiting family. “We are delighted that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been released from detention and is back with his family,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “We hope he and his family are given the space to come to terms with his release and look forward to commenting further soon.” In a statement, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC and Kate Gibson, international counsel to Shihab-Eldin’s sisters, said: “We are delighted to confirm that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has now been released, and has reached a safe location. The family is breathing a huge sigh of relief now that they have finally been reunited. Lara and Luma Eldin have requested that there be no further speculation or comment at this time. They are extremely grateful for everyone’s patience and respect for their privacy as they focus on their brother and his safe return.” This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
TRACER – un portrait de ROGER BÉNÉVANT (Paris, 2022)
Nearly half of US children are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, report warns
The American Lung Association report comes amid the EPA’s expansive rollback of environmental protections.
Nearly half of children in the United States are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, according to a new report, as experts warned Donald Trump’s expansive rollback of protections will make the situation worse. The 27th annual air quality report from the American Lung Association, or ALA, released on Wednesday evaluates pollution across the country by grading levels of ground-level ozone — also known as smog —as well as year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution, commonly referred to as soot. The report analyzed quality-assured data collected between 2022 and 2024. It found that 33.5 million children in the U.S. — 46 percent of those under 18 — live in areas that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. The report also found that 7 million children, or 10 percent of all children in the U.S., live in communities that failed all three measures. Speaking to the Guardian, Will Barrett, assistant vice president of the ALA’s Nationwide Clean Air Policy, said: “Children’s lungs are still developing. For their body size, they’re breathing more air. And also, kids play outdoors, they’re more active, they’re breathing in more outdoor air … So, air pollution exposure in children can contribute to long-term developmental harm to their lungs, new cases of asthma, increased risks of respiratory illness and other health considerations later in life.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Photo of U.S. Capitol building is shrouded in haze from wildfire smoke" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/smoggy-Capitol-building-reflection.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 the Trump administration’s climate math doesn’t add up Kate Yoder The report further found that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. As a result, they are more likely to live with one or more chronic health conditions that make them more vulnerable to pollution, including asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Although people of color make up 42.1 percent of the U.S. population, they represent 54.2 percent of those living in counties with at least one failing grade, the report noted. It also found that a person of color is 2.42 times more likely than a white person to live in a community that fails all three pollution measures. Smog remains the most widespread pollutant affecting Americans’ health. Between 2022 and 2024, 38 percent of the U.S. population — approximately 129.1 million people — were exposed to ozone levels that put their health at risk. This marks the highest number recorded in the ALA’s report in six years, and a 3.9 million increase from the previous year. Several factors contributed to these unhealthy pollution levels, including extreme heat, drought, and wildfires, which have exposed a growing share of the population to harmful ozone, the report said. The regions most affected by high ozone levels include southwestern states from California to Texas, as well as much of the Midwest. This is mainly driven by smoke from Canada’s 2023 wildfires crossing into the U.S., along with high temperatures and weather patterns that favored ozone formation in 2023 and 2024 — particularly in Southern states. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A port filled with trucks carrying containers" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-1.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/portofla-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"> California bets on an obscure tool to replace clean air authority Trump revoked Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, CalMatters More broadly, the report found that climate change is intensifying ozone pollution by boosting precursor emissions and creating atmospheric conditions such as higher temperatures and lower wind speeds that allow pollutants to build up and ozone to form. The report also highlighted data centers as a growing source of air pollution. In recent years, data centers have consumed roughly 4.4 percent of total U.S. electricity, a figure that could rise to as much as 12 percent within the next decade. Their impact stems largely from reliance on regional electricity grids where fossil fuels such as methane gas and coal still account for a large portion of generation, the report said. In addition, many data centers use dozens of large diesel-powered backup generators, which emit carcinogenic particulate matter. “As the demand for increases in data centers continues to grow, the focus needs to be on non-combustion, clean renewable energy sources that are additive and not taking away from the grid,” Barrett said. He also pointed to a series of environmental rollbacks by the current Environmental Protection Agency, warning that they are putting air quality at greater risk. “There’s a devaluing of children’s health by this EPA as they are weakening, delaying, and repealing critical health protection,” he said, pointing to reversals including “missing deadlines for particle pollution standards, repealing vehicle standards, repealing EPA’s responsibility for protecting health against climate pollution, and even allowing for increased emissions of pollution from oil and gas facilities.” He also cited mercury — a toxic air contaminant released from coal plants — as a key concern. “[There is] a wide-scale effort by the federal EPA to eliminate health protections while also distancing themselves from their own mission to protect public health,” Barrett added. Since returning to office last year, the Trump administration has initiated at least 70 actions to roll back environmental and climate protections. Among them is the loosening of regulations on power plants that limit mercury and other hazardous air toxics. Other rollbacks include overturning limits on major air pollution sources, disbanding EPA advisory committees on air quality, and ending the practice of estimating the monetary value of lives saved by limiting fine particulate matter and ozone while still calculating costs to companies. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Nearly half of US children are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, report warns on Apr 25, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Maya Yang, The Guardian.
Black Rain Falls After Ukraine Strike On Russian Oil Hub
Treat Violence As a Workplace Safety Issue
This Workers Memorial Day, April 28, let's commit to curbing on-the-job harassment and abuse.
This Workers Memorial Day, April 28, let's commit to curbing on-the-job harassment and abuse. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Lorena Roque.
Israel’s diabolical killing machine and how it targets journalists
As World Press Freedom Day rapidly approaches and Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Israeli government for its massacre of journalists in Lebanon and Palestine, New Zealand journalist David Robie reflects in a speech at Te Komititanga Square today. MEDIA FREEDOM: By David Robie In a week’s time next Sunday, it is World Press Freedom
As World Press Freedom Day rapidly approaches and Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Israeli government for its massacre of journalists in Lebanon and Palestine, New Zealand journalist David Robie reflects in a speech at Te Komititanga Square today. MEDIA FREEDOM: By David Robie In a week’s time next Sunday, it is World Press Freedom Day on May 3. And already our whānau of journalists who are facing horrendous danger at the hands of the Israeli killing machine have had a shocking few days. During our 133 weeks of protest we have become painfully accustomed to how one journalist after another has been brutally assassinated, some even alongside their family members. Far more than 260 journalists — the actual number varies with different media freedom monitoring agencies and different methodologies — have been slaughtered in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023. READ MORE: Journalist Amal Khalil killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon: RSF retraces events and denounces war crimes ‘We had Amal Khalil by her hand’s grip. Then Israel murdered her’ Other Gaza and Lebanon media freedom reports And some of you may have seen the chilling photograph circulating on some social media channels. It shows 8 Lebanese journalists – four men and four women – smiling and giving peace signs. Eight Lebanese journalists killed in a month by Israel https://t.co/Fqeji5D3M8 — Pen MacRae (@penmacrae) April 23, 2026 They have all been murdered in the last month, including the tragic killing of Amal Khalil, who died last Wednesday under building rubble in the town of al-Tayri, southern Lebanon, after a double tap attack and then the Israelis fired a stun grenade on the ambulance rescue workers preventing them trying to save her. But before I talk more about her tragedy and what it means– she was just buried yesterday with thousands at her funeral — I want to show you another photo. This is Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist working for the Arabic channel Al Jazeera who was a highly popular household name right across the Middle East if not the world. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-126966 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Leeann-Wahanui-Peters-Dhireen-photo-DA-680wide.png" alt="PSNA organiser Leeann Wahanui-Peters holds aloft the photo of assassinated Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh" width="680" height="546" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Leeann-Wahanui-Peters-Dhireen-photo-DA-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Leeann-Wahanui-Peters-Dhireen-photo-DA-680wide-300x241.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Leeann-Wahanui-Peters-Dhireen-photo-DA-680wide-523x420.png 523w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> PSNA protest organiser Leeann Wahanui-Peters holds aloft the photo of assassinated Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh referred to in this article. Image: Del Abcede/APR She was known as the “daughter of Palestine” and she was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces on 11 May 2022 — just eight days after Media Freedom Day that year. I have this photo hanging on the wall of my office, thanks to Palestine Youth of Aotearoa, to remind me daily of the brutality and global impunity of the Israelis. With my experience as a media freedom defender for Pacific Media Watch and Reporters Without Borders since 1996, I have come to a chilling and shameful conclusion: The fact that there was no accountability for her murder and the US authorities and Biden administration orchestrated a cover-up – even though she was American — signalled to the Netanyahu government that they could target journalists and those bearing witness with absolute impunity. So this is where we are at now, the Israeli killing machine launched into a bloody massacre of more than 72,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza over the past two plus years, especially targeting journalists, doctors and medical workers, teachers, and aid workers. And the hypocritical Western countries, including Aotearoa New Zealand, have barely offered a timid bleat. The Israeli bloodlust has now spread to Lebanon and other countries. The IDF claims that its military is the “most moral in the world”. That claim is an obscenity. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ), Israel is by far the world’s biggest killer of media workers. On its monitoring website it lists the following: • 260 journalists and media workers killed by Israel, of which: • 207 were Palestinians killed in Gaza • 2 Palestinian killed in Gaza during the Iran war • 2 Palestinians killed in Israeli detention centers • 31 Yemenis – out of a total of 32 – killed in Yemen • 6 Lebanese in Lebanon during the war on Gaza • 9 Lebanese in Lebanon during the Iran war • 3 Iranians in Iran during the 12-day war To return to the targeted murder of Amal Khalil, who worked for Al-Akhbar, she was with another journalist, Zeinab Faraj, who was rescued and survived. The Paris-based media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in a statement by its Middle East desk chief Jonathan Dagher: “The Israeli army has very likely committed two more war crimes on 22 April, by targeting journalists who were identified as such, obstructing rescue operations and continuing strikes that killed one journalist and injured another. “Responsibility for these crimes also lies with Israel’s allies, who continue to allow the Netanyahu government to commit them with impunity.” RSF published a compelling and disturbing timeline of how the IDF blocked her would-be rescuers for seven hours. CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa regional director Sara Qudah said: “We knew [Amal] was alive beneath the rubble – a real, breathing presence. Not in the abstract, not as rumour or hope. “The 40-year-old female journalist, Amal Khalil, whose voice had just reached her family and colleagues, her survival depended on whether the machinery of rescue would be allowed to operate as it is supposed to under international law, and the law of humanity. “That is what made what followed so difficult to process — not only emotionally, but structurally. “Because this was not a case of disappearance in the fog of war. “It was a case of proximity to survival that collapsed into confirmed death while rescue was still theoretically possible.” <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126969" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/David-Robie-speaking-DA-680wide.png" alt="Journalist and author David Robie speaking at the PSNA rally for Palestine at Auckland's Te Komititanga Square " width="680" height="609" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/David-Robie-speaking-DA-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/David-Robie-speaking-DA-680wide-300x269.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/David-Robie-speaking-DA-680wide-469x420.png 469w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Journalist and author David Robie speaking at the PSNA rally for Palestine at Auckland’s Te Komititanga Square today. Image: Del Abcede/APR Qudah added that her death could not be understood only as an individual tragedy, “although it was that to everyone who knew her, every journalist in the region”. “It must also be understood as a stress test of the systems that are supposed to prevent this outcome — early warning, protection, humanitarian access and accountability. On each of these dimensions, the case raises unresolved questions.” Israel is not only killing journalists, it is systematically torturing them — along with hundreds of other Palestinian hostages. CPJ’s recent report, “We returned from hell”, where the watchdog published the in-depth testimonies of 59 media prisoners released from jail since October 2023 is shocking reading. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126971" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Barry-Malone-comment-.png" alt="Comment on an X post by a former Al Jazeera executive editor, Barry Malone" width="640" height="539" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Barry-Malone-comment-.png 640w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Barry-Malone-comment--300x253.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Barry-Malone-comment--499x420.png 499w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /> Comment on an X post by a former Al Jazeera executive editor, Barry Malone. Image: APR I would like to finish with a quote by Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein, who visited New Zealand in 2023 to launch his book The Palestine Laboratory about how the Israeli killing machine exports in brutal technologies — a book that has been translated into many languages and had a profound influence in the world. “With some notable exceptions, too many in the international media, journalists, editors and owners, have refused to take appropriate action against Israel. No official sanction. “[They are] still interviewing Israeli spokespeople and politicians as normal. Not treating this as a monumental crime and outrage. Instead, often deferring to unproven Israeli claims that every journalist murdered was a ‘terrorist’.” This complicity by many journalists — even in our own region — must be widely condemned. Dr David Robie is convenor of Pacific Media Watch and a media defender with global groups including RSF. He gave this short address at the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) rally in Auckland on Anzac Day. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126976" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PSNA-Anzac-Day-protest-680wide.jpg" alt="Some of the protesters at the Te Komititanga rally " width="680" height="383" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PSNA-Anzac-Day-protest-680wide.jpg 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PSNA-Anzac-Day-protest-680wide-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Some of the protesters at the Te Komititanga rally today. Image: Asia Pacific Report This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
PSNA calls on McKee to condemn Israel’s bulldozing of NZ war graves in Gaza
Asia Pacific Report The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has appealed to ACT MP Nicole McKee to condemn Israel’s deliberate bulldozing of New Zealand war graves in the besieged Palestinian Gaza enclave. PSNA co-chair John Minto has asked for the MP to take this action after McKee had posted on Facebook yesterday a message of strong
Asia Pacific Report The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has appealed to ACT MP Nicole McKee to condemn Israel’s deliberate bulldozing of New Zealand war graves in the besieged Palestinian Gaza enclave. PSNA co-chair John Minto has asked for the MP to take this action after McKee had posted on Facebook yesterday a message of strong support for looking after NZ soldiers’ graves wherever they are. Minto said in a statement on Anzac Day: “Israel’s destruction of New Zealand war graves was not an accident of war. It was the deliberate bulldozing of the graves by the Israeli military” READ MORE: Revealed: Israel bulldozed part of Gaza war cemetery containing allied graves New Zealand World War I graves among those bulldozed at Gaza cemetery No rest for Taranaki soldiers in Gaza grave “They have bulldozed dozens of Palestinian cemeteries as standard practice to erase Palestine from Gaza,” he said. “They didn’t think twice about bulldozing our war graves, knowing there would be no reaction from our government and they were right.” In her Facebook post McKee wrote: “We talk a lot about honouring our fallen — but real respect is shown in what we do, not just what we say. “Across New Zealand, volunteers from the NZ Remembrance Army have quietly restored hundreds of thousands of service graves, preserving the stories and dignity of those who served. They do it efficiently, carefully, and with genuine respect. “What’s been holding them back is layers of inconsistent rules and bureaucracy. “ACT is committing to cut through that, back these volunteers with funding, and make sure this work can continue at scale. “Because if someone was prepared to give everything for this country, the least we can do is ensure they are remembered properly.” Call for ‘real respect’ Minto responded in the PSNA statement today by saying: “We agree with McKee when she says ‘real respect is shown in what we do, not just what we say’. “Let’s see some respect for our soldiers who died in Gaza [in 1919] with a rousing government condemnation of the deliberate destruction of these war graves. “We won’t hold our breath. The government can’t even condemn Israel for the mass killing and mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza — a campaign of physical and cultural destruction which continues today.” PSNA has long called on the government to condemn Israel’s deliberate destruction of war graves in Gaza. In a statement on February 9, it said: “PSNA is calling on the government to condemn Israel’s desecration of New Zealand war graves in Gaza. “Israeli bulldozing of the graves was confirmed last week but the New Zealand government has not responded with any comment.” Palestinian Essam Jaradah, who had tended the New Zealand graves for 45 years, confirmed their destruction in an interview with The Guardian newspaper. “Common decency demands we condemn Israel for this abuse of our war dead,” Minto said in he February statement. “If it happened anywhere else in the world the government would register shock and be appalled. Australian responded, not NZ “Australia has spoken out but nothing from New Zealand. No protest expressed, no demand Israel apologise, no request for access to inspect the damage. Nothing.” “Neither has there been any response from the New Zealand Returned Services Association.” Minto said Israel relied on what he called “huge and sympathetic media attention” for more than two years, demanding the return of the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza. “It seems the only human remains which matter are Israeli ones. Over a period, Israel has systematically destroyed Palestinian cemeteries and now the war graves of our soldiers.” There were 23 graves of New Zealand First World War soldiers in the Commonwealth War Cemetery, plus another two from the 280-strong Rarotongan Company from the Cook Islands, which also fought for Britain to capture Palestine from the Turkish Ottomans. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Son Recognizes Father In Footage Of Kyiv Shooting
Public praise for High Court ruling on NZ Superfund policies on Israeli companies
Asia Pacific Report An official of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) praised this month’s High Court judicial ruling over New Zealand Superfund “unreasonable and unlawful” investment policies towards Israeli companies — but warned that the fund management would need to shape up. Speaking at the PSNA rally at Te Komititanga Square today in week
Asia Pacific Report An official of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) praised this month’s High Court judicial ruling over New Zealand Superfund “unreasonable and unlawful” investment policies towards Israeli companies — but warned that the fund management would need to shape up. Speaking at the PSNA rally at Te Komititanga Square today in week 133 of protests over Israeli genocide in Gaza, national secretary Neil Scott also gave a verbal bouquet to all the activists and lawyers who had achieved the victory after a 20-year struggle. He named Phil McNeale as one of the activists who began pushing for the Superfund to divest from Israeli companies funding illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank about two decades ago. READ MORE: PSNA says High Court Superfund decision a victory for Palestinian rights NZ’s $86 billion Super Fund failed to properly address human rights, court rules in Palestine case The High Court ruling on the NZ Superfund policies Other PSNA reports on Palestine PSNA earlier issued a statement declaring that this was an “important and timely win for Palestine” and expressed confidence that the Superfund would “quickly divest from the four companies [where] it holds investments” which were on the UN Human Rights Council list involved in building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements. Scott recalled that during 2020 and 2021, PSNA had called on the Superfund chief executive Matt Whineray to divest from Israeli banks. “We know Israel cannot build the illegal colonies in the West bank without bank funding,” he said. “Essentially, our NZ Superfund was investing in funding war crimes. On our behalf.” ‘Shameful policy’ On each communication about the “shameful” policy, Whineray had rejected the PSNA protest. “In 2021, PSNA got a King’s Counsel (KC) lawyer to review the investments in Israeli banks and then sent a letter to then Minister of Finance Grant Robertson setting out the legal opinion,” Scott said. “Robertson refused to respond to us. But soon after, the Superfund divested from four Israeli banks. Yes, we won then.” However, Scott said that in 2021, just after the divestment decision, the Israeli Institute was “all over the Superfund with a flood of OIA requests — six of them”. “A bunch of private individual OIA requests also went in,” Scott said. “Usually, the Superfund received about 3 or 4 OIA requests a year. In 2021, it received 11. “So, it seems as if massive pressure was put on the NZ Superfund to change its policies on ethical investments — to benefit Zionist Israel. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-127001 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Protesters-Del-25-April-2026.jpg" alt="Protesters at today's rally in Te Komititanga Square" width="680" height="383" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Protesters-Del-25-April-2026.jpg 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Protesters-Del-25-April-2026-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Protesters at today’s rally in Te Komititanga Square . . . pictured are NZ’s “shameful” coalition government leaders. Image: Asia Pacific Report ‘Gutting ethical investment’ “In 2022, it did just that. Gutting the ethical investment policies so that even investments in Israeli banks wouldn’t have been excluded.” Scott said the Superfund dropped any reference to the “UN Global Compact” and the “Principles for Responsible Investment” — two of the main ethical investment policies in the world. “It did this, sliding the changes through in the shadows without letting anyone know. Just slid it through in the shadows.” PSNA kept on calling the Superfund to divest from the UN Divestment list. However, the Superfund responded by claiming that the companies cited “did not meet their, now secret, threshold”. Late in 2024, PSNA decided to call for a judicial review of the Superfund’s investment in four companies. “We briefed two KCs on the call. They agreed that it would have a good chance of winning,” Scott said. “During the process of discovery, the KCs found that the Superfund had secretly changed its ethical investment policies during 2022.” Who is responsible? Scott said the PSNA was now determined to find out who were responsible for changing the ethical investment policies for the “benefit of a foreign country”. He named a minister, chair of the board and the chief executive at the time of the change, saying that as a result of the High Court ruling, the Superfund “has a duty to reformulate the policy documents consistently with the [NZ Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001]”. Scott praised the team responsible for winning the case: PSNA co-chair John Minto; co-chair Maher Nazzal, a Palestinian; Palestinian Rawaa Elhanafy; Rodney Harrison KC (who wrote the original letter to then minister Robertson in 2021); Francis Joychild KC; and B A Mugisho. He also gave a final message to the cheering protest crowd: “A word of advice to everyone in the management of the Superfund — Aotearoa is our country. Not racist, ethnic cleansing, land thieving genocidal Zionist Israel. “You work for Aotearoa. Do your job.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126999" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Stop-wars-protesters-SWC-680wide.png" alt="Stop Wars protesters " width="680" height="561" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Stop-wars-protesters-SWC-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Stop-wars-protesters-SWC-680wide-300x248.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Stop-wars-protesters-SWC-680wide-509x420.png 509w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Stop Wars protesters . . . next rally is on May Day in Auckland’s Karangahape Road. Image: SWC May Day ‘Stop war’ rally Among other speakers at the protest, Stop Wars Aotearoa organiser Joe Carolan appealed for support at next Friday’s May Day “Stop the fuel crisis and stop the war” rally at 6pm at Karanga-a-Hape Station. “High fuel prices are driving workers reliant on cars off the roads. Our rightwing coalition government rules for the rich and doesn’t feel the pain of the cost of living crisis. We need solutions, not excuses,” Carolan said. “The Solution: Free, frequent public transport for all, funded by taxes on the oil companies and the super rich.” The Stop Wars Aotearoa coalition is demanding: Immediate free transport as a climate and cost-of-living solution; Permanent, 24 hr, frequent and fare-free transit for all, paid for by taxing corporations and billionaires; and Prioritised fuel for essential services, not luxury, while transitioning to renewables. New green jobs in a massive expansion of public transport and rail. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Bougainville advocate among all-women lineup winning Goldman Environmental prize
By Coco Lance, RNZ Pacific digital journalist For the first time in history, the Goldman Environmental Prize — often dubbed the “Green Nobel” — has been awarded entirely to women. Since 1990, the prize has recognised ordinary people taking on extraordinary environmental battles. The six winners this year are Theonila Roka Matbob (Bougainville), Yuvelis Morales
By Coco Lance, RNZ Pacific digital journalist For the first time in history, the Goldman Environmental Prize — often dubbed the “Green Nobel” — has been awarded entirely to women. Since 1990, the prize has recognised ordinary people taking on extraordinary environmental battles. The six winners this year are Theonila Roka Matbob (Bougainville), Yuvelis Morales Blanco (Colombia), Borim Kim (South Korea), Alannah Acaq Hurley (United States). Sarah Finch (England), and Iroro Tanshi (Nigeria). READ MORE: Other Bougainville environment reports This year’s theme for the awards was “Change Starts Where You Stand — we are all agents of change, every one of us”. Their work spans environmental justice, mining and drilling, climate and energy, and wildlife protection, focusing on the breadth of challenges — and leadership — at the frontlines of the climate crisis. At the awards ceremony, held on April 20 in San Francisco, the winners’ speeches addressed a multitude of issues plaguing the planet today. “This award honours all of us. Those who stood against all odds, those who never wavered in speaking up against greed and destruction, who have shown up year after year, writing letters, testifying at hearings, protests, and raising their kids to value people over profit,” said Alannah Acaq Hurley, whose work has confronted the threat of mining across indigenous lands. Borim Kim, another winner, noted: “Disasters are treated as individual tragedies to be endured, alone.” Also among the winners is Pacific representative, Theonila Matbob, an Indigenous Nasioi woman from Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. Matbob said it was inspiring to be one of six women honoured, and that around the world, women were increasingly taking a leading role in land guardianship. “It is becoming more prevalent that in land guardianship, and finding sustainable economic avenues to make a living and find an identity, that women are paying a lot of attention to issues that are impacting the human connection to land, and the responsibility of guardianship,” Matbob said. Iroro Tanshi poses for a portrait with a giant round leaf bat shortly after removing it from a mist net in Etankpini village in Odukpani, Cross River State. Image: Goldman Environmental Prize/RNZ Pacific Alannah Acaq Hurley in Dillingham, Alaska. Image: Goldman Environmental Prize/RNZ Pacific Sarah Finch in Surrey, England. Image: Goldman Environmental Prize/RNZ Pacific Borim Kim in front of the Taean Coal Power Plant, South Korea. Image: Goldman Environmental Prize/RNZ Pacific <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.rnztools.nz/rnz/image/upload/s--rW8aHirr--/ar_1:1,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050/v1776991988/4JU1B31_Media_RETRATOS_Credit_Christian_EscobarMora_for_the_Goldman_Environmental_Prize_10_jpg?_a=BACCd2AD" alt="Puerto Wilches, Santander. COLOMBIA. Yuvelis Morales Blanco: A winner the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize. Yuvelis sitting in a boat on the Magdalena River in front of her house." width="1050" height="700" /> Yuvelis Morales Blanco sitting in a boat on the Magdalena River in front of her house in Santander, Colombia. Image: Goldman Environmental Prize/RNZ Pacific Theonila Roka Matbob in Papua New Guinea’s Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Image: Goldman Environmental Prize/RNZ Pacific An ‘extraordinary feat’ “It is no small feat to bring Bouganville to global attention… in a way, that is extraordinary.” At just 35, Theonila Matbob’s advocacy has driven significant change, confronting the traumatic legacy of the Panguna Mine. It has had a fraught history of violence, displacement and severe environmental damage during its operation between 1972 and 1989, sparking a decade-long civil war that killed 10,000 to 15,000 people and left around one billion tonnes of waste on the island. According to Bougainville Copper Limited, in the 17 years prior to its closure in 1989 the Panguna Mine produced concentrate containing three million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold and 784 tonnes of silver. The production had a value of 5.2 billion PNG kina which represented approximately 44 percent of Papua New Guinea’s exports over that period. Matbob herself grew up in the shadow of the mine, and the civil war it ignited. As a child, she witnessed her father being dragged away by rebels as it unfolded. He was later killed. Refugee camp Her mother took Matbob and her siblings to nearby Arawa, where she spent years of her childhood detained and displaced in a refugee camp, which was tightly controlled by the PNG Defence Force. Matbob’s experiences shaped an instinctive and undeniable urge to address the environmental and social harms that this caused, resulting in years of advocacy work. In 2013, she co-founded the John Roka Counselling and Learning Centre with her husband, an NGO supporting communities affected by the civil war through education and trauma counselling. By 2014, Matbob wanted answers and reconciliation to address the impacts of the war, and the mine’s enduring harms. She later worked with the Human Rights Law Centre to collect villagers’ testimonies on ongoing environmental damage. These testimonies informed the 2020 report After After the Mine: Living with Rio Tinto’s Deadly Legacy, which advanced efforts for recognition. She is the lead complainant and campaigner for the Basikang clan in Bougainville, working through the government’s Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment to seek further accountability for the abandoned mine. “When you have a lived experience, and you have all these episodic childhood memories… you find the right words to craft your story of accountability, and that’s sort of a win, in a way for my advocacy work,” Matbob said. ‘Tailoring your advocacy’ “You really tailor your advocacy to an intention that is focused. Sometimes you may come up with campaigns, but if you don’t have the lived experience to craft something… you can’t invest real passion. You find what your purpose is, in life as a guardian of the land and tribal child who belongs to a clan, a family,” she added. In November 2024, mining giant Rio Tinto signed a landmark memorandum, addressing the environmental and social damage caused by the long-dormant mine. Speaking to RNZ Pacific, Matbob said the award carries significant weight given the calibre of nominees for the Goldman Award. “It is the highest environmental recognition in the world, but I believe my response would be — I am grateful for the personal growth and alignment in serving our real purpose. It’s a great networking platform, and a way to have more connectivity to other indigenous cultures.” “But at the regional level, Bougainville is the big inspiration… Bougainville is, in no way, in the zones of being well-secured. We are not guaranteed a resource market, and so it is no small feat to bring Bougainville to global attention in a way like this that is extraordinary,” she said. Translating into action Matbob added that this recognition must now translate into action. “Putting spotlight onto accountability. To use this platform to rise and demand commitment, because we can’t afford to wait any longer… or patiently wait for a solution, in a deal and a mess that was not part of our agreement.” Looking forward, Matbob has advice for others. “Defending the environment as a land guardian is a challenge. It’s intimidating. It comes with a lot of pressure, but that is your fight… be the person you are. You are equally powerful, and only when you dip your feet into the cold, that is where you will grow. “Take no fear, have your mind right, listen to your guts and you will be able to be your authentic self as a land warrior. You owe it to your past generations, and you owe it to your future generations,” she said. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Trump Destroys the Careers of Millions of Americans Helping People
By Ralph Nader April 24, 2026 On my radio show/podcast—the Ralph Nader Radio Hour—interviews of knowledgeable people have detailed the ravages by the cruel, serial law violator, Tyrant Trump, inflicted on millions of Americans. Still, the report from t...
By Ralph Nader April 24, 2026 On my radio show/podcast—the Ralph Nader Radio Hour—interviews of knowledgeable people have detailed the ravages by the cruel, serial law violator, Tyrant Trump, inflicted on millions of Americans. Still, the report from the V-Dem Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg produced a jolting Common Dreams headline: Trump is Dismantling… This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader and was authored by matthew.
Who’s Thinking of the Children, Since Trump Isn’t?
The Trump Administration’s policies regarding civil rights in education have eroded protections for marginalized students.
The Trump Administration’s policies regarding civil rights in education have eroded protections for marginalized students. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Rann Miller.
For US Commentators on Iran, Mass Murder Is Magic
Hawkish commentary in leading American newspapers advanced the premise that the US can dictate terms to Iran in negotiations.
The Washington Post (4/8/26) asserts that “the Islamic Republic stands to lose more from the war resuming than Washington does”—though Trump’s plummeting approval ratings might suggest otherwise. In the wake of the temporary US/Iran ceasefire, hawkish commentary in leading American newspapers advanced the premise that the US can dictate terms to Iran in negotiations, with a faith in the power of Washington’s military might that was hard to justify by the previous course of the war. A Washington Post editorial (4/8/26) contended: Despite the massive damage inflicted upon the country by the US in recent weeks, the regime acts like it holds the cards. Its leaders are demanding the US pull all troops out of the Middle East and accept Iran’s right to pursue nuclear weapons. The question is why Trump would bend over backward to keep obviously unserious talks on track. Whether the Post likes it or not, Iran has a decent hand to play. For instance, Iranian drones cost just $20,000 to produce, and the US uses missiles that cost $4 million each to try and destroy them (Bloomberg, 3/2/26). Less than three weeks into the war, the US was already estimated to have spent more than $18 billion attacking Iran (Guardian, 3/19/26). The longer Iran can hold out, the more it financially bleeds the US. The majority of Americans already consistently oppose the war (NBC News, 4/1/26) and, as costs spiral, domestic opposition to the US’s assault is likely to grow. In this context, the paper may need to revise its definition of seriousness to include accepting that Iran has the power to resist US bullying and bluster. ‘More work to degrade’ An intelligence source tells CNN (4/2/26) that Iran is “still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region.” The Washington Post editorial also said that there “is still more work to be done to degrade Iran’s offensive capabilities and its capacity to rebuild them.” “Offensive” here is a propaganda term, as Iran has not launched an aggressive war in nearly two centuries—unlike the United States and Israel, which have attacked Iran twice in the last year. By reversing victim and offender, the Post was transparently calling for the US to resume bombing Iran; after all, it’s through war that one country “degrades” another’s military capacity. But it’s not that the US and Israel didn’t try to destroy Iranian capabilities; rather, they tried and have not succeeded. Less than a week before the ceasefire, a CNN report (4/2/26) said US intelligence had assessed that roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran’s arsenal, despite the daily pounding by US and Israeli strikes against military targets over the past five weeks…. The intelligence, compiled in recent days, also showed a large percentage of Iran’s coastal defense cruise missiles were intact, the sources said, consistent with the US not focusing its air campaign on coastal military assets, though they have been hitting ships. Those missiles serve as a key capability allowing Iran to threaten shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran retained that capacity despite the US hitting more than 12,300 targets in Iran, according to US Central Command. Israel, for its part, said it had dropped 15,000 bombs on Iran since February 28 (Jerusalem Post, 3/25/26). The Post offered no insight into why it believes the US/Israeli assault will suddenly become more effective. ‘Finish the job’ “If the [Iranian] regime behaves as it always has, it will claim to want to reach a deal but never will,” the Wall Street Journal (4/8/26) writes—stuffing the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement down the memory hole. A Wall Street Journal editorial (4/8/26) echoed the Post, writing that “the Iranian regime remains a threat in the Strait of Hormuz and the job is far from finished.” The Journal insisted that the US should restart the war if it doesn’t get its way: The next test for Mr. Trump will be whether he takes his two-week ceasefire deadline seriously. If he does, and Iran plays its usual games, then he really will have to “finish the job.” Such calls overlook the limits to US war-making capacity. Analysts at Colorado’s Payne Institute for Public Policy, cited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (4/1/26), “assessed that the US had lost nearly 46% of its Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS),” one of the US’s main tactical ballistic weapons. Likewise, they estimated that supplies of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile systems, used by the US and its partners in the region to defend against Iranian missiles, were also dropping significantly. Projections showed the THAAD interceptors could run out by mid-April. The US also burned through 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the war’s first four weeks, “a rate that has alarmed some Pentagon officials” (Washington Post, 3/27/26). Meanwhile, the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptors that Israel used against Iran’s longer-range missiles “were also projected to be exhausted by the end of March” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 4/1/26). Unlike the Journal’s lust for violence, the US/Israeli arsenal is finite. ‘Circle of death’ Marc Thiessen (Washington Post, 4/8/26) asserts that Trump can “bring the war to a final and decisive conclusion…in a matter of weeks”—disregarding the fact that nearly six weeks of all-out war were far from decisive. Nor did these constraints prevent the Washington Post‘s Marc A. Thiessen (4/8/26) from calling on Trump to create a “circle of death” around any former nuclear sites in Iran, and enforce it by “killing any Iranian who enters that circle.” He also suggested another round of assassinations, “eliminating the Iranian officials who had been spared for the purpose of negotiations,” so that the country’s leaders understand that if they fail to reach “a negotiated settlement to Trump’s liking…they will be killed.” Murderous fantasies about the US imposing total domination over Iran are perhaps a symptom of the US being unable to do so in reality. As Thiessen’s own paper (4/3/26) reported, despite the US/Israeli assassinations of high-ranking Iranian officials, Iran has continued to launch retaliatory attacks, often hitting high-value targets, demonstrating sustained command and control beyond the conflict’s initial days when units largely operated on autopilot under Iran’s “mosaic” defense strategy, which emphasizes decentralized autonomy. In recent weeks, Iranian attacks have struck critical energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, industrial and energy sites in Israel, and key US military installations, including a direct strike on an advanced US spy plane. In other words, decapitating the Iranian government hasn’t caused it to capitulate or prevented it from responding to US/Israeli attacks, but Thiessen—for reasons he did not explain—thinks that doing the same thing again will produce a different result. Thiessen also said that the US should develop and implement a covert action plan to support the Iranian opposition…. Such a plan could involve supplying the Iranian opposition with weapons, much as the US once provided arms to anti-Communist “freedom fighters” across the world. The overriding goal should be to help the Iranian people, over time, bring down this murderous regime. Set aside that this plan would violate the UN Charter’s principle of nonintervention and that the US has zero right to shape who governs Iran. In reality, multiple US intelligence reports conclude that Iran’s government “is not in danger” of falling (Reuters, 3/11/26). Israeli officials also think that Iran’s government “isn’t likely to fall soon” (Wall Street Journal, 3/12/26). While there’s little reason to believe that Thiessen’s proposal would produce regime change in Iran, we can be fairly confident that flooding Iran with weapons will have the same outcome that flooding countries with arms generally has—namely, a devastating bloodbath for its inhabitants (Electronic Intifada, 3/16/17; Jacobin, 9/11/21). ‘The easiest method’ Bret Stephens (New York Times, 4/14/26) advises Trump to “keep turning the screws on the regime’s leaders”—a torture metaphor from an advocate of actual torture. Bret Stephens of the New York Times (4/14/26) likewise wrote from an alternate reality where the war showed that the US can impose its will on Iran. Stephens opened by quoting his own piece (4/7/26) from the previous week : “The easiest method for the United States to reopen Hormuz,” I wrote last Tuesday, “is to start seizing tankers carrying Iranian crude once they reach the Arabian Sea.” It’s not clear why Stephens thought seizing Iranian ships would cause Iran to back down. After all, assassinating many of the country’s leaders, attacking Iranian health facilities (Al Jazeera, 4/3/26) and vital civilian infrastructure (BBC, 3/19/26), and mass-murdering Iranian school girls (Guardian, 3/3/26) did not compel the country to stop defending itself. Stephens went on to contend: Trump should put Iran’s regime to a fundamental choice: It can have an economy. Or the regime can attempt to have a nuclear program while trying to control the Strait of Hormuz. But it can’t have both. This quote suggests Stephens was unwilling to seriously grapple with Iran’s retaliatory power. For example, Iran has consistently responded to US aggression by attacking the empire’s regional nodes, killing Israelis (BBC, 3/1/26; Reuters, 4/6/26) and badly damaging Israeli infrastructure (Al Jazeera, 3/21/26). Iranian countermeasures have likewise hit energy infrastructure in the US’s client states in the Gulf, leading—for example—to fires at Kuwaiti oil and petrochemical facilities, at a petrochemical plant in the UAE and at a storage tank in Bahrain (AFP, 4/5/26). In other words, Iran has illustrated that it has a multitude of options for raising the costs of US violence, indicating it would likely continue exercising these in the scenario Stephens advocates. ‘Broke the petrodollar’ Aaron Brown (Bloomberg, 4/6/26) notes that while investment generally flows into the US Treasury in times of crisis, “the calculus changes when the US itself is the belligerent.” None of these commentators acknowledge what is likely the strongest blow that Iran has landed against the US. The Islamic Republic has undermined what’s called the petrodollar regime, a system in which the US promises to militarily protect the Gulf monarchies in exchange for these states putting money they earn from oil sales into US assets—most notably Treasury bonds. The arrangement, which has been in place since 1974, subsidizes US borrowing costs and keeps the US dollar as the de facto global reserve currency. Bloomberg (4/6/26) reports that the war on Iran “broke the petrodollar,” because the conflict is “categorically different” from other political, military and economic crises of the post-1974 period: Gulf producers can’t get their oil out. The Strait of Hormuz closure has stranded their barrels along with everyone else’s. Gulf states including Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the UAE collectively cut production by at least 10 million barrels per day in March. Saudi Arabia and the UAE can export reduced volumes through alternative pipelines. But those routes handle only about a quarter of normal Strait throughput at full capacity, and they are under active Iranian drone and missile threat. Qatar declared force majeure on exports of liquified natural gas after strikes on its Ras Laffan facility. Thus, Iran has shown that it can hinder, and possibly destroy, a central plank in the architecture of the US empire. Stephens, Thiessen and the editorial boards of the Journal and the Post appear to be deluding themselves about the gravity of this development. Iran has successfully resisted subjugation, largely by jeopardizing a key instrument of US global hegemony, but these authors have gone on writing as if Washington were in a position to force Iran to surrender to its diktats. These observers traffic in illusions about a virtually omnipotent US that can indefinitely control the world through force of arms, consequence-free. Op-ed writing is supposed to be persuasive. In that regard, these authors have failed spectacularly. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Gregory Shupak.
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Photographer shoved by police, federal officers at LA immigration protest
Independent photographer Steven Berumen was pushed by both federal officers and local police while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathe...
Independent photographer Steven Berumen was pushed by both federal officers and local police while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025. Berumen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an LA Police Department officer shoved him with his baton as police pushed members of the media away from documenting arrests. “They didn’t want me photographing,” Berumen said. “They always yell at me, ‘Just get your photo and go.’” Berumen, who was wearing a vest marking him as press, said when he documents protests, he tries to maintain a respectful distance between himself and officers, but finds that officers still try to push him or block his shot. “They were targeting press; they complain when you’re taking photos, and they push you.” Later that day, Berumen documented federal officers and LAPD making arrests outside the detention center when Department of Homeland Security agents also shoved him. “I was getting photos of them and, from my right side, they came in and pushed me,” he said. “I was pushed, and then I was pushed again, but it didn’t really register with me because I was just focused on taking the photos.” California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police during demonstrations, and does not require journalists to wear credentials to be considered press. A federal preliminary injunction against the city and DHS is in place to uphold those protections. In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.” The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally two weeks earlier — which resulted in at least 18 press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed. “The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said. DHS did not respond to a request for comment. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Will ICE be used to intimidate voters? A new bill might make that possible.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="US Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="343008" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/ice-intimidate-voters-midterms/gettyimages-2254675964" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1708&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1708" 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="GettyImages-2254675964" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" US Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> With ICE funding already up 400%, lawmakers question whether another $70 billion is about enforcement, or expanding unchecked power ahead of the midterms.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="US Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-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="343008" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/ice-intimidate-voters-midterms/gettyimages-2254675964" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1708&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1708" 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="GettyImages-2254675964" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" US Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2254675964-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> Congress members of the Hispanic Caucus speak out on their concerns on ICE and Border Patrol, with their first question being: why is an additional $70 billion needed after the record breaking $140 billion allocated last year from the Big Beautiful Bill? The budget for ICE has already increased by 400% within the past year, so speculation as to how these new funds would be used now leans towards intimidation and interference at the upcoming midterm elections. Inequality Watch reporters Taya Graham and Stephen Janis break down their most recent interviews from these representatives at the nation’s Capitol in Washington, DC. Credits: Written by: Stephen Janis Produced by: Taya Graham, Stephen Janis Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Trancript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Taya Graham: Could new funding slated for ICE be used for a midterm election surprise? We’ll break down what might happen on this episode of our Capitol Hill Inequality Watch video React. Hello, my name is Taya Graham and welcome back to our Capitol Hill React show where we watch comment and analyze developments at the nation’s capital and beyond. It’s a show filtered through the prism of inequality and informed by the intellectual context of analyzing the imperative of raw power and exposing how it corrupts a political power that is supposed to serve we, the people. Now, to start the show, I want to introduce my reporting partner, Stephen Janis. Hello, Stephen. How are you? Stephen Janis: Hey, Taya, how are you doing? Good to be back here with you talking about power and politics. Taya Graham: Excellent. Well, we appreciate having you back. Now, today, we’re going to start with a comment from a single Congressman that will prompt us to explore and examine a topic that rarely gets the attention it deserves, namely America’s law enforcement’s role in maintaining and preserving extra judicial power for the elites and their elected officials. They do so by enforcing these anti-Democratic impulses and boundaries erected to defend extractive capitalism that has led to historically extreme wealth inequality. Now, this practice has been mainstreamed by the current Trump administration, which has used the levers of government to enrich itself and its supporters, and now apparently other countries proposing this week to execute a currency swap with the United Arab Emirates to help them, not Americans, to help them survive the Iran war economically. But of course, none of this makes sense unless we analyze how this confluence of police, politics, and power finds its way towards the ultimate goal, enrichment through authoritarianism. And the idea is of love help unless we unpack how all the aforementioned concepts find form and fashion in our lives, meaning we the people who have to live with the chaos. And so to start this explanation and break down how these forces will play out, we return to Capitol Hill. First, Stephen, before we run the clips, can you just talk a little bit about how law enforcement inequality and capitalism interact? Stephen Janis: So this is a little theory we have called the inequitable equilibrium law enforcement theory, which basically says that the worst economic inequality gets, the more law enforcement has to ratchet up its unjust enforcement of laws and boundaries to keep people from rising up. Basically what you have, and we’ve seen this in a city like Baltimore, it has extreme poverty amidst riches. And what happened? We had zero tolerance. We had a huge investment in policing, and still Baltimore City spends all its money on policing. Now we’re sitting on the federal level with ICE, and this theory kind of applies to the social and the economic and the fiscal mounting fiscal burden that is being put on the American people to enforce what is in extreme wealth inequality, Taya. And so we’re going to use that to kind of look at all the things that are happening on Capitol Hill now. Taya Graham: Stephen, I think Baltimore is such a good example, as well as some of the rural communities we covered on our show, the Police Accountability Report, where poverty and law enforcement is rampant. So let’s put this theory to the test with some clips from a press conference on Capitol Hill we attended. Now, the occasion was a plan by the Republicans to fund ICE to the tune of 70 billion additional dollars. That’s right, that’s billion with a B. Now, the idea was a result of a standoff with Democrats who refused to vote to fund ICE unless major reforms were implemented, namely no mass, no warrantless raids, no body cameras. And wow, this is amazing, name badges. But the Republicans said no. And now they’re trying to hand over even more money to ICE and Border Patrol, which, and I’m not kidding, already has more money than most foreign militaries. Of the $170 billion in the big beautiful bill allocated for DHS, roughly 140 billion was allocated for ICE and CBP, some for enforcement, some for incarceration, and some for, well, that remains to be seen. But Democrats called out the plan, which they said was excessive. Let’s watch. Speaker 3: You see every single member of Congress who is saying that it is unacceptable that DHS terrorize our communities has to listen to the growing number of Americans calling for more than training, more than reform, and more than the bare minimum policy. Those of us who are clear that our taxpayer dollars should not be used to terrorize our communities and violate our rights must not only stand opposed to new investments, but we should significantly diminish ISIS funding and their authority. Taya Graham: So Stephen, you hear her outline the amount of money that’s going to be given to ICE. What’s your reaction to Representative Ramirez? Stephen Janis: Well, I mean, I think what we’re getting at here is the fact that ICE is being used to enforce all sorts of unjust laws throughout the country and kind of building federal police force to do what we’re talking about before, which is enforce inequality. You need kind of inequality warriors. You can go into a community, disrupt it, disrupt the natural flow of commerce, but most of all, disrupt dissent, which is what we saw in Minneapolis, right? Disruption of dissent. Dissent is the biggest problem for these economic inequality warriors, and that’s what they’re building, a federal police force to deal with it. Taya Graham: Stephen, you also asked a question to elicit an answer that really touches on the theme of the show, namely, does ICE and CBP actually need $70 billion more? Let’s listen to Congressman Rob Menendez. He’s a Democrat from New Jersey. Let’s listen to him answer. Stephen Janis: So have they given you any idea what this 70 billion is going to be used for? I mean, they’ve already got a hundred and some odd billion. Why do they need extra 70 billion? And Congressman Rob Menendez: That’s why I go back to the lead up to November and what they could potentially use the extra $70 billion for to try to militarize ICE across the country. You’ve already seen them do it in Chicago, LA, Minneapolis. And I’m worried if they would use the $70 billion to have ICE to have CBPA in blue districts across the country to try to intimidate voters. That’s a question the administration and Republicans need to answer. Stephen Janis: So you’re concerned literally that they’re going to interfere, use this as like a federal police force to interfere with the election? Congressman Rob Menendez: That’s right. And look at one of the reforms that we have asked for over and over again during this partial government shutdown is to guarantee that they will not, and they have not agreed to those terms. So yes, it’s something that I’m very concerned about. Taya Graham: Now, Stephen, this is on top of the huge sums of money I’ve already mentioned. And in fact, if this additional funding passes, ICE and Border Patrol budget would dwarf the FBI. And in fact, there’s never been an enforcement agency with so much money to spend. I mean, its budget is bigger than the entire federal prison system, which I think makes Congressman Menendez’s concerns harder to ignore. I mean, they’re just awash in billions and the agency is certainly capable of election intimidation and certainly the Trump administration has been setting the table, so to speak, by continually calling into question the 2020 election. So how does this fit into your theory? I mean, are elections the fulcrum of authoritarian power? Stephen Janis: Yeah. I mean, it’s hard. I think you have to use a little bit of imagination. Imagine what it would be like if elected officials didn’t have to worry about voters. You saw a little bit of preview when Congress was shut down for eight weeks by Speaker Mike Johnson and where the healthcare benefits that people wanted, the ACA subsidies were just completely ignored. You’ve seen echoes and glimpses of, we have seen and witnessed echoes and glimpses of it, but it’s transformative. And I think that’s why the attack is on the election. It will totally transform the landscape of the political processes in this country and they’re funding it because it’s going to be expensive. They’re going to have to put ICE agents, CPB, border patrol. They’re going to have to do enforcement, incarceration. They’re going to do, I think, the same attack on dissent that we’ve seen in other cities. So it’s incredibly expensive. They have the money to do it, but it’s also like the last sort of threshold they have to pass to really make this authoritarian sort of capitalism work, the extractive capitalism that people are pushing back on. They don’t want to pay $4 for gas. They don’t want to pay for a war in Iran. Now they have to somehow throttle the dissent that could occur in this midterm election. If they don’t, I think their plans are going to be somewhat impeded. So yes, everything is here. All the elements are on the table, and it’s frankly very scary that a Congressman would even be saying this on Capitol Hill. Taya Graham: Stephen, you make such an excellent point. I mean, the voting booth is where we actually have a chance to dissent and make our point. Absolutely. And you know what? Let’s just run down some of the recent actions the Trump administration has taken to question the integrity of the election and compare it with the actual facts. So recently, the Trump administration requested ballots from Wayne County, Michigan, which includes Detroit for the 2024 election. The Justice Department cited past cases of fraud. However, none of the examples of fraud cited were the result of the 2024 election. And then the Justice Department also sees ballots from Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta earlier this year under the auspices again of unproven fraud allegations in the 2024 election. And the Justice Department has also sued 29 states to force them to turn over voter data, including sensitive personal information. And Trump has now appointed 2020 election denier Eric Olson as the head of a presidential agency of election integrity. Olsen worked closely with my pillow CEO, Mike Lindell, to file lawsuits after the 2020 election, which were all unsuccessful. And mind you, the Constitution says the president has no authority over elections. So Stephen, it seems like, like we said, the table is set for an intervention. Can you break down how this might happen? Okay. Stephen Janis: Basically what they’re doing here is setting up an idea we call blanket criminality that we talked about in the police accountability report, where you take a community, you criminalize it, and then say they don’t have access to rights. They don’t have access to vote. So here, what they’re trying to do is besmirch Atlanta, which is a Black community, Detroit, majority Black community, and make it seem like they don’t have the right to vote because somehow they’re fraudulent. They are totally trying to criminalize an entire community and say you don’t have the right to vote. You don’t have the right to participate in the Democratic process. I think they’re going to try this in other communities. They already have asked for ballots in other communities across the country. In fact, as you pointed out, they’d ask for ballots in states across the country. But what they’re going to do is create this sort of probable cause to violate the Democratic rights and to take away the right to vote. They don’t deserve the right to vote because they’re fraudulent. No proof of it, no proof. Let me be clear, no proof whatsoever. But then again, when we looked at zero tolerance in Baltimore City, there was no proof that 100,000 people committed a crime, but it didn’t stop the government from insinuating that and taking away the constitutional rights of the people here in this city. So I think they’re going to apply this to other communities and use it as a pretext, a pretext to take away their right to vote. Blanket criminality is going to be applied here and it’s going to be brutal. Taya Graham: And just for the record, that blanket criminality that occurred in Baltimore did occur under a Democratic mayor and a Democratic governor. So just for the record, power does choose to serve itself. And when they choose to criminalize an entire community and delegitimize them, then there’s no way a community has any voice anymore. And that is the concern with these upcoming elections. Now, I think part of that effort to criminalize and then subjugate the voters in the upcoming election starts with a law enforcement agency that honestly is predicated upon violence. We have already witnessed ISUs violence against American citizens and immigrants. I mean, two US citizens were killed in Minneapolis earlier this year. Both Renee, Nicole Goode and Alex Pretty were gunned down during encounters with ICE and Border Patrol and deemed domestic terrorists by Department of Homeland Security head, Kristi Nome. But there is another big factor, which is to your point, Stephen, about the role law enforcement plays an inequality because another topic in DC is how profitable ICE and border patrol actions have been for private corporations. Let’s listen to Congresswoman Rashida Talib talk about it. Congresswoman Rashida Talib: So while ICE is locking up more of our immigrant neighbors more than ever before, 70,000 people, investors, this is why I want you all to follow the money. It’s important. Investors in private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group are getting richer. The violent kidnappings and the murders and the incarceration of our loved ones is fueling record profits for these companies, and it’s still not enough to satisfy their greed. Last December, I conducted an oversight visit in North Lake, ICE Prison in Baldwin, Michigan, where there has been one death so far in multiple suicide attempts, including a young teenage boy, I believe his 19 might turn 20 years old while they’re using the crack of a cell phone glass, slicing his arms, wanting to die then stay in that Baldwin facility. And Gio Group who owns and runs the facility reported $254 million in profits last year. These companies are making record profits off of violence and human suffering. And the agency, and this is so important, is bousting about it. They’re literally bragging, talking about ICE bragging about it. ICE Director Todd Lyons had said they need to treat ice detention in deportation, quote, “like Amazon Prime, but with human Taya Graham: Beings.” Just like Amazon Prime, I mean, I’m sorry, that is just a horrifying comparison. And then to hear about the utter despair that people are enduring, a 19-year-old, someone with their whole life to look ahead of them is threatening suicide. I mean, it’s just horrible. And just to put an even finer point on the idea that ICE’s largest prison contractors have profited tremendously, it shows that this reality, that suffering can be monetized. I mean, CoreCivic and GeoGroup, two of the biggest contractors for ICE have booked over $1 billion in revenue for caging people. They charge $165 per day for each inmate they house. That’s real money to put a real person in a cage. And just to give you an idea of the scope of the services currently, ICE is holding between 60,000 to 70,000 people, which is almost double the total in 2024. And when you keep this in mind, the ICE budget has increased 400% from two years ago. That’s an incredible amount of money that can be used for detaining and incarcerating families. Stephen, I have to ask you, how does the profit margin figure into this idea of inequality and law enforcement? Stephen Janis: Well, if inequality is the imperative, then profit is the accelerant. Okay. So profit helps accelerate the sort of inequality itself, but also sort of accelerates the use of law enforcement, makes it … And once you have a profit incentive, you have private companies to step in. So you privatize the process, so you take it outside the scope of constitutional government, things that you can push back against. Like for example, say my constitutional rights, suddenly you’re just a profit margin for a corporation that has no connection to the government other than taking our tax dollars and using them to CAGE US. So it’s really like an accelerant port on this already volatile situation that only makes it worse for the people, as you were saying, but makes it better for the corporations and makes it so profitable that it creates a political economy in Congress where people are donating money to Congresspeople like these corporations, funding their campaigns so they can get elected to serve them and not the people. So it’s really just like the last final component of this sort of doomsday that you’ve been portraying through your talk on these bills and on the function of ICE. Taya Graham: Stephen, that’s such an excellent point. And just as a side note, we’ve been talking about this incredible amount of money that’s been going to ICE, and some of it was actually supposed to be used to hire new folks with bonuses, but according to reports, rumors, discussions, and screenshots taken from a Reddit page for ICE agents, which was set to private recently, a $50,000 signing bonus that ICE and CBP people were supposed to receive hasn’t worked out like they expected. It has been reportedly structured to be paid out in $10,000 increments over five years, or only to be paid to returning retired members of ICE. But there’s a repay clause. The contract reportedly requires new hires to stay for five years with a stipulation that they must repay the bonus if they leave or are fired before that time. Also, agents reported that smaller portions of the bonus arrived and were heavily taxed. Now, I checked Snopes for validation on this, and these rumors can’t be completely confirmed because no one from ICE is willing to go on the record. So it seems like the money promised to the agents themselves is a bit of an illusion. Okay, Stephen, so it seems like the bottom line right here is that we have a federal law enforcement agency that is set to receive a massive infusion of funds on top of the already record setting funding. We have Republicans refusing to implement basic reforms that are common practice of law enforcement across the country. We have a sprawling federal law enforcement agency that has been a source of massive profits for private corporations. And now we have allegations that the Trump administration, which has been pushing false theories of election fraud, will use ICE and Border Patrol to intimidate voters in the upcoming midterm elections. I mean, Stephen, what do you make of all of this? Stephen Janis: Well, I think this reality that you’re depicting reflects the underlying reality of wealth inequality and the ugliness of wealth inequality and how extreme it has become. It’s become more and more extreme. And so we see more and more extreme situations. I mean, throwing $70 billion extra Ed ICE at a federal law enforcement agency, when, for example, we pay $1 trillion a year in interest on federal debt, we can’t even pay our freaking bills is unbelievable. But it’s that way because inequality exists, because we have corporate money flowing into politics and people really not getting the truth and people voting against their own self-interest, we have this incredible federal law enforcement complex, which now is going to be used against us in terms of suppressing our Democratic rights. Its ugliness is reflected of the ugly reality of inequality, and it’s only going to get uglier because inequality is going to continue to grow if this is allowed to persist. It’s really, there’s not a way out of this unless we tamp down on this money and somehow tamped down on the evolution of a federal law enforcement agency, which seems possibly predicated upon taking away our Democratic rights. We’ll see. Taya Graham: I mean, Stephen, to your point, President Trump has proved again and again that he’s capable of pushing boundaries and overriding norms in pursuit of these desperate goals. I mean, when I read that tweet about his threat to end the civilization of Iran, I thought it was actually less about the warfare and more about his need to portray absolute authority, and that does not bode well for the midterms. If it seems like the Democrats have a chance or on the verge of winning the House, I think it’s entirely possible ICE could become a factor in ways that we can’t even imagine yet. And I mean, it would’ve absolutely seemed implausible a few years ago that ICE would shoot two US citizens on the streets of a US city in broad daylight, and yet that has happened and even more. Dozens of people have died in ICE custody. Children have been jailed and deported despite court orders. And all this was due to one man’s desire to meet his stated goal to deport one million people a year. And that is why the possibility of electoral interference is so scary. If the administration appears to be on the break of losing its near total grip on power, then anything is possible. If the voters decide to subject the administration to real accountability, the pushback is inevitable. So the point is this administration tried to overturn one election. Why wouldn’t they try another? I mean, Stephen, what are your thoughts? Stephen Janis: Well, many people say, and many experts who we’ve spoken to like Dr. Richard Wolfe said that inequality eventually destroys democracy. And we’re seeing this because this administration is a personification of inequality. When you look at the billionaires that populate the cabinet, you look at the way the Trump administration has enriched itself with cryptocurrency, this is the literally electoral embodiment of inequality. So I am really scared and also upset that we’re even discussing this because I really wish this was totally improbable. And I wish we didn’t have to discuss this and I wish we didn’t have to review this evidence or even ask a Congressman this question and push him on this and say, “Is this what you really think? ” One of the reasons I asked him the question twice was because I just couldn’t believe in some sense what I was hearing. Not that it’s not possible, but just none of us really want to contemplate the idea that democracy will somehow be subverted by one person, but that’s the reality we’re facing. And so I feel like we are facing a pivotal moment in the history of economic inequality in which we might lose our Democratic rights and I think we hopefully will be able to preserve them, but I’m concerned. Taya Graham: Stephen, I think every American should be concerned, but you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to keep going to Washington DC. We’re going to keep showing up to Capitol Hill, bothering the Congressmen. We’re going to keep on showing up to those press conferences, asking uncomfortable questions, and hopefully getting the answers that we deserve and that we need. My name is Taya Graham. This is Stephen Janis, we’re your inequality watchdogs reporting for you. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis.
NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé calls for an end to “deed theft”
US-Iran negotiations to begin Saturday in Pakistan; climate change, water exports threaten sensitive Mono Lake ecosystem – April 24, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. Mono Lake (photo by RuggyBearLA under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license) US-Iran negotiations to begin Saturday, as US threatens expansion of blockade and civilians suffer; Commerce Secretary Lutnick grilled over tariffs, relationship with Jeffrey Epstein during budget hearing; UCLA researchers describe climate, water policy impacts on sensitive Mono Lake ecosystem; Global Report on Food Crises 2026 says acute hunger doubled in past decade, 2 famines declared last year for first time in report’s history; April 24 is International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace; Sunday April 26 is International Day of Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance, a reminder of the devastating human cost of nuclear disasters and the need for continued vigilance The post US-Iran negotiations to begin Saturday in Pakistan; climate change, water exports threaten sensitive Mono Lake ecosystem – April 24, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. US-Iran negotiations to begin Saturday, as US threatens expansion of blockade and civilians suffer; Commerce Secretary Lutnick grilled over tariffs, relationship with Jeffrey Epstein during budget hearing; UCLA researchers describe climate, water policy impacts on sensitive Mono Lake ecosystem; Global Report on Food Crises 2026 says acute hunger doubled in past decade, 2 famines declared last year for first time in report’s history; April 24 is International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace; Sunday April 26 is International Day of Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance, a reminder of the devastating human cost of nuclear disasters and the need for continued vigilance The post US-Iran negotiations to begin Saturday in Pakistan; climate change, water exports threaten sensitive Mono Lake ecosystem – April 24, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Exiled investigative journalist surveilled, doxxed by Belarusian state TV
New York, April 24, 2026—CPJ is alarmed that the Belarusian state-owned TV channel STV broadcast the address and phone number of exiled investigative journalist Stanislau Ivashkevich, and shared personal information about 20 other journalists. We call on Polish authorities to thoroughly investigate allegations that Ivashkevich has been surveilled by Belarusian security services, and on Belarus...
New York, April 24, 2026—CPJ is alarmed that the Belarusian state-owned TV channel STV broadcast the address and phone number of exiled investigative journalist Stanislau Ivashkevich, and shared personal information about 20 other journalists. We call on Polish authorities to thoroughly investigate allegations that Ivashkevich has been surveilled by Belarusian security services, and on Belarus to stop endangering exiled journalists immediately. In the April 2 broadcast, reviewed by CPJ, STV host Raman Pratasevich claimed that Ivashkevich’s work as the director of Belarus’ leading investigative media outlet, Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC), has “led to entire sectors of the Belarusian economy being added to the sanctions lists,” referring to EU and other countries’ sanctions. Pratasevich disclosed Ivashkevich’s alleged phone number and address, a practice known as doxxing, released private video recordings of both him and his son, and shared video instructions on how to access the apartment where, according to Pratasevich, Ivashkevich is currently residing in Warsaw. Pratasevich also showed surveillance footage taken in 2022 of what he said was the entrance of the former BIC office in Warsaw. Pratasevich said that 17 Belarusian (including Ivashkevich), one Ukrainian, and three Russian journalists tied to BIC were facing criminal cases for “calling for sanctions aimed at harming national security” and for “participating in an extremist group.” While the fact that several of these journalists were facing criminal cases in absentia had already been made public in 2024, it is not clear whether Pratasevich’s claims related to new charges. “It is deeply shocking to see doxxing of exiled journalists broadcast on state television in Belarus, along with general threats and intimidation,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia. “That Raman Pratasevich — himself once a victim of Belarusian transnational repression — should now be amplifying government efforts to intimidate independent media abroad is extremely chilling, and his actions directly put individual journalists at risk. We call on host governments including Poland to ensure robust protections are put in place for those targeted, and on Belarus to immediately cease its pursuit of journalists.” Ivashkevich told CPJ in mid-April that he was planning to file a report with the Polish police and the prosecutor’s office about his alleged surveillance. In addition to Ivashkevich, Pratasevich listed 12 exiled journalists who he said are working with BIC, and shared their dates of birth and of departure from Belarus: Hanna Shabeta, Siarhei Chaly, Alena Charniauskaja, Mikalai Davidchyk, Alina Janchur, Aliaksei Hulitski, Lola Buryjeva, Sviatlana Yatskova, Yana Mitskievich, Ihar Kulei, Usevalad Shlykаu, and Krystsina Charniauskaya. At least one of them — Mitskievich — is a pseudonym used by a BIC journalist. Pratasevich also listed four exiled journalists who allegedly left BIC in 2023 to create the investigative media outlet Buro Media — Aliaksandr Yarashevich, Volha Ratmitrava, Kseniya Viaznіkoutsava, and Aliaksei Karpeka — as well as three Russian journalists and Ukrainian journalist Maksym Savchuk as working for BIC. Both BIC and Buro Media are labeled as “extremist” in Belarus. Pratasevich — whose detention in May 2021 following the diversion by Belarus of a Lithuania-bound commercial flight to the capital, Minsk, caused a global outcry — was the chief editor of two popular Telegram channels that covered protests against the contested August 2020 reelection of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. In May 2023, a court in Minsk sentenced him to eight years in jail on charges ranging from “organizing mass protests” to “leading an extremist group.” He was pardoned by Lukashenko less than three weeks later. In October 2025, Lukashenko said Pratasevich had been working as an employee of Belarus’ intelligence service, which Pratasevich confirmed. In December 2025, he started working for STV. Belarus has been harassing journalists in exile with criminal cases in absentia, opaque investigations, intimidation of their families, and property seizure. According to CPJ research, as of April 24, authorities had opened criminal cases against more than 80 exiled Belarusian journalists and at least 23 journalists were behind bars in the country. CPJ emailed the Belarusian Investigative Committee, the law enforcement agency in charge of pretrial proceedings, and STV for comment but did not receive a reply. CPJ could not find contact information for Pratasevich. Poland’s National Police force told CPJ it was not yet aware of a criminal complaint being filed. Poland’s general prosecutor’s office told CPJ that its inquiry “[had] been forwarded to the national prosecutor’s office, which has jurisdiction over the matter, for appropriate action.” This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
<img width="1024" height="658" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=1024%2C658&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Northrop-Grumman's employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the B-2 stealth bomber. Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="343005" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/war-isnt-working-for-american-workers/northrop-grummans-employees-came-out-in-force-to-observe-the-20th-anniversary-celebration-of-the-f" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=2000%2C1286&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2000,1286" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"13","credit":"Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag","camera":"Canon EOS-1D Mark II","caption":"Northrop-Grumman's employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the B-2 stealth bomber. The world's first radar-evading bomber on display at Northrop-Grumman's facilities in Palmdale on Jul. 17 2009. It was designed in Hawthorne and built in Palmdale. (Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1247825741","copyright":"2015 Los Angeles Times","focal_length":"110","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"Northrop-Grumman's employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the f","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Northrop-Grumman’s employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the f" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Northrop-Grumman’s employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the B-2 stealth bomber. Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=780%2C501&ssl=1"> While Pentagon budgets have steadily increased in recent years, the arms industry has become more consolidated, more automated, and less labor-intensive. The warfare state is not an effective economic development strategy for working people.
<img width="1024" height="658" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=1024%2C658&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Northrop-Grumman's employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the B-2 stealth bomber. Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=300%2C193&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=1024%2C658&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=768%2C494&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=1536%2C988&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=1200%2C772&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=780%2C502&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?resize=400%2C257&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=1024%2C658&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="343005" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/war-isnt-working-for-american-workers/northrop-grummans-employees-came-out-in-force-to-observe-the-20th-anniversary-celebration-of-the-f" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=2000%2C1286&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2000,1286" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"13","credit":"Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag","camera":"Canon EOS-1D Mark II","caption":"Northrop-Grumman's employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the B-2 stealth bomber. The world's first radar-evading bomber on display at Northrop-Grumman's facilities in Palmdale on Jul. 17 2009. It was designed in Hawthorne and built in Palmdale. (Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1247825741","copyright":"2015 Los Angeles Times","focal_length":"110","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"Northrop-Grumman's employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the f","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Northrop-Grumman’s employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the f" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Northrop-Grumman’s employees came out in force to observe the 20th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the B-2 stealth bomber. Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-566034157.jpg?fit=780%2C501&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="629" height="169" data-attachment-id="271557" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/its-apartheid-naked-unabashed-apartheid/jacobin-logo" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?fit=629%2C169&ssl=1" data-orig-size="629,169" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1620904940","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="jacobin-logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?fit=629%2C169&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?resize=629%2C169&ssl=1" alt="Jacobin logo" class="wp-image-271557 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?w=629&ssl=1 629w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?resize=300%2C81&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?resize=400%2C107&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jacobin-logo.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" /> This story originally appeared in Jacobin on April 23, 2026. It is shared here with permission. Amid the United States’ illegal, costly, and broadly unpopular war in Iran, the Trump administration recently asked Congress to approve a record-breaking $1.5 trillion military budget — the largest military spending proposal in US history. The administration claims that record war spending will pay for a “once-in-a-century revival of American industry,” while hawks in Congress argue that the spending spree will “revitalize” the military industrial base by investing in a “skilled, patriotic defense workforce.” But new research from Transition Security Project suggests that military spending increases are unlikely to translate into broad gains for American workers. While Pentagon budgets have steadily increased over recent decades, the arms industry has become more consolidated, more automated, and less labor-intensive — upending the idea that the warfare state is an effective economic development strategy for working people, and strengthening the case for a state-led shift toward a civilian industrial base focused on green manufacturing. Half of the Pentagon budget is funneled to private weapons manufacturers, but higher spending has not produced more jobs. Employment in military industries has fallen significantly since Cold War peaks, from an estimated 3.2 million workers during the 1980s to about 1.1 million in 2020, despite Pentagon budgets growing by roughly 22 percent over the same period. Meanwhile, job quality in the sector has also deteriorated: wages have declined, pensions cut, and unionization collapsed to roughly 10 to 14 percent on average across major military contracting firms, while company revenues from military contracts have grown substantially. Taken together, these trends challenge a persistent assumption in Washington policymaking that military spending is an effective jobs program for American workers. In reality, rising Pentagon budgets have become increasingly decoupled from employment growth, delivering diminishing returns to workers even as they enrich a small group of military contractors, executives, and shareholders. Today weapons production is highly capital-intensive, meaning the war industry is one of the least effective ways to create jobs. This dynamic has been reinforced by long-term changes in how the workforce is organized: subcontracting and strategic relocations to lower-wage, weaker-union regions have fragmented the workforce and eroded collective bargaining power. Emerging trends in automation, low-cost and expendable “attritable” weapons, new defense tech companies, and corporate consolidation are likely to further weaken organized labor in the sector and reduce the availability of stable jobs. At the same time, the rise of a new cohort of Silicon Valley military tech firms like Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX is only accelerating this shift. Backed by venture capital and growing political influence, these firms are helping to remake the defense industrial base around speed and scalability over cost or even performance, incorporating “just-in-time” manufacturing and distributed supply chains. Flush with multibillion-dollar Pentagon contracts for AI systems, drone swarms, and autonomous platforms, these companies are poised to join the top tier of military contractors — whether by displacing the legacy firms or expanding alongside them as budgets bulge. Military tech firms are already reshaping the sector. Citing “increased pressure from non-traditional entrants,” Northrop Grumman recently told its workers to expect a “culture change,” announcing plans to “fail fast, learn faster,” using artificial intelligence to automate manufacturing processes. The company — one of the “Big Five” weapons profiteers, deriving roughly 85 percent of its revenue from US government sales — is a key contractor in Donald Trump’s flagship Golden Dome missile defense initiative, a project Pentagon watchdogs and even some engineers have characterized as technologically unfeasible, while warning that it could ultimately heighten rather than reduce nuclear risk, undermining the national security rationale used to justify what could amount to a trillion-dollar taxpayer expense. The growing influence of military tech barons in defense procurement reflects a long-standing pattern in which weapons contractors exert outsize political influence to secure sustained military funding, further consolidating corporate power while continuing to erode the unionized jobs that once defined the sector. In other words, the US war industry is a dead end for workers. But the solution isn’t to expand military spending or attempt to reform the war industry; it is to build a new industrial base focused on green manufacturing instead of military production — redirecting skills, infrastructure, and state capacity away from war and toward socially beneficial sectors that actually deliver stable, broadly shared gains for working people. It’s not a new idea. In fact, military-industrial conversion was an oft-debated topic in Cold War–era labor and peace politics, when unions, activists, and some policymakers argued that military spending could be redirected toward civilian production to strengthen employment, reduce pervasive militarization, and better align public investment with social needs. Labor unions, in particular, have long served as a crucial entry point for dialogue around industry reform and alternatives, in part because their members often have greater protections to express views at odds with their employers without risking being fired over speech. During the Cold War, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers — the largest union in the defense sector — advocated for worker-led economic conversion efforts amid a widening gap between the spiraling Ronald Reagan–era military budget and the economic realities of everyday Machinists and working-class communities. Though conversion efforts waned after the Cold War, its central premise remains highly relevant as the need for a large-scale green industrial transformation becomes increasingly urgent. And while it doesn’t go as far as calling for economic conversion, the Machinists’ 2024 Climate Jobs Agenda articulates a role for its membership in “climate and clean energy industries,” stating that the union is “poised to push for solutions that protect our planet while building union power.” And while modern efforts to build coalitions toward industrial conversion must contend with the nonunion majority of the military contracting workforce, with its high turnover and fractured subcontractor networks, these structural realities also make worker organizing and cross-sector alliances all the more important. This, in turn, creates a critical window for workers and their unions to advance coordinated transition strategies that align job security with broader public priorities and societal goals. The case for economic conversion of military industries is pragmatic: for one, most military contracting firms already produce civilian goods and services alongside military technologies, reinforcing that military industrial sites can be used to produce far more than weapons. At the same time, public investment yields far greater employment and economic returns when directed toward areas like clean energy, infrastructure, health care, or education than when funneled into Pentagon spending. Shifting funding toward these sectors would not only increase overall employment, it would also reduce emissions and, most importantly, the violent loss of life embedded in military strategy, prioritizing universal safety over the profits of military contractors. Redirecting public procurement power toward these sectors would mean using the state’s purchasing and contracting capacity to scale up renewable energy, green transit, and other essential infrastructure, steadily channeling investment into communities and industries that support decarbonization, job creation, and long-term economic stability. While antiwar sentiment is arguably at its highest level in decades and war profiteering remains broadly unpopular across political parties, preferences for civilian public investment consistently outweigh calls for expanded military spending. Support for increasing the military budget is marginal; only one in ten Americans think the United States should spend more on war, while demand remains strong for investments that produce stable, socially necessary jobs. And for workers in military industries, planned conversion offers not a loss but the prospect of more secure employment in sectors that meet public needs while generating broader social benefit. The task ahead is to align public policy with popular will: curbing militarism while delivering the jobs, stability, and public goods that people deserve. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Lorah Steichen.
Jewish New Yorkers Welcome Mamdani’s Veto of Anti-Palestinian Buffer Zone Bill, Call on City Council to Stop Attacking Protest
The right to protest is sacrosanct. That is why thousands of New Yorkers spoke out when Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilmember Eric Dinowitz introduced two bills that infringe on our constitutional rights under the cynical and false pretense o...
The right to protest is sacrosanct. That is why thousands of New Yorkers spoke out when Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilmember Eric Dinowitz introduced two bills that infringe on our constitutional rights under the cynical and false pretense of fighting antisemitism. And it is why today, as Jewish New Yorkers, we welcome Mayor Mamdani’s decision to veto Intro 175B, which would have limited our right to protest in front of educational institutions. We remain outraged with the City Council members who passed the other bill, Intro 1B, to undermine protest in front of houses of worship, with a veto-proof super majority. Eliza Klein, JVP New York City Organizer: “These bills are not about Jewish safety. Especially at a time when the federal government is attacking our cities — including specifically targeting those who speak out for Palestinian freedom — New Yorkers want elected leaders to protect our constitutional rights, not limit them.” Organizing matters. Thanks to meetings, calls, letters, and testimony from thousands across the city, these anti-democratic bills were watered down and no longer have an enforcement mechanism. However we are clear-eyed about the dangerous precedent these anti-Palestinian City Council bills send: that if you want to violate international law or US law, you need only to do it inside a house of worship and you will be insulated from protest. Despite what some have claimed, these bills are not about Jewish safety. They were introduced following protests outside houses of worship hosting non-religious political events, including auctioning off occupied Palestinian land from the West Bank – which is illegal under international law, federal fair housing law, and state and local anti-discrimination law. We call on New York City’s legislators to stop weaponizing our identities to justify repression of dissent – which is sacred to our Jewish tradition. Rather than limit our Constitutional right to protest, our legislators should end the sales of stolen Palestinian land in our city. The City Council has failed New Yorkers by passing these bills. We affirm Mayor Mamdani’s decision to veto Intro 175B. This fight is not over – we have one month to prevent the City Council from trying to override Mayor Mamdani’s veto, and we will continue to organize and protect the right to protest in our city. Not in our synagogues. Not in our name. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
The legacy of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil
Israel kills journalist in Lebanon after “hunting” down her and a colleague
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, 2026, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. Photo by AFP via Getty Images" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="342996" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/israel-kills-journalist-in-lebanon-after-hunting-down-her-and-a-colleague/topshot-lebanon-israel-iran-hezbollah-us-war-media" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-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 80D","caption":"TOPSHOT - A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, 2026, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1776932576","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"TOPSHOT-LEBANON-ISRAEL-IRAN-HEZBOLLAH-US-WAR-MEDIA","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="TOPSHOT-LEBANON-ISRAEL-IRAN-HEZBOLLAH-US-WAR-MEDIA" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, 2026, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. Photo by AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Israel targeted the slain journalist’s colleague with three strikes, including one on an ambulance she was in.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, 2026, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. Photo by AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-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="342996" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/israel-kills-journalist-in-lebanon-after-hunting-down-her-and-a-colleague/topshot-lebanon-israel-iran-hezbollah-us-war-media" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-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 80D","caption":"TOPSHOT - A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, 2026, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1776932576","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"TOPSHOT-LEBANON-ISRAEL-IRAN-HEZBOLLAH-US-WAR-MEDIA","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="TOPSHOT-LEBANON-ISRAEL-IRAN-HEZBOLLAH-US-WAR-MEDIA" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, 2026, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. Photo by AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272034566-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" 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="auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This article was originally published by Truthout on April 23, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Israeli forces killed journalist Amal Khalil and wounded her colleague, Zeinab Faraj, on Wednesday, firing multiple strikes on the journalists in southern Lebanon in Israel’s latest attack on journalists covering its violence across the region. Khalil and Faraj were taking cover in a nearby house after an Israeli strike near their car, while they were out reporting on an Israeli strike on another vehicle. While at the house, Khalil reached out to family and Lebanese officials, notifying them of her location, but Israeli forces bombed the house, collapsing it. Rescuers pulled Faraj from the wreckage, but Israeli forces fired at emergency workers trying to reach Khalil, delaying her rescue, according to Lebanese officials. Khalil’s body was only recovered hours later from the rubble. Meanwhile, Israeli forces also fired, for a third time, on the ambulance transporting Faraj to the hospital, Lebanese media reported, in an incident described by critics as the Israeli forces “hunting her down.” Faraj underwent surgery at the hospital and was brought to stable condition. Khalil was a veteran reporter for the Al-Akhbar newspaper. The left-wing journalist was raised under Israeli occupation in the 1980s in southern Lebanon, and was driven by a desire to chronicle daily life in south Lebanon under constant threat of Israeli invasion and bombardment. “On a personal level, resistance means everything to me,” Khalil said in an interview, translated from Arabic, with The Public Source last year. “Through my work, I have tried to be in solidarity with these people — the people of the land.” Khalil was also an animal lover, and devoted her free time to rescuing and sheltering stray cats in her family home in Baysariyyeh, in southern Lebanon. “This was a blatant murder. This was a targeted assassination,” said independent Lebanon journalist Courtney Bonneau. “The Israeli army committed multiple flagrant war crimes this afternoon, during this incident.” Lebanon’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said in a statement that the strikes on the journalists were war crimes. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned Israel’s targeting of the journalists as a “brutal and recurring crime.” “Khalil, an unarmed civilian journalist, remained trapped under the rubble for more than seven hours while the Red Cross was prevented from reaching her,” said Sara Qudah, Middle East and North Africa regional director for CPJ, in a statement. The multiple strikes on the journalists are seemingly part of a practice by Israel to strike the same or similar locations multiple times in order to kill targets and then attack the people who come to rescue them. Just a week before the killing of Khalil, Israeli forces carried out a “quadruple-tap” attack on Mayfadoun, in southern Lebanon. Israel struck the city, then struck three more times as successive waves of paramedics arrived on the scene. In all, the attacks killed four medics and wounded six others, The Guardian reported last week. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Sharon Zhang.
Middle East war: Hormuz seizures on the riseGaza’s humanitarian emergency continues, warns WHO UNDP supports efforts to rid WWII’s toxic legacy in South Pacific
Middle East war: Hormuz seizures on the riseGaza’s humanitarian emergency continues, warns WHO UNDP supports efforts to rid WWII’s toxic legacy in South Pacific This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
This content originally appeared on Blogothèque and was authored by Blogothèque.
Jesse Rabinowitz on Harassing the Unhoused, Maritza Perez Medina on Rescheduling Marijuana
https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260424.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”). NHLC (3/24/26) This week on CounterSpin: From the federal level on down, ...
https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260424.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”). NHLC (3/24/26) This week on CounterSpin: From the federal level on down, many laws and policies that claim to be about “ending homelessness” seem to be clearly more about hurting homeless people than changing their circumstance. Even if you, or anyone you know, has never been unhoused: How hard is it to understand the difference between charging poor people monetary fines they obviously can’t pay, and then throwing them in jail when they don’t—and addressing homelessness with, oh I don’t know, housing? That would be a commonsense conversation, about what resources we have and how we deploy them; but instead we see power actors, with the support of the White House and the Supreme Court, telling us that “ending homelessness” means tearing up people’s tents, throwing away their belongings; a new law in Kentucky says officials can use “stand your ground” laws to shoot homeless people that don’t “cooperate” with their eviction from private or public land. So: Is this really about addressing homelessness? Because we know how to do that. And if it’s not: What is it about? And can we have an honest conversation about that? Jesse Rabinowitz is the campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center. We hear from him this week. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260424Rabinowitz.mp3 Marijuana Moment (12/18/25) Also on the show: You may think weed is “legal” because you see so many people smoking it on the street. Including your grandma and your next-door neighbor who just a few years back would’ve called the cops. But just as the criminalization of marijuana affected different communities very differently, the current supposed de-criminalization continues to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. Though that is not at all the understanding you would get from a casual view, or for that matter from media coverage that makes it seem like the debate over weed is all over, and now we’re all just talking about which strain is the best. Maritza Perez Medina is director of federal affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. She joins us to talk about what the “rescheduling” of marijuana does and doesn’t do. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260424Medina.mp3 With both homelessness and drug policy, it’s useful to see how many current legislative measures, with a cultural backwind from corporate media, are fooling people that things have changed, while actually things are still harming the people who have always been harmed. So these moves are not something to “tweak”; we need conversation and action based on a different understanding of why things are as they are, and of how things can be. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting.
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ASEAN, China unlikely to finalize South China Sea Code of Conduct at upcoming summit
Beijing routinely skirts international agreements, so a COC must have enforcement mechanisms, analysts said.
Southeast Asian leaders are unlikely to resolve long-standing disputes in the South China Sea at next month’s ASEAN Summit, but they could make “incremental progress” towards a Code of Conduct, or COC, aimed at managing tensions there, analysts told Radio Free Asia. The annual summit brings together leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, to discuss regional security and economic issues. China is participating as a dialogue partner this year, and the forum presents an opportunity to address the South China Sea, a persistent flashpoint where China’s sweeping claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of several Southeast Asian states. The ASEAN flag is placed alongside the flags of its member countries ahead of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Langkawi, Malaysia Jan. 17, 2025. (Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters) Regional officials have said they are aiming to complete negotiations on the COC by 2026, but key issues, including its geographic scope, legal status and enforcement mechanisms, remain unresolved after more than two decades of talks. Resolution unlikely It is improbable that a code resolving all disputes in the South China Sea could be hammered out at the ASEAN leaders’ summit this year, Joseph Kristanto, a research analyst at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told RFA. The key issue at the summit will be if meaningful progress on mitigating tensions can be achieved. “While the COC may help prevent misunderstandings in daily interactions, I’d say it’s unlikely to stop grey-zone activities or coercive behavior by claimant states, most notably China, altogether,” he said. “Therefore, the COC is best seen as a mechanism for managing friction, rather than transforming the underlying dynamics of the dispute.” Agreements to reduce friction have been tried before. ASEAN and China signed a non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in 2002 and began formal negotiations on a binding code in 2013. Progress since then has been described by some officials as slow. COC negotiators face a fundamental trade-off between a politically feasible but limited “thin” code based on general principles, and a more robust framework with clearer rules and enforcement mechanisms that would be harder to achieve, Kristanto said. “The slow pace of the COC process demonstrates the complexity of these issues and exposes the limits of ASEAN’s consensus approach,” he said. Other analysts say that China’s track record of frequent provocations in the region makes them skeptical that any agreement would make a meaningful difference in practice. “My pessimism on the COC really comes down to two things: China’s track record of undermining or ignoring its existing agreements, and the question of who would actually do the binding in a ‘legally binding’ COC,” Ray Powell, executive director of Stanford University’s SeaLight maritime transparency project, told RFA. (RFA) Powell noted that the 2002 declaration already committed parties to self-restraint and peaceful dispute resolution, yet tensions have persisted. “That experience shows the problem is not the absence of written rules but a lack of any authority China is willing to accept above its own political will,” he said, adding that a meaningful code would require an enforcement or arbitration mechanism that Beijing has historically rejected. A weaker version, he warned, could risk undermining existing legal protections for Southeast Asian states under international law. Legal questions Others argue that even a limited agreement could still play a role in stabilizing day-to-day interactions, provided it is grounded in established international legal frameworks. “A substantive and comprehensive COC on the South China Sea would not just be about something that could ease the tensions between the Philippines and China,” Josue Raphael J. Cortez of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in the Philippines, told RFA. “Instead, it would be an inclusive document, grounded in UNCLOS and public international law that should pave the way for all state claimants to coexist responsibly and peacefully,” he said, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Cortez said a meaningful code should go beyond traditional issues such as fisheries and navigation to include broader resource-sharing arrangements, including oil, gas and critical minerals, reflecting the region’s evolving economic stakes. Though a legally binding framework could help reduce tensions, he cautioned that it would need to be backed by continued dialogue and mechanisms to ensure compliance. “Forging such an agreement can never be enough,” he said. “Instead, continuous dialogue … must still be continued so as to ascertain compliance and whether future revisions can be undertaken for the framework’s viability.” The 48th ASEAN Summit is slated to start May 5-9 in Cebu, Philippines. Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
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Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 24, 2026
Ugandan journalists face up to 20 years in jail under draconian foreign agents bill
New York, April 24, 2026—Uganda is set to pass a foreign agents bill, whose sweeping provisions could be used to imprison journalists critically reporting on economics, foreign policy, or elections for up to 20 years, limit foreign media funding to about $100,000, and subject newsrooms to intrusive state oversight. The Protection of Sovereignty Bill says...
New York, April 24, 2026—Uganda is set to pass a foreign agents bill, whose sweeping provisions could be used to imprison journalists critically reporting on economics, foreign policy, or elections for up to 20 years, limit foreign media funding to about $100,000, and subject newsrooms to intrusive state oversight. The Protection of Sovereignty Bill says it aims to register “agents of foreigners” and regulate their funding with tough penalties to end “undue external interference” in government policies by “foreign countries and agents of foreigners.” It says foreign aid to civil society has enabled donors to erode “sacred” national values, while online platforms have been used to “disseminate misinformation, which facilitates social discord.” The government brought the Russian-style foreign agents bill to parliament on April 15 for a first reading, with strong backing from ruling party lawmakers, who hold a commanding majority in the House. “Uganda’s Protection of Sovereignty Bill risks unleashing a dangerous legal weapon that authorities can easily turn against the press, under the guise of regulation and national security,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “If this bill is not stopped, journalists reporting in a manner that does not please President Yoweri Museveni’s 40-year-old administration could find themselves smeared with accusations of ‘economic sabotage’ and jailed as ‘agents of foreigners.’” Foreign agents laws that stigmatize the work of civil society and undermine human rights are becoming increasingly popular globally and across Africa, with Zimbabwe passing the so-called “Patriot Act” in 2023, which stipulates heavy penalties for “willfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest.” In 2024, legislators in the Central African Republic discussed a foreign agents bill, while South Africa’s Africa Transformation Movement party said in 2025 that it would table such a bill. Funding limits and regulatory burdens for foreign agents <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" height="683" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?w=1024" alt="The Ugandan parliament in the capital Kampala in 2017." class="wp-image-583839" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg 4896w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2017-09-28T151024Z_169550902_RC182F9BF2D0_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> The Ugandan parliament in the capital Kampala in 2017. (Photo: Reuters/James Akena) The Ugandan legislation’s expansive definition of an “agent of a foreigner” includes any person “whose activities are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized by a foreigner.” This would likely include independent media outlets that rely on international grants or work with foreign news organizations. Foreigners include Ugandans who live abroad. The bill limits external funding for foreign agents to 400 million shillings (US$107,989) annually, with exceptions requiring written approval from the minister of internal affairs. Those who exceed the cap could be jailed for 20 years and the illegal funds seized by the state. Foreign agents would have to disclose their funding sources, which would be publicly available for inspection. The bill also introduces burdensome and intrusive regulatory controls, requiring foreign agents to register every two years with the ministry for internal affairs’ department for peace and security. Applicants seeking registration would have to disclose detailed operational information, including staff lists and copies of all written and oral agreements with foreign entities, and could face inquiries into their mental and physical health. The minister would have broad discretion to deny or revoke registration due to foreign agents’ “disruptive activities,” an undefined “security threat,” or “additional grounds” prescribed by the minister. Operating without registration could result in 10 years’ imprisonment. Journalists risk 20 years in prison The bill introduces penalties of up to 20 years in prison for activities that could encompass routine journalistic work, such as the publication of information deemed to “weaken or damage the economic system” — criminalized as “economic sabotage” — or promoting foreign policies not adopted by Cabinet. Similarly, the law regards any foreign agent who “influences the will” of a person to decide how they shall be governed as “interfering with electoral processes,” for which they can be imprisoned for up to 20 years. Foreign agents also face up to 20 years in prison if they: Promote the interests of a foreigner against Uganda’s interests; Engage in any activity or receive assistance from a foreigner for any function with the aim of interfering with government operations; Obtain funds or assistance from a foreigner to “participate in disruptive activities;” Fail to submit returns to the minister detailing funds received and how they were spent. Newsroom raids threaten confidential sources <img decoding="async" height="768" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?w=1024" alt="Employees of the Daily Monitor newspaper, with their mouths taped shut, protest the closure of their premises by the government, on May 20, 2013. Police raided Uganda's leading independent newspaper on Monday and disabled its printing press after it published a letter about a purported plot to stifle allegations that Uganda President Yoweri Museveni is grooming his son for power, a senior editor said." class="wp-image-583891" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg 3500w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=555,416 555w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=360,270 360w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=570,428 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=652,489 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=760,570 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=1140,855 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=367,275 367w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2013-05-20T120000Z_352105917_GM1E95L065T01_RTRMADP_3_UGANDA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=330,248 330w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Daily Monitor employees protest the government’s closure of their premises and disabling of its printing press in May 2013. (Photo: Reuters/James Akena) Journalists’ ability to protect confidential sources would be threatened by the right of government inspectors to enter foreign agents’ premises at “any reasonable time” and request “any information” that appears “necessary” to give effect to the Act. Refusal to comply would be punishable by up to seven years in prison. Uganda has previously seen newsroom raids, including a 10-day siege of the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper newspapers in 2013 for publishing a letter about an alleged assassination plot, during which security forces shut down operations and pressured editors to reveal sources. Uganda’s independent media have faced increasing legal and regulatory pressure in recent years, including prosecution, suspension, and restrictions on reporting. Civil society groups have expressed concern that the Sovereignty Bill could further narrow the civic space. In an opinion piece defending the proposed law, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka said the bill was in keeping with similar laws in other democracies, with clearly defined scope and was “grounded in the urgent need to safeguard Uganda’s autonomy and stability in the face of many identified challenges.” Kiwanuka did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request, via messaging app, for comment on the bill’s potential implications for press freedom. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
“Muskism”: Author Quinn Slobodian on How Apartheid South Africa Inspired Elon Musk’s Worldview & More
In the new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff look at the worldview that shaped Elon Musk and the ideology that has coalesced around him. They call Muskism “an operating system for the 21st ...
In the new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff look at the worldview that shaped Elon Musk and the ideology that has coalesced around him. They call Muskism “an operating system for the 21st century.” Musk runs rocket company SpaceX, AI startup xAI, electric car maker Tesla and the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. Musk’s political influence extends from his use of X to advance controversial ideas, to his political donations, to the role he played leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. “He’s not just building a rocket company or a satellite company — but what we see is a vertically integrated ideological stack where he can kind of build an echo chamber from low Earth orbit all the way back to Earth and create a kind of closed loop for the ideology that he wants to push out,” says Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé Calls for End to “Deed Theft” After Arrest at Eviction Protest in Brooklyn
Four people were arrested on Wednesday in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn after gathering in support of Carmella Charrington, a homeowner fighting eviction from her longtime family home. Charrington and local housing advocates ...
Four people were arrested on Wednesday in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn after gathering in support of Carmella Charrington, a homeowner fighting eviction from her longtime family home. Charrington and local housing advocates say the sale of her property to investors in 2024 was a form of “deed theft,” a criminal practice where predatory speculators use forgery, deceit or fraud to illegally transfer ownership of properties, without the knowledge or full understanding of rightful owners. “In my soul, I could not let that take place. I could not see a family, a Black family within Bed-Stuy, removed from a home,” says New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé, one of those arrested during the protest. He says his district has seen rapid gentrification and elderly Black homeowners have been repeatedly targeted by deed theft. Ossé is calling for a moratorium on evictions in cases where deed theft is suspected. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Lebanese Journalist Amal Khalil Killed in Israeli Strike, Medics Blocked from Saving Her Under Rubble
Israeli forces killed the prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil on Wednesday despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Khalil and her colleague, photographer Zeinab Faraj, were reporting from southern Lebanon when an Israeli drone st...
Israeli forces killed the prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil on Wednesday despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Khalil and her colleague, photographer Zeinab Faraj, were reporting from southern Lebanon when an Israeli drone struck a car near them, killing two civilians. Khalil and Faraj sought shelter in a nearby building, but then Israel struck that building, as well. Emergency and medical workers rescued Faraj but came under fire before they could rescue Khalil, and were prevented by the Israeli military from returning for over six hours. Khalil died by the time her body was recovered from under the rubble. The deliberate obstruction is “a war crime and requires an international investigation,” says Sara Qudah, Middle East and North Africa regional director at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Amal Khalil is the ninth journalist killed by Israel in Lebanon this year. She told local media in 2024 that she had received a death threat from Israel’s Mossad spy agency warning her to leave southern Lebanon or risk decapitation. “This is what Israel is trying to do. It’s trying to prevent the truth from being reached by a much, much wider audience to see the war crimes that are being carried out [in Lebanon] on a daily basis,” says Steve Sweeney, Lebanon bureau chief for the Russian news channel RT, who survived an Israeli strike last month. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Israel Continues Strikes on Southern Lebanon as Trump Announces 3-Week Ceasefire Extension, Trump Says He’s Under No Pressure to End War with Iran, Israel Kills Palestinian Civilians, Including Children, in Latest Gaza Ceasefire Violations, Senate GOP Advances $70 Billion Funding Plan for ICE, Border Patrol, Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize Hundreds of U.S. Citizens, Trump Administration May Deport Afghan Refugees Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo, U.S. Seeks to Deport Iranian Doctoral Student Who Provided Media Commentary on Iran War, Iranian Asylum Seekers Jailed by ICE Are Not Related to Military Commander, as Trump Admin Claimed, Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike over Inhumane Conditions at Michigan For-Profit ICE Jail, Philadelphia City Council Passes ”ICE Out” Bills Limiting Cooperation with Federal Agents, Kuwaiti Court Acquits Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Who Shared News of Downed U.S. Fighter, DOJ Arrests U.S. Army Soldier Who Made Over $400,000 Betting on Capture of Nicolás Maduro, Eric Trump Touts $24 Million Pentagon Contract Awarded to His Robotics Company, Palantir Calls on U.S. to Reinstate Draft in 22-Point “Supervillain” Manifesto Slammed by Critics, Warner Bros. Shareholders Approve Mega-Merger With Paramount Skydance, ICC Rules Philippines’ Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte Must Stand Trial for Crimes Against Humanity, White House Formally Reclassifies Cannabis as a Less Dangerous Substance
Israel Continues Strikes on Southern Lebanon as Trump Announces 3-Week Ceasefire Extension Trump Says He's Under No Pressure to End War with Iran Israel Kills Palestinian Civilians, Including Children, in Latest Gaza Ceasefire Violations Senate GOP Advances $70 Billion Funding Plan for ICE, Border Patrol Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize Hundreds of U.S. Citizens Trump Administration May Deport Afghan Refugees Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo U.S. Seeks to Deport Iranian Doctoral Student Who Provided Media Commentary on Iran War Iranian Asylum Seekers Jailed by ICE Are Not Related to Military Commander, as Trump Admin Claimed Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike over Inhumane Conditions at Michigan For-Profit ICE Jail Philadelphia City Council Passes "ICE Out" Bills Limiting Cooperation with Federal Agents Kuwaiti Court Acquits Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Who Shared News of Downed U.S. Fighter DOJ Arrests U.S. Army Soldier Who Made Over $400,000 Betting on Capture of Nicolás Maduro Eric Trump Touts $24 Million Pentagon Contract Awarded to His Robotics Company Palantir Calls on U.S. to Reinstate Draft in 22-Point "Supervillain" Manifesto Slammed by Critics Warner Bros. Shareholders Approve Mega-Merger With Paramount Skydance ICC Rules Philippines' Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte Must Stand Trial for Crimes Against Humanity White House Formally Reclassifies Cannabis as a Less Dangerous Substance This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Friday, April 24, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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.
Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash
The post Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash appeared first on ProPublica.
A sign denouncing large-scale solar energy development lies a short distance from where a project has been proposed in St. Clair County, Michigan. The county’s medical director has claimed that large solar facilities are a potential health risk for residents. Nick Hagen for ProPublica Kevin Heath had hoped there would be solar panels by now on his family farm in southeastern Michigan, roughly 50 miles outside Detroit. About six years ago, he agreed to lease part of his land for a solar project. It would help him pay off debt and keep the farm in the family, he said. But the opportunity was thwarted when, in 2023, following pushback from some local residents, his township passed an ordinance that banned large solar projects from land zoned for agriculture. In the fight over solar development, Heath said he was bombarded by just about every argument from critics — including claims that solar fields are a health hazard. “I’ve heard them say that, but I’ve never heard anybody prove that,” Heath said. “The health and safety issue,” he added, “that is just a joke.” Michigan has big prospects in solar farming — measured by the expected growth in the capacity of its farms to add electricity directly to the grid. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, most of the nation’s new capacity from this type of solar farm is planned this year for four states, including Michigan. The others, with their hot deserts and big-sky plains, seem more obvious: Texas, Arizona and California. To some, in Michigan and beyond, this growth feels dangerous. They pressure public officials to stop, stall or otherwise complicate new solar projects with an array of arguments that now go beyond just land use to include public health. There is little reputable evidence to back their claims. But health concerns have helped power a solar backlash that undercuts efforts to broaden energy sources even as customer costs are rising. Restrictions on solar development are proliferating nationwide, “often rooted in misinformation or unfounded fears,” including ones that involve “potential environmental and human safety risks,” according to an article published late last year in the Brigham Young University Law Review. To generate electricity, solar projects harvest energy from the sun. “And that’s really not that different from what a field of corn or alfalfa does,” said Troy Rule, the Arizona State University law professor who authored the article. “In fact, arguably, it’s even more environmentally friendly.” Still, a state board in Ohio rejected an application for a solar project last month, citing local opposition, even though its staff initially said it met all requirements. Along with other concerns, according to the board, opponents “testified about the potential impacts on the health of residents.” A bill in Missouri would halt commercial solar projects in the state, including those under construction, through at least 2027, as a state agency develops new regulations. The bill’s emergency clause says this is “deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety.” And, on the eastern edge of Michigan, St. Clair County adopted a novel public health regulation last year that set limits on solar development and battery storage. The move was encouraged by the county’s medical director who, in a memo, warned of the threat of noise, visual pollution and potential sources of contamination. Some local residents have long pressed leaders to act, saying that intrusive noise could worsen post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments. Public officials don’t always examine the validity of health claims, according to Rule. And local deliberations rarely compare the impact of solar farms to common agricultural practices, which can lead to runoff from fertilizers and herbicides, for example, or waste lagoons from concentrated animal feeding operations. People have many reasons for taking issue with large-scale solar development, said Michael Gerrard, an environmental lawyer and founder of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. But as for the feared health impact, he said, “there’s no basis for that.” “People try to come up with a rationale to justify their dislike of things they dislike for other reasons,” Gerrard added. President Donald Trump’s administration, meanwhile, is adding to the skepticism that renewable energy is worthwhile. Among other moves, it’s phasing out federal tax credits for the solar and wind industries. It all takes a toll on the effort to build out solar infrastructure. Last year, new solar installations in the U.S. dropped by 14%. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="73790" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="Rows of solar panels are tilted toward the sky on a cloudy day amid a field of grass." class="wp-image-73790" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, 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https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0153_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="73792" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A large expanse of solar panels lies in a field, with tall, bare trees in the background on a dark and cloudy day." class="wp-image-73792" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260406-Hagen-StClair-0349_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Most of the nation’s new capacity from solar farms that add electricity directly to the grid is planned this year for four states, including Michigan, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The River Fork Solar Park, above, developed by Ranger Power, has operated since 2024. Nick Hagen for ProPublica Fear vs. Science Large solar developments can transform hundreds, or even thousands, of acres of rural land, paneling them with crystalline silicon and tempered glass. It’s a big change, and people have questions. Locals worry that electromagnetism and even glare can pose a health risk. They wonder if toxic materials could leach into the soil and contaminate groundwater, if not while the solar site is operational, then some decades in the future, when it reaches the end of its life. That certainly has been the case with orphaned oil wells, which also were built with promises of safety. But researchers point out that the most common types of panels have only small amounts of such materials, if any. They are encased and unlikely to leach into the soil. Rather than sitting in landfills when a site is decommissioned, most of the materials used in solar panels can be recycled (though the process can be costly). Craig Adair, vice president of development at Open Road Renewables, which has pursued renewable energy projects in several states, has fielded a range of concerns over the years — from how soil could be contaminated to the possibility of electromagnetic fields causing cancer. “Those questions, in just about every case, have an answer,” Adair said. “There is rigorous academic study, and there are examples of projects that have been operating.” While the future farmability of the land is often a concern, many researchers — and farmers — say that a solar lease will help preserve it. With proper planning on the front end, equipment can be removed from a decommissioned solar site and green space restored, said Steve Kalland, executive director of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center, which, along with its partners, provides technical assistance to local governments in the Carolinas. And a person’s exposure to the electromagnetic field, or EMF, from a solar farm is roughly the same as what they would encounter from ordinary household appliances, according to researchers. EMF levels also decrease rapidly with distance. Chronic exposure to noise is also a recurring complaint from critics. In challenging a proposed project from Adair’s company in Morrow County, Ohio, one woman said in a brief to the state siting board that she was troubled about how noise from the facility might affect people with neurological noise sensitivities, including her daughter. A piece of equipment called an inverter is usually the source of noise on a solar site. It converts the current into the form that’s used on the grid. But noise, as well as glare, are typically buffered with vegetative landscaping and setbacks, or the distance between the property line and the nearest structure. Inverters can also be placed far from the ears of neighbors. Noise modeling for the Morrow County project showed that its inverter “will basically be inaudible to the public,” Adair said, and if it ever generated noise above a certain limit, the permit would require the company to bring it back into compliance. The problem, Adair said, is that evidence-based answers and solutions can get lost in the fervor. They can be drowned out by “opposition activists wanting to try to scare local politicians into opposing a project, even if the concerns that they’re raising are not legitimate concerns,” he said. Last month, the Ohio Power Siting Board denied a permit to Adair’s Morrow County project. Its order acknowledged that the proposal offered positive benefits, but, it said, “these benefits are outweighed by the consistent and substantial opposition.” It didn’t specifically cite health concerns as the reason for the denial, but rather, “the varied and numerous concerns raised by both the local government entities and public in the project area.” But, Adair said in an email, those local governments “cited (unfounded) public health concerns as a reason for their opposition to the project.” Open Road Renewables plans to apply for a rehearing from the board, Adair said. The company has eight permitted solar projects in Ohio, but because of a siting process that he said is subject to “manipulation and misinformation,” Adair said it won’t initiate any more. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1707" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=2560" alt="A rusty mailbox and a newspaper delivery box stand near a rural road. In the background is a large, recently tilled field, a large barn and two silos." class="wp-image-73788" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260403-Hagen-StClair-1438_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> Ranger Power has proposed building a solar development project at this site in St. Clair County. Nick Hagen for ProPublica Intense Battles in Michigan In Michigan’s St. Clair County, it isn’t just a number of residents who are worried about large solar facilities. The Health Department’s medical director echoed their concerns. In two memos to other county officials, Dr. Remington Nevin said that large solar sites are a public health risk for the area’s predominantly rural residents. The state’s solar standards, he wrote, weren’t enough to protect them from “environmental health hazards, the spread of sources of contamination, nuisance potentially injurious to the public health, health problems, and other conditions or practices which could reasonably be expected to cause disease.” Any detectable tonal noise, he added, must be considered an unreasonable threat to public health. He recommended new regulations. The county administrator at the time, Karry Hepting, noted that Nevin’s initial memo “does not address the question or provide support for what are the potential health/environmental risks,” according to internal emails provided to ProPublica. “It appears we will need to hire an outside expert to get the level of detail and supporting data necessary to consider potential next steps,” she added. Hepting said that she’d begun researching prospects. But County Commissioner Steven Simasko — now the county board’s chair — wrote in an internal email that he accepted Nevin’s medical opinion “as a good standard for the protection of the public health of our citizens” and disagreed with the need for outside input. Simasko told ProPublica in an email that he believed it wasn’t the role of the administrator to get involved in a public health matter, and that he objected “to essentially paying for a second public health medical opinion” more to Hepting’s liking. Hepting, who has since retired from her post at the county, disputed Simasko’s depiction of her motivations in a message to ProPublica. “Nothing could be farther from the truth,” she wrote. “It had nothing to do with shopping for a different opinion. Mr. Nevin’s initial memo did not address the initial question posed by the Board. It did not state what the health risks were and what negative health impacts exist. It basically said it’s a risk because he said so.” To legally justify the adoption of health regulations, Nevin said in his second memo, it wasn’t necessary for his department “to prove, with a precise scientific or medical rationale, that eligible facilities pose an unreasonable threat to the public’s health.” Instead, expert opinion, public comment and the consent of the local government were reason enough, he wrote. In the end, county officials were persuaded to act. The commissioners approved the Health Department’s new policy for solar energy and battery facilities, including a nonrefundable $25,000 fee to cover the cost of reviewing a proposed project. It also said that policy violations were punishable by up to six months in prison. An electric utility promptly sued, and a solar company joined the case. The Health Department, they argued, has no authority to issue what are, in effect, zoning regulations. What’s more, they said in legal filings, the county can’t override the solar standards established by the state. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="791" width="527" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=527" alt="A man with dark hair and a short, graying beard, wearing a dark blue suit and a white shirt, sits in a chair during a meeting while holding a red, disposable coffee cup. Other meeting attendees sit in chairs behind him." class="wp-image-73787" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250821-Hagen-FluorideBacklash-0115_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px" /> Dr. Remington Nevin, the medical director of the St. Clair County Health Department, wrote memos that said that large solar sites could present a public health risk, encouraging local officials to adopt a new policy for these facilities. Nick Hagen for ProPublica In its legal filings, the county said the health regulations were adopted properly and supported by “substantial, competent, and material evidence.” Facilities that don’t meet its standards “pose a threat to public health,” the county argued. In response to ProPublica’s detailed queries, a public information officer said that the Health Department would not comment due to litigation. Nevin said in a podcast interview last year that he wasn’t opposed to solar projects. “The purpose,” he said, “is to identify risks, unreasonable risks, to the public’s health posed by the construction or operation of the facilities, and then take reasonable, measured steps to attempt to mitigate those risks, ideally in a fashion that would continue to allow the facility to be constructed and to operate.” Solar capacity in Michigan continues to grow, despite local pushback, but so far, only 2.55% of the state’s electricity comes from solar. In Ohio, it’s nearly 6%, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group. In Texas, it’s nearly 11%. Michigan is requiring electricity providers to reach an 80% clean energy portfolio by 2035, and 100% by 2040. Michigan has more local restrictions on renewable energy than any other state, according to the Sabin Center. “Practically nowhere in the country has seen more conflict” about where to allow large solar farms that add electricity directly to the grid than rural Michigan, according to a 2024 article in the Case Western Reserve Law Review authored by a Sabin Center senior fellow. That includes the conflict in Milan Township, where Heath grew up on an 1,100-acre farm. “I always wanted to farm,” Heath said. He saw leasing part of his land to a solar company as a way to stay afloat and keep the land in the family. In 2020, Milan Township passed an ordinance that would allow the project to go forward, with Heath’s brother, the township supervisor, abstaining. But opposition mounted. Critics built a website that argued, among other things, that the project would unleash dangerous electromagnetic radiation. Heath and his siblings were rebuked by their neighbors, Heath said, to the point that his brother, Phil, told the township attorney he was thinking about resigning as supervisor. That same night, he died of a heart attack at age 67. A few months later, with a new supervisor in place, the township board banned large solar development from land that’s zoned for agriculture. The terms were restrictive enough to effectively ban such a project not only from land owned by Heath and his sister, but from all but the small portion of the township that’s zoned for industry. Stephanie Kozar, Milan Township’s clerk, said in an email to ProPublica that most residents opposed solar projects on agricultural land, and that the initial ordinance passed during the coronavirus pandemic, before officials had adequately informed residents about potential changes. The updated policy, she said, would “protect the township and allow for responsible development of clean energy in the area.” To overcome severe local restrictions, the state set standards in 2023 for noise, height, fencing, setbacks and other elements of a large solar project. It also created a pathway where developers, in certain cases, can get a permit from the Michigan Public Service Commission, the state’s regulating authority, rather than from local governments. In an order, the commission laid out details for how the process would work. But nearly 80 local and county governments, including Milan Township, challenged it in court, arguing the commission was overstepping its authority. In support of the state, Heath and his sister are represented in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by a legal team affiliated with the Sabin Center, along with local attorneys. Also part of that brief is Clara Ostrander, who had hoped a solar project would help protect two farmsteads in Milan Township that have been in her family for over 150 years. “We need a responsible neutral party like the Michigan Public Service Commission to review these projects based on facts, not fear or falsehoods,” she testified to state officials ahead of the bill’s passage. Even with the state process, rising energy demand and eye-popping electricity costs, no new large solar installation has yet been built in Milan Township. And in February, as snow melted around the “No Industrial Solar” signs that stud the long country roads, a circuit court judge ruled that St. Clair County’s health regulation is “invalid, null, and void.” But county officials soon opted to appeal, unanimously. “This is very important for the health of St. Clair County and the residents,” said one commissioner before casting his vote. The post Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Anna Clark.
Stop selling arms to Indonesia, West Papuans urge Netherlands
United Liberation Movement for West Papua
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on the Netherlands to stop selling arms to Indonesia. Representatives of the ULMWP were this week at the Dutch Parliament for a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the human rights situation in West Papua. In a video relayed
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on the Netherlands to stop selling arms to Indonesia. Representatives of the ULMWP were this week at the Dutch Parliament for a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the human rights situation in West Papua. In a video relayed to the Dutch from ULMWP members in Papua, the pro-independence group called on the Netherlands to stop selling weapons to Indonesia. READ MORE: Indonesia’s human rights body to investigate deaths of 12 Papuans in military operation Other West Papua reports “We, the people of West Papua, urge the Dutch government to stop cooperation and the supply of weapons to Indonesia, because these transactions between Indonesia and the Netherlands, especially weapons, are being bought and used to carry out killings against us.” This comes amid a recent escalation of violent conflict between Indonesia’s military and Papuan pro-independence fighters. Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission this week said it was investigating the deaths of a dozen West Papuan civilians last week as the result of a military operation in Central Papua. Former colonial power The Netherlands was the former colonial power in West Papua and the rest of Indonesia. As such, the liberation movement said the Dutch had a responsibility to respond to ongoing human rights violations and conflict in Papua. Current and recent Dutch military exports are largely tied to the Indonesian Navy and concentrated on naval vessels, ship systems and supporting weapons. A spokesperson for the Dutch Embassy in Indonesia said all licence applications for the export of military goods from the Netherlands were examined carefully and on a case‑by‑case basis, within the framework of the Arms Trade Treaty and the EU Common Position on arms export controls. “Central to this assessment are the end user of the goods, the intended end use, and the situation in the country of destination. “In conducting these assessments, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs systematically takes into account all relevant information, including political, security and human rights developments. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126920" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dutch-hearing-RNZ-680wide.png" alt="A parliamentary hearing in the Netherlands this week regarding the human rights situation in the country's former colony, West Papua" width="680" height="484" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dutch-hearing-RNZ-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dutch-hearing-RNZ-680wide-300x214.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dutch-hearing-RNZ-680wide-100x70.png 100w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dutch-hearing-RNZ-680wide-590x420.png 590w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> A parliamentary hearing in the Netherlands this week regarding the human rights situation in the country’s former colony, West Papua. Image: RNZ Pacific “Licence applications are refused where the assessment identifies an overriding risk that the military goods in question could be misused by the end user. The Ministry does not exclude any end users in advance,” the spokesperson said. RNZ Pacific has sought comment from the Indonesian govenment. Previously, Jakarta has refused to acknowledge the ULMWP has any legitimacy. At the Parliament hearing in the Hague, the president of ULMWP’s provisional government, Benny Wenda met with some Dutch lawmakers from parties, including the Christian Union and the Progressive Party. Also in attendance was the British Labour MP Alex Sobel, the chairperson of International Parliamentarians for West Papua. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Chris Hedges: The political dysfunction of Trump as God
Trump’s portrayal of himself as Jesus, or anointed by Jesus, is typical of cult leaders, writes Chris Hedges. ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges During the two years I spent writing American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, I encountered numerous mini-Trumps. These self-proclaimed pastors — very few had any formal religious training —
Trump’s portrayal of himself as Jesus, or anointed by Jesus, is typical of cult leaders, writes Chris Hedges. ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges During the two years I spent writing American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, I encountered numerous mini-Trumps. These self-proclaimed pastors — very few had any formal religious training — preyed on the despair of their congregants. They were surrounded by sycophants and could not be questioned. They merged fact with fiction, peddled magical thinking and enriched themselves at the expense of their followers. They claimed their wealth and ostentatious lifestyle, including mansions and private jets, was a sign of being blessed. They insisted they were divinely inspired and anointed by God. They were, within their hermetic circles of their megachurches, omnipotent. READ MORE: Lebanon truce extended; Trump says ‘clock is ticking’ for Iran to make deal These cult pastors promised to use their omnipotence to crush the demonic forces that had created misery in the lives of their followers — unemployment and underemployment, evictions, bankruptcies, poverty, addiction, sexual and domestic abuse, and crippling despair. The more power the cult leaders possess — according to their followers — the more certain is a promised paradise. Cult leaders stand above the law. Those who desperately place their faith in them want them to be above the law. Cult leaders are narcissists. They demand obsequious adulation and total obedience. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s claim that Donald Trump is able to draw a “perfect map” of the Middle East, or White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s statement that Trump is always the “most well-read person in the room,” are two of innumerable examples of the abject fawning required by those in a cult leader’s inner circle. Blind loyalty matters more than competence. Cult leaders are immune from rational and fact-based critiques amongst those who invest hope in them. This is why Trump’s hardcore followers have not abandoned him and will not abandon him. All the chatter about fissures in the MAGA universe misreads Trump cultists. All cults are personality cults. They are extensions of the prejudices, worldview, personal style and ideas of the cult leader. Trump, with his faux “Trump crest,” revels in Louis XIV-inspired tasteless kitsch awash in gold Rococo and glittering chandeliers. The women in Trump’s court have “Mar-a-Lago Faces” — overinflated lips, taut, wrinkle-free skin, silicone gel-filled breast implants and chiseled cheekbones, capped off by gobs of make-up. They wear stiletto heels and garish outfits that Trump finds appealing. Trump’s men, who in his eyes must be telegenic and from “Central casting,” dress like 1950s advertising executives. They sport Trump-gifted Florsheim black shoes, specifically $145 Lexington Cap Toe Oxfords. Cults impose dress codes that mirror the style and taste of the cult leader. The followers of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho, dressed in red and orange robes, often combined with a turtleneck and beads. Heaven’s Gate members wore Nike Decade trainers and black jogging bottoms. Men in the Unification Church, known as Moonies, wore crisp white shirts and pressed slacks. Women wore dresses. They looked as if they were on their way to Sunday School. Like Jim Jones, who convinced or forced over 900 of his followers — including 304 children aged 17 and younger — to die by ingesting a cyanide-laced drink, Trump is aggressively courting our collective suicide. Trump dismisses the climate crisis as a hoax. He unilaterally withdraws from nuclear arms agreements and treaties. He antagonises nuclear powers, such as Russia and China. He impetuously launches wars. He alienates and insults US allies. He dreams of annexing Greenland and Cuba. He embraces holy crusade against Muslims. He attacks his political opponents as enemies and traitors, belittling them with crude insults. He slashes social programmes designed to sustain the vulnerable. He expands an internal security apparatus — masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) goons — to terrorise the public. Cults do not nurture and protect. They subjugate, annihilate and destroy. Trump employs the US military without oversight or constraint. He presides, for this reason, over what the psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton called a “world-destroying cult.” Lifton lists eight characteristics of “world-destroying cults” that implant what he calls “totalistic environments.” These eight characteristics are: 1. Milieu control. The total control of communication within the group. 2. Loading the language. Using “groupspeak” to censor, edit and shut down criticism or opposing ideas. Followers must mouth the mindless Trump-approved clichés and cult jargon. 3. Demand for purity. An us-versus-them view of the world. Those who oppose the group are wrong, unenlightened and evil. They are irredeemable. They are contaminants. They must be eradicated. Any action is justified to protect this purity. The goal of all cult leaders is to widen and make irreconcilable social divisions. 4. Confession: The public confession of past wrongs. In the case of Trump supporters, this includes the disavowal, as US Vice President JD Vance and others have done, of past criticism of Trump, with public admission of their former wrong-thinking. 5. Mystical manipulation. The belief that those in the group are specially chosen with a higher purpose. Those in Trump’s orbit act as though they are divinely elected. They convince themselves that they are not coerced to embrace Trump’s lies and vulgarities — or repeat cult jargon — but do so voluntarily. 6. Doctrine over person. The rewriting and fabrication of personal history to conform to Trump’s interpretation of reality. 7. Sacred Science. Trump’s absurdities — global temperatures are declining rather than rising, the noise from wind turbines cause cancer and ingesting disinfectants such as Lysol is an effective treatment for the coronavirus — are presented as grounded in science. This scientific patina means Trump’s ideas apply to everyone. Those who disagree are unscientific. 8. Dispensing of existence. Nonmembers are “lesser or unworthy beings.” Meaningful existence means being part of the Trump cult. Those outside the cult are worthless. They do not deserve moral consideration. Trump is no different from past cult leaders, including Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles — the founders of the Heaven’s Gate cult — the Rev. Sun Myung Moon — who led the Unification Church — Credonia Mwerinde — who led the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Uganda — Li Hongzhi — the founder of Falun Gong, and David Koresh, who led the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas. Cult leaders are deeply insecure, which is why they lash out with fury at the slightest criticism. They mask this insecurity with cruelty, hypermasculinity and bombastic grandiosity. They are paranoid, amoral, emotionally crippled and physically abusive. Those around them, including children, are objects to be manipulated for their enrichment, enjoyment and often sadistic entertainment. Cults are characterised by pedophilia and sexual abuse. Those, including Trump, who were frequently in the orbit of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, replicated the abuse endemic in cults. “People’s Temple children were frequently sexually abused,” writes Margaret Singer in Cults In Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace. “While the group was still in California, teenage girls as young as fifteen had to provide sex for influential people courted by Jones. A supervisor of children at Jonestown had a history of child sexual abuse, and Jones himself assaulted some of the children. “If husbands and wives were caught talking privately during a meeting, their daughters were forced to masturbate publicly or to have sex with someone the family didn’t like before the entire Jonestown population, children as well as adults.” Cults, Singer writes, are “a mirror of what is inside the cult leader.” “He has no restraints on him,” she writes of the cult leader: “He can make his fantasies and desires come alive in the world he creates around him. He can lead people to do his bidding. He can make the surrounding world really his world. “What most cult leaders achieve is akin to the fantasies of a child at play, creating a world with toys and utensils. In that play world, the child feels omnipotent and creates a realm of his own for a few minutes or a few hours. “He moves the toy dolls about. They do his bidding. They speak his words back to him. He punishes them any way he wants. He is all-powerful and makes his fantasy come alive. When I see the sand tables and the collections of toys some child therapists have in their offices, I think that a cult leader must look about and place people in his created world much as the child creates on the sand table a world that reflects his or her desires and fantasies. “The difference is that the cult leader has actual humans doing his bidding as he makes a world around him that springs from inside his own head.” The language of the cult leader is rooted in verbal confusion. Lies, conspiracy theories, outlandish ideas and contradictory statements, often made in the same statement or only minutes apart, paralysing those attempting to read the cult leader rationally. Absurdism is the point. The cult leader does not take his or her statements seriously. They often deny ever making them, although they are documented. Lies and truth are irrelevant. The cult leader is not seeking to impart information or truth. The cult leader is seeking to appeal to the emotional needs of cult members. “Hitler kept his enemies in a state of constant confusion and diplomatic upheaval,” Joost A.M. Meerloo wrote in The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control and Menticide. “They never knew what this unpredictable madman was going to do next. Hitler was never logical, because he knew that that was what he was expected to be. Logic can be met with logic, while illogic cannot — it confuses those who think straight. “The Big Lie and monotonously repeated nonsense have more emotional appeal in a cold war than logic and reason. While the enemy is still searching for a reasonable counterargument to the first lie, the totalitarians can assault him with another.” It does not matter how many lies uttered by Trump are meticulously documented. It does not matter that Trump has used the presidency to enrich himself by an estimated $1.4 billion over the last year, according to Forbes. It does not matter that he is inept, lazy and ignorant. It does not matter that he stumbles from one disaster to the next, from tariffs, to the war on Iran. The traditional establishment, whose credibility has been destroyed because of its betrayal of the working class and subservience to the billionaire class and corporations, has little power over Trump’s supporters. “Their vitriol only increases his popularity. Political cults are the bastard children of a failed liberalism. Trump’s approval rating may be at around 40 percent, as of April 20 — according to an average of multiple polls collated by The New York Times — but his base remains unmovable. The Democratic Party, rather than pivot to address the social inequality and abandonment of the working class — which it helped orchestrate — has hit upon tax cuts as a road to regaining power. It will, once again, reduce our social, economic and political crisis to the personality of Trump. It will offer no reforms to rectify our failed democracy. This is a gift to Trump and his followers. By refusing to acknowledge responsibility for inequality and proposing programmes to ameliorate the suffering it has caused, Democrats engage in the same kind of magical thinking as Trump cultists. There is no way out of this political dysfunction unless popular movements rise to cripple the machinery of government and commerce on behalf of a betrayed public. But time is running out. Trump and his goons are serious about invalidating or cancelling the midterm elections if they perceive defeat. If that happens, the cult of Trump will be unassailable. 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.
AI is a double-edged sword for Indigenous land protection, UN experts warn
While AI helps monitor deforestation and illegal mining, data centers powering the technology are claiming water, energy, and minerals from Indigenous lands.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is helping Indigenous communities detect illegal logging, track wildfires, and monitoring of traditional lands. But the data centers powering AI are driving new threats, requiring water, energy, and critical minerals often extracted from Indigenous territories. Now, Indigenous leaders at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, are wrestling with a paradox: how to harness AI’s protective capabilities without fueling the extractive forces they’ve resisted for generations. A new study published by Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, who is Mbororo and a former chair of the permanent forum, highlighted some of the possibilities and challenges AI presents for environmental protection, as well as the impacts of the technology on Indigenous territories. These include land-grabbing, water overexploitation and land degradation due to its high energy, water and critical mineral needs. “For generations, Indigenous Peoples have protected the world’s most intact ecosystems without satellites, without algorithms or technologies,” Ibrahim told Mongabay. “AI can become a powerful ally to that stewardship, if it is used on our terms in a culturally appropriate way.” Ibrahim explained that AI can help Indigenous communities monitor biodiversity, detect deforestation, illegal mining, wildfires or water contamination through the use of satellite imagery and sensors. “When combined with Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, AI can help predict climate impacts, track wildlife movements, and strengthen land-use planning while helping to plan faster resilience strategies,” she added. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8150.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Carrie Johnson / Grist"/> Carrie Johnson / Grist In the Katukina/Kaxinawá Indigenous Reserve in Brazil’s Acre state, Indigenous agroforestry agents have been using AI to combat deforestation. The reserve ranks among the top five for deforestation risk, according to a forecast from an artificial intelligence tool developed by Microsoft and the Brazilian nonprofit Imazon. “It is very important to monitor the land because we Indigenous people are safer when we can detect if someone is invading, if someone is taking wood from our land, if someone is hunting directly on our land, if someone is putting up a fire close to our land,” Siã Shanenawa, one of 21 agroforestry agents in the reserve, said. Lars Ailo Bongo, a professor at the UiT The Arctic University in Norway, leads the Sámi AI Lab, which investigates how AI can support Indigenous Sámi people. AI is not yet inclusive enough, he said in an email, but it does present some opportunities for communities. “AI can democratize access to the analytical capabilities needed to conduct data driven modelling aligned to Sámi views and norms,” he said. In Nunavut, Inuit communities are blending traditional knowledge with predictive AI models and time-series analyses to locate new fishing locations as climate change impacts the availability of fish. Similarly, in Chad, Indigenous pastoralists are combining participatory mapping and satellite data with predictive AI tools to anticipate severe droughts and secure transhumance corridors, boosting their climate resilience. In South America, Rainforest Foundation US uses a combination of traditional knowledge and evolving technologies, from planting trees along boundary limits to smartphones and drones, to support Indigenous communities in protecting their territories. “AI is the latest tool in that continuum,” Cameron Ellis, field science director at Rainforest Foundation US, said in an email. “Community monitors can use AI-derived remote sensing products to process large volumes of satellite data and interpret deforestation patterns linked to mining or agriculture expansion, to respond to those threats more quickly.” Residents and farmers from Thailand’s Chonburi, and neighbouring Rayong province, which suffer from water shortages and pollution, have raised fears about the environmental impacts of data center expansion in the area – the digital infrastructure that powers AI. Data centers require large volumes of water for cooling and a large amount of energy to operate. The same scenario is playing out in many other communities around the world, from rural communities in eastern Pennsylvania, to villages in the state of Querétaro in north-central Mexico. Residents are worried about wastewater contamination, water and energy shortages and rising costs linked to the expansion of data centers in their towns. “AI is often perceived as immaterial, but it carries a very real environmental footprint,” Ibrahim said. “It depends on vast amounts of energy, water, and critical minerals, many of which are extracted from or located near Indigenous Peoples’ territories, leading to land degradation, biodiversity loss and, in some cases, the displacement of communities.” Beyond the environmental impacts of data centers, Ibrahim’s study also drew attention to other challenges for Indigenous peoples related to AI, such as a lack of infrastructure, legal protection and institutional capacity to safeguard digital rights. She wrote that AI can also lead to the exclusion of Indigenous peoples or facilitate the extraction of sensitive data. The use of drones, satellites or mapping tools without the prior consultation of Indigenous peoples, for instance, can expose the location of sacred sites, ecologically strategic areas or other sensitive areas. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1550.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Tristan Ahtone / Grist"/> Tristan Ahtone / Grist Kate Finn is a citizen of the Osage Nation and executive director of the Tallgrass Institute, which works to align investor strategies with Indigenous rights. She describes what she calls “opportunity space” within AI to help Indigenous peoples preserve their languages and strengthen their governance systems. At the same time, she agrees with concerns about the environmental risks. “The consistent ask from Indigenous peoples around the world is that they want their free, prior, and informed consent respected before data centers go into their land.” she said. “As we approach AI from an Indigenous lens, it will necessarily have to take account of all of those different nodes, both the opportunity space, but also a protective space of lands, territories, and resources, and also of language and culture, and the creative property that Indigenous peoples have placed online.” Bongo said the Sámi are limited by a lack of funding to hire the AI developers that can create Sámi-aligned AI models and to make these available to the community. “This is especially sad, since we have Sámi AI developers that are interested in doing the work,” he explained, meaning it is not a lack of competency, but capacity. “To make progress there is a need for a bigger center and push, that the Sámi organizations do not have the budgets for, so the states need to provide the funding [Norway, Finland, and Sweden].” For projects that rely on outside funding, it’s also important that Indigenous peoples do not become a small minority partner, he said. “Technology on its own doesn’t protect forests – people do,” Ellis said. “These tools are only effective when grounded in community governance and leadership, and when the data they generate is used to trigger action on the ground. Likewise, communities must be able to retain sovereignty over how their data is collected to ensure it advances their own priorities without undermining their rights.” Ibrahim said that to ensure the protection of Indigenous peoples and their territories, governments must prevent all forms of land-grabbing, water exploitation and mining activities related to data centers and energy sources, and respect Indigenous rights, worldviews and aspirations. “AI becomes harmful when it is imposed without free, prior, and informed consent,” Ibrahim said. “In that context, it risks repeating old patterns of extraction of the resource, data and appropriation of knowledge and the credit to these knowledge.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline AI is a double-edged sword for Indigenous land protection, UN experts warn on Apr 24, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Aimee Gabay.
Musician Searows on making art in an overwhelming world
I would love to hear about the title of your newest record Death in the Business of Whaling.
I would love to hear about the title of your newest record Death in the Business of Whaling. The process of finding a title came after the whole album was already done. I wanted to wait until something just happened to work and sound right. I was looking through books in my house, and my partner read the line from Moby Dick that says, “There is death in this business of whaling.” It was such a striking sentence, and the whole chunk of text around it was so beautiful and resonated so much with what the album had turned into. There is something really disarming about your approach to songwriting. There’s a vulnerability that inspires vulnerability. And there’s also a beautiful agony to the whole experience. Death, as it stands in the title, also implies life. Does that feel resonant in what was coming up for you while producing this? Absolutely. I tend to write about vulnerability and things that feel distinctly human: the things that scare me about being a person and being alive. Death is absolutely one of those things. I think of it less like an abyss and more like a part of life and birth. In that same vein, the progression of the songs on this record seem to represent a cycle of recreation. Would you consider yourself a spiritual person? Yeah, I have learned a lot about what spirituality can mean. My dad is an atheist and a very scientific person. For a long time, I didn’t really have any belief, even if I wanted to, that there was something else other than us as physical human beings on earth. I was stuck believing that when we die, there’s just nothing. I’ve developed a lot more of my own ideas around it, and I definitely am someone that thinks that absolutely anything could be true. The amount of cycles that repeat in the world already, that we can physically see, are so abundant. The idea that we just continue onto a different cycle just really makes sense to me. Art is probably the best vessel for the exploration of all of this. How would you describe your relationship between notions of spirituality and art? How has that relationship changed over time? Both things have developed together in a sense. Of course, I’ve gotten older as I’ve written songs, but it definitely shows up in how I write. I tend to write more about myself and my life in much more abstracted terms and stories. There’s something really special about making a myth of your life and of the lessons that you’ve learned from whatever has happened. Even though I didn’t grow up in a religious environment, seeing Bible stories or stories about things that didn’t really happen but represent a greater lesson from a distanced or objective standpoint was very inspiring for how I’ve developed writing songs. I love the word “myth” to describe this plane that your work lives on. It feels like you’re expanding on themes that you brought to life in your earlier work and sonically, it feels like you’re taking more risks with this record. How does this work feel different than what you’ve made in the past? There was a lot of learning and adapting on how to make an album in this way. My first album was so solitary. I didn’t get to explore all the creative avenues that I wanted to, because I was so focused on how I could record a song and mix it so that I sound like I know what I’m doing. With this one, there was a lot more freedom to make something as big as I wanted. And there was less control, because I didn’t get to take anything home with me. I couldn’t take the mixes that we did that day home and listen to them a million times. That was a big benefit of not doing it all myself. I think I always write in a melodramatic way, and I’ve always wanted it to feel really big instrumentally. This was my chance to really do all of that. I can’t help but imagine you making these songs in a sprawling forest. You’re from the Pacific Northwest and still live in that area, so I want to ask you specifically about the sounds of growing up there. Did the things you hear inspire the way you create your own sound now? Yeah, definitely. There’s so much vast nature, even in the middle of the city, and the artists that I was listening to when I was growing up were very influenced by the Pacific Northwest. They were very Portland-esque artists. So that evolved and passed itself onto me. But the sound and feeling of the coast of Oregon felt so important to the making of this album. I have always felt very moved by it. It’s such a crazy thing to exist in the same place as us. The ocean feels like such a creature, or a beast. And there’s a lot of oceans, but the ones in Oregon are so dark and windy. The ocean is terrifying, really. There’s sharp rocks jutting out. I also spent a lot of time in Santa Cruz growing up, and that’s a completely different feeling of watching the ocean. It’s a completely different vibe. In Oregon, there’s the ocean, and then the tree-line going above it. It’s so daunting and so intimidating but so beautiful. Those landscapes absolutely inspire belief in something bigger, to reference back to the idea of spirituality. You cite the ocean as a specific influence for this record. For your last projects, was there a different aspect of nature that drew you in more specifically? When I think about Guard Dog, it feels more inspired by the forest. It feels more claustrophobic. Where I was living at the time, for part of the recording process, was my parents’ house in suburbia. There were a lot of trees, but it felt isolated: far less open than an ocean. It’s funny, because when I was recording this past album, I was literally in the forest. That’s where I was recording. A barn in the forest. So when I think about recording Guard Dog, I was living partially in downtown Portland, so the sounds of the elevator rattling my whole building are literally in some of the songs. You can hear it. Making these two albums was not the same process at all. It’s so beautiful and metaphorical to compare these two landscapes with your career trajectory. When you think about how you were introduced to music and your relationship with it now, what comes up for you? When writing music, I was trying to fit into genres or imitate artists when I was a teenager. Growing up and listening to a lot of folk and very Pacific Northwest artists made me, at first, not want to make music like that. It wasn’t necessarily a conscious thought but it was like, that’s what my parents listen to. I wanted to be Grimes. But at the same time, my dad was the one that showed me Grimes, so I was still influenced by them. It took me a while to figure out what I actually wanted to write about. There’s also a way of writing songs that I can’t really escape. Maybe that has to do with the age that I’m at. I still feel very new at all of this. Of course you’d be influenced by all of that. It’s no secret that right now, the world is confusing and painful and very complex. There has never quite been a time in history that wasn’t strenuous and complicated, but how does it feel to be an artist right now? What does it feel like to be creating something that unites people in any way, big or small? There’s so many different conflicting feelings involved with making art: with doing anything, but with making art specifically. This job is something that I have always wanted to be doing, but I’m always focused on doing my job. All the time. It’s hard to feel like you’re actually doing anything useful, but I think a lot of people might feel that regardless of what they do. And it’s so bizarre that so much of music is social media. So much of the news is social media. Everything is everywhere all the time. It’s overwhelming, as is everything. But I have always believed in the power of art and the inherent political power that music has, even if I don’t feel like I know how to make something that has the direct intention of being political. It’s a big and heavy task, but making art in general is also always influenced by politics and by the world that you’re existing in. There’s no way to make art that isn’t political. My lived experience and my life in general, whether that’s the privileges I’ve had or the things I’ve had to overcome, are all political in some way. It’s a part of all the music that I make. Searows recommends: Deftones Being an iPad baby Disney channel original movies Walking Pop rock musicals from the early 2000s This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Elena Saviano.
‘I can’t hold her little hands’: Israel flattens apartment building in Tabriz
This Iranian synagogue was bombed by Israel
At This Minnesota Prison, A New Housing Experiment Transformed Life Inside
The outdated facility is slated for closure in 2029—but many still housed there now benefit from greater autonomy and rehabilitative programs.
The outdated facility is slated for closure in 2029—but many still housed there now benefit from greater autonomy and rehabilitative programs. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Sarah Lahm.
This Arbor Day, Let’s Move Past the Myths
We need policies that enhance water supplies, reduce wildfire risk, and support rural economies.
We need policies that enhance water supplies, reduce wildfire risk, and support rural economies. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Laurie Wayburn.
Polymarket & Kalshi: Are people profiting off Iran war?
[Michael Parenti] The Sword and the Dollar
U.S. foreign policy objectives often conflict with its professed values. On the one hand, Washington affirms its dedication to democracy and human rights, and on the other, it supports dictators and repressive regimes. Do the interests of large U.S.-ba...
U.S. foreign policy objectives often conflict with its professed values. On the one hand, Washington affirms its dedication to democracy and human rights, and on the other, it supports dictators and repressive regimes. Do the interests of large U.S.-based multinational corporations factor into the formulation of foreign policy? What role does the world’s most powerful military play? Is there an intersection between the sword and the dollar? Recorded at Washington State University. This content originally appeared on AlternativeRadio and was authored by info@alternativeradio.org.
Reporter assaulted by individuals at Minnesota immigration protest
Savanah Hernandez, a reporter for Frontlines TPUSA, suffered a concussion after she was attacked by a group of people attending an immigration protest in the Minneapolis suburb of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on April 11, 2026.The demonstration was one of...
Savanah Hernandez, a reporter for Frontlines TPUSA, suffered a concussion after she was attacked by a group of people attending an immigration protest in the Minneapolis suburb of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on April 11, 2026. The demonstration was one of many nationwide protests that day against increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, including in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and shot and wounded another man. Both the city of Minneapolis and the state have since sued the Trump administration, arguing the unprecedented deployment of federal agents violates constitutional rights. Hernandez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was reporting for Frontlines TPUSA, the online news arm of the conservative activist organization Turning Point USA. While Hernandez filmed the demonstration outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, several people attending the protest surrounded her after learning she was affiliated with TPUSA. Hernandez told the group she was only there to observe and record, but the situation began to escalate. “The crowd became increasingly more volatile,” Hernandez told the Tracker. “They just heard the name, ‘Turning Point USA,’ and that’s what got them very aggressive with me.” Hernandez filmed as people blew whistles and blowhorns at her. One woman blew a whistle inches from her ear, and someone on a megaphone yelled, “Get the fuck out of here.” “Stop. Leave me alone,” Hernandez said in the video. “People are being extremely aggressive here.” Moments later, Hernandez was shoved to the ground, her camera jostling. This is now the second time I have been mobbed and assaulted for filming a protest on U.S. streets. Today these Minneapolis protesters were chanting that they were “ANTIFA” and proved it, by mobbing and beating me for reporting on a public protest: pic.twitter.com/EOhyg9AFME — Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) April 11, 2026 Hernandez pushed away another woman who aggressively approached her. “Get off of me,” Hernandez said. “Stop touching me.” Hernandez is then tackled to the ground. Hernandez is seen being shoved by a man in one video. Another shows a woman pushing her into a fence. Hernandez throws a punch at the woman in a third clip. I'm waking up with a headache and stiff neck this morning due to how violently anti-ICE activist, Chris Ostroushko, shoved me down yesterday. A second angle shows that he had to be held back by 5 men as he continued to charge at me. I didn't speak a word to him all day yet he… pic.twitter.com/LjDx1GMLnF — Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) April 12, 2026 “I realized these people were not going to let me leave,” Hernandez said. “I was basically like, ‘I feel like I’m just going to have to fight my way out of this.’” Eventually, police intervened and escorted Hernandez away. Hernandez’s glasses were broken after the encounter. A doctor diagnosed her with a concussion. She also suffered sprains, bruising and a stiff neck. Her legs were scraped, and her neck and back were sore. A Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office report shows that Paige Ostroushko and her father, Christopher, were arrested in connection with the assault. The sheriff submitted charges to the county attorney, which are now under review for potential charging. The report lists a third offender, Deyanna Ostroushko, who has not been arrested. Chris Ostroushko told the New York Post that he was defending his wife and daughter, who claimed they were acting in self-defense after Hernandez attacked them. “We are absolutely not violent people,” he said. “In fact, we tend to shy away from it.” I was scheduled for multiple media interviews today, but I canceled all of them. Yesterday, after my interviews I felt drained and realize I need time to recover. I’ve been dealing with headaches, dizziness and lightheadedness and was informed by a doctor that I do have a… — Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) April 15, 2026 Hernandez said she felt targeted by the group, who she believes attacked her to make sure she couldn’t do her job. “I would like to see the First Amendment protected more in the United States of America,” Hernandez told the Tracker. “I would like to see the law applied equally, so that journalists and reporters are protected no matter which city they’re in, because this type of violence against people has been happening for far too long.” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon confirmed that the FBI was also investigating the assault. Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the federal investigation as well. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Genocide Doesn’t Happen Without Language to Incite It
US establishment media seemed unwilling or unable (but likely both) to narrate a more complex, historically accurate account of the war on Gaza.
This is a lightly edited excerpt from Robin Anderson’s The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza, published by OR Books. Intercept (4/15/24) How is information made legitimate, and when is it appropriate for journalists to introduce skepticism? What happens when only one side of a conflict is given the legitimate voice, always repeated and rarely questioned, even when those sources have proven many times to have promulgated lies? Military studies scholars and analysts understand that there is always a long genesis of historical, political and economic factors that can eventually erupt into conflict. In many ways, US establishment media seemed unwilling or unable (but likely both) to narrate a more complex, historically accurate account of the war on Gaza. The Intercept (4/15/24) reported that editorial directives at the New York Times and CNN, two of the most important news sources in the US, advised reporters to avoid certain “taboo” words, such as “genocide” and “massacre.” Yet between October 7 and November 24, 2023, the Times used the word “massacre” 53 times—referring to Israelis killed by Palestinians, but only once to refer to a Palestinian killed by Israel (Intercept, 1/9/24). From November onward, as deaths in Gaza piled up, the Times habitually avoided using emotionally fraught terms for Palestinians. Another term, “ethnic cleansing,” was also barred from use, along with “refugee camps” and “occupied territories.” As the Times source who leaked the directives said, “You are basically taking the occupation out of the coverage, which is the actual core of the conflict.” US news outlets were crippled by these verbal restrictions, incapable of offering an accurate explanation of what was happening in Gaza by imposing such constraints on humanitarian language, and international principles and laws. Islamophobic tropes FAIR.org (5/9/24) Media frames are based on underlying assumptions, articulated through familiar tropes that appear unquestioned in language and representation. Some stories are recognizable as reflections of beliefs and myths, and others are accurate renderings when accompanied by on-the-ground documentation. Seasoned journalists entrusted to cover such a monumental conflict seemed not to be schooled in the differences. They failed to identify the history and uses of atrocity stories as propaganda, and showed no awareness of the use of Islamophobic tropes such as the “brutish knife-wielding Arab terrorist,” or the West’s long history of Orientalism and the hypersexualized Arab male, as identified by Edward Said. Establishment media applied a “lawlessness” trope, identified by Rebecca Solnit (A Paradise Built in Hell, 2009) as a dictate of convention to blame the victims of humanitarian disasters, when in fact in such crises, she argued, communities come together to help one another. The lawlessness frame was used to direct the causes of starvation away from Israel’s engineered famine, and point the finger of blame at starving Palestinians, who were being shot by IDF snipers as they looked for food. By April 2024, when police were called to break up student encampments, media relied on another powerful framing device, complete with its attendant language, to condone police violence against students at colleges and universities, first at Columbia, then at other campuses around the country. Campuses, they said, had been infiltrated by “outside agitators” (FAIR.org, 5/9/24). Yet the critical debate articulated by student protests was part of American public discourse at the time. Though they were violently attacked by pro-Israel protesters and US law enforcement, students helped move American sentiment about the genocide to the center of cultural and political debate. By the fall of 2024, students would be hit by a wave of repression and attacks on their civil liberties and rights to freedom of expression. Were these stereotypes taken into consideration when deciding which stories would be told, which talking points would be followed, and which perspectives would be ignored? Many of the narratives we are left with, used to explain this so-called “Israel/Palestine conflict,” are familiar media constructs and simply cannot explain a genocide. Language of confusion OR Books (2026) In so many ways, big media failed to provide accurate information about Israel’s bombing attacks and their consequences on the people in Gaza. They improvised a language of confusion, denial and justification. A combination of media tropes and frames, together with verbal inventions, downplayed Israel’s increasingly brutal genocidal violence, along with the hollow echoes that explained away every military act of violence, as the media served as “stenographers to power.” These strategies facilitated the continuation of a genocide. The failure to accurately cover the destruction of Gaza was inimical to the basic professional canons of journalism. Genocide does not happen without a language to incite it. From collective punishment to ethnic cleansing, and the destruction of infrastructure to the withholding of food, water and medical care, Israel continually committed war crimes on a much greater scale than the initial Hamas attacks. Such acts depended on the demonization of an entire people, and the undervaluing of Palestinian life was a major feature of US reporting. In Gaza, in addition to dismantling civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, Israel also carried out the destruction of cultural heritage sites, universities, schools and mosques, acts of destruction understood to deliberately eliminate an entire group of people defined by their ethnicity, religion, culture and identity. These are the crimes of genocide. Yet the words associated with these crimes were rarely if ever used in establishment media reporting on Israel’s attacks on Gaza. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Robin Andersen.
Photographer pushed, hit with baton at LA immigration protest
Independent photographer Jonny Morales was shoved by police and jabbed in the ribs with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.The protest, which included a few dozen participa...
Independent photographer Jonny Morales was shoved by police and jabbed in the ribs with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025. Morales told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was photographing the protest outside the detention center when police forced protesters to leave and began making targeted arrests. Officers then gave conflicting directions to members of the press. One directed the reporters to the sidewalk, while another threatened the media with arrest for staying. While standing on the sidewalk with other reporters, Morales was pushed by an officer, who also struck him with his baton. “Because of that interaction, I didn’t feel safe,” Morales told the Tracker. “That was just really scary and intimidating.” Morales, who was carrying gear and wearing a vest that identified him as press, said one officer told him that he would be considered a protester because he did not have a press credential. “I’m an independent, I’m considered press, I’m protected under state law,” Morales told police, who he said ignored his assertions. California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police during demonstrations, and does not require journalists to wear credentials to be considered press. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections. After leaving the protest, Morales said his ribs were sore and red. Other journalists were also shoved and hit during the scrum, impeding their ability to report. “I was forced to stop documenting because I was concerned about my well-being and my friends’ well-being,” Morales said. In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.” The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally two weeks earlier — which resulted in at least 17 press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed. “The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” 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.
Getting called a dog by Iran’s military leader
This content originally appeared on VICE News and was authored by VICE News.
NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé arrested at anti-eviction protest
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 23, 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 – April 23, 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 – April 23, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
After three-week strike, JBS concedes to meatpacking workers
<img width="1024" height="710" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266914712-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C710&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Maria Lechuga, who has worked at JBS for 10 years, chants Sí, se puede with her fellow striking workers on the picket line during the first day of a strike by UFCW Local 7 at the JBS Beef Production Facility in Greeley on Monday, March 16, 2026. Photo by Brice Tucker/MediaNews Group/Greeley Tribune via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342988" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/after-three-week-strike-jbs-concedes-to-meatpacking-workers/jbs-beef-production-facility-strike" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266914712-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1775&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1775" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"Greeley Tribune","camera":"Canon EOS R3","caption":"GREELEY, CO - MARCH 16: Maria Lechuga, who has worked at JBS for 10 years, chants S\u00ed, se puede with her fellow striking workers on the picket line during the first day of a strike by UFCW Local 7 at the JBS Beef Production Facility in Greeley on Monday, March 16, 2026. (Photo by Brice Tucker/MediaNews Group/Greeley Tribune via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1773655691","copyright":"Copyright - 2026 Greeley Tribune, MediaNews Group.","focal_length":"200","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.0003125","title":"JBS Beef Production Facility Strike","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="JBS Beef Production Facility Strike" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Maria Lechuga, who has worked at JBS for 10 years, chants Sí, se puede with her fellow striking workers on the picket line during the first day of a strike by UFCW Local 7 at the JBS Beef Production Facility in Greeley on Monday, March 16, 2026. Photo by Brice Tucker/MediaNews Group/Greeley Tribune via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266914712-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C541&ssl=1"> Last month, 3,800 meatpacking workers in UFCW Local 7 in Greeley, Colorado launched the industry’s first major strike in 40 years.
<img width="1024" height="710" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266914712-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C710&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Maria Lechuga, who has worked at JBS for 10 years, chants Sí, se puede with her fellow striking workers on the picket line during the first day of a strike by UFCW Local 7 at the JBS Beef Production Facility in Greeley on Monday, March 16, 2026. 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(Photo by Brice Tucker/MediaNews Group/Greeley Tribune via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1773655691","copyright":"Copyright - 2026 Greeley Tribune, MediaNews Group.","focal_length":"200","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.0003125","title":"JBS Beef Production Facility Strike","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="JBS Beef Production Facility Strike" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Maria Lechuga, who has worked at JBS for 10 years, chants Sí, se puede with her fellow striking workers on the picket line during the first day of a strike by UFCW Local 7 at the JBS Beef Production Facility in Greeley on Monday, March 16, 2026. Photo by Brice Tucker/MediaNews Group/Greeley Tribune via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266914712-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C541&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="158" data-attachment-id="276698" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/a-once-in-a-generation-chance-to-revive-the-uaw-is-coming/labor-notes-masthead-logo-3" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?fit=2026%2C412&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2026,412" 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="Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?fit=780%2C158&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=780%2C158&ssl=1" alt="Labor Notes logo" class="wp-image-276698 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C208&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=300%2C61&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=768%2C156&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=1536%2C312&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=1200%2C244&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=1568%2C319&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=400%2C81&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?resize=706%2C144&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3.jpg?w=2026&ssl=1 2026w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labor-Notes-Masthead-Logo-3-1024x208.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This story originally appeared in Labor Notes on April 23, 2026. It is shared here with permission. Last month, 3,800 meatpacking workers in UFCW Local 7 in Greeley, Colorado launched the industry’s first major strike in 40 years. The three-week unfair labor practice strike was the first time workers had ever struck the JBS Greeley beef packing plant, one of the company’s largest. ULP charges against JBS included the illegal termination of a member of the bargaining committee and surveillance and intimidation of workers for participation in union activity. With 57 languages spoken under one roof, the strike united the plant’s largely immigrant workforce to take on the biggest meatpacking company in the world. The local had spent nearly a year in negotiations following the contract’s expiration last July. JBS returned to the bargaining table after the strike—and when the dust settled, the company had conceded to almost every demand. WON PROTECTION In addition to $1.50 an hour in wage increases over the short two-year agreement, workers won a groundbreaking policy on personal protective equipment, challenging JBS’s previous system of garnishing wages to replace necessary PPE when it was lost, damaged, or stolen. JBS was charging workers up to $1,100 to pay for mesh vests, gloves, arm guards, and knife sharpeners. “My mesh apron had a hole in it. I had to go two months wearing the same apron,” said Chris Ready, who has worked in the slaughter department at the plant for one year. “I’ve had my equipment stolen,” Ready said. “I borrowed knives until I had to buy my own… I’ve had to buy two mesh gloves so far, that’s $200. It was annoying, but it felt like there wasn’t anything I could do. I needed that equipment to work, so I had to pay for it.” “It makes your job more dangerous if you’re not ready to pay for new equipment,” said Noah, who has also worked at the plant for one year. He declined to give his last name. Now, workers will be reimbursed for all out of pocket PPE expenses they paid over the past year. A new policy will establish a better tracking system for replacing PPE; until that system is set up, members won’t be charged for any needed replacements. “The strike was about showing the company that the workers were strong in that plant, and showing the whole world who runs the plant: the workers,” said Local 7 President Kim Cordova. The Greeley workers have struck a blow to the heart of the modern jungle: oligopoly control by the “Big Four” meat processors who have colluded for years to suppress worker wages, depress the livelihoods of cattle ranchers, and raise prices for consumers. JBS is the largest and arguably the most predatory of these companies; the others are Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef. THROWING A WRENCH Organizing 3,800 workers across dozens of languages was no small feat. Building up to the strike, a system of union representatives, walking stewards (shop stewards who are paid full-time by the employer to carry out steward duties), and 90 picket captains laid the foundation for a united picket line. A communication system via text, email, and social media, translated into the most commonly spoken languages—Spanish, Burmese, French, and Haitian Creole—kept members informed. Pre-strike meetings were held to register members for strike benefits, while also informing members of their rights to picket. Unity around demands, plus widely and deeply felt grievances against the company kept members steadfast during the strike. The picket line was filled with joyful chanting, singing and dancing to music from around the world, buoyed by the support that flowed in from the community, other unions, and supporters from afar. UFCW members and staff from as far away as Boston, Minneapolis, and Seattle came to support the picket line. Industry insiders held that it was not the optimal time to strike in beef processing, because of excess capacity in plants due to a national cattle shortage. That is due in turn to collusion among the Big Four to depress cattle prices, driving farmers out of business. “The producers are not breeding cattle because the prices are so low,” said Cordova. Some thought that JBS would welcome the opportunity to take some production offline, divert cattle to other plants, and patiently wait out the strike. However, cattle cannot be costlessly diverted. In this case it involved shipping thousands of animals across the Great Plains. Cattle are purchased in advance, and then must be slaughtered quickly once they are transported, according to USDA regulations. JBS was only able to divert roughly 40 percent of cattle to other JBS facilities hundreds of miles away in Utah, Texas, and Nebraska. Then JBS had to pay workers overtime to process the additional cattle. The other 60 percent of cattle were sent to competitors. With the Greeley plant essentially idle, and the costs of diverting cattle, JBS lost substantial revenue during the strike. The plant typically processes 5,000-6,000 cattle per day, earning the company daily revenue of $20-$30 million. The company flew in management to try to run the plant, but they were only able to kill a small fraction of the cattle. Fabrication—the plant’s main department, where workers cut beef into smaller, sellable pieces—couldn’t run at all. Workers estimated it takes hundreds of workers to keep the fabrication chain going. JBS struggled to use scab labor, because it was difficult to recruit, and training meatpacking workers takes over a week before they can set foot on the production floor. Weeks after the strike ended, JBS was still feeling the effects of the work stoppage, as production in beef processing requires time to ramp back up. JBS also didn’t know if the workers would go back on strike at some point. “We hurt them big time,” Cordova said. The strike was originally planned for two weeks, and subsequently extended into a third week. Why not an open-ended strike? Cordova argued that by depressing the price of cattle, a longer strike would play into the hands of the Big Four, who profit from the difference between what they pay for livestock and what they ultimately charge consumers for processed meat. “Prices are at a 70-year low and there’s a cattle shortage, because of the Big Four’s oligopoly power,” said Cordova. “It’s hard to hurt JBS because of excess capacity, but a shorter strike was actually more damaging because you cannot shift cattle.” NATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS Last year, Local 7 broke away from national negotiations between JBS and the UFCW International, which covered beef and pork plants in 12 other locals across the country. The national agreement was ratified last May. It marked a step towards greater contract coordination in the union’s meatpacking division. In breaking away, Local 7 cited the higher cost of living in Colorado and different contract priorities, such as protective equipment. But Local 7 has also traditionally set the pattern among JBS locals, with stronger protections in its contract. The gains from the strike further cemented this, for the most part. In addition to the new standard-setting on protective equipment, the Local 7 agreement includes higher wage increases ($1.50 an hour over two years versus $0.90 an hour over two years in the national agreement), lower healthcare costs, and more generous sick leave and vacation policies. JBS attempted to polarize the local’s decision to retain a 401(k) plan rather than join the nationally negotiated pension plan. After the strike, JBS claimed in a press release that Local 7 “chose to eliminate the historic pension benefit.” National negotiations in 2025 did establish a new Taft-Hartley pension plan, a Variable Annuity Pension Plan (VAPP), the first in many decades in meatpacking. As part of the agreement, JBS eliminated the 401(k) plan in most locals, with the exception of two locals which gave current members the option of sticking with the 401(k) if desired. While Local 7 did choose to retain the existing 401(k) plan with a 50 percent match on the first four percent rather than join the national pension plan, Local 7 also did not previously have a pension benefit to “eliminate.” A 401(k) plan is generally inferior to a VAPP, which is in turn inferior to a traditional defined benefit plan—although it depends on how much money the employer puts in. The JBS VAPP features low employer contributions, starting at $0.10 per hour worked in the first year of the agreement and increasing $0.10 per year after that. Eligible hours are capped at 36 hours per week, although many workers work more. Under the VAPP, assuming employer contributions of $0.40 per hour (theoretically reached in 2029 under the current contract) a full-time employee working 36 hours a week for 20 years would earn a monthly retirement benefit of $262.50. However, locals could fight for more pension contribution increases in future contracts. The UFCW had unique leverage during national negotiations, while JBS was struggling to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly traded company. Some speculated that the public scrutiny of JBS’s labor practices in advance of its initial public offering pushed JBS to agree to the pension. The IPO had long been held up by SEC concerns about corruption, although watchdogs questioned whether the company’s $5 million contribution to Trump’s inauguration fund greased the way to approval. National negotiations at JBS were led by the head of the UFCW’s meatpacking and food processing division, Mark Lauritsen, who was narrowly defeated in his bid for president of the UFCW during closed-doors elections by the International Executive Board last May. This month, Lauritsen announced his retirement. Local 7’s contract expires on April 30, 2028. The 12 locals who took part in national negotiations still have varying contract expiration dates, ranging from 2026 to 2029. FIGHTING THE BIG FOUR Both Local 7 and the UFCW International are now fighting for better legal protections for meatpacking workers across the industry. A Congressional hearing headed by the Monopoly Busters Caucus is set to be held in Greeley in May to call attention to the national crisis created by the Big Four for consumers, meatpacking workers, and cattle ranchers. The UFCW International has also recently launched a letter writing campaign, sending 42,000 public comments to urge the USDA to resist a deregulation push that would increase line speeds in pork and poultry processing. Additionally, Local 7 is calling on Colorado state lawmakers to pass a law requiring meatpacking employers with more than 500 employees to guarantee reasonable bathroom breaks. At the JBS Greeley plant, workers say bathroom breaks have always been an issue. “They don’t like sending people to the bathrooms—they’ll keep you on the line until your break,” Ready said. But using the bathroom during your break turns what is supposed to be rest time into a race against the clock. “Our first break is supposed to be 15 minutes, but it’s more like seven or eight. You have to take off all your equipment, that’s two or three minutes. Then you have to put your equipment back on, another two or three minutes.” In the next few years, several locals will return to the bargaining table with JBS, opening up the potential for future coordination. In 2028, Local 7 and Minnesota Local 663 will both negotiate new agreements. Caitlyn Clark is a national organizer at Essential Workers for Democracy (www.ew4d.org). Lisa Xu is a Labor Notes staff writer and organizer. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Caitlyn Clark and Lisa Xu.
Middle East war: Concerns grow over vital raw minerals Lebanon: French peacekeeper dies following recent attack Largest vaccine catch-up campaign reaches 18 million children
Middle East war: Concerns grow over vital raw minerals Lebanon: French peacekeeper dies following recent attack Largest vaccine catch-up campaign reaches 18 million children This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Dianne Penn.
‘Territorial theft with better branding’: Israel keeps advancing its ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 22, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Israel’s gradual advancement of its “yellow line” to occupy more territory in the Gaza Strip is fueling conce...
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Palestinian families set out for areas they consider safer taking with them whatever belongings they could carry after the Israeli army expanded the so-called 'Yellow Line', where its forces are stationed, by placing new concrete blocks and carrying out attacks in the area in violation of the cease-fire in Gaza Strip on November 21, 2025. Photo by Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-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="342979" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/territorial-theft-with-better-branding-israel-keeps-advancing-its-yellow-line-in-gaza/palestinians-flee-after-israels-violation-of-the-cease-fire" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Anadolu via Getty Images","camera":"","caption":"GAZA CITY, GAZA - NOVEMBER 21: Palestinian families set out for areas they consider safer taking with them whatever belongings they could carry after the Israeli army expanded the so-called 'Yellow Line', where its forces are stationed, by placing new concrete blocks and carrying out attacks in the area in violation of the cease-fire in Gaza Strip on November 21, 2025. (Photo by Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"2025 Anadolu","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Palestinians flee after Israel's violation of the cease-fire","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Palestinians flee after Israel’s violation of the cease-fire" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Palestinian families set out for areas they consider safer taking with them whatever belongings they could carry after the Israeli army expanded the so-called ‘Yellow Line’, where its forces are stationed, by placing new concrete blocks and carrying out attacks in the area in violation of the cease-fire in Gaza Strip on November 21, 2025. Photo by Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2247179135-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 April 22, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Israel’s gradual advancement of its “yellow line” to occupy more territory in the Gaza Strip is fueling concerns that it is seeking to effectively annex and colonize the majority of the territory without any formal agreement. The Guardian reported on Wednesday that Israel has been steadily pushing the truce line to take control of more Palestinian territory in the six months since a “ceasefire” was reached in October. The yellow line drawn on the ceasefire maps had Israeli troops in control of about 53% of Gaza’s territory, cramming nearly 2 million displaced Palestinians into a territory less than half the size of the one they inhabited before. But an analysis by Forensic Architecture shows Israel has unilaterally shifted the line westward over the past six months to the point where it controlled about 58% of the strip by December in an occupation zone that continues to grow. Palestinians living in Gaza reportedly woke up to learn that large yellow concrete blocks denoting the ceasefire line had suddenly moved and that they were now living in a free-fire area, where the Israeli military considers any Palestinian person or vehicle a legitimate target. The Associated Press found in January that at least 77 Palestinians have been shot on sight when they’ve found themselves on the wrong side of the yellow line or even just near it, even though the line’s boundaries are ill-defined and fluid. They are among more than 730 Palestinians who have been killed since the “ceasefire” began in October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has accused Israel of thousands of violations. According to The Guardian, some displaced people, such as those who lived near the Salah al-Din road, which spans the length of Gaza from north to south, suddenly found themselves targeted by Israeli forces, who also began demolishing homes and other buildings and constructing new ones. Though the yellow line was supposed to be set up as a temporary measure under US President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” for Gaza before control of the strip is transferred back to Palestinians, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Eyal Zamir described it as a “new border” with Gaza back in December, around the time it reportedly began to move. Eyal Weizman, an Israeli architect and the head of Forensic Architecture’s research agency, recently wrote that the IDF appears to be turning this portion of Gaza into a permanent occupation zone. On architecture as the continuation of genocide by other means… https://t.co/e9Y8NpvclF — eyal weizman (@weizman_eyal) April 13, 2026 The group found that seven new military outposts have been built along the yellow line, including one on what was once a cemetery. While these areas began as “piles of earth and rubble” organized into crude enclosures, Weizman said that in recent months the roads leading to them have been asphalted, electricity poles have been erected, and buildings and communications towers have gone up inside the bases. “The bases no longer appear to be the provisional arrangements that Trump’s ceasefire plan claims them to be, but permanent instruments of occupation,” he wrote. “The newly paved roads connect the bases to a matrix of control that is linked to Israel’s road network and communications grid.” He noted that Israel’s illegal settler movement, which has several powerful representatives in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been “lobbying hard for the Israeli government to start constructing settlements within the vastly expanded buffer zone.” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in December that Israel would “never leave Gaza” and spoke of plans to turn IDF military outposts into civilian settlements similar to those that have gradually taken over the West Bank through the violent displacement of Palestinian residents. Ahmad Ibsais, Palestinian American law student and author of the newsletter State of Siege, wrote for the Al-Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network that by drawing a yellow line, Israel is seeking to consolidate its control over Palestinian land without formally annexing it—in other words, “annexation without legal burden.” “Borders are typically established through bilateral agreements, adjudication, or mutual recognition under international law,” he wrote. “By contrast, the so-called Yellow Line in Gaza functions as a de facto military demarcation associated with ceasefire arrangements and enforced through Israeli operational control.” “It shapes civilian movement and territorial control without constituting a formally delimited boundary,” he continued. “In effect, it constitutes territorial theft with better branding, operationalizing US President Donald Trump’s plan for the continued colonization of Gaza.” Mapped the IDF's newly declared "Forward Defense Zone" in south Lebanon. Its maritime boundary fully absorbs Lebanon's Qana gas field, whose exploration rights were explicitly guaranteed under the 2022 US-brokered maritime border agreement. More maps in this thread https://t.co/goaRBHQkqX pic.twitter.com/pGsm18nt5e — Ahmad Baydoun (@weatherwar) April 19, 2026 Israel declared a similar yellow line about 5-10 kilometers into Lebanese territory, giving the IDF effective control over around 55 towns and villages. The military has reduced many homes and entire villages south of this line to rubble in what Katz has described as a “Gaza model” being applied to Lebanon. Assistant editor Maya Rosen recently wrote for Jewish Currents that the policy of conquering and settling Lebanon has become “mainstream” in Israeli politics and enjoys broad public support. Ahmad Baydoun, an architect and open-source intelligence researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, has warned that with this land grab, Israel was seeking to take control of the valuable Qana Gas Field, which is estimated to be capable of producing between $20 billion-$40 billion worth of natural gas exports for Israel. In 2022, a maritime agreement brokered by the US established that control of the field belonged to Lebanon. Like in Gaza, the Israeli military has forbidden the more than 600,000 Lebanese inhabitants of villages below the line or within a newly established “buffer zone” from returning indefinitely. Katz has said they’ll be allowed to return once the “safety and security of the residents of the north [of Israel] is ensured.” Given that Israeli settler groups have already begun mapping out new settlements and advertising plots of land for sale in southern Lebanon, Weizman said Katz was making what is by design “an impossible demand” meant to entrench the land grab. “This exemplifies the circular logic of Zionist settler-colonialism: settlements are built to mark and protect the state’s border, but that makes them vulnerable to attack, and so a buffer zone is established to protect them,” he said. “Afterward, this buffer zone is itself settled to mark and protect the newly expanded borders, at which point another buffer zone becomes necessary.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Stephen Prager.
On Monday May 11 at 4pm ET at the Gaslit Nation Salon, get ready for a big peek behind the curtain. To celebrate Andrea's birthday, we're starting that day's salon with a production of the first 15 pages or so of one of her antifa screenplays. It's based on a story longtime Gaslit Nation listeners may recognize. And we'll leave it there. To get your ticket and support the show, join our community of listeners at Patreon.com/Gaslit, get all episodes ad free, bonus shows, exclusive invites, and more. Thank you to everyone who supports the show!
On Monday May 11 at 4pm ET at the Gaslit Nation Salon, get ready for a big peek behind the curtain. To celebrate Andrea's birthday, we're starting that day's salon with a production of the first 15 pages or so of one of her antifa screenplays. It's based on a story longtime Gaslit Nation listeners may recognize. And we'll leave it there. To get your ticket and support the show, join our community of listeners at Patreon.com/Gaslit, get all episodes ad free, bonus shows, exclusive invites, and more. Thank you to everyone who supports the show! This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
How Democrats paved the way for Trump’s Iran war
CPJ calls for urgent international investigation into Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil
New York, April 23, 2026—Israel’s failure to allow medical crews access to injured Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil in time to save her may constitute a war crime, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday. Khalil, a reporter for the privately owned local daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, was on assignment documenting the aftermath of attacks in...
New York, April 23, 2026—Israel’s failure to allow medical crews access to injured Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil in time to save her may constitute a war crime, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday. Khalil, a reporter for the privately owned local daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, was on assignment documenting the aftermath of attacks in southern Lebanon when she and freelance photojournalist Zeinab Faraj sought shelter in a building after a <a href="https://aawsat.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A/5265358-%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86">strike killed two civilians in a vehicle nearby. The building the journalists took cover in was then directly hit, trapping them under rubble for hours. Multiple <a href="https://www.facebook.com/aljadeedtv/posts/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%AF-%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%85-%D8%A5%D8%B9%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B0%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%84-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-/1548341960189172/">credible <a href="https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/breaking-news/927034/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%80lbci-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%82/ar">reports indicate that ongoing shelling and direct fire at ambulances prevented emergency teams from reaching them in time. Colleagues of Khalil, who managed to contact the journalist while she was trapped, confirmed to CPJ that she was in good health after the first strike, but was later found dead when limited access was finally granted to the Red Cross. Faraj remains critically injured. “This is not the first time that Israel has prevented emergency services from reaching journalists injured in their strikes,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Journalists are civilians and protected under international law. Israel’s blatant disregard for such norms — and the international community’s failure to hold them accountable — is abhorrent.” Under international law, attacks against civilians are prohibited, and all injured persons must be respected, protected from ill-treatment, and provided with medical care without discrimination. Willfully killing, torturing, or willfully causing great suffering, for example, by the deliberate denial of medical care to wounded civilians, is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, and constitutes a war crime. Israel has previously prevented journalists from receiving medical care, resulting in their deaths. On December 15, 2023, Samer Abu Daqqa, camera operator for the Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Arabic was injured alongside veteran journalist and Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh while covering the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Al Jazeera documented that Israeli forces prevented rescue workers from reaching the crew, leaving Abu Daqqa to bleed to death for approximately five hours. CPJ has documented a growing pattern of targeted Israeli attacks in Lebanon, where 15 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel since October 7, 2023. Khalil’s killing took place amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took hold on April 16. “The culture of impunity Israel continues to enjoy in Gaza, where there has been no accountability for the targeted killing of journalists, is fuelling a similar pattern in Lebanon, with little regard for international law, civilian life, and press freedom,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “The international community must conduct an immediate investigation into this killing and use all mechanisms available to hold Israel to account.” Al Akhbar is a daily Arabic language newspaper published in Beirut. It has been reported by numerous sources as being “pro-Hezbollah.” CPJ has documented at least nine other staff members for “pro-Hezbollah” media outlets, including Al-Mayadeen and Manar TV, that have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since October 7, 2023: Ali Shoaib, Fatima Ftouni, Suzan Khalil, Mohamed Sherri, Wissam Kassem, Ghassan Najjar, Mohammed Reda, Farah Omar, and Rabih Al Maamari. Under international humanitarian law, journalists, as civilians, are protected from direct and indiscriminate attack, regardless of the positions or affiliation of their media outlets, provided they do not directly participate in hostilities. There is no evidence that Khalil or Faraj were directly participating in hostilities. Reporting, documenting destruction, or expressing views — even sharply critical ones — does not strip journalists of their civilian protection. Khalil received numerous threats prior to her killing, including a reported death threat in September 2024, and public incitement against her by an Israeli military official days before her killing, leading to widespread accusations that she was deliberately targeted. The <a href="https://royanews.tv/news/380159/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%3A-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%A7-%D9%84%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%82%D8%B7-%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B7%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D9%88-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%84-%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%B1..-%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%88">reported obstruction of rescue operations, claimed by Lebanese government officials, constitute an additional grave violation of international humanitarian law. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
LAPD Deployed Drones to Spy on No Kings Protest
Shareholder Vote for Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal Won’t Be the Final Word on This Dangerous Mega-Merger
On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders voted to accept Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion bid to acquire the news and entertainment company. The merger of these two companies would create a media colossus with CBS, CNN, HBO, Nickelodeon...
On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders voted to accept Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion bid to acquire the news and entertainment company. The merger of these two companies would create a media colossus with CBS, CNN, HBO, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures — among other major media properties — all under one roof. The vote follows a week of protests against the deal led by a coalition of First Amendment advocates, unions, democracy defenders and even famous Hollywood actors and directors who say that the deal would give one company the power and incentives to raise prices, lay off thousands of workers and limit consumer options, while giving one family — the Ellisons — the power to shape public discourse to suit their political agenda and that of their allies in the Trump White House. Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron said: “Today, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted for their short-term financial gains, not for the public good. While shareholders voted against fat pay packages for departing executives — a symbolic rebuke, since the board doesn’t have to listen to them — they’ve opened the door to wholesale layoffs across the news and entertainment industry, more propaganda in news coverage, higher prices for consumers and fewer choices for audiences across the United States and around the world. But shareholders don’t get the final word. “That’s why we have antitrust enforcers and courts of law. With Trump officials cheering on this deal, state attorneys general must investigate this massive industry consolidation and step in to stop Paramount’s takeover. This mega-merger will diminish creativity and diversity in entertainment, weaken journalists’ ability to expose wrongdoing and hold those in power accountable and further endanger our democracy. It also concentrates far too much media power in the hands of one company and one family, the Ellisons. “This corrupt merger is far from a done deal. Just because Paramount shareholders won’t take a stand against billionaire and White House control of the media, it doesn’t mean we can’t. While Paramount is flaunting its corruption and fêting Trump officials, we’re standing with the workers and artists at the heart of the news and entertainment industries — and with the American public, which deserves more than an ever-shrinking circle of control over what they see, hear and read.” Background: April has seen widespread and growing popular opposition to the Paramount/WBD merger. Last week, nearly 4,000 professionals across the film and television industry signed an open letter declaring their opposition to the pending deal. On Wednesday, Free Press and the American Economic Liberties Project hosted a press call with former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney, former CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta and Oscar-winning director David Borenstein to detail the many reasons this deal should not go through and call on state attorneys general to investigate and oppose the merger. Free Press and allied organizations also delivered 171,000 signed petitions to Rob Bonta’s office, urging the California attorney general to investigate. On Thursday morning, protesters gathered with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Congressman Dan Goldman outside WBD’s New York City headquarters, where they urged action to stop this dangerous merger from going forward. In addition, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a statement via social media: “Today, as Warner Bros. and Paramount shareholders vote, New York City is on record: this merger should be stopped.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Industry Insider Seeks to Eviscerate U.S. Forest Service
As the country hurtles toward a potentially record-setting fire season, a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to drastically resize and restructure the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) would effectively eviscerate key research and prot...
As the country hurtles toward a potentially record-setting fire season, a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to drastically resize and restructure the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) would effectively eviscerate key research and protections for the nation’s public lands, according to a new report released today by Public Citizen. “Restructuring the Forest Service in this way will dramatically reduce its ability to conduct scientific research,” said Lois Parshley, research director with Public Citizen’s Climate Program and author of the report. “These relocations will undermine key data collection needed to understand climate change.” Schultz’s restructuring of the USFS would close two-thirds of the agency’s research stations, disrupting data collection on long-running experiments. The shift will reduce the agency’s ability to collect environmental data, weaken its capacity to track conditions, and hamper research that informs land management decisions. The agency’s headquarters, which have been located in Washington for more than a century, would be relocated to Salt Lake City, and approximately 260 employees have been informed they must relocate or lose their jobs—a move that echoes the first Trump administration’s relocation of the Bureau of Land Management to Grand Junction, Colorado. The two leaders at the center of the evisceration have longstanding conflicts with the USFS. Before Schultz’s appointment to lead the USFS, he worked at the Idaho Forest Group, one of the country’s largest lumber producers. Within months of taking office, Schultz began implementing policies aligned with positions he advocated as a timber industry representative. Michael Boren, the USDA’s Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, which oversees the agency, once faced a restraining order for allegedly buzzing a U.S. Forest Service trail crew at low altitude in a helicopter. Boren also ran afoul of the government by building a private airstrip on national recreation land and an unauthorized cabin on national forest land. “As an industry executive, Schultz advocated to reduce environmental reviews and more recently testified to Congress in support of an industry wish list,” said Parshley. “DOGE cuts and an early retirement program drove nearly a fifth of Forest Service employees to leave the agency last year. Fewer people are being asked to do more, at the same time as fire seasons are growing longer and forests are under mounting stress from climate change.” Read the full report here. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Dispatches from Project Censored: On Media and Politics
Clayton Weimers As World Press Freedom Day (May 3) nears, it’s a good time to step back and assess how journalists and news outlets are faring in our current media climate. President Donald Trump came back to the White House and picked up right where h...
Clayton Weimers As World Press Freedom Day (May 3) nears, it’s a good time to step back and assess how journalists and news outlets are faring in our current media climate. President Donald Trump came back to the White House and picked up right where he left off, insulting and… The post American Press Freedom on the Brink appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
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Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 23, 2026
Targeted Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil bombed and left to die by Israel
By Jeremy Loffredo of Drop Site News Prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil has been killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack by the Israeli military in the town of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Her employer, Al-Akhbar, confirmed the death of their correspondent on Wednesday evening. Khalil and Zeinab Faraj, a freelance photojournalist, were
By Jeremy Loffredo of Drop Site News Prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil has been killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack by the Israeli military in the town of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Her employer, Al-Akhbar, confirmed the death of their correspondent on Wednesday evening. Khalil and Zeinab Faraj, a freelance photojournalist, were both on assignment in southern Lebanon, reporting on recent attacks on the southern village of Bint Jbeil. READ MORE: What we know about Israel killing Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil Israeli attacks on journalists According to Al-Akhbar, which published a timeline of the events, the car they were driving behind was targeted by an Israeli drone at 2:45 pm, killing two men inside. Khalil and Faraj took shelter in a nearby house. At 2:50 pm, Khalil contacted her editors and family, according to Lebanon-based journalist Courtney Bonneau. News of the incident quickly spread, prompting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to put out a statement calling on the Red Cross to rescue the two journalists in coordination with the Lebanese Army and the United Nations. Israel strike Lebanese journalist in double-tap attack Video: The Star Refuge house bombed At 4:27 pm, the house where the two journalists were taking refuge was bombed by the Israeli military and contact with the journalists was lost, according to Al-Akhbar. Israel did not respond to requests for access, obstructing any rescue operation, according to a Lebanese military official speaking to Al Jazeera. The Red Cross was eventually granted limited access to the site, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which remained under active fire. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-126904 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amal-Khalil-Zeinab-Faraj-BeirutToday-500wide.png" alt="Amal Khalil, killed, and Zeinab Faraj (right), saved" width="500" height="394" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amal-Khalil-Zeinab-Faraj-BeirutToday-500wide.png 500w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amal-Khalil-Zeinab-Faraj-BeirutToday-500wide-300x236.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /> Amal Khalil, killed by Israeli forces, and Zeinab Faraj (right), saved by rescuers. Image: Beirut Today They were able to evacuate Faraj, who reportedly sustained critical head injuries, and to recover the bodies of two other civilians who were killed. But they were forced to withdraw before finding Khalil because of continued shelling and the direct firing on rescue crews and vehicles. The Red Cross vehicle that transported journalist Faraj to Tubnin Governmental Hospital was hit by Israeli gunfire, with bullet marks visible on the vehicle, according to the state-run National News Agency. The Red Cross was eventually able to return to the area after which Khalil was pronounced dead. “The repeated strikes on the same location, the targeting of an area where journalists were sheltering, and the obstruction of medical and humanitarian access constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law,” CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said in a statement. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Referred to by Al-Akhbar as their “correspondent of the south,” Khalil grew up in Baysariyyeh, a coastal town in Saida district about a 45-minute drive from the Israeli border. Covering wars, occupation She spent more than a decade and a half covering the cyclical wars and occupations of southern Lebanon by the Israeli military. Founded in 2006, Al-Akhbar’s editorial line is widely seen as supportive of Hezbollah and the Shiite resistance, and it identifies itself as a secular, independent progressive outlet. Khalil had previously received explicit death threats on her phone in September 2024 from Gideon Gal Ben Avraham, a media commentator who runs a Middle East analysis channel on YouTube, appears on Israeli television, and describes himself as a retired military officer who continues to “help” Israeli intelligence. The messages told her to leave the country “if you want to keep your head on your shoulders” and asked whether her house was “still standing.” When contacted by Drop Site on Wednesday before news of Khalil’s death emerged, Ben Avraham confirmed he had sent the threats in 2024. “Send greetings to all journalists affiliated with Hezbollah, for anyone who works for the organisation should know that they are destined for death,” he wrote, later clarifying that he considered Al-Akhbar “Hezbollah-affiliated” and that “only Hezbollah related should be afraid,” while Maronites and Sunnis should face no such threats. It is not clear what — if any — formal relationship he has to the Israeli military. ‘We don’t share intel’ When pressed about Khalil’s predicament being trapped under the rubble of a house that was targeted by the Israeli military, he responded: “We don’t share our intel with journalists.” When asked directly whether he was a soldier when he sent the original threats to Khalil in 2024, Ben Avraham replied: “No comment.” <img decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zjrA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b22bfb9-1fdb-4107-8b0c-b5f972a11b58_1026x1100.jpeg" alt="Reporter Jeremy Loffredo’s exchange with Gideon Gal Ben Avraham." width="1026" height="1100" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b22bfb9-1fdb-4107-8b0c-b5f972a11b58_1026x1100.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":1100,"width":1026,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":139145,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":"https://www.dropsitenews.com/i/195180751?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b22bfb9-1fdb-4107-8b0c-b5f972a11b58_1026x1100.jpeg","isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" /> Reporter Jeremy Loffredo’s exchange with Gideon Gal Ben Avraham. Image: Drop Site News Last month, the Israeli military openly admitted to assassinating prominent Lebanese journalist Ali Shoeib, a correspondent for Al-Manar TV who had covered southern Lebanon for nearly three decades. The Israeli military falsely claimed that Shoeib was a Hezbollah intelligence operative. Also killed in the March 28 strike in the Jezzine district in southern Lebanon were Al-Mayadeen TV reporter Fatima Ftouni and her brother Mohammed, a video journalist. Their car, which was clearly carrying press equipment, was struck multiple times, with Ftouni initially surviving and attempting to flee, before she was targeted and killed in a strike by Israel. Israel has killed at least 14 journalists, including Khalil, in Lebanon since October 2023, according to CPJ. In Gaza, the Israeli military has killed over 260 Palestinian journalists since October 2023, making it the deadliest war for journalists ever recorded. Republished from Drop Site News. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
Thousands Urge DNC to Release Autopsy on 2024 Defeat
The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, publicly committed to releasing an autopsy on the 2024 defeat but has refused to do so. Supporters of the activist organization RootsAction, which released its own autopsy more than four mont...
The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, publicly committed to releasing an autopsy on the 2024 defeat but has refused to do so. Supporters of the activist organization RootsAction, which released its own autopsy more than four months ago, are now flooding top DNC officials' email accounts with requests to keep Martin's promise. Martin and four other DNC officers have received more than 9,000 emails from nearly 2,000 individuals in the last few days urging them to make public the entire autopsy. Those emailed include DNC Vice Chair Artie Blanco, DNC Vice Chair Shasti Conrad, DNC Vice Chair and Association of State Democratic Committees President Jane Kleeb, and DNC Secretary Jason Rae. They have not replied. RootsAction brought attention to this issue during the recent DNC meeting in New Orleans, with a mobile billboard out front, flyers handed out by allies, and RootsAction senior strategist and former Democratic nominee for mayor of Buffalo India Walton speaking up and being forcibly removed from the meeting. A recent NBC News story, “Democrats Want the Full 2024 Election Autopsy Released – No Matter the Findings,” quotes RootsAction national director Norman Solomon about Martin's decision to renege on his promise to release the autopsy report. “There’s a real elitism that is inherent in Martin’s backtrack on releasing the autopsy,” Solomon said. As the DNC continues to ignore popular demand, Walton comments: “It has been said that those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. We who are prudent would like to know what mistakes were made that thrust us into this nightmare we are living. Now is not a time for saving face. Releasing the autopsy will help us understand what voters really want heading into midterms and the next presidential election. That’s the least we deserve.” Solomon summed up the DNC leadership’s approach this way: “We learned a lot, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at least doing interviews in 50 states, and now we know a lot more about what went wrong and how to fix it, but we’re not going to tell the thousands and thousands of Democratic candidates around the country what we found out. We’re not going to tell the millions of people who donated money to the Democratic Party candidates in the last few years what we learned.” While the emails pouring into DNC officials’ inboxes can be edited and augmented by each person sending them, they usually begin like this: "You conducted a comprehensive autopsy of the last election. It reportedly reached conclusions that many of us had long been warning you about before the election, such as that it would be hard to win while supporting an unpopular genocide. "The truth is not just embarrassing but also inconvenient to those who want to persist in making the same mistake, in arming Israel, in shifting more and more of our resources into wars that devastate millions of lives. "But the truth is better than continuing to lose. It would be hard not to blame future defeats on your refusal to allow examination of past defeats. "Release the full and unedited autopsy right away. Then we can all get to work on doing a much better job in future elections." RootsAction might be viewed as having a particular credibility to make this demand. On Nov. 14, 2022, long before it became mainstream to urge that President Biden not run for reelection – when there was still time to hold an open primary process to pick a stronger candidate rather than a last-minute fill-in – RootsAction began a campaign it called "Don't Run Joe." RootsAction was founded in 2011 by two longtime progressive advocates and journalists, Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, and quickly grew, pursuing a fresh approach to defending the public interest and expanding social justice. RootsAction is dedicated to galvanizing people who are committed to economic fairness, equal rights for all, civil liberties, environmental protection – and defunding endless wars. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin acquitted of all charges
Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kuwaiti court’s acquittal of US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on all charges following nearly two months of detention. “We are relieved that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been found innocent after 52 days in detention,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Ahmed’s freedom and safety remain...
Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kuwaiti court’s acquittal of US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on all charges following nearly two months of detention. “We are relieved that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been found innocent after 52 days in detention,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Ahmed’s freedom and safety remain our topmost priority and we will continue to closely monitor his case.” Ahmed, is an award-winning journalist who has contributed to The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, among others. He had not posted online since March 2, while visiting family in Kuwait, and was arrested on March 3. Lawyers for Shihab-Eldin’s sisters said on April 23 that Ahmed had been acquitted. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Betting on War: Mysterious Traders Make Millions on Well-Timed Bets Tied to Trump’s War on Iran
The rise of online prediction markets has allowed people to bet on virtually any news event. For a small group of traders, the war with Iran has been a windfall. A number of lucrative, well-timed bets related to the war totaling over $1 billio...
The rise of online prediction markets has allowed people to bet on virtually any news event. For a small group of traders, the war with Iran has been a windfall. A number of lucrative, well-timed bets related to the war totaling over $1 billion have raised alarm over people connected to the Trump administration possibly using inside information to profit. Amanda Fischer, policy director and chief operating officer for Better Markets, says it’s unclear how closely regulators are watching these online betting markets. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. is also an adviser to the two leading prediction markets, Polymarket and Kalshi, raising further questions about conflicts of interest. “There is a strict prohibition on offering gambling related to war, assassination, terrorism, gaming, activities that are illegal under state law or anything that’s contrary to the public interest. But the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] under President Trump has completely retrenched from any enforcement of what kind of contracts are made available on these platforms,” says Fischer. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have raised fuel costs and caused shortages of key fertilizers around the world, wreaking havoc on the agricultural industry. Adam Hanieh, director of the SOAS Middle East In...
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have raised fuel costs and caused shortages of key fertilizers around the world, wreaking havoc on the agricultural industry. Adam Hanieh, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute at the University of London, says the effects could be felt for a long time, particularly in the Global South. “About a third of the world’s basic fertilizers now pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” says Hanieh, who adds that the “coming food crisis” is compounded by the climate and debt crises in much of the developing world. “It’s a perfect storm.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
How Hawkish Democrats, from Schumer to Harris, Paved the Way for War with Iran: Stephen Zunes
The Senate on Wednesday rejected another bid to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to use further military force against Iran, marking the fifth failed attempt by Democrats to curb Trump’s war powers since the start of the co...
The Senate on Wednesday rejected another bid to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to use further military force against Iran, marking the fifth failed attempt by Democrats to curb Trump’s war powers since the start of the conflict in late February. The resolution was defeated in a vote of 46 to 51, with Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Rand Paul the sole dissenters in each caucus. The administration is facing a deadline of May 1 before it must seek explicit authorization from Congress for military force under the War Powers Act. While Democrats have opposed Trump’s military actions, they have done so largely on “procedural grounds” without making a forceful moral case against war, says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco. “The climate that the Democrats have helped lay in these 20 years of hawkish statements and resolutions and the like really made Trump’s job easier and has enabled him to, thus far, get away with it,” says Zunes. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Iran Says It’s Collecting Tolls for Ships Transiting Strait of Hormuz, Senate Republicans Defeat Iran War Powers Resolution for Fifth Time, Pentagon Fires Navy Secretary John Phelan After Clashes with Hegseth, Despite Ceasefire, Israel Kills 5 in Lebanon, Including Journalist Amal Khalil, FBI Launched Probe of New York Times Reporter Following Unflattering Coverage of Kash Patel, Democratic Rep. David Scott of Georgia Dies at 80, Toxic Gas Release at West Virginia Metal Refining Plant Kills 2, Injures 30 Others, American Lung Association: Nearly Half of U.S. Children Are Breathing Dangerous Air Pollution, Houston City Council Votes to Gut an Ordinance Limiting Police Cooperation with ICE, U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Texas Law Requiring Classrooms to Display Ten Commandments, Pope Leo Wraps Up Four-Nation Visit to Africa, NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé Released After Violent Arrest at Anti-Eviction Protest
Iran Says It's Collecting Tolls for Ships Transiting Strait of Hormuz Senate Republicans Defeat Iran War Powers Resolution for Fifth Time Pentagon Fires Navy Secretary John Phelan After Clashes with Hegseth Despite Ceasefire, Israel Kills 5 in Lebanon, Including Journalist Amal Khalil FBI Launched Probe of New York Times Reporter Following Unflattering Coverage of Kash Patel Democratic Rep. David Scott of Georgia Dies at 80 Toxic Gas Release at West Virginia Metal Refining Plant Kills 2, Injures 30 Others American Lung Association: Nearly Half of U.S. Children Are Breathing Dangerous Air Pollution Houston City Council Votes to Gut an Ordinance Limiting Police Cooperation with ICE U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Texas Law Requiring Classrooms to Display Ten Commandments Pope Leo Wraps Up Four-Nation Visit to Africa NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé Released After Violent Arrest at Anti-Eviction Protest This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Thursday, April 23, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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.
“A Punch in the Gut”: After Years of Waiting, Many Opioid Victims Will Be Shut Out of Purdue Settlement
The post “A Punch in the Gut”: After Years of Waiting, Many Opioid Victims Will Be Shut Out of Purdue Settlement appeared first on ProPublica.
Pennsylvania resident Mary Jannotta, 77, left, and her daughter, Susan Ousterman, with a photograph of Susan’s son, Tyler Cordeiro. Jannotta had to overcome an addiction to opioid painkillers. Cordeiro died of a drug overdose in 2020. Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer Mary Jannotta sliced meat and cheese behind deli counters at Acme and Pathmark supermarkets in the Philadelphia suburbs for decades, developing aches that came with working on her feet. A botched back surgery in 2008 made the pain worse. Her doctor repeatedly prescribed OxyContin, Purdue Pharma’s marquee painkiller — the high-dose opioid the company later admitted it criminally marketed and distributed. Jannotta said she soon became dependent on opioids. Cut off by her doctors, she found her way to Kensington, home of Philadelphia’s dangerous open-air drug market, to score pills. She eventually lost her car, her home — and her grandson. Tyler Cordeiro first pilfered Jannotta’s prescription pills as a teenager. He was 24 when he died of an overdose. When Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019, Jannotta, along with nearly 140,000 other people, filed claims against the company for the harm they said its drugs caused. Though the money could not bring back what they lost, a financial settlement represented an opportunity to get justice from the company and its multibillionaire owners, the Sackler family. Then they waited. The Supreme Court in 2024 rejected the first bankruptcy settlement because it shielded the Sacklers from future lawsuits. Finally, last November, a federal judge approved a new plan that would allow the payouts to start. But this $7.4 billion bankruptcy plan — including $870 million that has been set aside for individual victims — will shut out tens of thousands of those who originally applied for a settlement, ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer found. Fewer than half of those who filed claims against Purdue will get any kind of help under the new plan, despite the company touting it as “the only opioid settlement to date that meaningfully compensates individual victims.” Court records show the new plan slashed payments for victims, imposed tougher eligibility requirements and eliminated compensation for teenagers who bought Purdue drugs on the street. Estimated settlement amounts for people whose family members fatally overdosed dropped to as little as $8,000; the previous payout for an OxyContin death had been $48,000. Most significantly, the new plan removed a key provision that allowed victims to submit a sworn affidavit, in lieu of a prescription or other medical or legal records, to prove they purchased Purdue opioids. Similar sworn statements have been permitted in other major bankruptcy cases — such as those driven by sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church — to account for harm done years earlier where physical evidence is scant or impossible to obtain. Several victims told ProPublica and the Inquirer that the loss of the affidavit option meant they had no hope of receiving a settlement. Purdue sold painkillers for decades, and, while laws vary by state, generally doctors, hospitals and pharmacies must keep prescription records for only a few years. “I can’t turn up prescriptions for my son back when he was young, years ago,” Michigan resident Ellen Isaacs said. “They’re not available anymore.” Her son, Ryan, died from an overdose at 33 in 2018 in Florida, the result of an addiction she said began when he was prescribed OxyContin after a high school injury. The changes between the initial and revised settlement agreements were negotiated out of the public eye for months, with key details later scattered across thousands of pages of court filings, hearing transcripts and sworn declarations. To date, they have not received any media attention or public scrutiny. The winnowing of victims has been the result of byzantine legal procedures, strict vetting and tightened eligibility rules, which victims told ProPublica and the Inquirer took them by surprise. To receive compensation, victims also have had to face a series of deadlines twice — once in connection with Purdue’s first bankruptcy plan and then again once a new plan was approved to address the Supreme Court decision. First, to qualify for a settlement at all, victims had to have used Purdue opioids before Sept. 15, 2019, the day Purdue declared bankruptcy. The deadline to file a claim was in June 2020. But that deadline changed multiple times, once to July 2020 and then again to September 2021. After that, the door to a settlement under the bankruptcy plan shut for good. I can’t turn up prescriptions for my son back when he was young, years ago. They’re not available anymore. Ellen Isaacs, whose son died from an overdose at 33 Just under 140,000 people met that final deadline, but years of litigation ensued and it wasn’t until almost four years later, by late July 2025, that they had to file evidence for their claims. About 63,000 did, according to a November court filing from settlement trust administrator Edward Gentle. Purdue and its attorneys moved to formally eliminate most of the 80,000 individuals who missed the deadline from any payout under this settlement plan, and the judge approved the expungement motion Tuesday. Under certain circumstances, these excluded victims and others who missed earlier filing deadlines can still sue the Sacklers directly. Purdue’s attorneys said in court that the company played no role in designing the claims process. The company referred questions for this story to Akin, the major Washington D.C.-based firm representing the victims and other creditors. Akin endorsed the new bankruptcy plan despite the tighter eligibility criteria and lower survivors’ benefits. The firm declined to speak on the record. It said the official creditors’ committee had no comment. Andrews & Higgins, a firm that also represented victims, did not respond to requests for comment. Edward E. Neiger, the co-managing partner of ASK LLP, another major firm representing victims, also endorsed the plan. His firm twice praised the 2021 affidavit option in early court pleadings but made no mention in hearings of its disappearance from the new plan. Neiger said “contractual and court-imposed confidentiality provisions” prevented him from discussing the changes. He said in a written statement that his firm is “proud of helping facilitate the record-breaking and historic $850 million-plus settlement on behalf of the actual, human victims of the opioid crisis.” The Purdue fund is more than eight times as big as the combined victims’ funds financed by the two other big bankrupt opioid makers, Endo and Mallinckrodt. More than 300,000 people have died from opioid prescription drug overdoses and millions more became addicted. Federal prosecutors have twice brought charges against Purdue itself. The drug firm pleaded guilty in 2007 to misleading the public about the dangers of its opioids. A federal judge on Tuesday delayed until next week the sentencing of Purdue on three felony charges related to paying kickbacks to doctors and reckless sales of its opioids. The Sacklers, who have never been criminally charged, have denied wrongdoing. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="74894" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="Several dozen protesters gather in front of news cameras. They hold numerous signs and stand in front of a large banner that reads “Don’t Shield the Sackler Cartel.” Behind them is a government building with “Department of Justice” written on it." class="wp-image-74894" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1237080193_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> People who lost loved ones due to the opioid epidemic gather outside the Department of Justice in 2021 to call for the agency to bring criminal charges against members of the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma. Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="74895" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A hand holds a pill bottle in the air. The bottle says, “Purdue Pharma,” "OxyContin” and “Sackler.”" class="wp-image-74895" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1971235135_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> A protester holds a bottle of OxyContin with the Sackler name on it during a rally in 2023. Michael A. McCoy for The Washington Post via Getty Images A Gut Punch Under standard procedure, those who filed a claim against Purdue with the bankruptcy court in the first round — including cities, hospitals and individual opioid victims — were entitled to vote on the new bankruptcy plan. Proponents of the new plan point to a higher minimum payment for all qualifying claimants of $8,000, up from the previous $3,500. They also say it will streamline the settlement process so payments go out faster and in full. The Sacklers also put an additional $100 million in the victims’ fund. About 58,000 of the 140,000 individual claimants voted on the plan last September, nearly all in favor. But nearly two dozen victims — a mix of people who voted for and against the plan and who didn’t vote at all — said they were unaware of the tighter evidence requirements until ProPublica and the Inquirer contacted them. Shortly before the judge approved the revised bankruptcy plan, Jannotta appeared via video call in November to address the court, delivering a statement that her daughter, Susan Ousterman, helped craft. The Bucks County, Pennsylvania, grandmother, then 76, looked frail but resolute. She had voted against approval of the plan. The legal system should be where the powerless can finally be heard, but in this courtroom it’s being used to shield the powerful. Mary Jannotta, whose settlement claim against Purdue Pharma was denied “The legal system should be where the powerless can finally be heard, but in this courtroom it’s being used to shield the powerful,” she told a session packed with more than 100 lawyers and victims. The day after Jannotta spoke, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H. Lane hailed the new plan. He said it imposed a “very modest burden of substantiation” for victims to show Purdue had harmed them, “an exceedingly low bar.” The trust for Purdue’s victims has twice indicated that it plans to reject Jannotta’s claim, once for missing a 2021 claim deadline that had been changed at least twice, and then again for inadequate proof of prescriptions. But Jannotta shared with ProPublica and the Inquirer a pharmacy record of her prescriptions that she says she sent to the trust. It includes 16 qualifying prescriptions for Purdue opioids listed on the trust’s website. Gentle, an Alabama lawyer who specializes in running trusts to compensate victims of disasters and corporate scandals, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Jannotta is fuming. “After everything I went through, what my family went through, and to find out nobody was really being held responsible really hit me in the gut,” Jannotta said. “It was a punch in the gut.” Crossed-Out Text After the Supreme Court rejected the original 2021 bankruptcy plan, Purdue attorney Marshall S. Huebner said that the task ahead was straightforward: to undo immunity for the Sacklers but “not to go back to ground zero.” Attorneys representing Purdue, the Sackler family and other stakeholder groups, including victims, began months of confidential mediations. Court records do not explain why the more generous benefit and eligibility requirements in the first plan underwent significant revisions. What they do show is that after years of litigation, hearings, negotiations and delays, dramatic changes to the claim criteria occurred in a matter of five weeks. In a flurry of activity beginning on March 8, 2025, Purdue filed documents that show lines crossing out the eligibility criteria and victim compensation amounts, with no explanation or substitute language. Purdue then filed additional documents with new requirements but no mention of the earlier affidavit option for adults or teens. In April, Lane approved the changes to the claim process and, in the same hearing, approved requests from Purdue, with the support of victims’ attorneys, to hire Gentle and jump-start his review of claims. That meant victims started to submit claims with accompanying evidence even before Lane approved the new bankruptcy plan in November 2025. Trust administrator Gentle already had been sending letters to potential claimants stating they could be denied unless qualifying evidence was provided within 30 days. A ProPublica and Inquirer examination of nearly 1,000 pages of transcripts covering 10 open court hearings about the plan found that Lane and lawyers representing Purdue and opioid claimants held no in-depth public discussions about the differences in criteria between the original and revised plans — or their potential impact. Florida resident Cindy Singer was among the claimants who voted for the plan and now regrets it. She said her son, Rory, began taking OxyContin after a construction accident and died three years later, in 2015, of an overdose at age 28. According to the letter she received from the trust, she failed to produce a prescription linking him to a Purdue opioid. Singer said she didn’t understand how critical the affidavit option would be to her claim. “We never even knew it existed,” she said. Cheryl Juaire of Massachusetts lost two sons to overdoses. She served on Akin’s oversight committee as a representative for victims. Juaire is waiting to hear whether her claims will be approved. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="500" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman walks out of an office building with her right fist raised in the air. A security guard holds the door open behind her as she exits, and another security guard stands outside." class="wp-image-74896" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,681 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1021 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1362 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,574 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,367 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,371 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,350 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,500 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,764 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1330 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,266 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,532 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,798 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP18360671273144_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1064 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Cheryl Juaire, who lost two sons to overdoses, raises her fist after delivering a letter intended for Purdue Pharma CEO Craig Landau at the company’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, in 2018. She said she does not recall Akin lawyers telling her about the changes to eligibility. Even so, Juaire said she stands by her support for the new plan because the Purdue case had dragged on too long. But she acknowledged that the loss of the affidavit option seems to have caught fellow claimants by surprise. “I’m being bombarded with calls from folks saying, ‘Hey, I put in a claim and I’m getting rejected. I can’t get that prescription,’” Juaire said. “It’s breaking my heart.” Holdbacks, Lawyer Fees and Smaller Checks What is especially galling, some victims said, is that their compensation for years of fighting for justice will boil down to a day’s pay for a Purdue attorney like Huebner, who charges $2,935 an hour. Well over $100 million of the settlement money will go to the plaintiff law firms that have represented Purdue victims through the bankruptcy and to cover the cost of running the trust. Administration fees in similar opioid victim funds, also run by Gentle, range from about 15% to more than one-quarter of the victims’awards, according to documents from those trusts. ASK LLP and its partner, Andrews & Higgins, signed up 30,000 Purdue victims in exchange for up to 40% of their individual awards. Many of us buried children and you are going to walk away with more money than we will ever see. Maureen Kielian, a Purdue settlement claimant, of the lawyers in the case “To me, it’s appalling. It adds further injury to the family of the victims,” said Maureen Kielian of Florida. “Many of us buried children and you are going to walk away with more money than we will ever see.” She became a vocal critic of the opioid industry after helping her son recover from addiction. In November, Gentle faulted her claim for lack of evidence. She has appealed to the trust but isn’t optimistic. Connecticut couple Beverly and David Melenski, whose son was addicted to opioids for 20 years, were on an 8,000-page list of late filers whom Purdue and Akin, the court-appointed victims’ lawyers, sought to expunge. They didn’t have the prescription records that told the story of their son’s decades of dependency on opioids. But they did have a letter they wrote a doctor in 2009 pleading with him to stop giving their son OxyContin. That doctor, records show, lost his license two years later for recklessly prescribing Purdue drugs and other opioids. The Melenskis have since successfully appealed, and Gentle is vetting their claim. The Purdue money won’t cover even a fraction of what they spent on rehab, but David Melenski said it would “at least it would be an acknowledgment of their wrongdoing.” They are waiting for a decision from the trust. Are You Waiting for Opioid Settlement Money From Purdue, Mallinckrodt or Endo? Get in Touch. Our recent investigation details changes to a bankruptcy settlement that leaves out some of the hardest-hit victims of the opioid crisis. Here’s how you can share your story with ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Share Your Experience The post “A Punch in the Gut”: After Years of Waiting, Many Opioid Victims Will Be Shut Out of Purdue Settlement appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Craig R. McCoy.
Are You Waiting for Opioid Settlement Money From Purdue, Mallinckrodt or Endo? Get in Touch.
The post Are You Waiting for Opioid Settlement Money From Purdue, Mallinckrodt or Endo? Get in Touch. appeared first on ProPublica.
OxyContin Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer are looking into how individual opioid victims have been compensated for addiction and other harm as a result of the tens of billions of pills distributed throughout the United States during the prescription-opioid crisis. Please tell us about your experience seeking payment from the court-appointed trusts funded by the drugmakers Purdue, Mallinckrodt and Endo. About us: Craig R. McCoy was a veteran corruption reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Bob Fernandez was an enterprise and investigative business reporter, also at the Inquirer. We previously wrote for ProPublica and the Inquirer about the Endo bankruptcy. Our most recent story investigates the impact of Purdue’s new bankruptcy plan on victims seeking compensation for the harm they said its drugs caused. The post Are You Waiting for Opioid Settlement Money From Purdue, Mallinckrodt or Endo? Get in Touch. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Peter.DiCampo@propublica.org.
The ‘age of electricity’ is here. No one knows what comes next.
As the war in Iran upends global fuel markets, two new reports confirm that 2025 was a banner year for renewable energy.
The war launched by the United States and Israel on Iran has caused an unprecedented disruption in global energy markets, bottlenecking 20 percent of the world’s supply of oil and liquefied natural gas. We don’t yet know exactly what this means for the fight against climate change. But, thanks to two new reports released this week, we now have the clearest picture yet of the path the world was on before the conflict sent the price of oil soaring — and it was a path where the fossil fuels threatened by the war were less central than ever to meeting growing global energy needs. The world is entering an “age of electricity,” according to the reports, which come from the International Energy Agency, or IEA, an intergovernmental organization that publishes the world’s most authoritative analyses on the global energy sector, and the think tank Ember. That’s because core economic activities that traditionally involve burning oil and gas — driving cars, heating buildings, and even running industrial processes like steelmaking — are increasingly powered by electricity instead. And, most importantly for the climate fight, an ever-larger share of that electricity is coming from renewable sources. The two new analyses confirmed that 2025 was a banner year for renewable energy. Solar power was the single biggest source used to meet humanity’s growing appetite for electricity. New power generation from the broader suite of carbon-free sources — including wind, nuclear, and hydropower — actually exceeded the overall rise in electricity demand, meaning renewables began to displace fossil fuel sources. If this trend sticks, it would mean that the so-called energy transition meant to shepherd humanity out of the climate crisis is no longer theoretical. “This was a year when the economy boomed, electricity demand grew very healthily — and still all that demand growth was met with renewables,” said Daan Walter, a lead researcher at Ember. In 2025, renewables edged out coal in global electricity generation for the first time in more than a century. This progress was fueled by China and India, the world’s two most populous countries that together comprise 42 percent of global fossil power generation. The nations both saw electricity generated by fossil fuels fall in the same year for the first time this century. Like other countries around the world, China and India have been rapidly building out solar, wind, and battery infrastructure. (The cost of batteries fell 45 percent in 2025, an even steeper decline than the 20 percent drop in costs that analysts tracked in 2024.) There’s another sign that 2025 marked a turning point in the energy transition, according to the Ember report: Unlike in past years, the plateau in fossil fuel use was not tied to a recession. Global economic growth last year was normal, which indicates that renewable energy is driving a structural trend away from fossil fuels when it comes to generating electricity. But that doesn’t mean that oil, gas, and coal use are nearing extinction. When it comes to the broader energy economy, rather than just electricity generation, the IEA’s report finds that renewables still aren’t displacing fossil fuels fast enough to force a sustained decline in the world’s use of greenhouse-gas-emitting energy. (This is because not all energy — for instance that which currently powers jets, cargo ships, and many motor vehicles — is generated from electricity.) As a result of complications like these, global carbon dioxide emissions reached a record high last year, rising 0.4 percent from 2024 levels. The pace of the increase, however, is declining as renewables rise. For years, emissions declines were driven by developed countries like the United States and European Union member states. Last year, however, emissions from advanced economies grew faster than emissions from developing countries for the first time since the 1990s, according to the IEA. The trend reversal was driven by the U.S., where coal demand rose 10 percent last year. Rising natural gas prices prompted power producers to switch back to coal, which had been displaced by fracked natural gas in recent years. Plus, electricity use rose thanks to a harsh winter across much of the eastern part of the country, as well as the rollout of industrial-scale power customers like the data centers needed for new artificial intelligence applications. But trends in the opposite direction in developing countries played a role, too. In Indonesia, for example, electric cars now comprise more than 15 percent of new car sales — a larger share than in the United States and up from virtually 0 percent in the early 2020s. Many customers are “leapfrogging” gasoline-powered cars altogether and purchasing an EV as their first vehicle. “The energy transition was conceived as something that is led by the developed world, and the developing world kind of hobbles after at a slower pace,” said Walter. “We’re now seeing ‘leapfrogging’ across the world where actually developing economies are going faster in many ways than developed economies.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The ‘age of electricity’ is here. No one knows what comes next. on Apr 23, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Zoya Teirstein.
Indigenous land defenders are being killed, AI is scraping their knowledge
At the UN, leaders confronted compounding crises of territorial violence and digital extractivism.
Indigenous land defenders are being killed and criminalized at alarming rates, AI systems scrape traditional knowledge without consent, while Indigenous women face escalating rates of violence — crises that Indigenous leaders confronted this week at the United Nations, where they warned that the fight for health and sovereignty now extends from traditional territories into digital spaces. Those warnings came during the 25th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, where the overarching theme “Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ Health in the context of conflict” resonated with participants from around the world. In 2023 alone, 31 percent of human rights defenders killed worldwide were Indigenous or working on Indigenous rights, despite making up only five percent of the global population. “There is a crisis Indigenous people are currently experiencing, and it’s because many Indigenous peoples are killed, many are under arrest, many live in hiding. This is because Indigenous peoples land and territory are often not protected enough,” said Albert K. Barume, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in an introductory statement at Wednesday’s session. As the largest gathering of Indigenous voices in the world, the forum provides a critical platform for communities to tackle systemic inequities together. Claire Charters, who is from Ngāti Whakaue, and is an expert in Indigenous global affairs who regularly presents at the forum, said the power of UNPFII lies in this shared experience. “That is a very empowering thing,” Charters said. “Because it supports the movement as a whole.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSCF1615.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Claire Charters, who is from Ngāti Whakaue, at UNPFII. " data-credit="Tristan Ahtone / Grist"/> Claire Charters, who is from Ngāti Whakaue, at UNPFII. Tristan Ahtone / Grist For Indigenous nations worldwide, the fight for health and rights is inextricably tied to the land. Yet, communities without legally recognized land tenure are left vulnerable to extractive industries and state-sponsored violence. As a result, Indigenous land defenders are facing a growing crisis of criminalization, with human rights groups warning that legal systems are increasingly being weaponized to suppress resistance on ancestral lands. “The violence against Indigenous peoples happens so often,” said Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, who is Mbororo and the former chair of the forum, in a statement in Wednesday’s session. “It’s happening every single day.” According to the Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel region in north-central Africa has seen the rapid expansion of militant jihadist groups, particularly focusing on the pastoral sector – a key source for the well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the region. “Access to the land, access to water is becoming a big challenge in the daily lives of women and men, and of course children’s lives are being lost on top of that,” Ibrahim said. Fatal violence against land defenders and Indigenous leaders is a global issue. While Latin America remains one of the most dangerous regions for fatal violence against defenders, the suppression of Indigenous voices is a pressing issue in the US and Canada as well. “Canada is prioritizing rapid resource development,” said Judy Wilson, who is Secwépemc and an elder and knowledge keeper for the British Columbia Native Women’s Association. “The legislation directly threatens our Indigenous sovereignty, environmental protection, safety and specifically increases the risks associated with man camps and missing, murdered Indigenous women and girls.” Across North America, Indigenous nations have documented the widespread use of detention, surveillance, and strategic lawsuits to silence Indigenous leaders opposing projects like pipelines and logging. In 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recently called for urgent action in land rights cases for Western Shoshone, Native Hawaiian, Gwich’in, and Anishinaabe peoples. Advocates at the UN say the criminalization of Indigenous land defense is often linked to disputes over natural resources, where governments and corporations seek access to land without consent. Amnesty International has found that those abuses are rarely investigated, contributing to a cycle of impunity that leaves defenders vulnerable. Indigenous leaders and advocates are calling for stronger protections, warning that the suppression of Indigenous voices undermines human rights and environmental efforts globally. In an interim report to the General Assembly, Barume, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, warned that States must stop treating Indigenous lands as mere commodities and recognize the sacred, foundational nature of their tenure. “Indigenous Peoples’ land rights are inherent and do not originate from State authority or recognition,” Barume wrote in the report. “They arise from Indigenous Peoples’ long-standing and ancestral ownership, use and occupation of their lands as distinct nations, prior to colonization or the establishment of State boundaries.” With the rise of generative artificial intelligence, or AI, data sovereignty has also become a critical battleground for Indigenous leaders worldwide. As these systems expand, long-standing patterns of exploitation are being replicated in the digital realm. A new study presented at the forum by Ibrahim outlined the double-edged sword of the AI boom for the world’s estimated 476 to 500 million Indigenous people. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8081.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Attendees at UNPFII. " data-credit="Carrie Johnson / Grist"/> Attendees at UNPFII. Carrie Johnson / Grist While she said AI offers powerful tools for Indigenous peoples, Ibrahim warns of a looming era of “digital extractivism.” Generative AI systems frequently scrape Indigenous medicinal knowledge, traditional stories, and cultural motifs from the internet without consent, leading to the commodification and appropriation of their heritage. Furthermore, due to the underrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the data sets used to train AI models, algorithmic biases can result in systems that fail to accurately recognize Indigenous identities or languages, ultimately amplifying structural discrimination. To combat digital exploitation, a growing global movement is pushing for strict “Indigenous data sovereignty” to replace the Western “open data” paradigm that often fails to protect collective rights. Ibrahim’s report highlights several successful frameworks where Indigenous communities are already implementing this digital sovereignty. In Aotearoa New Zealand, for example, the report praises the development of te reo Māori speech recognition tools created by Te Hiku Media. This initiative demonstrates how communities can build vast linguistic corpora while ensuring their cultural and linguistic data remains firmly under Māori control. On an international scale, Ibrahim’s report recommends the adoption of the CARE Principles — Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics — which establish a framework for the ethical management of A.I technologies and ensure Indigenous communities retain ultimate decision-making authority over their data. Similarly, the report cites the OCAP principles—Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession—developed by the First Nations of Canada as a robust model that establishes a community’s absolute right to own its data and control how it is collected, accessed, and physically stored. The Kāhui Raraunga Charitable Trust is taking digital sovereignty into its own hands. Te Kāhui Raraunga Data Program Manager, Roimata Timutimu, said having Indigenous people in control of their own data is vital to ensuring better outcomes for service delivery, which Māori are implementing through the Māori Data Governance Model. The Model is intended to assist all agencies to undertake Māori data governance in a way that is values-led, centered on Māori needs and priorities, and informed by research. Māori data sovereignty expert Dr. Karaitiana Taiuru says artificial intelligence can offer opportunities for Māori, but only if it is grounded in Māori customs and Indigenous governance. In a panel discussion about Māori Data Sovereignty, he emphasized that data is not just a product but is deeply connected to identity and lineage. “All data is whakapapa [lineage],” Taiuru said. “It still has that spiritual connection.” Displacement, climate change, and the fallout of extractive industries have an even more acute impact on Indigenous women. In North America, this reality is starkly visible in the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls—a situation driven by the exact intersecting vulnerabilities being debated at the UN this week. To combat this global crisis, Wednesday’s session featured a dedicated review of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination, or CEDAW, against Women’s 2022 Recommendation No. 39, which stands as the only form of international law specifically dedicated to protecting the rights of Indigenous women and girls. Despite that landmark status, Indigenous women at the UN repeatedly highlighted the lack of implementation and ongoing threats they face. “The international trauma and on-going trauma is compounded each day, with more losses in our families and in our communities,” said Judy Wilson from the British Columbia Native Women’s Association. “This needs to change.” Beyond physical violence, the recommendation outlines how systemic barriers restrict access to fundamental rights. In education, for example, Indigenous girls face major hurdles to school enrolment and completion, compounded by a lack of culturally appropriate, Indigenous-controlled educational facilities. To dismantle these barriers, CEDAW is urging states to provide targeted scholarships, expand financial aid, strengthen Indigenous-led education systems, and actively combat discriminatory stereotypes that continue to limit Indigenous girls’ educational opportunities globally. However, Claire Charters notes that while discrimination against women isn’t a new phenomenon among Indigenous communities, dissecting the root causes of that discrimination remains a crucial and complex debate. “One focus or one question that often comes up is the extent to which Indigenous people discriminate against particularly our own women, and the extent to which that might be driven by colonization” Charters said. As one of the final speakers of the morning session, Em-Hayley Kūkūtai Walker, who is Ngāti Tiipa and an artist, reflected on the disparities Māori women face in Aotearoa New Zealand. As of 2025, Māori women make up 63 percent of the total female prison population, 49 percent of Māori women experience and/or sexual intimate partner violence and are a further three times more likely to experience intimate partner violence as opposed to non-Māori. In her statement on Wednesday, she encouraged UN mechanisms to push Aotearoa New Zealand to ensure the rights of Indigenous women and girls are protected. “Hear the cry of my people,” she said. “Our women, children and ancestors, who wish for our tapu [sacredness] and mana [authority] to be upheld.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Indigenous land defenders are being killed, AI is scraping their knowledge on Apr 23, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Michael Cugley.
Painter, runner, and former triathlete Vanessa Raw on the cost of people-pleasing
How long have you been running vs. painting?
How long have you been running vs. painting? I’ve always been sporty and arty. I went to uni to do fine art, but picked up triathlon at lunch times to keep fit. Then it got very serious, very quick. Before I knew it, I was doing time trials to be on the GB team, and it took over for 12 years, and now I’m back painting. Sounds like triathlon accidentally took over your life. I did kind of feel like I had to do it. When you’re told you’re good at something, you feel obliged. Which Olympics did you go to? Well, I didn’t in the end, you see. My best chance was 2008 and 2012. But I was injured before both. I was probably in my best shape in 2006, after only a year of training, before my body started breaking down. Damn. Yeah, it was all a bit depressing. I was a very good cyclist, so they were trying to get me to be a domestique for this other girl. You still have a chance of winning your own medal, but you end up having to sacrifice a lot of your race sitting in the front of the peloton, basically, taking the wind. But because I was so injured at this point with my pelvis, I didn’t trust myself anymore. So I just pulled out of the running. Vanessa Raw, Dancing With My Demons, 2025, oil on linen, 300 cm x 361 cm. Do you look back on those 12 years you were committed to sport fondly? Or does it feel like ambition took over? Yes and no. Yes to the people that helped me and my teammates and the amazing places that we trained and raced in. But to be honest, it was a trying time. I hope it wasn’t for nothing. Did it teach me persistence?… maybe, but I think I had that anyway. It taught me how to withstand pain and uncertainty and find endurance, I guess. I guess it taught me all that–and endurance is certainly required in the art world. Do you feel like it fed your art? I think it’s helped me become embodied whilst making work. But yeah I also went to some dark places, and it’s what got me onto the subject of identity. A lot of sports people go into deep holes of depression when they’re injured, because you forget to separate yourself from what you do. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but it’s why the exploration of “losing oneself” in my art is fascinating to me. It sounds like painting is freeing because you don’t have to think. Well, I am thinking, but I’ve had to transition into it. It’s only over the last couple of years that I’ve gotten much better at painting from a more freeing point of view. I think I’m also just getting better at letting things go. I’m still not as loose as I would like to be, but you have to let things happen naturally: the very act of forcing yourself to be loose brings you right back to the beginning, out of flow. That happened to me in sport: as soon as one injury took hold, it just led to another and another, and I don’t think I ever stood on a start line again after the first few years without an injury. I lost trust in my body. And maybe intuition is felt through the body first. But to have intuition you need presence, and for that, you need trust. The best sports people don’t overthink. They trust themselves. So maybe it was just my body, soul and intuition all along screaming at me, “You’re on the wrong path. Stop!” Hahah. Perhaps I should have just listened to that. So painting is the path? Well painting is less precarious. Anyways, I hope so! Who knows? I mean, my arm won’t break mid-painting, as compared to the limitations of the body in sport. Having said that, I take my painting to the total extreme, and that’s something I love about it. I’m addicted to the obsession of it. Last year I felt like I was on the brink of burnout, but I’m trying to be more balanced this year. I think I do my best work when I feel trust and excitement and joy. I often think the perfectionism of sport makes it hard to be an artist. I know what you mean. I think it’s funny because I guess in some way I have the mentality of being an athlete when I’m an artist, and vice versa when I was an athlete. People around here would say that, because I’m in the studio every day and extremely disciplined. But my head is so unstructured. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, which accounts for all the overthinking and feeling overwhelmed, but I’m learning to manage it so it becomes my superpower rather than a hindrance. Structure really helps. Vanessa Raw, She Hid in the Shadows, 2025, oil on linen, 200 cm x 300 cm. As an athlete, I was really good at training. The daily grind. Honestly, if they gave medals out for training, I would be getting them all haha. But I was shit at the racing, I think, because I had major self-doubt. I carried way too much guilt all the time. I always had this time pressure on myself too that I needed to do well quickly so I could get out of the sport so I could spend more time with friends or family. I like to have a different way of thinking these days, though, that everything happened just the way it was meant to, it was the journey that led me here, where I am right now, and that I am grateful for. Was the guilt about letting people down, or wasting time ? I had this guilt of not doing my art. People see the nice side of sport, don’t they? And how amazing it must be. In their perspective, I’ve done well. They don’t see the pain and disappointment. It was constant, and there was so much guilt for not doing well enough. Letting down coaches who put time into you or managers or sponsors or… I mean, I guess it’s when the people-pleasing side of things comes fully onto it, doesn’t it? You’ve got to not be a people-pleaser to be a good athlete, I think. That’s interesting to think of as a prerequisite. Yeah, because I don’t think people-pleasing is ever good. Maybe a small amount is ok. I just think you can do nice things for people because you want to, and not because you are scared of being disliked. I struggle with knowing if I’m doing things for the right reasons. I mean, I definitely feel much more in tune with the person I should be in doing my art. I feel like I want to paint for the rest of my life, that this is what I have to do and what I need to do. I feel like this is my mission in life, whereas I never did with sport. It’s certainly not for fame or external validation. Although annoyingly for art, external validation is necessary to keep going financially! Yeah. I’m still on the journey to figure that out. I think actually as soon as you stop questioning whether you’re happy, and you just be, like in the present as much as possible, you’re much more likely to find peace and realise you’re happier than you think. I think I went through a phrase of asking, “Oh, am I happy? Or am I this? Am I doing the right…” And I don’t think that’s what happiness is. Happiness is just being. Vanessa Raw, The Madness in Our Eyes, 2025, oil on linen, 200 x 300 cm. Do you feel like it’s a mentality you could have or wish you had reached when you were an athlete? Or do you feel like it’s a sort of state of mind and being you could only reach now? I don’t know. Maybe it only comes with struggle. Where does intuition sit for you? I don’t think any of it is separate. I think we’re everything. Where are memories kept? Maybe intuition is the soul, maybe it’s consciousness… We just don’t know, do we? But yeah, this is what my work’s about, I guess, in being one with everything and totally connected, and women becoming the landscape itself. I think it’s when you suddenly feel at peace, let’s say totally in the moment, which is hard, that you feel like the boundaries of your own existence just dissolve. You become part of the landscape. Is the flow you find in painting similar to running? I think it’s similar. I prefer to start the day with a run, because it sets a rhythm to the day, and I love to paint to that rhythm. When I don’t have a rhythm in the painting, I feel like it shows. It doesn’t work somehow. I believe there’s a rhythm to everything, invisible frequencies. I used to have that a few times with professional sport, but more so in training than in racing. When you’re totally free of thought, there’s this realization that if you’re not your thoughts, and you’re just observing them, then what are you? Flow is just when you can get outside of your own brain to sense what you’re connected to, I think. Do you feel your desire and discipline are aligned now? I think they are. And maybe that’s the difference now. In sports, it wasn’t. I think they were kind of opposed to each other, which is where the guilt came from. Now, discipline doesn’t feel like discipline. It’s just what I want to do. How do you think about desire? I mean, at the minute, this is what I want to do. And I have such… It’s not necessarily discipline, but I have such passion and drive. I can’t sleep at night because I can’t wait to get up in the morning and do what I want to do. It feels like a mission. Is it discipline? Yes, but it’s more than that. It’s massive fire and obsession. And sometimes, I know I was saying this to Carl, my gallerist, he was thinking it was because I’ve come to it a little bit later, or feel like I wasn’t doing what I shouldn’t have been doing for 10 years that I feel like it’s like, “Oh, time’s going to run out and I’ve got to get painting, I’ve got to make up for a lost time.” That sort of idea. I’ve got so much I want to explore and try and practice before I can make the work I want to make; it’s always around that corner. I’m constantly trying to chase my tail in terms of trying things, yet you have these deadlines where your work’s going to be shown, and I’m trying to paint as quickly as I can to learn everything I should have been learning in the 10 years before this. I’ve really got to slow down, be present and remember as Tracey taught us, that you are making the art you should be making right now. The pure act of constantly chasing and looking to the future pulls you away from presence. It implies you aren’t making the work we should be right now. At the minute, this is my desire and my discipline. But there might be a point in my life where I suppose that desire might change. I feel like happiness is a misnomer. People think it’s some permanent, enduring state when really… It’s more like knowing what emotional landscape you want to live in, because some people’s happiness might be a desert and some people’s might be the ocean. There’s a different type of average feeling, and it’s like just finding what feels true to you. There was this video where someone asked a monk, “Are you happy?” And he said, “I can’t answer that.” He says, “I’m at peace. What is happiness?” He just couldn’t describe it. He says he knows he’s at peace, and that is the ultimate for him. Vanessa Raw, Take Me to the Ocean, Cleanse My Soul, 2025, oil on linen, 212 cm x 408 cm. What does peace mean to you? We can be peaceful whilst being driven. I don’t think peace means you don’t do anything. I think it’s just not feeling this constant state of unease, of not living in the future or past. It’s so crazy you use that word, because one time I interviewed this monk, and he was saying that that in the 21st century, the word “dukka,” which means suffering, needs to be re-translated to “unease.” I’m a big believer in not being comfortable. I think comfort is a big killer. And I love… And you’re probably like this as a sportsperson, but going out and pushing myself and inflicting pain. What’s the challenge? What can I sustain? How much pain can I take? I love it but also hate it haha. I just think it’s good for us. I think it kind of creates this strength within us. And I wonder if we can’t find peace in pain. I think that’s what the monk was suggesting: that pain doesn’t have to equal suffering. I noticed a big difference when I was working towards this last deadline, because it was a lot of work. I went through periods of panic and not being at ease, not being able to sleep, constantly in the studio, constantly worrying about the deadline. When I worried about the deadline, time would just go by and I would get barely anything done in the day. But when I became present, practicing breathing whilst painting, or attempting to be present whilst painting, time would just slow down. It literally became elastic. It was fascinating, the difference. And I would get so much more done. The only reason why I am so fascinated in this subject I think is because I am an inherently anxious overthinker. But perhaps suffering or unease breeds ease. If we were always comfortable I guess we wouldn’t look for relief. Time is weird. Well, I mean, time apparently doesn’t exist. Well, clock time does, but I think it’s the case of not making clock time psychological time. How do you escape time? Well, I guess the whole time being an artist, you’re constantly thinking, “Oh, well, if you haven’t made it, been spotted in your 20s, it’s either that or 80.” But if we panic about time, we end up losing time. And there is no supposed timeline for us, really. But yeah, perhaps its that inbuilt biological clock, even if we don’t plan to have kids, some social conditioning that we need to do things at a certain time or we’re on the shelf so to speak. I guess we need an internal drive, not an external one. You’re trying to find it internally so it comes from a place of power rather than a place of fear. I think that’s a big thing, because if you feel like you are running from a lion, then I don’t think you do your best work. And then if you come from a place of being in control and you work from power and confidence, then life just flows, and everything comes to you anyway. I’m a big believer in that. And I feel like, in the now, I can feel that happening. When thinking about the future or past, and anxiety kicks in. How do you shift out of a fear state? Literal things that bring you back to the moment. Your mentality, your psychological mind, can be changed immediately if you want it. I definitely think having a sense of belief in something greater than us, and perhaps holding the thought that our world is a mirror of our inner world, gives me the motivation to keep checking myself. I guess it’s real because you have the power of the brush, so you literally are manifesting your own worlds every day. Yeah, exactly. Every day, it’s practiced haha. That’s so nice though, the feeling that you must have of alignment. Yeah, I mean, by any means I’m not the majority of the time. But the frustration of not being aligned motivates me quickly to get out of it. I think when you’ve reached rock bottom before, it’s enough to set you on a path of looking for alignment and becoming aware of your interiority. I do think maybe that’s what sport was about. When things always went wrong in sport, I learned a lot about myself. Not when things went right or well, but when things went wrong. Did you paint while you were training? I did, but not consistently. There were maybe a couple years where I had no studio, but also I was not painting with the same amount of intensity that I am now. I was painting largely crap. A lot of the time painting to survive, painting God knows what. When I first went to uni, I was painting meaningful stuff. I was painting about the male gaze and what it felt like to be a woman, but I think because I had all male tutors, it got encouraged out of me. And then for the rest of uni, I was painting landscapes, but not good ones, and then some portraits. It wasn’t for no reason–the attitude back then was that what you painted was not important, it mattered more how you painted. The technique in the act of transferring emotion and energy, the “surface.” For the next fifteen years I pretty much explored every way of painting and vehicle for what I was trying to say until eventually, when I started this work about five years ago, I finally felt like I was on the right path. A sense of ease doesn’t mean that that path won’t evolve and change, but I felt like my work finally reflected how I was feeling. Vanessa Raw, The Secrets That We Keep, 2025, oil on linen, 200 cm x 250 cm. And are you still doing the process? I think I read somewhere that when you go on your runs, you take photos and then infuse that into your work. Or is your process more abstract? Yeah. I kind of do, but the landscapes now are much more imagined and psychological, though still mixed with parts of real landscape perhaps. I love that. I like that as an artist you can evolve. It’s not all linear progress. Yeah. Hopefully for the rest of my life. But constantly wanting to be better isn’t coming from a place of lack of mental health. I think some people think life is black and white, that happy people have no mental health problems and unhappy people have all the mental health problems. But just because I’m saying I’m happy or at least not unhappy, doesn’t mean I’m free of any mental health problems, that I’m free of anxiety or sleep perfectly every night. I just don’t think there’s just two boxes of happy and unhappy, and everyone in the happy box is perfectly mentally healthy. A natural drive to keep improving is healthy. It’s about the work and getting it as good as it can be at the time, and then moving on. That’s what keeps me going–this continual curious search. Vanessa Raw recommends: Good quality paint, Michael Hardings in particular. Have just discovered The Supremepaint.co.uk, which is an amazing site for paint nerds, that sells Wallace Seymour paint, brilliant colours from rare earth materials. Good-quality brushes, Rosemary&Co Brushes are my fave. A morning routine, that may just be, not turning on the phone immediately, but reading two chapters of a book. When I do stick to this, my whole day goes better, less reactive, more productive. Books by Martin Gayford, he does a lot of readable books with artists that I’m loving at the moment. When it’s hard to get in the mood in the studio, turn your favourite music up loud, close your eyes, feel the rhythm, and move/dance. I find it’s like a meditation, can be enough to get back in the flow, or if that fails, get outside and walk/run This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Laura Zeng.
You Got This: Amidst the Carnage, A Beautiful Moment
Needing a break, we honor the rare sweet sliver of comity during Monday's Boston Marathon when two runners, both on course to achieve their personal best, instead stopped to help Ajay Haridasse, collapsed on the ground and unable to stand back up, ove...
Needing a break, we honor the rare sweet sliver of comity during Monday's Boston Marathon when two runners, both on course to achieve their personal best, instead stopped to help Ajay Haridasse, collapsed on the ground and unable to stand back up, over the finish line just ahead - because, they explained, "This is what it's all about...Two is better than one." Hallelujah: For now, still human after all these years. The "beautiful moment" of compassion and sportsmanship came almost at the end of the grueling, 26.2-mile marathon known as "the runner's Holy Grail" for its tough qualifying standards and steep terrain, including Newton's iconic "Heartbreak Hill." The world's oldest marathon was inspired by the inaugural 1896 Olympics and begun the next year; widely considered one of the most difficult races anywhere, it attracts 500,000 spectators and over 20,000 dogged participants from 96 countries. "It’s a slog. It’s a grind. It’s brilliant," said one aspirant. Another: "Nothing is like it. Runners train and train and train for this race." So did Ajay Haridasse, a 21-year-old senior at Northeastern running his first Boston Marathon having grown up nearby and faithfully watched it for years. Haridasse had passed the 26-mile mark when, he later said, "the wheels kinda fell off." After running almost three hours and struggling against cramps, his legs abruptly gave out 1,000 feet from the finish line, when he wobbled and fell to the ground. As runners streamed by, he painfully tried to stand up again, fell, tried to stand up, fell. "You got this!" a woman yelled from the sidelines, as others joined in. "You were made for this! You can do it! You got it!" "After falling down the fourth time, I was getting ready to crawl," Haridasse later recalled. That's when Aaron Beggs, a 40-year-old runner from Northern Ireland, suddenly appeared at his left. Beggs stopped, pulled Haridasse to his feet and tried to hold him upright; Haridasse began collapsing again, only to be caught from behind on his right by Robson De Oliveira, a 36-year-old runner from Brazil who swooped in. Beggs and De Oliveira quickly lifted Haridasse’s arms around their shoulders and put their arms around his waist; then the three men jogged and stumbled toward and over the finish line as the crowd roared. "No marathon is easy - there's no fooling this distance," says one runner of a two, three, four hour challenge run on grit and blisters, and those who embrace it often cite the importance of "athletes taking care of each other." "It's not always about crossing the finish line first, but lifting others when they fall," said one. "We do it together." When Beggs, a member of North Down Athletic Club, paused to help Haridasse, sacrificing his own time and standing, he "embodied everything our club stands for - integrity, compassion and true sportsmanship," said Club chair Jamie Stevenson, who hailed him as "a superstar (who) couldn't pass an athlete in distress. What a gentleman!" Beggs later said he saw Haridasse fall a couple of times out of the corner of his eye, and "my instinct was just to go over (and) do the right thing." He doesn't blame those who ran past: "It’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. You have to put yourself in front of others. This time, I just happened to put somebody else in front of me...It's one of those things in life - you've got an option at any moment in time. It could be me on my next marathon." As they crossed the finish line, a wheelchair "flew past." He thought it was for Haridasse, but it was for De Oliveira, who'd passed out: "He used everything in him to get Ajay across the line." "It was a split-second decision," De Oliveira later wrote of stopping when he saw Haridasse collapse. “I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to help him on my own. In that moment, I thought, ‘God, if someone stops, I’ll stop too and help him. And God was so generous...because two are stronger than one." In the end, De Oliveira's time was 2hr 44min 26sec, followed by Haridasse at 2:44:32 and Beggs at 2:44:36. All three qualified for next year's race, and all plan to run again - "God willing," said De Oliveira. Haridasse later thanked his two rescuers; despite his own near-obliteration, he called the race "the greatest experience ever." In a searing piece about the 2013 Boston Marathon terrorist bombing that killed five and wounded almost 300 - "All My Tears, All My Love" - Dave Zirin contrasted that tragedy with the historic joy of the Marathon. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run it, registering as K.V. Switzer and dressing in loose sweats. Five miles in, when a rabid official noticed her and tried to force her out, male runners fought him off: "For them, Kathrine Switzer had every right to be there." The moment, Zirin wrote, "gave us all a glimpse of the possible...of the world we'd aspire to live in." This week, Beggs and De Oliveira gave us another. "If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon." - Kathrine Switzer This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.
Antisemitism or anti-Zionism? Sydney Uni pressure to silence Israel, apartheid critics
Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism
University of Sydney’s appointment of pro-Israel academic Michael Abrahams-Sprod as antisemitism adviser has exposed management to an embarrassing conflict in its approach to freedom of expression. Wendy Bacon reports for Michael West Media. SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon While University of Sydney antisemitism adviser Dr Michael Abrahams-Sprod works in vice-chancellor Mark Scott’s office as its
University of Sydney’s appointment of pro-Israel academic Michael Abrahams-Sprod as antisemitism adviser has exposed management to an embarrassing conflict in its approach to freedom of expression. Wendy Bacon reports for Michael West Media. SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon While University of Sydney antisemitism adviser Dr Michael Abrahams-Sprod works in vice-chancellor Mark Scott’s office as its “resident expert” delivering training courses to stamp out what he sees as antisemitism, his close colleagues in the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism are embroiled in legal action against the university in the Federal Court. They have accused the university of being liable for alleged racial vilification by its employees, Professor John Keane and linguist and vice-president of the USyd National Tertiary Education Union, Dr Nick Riemer, both of whom are pro-Palestinian. The case will have significant implications for freedom of speech and whether the law equates rejection of Israel’s genocide and anti-Zionism to antisemitism. READ MORE: Sydney Uni appoints antisemitism ‘lecturer’, forgets to tell anybody Other academic freedom and Zionism reports Conflicts of interest and the 5A Although Abrahams-Sprod is not a party to the case, he was a driving force behind complaints that led to the case, and letters that he signed are being used as evidence against the university. Alongside its academics, the university is defending the action. So far its case depends on an interpretation of antisemitism that is in direct conflict with the views of 5A and Abrahams-Sprod, who is already teaching his courses for frontline administrative staff, some of whom deal with complaints against students and staff. Three of five applicants in the court case are members of 5A. One is emeritus professor Suzanne Rutland, a longtime close colleague of Abrahams-Sprod. Rutland is on the board of Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A) of which Abrahams-Sprod was campus coordinator between November 2023 and February 26 2025, and remains a member. She is also on the board of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Another complainant belongs to the pro-Israel Australian Jewish Association of Students, which Abrahams-Sprod assisted in making complaints. According to 5A, anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Its extreme views are revealed in parliamentary submissions, including one for the inquiry into measures to prohibit slogans that incite hatred, which was co-authored by Rutland. Conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism 5A’s submission recommends prohibiting a wide range of slogans that are regularly used at pro-Palestinian protests. For example, it lists “Settlers, settlers go back home! Palestine is our home!” as a call for genocide of Israelis, and accusations that Israel is causing ‘starvation’ in Gaza as a genocidal libel. It supports a dangerous notion of “cumulative harm” that would see police trained to understand that protests or slogans that individually might appear lawful if repeated can become unlawful intimidation. It recommends a new agency to operate a “centralised, anonymous complaints system to capture antisemitic incidents, chants, symbols, and patterns of conduct, including behaviour that may not individually meet prosecution thresholds.” Its clear goal is to silence opposition to Israel’s genocide, apartheid and other war crimes. In contrast to 5A’s views, USyd’s lawyers, led by Robert Dick SC have argued in the Federal Court that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. In fact, they have even relied on a letter to Overland journal signed by more than 50 Jewish academics and current students, repudiating “the attempt by those making the complaint to conflate Zionism, a political ideology with Jewish and non-Jewish adherents, with Jewish identity.” Campaign to silence critics of Israel The complaints against Riemer and Keane were part of “concerted and coordinated efforts to silence critics of Israel across Australia’s university campuses and public squares, trammelling fundamental democratic rights of assembly, protest, expression, and dissent”, they wrote. At the time when USyd’s submissions were filed last year, unbeknownst to staff, the university was already covering part of Abrahams-Sprod’s salary to work with Special Envoy Jillian Segal on a project developing antisemitism training. Abraham-Sprod took up his new two-year position in the vice-chancellor’s office in January, although it was not approved by the Senate’s People, Culture and Safety Committee until late March. Michael West Media asked the university: “Did the Senate Committee discuss the issue of whether there could be a conflict of interest in appointing Abrahams-Sprod to work with the vice-chancellor on anti-semitism training? “Does the university agree that there is a perceived conflict of interest? And if so, why did the university proceed with the appointment?” In response to questions from MWM, a university spokesperson (we requested a name but were not given one) declined to disclose confidential committee discussions and stated: “Dr Abrahams-Sprod will provide advice and perspectives rather than being involved in decision-making on issues relating to antisemitism, and so we don’t consider there to be a conflict of interest. “His work will complement other university initiatives aimed at maintaining a civic environment that supports academic freedom and freedom of speech, while ensuring a safe and inclusive campus for all.” It would seem from this response that the university understands that there is a potential conflict but avoids it by separating “influence” from “decision making”. Like all jobs, Abrahams-Sprod’s position will involve decision-making as well as influencing others’ decisions. The response undercuts the university’s description of Abrahams-Sprod as possessing “unique qualities” and being the “resident expert”. Israel lobby’s long-term funding of Uni Few, if any, Australian humanities departments have been so generously funded by private interests as USyd’s field of Hebrew, Biblical & Jewish Studies. In part one yesterday, we reported that Abrahams-Sprod’s lectureship is funded by Roth family foundations, which include John, who is married to the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, and Charmaine and Stanley Roth, a leading Zionist fundraiser who died in January this year. Further investigation reveals an astonishing integration of Hebrew, Biblical & Jewish Studies with the pro-Israel Zionist establishment of Sydney. The department always partnered with the Jewish Higher Education Fund (JHEF), which is a registered charity. Stanley Roth was a trustee of JHEF since it was established in 1981. The ACNC website lists the address of the charity as the Department at Sydney University, but its email contact is pwertheim@ecaj.com.au. Peter Wertheim is the co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. He has chaired the fund since 1997, along with many other duties, including chair of the Jewish Board of Deputies (1996-2000). and co-CEO of ECAJ (2009 -2026). The JHEF is one of the organisations that are supported by the Jewish Communal Appeal, of which Jillian Segal was recently elected a director. In 2018/19, the department and JHEF produced a report in which it acknowledged that “it’s only due to [the fund’s] generosity that we can plan for the future growth and development …”. The report stressed the importance of the Department’s work in combatting “polemical attacks against Israel’s legitimacy as a nation state” and “falsification of Jewish history, including calls for the BDS” to maintain “integrity of discourse about Israel and the Jewish people.” The report celebrated the department’s achievements in stitching Australia into the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and its definition of antisemitism. The money flow The funds flow as needed with JHEF making annual contributions of between $450,000 and $700,000 covering lectureships, casual teaching staff and administration costs, and links with Israeli universities. The department thanked their donors “without which the department would have no future,” including the Pratt Foundation, the Roth Family and the Isaac and Susan Wakil family foundation. The Wakil Foundation is among the most generous donors in the history of USyd, providing more than $66 million for health buildings and scholarships, apart from smaller amounts contributed to Abraham-Sprod’s department. MWM is not suggesting that there is anything wrong with private philanthropy, which is highly valued in the context of diminishing public funds. Michael Abrahams-Sprod has a strong teaching record. But is a person whose academic career has depended on some of Australia’s most powerful Zionists an appropriate choice for a “resident expert” tasked with embedding interpretations of antisemitism that the university itself argues threaten academic freedom? Academic freedom at stake NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Tim Roberts says, “Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment is another example of employment procedures being used across our community to silence political communication. “By employing an advisor with such a ‘partisan perspective’, the university undermines community confidence that any conduct proceedings will be undertaken in good faith and without an apprehension of bias. This should be intolerable for any academic institution,” he said. No one can deny that there is racism on campus, including Islamophobia, First Nations racism and antisemitism. Pro-Israeli students and staff are undeniably upset by pro-Palestinian activity. But 5A’s intentions are to silence pro-Palestinian activism. In fact, some argue that nationalistic Zionism is itself a form of racism. What about Arabic background staff and students who feel upset by USyd’s privileging the views of 5A academics about antisemitism before any anti-racism framework has been developed? Abrahams-Sprod is training staff to exercise administrative power, which can have big consequences, although it is often hidden and very hard to challenge. According to USyd, Abrahams-Sprod will “consult with all relevant communities and stakeholders in his work as special advisor”. But what does this mean when the courses are already underway without two big stakeholders — the Student Representative Council or the NTEU — even being consulted? The SRC opposes the appointment. SRC vice-president and co-convenor of Students for Palestine, Shovan Bhattarai, says it will “entrench a trend towards more authoritarianism” against hundreds of students who are “supporting campaigns against the university’s complicity in genocide.” Protests are still permitted but the university must be notified as soon as they are announced. Posters and banners are banned except in designated spaces. Anything less than full compliance can lead to disciplinary action, which students are forbidden to speak about publicly. Censoring links to MWM and Overland stories At an online staff “townhall” on March 2, there was more support for discussion about antisemitism training than any other topic. Afterwards, Honi Soit reported that Dr Riemer and historian Dr David Brophy, both members of University of Sydney Staff for Palestine, posted very brief comments and links on the staff internal platform. Neither were informed when their posts were quickly removed. Riemer expressed his concern that the training could stigmatise Palestinian staff and students, and linked his post to this MWM story. Brophy published a link to an article he wrote for Overland journal. They were found to have posted material “reasonably perceived as inflammatory or having the potential to incite others, including other users” — a finding which they vehemently reject as interfering with their academic freedom. Riemer’s complaint against this treatment was dismissed. The university refused to identify the decision-makers. A disturbing exercise of hidden power, but an undoubted win for the 5A approach and the Zionist funders. Part one of this series was republished from Michael West Media yesterday with permission, it is here. Wendy Bacon is an investigative journalist who was professor of journalism at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She worked for Fairfax, Channel Nine and SBS and has published in The Guardian, New Matilda, City Hub and Overland. She has a long history in promoting independent and alternative journalism. She is a long-term supporter of a peaceful BDS and the Greens. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Wendy Bacon.
‘His life mattered’: Family of man who died in Fiji military custody says he begged for his life
By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist Jone Vakarisi was heard screaming and begging before he was “brutalised to death” in Fiji military custody last week, according to his sister. Melehola Tagaga told RNZ Pacific Waves that the well-known drug pusher was asked if he was planning a coup, before the military arrested him at
By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist Jone Vakarisi was heard screaming and begging before he was “brutalised to death” in Fiji military custody last week, according to his sister. Melehola Tagaga told RNZ Pacific Waves that the well-known drug pusher was asked if he was planning a coup, before the military arrested him at home and took him to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks for questioning last Thursday. The Fiji Police Force classified the 37-year-old’s death as murder following a high-level meeting in Suva involving the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and security and military chiefs on Monday. READ MORE: Fiji police confirm murder probe launched into death of man in military custody Other Fiji military reports “An investigation is underway with the support of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander, as earlier stated, so it will be thoroughly conducted,” police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said. Vakarasi had become somewhat notorious in the capital, linked to turf wars and engaging in violence with law enforcement in recent years. Local media outlets have described him as a local “drug lord” who was “involved in criminal networks”. Jone Vakarisi was linked to turf wars and engaging in violence with law enforcement in recent years. Image: RNZ Pacific Fiji’s top military and police brass were on Bau Island farewelling the late President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau when news broke of his death last Friday. His death certificate, dated April 18, lists asphyxia, aspiration of gastric contents, severe traumatic head injuries and blunt force trauma to both the head and chest as the causes of his death. The Republic of Fiji Military (RFMF) commander Ro Jone Kalouniwai initially attributed the victim’s death to a “sudden and severe medical emergency” and “the presence of a pre-existing condition”. However, he issued a second statement on Monday to correct the record, saying “the earlier description did not fully reflect the medical findings now available”. Victim begged for his life Melehola Tagaga claimed that people living close to the military barracks in Nabua, near Suva, told the family they heard Vakarisi “yelling and screaming” for hours before he died. “My brother was saying “oi lei, au via bula”, meaning, “hey, I want to be alive,” and that is all they heard, all through the night,” she said. Tagaga, 50, an entrepreneur in Sacramento, California, said his home was raided first by the police, then later by the military. Both were looking for weapons and drugs, but nothing was found, then “disappointed” they questioned him about a possible coup. “A family member that was there heard the term coup … they asked if he heard or had a plan or knew of someone that was plotting another coup. And he said he had nothing to do with it and he didn’t know anything about it,” Tagaga said. She described the father of four as an “entrepreneur”, a “family man” but admitted he had previous “gang-related” convictions involving violence. Jone Vakarisi with his children. Image: RNZ Pacific “What do you expect from the kind of society that we live in in Fiji … people were becoming more territorial, so if you felt threatened, wouldn’t you do something to make sure your family and friends are safe? [from rival territories and authorities].” She said the family were demanding justice and an independent, fully transparent investigation into the death, claiming the military and the police were “in cahoots” with each other. “With the the wrongdoing, we want accountability, regardless of what the allegations are (against Vakarisi). We still don’t have a clear explanation of what happened to him,” she said. “His life probably didn’t matter to them [the military] but it mattered to us … he had a past with the law but that didn’t give them the right to kill him. A person’s life in custody should be protected.” Lawyer says death ‘extrajudicial’ Rajendra Chaudhry, a lawyer and the son of former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, told Pacific Waves the death was an extrajudicial killing. “I find it highly alarming that there was an attempt to cover it up, which is clearly unacceptable … the commander ought to have known about that. So the [initial] statement that was released under his name was misleading to say the least,” Chaudhry said. He said it was not a simple communication oversight, it was a serious coverup that was exposed only after the death certificate was made public. “I am quite disgusted to see comments on social media supporting the military because Vakarisi was a drug peddler, the military must respect the rule of law. He should have been handed over to the police for questioning and processing,” Chaudhry said. “They [the police] should take charge of the investigation and deal with it independently, they should not act in collaboration with the military because the military is being investigated, it doesn’t make sense.” While he had confidence in Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu, he said the military “leans on” section 131 of the Constitution, which states that that the military is responsible for the overall security of the country. “That provision is a licence to act extra-constitutionally and must be read together with emergency provisions, where the military is required to act in safeguarding Fiji in the national interest, it should not have a say in domestic or governance matters, which is the role of the police and the government of the day.” A Fiji military spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Dr Eroni Duaibe, said it would be inappropriate to comment while a police investigation was underway. Jone Vakarisi (middle back) with his family. Image: RNZ Pacific Human rights abuses The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) echoed Chaudhry’s views, adding that Fijians were too frightened to question what the military does. NGOCHR chair Shamima Ali called for a transparent, independent investigation into the human rights abuses involved in the murder Aman Ravindra-Singh, a Fiji human rights lawyer who is in exile in Australia, equated asphyxia with strangulation. Ravindra-Singh fled from Fiji in 2022 to avoid jail for contempt of court following a series of Facebook posts critical of the then prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and the former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. “In my personal view, based on other similar deaths in custody matters that I have looked at in the past, these injuries are consistent with torture, where a person is brutally beaten repeatedly to the head and chest, resulting in death,” he said. In an exclusive interview with Mai TV’s The Brunch talkshow, Vakarisi’s ex-wife Kuini Osbourne rejected claims that he was involved in illegal drug and gun-related activities, as widely reported in local media. She said following Vakarisi’s post-mortem, the pathologist explained to her his cause of death. “He choked on his [own] blood and fluid that came up and [the doctor] explained that it was like strangulation.” The pathologist said due to the severe trauma to Vakarisi’s head and chest he had internal bleeding from broken ribs, “he choked when the blood and fluids came up. He couldn’t vomit it or spit it out,” she said. Meanwhile, Fiji police declined to say what Vakarisi’s previous convictions were. “We will respond on policing issues, matters arising out of jurisdictional matters, such as convictions, is not for us to comment on,” Naisoro said “We will not be commenting on anything other than the investigation, so as not to jeopardise the process,” she said. Vakarisi’s older sister Tagaga said both their father and uncles had served in the military. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
What’s driving the catastrophic wildfires in Georgia
Drought conditions have been worsening for months in the Southeast. Now tens of thousands of acres are burning, displacing people and destroying dozens of homes.
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station. Wildfires are burning across more than 27,000 acres in south Georgia, according to the Georgia Forestry Association. Governor Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency in 91 counties. One fire, the Brantley Highway 82 fire, began Monday night and has since prompted evacuation orders. On Tuesday morning, that fire covered a few hundred acres and was 75 percent contained. But it rapidly spread and intensified later in the day and overnight. By Wednesday morning, it had reached 5,000 acres and was just 10 percent contained, according to Western Fire Chiefs Association, which tracks fires around the country. Local officials say 54 homes have been destroyed. “I will be very honest with you and say it’s a miracle that there have not been any lives lost,” said Brantley County Manager Joey Cason in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Brantley County and several area churches have set up shelter sites for displaced residents and begun collecting donations for firefighters and people who’ve lost their homes. The Pinelands Road fire in Clinch County, near the Florida border, began over the weekend and has since spread over 16,000 acres. It is just 10 percent contained. Both counties are heavily forested and sit on the edges of the vast Okefenokee swamp, Clinch to the west and Brantley to the northeast. Fires are burning in northern Florida, too, which is experiencing similar drought conditions. Officials in both states were monitoring more than 100 fires as of Wednesday, though many were small and quickly contained. While it’s common for fires to start in Georgia forests due to lightning strikes, stray cigarettes, sparks from backyard fires, and a number of other causes, thanks to forest management and plenty of rain, most don’t normally burn very far. Officials say this year is different. Rainfall and water levels are far below normal across Georgia, increasing fire risk. Conditions like this are becoming more likely in many places as climate change worsens the intensity and duration of droughts. “Under drought conditions, we have that much less water available either in the water table or in our swamps, ditches, drains, lakes,” said state forester Johnny Sabo. “So the wildfires can spread more rapidly.” A large swath of South Georgia is in an Exceptional Drought, the driest category under the federal drought monitoring system. Much of the rest of the state is in Extreme Drought, the next most severe designation. Many Georgia forests also still have downed trees from Hurricane Helene, providing more potential fuel for large fires, said Erin Lincoln, director of the Center for Forest Business at UGA. “This is a serious and evolving situation,” said Tim Lowrimore, president & CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association, in a statement on the group’s Facebook page. “We urge all Georgians to remain vigilant. Preventing additional fires right now is critical as responders work to manage this emergency.” Hazy, smoky air has reached as far north as Atlanta, in the middle of the state, downgrading the air quality there to moderate, meaning it could be risky to some people. In Macon and Columbus, unhealthy air quality levels have been reported. The state has issued a burn ban for south and central Georgia, asking people not to light any fires outdoors. “That is our number one cause of wildfires in the state are humans, unfortunately — people being careless,” Sabo said. It’s critical that Georgians heed those warnings, he continued. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline What’s driving the catastrophic wildfires in Georgia on Apr 22, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Emily Jones.
This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by ProPublica.
Trump’s Vision for the Homeless Is Already Here
Forcing the most vulnerable among us into institutions only perpetuates their trauma. I know, because I’ve lived it.
Forcing the most vulnerable among us into institutions only perpetuates their trauma. I know, because I’ve lived it. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Rachel Litchman.
West Bank Children Forced from Classrooms As Israel Weaponizes Tax Revenue
As Israel manufactures a financial crisis in the West Bank, public schools are only able to teach three days a week.
As Israel manufactures a financial crisis in the West Bank, public schools are only able to teach three days a week. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Jared Hillel.
Over the course of two years, Kuwait School transformed from a school to a shelter to a detention center, and ultimately, to debris.
Over the course of two years, Kuwait School transformed from a school to a shelter to a detention center, and ultimately, to debris. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Ohood Nassar.
‘God chose Trump’: president reads Scripture at MAGA Bible marathon
Inside an Iranian pro-gov’t rally defying Trump’s war
‘The era of climate migration is already here’
<img width="1024" height="678" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269173674-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C678&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="People try to walk through floodwater as heavy rain in Peshawar caused flooding, with 15 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide toll in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on April 04, 2026. Photo by Hussain Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342778" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/climate-migration-is-already-here/gettyimages-2269173674" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269173674-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1696&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1696" 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="GettyImages-2269173674" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" People try to walk through floodwater as heavy rain in Peshawar caused flooding, with 15 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide toll in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on April 04, 2026. Photo by Hussain Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269173674-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C516&ssl=1"> “Worldwide, natural disasters drive people out of their homes more than twice as often as war and other conflict… The era of climate migration is already here. We're just finally starting to realize it.”
<img width="1024" height="678" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269173674-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C678&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="People try to walk through floodwater as heavy rain in Peshawar caused flooding, with 15 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide toll in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on April 04, 2026. 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Photo by Hussain Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2269173674-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C516&ssl=1" /> Just decades from now, millions of people all over the world will be forced to move because of climate change. In his new book, Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration, acclaimed journalist and migration researcher Julian Hattem reports from the front lines of the environmental apocalypse, taking readers on a journey from the South Pacific to the Indian subcontinent, to the Mediterranean. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Hattem about his new book and about the massive human displacement that is already being caused by climate change today. This podcast was recorded on April 4, 2026, at “End Papers: A mini-book fest on capitalism and the climate crisis,”hosted by Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Baltimore, Maryland. Guests: Julian Hattem is the editor of Migration Information Source, the online magazine of the Migration Policy Institute, and founder and host of the podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration. He has been on staff with the Associated Press and The Hill, and written for outlets including the Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, and The Atlantic. The author of Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration (The New Press), he lives in Washington, DC. Credits: Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Maximillian Alvarez: Welcome back to The Real News Network. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Just decades from now, millions of people all over the world will be forced to move because of climate change. Entire islands will disappear into the sea. Once in a century, hurricanes will occur on a regular basis, decimating cities and wiping out people’s homes. Wildfires fed by prolonged drought will rage through communities. No one will be immune. In countries rich and poor, climate change will usher in a new era of migration. In his new book, Shelter From the Storm: How Climate Change is Creating a New Era of Migration. A claimed journalist and migration researcher, Julian Hadam, reports from the front lines of the environmental apocalypse. Hadam takes readers on a journey from the South Pacific to the Indian subcontinent to the Mediterranean, offering a frankly shocking glimpse into the massive human displacement that is already being caused by climate change today. And I recently had the chance to speak with Julian Hadam about his book in front of a live audience at Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse here in Baltimore. The event was actually part of Endpapers, a mini book fest on capitalism and the climate crisis organized by the good folks at Red Emma’s. And it was honestly just such a vital, energetic and important event that brought together, I mean, scholars, organizers, and Baltimore residents to talk about the climate crisis, how it’s impacting our world, and what the hell we can do about it. And I was really grateful to be asked to participate in this event. And I’m so grateful to Red Emma’s for playing such a continued essential role in bringing folks together to share knowledge and build power. And of course, I am also grateful to Julian Hadam for writing this important book, which you all got to go check out. So here without further ado is my conversation with Hadam about his new book, Shelter From the Storm: How Climate Change is creating a new era of migration. All right. Well, thank you so much, Meg, and a huge, huge thank you to Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Cafe. Coffeehouse, let’s give it up for Red Emma’s. Let’s give it up to Meg for hosting and organizing this incredible conference. Thank you all so, so much for being here. I’m Maximilian Alvarez, and I’m genuinely honored to be here with all of you and to be in conversation with Julian Hadam about his vital new book, Shelter From the Storm: How Climate Change is Creating a New Era of Migration, which seems pretty goddamn relevant right about now. And I’m sure even all things considered, Julian couldn’t have foretold all the ways that it would become so relevant when he embarked on this book. And so I want to talk to you, Julian, in a second, about how you embarked on the book, how it came together over the course of these raucous couple years. But to just set the stage for everybody, I wanted to read a couple of passages from Julian’s book. So Julian writes, quote, “The impacts of climate change are widespread and in some cases irreversible according to the United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change, creating tremendous strain on our health, economies, infrastructure, and food and water.” From 2000 to 2019, climate change was responsible for global losses of nearly $2.9 trillion, about $16 million every hour. By the end of this century, the planet could get on average as much as 4.4 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial levels of the 1800s, according to the IPCC. In even a best case scenario, the planet will continue to heat up until the 2050s, leading to more severe weather occurring more regularly. Not every single natural disaster is the result of climate change. Hurricanes, floods, fires, and droughts have been occurring for as long as the planet has been around. The science is resoundingly clear that humankind’s release of greenhouse gases has made extreme events more common, more intense, and more widespread. The consequences are disastrous for animal species all across our planet. Global warming of two degrees centigrade could put as much as 18% of species at very high risk of extinction. Mass die offs could transform the crucial web of life that has allowed ecosystems to thrive for millennia. For humans, the future looks hardly less severe. As many as 3.6 billion people, just under half the entire planet live in places considered highly vulnerable to climate change, meaning that they are under threat from rising rivers, encroaching drought, and other impacts according to the IPCC. About a billion people live on or near the coast, which face rising sea levels, severe storms and floods. Warmer weather means more people will die in heatways while diseases such as dengue will spread to new areas, putting billions at risk of infections. Long periods of drought will create parched farmland that refuses to yield crops. In temperate climates in much of North America and Europe, roads, bridges, railways, and other infrastructure weren’t built to withstand temperatures that regularly exceed a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Untreated asphalt can soften. Concrete can buckle and cracks can expand to jeopardize the integrity of bolts and fixings. When these things happen, millions will leave their homes and never return. The World Bank projects that by 2050, climate change will force as many as 216 million people to move within their own countries, more than the current population of all but the world’s six largest nations. This is the future, but it is also the present. Already small island states in the Pacific are regularly inundated with water and actively planning for the likelihood that rising sea levels will wipe their homelands off the map. Croplands are going dry and farmers are being forced to abandon their fields in search of new livelihoods somewhere else. Hurricanes routinely batter fragile rural villages, destroying homes in entire communities and scattering their residents. Worldwide natural disasters drive people out of their homes more than twice as often as war and other conflict. Even in the wealthiest country on earth, wildfires can tear through the neighborhoods and floods can drown city blocks, forcing people away and preventing them from ever returning. The era of climate migration is already here. We’re just finally starting to realize it. Julian, tell us where this book came from and how it came together and talk about what it’s like releasing that book into the world that we’re in today. Julian Hattem: First, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. So it is incredibly clear. Obviously, that climate change is having a profound impact on human society in a very transformative way. It’s changing what we eat, how we live, where we work, and I think also where we live, clearly. And I really wanted to tell a story that both shone a light on that as not a future projection, but as a current reality, and make clear that that was a global reality. And global means in every country around the world, but also here in our country, in my story and people’s stories in this room, and that those kind of two twin elements were really important to me to tell. And so I am a journalist, this is a work of journalism, and I wanted to tell that story from the ground up by finding people, talking to people, and getting them to tell me the ways in which climate change was impacting their lives and making them move, or in some cases, preventing them from moving, which is also a really important element of this story as well. And so it grew from there. But also, I think it’s also important to make very clear that some of what you just described is some of what you read is catastrophic and the climate crisis is a catastrophe in many ways, but migrating in response to crisis is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s good to get out of a wildfire. When there’s a hurricane coming, you want to be able to escape to freedom or to safety. But also historically, humans beings are an incredibly migratory species and we have always migrated for better futures, for literally better pastures, for better lands, for better realities for ourselves, for our children, and that bet has historically paid off. And so especially in the climate change era, the migration can often be a bad thing. It can be a sign of desperation and forcing people from their homes, but it can also be a form of adaptation. Climate migration can in the right circumstances be good. You don’t want to force people to live in dying crumbling lands. And I think that was kind of the story I wanted to tell. So in the book, I go to a couple different regions, talk to a couple different people to try and bring that story out, but those were kind of the guiding elements of that. And as for what it means now, yeah, I wish it were in a relevant book. I wish that this were an irrelevant topic, but I think that both the issues of climate change and migration are increasingly politicized and have become increasingly political, in some ways positively, in many ways negatively, and I think it continues to be resonant in a lot of ways. Maximillian Alvarez: Right. And like you said, both good and bad. And if anything, the sort of, let’s just take the past year or maybe the past chunk of years, I think that the roiling horrific times that we find ourselves in are both showing us part of the horrifying reality of climate change and a 21st century in which climate concerns are driving a lot of the war and aggression and so on and so forth. So we’re seeing some of it there, but we’re also seeing the apotheosis, the apex of the kind of contradiction between the modern concepts, the nation state conception of immigration and the human history of migration. And that’s, of course, the title of your first chapter is that we’ve always been climate migrants. So can you unpack that for us? Julian Hattem: Yeah, sure. I mean, I’m not going to speak to everyone in this room. Many people in the world are themselves migrants, or if not from international, from internal within their own country, they’ve moved from point A to point B. But historically, we have always moved around as a species and the environment has, for a long time, been a part of that. Cities are where they are because there are rivers there, because it’s not too cold. It’s very cold in Antarctica. A lot of people don’t live there. It’s very hot in the Sahara. Not that many people live there, but the environmental factors have always kind of been a driver of where and how people move. And even in the relatively more recent history, the climate has changed, not in any way to the degree at which it’s currently changing now due to human cause climate change, but there have been what’s called the Little Ice Age or the medieval ice age was a period in the medieval times when parts of Europe got exceptionally cold and it created some movement patterns within Europe. There was some Viking. There was a point at which much of the North Sea was frozen. So some troops could march literally from Denmark across to the Scandinavia. There were times at which things were warmer. So there were grapes growing very up high into England, so you could grow wine. Vineyards were very popular across England at the time. Maximillian Alvarez: I was quite fascinated to learn that there used to be wineries in the Midlands of England. Julian Hattem: Could be, again, if things keep going, right? But even in this country, a lot of people think about the dustbowl migration, which I think is for a lot of us, a great example of how climate factors can add on top of underlying issues to really compel movement. And so these are not strange stories. People are aware of the dust bowl. Many of us read grapes of wrath in high school. And so climate issues are inextricably interwoven in a lot of our economic lives, a lot of our social lives. It’s relatively recent that human beings have been majority urban dwellers until the last 10 or 20 years. A majority of the world did not live in cities. Now we do, but historically we lived in rural areas, and especially if you were connected to the land in pre-industrial eras, when there were variations in rainfall, when there were droughts, which there have always been to some degree, although more now, when there were hurricanes, which there have always been to some degree, although more and more extreme now, those impacted where and how you lived. And I guess the point is that climate events and environmental events have always been interwoven into all of the other factors that affect where and how people move. And often it’s … I think when we think about climate migration, quote unquote, now, people tend to think of fleeing a wildfire, like running away from a drought. And it’s a very clear binary of climate event happens. I don’t want to be there, therefore I run and go someplace else. Sometimes it’s like that, but most often it’s much more complicated. It’s much more nebulous. So the book, I went to Guatemala, did some reporting in Guatemala, and there’s a long history of migration from Guatemala to the US. And one of the things that’s very clear is that climate change is very real in many places, including in Guatemala, including with farmers that I talked to who were affected by seasonal rainfall variation and hurricanes and mudslides. But that was just one element. And there was all of these other things sacked on top of each other. And now there’s the history of migration, there’s global economic inequality and the urbanization and the legacy in Guatemala in particular of civil conflict, the genocide against the Mayan. You add all these elements together and now you add climate change on top. And it’s not just climate change itself, it’s climate change makes it harder to be a farmer. And maybe that would be okay, except that you’re in a relatively disadvantaged part of the country because you are indigenous and because of the civil conflict in that country that has pushed you to disadvantageous lands and you add all these things up together. And now this little extra push that comes from climate change can be the precipitant, I guess, to move, to leave. And then that can take effect in many ways. In the US, I think many of us might feel that we are often protected against climate change unless we suffer through an intense hurricane or wildfire. But for a lot of us, insurance is a real thing, right? If you own a home or a property and climate change is impacting the deductible and the premiums of your home insurance, that is a factor that can make you think about whether or not to go someplace else. And for many people it has. I mean, research is still kind of evolving on this, but there is a very clear trend that climate crisis is creating more or higher insurance costs, or in some cases, the lack of availability of insurance. And that has an impact on some people being pushed out of their homes and going other places, but also at the same time, some people not being able to, not being able to afford to leave, and then they’re stuck in a place where they’re either paying a higher cost or have no insurance. So if a crisis does come, they lose everything. Maximillian Alvarez: Oh, and I think that’s very well put. And it hits so close to home for me because I not only come from Southern California where those fires that you write about were, and I’ve been dealing … Ever since I left home in 2005, I’ve been dealing with more and more of my home state burning every year. I remember calling my mom one year and she was just talking to me like normal, and then I noticed she’s doing stuff in the background. I was like, ” Mom, what are you doing? “She’s like, ” Oh, nothing. We’re just being evacuated. “I was like, ” What are you doing on the phone? “But that’s kind of where my mom is and I love her, but that’s just been kind of getting worse. We’ve had our mega drought out there. But from there to the residents of Asheville, North Carolina, who I’ve interviewed in the wake of the massive hurricane a year and a half ago that went so far inland that it destroyed a lot of Ashland, North Carolina for Christ’s sake. And so the point being is that I was interviewing people there because I’ve been looking at what are so- called sacrifice zones across the country, like areas where the conditions for … People are left to live in conditions that threaten life itself, including industrial pollution, but also being directly in the path of manmade climate change. And when I was reading your book, I was just like, ” Jesus, you can sort of draw a red circle around these insurance company designated sacrifice zones where they’re like, “If you’re rich enough, move, if not, good luck.” Yeah. Julian Hattem: And so there’s a term called blue lining, which is something like that. And it has a legacy and in some ways there’s an evolution or an update on the historical race-based discrimination of redlining, right? And the idea is yes, that certain areas have been sacrificed, condemned that they are uninsurable. And there is a push and pull to that, because you don’t want to artificially incentivize people to live in dangerous areas. If there is a very climate vulnerable area, it’s good to have some sort of economists talk about price signals, right? It’s good to talk about some sort of mechanism to tell people that this is a dangerous area, but for the people living there right now, they’re getting screwed. They’re getting screwed. It’s either they’re getting more costs or no insurance, which can lead, especially in high income countries to a pattern called climate gentrification, which is kind of what it sounds like. Lower income folks either get pushed out of their areas as higher income people move into traditionally more climate protected areas and it creates a series of bad patterns. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, let’s talk about the proverbial people who live there and the people you spoke with. And I really appreciate the human journalistic work that went into this book. And obviously one of the most difficult things to navigate when we’re talking about and reporting on the climate crisis is the fact that we as finite human beings can’t really comprehend the scale of the crisis that is happening until we’re actually feeling it and experiencing it ourselves firsthand. And when you add on top of that, that so much of the world is invisible to us, especially those of us here in North America, we become kind of the horrifying apex of the adage out of sight, out of mind. But you’ve reported from four continents, you’ve gotten to see the realities that we’re reading about up close and in person. So what did you see and what have you found that you are and are not able to convey in the form of a book? Julian Hattem: I think in some ways it’s the pervasiveness of climate change and kind of the all- consuming nature or no stone is unturned, no area is untouched and that manifests itself in a lot of different ways. And I think in high income countries like the US, there are lots of ways to enure ourselves. We have air conditioning, we have good infrastructure, we have seawalls, some places you can put your houses on stilts, whatever. That’s not always the case. And so I did some reporting in Bangladesh, and one of the things that often happens there is that there’s a lot of, especially in some of the river deltas in the southwest of the country, there’s tense amounts of erosion as hurricane typhoons come through and erode the river banks and people’s houses fall into the river, and then maybe they have to rebuild the next year. And then another typhoon comes two years later and they have to rebuild. And it’s this continual notion of having to recover and get back up. And as soon as you’re back on your feet, everything comes apart again. And there have been increasing efforts to try and protect against that, to build seawalls and things like that, but it’s expensive. And I mean, there’s something profoundly unfair about that, especially because the vast majority of the people worst impacted by climate change are not the ones responsible for it. There’s a basically inverse relationship by who’s paying the cost and who’s reaping the benefits. But also at the same time, in the US, maybe you’ve experienced this, the phrase climate change to some people can be, I don’t want to use the word triggering, but can be very kind of loaded. And so sometimes I’ll talk about insurance being high or floods happening or wildfires, but I won’t use the phrase climate change that in many parts of the world, that’s not the case. Climate change is like, yeah, obviously it’s climate change, but at the same time, the notion that someone is a climate migrant does not always translate. So there’s, I think I talked about it in the book. There was a guy I talked to in Bangladesh who, his house was eroded or fell into the water because of erosion. He was a fisherpolk, he’s a fisherman, and then he had to move to another place, but that was far from the river and he couldn’t earn a living there. So then he had to move, I think once or twice more. And so I had a translator and a fixer and I asked him, asked the translator, can we ask him if he considers himself a climate refugee, a climate migrant? And the translator just shook his head and was like, those words literally do not translate because he’s just like a guy who has kids and wants to help his son get a plot of land and be able to marry and have a good life. And that the climate change is real, but the notion that climate change is the driver of migration is, because that connection is much more indirect and complex, that concept is not always as sticky as it might be in a place like the US especially because that’s a useful shorthand here, but it’s not always in other parts of the world, especially where migration has a, not tangible quality, but is occurring at a very different scale and is occurring at a very different pace. In Bangladesh, there’s something like 2,000 people moving every day to DACA, the capital, a lot of them from the countryside because of climate impacts. Bangladesh is incredibly dense, very climate vulnerable. And the notion of climate migrant isn’t really relevant. It doesn’t really capture because everyone’s got that. We’re all dealing with this. And so I’m just looking for my kids and that’s what I’m doing here, not necessarily climate migrant. Maximillian Alvarez: No, I really appreciate that and really appreciated it when I was reading it in the book, is that I think one of the many things that you offer with this book is a perspective shift on what we’re already looking at, which is like, yeah, no one really ever moves for just one thing. Maybe in movies when we’re moving for the love of our life, sure, that happens, but often it’s a combination of things, pushes and pulls and conditions to do so and yada, yada, yada. And so I think it’s both instructive for understanding the topic of your book, what’s the relationship between climate and migration today, but it’s also instructive for how we talk about that subject, how we talk about the climate, both in historical analysis. You have a great little aside about how the Black Death and the Bubonic plague is, there’s a climate component to that story, but it’s not just a climate story. But I love, it gave me, I think, more storytelling tools as a person in the media for including that analysis without triggering people, like you said, because it does happen. I’ve been trying to get, I made my name in the labor reporting world and I’ve been trying to get unions and labor folks to give a shit about climate stuff and it ain’t always easy, but it’s also in other ways easier than a lot of people online think it would be. But anyway, the point being is I want to kind of turn this into a geopolitical question, right? Because As you write about, the vast majority of climate related migration happens within the borders of existing nation states. It’s not the hordes of people coming from the global south that everyone in all the fascists in Europe and here make it sound like it is. But at the same time, the specter of rising global international immigration is like one of the most central issues of our day, and it is fueling this global rise of fascist, neofascist, techno fascist, ethnonationalists, right. So can you talk more about how climate migration is sort of forcing states to adapt to the internal migration, but also how climate migration is sort of changing the whole geopolitical terrain right now? Julian Hattem: Yeah. So I want to go back very briefly to the definitional question about climate migrants as a definitional concept. As you know, so I sometimes think of it like cell phones, right? Before the smartphone era, people migrated obviously, but smartphones have clearly facilitated and made some of that migration easier in ways that you can … There’s WhatsApp groups and like TikToks. And because that exists, that’s just like an added pressure and there’s an added element of ongoing migration to some of the political questions. Yeah. So this is like a problem I really reckoned with or thought a lot about because there is a real concern that catastrophizing catastrophic language and kind of sensationalizing backfires. And the fascist right has been very, very eager to latch on, and some countries have been very leaguer to latch onto the notion of like climate migration as a reason to prevent migration. Okay, if climate change is going to happen and that’s going to create a lot of climate refugees, we should have no migration. There’s a ear market here. There’s a telling quote by Jordan Bardella, who’s the head of the Ross On Blonde National, the National Rally, the far right group in France. It’s quote, “Borders are the environment’s greatest ally. It is through them that we will save the planet.” And so sometimes referred like ecofascism we’ve talked about before briefly, this notion … And there is also a long history of the conservationist movement, particularly in the US, but also generally embracing anti- anti-immigration tropes. And a lot of that’s connected to long histories and like discourses of colonialism. The Sierra Club famously for a long time was very skeptical of immigration and generally kind of wanted to reduce population sizes, largely through by preventing immigration. And there is a real concern that if you inflate the scale, the magnitude of climate migration of the number of people and the ways that people are moving because of climate change, what you do is you stoke the fire of the far, right? And you play into this narrative that like a dangerous number of, let’s face it, like black and brown people in their narrative are coming here and they’re going to tear us apart and leach our resources because they’ve, in their narrative, they’ve ruined their country and they’re going to come and take our good things. And so we’ve got to put up walls and put up barbed wire fences and prevent them coming out. And I very obviously want to avoid that. And there is, because there also is a desire, an understandable desire by both the immigrant rights and by the climate activist movement to accelerate and talk up these two issues, to talk about human faces of climate change as climate migrants quote unquote, but research shows that that can often backlash and that you can play into the very tropes that you’re trying to avoid. So in a lot of ways, yes, climate migration can and has played up some of the far right concerns about migration, which is something I’ve been very conscious about, but also it has created real tensions between countries to some extent too. There has never been an international conflict or international state based war, state against state war because of climate change, but there have certainly been lower level skirmishes and conflicts because of the intersection of climate change and migration. People talk about Darfur and Western Sudan as one example of this. There’s histories of violence between farmers and herders, pastoralists and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Lake Chad region, some parts of East Africa. And often what’s happened in these cases is that people of … And often the climate and migration is laid on top of underlying economic and ethnic divisions, but people from group A and group B are now often competing over the same resources. So goes the common narrative, whether that’s fertile pasture land or a lake or whatever, and that then something happens and then the shit hits the fan and then they start fighting each other. And so there is a concern that those kinds of conflicts and tensions could spill into broader interstate war at the worst, but … Maximillian Alvarez: Yeah, no, no, no. I mean, we could be here for another two hours tracing all the other ancillary ways that this is rippling out and affecting the lives that we live today. But I do want to kind of bring us around the final turn and two things. I I wanted to ask first, just to rhetorically empower those of us here and those of us listening, what is the kind of quibble with the … Or the rejection of the term climate refugee? Julian Hattem: Yeah. A common phrase, legally it’s not a thing. So refugee law is a very defined, very circumscribed, very prescribed refugee law, legal system, the grants refugee status on five elements, race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group and political opinion, that’s based on the 1951 refugee convention. Climate, environmental change is not in there. There’s been some updates, but basically no country will give you refugee status or give you legal protection because you’re fleeing a climate event. And so part of the reason to avoid that term is that it might suggest that people are getting that protection when they’re not, which can be misleading in some ways. But also my concern is that … I mean, we started at the talk at the top talking about the extent to which everyone is a climate migrant or we are all affected by climate change. And I think that a term like climate refugee, I fear can exaggerate the us versus us and them. Those are climate refugees desperate in climbing up the wall and anxious to come in. And it just got too hot in Phoenix and now I want to live in Montana. And I think that they’re the same. It’s pieces of the same story, but drawing that division is dangerous. And also, I think most equally importantly, individuals themselves don’t want to be called climate refugees, partly because refugee has been a label that has been looked down upon. It’s been kind of marginalized. And a lot of people think of refugees as being the victims, right? And people don’t like to victimize themself. And they like to talk about migrating with dignity instead instead of being forced to migrate. But there is this instinct to use this term climate refugee. And the idea is that deservingness, the notion of deservingness has a lot to go into. And the notion that if you’re forced from your home, you might be deserving of protection where if you’re just migrating to get a job, you’re less deserving. But I mean, people don’t want to be called refugees, which it’s very meaningful to me. Listen to what people want to be called as well. Maximillian Alvarez: No. Well, I think that’s a great answer. And I guess it always feels cheap to end on this question when it’s the biggest one and the one we need to spend more time on. But really, I think what we should take away from that is that the answer needs to come outside of this event, but what do we do? What is to be done? What can this book and all the work that you did to put it together, how can it help empower us to confront the realities that you’re writing about in the book itself? Julian Hattem: Yeah. So I kind of wish I had a better answer. A lot of it’s stuff you already know. We should stop burning fossil fuels. We should halt climate change. We should get the earth back to a net zero future on the one hand. On the other hand, we should have an immigration migration system that treats people with dignity and compassion and a welcoming nature. I think those are kind of the big obvious ones, which are in some ways it’s reassuring that we know what to do. We just got to do it. In some ways it’s disheartening that we know what to do and haven’t done it. But there are some other things. So there’s a lot of climate folks will often talk about adaptation. So you want to help people stay in their homes as well. So even if you turned off flip the switch, we got to net zero tomorrow. I mean, as you read in the beginning, at some point, some of the climate shit has already hit the fan. We are already past, if not a point of no return, like a point of only limited return. Some impacts of climate change are not going to be erased. And so there are mechanisms to help people stay in their home, adaptation, build seawalls, invest. And some of this stuff is not that technically complicated, like irrigation techniques and crop rotation things, but if you’re a very poor farmer in Central America or whatever, that those are expensive and difficult to ascertain. So the UN’s adaptation fund aims to get at some of that and there’s other mechanisms to help people stay in their homes because ultimately while human beings are intensely migratory species, we also like our homes. Home is a very powerful concept and people want to be able to migrate to earn money, help themselves, help their families, but they also want to be able to want to keep their community and their homes, other places where their ancestors are buried and where their religious institution is and all of these things and people want to be able to stay there. And so the ideal policy solution is to help people stay in their homes if they want to, and if and when they want to migrate for whatever reason, help them do so voluntarily, safely, and with dignity. Maximillian Alvarez: Thank you for listening to this episode of The Real News Network Podcast. And thank you to journalist Julian Hadam for this great and lively discussion about his new book, Shelter From the Storm: How Climate Change is Creating a New Era of Migration. And thank you to Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse for organizing this great event. If you want to get more coverage and hear more important conversations just like this, then we need you to become a supporter of The Real News Now. Share this podcast with people in your circles, your friends, your family, your coworkers. Sign up for the Real News Newsletter so you never miss a story and go to therealnews.com/donate and become a supporter today. I promise you guys, it really makes a difference. For the Real News Network, this Maximillian Alvarez signing off from Baltimore, take care of yourselves and take care of each other. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
EFF Sues DHS and ICE For Records on Subpoenas Seeking to Unmask Online Critics
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today demanding public records about their use of administrative subpoenas to try to identify their online critics.Co...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today demanding public records about their use of administrative subpoenas to try to identify their online critics. Court records and news reports show that in the past year, DHS has used administrative subpoenas to unmask or locate people who have documented ICE's activities in their community, criticized the government, or attended protests. The subpoenas are sent to technology companies to demand information about internet users who are often engaged in protected First Amendment activity. These subpoenas are dangerous because they don’t require judges’ approval. But they are also unlawful, and the government knows it. When a few users challenged them in court with the help of American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in Northern California and Pennsylvania, DHS withdrew them rather than waiting for a decision. DHS and ICE have ignored EFF’s public-records requests for documents about the processes behind these subpoenas, so EFF sued Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “DHS and ICE should not be able to first claim that they have the legal authority to unmask critics and then run from court when users challenge these administrative subpoenas,” said EFF Deputy Legal Director Aaron Mackey. “The public deserves to know what laws the agencies believe give them the power to issue these speech-chilling subpoenas.” An administrative subpoena cannot be used to obtain the content of communications, but they have been used to try and obtain some basic subscriber information like name, address, IP address, length of service, and session times. If a technology company refuses to comply, an agency’s only recourse is to drop it or go to court and try to convince a judge that the request is lawful. EFF and the ACLU of Northern California in February wrote to Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Reddit, SNAP, TikTok, and X to ask that they insist on court intervention and an order before complying with a DHS subpoena; give users as much notice as possible when they are the target of a subpoena, so the users can seek help; and resist gag orders that would prevent the companies from notifying users who are targets of subpoenas. And EFF last week asked California’s and New York’s attorneys general to investigate Google for deceptive trade practices for breaking its promise to notify users before handing their data to law enforcement, citing the case of a doctoral student who was targeted with an ICE subpoena after briefly attending a pro-Palestine protest. EFF in early March filed public-records requests with DHS and ICE for their policies, procedures, guidelines, directives, memos, and legal analyses supporting such use of administrative subpoenas. EFF also requested all Inspector General or oversight records, all approval and issuance procedures for the subpoenas, all records reflecting how many such subpoenas have been issued, all communications with technology companies concerning these demands, all communications regarding specific named targets or programs, and all communications with the Department of Justice regarding such subpoenas. DHS and ICE have not responded, even though EFF requested expedited processing of its requests, which requires agencies to get back to requesters within 10 days. “The policies, directives, and authorization records governing the program have not been disclosed,” the complaint notes. “The legal basis asserted by DHS and ICE for using a customs statute to compel disclosure of information about persons engaged in constitutionally protected speech and association has not been made public.” For the complaint: https://www.eff.org/document/eff-v-dhs-ice-administrative-subpoenas-complaint For EFF’s letter urging tech companies to protect users: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/open-letter-tech-companies-protect-your-users-lawless-dhs-subpoenas For EFF’s letter urging state probes of Google: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-state-ags-investigate-googles-broken-promise-users-targeted-government This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Common Cause: DOJ’s Attack on SPLC Part of “Campaign of Intimidation”
Statement of Common Cause President & CEO Virginia Kase Solomón: Common Cause, our National Governing Board, our executive team, our staff, and the more than one million members we represent across this country, stands firmly with the Southern Poverty...
Statement of Common Cause President & CEO Virginia Kase Solomón: Common Cause, our National Governing Board, our executive team, our staff, and the more than one million members we represent across this country, stands firmly with the Southern Poverty Law Center in the face of yesterday’s attack by the Department of Justice. We are clear that this is a sham case built on illegitimate claims, and it is meant to create a chilling effect on anyone standing on the side of justice and civil rights; particularly those fighting hate groups, white supremacist groups, and those standing up against this administration’s corruption and self-dealing. For more than 55 years, the SPLC has done some of the most difficult and most necessary work in American society: tracking the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, neo-Nazi networks, and other violent extremist organizations that threaten the safety of Black communities, Jewish communities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and anyone else these groups target. The pattern here is unmistakable. This indictment follows a string of investigations into perceived opponents and critics of the Trump administration that have raised serious questions about whether the Justice Department has been turned into a political weapon. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly announced earlier this year that the FBI had severed its relationships with the SPLC, and the administration has made no secret of who it wants to protect and who it wants to destroy based on their loyalty to Donald Trump. Charging a civil rights organization with fraud for exposing the operations of violent hate groups turns the rule of law upside down. The message this indictment sends is simple. If you investigate white supremacists, the federal government will investigate you. If you name extremism, you will be accused of manufacturing it. If you stand up to this administration, you will be targeted. That is the chilling effect, and it is by design. The leadership, staff, and more than one million members of Common Cause will not be chilled. Democracy depends on civil society organizations being free to monitor hate, defend voting rights, challenge abuses of power, and speak the truth about those who seek to undermine our multiracial democracy. We have seen this playbook before, in other countries and in darker chapters of our own, and we recognize it for what it is. We call on members of Congress, the legal community, philanthropic leaders, and our fellow civil rights and democracy organizations to speak out clearly until the Department of Justice drops its attack against the SPLC. The SPLC has our full solidarity and support. We are confident they will prevail, and the entire Common Cause community will stand with them every step of the way. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Trump Administration Finally Discloses White House Ballroom Funding Contract in Response to Public Citizen’s FOIA Lawsuit
The Trump Administration today disclosed the funding agreement for Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. The administration disclosed the 14-page “Philanthropic Support Agreement” between the White House, the National Park Service and the...
The Trump Administration today disclosed the funding agreement for Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. The administration disclosed the 14-page “Philanthropic Support Agreement” between the White House, the National Park Service and the non-profit Trust for the National Mall in response to Public Citizen’s FOIA request and a subsequent lawsuit. In October, Public Citizen submitted a FOIA request to the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior seeking the White House Ballroom contract. In December, when the agencies had failed to respond, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit asking the court to compel the agencies to comply with FOIA. “The Trump Administration’s failure to disclose this contract was flatly unlawful,” said Wendy Liu, Public Citizen attorney and lead counsel on the lawsuit. “The American people are entitled to transparency over this multi-million-dollar project, and this win gets us a bit closer to knowing the truth.” “This is the first time we don’t have to take the word of the White House; we can see details of this scheme in black and white,” said Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger. “This document reveals that anonymous donations are the heart of this agreement. The questions this raises are, of the hundreds of millions being funneled in secret, who are these anonymous donors, and what are they hiding? The American people deserve answers, and we’ll keep fighting until they get them.” While many questions remain unanswered surrounding the ballroom’s funding scheme, Public Citizen exposed a myriad of conflicts of interest concerns about pay-to-play government contracts and dropped enforcement actions benefiting ballroom donors in the report, <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCxXwZR0L9lem-2B5XpAYqIXzMIHoTJKqDUVvpUmnI8bA4iaVGwwVpxGWOujoDr4n23z56jH-2FEqSWqNN59NvB4ymYZmlK-2Bc0F5ELjGsdQr2iSBUKbINNpPY4FuAQ0qHVw3VK88h4F4vpBCTYapx7CA90Zw-3DgGnT_LgAl3zcMYuZ9hVgLGldK9z5BQpZYG4atUkIMgcUSgRlHJ8InxrlcJhdO5pjxlpgPeBBDEA2avz03qlGJDMszm-2BmNP4rgjpN-2FG-2BTLXsUj8aU1OXGZ-2Ffb9TW9WcTUEwHcI6LF3uNHVuSpO5CUfKoJb6rSY24M1ZXaA3UKQLq0xS3-2F6xQ-2FVipJ5tg1sUGPav0KAfkG-2FTj362IyGUAQ99bfhF6u2iv6lMdk4oQhcrYoFRFccaGtcaNk569y3ED3BYtJHiUWEGCqpIsKUt-2FBQOKD977adnKyRpLEF486ywDUSsH0X2RK9nZ5X-2B92hh65e30qt0hLTXH-2BwUUeyG7-2BBrWNrKw-3D-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCxXwZR0L9lem-2B5XpAYqIXzMIHoTJKqDUVvpUmnI8bA4iaVGwwVpxGWOujoDr4n23z56jH-2FEqSWqNN59NvB4ymYZmlK-2Bc0F5ELjGsdQr2iSBUKbINNpPY4FuAQ0qHVw3VK88h4F4vpBCTYapx7CA90Zw-3DgGnT_LgAl3zcMYuZ9hVgLGldK9z5BQpZYG4atUkIMgcUSgRlHJ8InxrlcJhdO5pjxlpgPeBBDEA2avz03qlGJDMszm-2BmNP4rgjpN-2FG-2BTLXsUj8aU1OXGZ-2Ffb9TW9WcTUEwHcI6LF3uNHVuSpO5CUfKoJb6rSY24M1ZXaA3UKQLq0xS3-2F6xQ-2FVipJ5tg1sUGPav0KAfkG-2FTj362IyGUAQ99bfhF6u2iv6lMdk4oQhcrYoFRFccaGtcaNk569y3ED3BYtJHiUWEGCqpIsKUt-2FBQOKD977adnKyRpLEF486ywDUSsH0X2RK9nZ5X-2B92hh65e30qt0hLTXH-2BwUUeyG7-2BBrWNrKw-3D-3D">Banquet of Greed. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Memphis residents fight Elon Musk’s data center pollution
CPJ calls for immediate rescue of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, trapped under rubble in southern Lebanon
Beirut, April 22, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) apparently targeted Lebanese journalists Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj in Al Tayri, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday, and warns that the continued Israeli obstruction of rescue efforts may amount to a war crime. CPJ is further alarmed by reports that...
Beirut, April 22, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) apparently targeted Lebanese journalists Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj in Al Tayri, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday, and warns that the continued Israeli obstruction of rescue efforts may amount to a war crime. CPJ is further alarmed by reports that Khalil received a direct death threat attributed to the IDF in September 2024, raising serious concerns of deliberate targeting. Khalil, a reporter for the newspaper Al-Akhbar, and Faraj, a freelance photojournalist, were both on assignment, reporting on recent attacks on the southern village of Bint Jbeil. En route, they became trapped under rubble after a direct strike hit the building they were sheltering in, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/aljadeedtv.news/videos/%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B5%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9/802798895877476/?mibextid=wwXIfr&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fv%2F1DdnTALwtx%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr&rdid=i4466hObunXlqtRK">according to Al-Jadeed TV, just after a strike on a nearby civilian vehicle on the main road in Al Tayri. The destruction and direct fire at ambulances have prevented rescue operations from reaching the site. Khalil was last heard from at approximately 4:10 p.m., according to news reports and colleagues CPJ spoke to, when she called her family and the Lebanese military. The Red Cross was granted limited access to the site, which remains under active fire, but was able to evacuate Faraj, who reportedly sustained critical head injuries, and two other civilian who were killed, before being forced to withdraw due to continued <a href="https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/breaking-news/927034/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%80lbci-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%82/ar">shelling and the direct firing on rescue crews and vehicles, according to <a href="https://arabi21.com/storyamp/1754046/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%81-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%87">news reports. The Red Cross is now awaiting Israeli authorization to re-enter the site and search for Khalil, who is believed to still be <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Royatv/posts/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1-%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%87-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88/1539084577573071/">trapped under the rubble, according to several news reports. There is no further information on her condition. In an interview on Al Jadeed TV, the head of the Union of Journalists in Lebanon, Elsy Moufarrej, accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting Khalil, considering the texted September 2024 death threat against the trapped journalist. Moufarrej called on the Lebanese government and international bodies to take urgent action against what she called “uninvestigated and repeated Israeli war crimes against journalists.” “The repeated strikes on the same location, the targeting of an area where journalists were sheltering, and the obstruction of medical and humanitarian access constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “CPJ holds Israeli forces responsible for the endangerment of Amal Khalil’s life and the injuries Zeinab Faraj sustained after the targeted strike on their location.” CPJ demands that Israeli forces immediately cease fire in the area and grant full, unconditional humanitarian access to allow the Red Cross to resume search and rescue operations without delay or interference, and to ensure the immediate, safe evacuation of Khalil and protection for all journalists on the ground. CPJ calls on the United Nations, including the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to intervene urgently to secure access to and provide protection for Khalil. CPJ emailed the IDF international press office for comment but did not receive an immediate reply. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 22, 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 – April 22, 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 – April 22, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Everything is gonna be alright 💛 #stephenmarley #bobmarley #reggae
How Democrats Can Win On an Anti-war Platform #politics #iran
CPJ, partners file ECtHR amicus brief on spyware use against journalists in Azerbaijan
The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with partners Access Now, Data Rights, and Human Constanta, filed an amicus brief on April 21 to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the use of spyware to silence journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. The brief was filed in support of a group of cases involving the secret surveillance...
The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with partners Access Now, Data Rights, and Human Constanta, filed an amicus brief on April 21 to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the use of spyware to silence journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. The brief was filed in support of a group of cases involving the secret surveillance of Azerbaijani journalists, activists, and human rights defenders through the use of Pegasus spyware. The spyware can secretly turn a mobile phone into a 24-hour surveillance device, enabling the operator to remotely access the phone’s full contents and functions, as well as record video and audio in real time. The submission demonstrates how this technology facilitates abusive surveillance by states and other actors, and the implications of such invasive surveillance technologies for journalists, activists, and human rights defenders around the world — particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Spyware specifically poses risks to reporting and the protection of sources. The brief also highlights the insufficiency of current European legislative and policy frameworks to prevent, deter, and remedy spyware abuses against journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, and the need for strict safeguards, independent oversight, and accessible remedies in cases of secret surveillance. Read the full submission here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Democrats say new ICE funding could be used to interfere with the 2026 midterms
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Maine Passes Nation’s First Statewide AI Data Center Moratorium — Will Gov. Mills Sign It?
Virginia voters deal major blow to Trump-GOP ploy to ‘steal the 2026 midterms’
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Voters depart after casting their ballots at a polling location at the Westover Library on April 21, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342960" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/virginia-voters-deal-major-blow-to-trump-gop-ploy-to-steal-the-2026-midterms/voters-in-virginia-head-to-the-polls-for-redistricting-referendum" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"4.5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R1","caption":"ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - APRIL 21: Voters depart after casting their ballots at a polling location at the Westover Library on April 21, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Virginia voters will decide today on a statewide ballot question on whether to allow the Virginia General Assembly to redraw congressional districts which could affect how the state\u2019s U.S. House districts are mapped in upcoming elections and shift political balance. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1776787900","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"135","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.002","title":"Voters In Virginia Head To The Polls For Redistricting Referendum","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Voters In Virginia Head To The Polls For Redistricting Referendum" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Voters depart after casting their ballots at a polling location at the Westover Library on April 21, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> “Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” said Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Voters depart after casting their ballots at a polling location at the Westover Library on April 21, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-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="342960" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/virginia-voters-deal-major-blow-to-trump-gop-ploy-to-steal-the-2026-midterms/voters-in-virginia-head-to-the-polls-for-redistricting-referendum" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"4.5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R1","caption":"ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - APRIL 21: Voters depart after casting their ballots at a polling location at the Westover Library on April 21, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Virginia voters will decide today on a statewide ballot question on whether to allow the Virginia General Assembly to redraw congressional districts which could affect how the state\u2019s U.S. House districts are mapped in upcoming elections and shift political balance. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1776787900","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"135","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.002","title":"Voters In Virginia Head To The Polls For Redistricting Referendum","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Voters In Virginia Head To The Polls For Redistricting Referendum" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Voters depart after casting their ballots at a polling location at the Westover Library on April 21, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2272443663-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 April 22, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a referendum that’s likely to give Democrats four additional seats in the US House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections, a key victory in a gerrymandering war launched last year by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. “Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, said following Tuesday’s vote. “As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.” The ballot measure, which was approved by a margin of fewer than 100,000 votes, allows the Virginia constitution to be “amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census.” The new congressional map that Virginia lawmakers approved earlier this year—prior to putting the ballot question before voters—would aggressively redraw the state’s district lines to give Democrats eight safe districts. Two other districts would be competitive but Democratic-leaning, leaving Republicans with just one favorable district. Common Cause Virginia, an advocacy group that does not favor partisan gerrymandering, called the new Virginia maps “a proportionate response” to GOP redistricting in other states, including Texas. Eric Holder, the former US attorney general and chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in response to Tuesday’s result that “the mere existence of this special election stands in stark contrast to the gerrymanders forced on constituents in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina and shows that voters are tired of Republican attempts to silence their power at the voting booth.” “Virginians’ courageous action today will have an impact far beyond the commonwealth. They didn’t just win an election—they have stopped Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2026 midterms in its tracks and defended the principle that elections should be fair, competitive, and decided by the people,” said Holder. “Let this be a message to MAGA Republicans and the White House: enough is enough.” Democratic congressional leaders also applauded the outcome of the closely watched Virginia referendum. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement that “Virginians spoke with a crystal-clear voice, voting to stop the MAGA power grab and protect the integrity of free and fair elections.” But Jeffries stressed that “this war is not over,” pointing to ongoing Republican efforts to redraw Florida’s congressional maps. “If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas,” said Jeffries. “We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills, and Brian Mast. We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded enthusiastically to Jeffries’ statement. “Hell yes,” she wrote on social media. “This is the energy.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Jake Johnson.
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 22, 2026
Humanitarian emergency looming unless fertilizers can pass through Strait of Hormuz: UNOPS100 million people in over 60 countries live under shadow of landmines threat: UNMAS Rights chief Türk alarmed at Singapore death penalty spike: OHCHR
Humanitarian emergency looming unless fertilizers can pass through Strait of Hormuz: UNOPS100 million people in over 60 countries live under shadow of landmines threat: UNMAS Rights chief Türk alarmed at Singapore death penalty spike: OHCHR This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
‘The Wayback Machine Has Been the Best Archive for Preserving Our Digital Lives’: CounterSpin interview with Lia Holland on the Internet Archive
"DOGE set a goal of eliminating 20% of government websites, whereas everything that's been deleted now is living in the Wayback Machine."
Janine Jackson interviewed Fight for the Future’s Lia Holland about the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine for the April 17, 2026, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260417Holland.mp3 Wired (4/13/26) Janine Jackson: A recent report by Wired‘s Kate Knibbs leads with the contradiction: USA Today published a story recently on how ICE is misinforming about its detainment policies, a case that the paper built on data from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, a nonprofit digital library that preserves webpages. At the same time, USA Today bars the Wayback Machine from archiving its work. Along with outlets like the New York Times, the paper is trying to block the Internet Archive project from doing their job of preserving reporting. So what’s going on here? Here to catch us up is Lia Holland, a social artist, writer and activist, and campaigns and communications director at the group Fight for the Future. They join us now by phone from Oregon. Welcome to CounterSpin, Lia Holland. Lia Holland: Thank you so much. It’s great to be here. JJ: Please fill out our understanding a little more of what the Wayback Machine is and does. It seems like, particularly in these times, a critical information resource. LH: Absolutely. And that’s why my organization is so engaged with this issue. The Wayback Machine, for 30 years this year, has been the best and most reliable archive for preserving our digital lives, culture, recording and history. They archive nearly 5 million links on Wikipedia to news articles, and are a trusted resource for journalists all around the globe to investigate everything from corruption, to report on culture, to really do their jobs. And, unfortunately, that is under threat now. JJ: Let’s talk about what’s happening now. What is the crisis, if you will, and why is it of particular concern? You’ve tipped it, but why is it of particular concern for what I have seen called “accountability journalism,” but I think is just journalism? Pluralistic (2/9/23) LH: Yeah. Most journalists do work to hold the powerful to account. And I think that that is a part of the factor in what’s happening in this moment. So since February, the Wayback Machine has not been able to archive the New York Times. And there are other major publications like this that have told them to stop preserving all of their journalism. And this is happening for reasons that I can only speculate on, but it seems that many of these major media outlets are very interested in packaging up their content to sell for AI training, and they’re concerned that sharing it with the Internet Archive somehow weakens their product, or weakens their stance on whether or not AI training is a copyright violation in various lawsuits. I’m not quite sure why they’re doing it, but the reality is that blocking the Wayback Machine, and saying, “No, there can be no independent, unimpeachable record of the news anymore,” is not going to stop AI from doing whatever it’s going to do. What that does is destroy a resource that every working journalist that I speak to has relied on in order to do their job. JJ: Right. We can be forgiven for pausing, if you will, on the notion that the same outlets that are pushing AI in our face at every turn are also saying, “Oh, we’re concerned about the Wayback Machine because it might be training AI, and we really don’t want that. ” That just doesn’t pass a sniff test. It sounds more like they want to be in charge of the way that AI is used, in terms of their historical records. LH: Yes, and also want to be in charge of what the public record is. Frequently, the Wayback Machine is used for accountability at publications like the New York Times. They will change the content of articles, or take things down, just like any corporation that is archived on the Wayback Machine. And I would say there are many powerful people who would rather there never be a record of what they said or did. JJ: Absolutely. It’s the longitudinal aspect of it that is the value. And in this Wired piece, a labor organizer talks about how they used old job listings to check against what their company was offering at that time, and what they’re offering now. That’s not something that you can get if you don’t have access to archived or older material, right? LH: Absolutely. And another thing that I think is important to point out is that the Internet Archive works directly with journalists and with news organizations. Their goal is to preserve respectfully, and to not negatively impact the bottom line at these companies. People sometimes conflate the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine with archive.is, or these other paywall-jumping tools that people use. And it’s unfortunate, because that’s not what the Internet Archive is doing, or what the Wayback Machine is known for, or what it’s regularly used for. And so I think that that misconception also is really harmful when it comes to the public, and also these decision-makers choosing whether or not they want the archives to continue to do what it’s been doing for 30 years. JJ: Spell that out just a little bit more. What does it mean to work with journalists, rather than not do that? What does that look like? LH: I got to peek behind the curtain a little bit as a part of this campaign. It was very cool. So at any given time, there are employees at this nonprofit that are working directly with journalists who are investigating very important stories, people at every globally renowned media outlet digging through the archives of what is stored in the Wayback Machine, with assists from employees. And there are countless articles, over the course of a year, that reference what that journalist has found in the Wayback Machine. I think that there’s several to a dozen a day, at times, where the Wayback Machine was used as a source. Lia Holland: “DOGE set a goal of eliminating 20% of government websites, whereas everything that’s been deleted now is living in the Wayback Machine.” JJ: And this is government data, not just journalism, but all kinds of information, yeah? LH: Yeah. The Trump administration, I believe, or DOGE, set a goal of eliminating 20% of government websites, whereas everything that’s been deleted now is living in the Wayback Machine. And I think that’s also really important for corporate accountability reporting, where what they said in a press release that’s been removed, and things like that union organizer you mentioned, what was promised and what was actually delivered. JJ: It seems, I mean, it’s existential. Even beyond journalism, this is about collective memory. This is what we’re allowed to know that happened. I feel like we’re so many iterations beyond Orwell at this point, but clearly an entity that’s invested in erasing our memory, we should be fighting against that. So I would just say, finally, is there a way for folks to plug into this, even if it’s just to say that they value the work that the Wayback Machine does? LH: Yeah, absolutely. The biggest thing that I’m doing in this moment, in collaboration with the Internet Archive and journalists, is I’m collecting signatures from anyone who is a journalist or has worked as a journalist at SaveTheArchive.com/Journalists. Any journalist, student journalist, radio journalist, if you’re a podcaster, it doesn’t matter what medium you work in, this resource is important to you. Go sign that letter that’s been signed by well over a hundred journalists, including Rachel Maddow, Cory Doctorow, big names. And if you are not a journalist, and you are a subscriber to any major news outlet, or even your local newspaper, send them a note, let them know how much you value the Wayback Machine, and that you really hope that their work continues to be preserved in it. I think that expressing our disagreement with the idea that we cannot be the keepers of our own history, and that we can’t have access to the record of our digital lives, is the crucial thing to do right now. JJ: We’ve been speaking with Lia Holland. You can find Fight for the Future at FightForTheFuture.org. Lia’s site is LiaHolland.com. Lia Holland, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin. LH: It’s been a pleasure. Thank you. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Janine Jackson.
Heat maps show largest greenhouse farm in North Korea at less than half capacity
The farm was said to be the area’s rebound from severe flooding, but it's not fully operational, analysts say.
Months after North Korea unveiled the country’s largest-ever greenhouse farm, analysts told Radio Free Asia that satellite imagery shows less than half of the farm is operational, likely due to power shortages. According to state media, the country’s leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the construction of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm Complex. It has been touted as a way to rejuvenate Wihwa, Mado and Kumdong islands in the Yalu River, near the border with China, which were leveled by flooding in 2024. At the farm complex’ dedication in February, Kim acknowledged the floods as being the heaviest on record, but said the project overcame nature to create “from which our people will benefit for all ages.” <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/FNVQMSB3A5HAXHZGPZSKEWY6UY.png?auth=1292d921092c5d0e4cdfbc5aff06719493c49e542b81ccd0230a4768a500379d&smart=true&width=1500" alt="Satellite imagery from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-2C shows long rectangular greenhouse structures arranged in neat, parallel rows, with grid-patterned internal roads, research buildings, and management facilities visible throughout the complex. Analyzed by Bruce Songhak Chung" height="1125" width="1500"/> Satellite imagery from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-2C shows long rectangular greenhouse structures arranged in neat, parallel rows, with grid-patterned internal roads, research buildings, and management facilities visible throughout the complex. Analyzed by Bruce Songhak Chung (RFA) At a gargantuan 450 hectares (1.7 square miles), the Farm Complex is roughly the size of 625 soccer fields, and authorities claim it can produce vegetables eight months out of the year. But thermal infrared imagery from NASA’s Landsat-8 satellite suggests that only 44% of the total complex was registering temperatures above the surrounding average, Bruce Songhak Chung, a researcher at the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy, told RFA. He told Radio Free Asia that after seeing the thermal data from March 10 that the unheated areas were evidence that either heating infrastructure has not been fully installed or that chronic electricity shortages are preventing the greenhouses from operating at full capacity. Data from the U.S. Landsat-8 satellite indicates that active heating is detectable in only about 200 hectares — roughly 44% — of the total 450-hectare facility. Analyzed by Bruce Songhak Chung. (RFA) Chung also examined nighttime light imagery (VIIRS) captured by the U.S. Suomi NPP weather satellite at approximately 1:30 a.m. on April 17, finding almost no detectable light emanating from the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm. The electric grow-lights typically used in smart farming operations were largely absent — a finding consistent with reports of frequent power shortages due to poor electricity infrastructure inside the country. Kim Hyuk, a senior researcher specializing in North Korean agriculture at the South Korea-based Korea Rural Community Corporation’s Rural Research Institute, told RFA that the heat maps showed only parts of the farm were getting power. “What can be analyzed through nighttime light and thermal infrared imagery at the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm suggests just one unit equipped with solar panels and five glass greenhouse units — covering only about 25 hectares (0.1 square miles),” he said. “The rest is closer to basic plastic coverings than properly equipped greenhouses, and the electricity that can be generated from the solar installation is not sufficient to meet the farm’s power demands.” <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/TSIHH6WOWJAM7F2SQ5UV4YRLYM.png?auth=388768be47dbc8a42a8347e2bf14dececdf97b249a636a41174bc8400f1c23a2&smart=true&width=1500" alt="An analysis of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery captured on April 19, 2026 visually confirms that crops have been planted across most of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm. Analyzed by Kim Hyuk." height="981" width="1500"/> An analysis of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery captured on April 19, 2026 visually confirms that crops have been planted across most of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm. Analyzed by Kim Hyuk. (RFA) Kim noted that Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery taken on April 19 visually confirmed that crops appear to have been planted across most of the greenhouse units, suggesting an operational rate of roughly 65–75% — somewhat higher than what thermal infrared data alone indicated. Despite the more optimistic imagery, whether the farm can actually deliver on the authorities’ claim of eight or more months of annual harvests through solar power and geothermal systems remains an open question. South Korean satellite imagery analysis firm SI Analytics reached a similar conclusion in its own assessment published in March, warning that the large-scale complex risks becoming a “ghost greenhouse” during winter months. <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/CYCMAYGWKNC6PBLACUYYZYJDSU.jpg?auth=dc3f4128b0c648ee5e7620458d00645c847387246eabc66e9cdc3b221aa3de3d&smart=true&width=1500" alt="This picture taken on February 1, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unveiling a commemorative monument at the inauguration ceremony of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm Complex in North Pyongan Province, North Korea." height="5504" width="1500"/> This picture taken on February 1, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unveiling a commemorative monument at the inauguration ceremony of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm Complex in North Pyongan Province, North Korea. (KCNA/AFP) In its report, SI Analytics wrote that while the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm is now being heavily promoted as a model for regional development to showcase achievements in “improving the people’s standard of living” however, it is expected to face significant practical challenges. The primary issue is the supply of essential energy sources such as coal, heavy oil, and electricity required for its operation. Greenhouses are facilities primarily used in winter, yet this region is a flat border area in the northernmost part of North Korea, making it one of the country’s coldest locations, the report said. Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Noh Jung Min for RFA.
Appeal for AU Action in Zambia Lead Poisoning Case
CPJ shares statement from international legal counsel acting in case of US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
On April 22, the international legal counsel acting for the sisters of U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin issued an urgent statement, saying they were “extremely concerned for Ahmed’s safety and wellbeing” in Kuwaiti detention, and demanding his release. The international legal team has filed urgent appeals with United Nations experts, and they are engaging with U.S.,...
On April 22, the international legal counsel acting for the sisters of U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin issued an urgent statement, saying they were “extremely concerned for Ahmed’s safety and wellbeing” in Kuwaiti detention, and demanding his release. The international legal team has filed urgent appeals with United Nations experts, and they are engaging with U.S., European, and other authorities. “It has now been 51 days since our client, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, an American Kuwaiti journalist, was taken,” said Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, international counsel. “Every day he’s gone is agonizing for his family. We are aware of multiple reports from the U.S. State Department and international bodies of mistreatment in Kuwaiti prisons.” Last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported on the detention of Shihab-Eldin, an award-winning journalist and producer, who has not posted online or been seen in public in Kuwait — where he was visiting family — since March 2. Read the full statement here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
Greenpeace Sends Ship to Support Global Sumud Flotilla’s Attempt to Break Israel’s Blockade of Gaza
More than 70 vessels and over 1,000 participants from all over the world have joined a second Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza in order to challenge Israel’s ongoing maritime blockade of aid. We speak to two participants aboard the...
More than 70 vessels and over 1,000 participants from all over the world have joined a second Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza in order to challenge Israel’s ongoing maritime blockade of aid. We speak to two participants aboard the Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, which is providing technical support and accompanying the flotilla for part of the voyage in a show of solidarity. “When the system fails, civil society needs to step in,” says Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek, citing a history of nonviolent direct action within the Palestinian national struggle. The Arctic Sunrise's project lead, Pujarini Sen, explains the participation of Greenpeace as an extension of their work for the environment and holding companies that profit from climate change and pollution accountable. “Fossil fuel companies also benefit from wars, from genocide,” says Sen. “We don't view these issues as separate.” They also speak about how over a dozen vessels from the flotilla encircled and disrupted the MSC Maya, one of the largest cargo ships in the world, for several hours. They say the cargo ship was delivering raw materials for weapons to Israel. They say the action was inspired by protests by dockworkers. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The artificial intelligence industry’s data center boom is the latest chapter in a long history of environmental racism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist Krystal...
The artificial intelligence industry’s data center boom is the latest chapter in a long history of environmental racism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist Krystal Two Bulls, the executive director of Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-led environmental justice organization that is tracking over 100 proposed data center projects on tribal and rural lands. We speak to Two Bulls about the myriad impacts of what she calls a “modern-day iteration” of “settler colonialism,” including noise pollution, cancers and respiratory illnesses, water depletion, energy grid overload and even “ecological collapse.” As tech companies set their sights on Indigenous lands, Two Bulls says, “We’re always the one that ends up having to sacrifice our relationship to land, air, water, our communities and our nonhuman relatives.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
“Colossus Failure”: Elon Musk’s Data Centers Face Lawsuit for Polluting Black Neighborhoods in Memphis
As tech companies scramble to build massive new data centers to power artificial intelligence, marginalized communities are bearing the brunt of the environmental harms. In Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk’s xAI operates over two dozen meth...
As tech companies scramble to build massive new data centers to power artificial intelligence, marginalized communities are bearing the brunt of the environmental harms. In Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk’s xAI operates over two dozen methane gas-burning turbines without legal permits to power its data centers, Colossus I and Colossus II, polluting the nation’s largest majority-Black city with toxic emissions. The NAACP is suing xAI for violating the Clean Air Act. “We are, unfortunately, a cautionary tale about what will and possibly can happen if you don’t have the right rules and guardrails in place,” says KeShaun Pearson, the executive director of Memphis Community Against Pollution. Pearson says pollution from xAI’s energy generation is already “at a level even higher than our Memphis International Airport.” Meanwhile, the company has created far fewer jobs than it initially promised. “This has been terrible for our region, and it’s terrible for our future, because our community is going to continue to suffer. Our children have the highest rate of ER visits for respiratory illnesses and issues in the state of Tennessee, and it’s only going to continue to get worse.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
AI Data Center Resistance: Maine Passes Nation’s First Statewide Moratorium — Will Gov. Mills Sign It?
Communities across the United States are pushing back against resource-draining data centers being built to fuel artificial intelligence and crypto ventures. In Maine, state legislators recently passed a first-in-the-country statewide moratori...
Communities across the United States are pushing back against resource-draining data centers being built to fuel artificial intelligence and crypto ventures. In Maine, state legislators recently passed a first-in-the-country statewide moratorium on large data centers. “Maine residents are concerned about the impacts of data centers on both their electric rates and other utility rates, as well as on our wonderful environment,” says Democratic state Representative Melanie Sachs, who sponsored the bill designed to give legislators time to develop regulations around new data center construction. Sachs says developers have been operating in “complete secrecy,” refusing to engage with community stakeholders, while their plans appear to provide “limited economic opportunity with very few local jobs.” The bill goes to Maine Governor Janet Mills’s desk next. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Zambian lawyers fight for media freedom as journalists harassed ahead of election
Lusaka, April 22, 2026—For months, lawyer Josiah Kalala has been working late into the night on a case he believes could define the future of press freedom in Zambia: preparing arguments, reviewing legal provisions, and consulting colleagues. Kalala, who heads Chapter One Foundation, a local human rights group, hopes that the hundreds of hours he...
Lusaka, April 22, 2026—For months, lawyer Josiah Kalala has been working late into the night on a case he believes could define the future of press freedom in Zambia: preparing arguments, reviewing legal provisions, and consulting colleagues. Kalala, who heads Chapter One Foundation, a local human rights group, hopes that the hundreds of hours he has poured into this mission will persuade Zambia’s High Court to declare the country’s 2025 cyber laws unconstitutional. “These laws go to the heart of how people communicate, how journalists work, and how power is held to account,” Kalala told CPJ. “If left unchecked, they have the potential to undermine fundamental freedoms.” Chapter One Foundation has joined the Law Association of Zambia’s July 2025 petition to overturn key sections of these two sweeping laws, which President Hakainde Hichilema assented to in April 2025. The Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law provided advice to local nonprofit Zambia Free Initiative, which is acting as amicus curae, or a friend of the court, in the case, alongside Amnesty International. “The laws grant wide powers of surveillance, interception, and data access without sufficiently robust judicial oversight,” Kalala said. “Collectively, these features create a framework that risks arbitrary enforcement and undermines constitutional protections relating to privacy, due process, and freedom of expression.” Journalists face prison, device seizures <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" height="683" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?w=1024" alt="Lawyers challenging the constitutionality of the Zambia's cyber laws outside the High Court in 2026." class="wp-image-582931" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg 5760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Amicus-team-High-Court.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Lawyers challenging the constitutionality of the Zambia’s cyber laws outside the High Court in April. (Photo: Free Press Initiative) The Cyber Crimes Act goes against recommendations by the United Nations and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to tackle defamation with civil remedies. Instead, it jails for up to two years those found to have disseminated “false information” that “causes damage to the reputation of another person” or “subjects another person to public ridicule, contempt, hatred or embarrassment.” In addition, those who possess “unauthorized data relating to critical information” or “without lawful authority, communicate, disclose or transmit” such data can be imprisoned for up to 15 years. “Critical information” is broadly defined as data that “relates to public safety, public health, economic stability, national security.” Kalala is concerned that the vague language used to define these offenses could be misused to undermine critical reporting and investigative journalism. Similarly, provisions in the Cyber Security Act are overly broad, for example, giving law enforcement officers discretion to search and seize computers and other devices if they have “reasonable grounds to believe” they contain information that they seek, without adequate public interest safeguards for investigative journalism, he said. Station raided, journalist tasered ahead of election <img decoding="async" height="683" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?w=1024" alt="A newspaper vendor carrying Zambian dailies on August 16, 2021, reporting that business tycoon and veteran opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema had won the presidential election with an overwhelming majority." class="wp-image-582665" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg 1799w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AFP__20210816__9L844Q__v8__MidRes__TopshotZambiaElections.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> A newspaper vendor carrying Zambian dailies on August 16, 2021, reporting that veteran opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema had won the election with an overwhelming majority. (Photo: AFP/Marco Longari) These laws are among pressures on the media ahead of elections scheduled for August 13. Although Hichilema promised “a new dawn” when “the media will be freed” in his inaugural speech in 2021, CPJ has documented several detentions and assaults of journalists, particularly when covering protests and the opposition. “Press freedom is a fundamental right that enhances democracy in any country. For Zambia, this is very important as the country prepares for the elections on August 13,” Lauren Mwanza Chisanga, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) advocacy group in Zambia, told CPJ. MISA’s latest survey found 62% of journalists in Zambia believe the press does not operate freely and 41% had been harassed in the second half of 2025. <img decoding="async" height="1024" width="683" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?w=683" alt="Jeremy Munthali, editor-in-chief of The Mast Newspaper" class="wp-image-582767" style="width:327px;height:auto" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=200,300 200w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=570,855 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=652,978 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=760,1140 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jerry-Munthali.jpeg?resize=367,551 367w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /> Jeremy Munthali, editor-in-chief of The Mast Newspaper. (Photo: Courtesy of Jeremy Munthali) “I would describe the current press freedom climate as strained and increasingly uncertain,” said Jeremy Munthali, editor-in-chief of The Mast Newspaper. “There has been a noticeable rise in incidents of harassment and intimidation directed at journalists perceived to be critical of those in authority. These pressures are not always overt, but they are sufficiently present to create a climate of caution within newsrooms.” On April 8, suspected supporters of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), accompanied by police, forced their way into Radio Mpongwe, in central Mpongwe District, and halted the broadcast of a show featuring two party members who were making allegations about corruption in UPND elections. Station manager Machova Musanshi told CPJ the officers said they had been instructed to stop the program for allegedly attacking “the government leadership.” One of the party critics was taken to a police station to record a statement, while the other hid inside the station, Musanshi said. In addition, on April 19, Alfonso Kasongo of privately owned Power FM radio was assaulted by suspected UPND supporters at a campaign event. The journalist told CPJ he was filming supporters subduing someone who had thrown stones at party officials when he was beaten and tasered. In a video, reviewed by CPJ, Kasongo is heard identifying himself as a journalist and pleading with his attackers, accompanied by a buzzing sound like tasers emitting an electric charge. UPND media director Mark Simuuwe told CPJ via email that the ruling party “does not condone violence” and called on the police to “thoroughly investigate all reported incidents involving attacks on journalists” and ensure those involved are arrested and prosecuted “without fear or favour.” Government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via phone and messaging app. Newsrooms self-censor For newsrooms, such incidents weigh heavily on editorial decisions. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1024" width="683" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?w=683" alt="Kennedy Mambwe, managing director of Zambia's digital broadcaster KBN TV." class="wp-image-582716" style="width:325px;height:auto" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg 1067w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=200,300 200w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=570,855 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=652,978 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=760,1140 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kennedy-Mambwe.jpeg?resize=367,550 367w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /> Kennedy Mambwe, CEO of KBN TV. (Photo: Courtesy of Kennedy Mambwe) “It’s much like driving on a muddy road; the regulatory environment seems to be giving rise to self-censorship,” said Kennedy Mambwe, CEO of the digital broadcaster KBN TV, which was summoned in 2023 by the regulatory Independent Broadcasting Authority and ordered to stop inviting politicians to present the news. The order is still in force. “KBN TV is one of the media outlets that has been summoned by the regulator and censured more than any other we know. Even though the reasons sometimes are put across as regulatory in nature, the motive sounds like political intimidation,” he said, adding that using regulators as “political tools” causes “so much damage” to journalism. The Cyber Security Act is not the only law focused on expanding state surveillance powers. The Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Bill, which proposes to establish a comprehensive legal framework for the installation, operation, and regulation of closed-circuit television, is due to return to parliament for review after Hichilema declined to sign it in February. Although lawmakers approved the draft law in 2025, the president said it risked being intrusive and needed to be revised. “Expanded surveillance powers can compromise source confidentiality,” said Kalala, adding that the identities of journalists’ sensitive sources could be exposed. ‘I cannot publish’ As Kalala prepares to return to court in May to continue challenging the new cyber laws, the Zambian Whistleblower’s Thomas Zgambo are already facing the prospectof lengthy prison sentences over sedition charges. The investigative journalist is fighting two cases linked to his reporting on corruption and poor governance. If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to seven years on each count. Sedition — or conduct that encourages insurrection or rebellion against the government — is an old-fashioned offense under Zambia’s 1930 Penal Code that has long been used to silence dissenting voices. The law defines publications with “seditious intention” as those that aim to “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against” the government or among people. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="668" height="665" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png?w=668" alt="The logo of Zambian Whistleblower, citing the Bible verse, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free."" class="wp-image-582874" style="width:275px;height:auto" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png 668w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png?resize=150,150 150w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png?resize=300,300 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png?resize=570,567 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png?resize=652,649 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zambia-Whistleblower-logo.png?resize=367,365 367w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px" /> The Zambian Whistleblower’s logo cites the Bible verse, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” The misuse of sedition charges by successive Zambian governments ruffled by legitimate criticism and investigative reporting highlights the risks posed by the new cyber laws, with similarly vague and expansive terms. “In Zambia, press freedom is like a gift from the executive wing of any government. It is not a right,” said Zgambo, who feels muzzled by the two sedition cases he is facing. “I personally have a lot of stories that I believe are of public interest that I cannot publish because of the current prevailing conditions.” Despite this, Zgambo’s motivation remains unchanged. “What motivates me to continue operating despite these challenges is my love for my country. I’m a patriot,” he said. Editor’s note: Joan Chirwa, CPJ’s southern Africa researcher, is executive director of Free Press Initiative. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Joan Chirwa.
Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire But Maintains Blockade as Iran Seizes Ships in Strait of Hormuz, Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Frays as Hezbollah Fires on Israeli Forces, Israeli Army Reservist Kills Two Palestinians in West Bank Settler Attack, NYT: Two Senior Hamas Officials Say Group Could Give Up Some Weapons Belonging to Police Force, Justice Department Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on Federal Fraud Charges, CIA Agents Among U.S. Officials Killed in Mexico Car Crash, Prompting Probe into Covert Operations, Indigenous Communities and Environmental Activists Vow to Fight Mexican President Sheinbaum’s Reversal on Fracking Ban, Department of Homeland Security ​​Warns of Payroll Crisis as Partial Government Shutdown Hits Record 67 Days, Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick Resigns from Congress Ahead of Ethics Sanctions Hearing, National Women’s Defense League Reveals Dozens of Lawmakers Accused of Sexual Misconduct as Congress Faces Expulsion Votes, Virginia Voters Approve New Congressional Map Giving Democrats Chance to Pick Up Four More Seats in Congress
Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire But Maintains Blockade as Iran Seizes Ships in Strait of Hormuz Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Frays as Hezbollah Fires on Israeli Forces Israeli Army Reservist Kills Two Palestinians in West Bank Settler Attack NYT: Two Senior Hamas Officials Say Group Could Give Up Some Weapons Belonging to Police Force Justice Department Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on Federal Fraud Charges CIA Agents Among U.S. Officials Killed in Mexico Car Crash, Prompting Probe into Covert Operations Indigenous Communities and Environmental Activists Vow to Fight Mexican President Sheinbaum's Reversal on Fracking Ban Department of Homeland Security ​​Warns of Payroll Crisis as Partial Government Shutdown Hits Record 67 Days Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick Resigns from Congress Ahead of Ethics Sanctions Hearing National Women's Defense League Reveals Dozens of Lawmakers Accused of Sexual Misconduct as Congress Faces Expulsion Votes Virginia Voters Approve New Congressional Map Giving Democrats Chance to Pick Up Four More Seats in Congress This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Headlines for April 22, 2026; AI Data Center Resistance: Maine Passes Nation’s First Statewide Moratorium — Will Gov. Mills Sign It?; “Colossus Failure”: Elon Musk’s Data Centers Face Lawsuit for Polluting Black Neighborhoods in Memphis; “Data Colonialism”: Native Communities Fight AI Data Centers on Indigenous Land; Greenpeace Sends Ship to Support Global Sumud Flotilla’s Attempt to Break Israel’s Blockade of Gaza
Democracy Now! 2026-04-22 Wednesday Headlines for April 22, 2026 AI Data Center Resistance: Maine Passes Nation's First Statewide Moratorium — Will Gov. Mills Sign It? "Colossus Failure": Elon Musk's Data Centers Face Lawsuit for Polluting Black Neighborhoods in Memphis "Data Colonialism": Native Communities Fight AI Data Centers on Indigenous Land Greenpeace Sends Ship to Support Global Sumud Flotilla's Attempt to Break Israel's Blockade of Gaza Download this show This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Data center growth threatens air quality and progress toward cleaner energy grid
Despite the rapid growth of renewable energy usage in recent years, the even-more-explosive growth of data centers is delaying the transition to a cleaner grid in ways that could harm the air we breathe. That’s according to new research released for E...
Despite the rapid growth of renewable energy usage in recent years, the even-more-explosive growth of data centers is delaying the transition to a cleaner grid in ways that could harm the air we breathe. That’s according to new research released for Earth Day on Wednesday by Frontier Group, Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund. “It’s great that renewable energy is growing rapidly, but we also need to be transitioning away from dirty energy sources. We can't afford to lose ground on that front,” said Johanna Neumann, senior director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy at Environment America Research & Policy Center. “Pollution from fossil fuels harms our kids’ lungs and dangerously heats up our planet. We need to get our priorities straight. A healthy, safe environment is essential for a good quality of life.” The research, building on new government data, tracks a dramatic slowdown in the previously accelerating pace of coal plant retirements as utilities respond to rising electricity demand from data centers and other sources. Compared to 2022, when the country was retiring power plants at a pace that would lead to a coal-free grid by 2040, the current pace of plant retirements would keep some of our dirtiest ones online until 2065. Power generation from coal-fired power plants increased by 13% in 2025 as U.S. electricity generation hit an all-time record. One of the research papers, Energy Transition at Risk, uses data from the Energy Information Administration to document both the dramatic slowdown in retiring America’s dirtiest power plants and the resurgence of new proposals for gas-powered plants. The other research paper, Fossil fuel plants are staying online longer. That means dirtier air, uses U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data to quantify the amount of air pollution – sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury – produced by many of the fossil fuel power plants whose lifetimes are being extended. The authors recommend that to reduce the environmental and public health harms of increased electricity demand from data centers and other sources, policy makers should increase energy efficiency, ease barriers to clean energy, and continue to phase out dirty power plants. “We’ll all suffer if we rush to build new, polluting gas plants for uncertain data center demand,” said U.S. PIRG Education Fund Energy and Utilities Program Director Abe Scarr. “Instead, policy makers should prioritize no-regrets strategies like energy efficiency and renewable energy.” The new analysis follows Frontier Group’s analysis of delayed fossil fuel power plant retirements in its January 2025 report, “Big Data Centers, Big Problems” and an update of that data in October 2025. "It's absurd to power the technology of tomorrow with the dirty and dangerous energy sources of yesterday," said Quentin Good, policy analyst with Frontier Group. "Harming the environment and jeopardizing people's health is no way to build a better future." The groups have also organized a petition as part of broader efforts advocating for data centers to run on 100% renewable energy, follow efficiency standards and operate in ways that reduce load stress on the grid. Environment America Research & Policy Center, a 501(c)(3) organization, conducts research, policy analysis and public education. We illuminate the problems facing our natural world, advance solutions, and inspire intelligent debate about how to put our country and our planet on a greener, healthier path. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, conducts research, policy analysis and public education projects. We spotlight the problems that affect consumers’ health, safety and well-being, advance practical solutions, and promote dialogue about how to elevate the quality of our lives over the quantity of “stuff” we consume. Frontier Group provides information and ideas to build a healthier, more sustainable America. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Environment America Research & Policy Center, and Frontier Group are part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to social change. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
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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.
The Deadly ‘Road Of Life’: Ukraine’s Mobile Air Defense in Action | Ukraine Front Line Update
They Said a 3D Printer Would Bring Housing to This Town. It Was Yet Another Broken Promise.
The post They Said a 3D Printer Would Bring Housing to This Town. It Was Yet Another Broken Promise. appeared first on ProPublica.
The one duplex built using the 3D printer remains unfinished. Julia Rendleman I wasn’t looking for a revelation on a country road in southeastern Illinois. But on the outskirts of Galatia — a tiny town where Appalachian hardship seems to have drifted west and settled in — that’s what I found. It was not a burning bush in some biblical wilderness, but an industrial 3D printer the size of a small garage — a machine, I would learn, that took a $1.1 million investment to get to Illinois, carrying with it the promise of an affordable housing renaissance across the region known as Little Egypt. And it called to me. I drove past it again and again. A year prior, in August 2024, this printer was at the center of a groundbreaking ceremony attended by more than 100 people, myself included. I covered the event for Capitol News Illinois and watched as the machine laid down the first layers of what was supposed to be a new beginning. Two local men had promised to help save Cairo, Illinois, by using the machine to print new homes in a town that desperately needed them. I watched as state and local politicians ceremoniously tossed dirt. Officials posed for photographs beside the machine, holding it up as proof that a new era had arrived. They promised fast, efficient, modern homes — and with them, the sense that someone, at last, was paying attention to this corner of the state. A year later, though, the printer had produced the framing for exactly one duplex — but the project was abandoned before the interior was finished. Before anyone could move in, the walls cracked. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="Thirteen people with hard hats stand in a row and shovel a pile of dirt outdoors. Power lines and a structure that looks like a tower, part of a huge 3D printer, are in the background." class="wp-image-74370" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> State and city officials break ground on the Cairo, Illinois, 3D-printed duplex project in August 2024. Julia Rendleman for Capitol News Illinois <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A man stands in a partially built house, pointing at a crack in one of the walls." class="wp-image-74648" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Ryan Moore, then a Prestige employee, points to a crack in the duplex in December, one of dozens the company says caused it to stop work. Prestige said it waited a year for its printer supplier to provide a crack remediation plan. When one wasn’t provided, the company used hydraulic cement. Julia Rendleman When I started to investigate what had gone wrong, I found the printer disassembled on a flatbed truck at a country repair shop that doesn’t need to advertise because you either know it’s there or you wouldn’t be going anyway. The more I stared at it, and continued to drive by it, I wondered how a promise as large as housing had been left to rust in the sun and rain. What did this abandoned printer say about false promises so often made in the name of saving rural America? About officials who insist they are trying to help? And, at the heart of it, how did this quite expensive piece of modern technology become abandoned here in the first place? <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A truck with a large machine attached to it sits in a field in a rural setting, next to a camper van, a couple of buildings, silos and a pond." class="wp-image-74359" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> After the 2024 Cairo duplex celebration, the 3D printer was parked at this country repair shop in Galatia, where parts of it sat outside on a flatbed trailer for more than a year. Julia Rendleman For an investigation I published with ProPublica in collaboration with Capitol News Illinois, I sought answers to those questions. I followed what became one of the most windy and wild reporting journeys of my life. I learned that, behind the scenes, the project to build 3D housing in Cairo had been ushered along by political connections: State Sen. Dale Fowler, whose district includes Cairo, helped introduce the 3D printing company to top leaders, including Gov. JB Pritzker and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office. The company, Prestige Project Management Inc. — in the same Harrisburg, Illinois, high rise as Fowler’s district office — pitched the project as part of the state’s housing future. Read More 3D-Printed Homes, an Abandoned $590,000 Deposit, the FBI: What Really Happened in This Small Town? A Pritzker spokesperson said the governor’s office took no action after meeting with Prestige. A Duckworth spokesperson said the senator’s office had just revived discussions about how to address Cairo’s housing crisis when Fowler reached out and that the office did not have additional involvement with the company. Fowler took an active role boosting the company’s project in Cairo but said he just wanted to see housing development in the city and wasn’t otherwise involved in Prestige’s business dealings. What I assumed would be a simple story instead got weird — part Old Testament prophecy, part Facebook rumor mill weird. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="Three men in business attire look at the camera and smile, in a room with numerous framed black-and-white historical photos hung on the wall." class="wp-image-74367" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 960w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> From left: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker poses for a photo with Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek and state Sen. Dale Fowler. During a January 2024 meeting at Harrisburg City Hall, Fowler talked up the Cairo 3D printer project to the governor. Courtesy of Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek I’d learn that within a few months of that groundbreaking party, the work stopped on the duplex. After the owners of Prestige said dozens of cracks started running through the walls, a half-dozen employees quit the company. Not long after, the FBI launched an investigation into Prestige’s broader business dealings. There have been no charges or arrests, and the owners say they have fully cooperated with investigators and have done nothing wrong. They also said the concrete “ink” that came with the printer was faulty and that’s why the printer has been idle since. Black Buffalo 3D, the printer supplier, said it has offered Prestige a new concrete solution and to find a buyer for the printer if Prestige no longer wants it. I spent months digging through records and speaking with Prestige’s owners, former employees and others who’d done business with the company, trying to piece together a timeline of the company’s dealings in Cairo and beyond. Along the way, I encountered intense interviews, moments of tears, strange contradictions and a swamp of rumors. And in the middle of it all, I found myself pulled in, too — whispering prayers in my car, chasing the truth like a storm rolling off the Shawnee, loving this place with my whole chest and still wondering: What in the hell happened here? At the same time, maybe part of me already knew what happened, in a way. The failed promise of housing in Cairo is a story I’ve written over and over, for more than a decade. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="351" width="527" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=527" alt="Several large apartment buildings are partially destroyed, with their doors and siding lying in piles in front of them." class="wp-image-74366" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 750w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px" /> The McBride Place housing complex partway through demolition in 2019 Molly Parker/The Southern Illinoisan I’ve written about how mold, mice, lead-tainted water and decay persisted in the city’s public housing, at one time home to a fourth of the town, for generations. I’ve written about misspending by public housing officials, the federal takeover that followed and the long, painful effort to tear down what could not be salvaged. For years, federal officials promised even as housing was being torn down that it would be rebuilt. The plan, they said, depended on private companies working alongside government agencies, and on innovation. In this light, things like 3D construction printers seemed to fit exactly with their vision. So when Prestige Project Management Inc. in Harrisburg, backed by a state senator, offered to buy a printer and deliver it straight to Cairo — on what one of its owners described as a mission from God — people believed. What was the alternative? In Cairo, I’ve learned, progress (and the illusion of it) carries its own kind of grief. The demolition of public housing less than a decade before hollowed out a town already on its knees. People were forced to choose between opportunity elsewhere and home, between safer housing and the place that made them. And the emotional gravity of this story wasn’t from the strangest things I encountered, but from the ones that were the most real and heartbreaking: a town that raised its hopes, only to see them, once again, dashed. A mother living in a cramped one-bedroom unit across town who’d dreamed of moving into one of the duplex’s two-bedroom units, finally able to give her 6-year-old daughter a space of her own. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A close-up photo of a woman looking off camera. " class="wp-image-74374" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Kaneesha Mallory, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with her 6-year-old daughter, had hoped to move into the duplex. Julia Rendleman for ProPublica Some towns, I’ve heard people say, cannot be saved. I understand the argument. I’ve felt it myself, driving the backroads of southern Illinois between the two great rivers that meet at Cairo, through a landscape marked by poverty, abandonment and a stubborn struggle to hang on. But Cairo has always seemed worth saving to me, because of its history, its suffering and its resilience, a word that can feel too neat for what Black residents there have endured: racism and exclusion that lingered long after much of the South began to change. Is an unfinished 3D-printed housing spectacle really the best we have to offer? I’ve written thousands of stories by now. Most disappear as soon as they’re filed. But a few stay in the bones. This is one of them. The post They Said a 3D Printer Would Bring Housing to This Town. It Was Yet Another Broken Promise. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Molly Parker.
A deadly bacteria is creeping up the Atlantic Coast. How worried should you be?
Warming ocean waters are priming beaches and raw shellfish for Vibrio. Scientists are trying to stay one step ahead.
Bailey Magers and Sunil Kumar cut strange figures on Pensacola Beach. Bags of disinfectant solution surrounded them on the white sand; their gloved hands juggled test tubes while layers of rubber and plastic shielded their skin from the elements. As the two organized their seawater samples on the popular Florida shoreline last August, an older woman wearing a swimsuit walked over to ask what they were doing. “We’re just actively monitoring water quality,” they told her, but she pressed on. “Are you looking for that flesh-eating bacteria?” “We’re looking into it,” they replied, hoping not to frighten her. The woman turned back toward the ocean, her curiosity satisfied. As she walked away, Kumar noticed that she had scrapes and bruises on her body. A few minutes later, he watched her step into the waves. He shook off a chill and returned to the task at hand. Magers and Kumar study a bacteria called Vibrio, part of a lineage of ancient marine species that likely emerged sometime around the Paleozoic Era. Enormous, shallow seas flooded the massive, interconnected supercontinents that constituted the Earth’s landmass at the time, and complex marine ecosystems developed that thrived in these temperate, freshly-formed bodies of water. Researchers think there are more than 70 Vibrio species in the environment today, hundreds of millions of years later. The organisms float in warm, brackish water, attaching themselves to plankton and algae and accumulating in prolific water-filtering species like clams and oysters. Two family members harvest seafood from a beach in Florida. Zoya Teirstein / Grist A small number of Vibrio species can sicken and even kill. In worst-case scenarios, a person who has been exposed to the most dangerous of them — by swimming in brackish water with an open wound or ingesting a piece of raw shellfish that is contaminated with the tasteless and odorless toxin — may find themselves with only hours before the flesh on one or more extremities starts to bruise, swell, and decay. Without the quick aid of powerful antibiotics, septic shock can set in and lead to death. Anyone can get infected, though it is much more likely in people who have liver disease or are immunocompromised, elderly, or diabetic. Climate change is making the world’s oceans, which have absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions, more hospitable to Vibrio. Research shows that temperature and salinity are the largest predictors of how widespread Vibrio bacteria are. As water temperatures rise, so does the concentration of Vibrio in seawater — boosting the risk of infection for beachgoers and shellfish consumers. The bacteria start getting active in water temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit and multiply rapidly as coastal waters warm throughout the summer. In recent years, scientists have documented Vibrio expanding into places that were once too cold to support the bacteria, pushing as far north along the U.S. East Coast as Maine and appearing with more prevalence in temperate seas around the world. Vibriosis infections in general are the leading cause of shellfish-related illness in the U.S. They have increased “more than any other illness caused by a pathogen in the U.S. food supply” since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, started keeping tabs on such illnesses in 1996, according to a 2019 analysis by the International Association for Food Protection. The report attributed the precipitous rise to a “perfect storm” of factors that include climate change, food handling practices, expanding globalization, a patchwork of regulatory oversight, and improved diagnosis. More in this series <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="An illustration of the Phoenix landscape with dust and a translucent doctor in the foreground" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/valley-fever-final.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" /> In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="Illustration of a Kenyan girl standing in front of a hospital bed outside with sandflies surrounding her" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kala-azar-final.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" /> As aid dries up in Kenya, millions are threatened by the climate-driven disease kala-azar <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="An illustration of a man sitting in a clinic or hospital with dialysis machines. His face is not visible but he is looking out a window showing an orange heatwave scene. The room scene is visible through an archway with intricate blue and white tile and a sign in a different language. The scene is set in Nepal." height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ckd-final-2000px.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" /> Rising heat, failing kidneys: Climate’s hidden toll on migrant workers <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="an illustration of a hand picking a water bottle out of a puddle or river. Along the banks, trash such as cans and plastic bags gather. TIny mosquitos dot the expanse of water between banks" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bangladesh_clean.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" /> In Bangladesh, thousands of volunteers are battling climate-fueled disease at its source <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="an illustration of a woman in scrubs standing in a mold damaged hallway looking into a child or tween's bedroom" height="1125" width="2000" 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" class="tease-art__art js-modal-gallery__hidden lazyload" loading=lazy fetchpriority=auto decoding="async" /> A hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="An illustration of a woman in a lab looking up close at a mosquito in a jar" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dengue-final-2000x1125-1.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" /> The frantic, high-tech fight to stop climate-fueled dengue fever On their conspicuous expeditions to Pensacola and other Sunshine State beaches, Magers and Kumar are trying to understand where, and when, harmful Vibrio species are present across the state. The research they’re doing is part of an ongoing effort by a laboratory at the University of Florida to create a Vibrio early warning system for the eastern United States — a program that can alert public health departments to high Vibrio concentrations in any given area a month in advance. How many limbs would be saved, Magers wonders, if doctors and nurses could be warned ahead of time that their emergency rooms would soon see an uptick in these chronically underdiagnosed infections? The work serves more than one purpose: As Vibrio bacteria spread north into cooler waters, they serve as a first warning signal of changing marine conditions — giving researchers a heads-up that the familiar composition of marine species in their local waters may be starting to shift. In Europe’s Baltic Sea, for example, a spike in Vibrio infections in July 2014 closely mirrored a heatwave that rapidly warmed the shallow sea. The incident showed researchers that Vibrio spikes herald unusually warm marine conditions — and they have since been utilized as barometers for ocean heatwaves and sea-surface warming patterns, not just food safety. “We see Vibrio as the indicator for climate change,” said Kyle Brumfield, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland who has been studying the bacteria for a decade. “We can use the presence of Vibrio and Vibrio cases as a proxy for water health in general.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-25.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A woman kneels on a beach gathering samples of seawater" data-caption="Natalie Larsen, a member of the Vibrio surveillance research team, gathers seawaters samples from Florida’s Pensacola Beach to test for vulnificus and other bacteria. " data-credit="Courtesy of Natalie Larsen"/> Natalie Larsen, a member of the Vibrio surveillance research team, gathers seawaters samples from Florida’s Pensacola Beach to test for vulnificus and other bacteria. Courtesy of Natalie Larsen The CDC estimates that about 80,000 cases of vibriosis occur in the U.S. every year, resulting in about 100 deaths. Of those 80,000 cases, most are caused by a Vibrio called parahaemolyticus, which most commonly results in gastroenteritis, or food poisoning. The vast majority of the deaths, however, are caused by a type of Vibrio called vulnificus — the Latin word for “wound-making.” Vulnificus is so potent it can squeeze through a pinhole-sized cut in the skin and lead to death in just 24 hours. In the last five years, the CDC registered 429 such vulnificus cases, plus 136 foodborne cases. But even though foodborne cases are less numerous, the patients that contract vulnificus by eating contaminated shellfish are more likely to die than those infected via open wounds. Thirteen percent of those nonfoodborne cases died, compared to 32 percent of people who got the infection from eating seafood. Most cases occur in the Gulf and Atlantic coastal regions. As far as infectious diseases go, vulnificus is exceedingly rare: The CDC reports between 150 and 200 cases a year. The sexually-transmitted disease chlamydia, by comparison, one of the most common bacterial infections in the U.S., infects northward of 1.5 million Americans annually. But vulnificus’ astonishing speed and high fatality rate — 15 to 50 percent, depending on the health of the person exposed and the route of infection — makes it a unique public health threat, particularly as climate change grows its pathways of exposure. Vulnificus is not the kind of pathogen you’d want behaving erratically, but that’s exactly what it’s been doing since the late 2010s. Across the Eastern Seaboard, local and federal health officials have been reporting “unusual increases” in vulnificus prevalence — jagged spikes in infections that appear to correspond to extreme weather events like hurricanes and marine heatwaves. In 2022 and 2024, years when the brackish water that Vibrio bacteria thrive in was pushed inland by major hurricanes, Florida’s public health department reported 17 and 19 deaths, respectively, linked to vulnificus exposure via open wounds. North Carolina, New York, and Connecticut also saw small clusters of infections during a record-breaking heatwave in the summer of 2023. “As coastal water temperatures increase,” the CDC warned in its investigation of those outbreaks, “V. vulnificus infections are expected to become more common.” A 2023 study that analyzed a 30-year database of confirmed vulnificus infections from outdoor recreation along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts found the northern boundary of infections has moved north by a rate of 30 miles per year since 1998. The study noted that “V. vulnificus infections may expand their current range to encompass major population centers around New York,” and that annual case numbers may double as temperatures rise and America’s elderly population grows. “In the 1980s, Vibrio abundance would increase in the late spring and stay high through the summer and drop in the middle of October,” Brumfield, who conducts research on Vibrio in Maryland, said. “Now … we can pretty much find them almost year-round.” An oyster bed in Cedar Key, Florida. Zoya Teirstein / Grist Just how worried we should be about the changing dynamics of Vibrio bacteria depends on who you ask and what you read. The gruesome and fast-acting nature of the vulnificus infection makes it enticing fodder for local and national news media, fueling a spree of terrifying reports every time a new severe infection or death surfaces. “Virginia dad wades in calf-high water, dies 2 weeks later of flesh-eating bacteria that ‘ravaged’ his legs,” read a recent headline in People magazine. “2 dead after eating oysters, contracting flesh-eating bacteria, officials say,” per a 2025 web story about two deaths linked to oyster consumption in Louisiana and Florida. Like many others in their mold, neither story mentions how rare the bacteria are. The press is bad news for some in the seafood industry, which does not welcome a national conversation about the rise in vibriosis cases, vulnificus in particular. Shellfish farmers and industry representatives that Grist spoke to in Florida and New York argued media attention on the safety of their products is unwarranted. “‘Flesh-eating bacteria,’” said Leslie Sturmer, a researcher who works for the University of Florida’s shellfish aquaculture extension program and consults with the shellfish industry on research and regulation — “the media loves it.” Paul McCormick, an oyster farmer in Long Island who sells 750,000 oysters a year, thinks all press is bad press. “Even if the title of your article says ‘New York oysters are the safest oysters in the universe,’” he told me on the phone from his office in East Moriches in January, “you’ve already created a problem.” <img class="article-asset " src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" data-caption="Shellfish tags used to keep track of where and when shellfish is harvested." data-credit="Zoya Teirstein / Grist" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_3280.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Shellfish tags used to keep track of where and when shellfish is harvested. Zoya Teirstein / Grist <img class="article-asset " src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A sign says fresh oysters near a shack on the beach" data-caption="A sign advertises oysters for sale in Cedar Key, Florida. " data-credit="Zoya Teirstein / Grist" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?resize=1200%2C676&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?resize=768%2C433&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?resize=1536%2C866&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-5-e1776443910318.jpeg?resize=150%2C85&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1127" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> A sign advertises oysters for sale in Cedar Key, Florida. Zoya Teirstein / Grist In unrefrigerated oysters left out in warm conditions, Vibrio bacteria reproduce every 20 minutes. But in 2010, states began deploying strict protocols known as “Vibrio control plans,” which require harvesters to rapidly cool their catch onboard and then refrigerate it at a shellfish processing facility within a set number of hours. The measures have proven effective at stopping the growth of Vibrio in harvested shellfish and preventing disease. The fact that infections can happen in one of two ways — shellfish consumption and seawater exposure — makes it easy to shift blame and point fingers. Consumers have more control over how much exposure they have to Vibrio than they have with E. coli, for example. A person with a kidney condition can choose not to eat oysters on the half shell. E. Coli, often found in raw vegetables, is far tricker to avoid. Likewise, someone with an open wound can opt not to bathe in brackish waters if they are aware of the risks lurking in the surf. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="microscopic photo of the vibrio vulnificus bacteria" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vibrio-explainer.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Know the facts about Vibrio, a bacteria found in coastal waters and raw shellfish Lyndsey Gilpin For shellfish industry representatives, personal responsibility is the primary way to bring caseloads down. “The person is the risk,” said Sturmer. “Not the climate, not the water, not the bacteria.” Implicitly, this appears to be the government’s position as well: There is currently no numerical threshold at which state public health agencies will “shut down” a beach for outdoor recreation, though states will issue public advisories and, very rarely, close beaches if they happen to find high levels of Vibrio in the water. But that perspective doesn’t account for the rapid marine changes brought on by climate change, the patchiness of vibriosis awareness, and the fact that Americans often make personal decisions that are at odds with their own health and safety. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bacteria-sign-warning.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A sign on a beach warns of high bacteria levels while people swim in the water" data-caption="A sign warning of high bacteria levels in the water is seen on a California beach. " data-credit="Chris Delmas / AFP / Getty Images"/> A sign warning of high bacteria levels in the water is seen on a California beach. Chris Delmas / AFP / Getty Images The shellfishers Grist spoke to fully acknowledged the research underpinning Vibrio’s spread. McCormick studied environmental science in college, and Sturmer is running her own climate experiments in a laboratory in the fishing town of Cedar Key, Florida, putting different kinds of clams and oysters through heat stress tests to determine which species are best equipped to weather the decades ahead. Marine mollusks are uniquely threatened by rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and sea level rise, issues that can lead to thin shells, low crop yields, and mass die-offs on farms. A detailed understanding of climate science, in other words, is good business for those who make their living fishing. The problem, according to Sturmer, is that shellfishers have been unfairly singled out for a health issue that doesn’t affect most consumers and is more often contracted by ocean bathing rather than raw oyster consumption. While beaches stay open even when Vibrio bacteria are present in the water and lead to infections, a small number of foodborne vibriosis cases can trigger state closures of shellfish harvesting areas and product recalls. The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science noted that these precautions “erode consumer confidence and likely decrease sales.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1152 1152w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-6.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A man's hands hold oysters from a tank" data-caption="Leslie Sturmer checks on oysters growing in her laboratory in Cedar Key, Florida. Sturmer puts baby oysters through heat stress tests to see which species will be able to withstand rising temperatures. " data-credit="Zoya Teirstein / Grist"/> Leslie Sturmer checks on oysters growing in her laboratory in Cedar Key, Florida. Sturmer puts baby oysters through heat stress tests to see which species will be able to withstand rising temperatures. Zoya Teirstein / Grist The panic that ensues after media reports of Vibrio infections has a similar effect: A 2024 study asked more than 350 shellfish consumers in Rhode Island — a state that relies heavily on its shellfish industry, particularly in summer months when people vacation along the coastline — to bid on entrees of raw oysters and clams. After showing study participants a real newspaper article about a 2015 Vibrio outbreak linked to an oyster farm in Massachusetts, the researchers reported that the news had a “significant negative impact” on participants’ willingness to bid on oysters. It had a depressive effect on clam sales, too. “You should really be out there beating the drum on botulism or salmonella or E. Coli,” Sturmer told me on a recent visit to her lab in Cedar Key. “Why worry about [vulnificus] when the number of cases are so minimal?” Sturmer is quick to point out that even the term “flesh-eating bacteria” is a misnomer. She’s right, in a sense: The bacteria doesn’t “eat” tissue; it destroys it. But it’s hard to say whether someone who has survived a bout of necrotizing fasciitis, the medical term for what vulnificus does to the flesh, would care to dispute the difference. Protecting consumers from being sickened by the bacteria isn’t as simple as trusting people with underlying medical conditions not to eat shellfish. Americans consume 2.5 billion oysters every year, half of which are eaten raw. Vibrio infections, which most often resemble food poisoning, are still underreported and underrecognized, even among individuals who are most at risk of developing a severe infection. Vulnificus infections are also underreported, but much less so than other Vibrio-related infections because they often require a hospital or emergency room visit. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1263003106-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Seafood for sale in Orlando, Florida. " data-credit="Jeff Greenberg / Education Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images"/> Seafood for sale in Orlando, Florida. Jeff Greenberg / Education Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images “I’ve cared for many people with salmonella infections and water-borne infectious processes, but this is the one that is likely the most serious,” said Norman Beatty, an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine who is also a practicing infectious disease doctor in Gainesville, and has seen limbs and lives lost to vulnificus. When it comes to preventing Vibrio infections, the work Magers and Kumar are doing could take some of the onus off of individual responsibility. The researchers are identifying which parts of the eastern U.S. coastline will be most risky for overall vibriosis infections, and vulnificus specifically, as waters warm. Alongside a group of microbiologists from the University of Maryland, including Brumfield, the scientists have developed a computer model that can predict how high the vibriosis risk will be in any given coastal county on the Gulf or East coasts a month in advance. The team trained their model by pairing the CDC’s count of Vibrio-related foodborne and waterborne illnesses from 1997 to 2019 with satellite data that measures the conditions that fuel Vibrio growth, such as water temperature and salinity. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Vibrio-climate-23.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A man in a baseball hat sits in front of a computer monitor showing spacial data" data-caption="Sunil Kumar working on a Vibrio surveillance tool at the University of Florida. " data-credit="Zoya Teirstein / Grist"/> Sunil Kumar working on a Vibrio surveillance tool at the University of Florida. Zoya Teirstein / Grist The system is far from perfect. When the model was first trained and evaluated, it was only 23 percent precise in pinpointing high-risk counties, meaning just one in four of the counties the program labeled as high-risk actually ended up seeing a vibriosis case in a given month. But it was very good at determining which counties were low-risk, capturing those regions with 99 percent precision. And it improved over time as the quality of the data they fed it got better. When they had the model do a test run on data collected by the Florida Department of Public Health from 2020 to 2024, 72 percent of total cases occurred in counties the tool flagged as high-risk for vibriosis. Perhaps most significantly, the model was especially adept at predicting high-risk counties ahead of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 — more than 80 percent of the vibriosis cases that occurred in Florida in the aftermath of those hurricanes were reported in counties the model had already flagged as high-risk. The tool is geared toward predicting water-borne infections, but it may also provide useful information to the shellfishing industry, though the system isn’t a replacement for the established protocols farmers already use — protocols that have proven to be effective, particularly in states that are aggressive about enforcing them. What the new tool could do, however, is supplement those Vibrio control plans, especially when an upcoming weather pattern deviates from the historical norm — something that has been happening a lot lately. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/vulnificus-new-orleans-hurricane.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="a man is washed down with disinfectant by people in official t-shirts with logos resembling the texas state flag" data-caption="A member of the Texas Task Force 1 Water Search and Rescue Team is scrubbed down with bleach and soap in order to reduce the chances of Vibrio vulnificus infection after a day of running boat rescues in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on September 5, 2005. " data-credit="Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images"/> A member of the Texas Task Force 1 Water Search and Rescue Team is scrubbed down with bleach and soap in order to reduce the chances of Vibrio vulnificus infection after a day of running boat rescues in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on September 5, 2005. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images States currently use a rolling five-year average illness rate to calculate how many minutes or hours harvested shellfish can stay on a boat before moving into indoor refrigeration. In February, for example, Florida shellfishers have to get their oysters into refrigeration by 5 p.m. on the day of harvest. In July, they have no more than two hours, or they have to cool their catch in ice slurries on board. But these timetables don’t account for sudden temperature anomalies. “It’s going to be 80 degrees this week in Alabama,” Andy DePaola, a Gulf Coast oyster farmer, told me in February. “Yet I can keep my oysters out for, like, 14 hours, because the rolling five-year average is 20 degrees less than that anomaly.” (DePaola is also a microbiologist who worked on Vibrio at the FDA for the better part of 40 years, and is the author of the 2019 analysis that diagnosed the “perfect storm” for Vibrio spread.) But the shellfish industry doesn’t appear enthusiastic about the idea of assigning counties a risk category based on Vibrio prevalence. Vibrio researchers, by their own admission, haven’t done a good job of reaching out to shellfishers to find out how such a tool would work best for them. At an August meeting of the Delaware Bay Section of the ​​New Jersey Shellfisheries Council last year, the director of a shellfish research laboratory brought up the idea of using Vibrio predictive models to “determine optimal days to harvest to reduce the transfer of infection to humans.” A lengthy discussion ensued. The consensus, ultimately, was that the model was a bad idea, and could be “used against the industry.” Not all shellfishers are dead set against the kind of work Magers and Kumar are doing. “If Vibrio is an indicator of global warming, then that’s just an unfortunate bad luck scene for us,” McCormick, the Long Island oysterman, said. But it’s hard for him to see what relevance that research has to an industry that already has its own methods of controlling Vibrio. “In my mind that exists in one realm and the safety of our oysters is a whole different thing.” As we move deeper into the 21st century, however, those two realms will have more overlap. If countries keep up their current pace of greenhouse gas emissions, most coastal communities along the East Coast will be environmentally primed for vibriosis outbreaks during peak summer months by midcentury. It won’t be a question of if there will be more vibriosis cases — it will be a matter of how to manage them. That’s the scenario Magers and Kumar are preparing for. “In 30, 40, 100 years, these models won’t even matter because the risk is so high,” said Magers, the lead author of the predictive modeling study. “When it gets to that point, it would probably be a different kind of modeling strategy where we’d be modeling case numbers instead of infection risk.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A deadly bacteria is creeping up the Atlantic Coast. How worried should you be? on Apr 22, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Zoya Teirstein.
Know the facts about Vibrio, a bacteria found in coastal waters and raw shellfish
Stay informed about your risk level as you enjoy fresh shellfish and beach trips this summer.
What is Vibrio? Vibrio is a type of bacteria that has been around for hundreds of millions of years; researchers have identified more than 70 species. These species are mostly harmless, but some can cause infection. The bacteria thrive in warm, brackish (slightly salty) water such as estuaries and bays, attaching themselves to plankton and algae and accumulating in prolific water-filtering species like clams and oysters. Serious infections typically happen either through exposure to an open wound in saltwater or, more rarely, ingestion of raw shellfish that contain the bacteria. The concentration of Vibrio in coastal waterways is higher from May through October, when temperatures are warmer. Most U.S. cases are in the Gulf and Atlantic coastal regions. Vibrio is tasteless and odorless. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, estimates that about 80,000 cases of vibriosis (an infection caused by the Vibrio bacteria) occur in the U.S. every year, resulting in about 100 deaths. Florida has the highest number of cases, with about 20 percent reported from the Indian River Lagoon region, a popular recreation destination on the Atlantic Coast. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="illustration of a beach scene with people wading and swimming in the ocean, with a gloved hand holding a Petri dish with 6 oysters on the half shell" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIBRIO-FINAL-v4.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 deadly bacteria is creeping up the Atlantic Coast. How worried should you be? Zoya Teirstein What happens if you come into contact with Vibrio? Most people are not at risk of developing illness, or they may have only mild symptoms. However, those with compromised immune systems can develop life-threatening infections. The majority of the 80,000 annual U.S. cases are caused by a Vibrio called parahaemolyticus, which most often infects people via the raw seafood they eat and usually leads to gastroenteritis, or food poisoning. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever and chills, weakness, fatigue, and headache. A different type of Vibrio, vulnificus, is much less common, but can cause severe illness. The infected wound may be red, swollen, and painful, or you may develop mild gastrointestinal issues such as watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, or vomiting. Symptoms typically appear within 12 to 24 hours and can last up to seven days. Healthy people tend to fight off the infection on their own. But if flesh on one or more extremities to bruise, swell, and decay, or symptoms of sepsis occur, it is a medical emergency. Vulnificus can squeeze through a pinhole-sized cut in the skin and lead to death in just 24 hours. This severe infection is rare, but it has a 15 to 50 percent fatality rate; the vast majority of the 100 annual deaths are from this strain. A severe vulnificus infection is much more likely in people who have liver disease or are immunocompromised, elderly, or diabetic. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2110563798-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="College students and others enjoy spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. " data-credit="Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images"/> College students and others enjoy spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images How concerned should I be — and how do I stay safe? You don’t necessarily need to avoid oyster bars or cancel your beach trip, but you should know how to stay informed and take precautions. Here are a few ways to do so: Be aware that there are many fearmongering headlines about flesh-eating bacteria, despite vulnificusbeing one of the rarest forms of Vibrio exposure. Vibrio doesn’t attack random healthy flesh — there must be exposure through an open wound (a break in the skin) or it must be ingested, most often through raw shellfish. People who get sick often have underlying health conditions. If you don’t feel well after eating raw seafood or swimming in brackish water, don’t wait — go to the doctor. Some medical professionals, particularly those in areas where the bacteria hasn’t historically infected people, don’t know what vibriosis is. Advocate for yourself — ask for a test. If you have liver disease, your risk is much higher than the general population’s. Keep an eye out for public health advisories from state and local health officials and avoid swimming in ocean water with an open wound or consuming raw shellfish in warm months. Note that ocean temperatures, especially along the lower Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, have been elevated outside the typical seasonal range in some recent years. Be aware when eating raw shellfish, particularly raw oysters. It’s best to be confident that the shellfish was refrigerated and stored in compliance with government standards. The vast majority of foodborne Vibrio cases lead to food poisoning. (Food poisoning from bacteria is always a risk when eating uncooked shellfish and many other foods like salads or deli meat.) How is climate change affecting Vibrio? Climate change is making the world’s oceans, which have absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions, more hospitable to Vibrio. The bacteria start getting active in temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit and multiply rapidly as waters warm throughout the summer. Vibrio is expanding into places that were once too cold to support it, farther north on the U.S. East coast and in other temperate seas around the world. As it spreads, it serves as a first warning signal of changing marine conditions. What’s being done to address Vibrio? There’s a lot of research happening to better understand the risks these bacteria pose under changing environmental conditions: A group of microbiologists at the University of Maryland, alongside other scientists, have developed a computer model that can predict how high the risk of vibriosis will be in any given coastal county in the eastern U.S. a month in advance. The team trained its model, which is still under development, by pairing the CDC’s count of Vibrio-related foodborne and waterborne illnesses from 1997 to 2019 with satellite data that measures the conditions that fuel Vibrio growth, such as water temperature and salinity. It’s far from perfect, but it’s improving. And it was especially adept at predicting high-risk counties ahead of hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 — more than 80 percent of the vibriosis cases that occurred in Florida in the aftermath of those hurricanes were reported in counties the model had already flagged as high-risk. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Know the facts about Vibrio, a bacteria found in coastal waters and raw shellfish on Apr 22, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Lyndsey Gilpin.
Why millions of adorable bees are emerging from this cemetery
A growing body of evidence shows that cemeteries host much more life — including insects, birds, mammals, and rare plants — than death.
A miner haunts the East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, New York. It’s not the spirit of an interred workman, but Andrena regularis, also known as the regular miner bee. It’s black and tan and fuzzy, sometimes sporting patches of yellow as it collects pollen. The critter is at once peculiar to humans and highly regular in the natural world: We might expect it to form huge colonies like honey bees, but in fact it’s among the 90 percent of bee species that’s solitary. Instead of building bustling nests in trees, it digs tunnels into the ground, hence the moniker. Scientists at nearby Cornell University have discovered that this seemingly sterilized habitat — lots of tombstones and cropped lawn — doesn’t just support this wonderful insect. It hosts one of the biggest and oldest known communities of ground-nesting bees anywhere in the world. Great for the miner bee, to be sure. But the findings also add to a growing body of evidence that cemeteries, of all places, provide essential habitats for all kinds of wildlife, from insects to mammals. Bees are already under significant threat due to habitat loss and insecticide use, so thoughtfully managing these final resting places can protect the pollinators we need to fertilize crops amid rising temperatures and increasingly chaotic weather. “It’s exciting to see that things like this are being discovered, where you find biodiversity in unexpected places,” said Christopher Grinter, collection manager of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It’s kind of this key, or this ‘aha’ moment, where it’s like: ‘Wait, not only is this happening without us noticing, we should now encourage and foster this biodiversity.’” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c_Andrena_regularis-DSC_4467-.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Unlike social bees that amass in large nests, the regular miner bee is a solitary species that digs tunnels underground. " data-credit="Courtesy Bryan N. Danforth"/> Unlike social bees that amass in large nests, the regular miner bee is a solitary species that digs tunnels underground. Courtesy Bryan N. Danforth It’s not your fault, but you might have the wrong idea about bees. We’re taught that bees live in colonies with a queen and lots of workers that produce honey. These are such essential flower-visiting pollinators that farmers rent hives to work their crops. As honey bees swarm farms, though, their less visible colleagues are also hard at work. The vast majority of them are solitary, making their homes underground or in natural cavities like trees. The regular miner bee, for instance, digs cavities under the East Lawn Cemetery, where it lays eggs that hatch into larvae and emerge as adults the following spring. Those adults go on to become critical pollinators for local plants, including New York’s apple trees, a highly valuable crop. Weirdly enough, a cemetery might tick many of the boxes for a ground-dwelling buzzer in the market for a home. If this is a good spot for humans to bury their dead, it’s also a good spot for the regular miner bee. “Places that don’t flood, and places that are easy to dig and don’t collapse when you dig them,” said Jordan Kueneman, a community ecologist at Cornell University and coauthor of a new paper describing the findings. “So we think the bees in this area are drawn towards some of those same characteristics.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a_East-Lawn-Cemetery-DSC_6237a.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="The East Lawn Cemetery is a seemingly sterilized landscape that in fact teems with life. " data-credit="Courtesy Bryan N. Danforth"/> The East Lawn Cemetery is a seemingly sterilized landscape that in fact teems with life. Courtesy Bryan N. Danforth But if a lawn mower grazed your house, wouldn’t you think about moving? Well, this might not be too big of a deal for the regular miner bee. In fact, by cutting the grass close, groundskeepers could be doing the insects a favor. “They do like to often have the ground exposed,” Kueneman said. “That helps the ground warm up quicker, allows them to become more active more quickly in the day. It allows them to get in and out of their nests easily.” The researchers discovered that this population of miner bees is absolutely booming. By collecting individuals and scaling that count up across the grounds, they estimate that the East Lawn Cemetery hosts between 3 million and 8 million bees, including species other than the miner. “It was an extraordinary size, and a lot of that has to do with extraordinary density,” Kueneman said. “In some locations, we were measuring thousands of individuals emerging in a square meter.” (Still, Kueneman added, gardening crews could help the bees out even more by mowing earlier in the morning, before the insects emerge for the day.) The researchers could also determine that this is a healthy population because of how many females were flying around. Male regular miner bees are smaller than they are, so when a mother lays eggs, she has to put fewer resources into making male offspring. If a population has a healthy proportion of females, then, it suggests that it’s thriving, and indeed that’s what the scientists found in the cemetery. Enter the miner bee’s mortal enemy, Nomada imbricata, a variety of cuckoo bee. Just as cuckoo birds lay their eggs in other species’ nests, this opportunist invades the miner bee’s burrows and lays its eggs. This saves it the trouble of digging its own home, and its offspring hatch with plenty of food. “The parasitic bee develops and often has these large mandibles that they use to devour everything in their path, including the host bee,” Kueneman said. “They’ll sometimes decapitate them.” Not great for the miner bee, obviously, but the cuckoo’s presence at the cemetery provides more evidence that it has a healthy population to parasitize. The bees are not alone in their success in this unlikely habitat. Other scientists are finding that many species across the tree of life — bats, migrating geese, owls, coyotes, rare types of plants — are using cemeteries as refuges in an increasingly urbanized world. “It has a lot of the things you want,” said Seth Magle, senior director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, who wasn’t involved in the new research. “It’s got trees, it’s got grass, it’s potentially got prey species for you, and resources. And then it largely lacks a couple of things you don’t like about parks, which are probably people and dogs.” Also absent from cemeteries are speeding cars, which in the United States hit hundreds of millions of birds and large animals, not to mention untold numbers of insects, each year. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=848&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image001-1.2.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A wildlife camera photo of a fox standing in a cemetery" data-caption="Wildlife cameras in cemeteries, like here in Illinois, have captured mammals and birds looking for food." data-credit="Courtesy Lincoln Park Zoo"/> Wildlife cameras in cemeteries, like here in Illinois, have captured mammals and birds looking for food. Courtesy Lincoln Park Zoo While cemeteries already shelter hoards of regular miner bees and other species, groundskeepers can do even more to support wildlife. Reducing the use of rodenticides protects birds of prey, which die when they consume poisoned rats and mice. Adding native plants provides food and shelter for native pollinators, which go on to help humans adapt to a changing climate. These species fertilize greenery across a city, for instance, significantly reducing urban temperatures, and help farmers to propagate their crops. “In order to have flowers, in order to have a beautiful ecosystem, or any biodiversity, we have to have pollinators that are fueling the reproduction of those plants,” Grinter said. While cities have been historically cast as destroyers of biodiversity, conservationists now take a more nuanced view, Magle said. Yes, clearing forests to build metropolises is terrible for nature. But there are also ways to foster the natural world deep within cities. As places for the dead, ironically enough cemeteries can teem with the living. “What would it look like to create a world where we continue to urbanize,” Magle said, “but we do it in a way that leaves the space for some of these species?” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Why millions of adorable bees are emerging from this cemetery on Apr 22, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Matt Simon.
Nuclear – now climate change: New book on how great powers have plagued the Pacific
Updated research has shown up lingering headaches over the impacts of decades-long nuclear testing in the Pacific islands and interventions of outside powers, amid growing threats from climate change, writes Dr Lee Duffield. REVIEW: By Lee Duffield The journalist, professor and peace activist Dr David Robie, was one of a media party on the ill-fated
Updated research has shown up lingering headaches over the impacts of decades-long nuclear testing in the Pacific islands and interventions of outside powers, amid growing threats from climate change, writes Dr Lee Duffield. REVIEW: By Lee Duffield The journalist, professor and peace activist Dr David Robie, was one of a media party on the ill-fated voyage of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in 1985, before its sinking by French security operatives in Auckland Harbour. He wrote a definitive book about the lead-up in the region to the fatal sinking of the ship with limpet mines; unmasking of the plot made in Paris; attempts to obtain justice and a long aftermath with demands for empowerment by former “colonial” people to prevent such outrages in their island homelands. The book is Eyes of Fire, first published in 1986, then successively updated as the story unfolded, with new facts and consequences of the outrage coming to light. It ran to three revised editions, the latest out now to commemorate 40 years since the attack took place. It therefore marked 40 years since the death of the Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira, a Portuguese-born Dutch national, aged 35, father of two children, Marelle and Paul, drowned on board after the second of two blasts that hit the ship. Eyes of Fire is a highly professional work of journalism, built out of investigation and documentation of facts, then fashioned into an accessible read; illustrated also with easy-to-comprehend maps and diagrams, showing where the ship travelled and where the bombs were planted against its hull, plus photographs from a copious accumulation built up as the Greenpeace movement generated publicity for its actions worldwide. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-121812" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/David-Robie-EOF-680wide.png" alt="New Zealand author David Robie" width="680" height="421" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/David-Robie-EOF-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/David-Robie-EOF-680wide-300x186.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/David-Robie-EOF-680wide-356x220.png 356w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/David-Robie-EOF-680wide-678x420.png 678w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> New Zealand author David Robie . . . His book identifies same-old patterns of resistance in latter-day moves, successful, to get better recognition of the impacts of nuclear contamination and in moves through international forums. Image: The Australia Today montage Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior One section describes the Rainbow Warrior, appreciatively and affectionately: a former fisheries research vessel, a trawler type, 50-metres in length, with some difficulty converted for sail as well as power, made into a “proud campaign ship”, painted a strong green with a long rainbow-emblem along the sides. ‘The wheelhouse was rather lumpy and unattractive but the rest of the ship was appealing. She had a high North Sea prow, graceful sheerline and round-the-corner stern.’ For the record… The Rainbow Warrior sailed from Hawai’i on the Pacific Voyage — taking on board seven journalists and some leading figures from the Pacific communities, to the Marshall Islands — where it evacuated the inhabitants of a nuclear afflicted island, Rongelap, to an uninhabited island Mejatto on Kwajalein Atoll. Pacific distances are great. They transported 350 people — with house lumber and belongings — in four trips, 250 km there and back. <img decoding="async" class="wp-image-116820 size-medium" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EOF-2025-cover-image-680wide-300x296.png" alt="Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior" width="300" height="296" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EOF-2025-cover-image-680wide-300x296.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EOF-2025-cover-image-680wide-426x420.png 426w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EOF-2025-cover-image-680wide.png 680w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior. Image: David Robie/Little Island Press The islanders were suffering from contamination by the infamous upwind explosion of the experimental thermonuclear weapon, Castle Bravo, in 1954 — causing thyroid disorders, cancers and constant miscarriages and birthing disorders. Dissatisfied that health officials sent by the United States administration were more interested in research than care, they decided to leave. The key instigator was the late Marshall Islands legislator Senator Jeton Anjain. He was one of two Pacific Islands leaders with prominent roles in Robie’s narrative. The other was Oscar Temaru, a nuclear-free town mayor in Tahiti, also elected as the territory’s President on five occasions. Temaru, now 81, spoke for many when he said: “The sad truth is that the only ones who tried to help us are the Greenpeace ecologists…” According to folklore among Greenpeace founders, a native American woman named “Eyes of Fire” told of a legend that where there was dispossession and despoilation of the land and culture, in time mythical warriors — deliverers — would come, who would mend and restore both. So the peaceship offering aid would be a “Rainbow Warrior”. The author, Robie, in his news despatches for Radio New Zealand and other media (for which he was awarded the 1985 NZ Media Peace Prize, judged the evacuation project a change for Greenpeace towards humanitarian work connected with environmental destruction: “This isn’t a game or the sort of action publicity stunt that Greenpeace would do so successfully.” But the next part of the journey was another dramatic action, in Marshall Islands, at the US missile testing base on Kwajalein Atoll. A party from the ship went ashore, got through perimeter wires and hoisted a banner inscribed “Stop Star Wars” onto a space tracking dome, escaping before the arrival of security guards. The banner was a reference to the American Strategic Defence Initiative, “Star Wars”, testing for which had increased the heavy traffic of missiles of different levels at the Kwajalein range (dubbed by the empire as the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Site). The scene was then being set for the tragedy as the vessel made its way 5000 km to Auckland through friendly territory, calling in at Kiribati, the country hosting the former Christmas Island base for British nuclear tests (1957-58), and Vanuatu, where the leader of the then five year-old Republic, Father Walter Lini, a champion for a nuclear free Pacific, organised a big public welcome. The strike Celebration fitted the mood of the “Warrior” crew a lot of the time, in this account; a group of 11 skilled and idealistic younger people, sharing a mission they considered important to the world, and enjoying it as an adventure. They wanted to protect nature and promote peace, never violent, but charismatic, given to direct action, often enough dangerous. They had others on board — in the case of David Robie, for an extended time, 11 days, time enough to get to know the characters and introduce them to readers in his book. A further leg of the voyage was intended, to take them to Moruroa Atoll — where France was continuing with underground nuclear testing — as flagship for a flotilla of protest boats. In the event, the flotilla sailed, led by another Greepeace ship, Greenpeace III. One boat was arrested penetrating the 12-kilometre territorial limit around the atoll, where a series of tests was about to begin. The planned disruption of activities on Moruroa may have been the death warrant for Rainbow Warrior — a solution to the riddle of what purposes its destruction was supposed to serve. As the ship made its way towards Auckland, two French infiltrators got to work in that City, penetrating the Greenpeace operation. A group of military divers from a training base in Corsica was en route to New Zealand on a charter boat and two officers of France’s security service, DGSE, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, flew in under cover as a honeymoon couple. Rainbow Warrior came in on Sunday, 7 July 1985, surrounded by an escort of small boats and was sunk at the dock in shallow water just before midnight on 10 July. Divers using an inflatable boat set off the two explosions. Prieur and Mafart were spotted picking up one of the divers on a beach by men doing night watch at their boat club, who got the number of their vehicle, enabling the police to apprehend them, and begin a tortured process to try and secure justice. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-60541" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Fernando-Pereira-Image-David-Robie-680wide.png" alt="Fernando Pereira - Image by David Robie" width="680" height="945" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Fernando-Pereira-Image-David-Robie-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Fernando-Pereira-Image-David-Robie-680wide-216x300.png 216w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Fernando-Pereira-Image-David-Robie-680wide-302x420.png 302w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Photographer Fernando Pereira pictured at Rongelap Atoll … killed in the 1985 attack on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior by French secret agents. Image: © David Robie Aftermath Updating of the book takes in the negotiations over holding Prieur and Mafart, their eventual transfer to France and subsequent early release; the fate of other conspirators spirited home, promoted, decorated, “looked after” in early retirement; intensive and large scale work by the New Zealand police to find out about the charter boat carrying some of the divers, said to have transferred them onto a submarine, the Rubis; and investigative work by the French press to sheet home responsibility for the attack. Very soon after Rainbow Warrior was sunk, the Defence Minister, Charles Hernu, was sacked and the head of the DGSE Admiral Pierre Lacoste resigned. The book has a positive impression of the replacement Minister, Paul Quiles and the Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius, who admitted the obvious — that it had been done by French agents and was apologetic. Subsequent negotiations between New Zealand and France, under United Nations auspices were made very difficult; a formal apology was avoided for some time; eventually both New Zealand and Greenpeace received financial packages in compensation and exemplary damages. After the 1996 death of François Mitterrand, French President at the time, an investigation by Le Monde turned up circumstantial evidence that he knew of the attack in advance and a statement by Lacoste that he had approved it. Fabius evidently had not known. Mitterrand’s motive was said to have been realpolitik — to support nuclear deterrence against the Soviet Union in tandem with the US, which supplied France with highly strategic computer technology. Reviewer intercession… Mitterrand, as a highly equivocal and manipulative politician, walked a tightrope, always watching his soft electoral margins — in this case knowing there was 60 percent support for nuclear testing in France. In office for four years in 1985, it may have been a new government still failing to face down entrenched security identities, undisciplined, considering themselves to be “deep state”, attached to violent solutions, with potential to go rogue. Most of Robie’s work here is a narrative, a strong true story, but it has space for analysis, and in particular registers the correlation between devastation brought by the nuclear testing, and colonial management and manipulation of islands affairs. The post-war wave of independence had come to the Pacific, though not to French Polynesia nor New Caledonia. In addition, the United States still held its Micronesian dependencies in trust or, for Sovereign states, via signed compacts of free association, accompanied by substantial aid payments. France’s position against independence is incentivised by maintaining colonies of more than 200,000 settlers; and in New Caledonia, the nickel deposits, around 15 percent of world resources, as well as the 200 kilometre territorial zone off the long coast of Grande Terre island, opening onto as yet unsurveyed undersea resources. For the Americans, the priority has been both weapons testing and maintaining a strategic barrier against Russia, then China. Old problems, future challenges These considerations help to address the always unanswered question of what the plotters thought they had to gain. The book suggests a clumsy and excessive attempt to stop the ship leading a flotilla to Moruroa Atoll as most likely. It goes on to identify same-old patterns of resistance in latter-day moves, successful, to get better recognition of the impacts of nuclear contamination and in the moves through international forums — such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, South Pacific Forum, United Nations agencies, the international courts — to get recognition and action on the impacts of climate change. Pacific communities mindful of the rising seas, and other problems like impacts on sea-life, have struggled to get a hearing, finding, again, that “great powers” outside the region which hold resources that can help hold off the crisis, hold back their response. Nuclear testing in the atmosphere was made to stop in 1974; tests underground on the atolls continued to 1996, leaving a very brief interregnum before global warming reared its head. The current edition of Eyes of Fire has a prologue by Helen Clark, New Zealand Prime Minister from 1999-2008, a staunch keeper of the faith in a nuclear-free Pacific. Saying, “storm clouds are gathering”, she warns against renewed militarisation especially with Australia and perhaps other Pacific states acquiring nuclear submarines under the 2021 AUKUS agreement. It is time for “de-escalation, not for enthusiastic expansion of nuclear submarine fleets in the Pacific”, writes Clark in her contribution to the new edition. With its peace policy, New Zealand wanted to be “a force for diplomacy and for dialogue, not for warmongering”. Clark warns withdrawal of funding from the United Nations, led by the US, is a new threat: “Its humanitarian, development, health, human rights, political and peacekeeping, scientific and cultural arms all face fiscal crises.” David Robie reports on the 40th anniversary commemoration of the 1985 events by Greenpeace, sending the new purpose-built ship, the new Rainbow Warrior, sometimes known as Rainbow Warrior III, to carry out independent radiation research. He follows up the lives and careers of the crew members and the islanders they worked with, several of whom have passed away. While the writer’s own message, as in much good journalism, emerges from true handling of the facts, Robie does privilege a quotation from the executive director of Greenpeace Aotearoa, Russel Norman, on the crew of Rainbow Warrior, to close the story: “They faced down a nuclear threat to the habitability of the Pacific. Do we have the courage and wits to face down the biodiversity and climate crises facing humanity, crises that threaten the habitability of planet Earth?” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w1000-c600x800/https://independentaustralia.net/sc/business/Rainbow%20Warrior%20Fremantle%20LeeDuffield.jpg" alt="Dr Lee Duffield on board the Rainbow Warrior" width="600" height="800" data-img-tablet="/_lib/slir/w750-c600x800/https://independentaustralia.net/sc/business/Rainbow%20Warrior%20Fremantle%20LeeDuffield.jpg" data-img-desk="/_lib/slir/w1000-c600x800/https://independentaustralia.net/sc/business/Rainbow%20Warrior%20Fremantle%20LeeDuffield.jpg" /> Dr Lee Duffield on board the Rainbow Warrior in Fremantle, WA. Image: Independent Australia Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, by David Robie (Little Island Press), 2025, 225 pages. Dr Lee Duffield reported on Australia’s dispute with France over atmospheric testing for ABC News in Sydney and then from Paris as the ABC European Correspondent. His work entailed monitoring police actions against Kanak activists in New Caledonia, including the killings on Ouvéa Island; confrontations with French Ministers over the test programme; and negotiations between France and New Zealand, in Paris, on Rainbow Warrior, especially the jailing then early release of Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart. He later taught Journalism at QUT in Brisbane and was a contributor to Pacific Journalism Review. Dr Duffield is also one of the co-owners of Independent Australia, and the chair of its editorial board. This review is republished from the Independent Australia with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
Indigenous health can’t be separated from environmental health, leaders tell UN
At Permanent Forum, leaders connect climate change, mining, and deforestation to mounting health crisis and demand coordinated approach to land rights.
On the second day of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, experts called attention to the ways Indigenous health is deeply tied to nature and highlighted how health inequalities are compounded by environmental degradation, extractive activities and climate change. The forum’s focus on Indigenous health comes as a new study by former permanent forum member Geoffrey Roth, who is a Standing Rock Sioux descendent, argues that U.N. agencies’ fragmented approach — addressing health, environment, and land rights through separate mandates — has “consistently failed Indigenous Peoples.” The study, presented as the forum opened its 25th session, positions environmental degradation, climate change, and biodiversity loss not as external pressures but as “direct manifestations of injury” to Indigenous wellbeing. “For Indigenous Peoples, health is deeply tied to the health of the land,” said Roth. “It’s not just about access to clinics or medicine – it’s about clean water, healthy forests, traditional foods, and the ability to maintain cultural practices. When the environment is damaged – whether from mining, deforestation, pollution, or climate change – it directly affects people’s health.” At the forum, many Indigenous leaders spoke out about how the growing environmental crises increase the urgency to address their impacts on Indigenous health. “Climate change is also another threat to our health,” said Minnie Grey, former executive director of the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services in northern Canada. “We are people of the Arctic: we need the ice, we need the snow and we need the wildlife that depend on it. Our hunters and people rely on these animals that sustain our food systems and nutrition.” A second study, also presented at the forum by former permanent forum members Hanieh Moghani, Hannah McGlade and Geoffrey Roth, examines how armed conflicts disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples, as they are frequently driven by competition over natural resources. This leads to the displacement of Indigenous peoples from ancestral lands and territories, the erosion of social and cultural cohesion, resource exploitation and disruptions to agricultural livelihoods, leading to intergenerational health crises. “These impacts add to existing inequalities, which is why Indigenous communities are often hit hardest,” he explained. “In that sense, environmental damage isn’t separate from health — it’s a major driver of it.” By focusing on Indigenous health as separate from territories, waters, food systems and culture, Roth said global health efforts have failed to address the structural drivers of health problems Indigenous peoples face, such as land dispossession, environmental degradation, cultural disruption and the erosion of Indigenous governance. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3C2A8107.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Geoffrey Roth speaks at UNPFII " data-credit="Carrie Johnson / Grist"/> Geoffrey Roth speaks at UNPFII Carrie Johnson / Grist The study emphasizes that climate change functions as a severe “risk multiplier” that intensifies pressures across biological, ecological, and social systems, with disproportionate impacts on Indigenous populations. Extreme weather events, such as droughts and flooding, degrade water quality and availability, which raises the risk of waterborne diseases and undermines hygiene. Furthermore, the climate crisis is driving severe mental health consequences in Indigenous communities. Evidence links climate-related disasters and environmental loss to increased rates of depression, substance abuse, and emerging diagnoses like “ecological grief” and “climate anxiety,” particularly among Indigenous youth who are watching their ancestral ecosystems change. In Alaska, for example, severe storm events like Typhoon Halong have devastated coastal villages, resulting in the forced climate relocation of thousands of Indigenous people. These relocations, driven by coastal erosion and thawing permafrost, cut communities off from their traditional food harvesting and weather forecasting systems, compounding their health vulnerabilities. Biodiversity degradation, for instance, can impact food availability and therefore cause nutritional inequalities, chronic disease and mental distress. In the Munduruku territory in Brazil, which is one of the lands that has been hardest hit by illegal mining in the country, the Indigenous Munduruku people face many health issues, even after a government-led operation to halt illegal mining in the territory. Community members have reported a wide range of diseases linked to mercury pollution and ecological destruction caused by mining, including diarrhoea, itchiness, flu, fever, childhood paralysis and brain problems. “The situation is even more serious for Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact,” said Ginny Alba Medina, an Indigenous leader and lawyer from OPIAC, the national organization for Colombia’s Amazon peoples. “For them, the right to health begins with absolute respect for the principle of no contact. Any external intrusion can trigger lethal epidemics against which they have no immune defenses. Allowing extractive activities, armed presence or territorial pressure in their territories poses an immediate threat to their physical and cultural survival.” “What’s been missing is a more connected approach — one that includes land, culture, and self-determination as central to health,” Roth said. “Moving forward, U.N. agencies need to reduce fragmentation and work in a more coordinated way. You cannot improve Indigenous health in isolation. It requires aligning efforts across sectors and supporting Indigenous leadership within these systems.” Just weeks before the forum kicked off at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Indigenous Batwa women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, suffered fresh attacks by a group of armed men believed to belong to the Alliance Fleuve Congo and March 23 movement rebel groups. These cases, which took place on March 5 in the country’s South Kivu province, are linked to a larger pattern of targeted violence against the Batwa people to gain control over their land and natural resources. Conflicts in Indigenous territories are inherently an environmental and health crisis. As armed conflicts are frequently driven by competition over natural resources, Indigenous lands become strategic battlegrounds. Analysts have pointed out that this escalating armed conflict in the DRC has had a significant and often overlooked impact on the environment. They highlight a sharp increase in deforestation since it broke out in late 2021, with an estimated 3,019 acres of tree cover lost in 2023. Between 2019 and 2022, the yearly average forest loss was 1,410 acres. Advocates at the conference discussed how conflict can restrict Indigenous peoples’ access to their lands, as they often must flee violence to protect themselves. But without access to their lands, similar to biodiversity degradation, which is sometimes also generated by conflict, Indigenous communities may struggle to obtain access to nutritional foods, leading to health impacts and the weakening of social and spiritual cohesion, as Roth’s study on Indigenous health pointed out. “These conflicts have immediate and long-term health impacts,” Roth said. “Communities are displaced from their lands, access to healthcare is disrupted, and people face lasting trauma and stress. At the same time, the environment is damaged or destroyed — polluted water, deforestation, loss of food systems — which further undermines health.” This is the situation Ngāti Tīpā peoples of Waikato Tainui Tribal Confederation in Tauranganui Marae, New Zealand, are facing. “My great, great grandmother said all the waters surrounding our community were once clean,” said Em-Haley Kūkūtai Walker, who is Ngāti Tīpā and an artist from the community. “We didn’t receive many floods and our fisheries were healthy. Now, because of sea level rise into our river that is increasing salinity levels, fish are dying and moving elsewhere.” Indigenous leaders at the forum, such as Wilton Littlechild, a Cree chief and lawyer defending treaty rights, argued that legal recognition for their territories is a foundational prerequisite to protect biodiversity and Indigenous health. “Indigenous people have these treaties [and there is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] which are tools to protect their health,” said Littlechild. This call was echoed by the WHO in its draft Global Plan of Action, or GPA, on the health of Indigenous people, which called for supporting “Indigenous-led ecosystem stewardship and nature-based approaches that safeguard health.” On Feb. 5, the WHO’s Executive Board decided to delay consideration of the GPA draft to 2027 to allow more time for consultation. According to advocates, Indigenous health is completely inseparable from land tenure, biodiversity, food sovereignty and self-determination, and this must be recognized by bodies such as the UN and the WHO. Leaders warn that global climate and biodiversity goals cannot be met without Indigenous peoples. In a session about tying national obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, to health, Ruth Mercredi, an elder and a traditional healer in Yellowknife, Canada, said governments need to start prioritizing Indigenous health. “Today, we are getting sick of the water, of the food, of the air,” said Mercredi. “Whatever we are putting in our bodies. We have to now be mindful of that when we didn’t have to before.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Indigenous health can’t be separated from environmental health, leaders tell UN on Apr 22, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Aimee Gabay.
Musician Yaya Bey on being happy with what you have and who you are
How did you get started making music? My dad was also a musician, so I was just always around music. I started writing songs, and I thought I was just going to write songs for other people. And then that kind of turned into writing songs for myself, and then I guess ultimately recording my own songs. When you make an album, do you have a typical process that you go through in terms of finding inspiration for songwriting? I guess it’s whatever emotions I’m processing. I’m a really emotions-first kind of artist. So I’m really making music based on my interior world. I’m just always starting there. When you’re thinking about your emotions, are you journaling about it or having conversations with friends? How do the emotions come to the surface? A little bit of everything: conversations, journaling, just reflecting on the experiences I’m having and how I’m responding to those experiences. And examining myself–why I’m doing the things I’m doing and how I’m reacting to things. That kind of leads me down a rabbit hole like, “Oh, how am I feeling? Why is this coming up?” When you were making this most recent record, what emotions were coming up and what experiences were you thinking through in the way you just described? I was coming off of the last album and I was beating myself up a lot. I was being really hard on myself and I kind of hit a wall where it’s like, “Okay, enough is enough. Why are you being so hard on yourself? It doesn’t have to be this hard. It doesn’t have to be this difficult.” I was trying to find my way to peace of mind, and I was trying to regulate myself and I was trying to get the clutter out of my head. I guess I was just trying to be okay. I started there: what does it take to feel worthy of being okay, just allowing myself to be okay? A bunch of other stuff came up after or as a result of that. Why were you beating yourself up after the last album? I think I was letting market pressure and things that don’t matter get in the way of just making the music. It’s not fun that way. It was taking the joy out of it, and it’s harder to be grateful when you’re in that head space. Because I think you need to have some form of gratitude just to keep your head on straight. When you’re making an album, what does a typical day or week look like for you? Mostly I’m just writing songs all day. I guess I spend a lot of time just reflecting and writing, and I guess I kind of use the album process as a way to get to the bottom of how I’m feeling and to process it. And then when I feel like I’ve gotten a hold on it or I feel like I’ve sat with it enough, then I record it. When you’re kind of writing to figure out how you’re feeling, what form does that come out in? Does it come out straight as lyrics or it comes out in a different way and then you edit it later? I think it comes out as melodies first without the lyrics, and then I add the lyrics as I go where it’s just kind of humming melodies and playing around with melodies, and then some words come. I know you’re from Queens. I was just wondering if you feel growing up in New York influenced the way you approach music. Has your relationship with New York changed over the course of you being a professional musician? Being from New York influenced the way I approach everything. But with music in particular, I think it’s kind of given me some sort of agency to move through genres, because blackness in New York is so vast. You hear all kinds of Black music, hip hop and reggae and soca and house and techno. I kind of moved through genres because of that. It’s soul music and funk and jazz … I just get exposed to so much of it here, because back in the day if you were walking through a neighborhood, you could hear Phyllis Hyman on one block and then you could hear Tony Rebel on another block, and Alison Hinds on another block, and The Gap Band on another block, and fucking Wu-Tang on another block. And that’s just like a five block radius. It’s just given me the freedom to be whoever I want to be musically because of that, I think. Tell me about your creative community and collaborators. I feel like in some ways I’m still finding that, but in some ways I’ve already been really blessed to have people that I collaborate with. And I think we just all kind of rub off on each other. You spend enough time around a person, you even start to kind of talk alike. I’m married to a DJ, and also my friend Mike is a photographer and videographer. I have friends that are painters and curators. I think the people that are around me are always sort of showing me what’s possible. And I think music is the kind of thing that bleeds into other art forms. So it even shows me different ways to think about my music, and maybe even different intentions to set for my music. When you’re not writing songs, what are some ways you stay creatively inspired? Are you going to the movies, going to concerts, taking walks? I’m trying to get back to that. I feel like the last year I’ve just been working. I travel the world for a living, so my perspective is always shifting because I’m understanding the world outside of the world that I’ve always known. And so that’s always shifting how I think about things, how I approach things. I’m also aging, and in the process of aging I’m even reflecting on my own life in a way that I didn’t when I was younger. And I don’t know. I’m trying to get back to a little bit of a lighter life. I played a show yesterday, but then I went and I hung out with my friends after. How much traveling are you doing? In the last year and a half, I’ve probably been to Europe five times. You have to travel: you do all Berlin, the Copenhagen, and I did a US tour, and I went to Australia, I went to Brazil. I don’t know. I live on the road. I just came home from a tour. When you look to the future of your career as a musician or just as an artist generally, what are you thinking? Is it, “I want to make more albums,” or “I want my life to be slower?” I think a little bit of both, which might sound like a contradiction, but I want to make more albums. I probably want to make albums until I die. And also, I want the more normal, slower life; day-to-day I want to have a routine. I think the last year and a half, it’s been hard to keep up a routine because I’m never home and harder to take care of your body and your mind. I don’t want to be on the road to that extent. I want to play some shows. I want to have some fun. But I always want to make albums. I love making albums. I would do that anyway, even regardless of money or career or whatever. I just like making the album. So hopefully, I can always do that, but I do like the idea of waking up in the same bed for 30 days, taking my vitamins, and going for a walk. I really want to have a dog, so I want to be able to take care of a dog. Is there something that surprised you about yourself as you’ve gone through this journey of making records and becoming a professional musician? I guess I learned that I’m not hard to please. Don’t get me wrong, I hope to have a fruitful music career–but I think what that looks like for me is longevity. I don’t need to be a superstar, or a really rich person. I just want to make music and pay my bills and like the music that I’m making. And I think maybe I thought I was more ambitious than that, but I just want to be around for a long time and get the opportunity to express myself. Obviously I need to eat and pay rent and shit. But I think I thought that I wanted more, and then I went through a spiral for a minute when I realized that everything I’m pressured to want is not actually what I want, and to live in the tension of that, the contradiction of it and how uncomfortable it was until it’s just like, “Well, actually I think I’m already living my dream.” Yaya Bey recommends: Find something you like to do just for fun and make time for it. Make time for your friends, even your long distance friends. To that point keep a running list of things to do that cost little to no money so you can always afford to hang out with your friends. Find ways to be happy now. With what you have now and who you are now. Find ways you can be useful in the community you live in especially if you are new to that community. Find out if they need help distributing meals somewhere or extra hands at a community garden. You’ll meet people and help people so it’s a win win. This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Mary Retta.
Musician Yaya Bey on separating what you want from what you’re pressured to want
Sydney Uni appoints antisemitism ‘lecturer’, forgets to tell anybody
University of Sydney’s vice-chancellor Mark Scott appointed a special advisor for the institution’s antisemitism training programme, but forgot to tell anyone until months later. The first of a two-part series on Zionist influence in Australian universities for Michael West Media. By Wendy Bacon and Cathy Peters in Sydney The person chosen for the role of
University of Sydney’s vice-chancellor Mark Scott appointed a special advisor for the institution’s antisemitism training programme, but forgot to tell anyone until months later. The first of a two-part series on Zionist influence in Australian universities for Michael West Media. By Wendy Bacon and Cathy Peters in Sydney The person chosen for the role of Sydney University’s antisemitism chief is Michael Abrahams-Sprod, chair of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. His role is to help roll out a training programme for “front-line” staff on issues facing the Jewish community, including antisemitism in “contemporary settings”. University staff only learned about the appointment through a staff intranet notice earlier this month. A university spokesperson told Michael West Media that Abrahams-Sprod’s new position began on January 1, 2026 and continues until December 2027. Asked to specify the date the position was approved and from whom the vice-chancellor sought advice, the spokesperson said it was approved on the recommendation of the USyd Senate People, Culture and Safety Committee on March 6, 2026. READ MORE: Pro-Zionism influence at universities This was two months after Abrahams-Sprod started his special advisor job. He was previously campus coordinator of Sydney University’s branch of the pro-Israel Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism and works alongside the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal. This MWM investigation can also reveal that even before his new appointment, Abrahams-Sprod was funded to work on anti-semitism issues by the University. In 2025, he worked on a collaboration with the Special Antisemitism Envoy, Jillian Segal, and the Sydney Jewish Museum, developing an antisemitism awareness training programme funded by the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne. Antisemitism training programme In his new role, Abrahams-Sprod will co-deliver 12 sessions with the Sydney Jewish Museum to 120 USyd staff in key areas including Human Resources, Protective and Risk Services, the Student Affairs Unit and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor. These key front-line staff administer policies, communicate with staff and students staff and respond to complaints. After completing the training of administrative staff, Abrahams-Sprod will advise on training for all staff within an “overarching anti-racism framework … to align with the expectations of the Australian Human Rights Commission”. In response to MWM questions, a spokesperson said that Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment recognised “his unique skills and experience, ongoing work supporting our Jewish and broader community and his existing role as an academic leader at the University.” He will “consult with relevant communities … on how to tackle antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and build a campus that’s safe and welcoming to all”. Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment is a win for the pro-Israeli lobby. Equally, it aims to silence other staff and students and deter protests in support of Palestine. Claims of exceptionalism Last week, USyd Staff for Palestine called on Mark Scott to reverse the Special Advisor appointment and abolish the role. They accused the university of “exceptionalism” and drew attention to a recent Australian Human Rights Commission finding of high rates of racism experienced by students and staff from First Nations, African, Asian, Jewish, Māori, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Palestinian and Pasifika backgrounds. In an open letter, they stated that “in creating a unique special advisor role for antisemitism, the university has signalled that racism against Jewish people is being uniquely prioritised above other forms of discrimination”. Abrahams-Sprod will work across the university sector to fulfill requirements of Segal-appointed former conservative Australian Catholic University VC Greg Craven, who has been tasked to oversee her punitive universities Report Card initiative. As reported in The Guardian, Craven accused universities of being a ”major factor in making antisemitism respectful” and referred to campus protesters as “mutant radical groups”. Government funding could be withheld from universities found to “facilitate, enable or fail to act against antisemitism.” Jillian Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism makes sweeping claims about antisemitism in Australian universities, which have been strongly critiqued by the Australian Human Rights Institute. The assessment will be based on the contentious IHRA definition of antisemitism. This definition is rejected by many Australian university staff and students, including Jews and students from Middle East backgrounds whose families deal with the daily horror of Israel’s genocide, violent occupation, bombings, denial of humanitarian aid and other war crimes. Bowing to Zionist pressure Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment can be seen as a response to continuous pressure from October 2023 onwards from Abrahams-Sprod and fellow Zionist staff members on senior university managers to discipline staff and students for pro-Palestinian advocacy. Zionist leaders described ($) Scott as “arrogant and dismissive” at a meeting in April 2024. Their anger against anti-Israel sentiment grew after a student encampment began that month. Scott’s initial reaction was to maintain neutrality regarding the protest, assuring the university community that he understood the right of protesters to peacefully assemble and the right of free speech. However, by July 2024, after the two-month Gaza encampment had disbanded, USyd launched into defensive action, introducing its new Campus Access Policy, which clamped down heavily on future student or staff protests and political speech. This policy was strongly criticised, including by the university’s Law School, which published this open letter. Bowing further to orchestrated pressure on Scott and the university, it then commissioned an external review by Bruce Hodgkinson AM SC about the university’s handling of claims of campus antisemitism in relation to the encampment. The External Review Report made 15 recommendations, including strengthening the restrictions on protests and the imposition of a New Civility Rule with strong penalties for breaching it. In September 2024, a contrite Mark Scott apologised to Jewish students and staff at a Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry for “failing them” in his handling of the encampment. But key lobbyists, including Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Liebler, said Scott had lost credibility and continued to call for his resignation. Scott publicly promised ($) to fix the situation. One of the ways to “fix” the situation appears to have been to turn the coordinator of the Zionist complaints into a leader in his own office. Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A) When announcing Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment to all university staff earlier this month, Scott praised the “wealth of knowledge, experience and critical expertise” that Abrahams-Sprod brings to the new role. He did not mention his activities as the coordinator of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A). 5A is a network of academics working to counter antisemitism in universities and medical institutions that was formed in November 2023. It claimed in its opening statement to the NSW Inquiry into Antisemitism that, “they [Jews] are hated because of their nation state, Israel. Anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism disguised as wine but truly an old poison, rebottled, labelled with new academic terminologies that misrepresent and deceive.” 5A’s linking of Jewish identity with the state of Israel, its misrepresentation of anti-Zionism and the BDS movement are antisemitic strategies that the Israeli government has generated over many years to deflect and misconstrue focus on Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. It claims that campuses post October 7, 2023, became “epicentres of antisemitic activism” and that this was rooted in “protests, university encampments and cancel culture.” This puts it on a collision course with thousands of pro-Palestinian and human rights focussed staff and students. In his role as coordinator, Abrahams-Sprod collated at least 100 complaints against fellow staff and students, many of whom he assisted. This puts him at the centre of the campaign to pressure Scott. According to 5A, the number of complaints emanating from USyd far exceeded the minuscule number submitted from the other four large universities in Sydney. 5A labelled campus protests as antisemitic because they “delegitimise the state of Israel”. Similarly, stating that Israel is an apartheid state or that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is also considered antisemitic, even though these are widely accepted findings of UN inquiries and international lawyers. The Roth/Segal connection Abrahams-Sprod is also connected to Jillian Segal through the funding of his own senior lectureship. Segal is married to property developer John Roth and was the sister-in-law of Stanley Roth, who died in January this year. For more than 20 years, charitable foundations associated with the Roth family, along with several other philanthropists, have helped fund the discipline of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. In November 2024, the Roth family established the Roth Senior Lectureship in Jewish Civilisation, Education and Israel Studies to which Abrahams-Sprod was appointed. The university spokesperson said that the funders played no role in his selection. In addition, the Roth family has provided funding to Youth Mental Health at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre. After his death, Stanley Roth was celebrated as one of Australia’s strongest supporters and most generous funders of Israel. The brothers also received widespread publicity as directors of Henroth Investments, which donated $50,000 to the far-right group Advance Australia in 2023/4. Given Abrahams-Sprod’s highly partisan role, his appointment will only stoke division rather than build a safe and civil environment on campus. Staff for Palestine has accused the university management of being “hijacked by supporters of Israel”. But VC Scott’s appointment has done more than signal his capitulation to the pro-Israel pressure and disdain for the pro-Palestinian supporters. As we will explore in part two, it also raises conflict-of-interest issues for the university. Wendy Bacon is an investigative journalist who was professor of journalism at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She worked for Fairfax, Channel Nine and SBS and has published in The Guardian, New Matilda, City Hub and Overland. She has a long history in promoting independent and alternative journalism. She is also a long-term supporter of a peaceful BDS and the Greens. Cathy Peters is a former ABC RN producer/executive producer and Greens councillor on the former Marrickville Council. She also worked for a state Greens MP and is a long-time advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2014, she co-founded PSNA/BDS Australia. She has Jewish heritage, has travelled and volunteered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Republished from Michael West Media with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Wendy Bacon.
CPJ, partners urge Malta to take action on media reforms
CPJ joins four press freedom and journalist organizations to call on the Maltese authorities to make long-overdue media reforms an immediate priority, and to commit to meaningful and transparent collaboration with national and international civil society. The assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in a car bomb attack in 2017, generated...
CPJ joins four press freedom and journalist organizations to call on the Maltese authorities to make long-overdue media reforms an immediate priority, and to commit to meaningful and transparent collaboration with national and international civil society. The assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in a car bomb attack in 2017, generated significant pressure to improve working conditions for all journalists in Malta. The joint statement condemns a lack of action by the Maltese government to respond to the groups’ submission, sent in October 2025, as part of national consultations led by the Maltese authorities. Read the full statement here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
While Orban's gang of Kremlin-paid criminals burn proof of their crimes, the new leadership in Hungary goes after their propaganda machine and GOP allies who used Hungarian taxpayer money to fund CPAC. This is against U.S. law. If America had a real DOJ and functional Congress, all Republican officials would be investigated for being foreign agents of Hungary and therefore Russia. "Foreign governments are barred from spending money in American elections, and Americans are forbidden from soliciting or accepting it," wrote Rep. Mike Levin on Twitter (we will never call it X). "If these allegations are true, this is a direct attack on the integrity of American democracy…The American people deserve to know exactly what flowed from Orban's government into this country's political ecosystem, who was on the receiving end, and what it bought." As Gaslit Nation has long warned, Orban's regime was funneling money and instructions from Russia to MAGA world. The RussiaGate transnational crime network never stopped. The crime spree continues and has only grown stronger. We told you so!. In this week's Gaslit Nation, we're re-running our interview with Peter Hidas, who as a young student helped ignite the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Peter's story is a testament to what ordinary people can do when they refuse to bow to tyranny. The revolts that shook the Iron Curtain in 1956 laid the groundwork for the movements that would one day bring down the Soviet empire. This week's bonus show, available to subscribers at the Truther-teller ($5/month) and higher, will look at the latest in U.S. politics, including the Virginia election results, and where we need to keep the pressure on. To our Patreon supporters, see you at Monday's salon. Thank you to everyone who supports our independent journalism–we could not make this show without you! The song featured in this week's episode is "Election Day" by The Spiders. Check out their music at thespidersband.com If you have a song to share on Gaslit Nation, submit it here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-d_DWNnDQFYUMXueYcX5ZVsA5t2RN09N8PYUQQ8koq0/edit?ts=5fee07f6&gxids=7628 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 EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit 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. The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult. Join on Patreon. Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect. Join on Patreon. Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join. Join on Patreon. Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group on Patreon. As always, keep it kind in our chat groups, extend grace and assume good faith. A culture of care is how we build a better world. Show Notes: How to Overthrow a Dictator (Featuring the history of Andrea's father-in-law Mihai Sedaru Barbul) https://sites.libsyn.com/124622/how-to-overthrow-a-dictator Viktor Orbán built a 'propaganda machine.' Hungary's next leader must dismantle it https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/19/europe/orban-propaganda-media-magyar-hungary-intl Péter Magyar accuses outgoing foreign minister of destroying confidential documents https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/04/13/peter-magyar-accuses-outgoing-foreign-minister-of-destroying-confidential-documents Suppressed and 'spied on' under Orban — now the press can taste freedom https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/hungary-viktor-orban-press-freedom-magyar-vj9wb0lnp Orban supporters 'burn documents' as Russian allies face prosecution in Hungary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlqqjAvcp4Q Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html Palentir lays the groundwork to justify genocide. Some animals are more equal than others. This is literally Orwell: https://bsky.app/profile/andreachalupa.bsky.social/post/3mjumz5lwk22h What can the West learn from Peter Magyar's victory in Hungary? https://theweek.com/world-news/trump-magyar-orban-hungary-maga-politics Videos Show Russian Youths Chant Anti-War Song in St. Petersburg https://www.newsweek.com/videos-russian-youths-chant-anti-war-song-st-petersburg-10883035 Hungary PM Orbán's advisor in hot water for saying resisting Russia is irresponsible https://www.euronews.com/2024/09/26/hungary-pm-orbans-advisor-in-hot-water-for-saying-resisting-russia-is-irresponsible
While Orban's gang of Kremlin-paid criminals burn proof of their crimes, the new leadership in Hungary goes after their propaganda machine and GOP allies who used Hungarian taxpayer money to fund CPAC. This is against U.S. law. If America had a real DOJ and functional Congress, all Republican officials would be investigated for being foreign agents of Hungary and therefore Russia. "Foreign governments are barred from spending money in American elections, and Americans are forbidden from soliciting or accepting it," wrote Rep. Mike Levin on Twitter (we will never call it X). "If these allegations are true, this is a direct attack on the integrity of American democracy…The American people deserve to know exactly what flowed from Orban's government into this country's political ecosystem, who was on the receiving end, and what it bought." As Gaslit Nation has long warned, Orban's regime was funneling money and instructions from Russia to MAGA world. The RussiaGate transnational crime network never stopped. The crime spree continues and has only grown stronger. We told you so!. In this week's Gaslit Nation, we're re-running our interview with Peter Hidas, who as a young student helped ignite the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Peter's story is a testament to what ordinary people can do when they refuse to bow to tyranny. The revolts that shook the Iron Curtain in 1956 laid the groundwork for the movements that would one day bring down the Soviet empire. This week's bonus show, available to subscribers at the Truther-teller ($5/month) and higher, will look at the latest in U.S. politics, including the Virginia election results, and where we need to keep the pressure on. To our Patreon supporters, see you at Monday's salon. Thank you to everyone who supports our independent journalism–we could not make this show without you! The song featured in this week's episode is "Election Day" by The Spiders. Check out their music at thespidersband.com If you have a song to share on Gaslit Nation, submit it here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-d_DWNnDQFYUMXueYcX5ZVsA5t2RN09N8PYUQQ8koq0/edit?ts=5fee07f6&gxids=7628 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 EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit 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. The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult. Join on Patreon. Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other. Join on Patreon. Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect. Join on Patreon. Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join. Join on Patreon. Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group on Patreon. As always, keep it kind in our chat groups, extend grace and assume good faith. A culture of care is how we build a better world. Show Notes: How to Overthrow a Dictator (Featuring the history of Andrea's father-in-law Mihai Sedaru Barbul) https://sites.libsyn.com/124622/how-to-overthrow-a-dictator Viktor Orbán built a 'propaganda machine.' Hungary's next leader must dismantle it https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/19/europe/orban-propaganda-media-magyar-hungary-intl Péter Magyar accuses outgoing foreign minister of destroying confidential documents https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/04/13/peter-magyar-accuses-outgoing-foreign-minister-of-destroying-confidential-documents Suppressed and 'spied on' under Orban — now the press can taste freedom https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/hungary-viktor-orban-press-freedom-magyar-vj9wb0lnp Orban supporters 'burn documents' as Russian allies face prosecution in Hungary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlqqjAvcp4Q Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html Palentir lays the groundwork to justify genocide. Some animals are more equal than others. This is literally Orwell: https://bsky.app/profile/andreachalupa.bsky.social/post/3mjumz5lwk22h What can the West learn from Peter Magyar's victory in Hungary? https://theweek.com/world-news/trump-magyar-orban-hungary-maga-politics Videos Show Russian Youths Chant Anti-War Song in St. Petersburg https://www.newsweek.com/videos-russian-youths-chant-anti-war-song-st-petersburg-10883035 Hungary PM Orbán's advisor in hot water for saying resisting Russia is irresponsible https://www.euronews.com/2024/09/26/hungary-pm-orbans-advisor-in-hot-water-for-saying-resisting-russia-is-irresponsible This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
Solomon Islands opposition alleges ‘millions’ offered by govt lobbyists to buy back power
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor A coalition of political parties opposing the Solomon Islands prime minister has accused government lobbyists of trying to woo its MPs with “huge money” bribes to “buy political allegiance”. It comes amid an ongoing court wrangle over parliamentary moves to oust Jeremiah Manele. The opposition grouping, which claims to
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor A coalition of political parties opposing the Solomon Islands prime minister has accused government lobbyists of trying to woo its MPs with “huge money” bribes to “buy political allegiance”. It comes amid an ongoing court wrangle over parliamentary moves to oust Jeremiah Manele. The opposition grouping, which claims to have 28 of the country’s 50 MPs, says it has recorded voice and text messages from lobbyists promising millions of dollars to any five MPs willing to cross the floor to the government. READ MORE: Other Solomon Islands political crisis reports “We have text messages and recorded voice messages from government lobbyists offering huge money. The price tag has increased from thousands to millions to any 5 MPs to move across. The latest attempt involved an offer in millions over the weekend,” the group said in a statement. RNZ Pacific has viewed screenshots of text messages purportedly sent by Manele’s staff to certain MPs in the opposition coalition, offering up to S$300,000 (about NZ$63,000) to jump ship. The Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s Office has told RNZ Pacific he will not respond to the allegations. Solomon Islands MPs in the opposition grouping. Image: Office of the Leader of the Opposition/RNZ Pacific Manele will find out today from the Court of Appeal if he would be forced to call Parliament to face a motion of no confidence. The opposition group says it is collecting evidence of the alleged cash inducements which it will provide to lawful authorities for investigation. Manele, who previously served as the country’s foreign minister, was elected prime minister on 2 May 2024. He survived a motion of no confidence in April 2025 after six ministers and five government backbenchers walked away. On March 15, mass resignations from People First Party MPs — one of the key parties in Manele’s Government of National Unity and Transformation (GNUT) — rocked the Melanesian nation. Since then, there has been a series of back-and-forths from both sides, with Manele maintaining he has the right to continue governing while the opposition group challenges his claim, arguing that his decision to hold on to power is unconstitutional. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
‘There Is No Place for Us’ and ‘Placeless’ paired together provide a clear picture of homelessness in the modern age.
‘There Is No Place for Us’ and ‘Placeless’ paired together provide a clear picture of homelessness in the modern age. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Norman Stockwell.
No wonder Iran went cold on sham talks, considering the lying US-Israeli track record
COMMENTARY: By Tim O’Shea I don’t blame Iran for going cold on another sham negotiation session with the US. After all, why would they take the US or Israel seriously? Or even remotely trust either of them when: They both bombed Iran right in the middle of two sets of previous “negotiations”; and Trump lied
COMMENTARY: By Tim O’Shea I don’t blame Iran for going cold on another sham negotiation session with the US. After all, why would they take the US or Israel seriously? Or even remotely trust either of them when: They both bombed Iran right in the middle of two sets of previous “negotiations”; and Trump lied about Lebanon being included in the recent ceasefire agreement. That inclusion was acknowledged by the mediators, Pakistan. READ MORE: Trump extends Iran ceasefire, keeps blockade as Pakistan talks in disarray Amnesty slams Netanyahu, Putin, Trump as ‘voracious predators’ Other US-Israel war on Iran reports As a result, Israel continued to bomb Lebanon; in fact they stepped up their attacks and killed 300+ people in one day. In the very latest agreement, Iran opened up the Strait of Hormuz as agreed, but the US (incredulously) continued with its blockade. Yesterday the US escalated things by attacking and confiscating an Iranian merchant ship. 750+ Palestinians have been murdered by the IDF during Trump’s fake ceasefire in October 2025. They are slaughtering women and kids in Gaza and the West Bank every day. Thousands of Israeli violations Israel broke their ceasefire agreement signed in November 2014 with Lebanon thousands of times (according to UN peacekeepers in Lebanon). Both Trump and Netanyahu have made numerous threats to obliterate Iran, to commit genocide and even holocaust. They have bombed thousands of Iranian civilian targets in contravention of international law — residential buildings, government buildings, historic sites, bridges, police stations, schools, universities, pharmacy companies, factories, public transport, ambulances, medical centres and hospitals. So WHY the hell would Iran have any confidence that anything that these devious and untrustworthy US and Israeli war criminals agree will ever be adhered to? Both of these warmongering nations have displayed a total lack of integrity and credibility through their disingenuous words and actions over many decades. I don’t see any other alternative than for Iran to play hard ball. Time is Trump’s enemy, not Iran’s. And now Trump has extended the ceasefire at the last moment. Tim O’Shea is a New Zealand social, environmental political activist and commentator. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
This administration is doing everything it can to keep Americans hooked on fossil fuels—no matter how dearly it costs working people.
This administration is doing everything it can to keep Americans hooked on fossil fuels—no matter how dearly it costs working people. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Basav Sen.
While Team Trump is committed to making the problem of climate change worse, local groups are stepping up to reduce impacts.
While Team Trump is committed to making the problem of climate change worse, local groups are stepping up to reduce impacts. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by David Rosen.
Opposition to Trump’s immigration policies is growing
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How the Pentagon is trying to control the narrative
The Defense Department oversees the country’s armed forces and commands a nearly $1 trillion budget in 2026. A departure from longstanding norms and Constitutionally guaranteed media access at the Pentagon carries significant implications for press freedom in the United States as well as for public understanding of the impact of U.S. military spending and actions. Here are five things you need to...
The Defense Department oversees the country’s armed forces and commands a nearly $1 trillion budget in 2026. A departure from longstanding norms and Constitutionally guaranteed media access at the Pentagon carries significant implications for press freedom in the United States as well as for public understanding of the impact of U.S. military spending and actions. Here are five things you need to know about how the Defense Department is restricting press freedom in the United States: Pentagon restricts access – In fall 2025, the Pentagon in a memo introduced new policies and procedures to restrict media access within the Pentagon building. The memo was later updated to say that reporters’ press credentials could be revoked if they violate the new policies, which included a ban on soliciting classified information and “controlled unclassified information” from personnel. Journalists credentialed with the Pentagon were also required to sign a written acknowledgement of policy changes or risk having their credentials revoked. This policy change would stymie the free flow of information and make it incredibly difficult for journalists to do their job without fear of retaliation for potentially breaking with the new policy. In response, the majority of Pentagon reporters walked out of the building in protest. Prolonged legal battles – In response to these new measures, the New York Times filed a lawsuit, listing one of its reporters as a plaintiff and arguing that the new accreditation policy violated journalists’ First Amendment rights. A federal judge sided with the New York Times, though the Pentagon then created a new accreditation policy and appealed the decision. The court battle is ongoing. Threat of regulatory pressures – In a April 7, 2026 Truth Social post, President Donald Trump warned that broadcasters airing what he described as “fake news” about U.S. military actions should “correct course” ahead of license renewals. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr quote-tweeted Trump, saying that broadcasters could lose their licenses if they do not operate in the public interest, a comment he later attempted to roll back. Given the current political environment and other threats of retaliatory action from the FCC, which Carr heads, these types of comments create a chilling effect around coverage of U.S. military activity. Limited access during wartime – The Pentagon barred photographers from Iran war press briefings in retaliation for what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s staff perceived to be unflattering photographs, the Washington Post reported on March 11, 2026. This decision limited the public’s ability to understand the dynamics of Hegseth’s future press conferences and also sent a message to photojournalists and reporters more broadly that access is maintained through favorable coverage. During his rare press briefings, the defense secretary has also taken a combative tone with reporters over critical coverage or lines of questioning. Military news outlets under pressure – The Defense Department said on January 15, 2026, that it will overhaul the military newspaper Stars & Stripes to “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale.” Applicants for jobs at the newspaper have also been asked to lay out their commitment to policy initiatives of President Donald Trump. While approximately half of Stars & Stripes funding comes from the Pentagon budget, the paper has long enjoyed traditional editorial independence. Seeking to control the outlet’s reporting is part of a larger attempt by the Pentagon to shape the narrative about military events. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
2026 Balikatan exercises will highlight Manila’s more ‘active defense posture’
Experts note that Philippines remains anchored in alliance with US, but will assert more agency over own defense.
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is slowly shifting to a more “active defense posture,” analysts told Radio Free Asia, as Manila and Washington launch the largest-ever iteration of their annual war games this week. The increased scope of the “Balikatan” exercises reflect the Philippines taking on a more decisive role in its own defense, while still remaining strongly committed to its bilateral alliance with the United States, the analysts said. Though officials leading in “Balikatan” exercises do not mention China by name, the war games are occurring amid increased Chinese tensions in the sea. Japan, which, like the Philippines, also faces territorial challenges from China in the East China Sea, is playing a more direct and active role in this year’s drills, reflecting its growing defense ties with Manila. Why Japan is sending troops to the Philippines All told, there are 17,000 personnel participating, including 10,000 from the U.S. and 7,000 from the Philippines and partner nations Japan, France, Canada and Australia. Active defense posture The Philippines’ gradual shift to an “active defense posture” reflects the growing defense dynamics in the region, as China sees more opposition from weaker neighbors seeking strength by banding together, the analysts said. “For years, Manila operated within a relatively constrained framework, relying heavily on its alliance with the United States,” Arnaud Leveau, president of the Paris-based Asia Centre think tank and an assistant professor at Paris Dauphine University, told RFA. “What we are seeing now is a gradual effort to assert greater agency while remaining firmly anchored in that alliance.” <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/BONCPUBC3BDPXGGBWTOM2TSD5E.jpg?auth=ad03c6310ff44363287d8762c4a99f84e35b9a6c4e2ae02a5d22b37de5971363&smart=true&width=1500" alt="(From left to right) Major General Francisco Lorenzo, Philippine exercise director, and military Chief General Romeo Brawner of the Philippines, with U.S. Lieutenant General Christian Wortman, unfurling a banner during the opening ceremony of the annual "Balikatan" joint military exercise in Manila, April 20, 2026." height="3362" width="1500"/> (From left to right) Major General Francisco Lorenzo, Philippine exercise director, and military Chief General Romeo Brawner of the Philippines, with U.S. Lieutenant General Christian Wortman, unfurling a banner during the opening ceremony of the annual "Balikatan" joint military exercise in Manila, April 20, 2026. (Ted Aljibe/AFP) Manila exerting more control over its defense is an indication that it is adapting to the current geopolitical climate, he said. “I see it as a rather calibrated adjustment to changing circumstances. In this context, signaling resolve should not be seen as escalation, but rather as a form of deterrence,” he said. “Repeated incidents at sea have shown that ambiguity can invite further pressure.” Chinese provocations at sea have become increasingly common in recent years. Earlier this month, China erected a floating barrier at the disputed Scarborough Shoal to block access to Philippine fishing boats. Around the same time the Philippine Navy spotted ten Chinese coast guard vessels there, attempting to enforce a blockade. Previous incidents have included Chinese ships blasting Philippine fishing boats with water cannons or even ramming them. Though Manila may be signaling resolve through this year’s Balikatan, sustaining the effort to be more active in its own defense would remain a challenge, Leveau said, adding that shifting to more “credible capabilities” requires real investments in command structures, improving logistical resilience as well as maritime awareness. Victor Andres Manhit, president of the Manila-based defense think tank Stratbase Institute, told RFA that the Philippines needed to “fully operationalize its posture of active defense” to thwart China’s ever-increasing territorial threats. This year’s Balikatan numbers “represent the correct path forward” to address the challenge, Manhit said. This sends a “clear and unambiguous message…that the Philippines and its partners are prepared to defend the rules-based international order against coercion, intimidation, and unlawful claims.” A China Coast Guard ship sprays a water cannon next to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries vessel near Thitu island in disputed waters of the South China Sea, Oct. 12, 2025. (Philippine Coast Guard via AFP) The Philippines will mark the 10th anniversary in July of a 2016 international arbitration court’s ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping territorial claims in the sea region. That landmark ruling is hailed internationally, even as it China has continued to reject it. The increased participation in Balikatan from other countries besides the U.S. underscores the importance of Manila having partnerships with its allied neighbors, Manhit said. “It affirms that we are not isolated, and that our national security is anchored in strong alliances with nations that uphold international law and share our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Evolving alliance Philippine Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner, during a ceremony where he declared the war games open Monday, said the drills served to amplify the “strength of an alliance” and the shared responsibility of securing the region. “For more than three decades, Balikatan has stood as a living testament to the partnership between the Philippines and the United States. One that has grown stronger, more responsive, and more relevant with time,” he said. Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. speaks during the opening ceremony of the U.S.-Philippines "Balikatan" joint military exercises, Manila, Philippines, April 20, 2026. (Noel Celis/Reuters) Brawner said that participating countries “remain guided by a shared commitment to uphold international law, to respect sovereignty, and to contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific where nations can thrive without coercion.” “We are building more than capability. We are building systems that think, move and respond as one,” he said. “Let me emphasize this. Balikatan is readiness made real, cooperation put into action, and peace preserved through our strength.” Observers told RFA that the joint exercises have evolved into a forum within which all participants can flex their combined strength, including Japan, which until taking on a combat role in Balikatan this year, had participated as an observer or in a limited capacity in prior iterations. Japan, for one, “is aligning its operational posture with the realities of increased friction in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific area as well,” Leveu said, adding that the annual Balikatan drills have evolved “into a platform for more flexible, mini-lateral forms of cooperation” that complements an American-centric alliance. Lucio Pitlo, a foreign policy expert at the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies, told RFA Japan’s increasing military engagements in the region reflected its gradual shift from its post-World War II pacifist stance, with Tokyo keeping in step with the U.S. defense initiatives in the region. “Japan has been growing in security profile in the region in recent years, motivated by changing domestic views and regional and global developments,” Pitlo said. Both Manila and Washington welcome this development, because “it has expanded our network of defense partners and increased allied access in our territory.” Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jason Gutierrez for RFA.
VICE Inside Iran | Then and Now ft. Alex Chitty
Journalist Mehmet Yetim arrested in Turkey for ‘spreading disinformation’
Istanbul, April 21, 2026—Turkish authorities must stop their improper and excessive use of the country’s disinformation law against journalists because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Police took Mehmet Yetim, editor-in-chief of the local broadcaster Kulis TV, in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, into custody in the early hours of April 18. On April...
Istanbul, April 21, 2026—Turkish authorities must stop their improper and excessive use of the country’s disinformation law against journalists because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Police took Mehmet Yetim, editor-in-chief of the local broadcaster Kulis TV, in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, into custody in the early hours of April 18. On April 19, he was arrested by a court, pending trial on suspicion of “publicly spreading disinformation.” İbrahim Halil Aydın, a lawyer for Yetim, told CPJ that his client and his outlet had reported on an incident at a school in which people were wounded, although it turned out that no one had been hurt. While the outlet corrected the report afterward, screenshots of Yetim’s original post circulated on social media, leading to the journalist’s arrest, Aydın said. “Turkey keeps arresting journalists over claims of spreading disinformation, which, even if they were true, wouldn’t be considered a crime unless they caused concern, fear, or panic among the public, according to the law,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Journalist Mehmet Yetim, who corrected his faulty reporting, didn’t cause any of those things. Turkish authorities must release Yetim and stop arresting journalists under this law.” Aydın, who filed an appeal to have his arrest rescinded, also told CPJ that even if his client is found guilty and given the maximum penalty of three years, he wouldn’t spend a day in prison because such a sentence for a defendant with no criminal record means automatic parole. A trial date will be set after prosecutors indict Yetim. Introduced in late 2022, the disinformation law dictates that anyone found guilty of publicly spreading false information in order to cause concern, fear, or panic will face a sentence of one to three years in prison. While supporters of the legislation at the time offered reassurances that the law would not be used against journalists, it has since become one of the most frequently used laws against the media. CPJ emailed the Şanlıurfa chief public prosecutor’s office for comment but did not receive a reply. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
An OB-GYN Was Accused of Sexual Misconduct. The State Let Him Keep Practicing.
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The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 21, 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 – April 21, 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 – April 21, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
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This content originally appeared on International Rescue Committee and was authored by International Rescue Committee.
Middle East crisis driving global energy shock, UN chief warns Sudan: millions still impacted by war and displacement: IOM First UN global debate on AI aims to bridge ‘huge divide’ in access
Middle East crisis driving global energy shock, UN chief warns Sudan: millions still impacted by war and displacement: IOM First UN global debate on AI aims to bridge ‘huge divide’ in access This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
Zionist doxxing campaigns upended their lives. Now they’re suing for damages.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="25-year-old Celine Khalife is photographed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, which is recognized as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance, on January 11, 2024. Photo by Kathleen Hinkel for The Washington Post via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342945" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/zionist-doxxing-campaigns-sued-for-damages/stop-antisemitism-twitter-account-doxxing-results-in-firing-of-25-year-old-celine-khalife" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1920,1280" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"The Washington Post via Getty Im","camera":"","caption":"CHICAGO, IL - JANUARY 11: 25-year-old Celine Khalife is photographed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, which is recognized as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance, on January 11, 2024. \"If I'm able to use my voice then I'm going to use it,\" she says. The street post is located at the northeast corner of North State Street and East Division Street in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.\n\nIn November Khalife was filmed taking down a flier showing a picture of Israeli hostages that said they were \"kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.\" The following day the video was posted by the twitter account Stopantisemitism which also linked to Khalife's workplace biography. Khalife was newly employed as a therapist at the time of the incident and is among a growing number of people who have been fired after being doxxed by the twitter account. (Photo by Kathleen Hinkel for The Washington Post via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"2024 The Washington Post","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Stop Antisemitism Twitter Account Doxxing Results in Firing of 25-year-old Celine Khalife","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Stop Antisemitism Twitter Account Doxxing Results in Firing of 25-year-old Celine Khalife" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" 25-year-old Celine Khalife is photographed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, which is recognized as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance, on January 11, 2024. Photo by Kathleen Hinkel for The Washington Post via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Canary Mission faces a class-action lawsuit under a new Illinois anti-doxxing law.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="25-year-old Celine Khalife is photographed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, which is recognized as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance, on January 11, 2024. Photo by Kathleen Hinkel for The Washington Post via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?w=1920&ssl=1 1920w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.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="342945" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/zionist-doxxing-campaigns-sued-for-damages/stop-antisemitism-twitter-account-doxxing-results-in-firing-of-25-year-old-celine-khalife" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1920,1280" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"The Washington Post via Getty Im","camera":"","caption":"CHICAGO, IL - JANUARY 11: 25-year-old Celine Khalife is photographed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, which is recognized as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance, on January 11, 2024. \"If I'm able to use my voice then I'm going to use it,\" she says. The street post is located at the northeast corner of North State Street and East Division Street in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.\n\nIn November Khalife was filmed taking down a flier showing a picture of Israeli hostages that said they were \"kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.\" The following day the video was posted by the twitter account Stopantisemitism which also linked to Khalife's workplace biography. Khalife was newly employed as a therapist at the time of the incident and is among a growing number of people who have been fired after being doxxed by the twitter account. (Photo by Kathleen Hinkel for The Washington Post via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"2024 The Washington Post","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Stop Antisemitism Twitter Account Doxxing Results in Firing of 25-year-old Celine Khalife","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Stop Antisemitism Twitter Account Doxxing Results in Firing of 25-year-old Celine Khalife" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" 25-year-old Celine Khalife is photographed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, which is recognized as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance, on January 11, 2024. Photo by Kathleen Hinkel for The Washington Post via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2147846192.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 April 20, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. A reckoning could be coming for pro-Israel groups known for doxxing Palestine advocates. In March, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) filed a class-action lawsuit in Illinois state court against the organizations Canary Mission and StopAntisemitism, as well as groups and individuals identified as their funders or board members. “This case represents addressing a broader harm caused by organized doxxing and harassment campaigns,” Laila Ali, a Chicago-based artist and activist and one of six named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told Truthout. “I’m hoping that it’ll establish clear consequences for those who engage in those tactics.” StopAntisemitism and Canary Mission have histories of systematically posting the personal information of individuals (known as doxxing or doxing) who engage in pro-Palestine speech, or criticize Israel’s assaults on Palestine and the United States’ involvement, on their websites and social media channels to whip up attack campaigns. Many of those targeted have been Arab, Muslim, or Palestinian young professionals who have faced backlash on university campuses or in their workplaces, as well as online harassment and threats to their personal safety. Alongside Ali, the named plaintiffs in the new case include two physicians, an IT professional, a former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student organizer, and an English lecturer at Loyola University Chicago. The class includes anyone residing in Illinois who has had their personal information shared by StopAntisemitism or Canary Mission without their consent and experienced harm as a result. CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney Noah Halpern told Truthout his organization expects the group to include about 300 people. The organization is still soliciting outreach from Illinois residents who may be part of this class. “The goal is to have relief for everyone and do that through this vehicle of a class action,” Halpern explained to Truthout. The lawsuit seeks injunctive and declaratory relief and damages, meaning CAIR-Chicago would like to secure a judgment prohibiting the defendants from doxxing Illinois residents, requiring the defendants to remove existing content about Illinois residents from their social media channels and websites, awarding damages to compensate for harms to the plaintiffs, and assessing punitive damages. The case was filed using Illinois’s Civil Liability for Doxing Act, which took effect in January 2024. Halpern said that bringing a case like this was on the minds of CAIR-Chicago’s lawyers as soon as that law passed. “We’re excited to be moving forward and to have the opportunity to try to hold Canary Mission and their affiliates accountable,” he told Truthout. The first reported verdict under the Illinois law came down in March, when a Will County judge awarded close to $46,000 to an election worker who was targeted after a fabricated Facebook post about her was shared dozens of times. In July 2024, CAIR-Chicago also filed a doxxing case against Wayne Levinson and Canary Mission on behalf of Illinois resident Kinza Khan, seeking damages exceeding $75,000 for the emotional distress, life disruptions, and economic harm she experienced after being doxxed. In November 2023, Levinson filmed Khan near a light pole plastered with “Kidnapped by Hamas” posters. The video went viral after Levinson posted it to Instagram, and Canary Mission then posted Khan’s personal information on its website alongside claims that she supported terrorism and antisemitism. Khan has suffered harassment and significant emotional distress since her information was made public. Her case is ongoing. Ali was targeted after a similar video showing her tearing down a poster affixed to a light pole near her workplace was shared online. “When I was taking down the poster, it was like I was seeing so much grievance, I was seeing so many Palestinian people lose their families and their homes, and I was seeing this [poster campaign] to shape the narrative of what was happening, so the onus was on me to take that down,” Ali told Truthout. She never imagined the act would cost her job and lead to months of online harassment and threats to her safety. But that’s what happened after StopAntisemitism posted the video and asked followers to identify Ali in January 2024. Subsequently, StopAntisemitism shared Ali’s personal information alongside the video and tagged her employer. Soon, Ali was receiving dozens of harassing messages online, and her employer was receiving calls and emails demanding she be fired. After the company posted a statement on X announcing it had fired Ali, StopAntisemitism celebrated the decision. “It was immediate,” Ali told Truthout. “The day after I got doxxed, the following morning, I had a meeting via Zoom and [my employer] essentially said, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong, but we do have to terminate you.’ It was just too much bad PR for the company.” Doxxing campaigns launched by pro-Israel groups like the one Ali endured often hinge on claims that engaging in pro-Palestine or anti-Zionist speech or criticizing Israel is antisemitic. This conflation has been weaponized with greater fervor since October 7, 2023, with the aim of intimidating or silencing critics of the Israeli government and U.S. foreign policy and those expressing solidarity with Palestinians. StopAntisemitism boasts that of more than 1,000 individuals it has doxxed since that date, over 400 have been fired. “The way that the rhetoric was twisted in order to equate anti-Zionism and antisemitism, we’re experiencing the aftermath of the harm that did,” Laura Goldstein, a lecturer at Loyola and another named plaintiff in the CAIR-Chicago suit, told Truthout. “That unfortunate and tragic weaponization of that terminology has been so harmful to so many people, and we’re in the process of unwrapping it now — that’s the work we’re doing [in this lawsuit].” Goldstein was targeted by Canary Mission in April 2024. They serve as a faculty advisor for their campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and Canary Mission claimed the chapter had endorsed war crimes. It also published Goldstein’s name, social media handles, workplace, and other identifying information on its website. Soon after, Goldstein began receiving harassing messages on social media, via email, and even a letter delivered to their on-campus mailbox. The messages included graphic threats of sexual violence. “It’s like a cold wave of fear that just paralyzes your entire body. I was extremely scared for my life, extremely scared of being treated in the ways that were being threatened,” Goldstein recalled to Truthout. “I thought they knew where to find me and that they were going to do it because that’s what they were saying.” Ali recalls having a similar reaction when StopAntisemitism posted her information online. “It was incredibly stressful, very rattling, and isolating,” she told Truthout. Alongside more easily quantifiable harms, like Ali’s loss of employment, the CAIR-Chicago lawsuit also addresses the emotional and psychological fallout of being targeted by a doxxing campaign. “The fear that doxxing causes, the substantial life disruptions that doxxing causes — like people change their commuting behavior, install extra security features in their homes, change the way they use the internet because they’ve been doxxed — the statute contemplates that as injury, as well,” Halpern explained to Truthout. Although many things have changed for Ali and Goldstein, neither said the attacks had deterred them from speaking out for Palestine. “That level of threat was effective in terms of the level of fear that it produced in me, [but] what wasn’t effective was that I didn’t stop doing anything that I was doing in terms of my justice work,” Goldstein said. Goldstein also told Truthout it was particularly meaningful to them as a Jewish person to be a named plaintiff “to show that being anti-Zionist, being anti-genocide goes across different groups of humanity [and that] those of us who believe in justice, who believe in speaking out for other people and against harm of other people — that’s an important value.” The case is in its earliest stages, and it is too soon to know how long it will take to reach a courtroom. But Halpern told Truthout that CAIR-Chicago welcomes the chance to shed light on Canary Mission’s secretive dealings and to demand accountability from StopAntisemitism and Canary Mission for the harm they have caused to so many Illinoisans. “[The lawsuit] brings to the forefront that these are not legitimate organizations, they’re not legitimately trying to fight antisemitism, [and] they’re not putting out credible information,” Halpern said. “They are propaganda, at best, and at worst, something more sinister and a real attempt to harm people who are speaking up and speaking out about the rights of Palestinians and of the oppression that the state of Israel has inflicted upon Palestinians.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Marianne Dhenin.
New report: Households pay $12 trillion a year in hidden fossil fuel costs – a $23 million a minute ‘gift to Big Oil’
New research by 350.org shows that on top of soaring energy bills, fossil fuels cost households an additional $12 trillion a year in taxpayer handouts, health impacts and extreme weather damage – equivalent to a $23 million a minute “gift to Big Oil” ...
New research by 350.org shows that on top of soaring energy bills, fossil fuels cost households an additional $12 trillion a year in taxpayer handouts, health impacts and extreme weather damage – equivalent to a $23 million a minute “gift to Big Oil” that costs each person on Earth $1,400 per year. In the report “Out of Pocket: How Fossil Fuels are Draining Households and Economies,” 350.org recalculated IMF estimates on fossil fuel subsidies, uncovering what fossil fuels actually cost society and what governments spend to keep production flowing. These hidden costs – totalling $12 trillion annually [1] – are “silently siphoning trillions away from household budgets and draining state coffers” while a handful of big corporations make windfall profits from the war in South West Asia. The report highlights that: Fossil fuels cause $9.3 trillion per year in climate damages and air pollution, higher than IMF estimates.[2] These are social costs that the fossil fuel industry should be charged with but pay nothing for, and which the public shoulders through taxes and out of pocket payments. The $4.1 trillion annual climate undervaluation [3] could finance more than 5,900 gigawatts of new solar capacity — enough to power every home in Africa, South Asia and Latin America combined. The $12 trillion owed by the fossil fuel industry annually in avoided costs is more than 100 times total global climate finance — or the money the world has committed to help countries respond to the climate crisis. In the first 50 days of the war, over $150 billion has been siphoned from ordinary people to oil and gas companies due to soaring energy prices alone. [4] As decision-makers from over 50 countries gather for the first international conference on a fossil fuel phase-out in Santa Marta, Colombia this week, 350.org said that leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to put the world on the right path. “Decades of delay have turned every oil price spike into a household emergency and every climate‑fuelled disaster into another withdrawal from the savings of the world’s poorest communities,” the group said. 350.org is calling on governments to: Tax fossil fuel windfall and corporate excess profits to channel the revenues directly into lowering people’s energy bills. End fossil fuel subsidies and replace them with targeted household support; and invest public money in cheaper, reliable renewables that bring bills down for good. Protect families and businesses from future price shocks by ending fossil fuel expansion and building affordable 100% renewable energy. Using case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, the report also highlights how an alternative energy system is already being shaped. From community‑owned grids, Indigenous‑led wind projects, subnational 100% renewable commitments, and regional subsidy reforms, the great power shift from fossil fuels to people‑centered renewables has already begun. Bill McKibben, climate activist and 350.org founder said: “A building El Niño means 2026 and 2027 will set new global temperature records, and that will offer yet more chaos, and yet more reminders that it is the poorest people on earth who must bear most of the cost of this ongoing tragedy. We have a narrow path out of these crises, and that path has been illuminated by the bombs from this misbegotten war. It would be a waste and a sin not to seize this moment.” Anne Jellema, 350.org Chief Executive said: “The economic case for fossil fuels has not just weakened, it has collapsed. Climate chaos and volatile oil prices have pushed ordinary people to a breaking point: unable to afford food, transport, housing or healthcare. Leaders must acknowledge the real costs of fossil fuels and redirect public money where it belongs — into making clean energy a right, not a privilege.” Hala Kilani, Head of Energy Diplomacy, REN21 said: “Renewables are not controlled by a few fossil fuel exporting countries. It is abundant, distributed, and affordable. It can stabilize costs and be deployed locally, empowering communities rather than concentrating power. It is a peace, development, and justice solution. It’s high time we transition to reliable, affordable renewable energy.” Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, Founder of Fridays for Future Uganda said: “African families are paying for fossil fuels three times over: through taxes, through rising living costs, and through worsening climate disasters. The fossil fuel system is not a distant global issue; it is something people experience in their daily lives. Public resources are being drained to support this system, while wealth is extracted and exported. We must ensure that polluters pay for the damage they have caused to our communities over generations. We must shift investment towards a system that reduces costs for households, strengthens resilience, and prioritizes the people. Jan Rosenow, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at Oxford University said: “This crisis is a stark reminder of just how risky it is to rely on fossil fuels, with around 80 percent of global energy still coming from them and driving the instability we see today. We should be focusing on long-term solutions rather than applying short-term sticking plasters to a much deeper problem. Price volatility is not a flaw in the fossil fuel system; it is a built-in feature. The real question is not what the energy transition will cost us, but what it will cost if we fail to act.” Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, Program Manager for Renewables First Pakistan said: “The system is structured in such a way that fossil fuels continue to benefit, even as cleaner and cheaper alternatives become available. Pakistan has imported less fossil fuel but ended up paying more, which shows how deeply flawed the system is. We learned how to build an energy system around fossil fuels, and now we must learn how to build one around renewables. This transition is no longer just about economic growth; it is about human survival.Solar energy is not only a source of clean power, but also a driver of economic stability.” Executive summary of the report Full report Notes to Editor: [1] (a) ~$11.4 trillion in underpriced fossil fuel costs — including explicit government subsidies, climate damages, air pollution, and road externalities — recalculated from IMF data using peer-reviewed US EPA damage models; plus (b) ~$700 billion in production-side support to fossil fuel producers tracked by the OECD across 52 countries. [2] The IMF’s climate damage figure rests on a carbon price — US$85 per tonne of CO2 — that represents the cheapest possible price to keep warming below 2°C, not the actual damage fossil fuels cause. Using the peer-reviewed damage models that now underpin the US Environmental Protection Agency’s official social cost of carbon, 350.org recalculated those figures for 186 countries. [3] Social costs of fossil fuels not accounted for by IMF estimates, as calculated by 350.org [4] This 350.org analysis calculates the losses from price spikes using weighted oil and gas price averages for the period, combined with global consumption levels. It does not yet include wider knock-on effects such as inflation, decline in economic outputs and unemployment. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
EWG sues EPA for 7-year inaction on glyphosate in oats, citing risks to children’s health
The Environmental Working Group today filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the Environmental Protection Agency is unlawfully delaying a response to the group’s petition seeking stricter limits in oats on the notorious herbicide glyphosate. The pe...
The Environmental Working Group today filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the Environmental Protection Agency is unlawfully delaying a response to the group’s petition seeking stricter limits in oats on the notorious herbicide glyphosate. The petition also asks for a ban on use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest drying agent. In its suit, EWG urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to compel the EPA to respond to the petition, which has languished at the agency for seven years. EWG argues the agency’s inaction violates federal law, which requires a timely response to petitions. The delay leaves millions of Americans – especially infants and young children – potentially exposed to unsafe levels of the weedkiller in many foods marketed to kids. “The EPA has a clear legal duty to act on this petition, and it has simply refused to do so,” said Caroline Leary, EWG’s general counsel and COO. “This kind of delay has real consequences for families who rely on the agency to ensure children are not exposed to toxic farm chemical residues like glyphosate,” she added. The suit comes ahead of oral arguments in the Supreme Court on April 27 in a case centered on allegations that Monsanto – which sold the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup – failed to warn consumers about the health risks linked to exposure to the product. That case could have sweeping implications for whether farmers and consumers can keep pursuing lawsuits for harms linked to glyphosate, and whether states can require warning labels on glyphosate products. History of EWG’s request EWG first filed its petition in 2018, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, later amending it in 2019. The petition presents scientific evidence that the EPA’s current “tolerances” – or allowable levels – of glyphosate on oats do not adequately protect children’s health. It also calls for an end to the practice of spraying glyphosate shortly before harvest, known as pre-harvest dessication, which greatly increases residue levels in final food products. In 2018, two rounds of EWG-commissioned laboratory tests found widespread glyphosate contamination of oat-based foods. In the first round of tests, glyphosate was detected in nearly all non-organic oat products tested, with most samples exceeding EWG’s health benchmark of 160 parts per billion for children. The second round of tests focused on popular kids’ cereals and found glyphosate in 100% of samples, again with the majority above EWG’s health benchmark. Together the findings point to pervasive low-level exposure in everyday foods and raise concerns about current federal safety standards. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the U.S. and around the world. While commonly applied to control weeds in farm fields, it is also used late in the growing season on crops like oats to accelerate drying before harvest. This practice leaves little time for the chemical to break down, resulting in higher residues in foods such as oat cereals, granola bars and snacks kids often eat. Cancer risk EWG’s petition and supporting data say oat-based foods are a major source of dietary exposure to glyphosate, particularly for infants and toddlers. Because young children eat more food relative to their body weight than adults, they can face disproportionately higher exposure levels. “Parents shouldn’t have to second-guess whether everyday foods like cereal and snack bars are putting their children at risk of cancer,” said EWG President and co-Founder Ken Cook. “The EPA’s silence leaves families in the dark and falls far short of its responsibility to protect public health.” Under the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, the EPA must ensure that pesticide residue limits in food are “safe” – that there’s a reasonable certainty of no harm, with special protections for infants and children. The Administrative Procedure Act also guarantees the public the right to petition the agency and receive a timely, reasoned response. EWG contends that the EPA’s prolonged inaction violates both requirements. The EPA avoiding responsibility EWG further argues that the agency’s delay prevents judicial review of a final decision on the group’s requests, and undermines accountability. By failing to issue a final decision, the agency is falling short of its legal obligations while also blocking courts from evaluating whether those obligations have been satisfied. “This is exactly the kind of situation where courts are meant to step in,” said Leary. “The EPA cannot avoid its responsibilities simply by doing nothing.” EWG’s petition also raises concerns about how current glyphosate tolerance levels were established. The allowable limit for glyphosate on oats has increased dramatically over time, from 0.1 parts per million, or ppm, in the early 1990s, to 30 ppm today. According to the petition, those increases were driven not by new safety data but by efforts to align U.S. standards with international trade standards. At the same time as the EPA has increased the tolerance levels, scientific debate over glyphosate health effects has persisted. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” citing evidence from animal studies and limited human data. While the EPA has reached different conclusions in some assessments, it has acknowledged data gaps and internal disagreements about the chemical’s potential risks. ‘Stop stalling’ EWG’s lawsuit does not ask the court to determine whether glyphosate is safe or unsafe. But it does seek a court order requiring the EPA to respond to the petition by a firm deadline, make the safety determination and explain its reasoning, as the law requires. EWG argues that further delay would continue to expose families to potential risks. More inaction would also deny them transparency and accountability from an agency whose purpose is to protect the public from toxic chemicals like glyphosate. “For seven years, the EPA has left this critical issue unresolved,” Cook said. “It’s time for the agency to stop stalling and do its job.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
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April’s Beige Book Reveals Trump’s War in Iran Is Devastating Economy At Home
The Federal Reserve released its April 2026 Beige Book, which provides economic commentary from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. In this month’s report, the first since the start of Trump’s war in Iran, regional contacts reported painful pric...
The Federal Reserve released its April 2026 Beige Book, which provides economic commentary from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. In this month’s report, the first since the start of Trump’s war in Iran, regional contacts reported painful price increases tied directly to the conflict, sustained consumer strain, and instability in the labor market. Groundwork’s Chief of Policy and Advocacy, Alex Jacquez, offered his reaction: “The Fed last week confirmed what working families already know to be true. Trump’s illegal war in Iran is driving up prices and squeezing wallets across the country, while businesses struggle to keep up with market instability. The Beige Book’s message couldn’t be clearer – as long as the president continues on this destructive path, workers and consumers will pay the price.” Background: The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book contains critical economic indicators, including the risk of recession. It is compiled with firsthand reports from contacts at businesses, banks, and community organizations across each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts to report regional economic conditions. April’s Beige Book reveals the following. Trump’s war in Iran is directly responsible for driving up prices across the economy. Increased input costs for producers and tightened oil supply ballooned prices on everything from fertilizer to plastic products. Volunteers may have to cut back on delivering meals to homebound seniors due to exorbitant gas prices, according to a contact in Dallas. Business leaders in Atlanta admitted that should the war in Iran continue, they’ll be forced to reevaluate their pricing. Contacts at Richmond ports forecast that the longer Trump pursues the war in Iran, the greater impact the conflict will have across supply chains. Businesses are holding off on long-term hiring, instead turning to temporary and contract workers, according to a temporary employment agency in Chicago that has seen a surge in demand amidst the uncertainty, as well as contacts in Cleveland and Boston. A Chicago manufacturer said they have instituted a hiring freeze in anticipation of higher input costs related to the Iran war. Energy costs are hitting everyone, everywhere. Higher freight and shipping costs hit producers and families face budget-shattering utility bills. In Cleveland, contacts reported that their fuel costs are ‘skyrocketing,’ and attributed the spike directly to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Atlanta energy contacts anticipate that crude oil prices will remain elevated or increase further into the summer due to infrastructure destruction in the Middle East. In New York, a contact reported that Trump’s war is pushing up utility prices for working and middle class families. Low-income households are struggling while high earners pull away. The K-shaped economy is on display as high earners splurge and working families scrimp. A Kansas City report says that working families’ budgets don’t stand a chance against low wages, tariff fallout, and elevated inflation. Food bank lines are getting longer thanks to price increases at the grocery store and an uncertain economic outlook in the wake of the Trump administration’s attacks on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to contacts in Dallas and Atlanta. In St. Louis, a contact noted that increased overdraft fees reflect that budgets are strained and working families have been forced to make difficult choices to reduce discretionary spending. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 21, 2026
Photojournalist shoved by DHS agent while covering LA protest
Photojournalist Jill Connelly was forcefully pushed and almost knocked over by a federal agent while taking a photo at a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA...
Photojournalist Jill Connelly was forcefully pushed and almost knocked over by a federal agent while taking a photo at a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, one of thousands across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies. After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city in June 2025. Connelly, who was on assignment for The Associated Press, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was photographing Department of Homeland Security agents on top of a protester when one agent shoved her and tried to knock her down. “A few of them were saying, ‘Back up, back up.’ But this one guy ran up to me, and with all his weight, tried to knock me down while I was taking pictures,” she said. She was wearing a helmet that said “press” on the front and back, and a clearly visible LA Police Department press credential around her neck. Connelly said that later that evening, she was pushed by an LAPD officer who was moving people away from the protest, and was among a group of press who were forced far back from a group of demonstrators and journalists that police had kettled in an area near the detention center. DHS did not respond to a request for comment. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Amnesty slams Netanyahu, Putin, Trump as ‘voracious predators’
By Anealla Safdar in London The heads of Israel, Russia and the United States are leading the destruction of global human rights, says Amnesty International, describing them as “voracious predators” intent upon economic and political domination. “A global environment where primitive ferocity could flourish has been long in the making,” Agnes Callamard, the head of
By Anealla Safdar in London The heads of Israel, Russia and the United States are leading the destruction of global human rights, says Amnesty International, describing them as “voracious predators” intent upon economic and political domination. “A global environment where primitive ferocity could flourish has been long in the making,” Agnes Callamard, the head of the global rights group, wrote in an annual report on the state of the world’s human rights that was released yesterday. In 2025, “sharp U-turns were taken away from the international order that had been imagined out of the ashes of the Holocaust and the utter destruction of world wars, and constructed slowly and painfully, albeit insufficiently, over these past 80 years,” she said. READ MORE: The State of the World’s Human Rights: April 2026 Other US-Israel war on Iran reports In a news conference in London, Callamard said that most governments tended to appease the “predators” rather than confront them. “Some even thought to imitate the bullies and the looters,” she said. Spain, however, which is an outlier in Europe for its criticism of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and US-Israeli attacks on Iran, “is standing above the double standard that is destroying the international system”, Callamard said. She argued that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who in 2022 sent his forces into neighbouring Ukraine, have had an “absolutely dramatic” impact on the world. Their conduct is “emboldening all of those that are tempted by similar behaviours,” said Callamard. “It is allowing for the multiplication of copycats around the world, and therefore what we are confronting now is much more aggressive and ferocious than what we had to confront three or four years ago.” Amnesty shocking report – Global rights collapse Video: Al Jazeera ‘Authoritarian practices have intensified worldwide’ Amnesty’s review of the state of the world’s human rights makes for grim reading, documenting attacks on fundamental civil liberties in most nations. “Authoritarian practices have intensified worldwide”, the report reads, before running through abuses alleged in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe in 400 pages. Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Russia’s “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine, and the US-Israeli war on Iran were noted as examples of conflict in which international laws have been ignored. In a section on repression, the United Kingdom is blamed for cracking down on the Palestine solidarity movement and Palestine Action, the direct-action group that targets sites associated with the Israeli military and is currently fighting a legal battle against its UK proscription as a “terrorist” organisation. Afghanistan’s Taliban was responsible for further gender-based discrimination in 2025, the report noted, citing measures excluding women from education and work, while Nepalese authorities were said to have failed to investigate instances of gender-based violence against Dalit women. Amnesty’s report comes as multiple conflicts rage across the world. US-Israeli assault on Iran The US-Israeli assault on Iran has killed more than 3000 people, while Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed nearly 2400. In Gaza, the confirmed number of people killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023 has surpassed 72,500 as the decimated territory is continually threatened by Israeli bombardment. In Ukraine, more than 15,000 have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than four years ago. Conflicts in the Middle East are a “product of the descent into lawlessness, made possible by a vision of the world in which war-making and the killings of civilians are normalised,” said Callamard. “No effective steps have been taken against Israel for its repeated, constant violation of basic standards of humanity.” However, there is some room for optimism, Amnesty said. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Police fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets at hundreds of animal rights activists in Wisconsin on Saturday as they attempted to rescue about 2,000 dogs from a facility that breeds beagles for medical experimentation. The crackdown ...
Police fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets at hundreds of animal rights activists in Wisconsin on Saturday as they attempted to rescue about 2,000 dogs from a facility that breeds beagles for medical experimentation. The crackdown by Dane County sheriff’s deputies left scores of activists injured; 25 people were arrested. Protesters were attempting to enter a property owned by Ridglan Farms, which agreed last fall to surrender its state breeding license and stop selling dogs to other laboratories by July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on animal mistreatment charges. A state judge found Ridglan Farms likely broke Wisconsin animal cruelty laws by housing beagles in brutal conditions, performing surgeries without anesthesia, and leaving wounds untreated, along with other violations. The protesters who participated in Saturday’s action were “teachers, veterinarians, students, software engineers,” says Rebekah Robinson, a Wisconsin resident and longtime animal rights activist who was arrested during the action. “These were ordinary citizens who were trying to help these Ridglan dogs, to go in and take them to safety, get them the veterinary care that they needed. And what we were met with was overwhelming police brutality.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
In cities across the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis, residents have taken to the streets to oppose the militarized immigration sweeps, enforcement tactics and violence of ICE and Border Patrol under President Trump’s...
In cities across the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis, residents have taken to the streets to oppose the militarized immigration sweeps, enforcement tactics and violence of ICE and Border Patrol under President Trump’s second term. A new ProPublica and Frontline investigation looks at law enforcement’s heavy-handed response to these protests, resulting in legally dubious charges that later unravel. “The Department of Justice was labeling the people who were in the streets as domestic terrorists, as agitators, as extremists. They were rounding them up in large numbers,” says A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter with ProPublica and correspondent for PBS’s Frontline documentary series. “So, we looked at 300 arrests in these various cities and found that more than a third of them had collapsed.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
As the Trump administration continues to rapidly expand its immigration jail system across the United States, we look at the rising death toll of people in ICE custody, the highest in over two decades. The causes of the deaths have varied, but...
As the Trump administration continues to rapidly expand its immigration jail system across the United States, we look at the rising death toll of people in ICE custody, the highest in over two decades. The causes of the deaths have varied, but they include at least one homicide. At least 17 people have died in ICE custody since January. “I have never seen anything like this, where I’m seeing ICE reporting out at least one death per week,” says Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network. “People are reaching the point of emergency for issues that could easily be dealt with if proper medical care was given.” Ghandehari notes the rising opposition to the Department of Homeland Security’s conversion of “former industrial warehouses” into ICE jails. “It’s been really inspiring to see people across the country standing up in solidarity with their immigrant neighbors and saying, 'We don't want these types of facilities in our communities,’” says Ghandehari. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Confusion Reigns Over U.S.-Iran Talks as Trump Says a Ceasefire Extension Is “Highly Unlikely”, Military Veterans and Family Members Arrested in Capitol Hill Protest Against Iran War, Lebanese and Israeli Diplomats Prepare for Second Round of Talks as Lebanon Buries Its Dead, Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in Gaza, Reestablishes Evacuated West Bank Settlement, Amnesty International Blasts “Predatory World Order” of Netanyahu, Putin and Trump, Japan Abandons Ban on Weapons Exports in Latest Shift from Postwar Pacifism, Cuba Confirms Meeting with Senior U.S. Officials for the First Time Since 2016, ICE Reports 17 Immigrants Have Died in Custody, Justice Department Demands Wayne County, Michigan, Turn Over 2024 Ballots, FBI Director Kash Patel Files $250 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Atlantic Magazine, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer Steps Down Amid Misconduct Probe, Wired: Facial Recognition Technology Used to Monitor Sports Fans at Madison Square Garden, Delegates Arrive in NYC for United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Six Women Win Goldman Environmental Prize, Widely Known as the “Green Nobel”
Confusion Reigns Over U.S.-Iran Talks as Trump Says a Ceasefire Extension Is "Highly Unlikely" Military Veterans and Family Members Arrested in Capitol Hill Protest Against Iran War Lebanese and Israeli Diplomats Prepare for Second Round of Talks as Lebanon Buries Its Dead Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in Gaza, Reestablishes Evacuated West Bank Settlement Amnesty International Blasts "Predatory World Order" of Netanyahu, Putin and Trump Japan Abandons Ban on Weapons Exports in Latest Shift from Postwar Pacifism Cuba Confirms Meeting with Senior U.S. Officials for the First Time Since 2016 ICE Reports 17 Immigrants Have Died in Custody Justice Department Demands Wayne County, Michigan, Turn Over 2024 Ballots FBI Director Kash Patel Files $250 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Atlantic Magazine Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer Steps Down Amid Misconduct Probe Wired: Facial Recognition Technology Used to Monitor Sports Fans at Madison Square Garden Delegates Arrive in NYC for United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Six Women Win Goldman Environmental Prize, Widely Known as the "Green Nobel" This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Tuesday, April 21, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
In Donetsk, Ukrainian Drone Pilots Target Russians On Horseback | Ukraine Front Line Update
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The Counterterrorism Czar Without a Counterterrorism Plan
The post The Counterterrorism Czar Without a Counterterrorism Plan appeared first on ProPublica.
Photo illustration by Geoff Kim for ProPublica. Source images: Bloomberg, Kevin Carter, Flavio Coelho, Frank Rossoto Stocktrek, FPG/Getty Images. March unfolded like a stress test for U.S. counterterrorism authorities. The month opened with a gunman in an Iranian-flag shirt killing three people at a bar in Texas. Then, an attack with homemade explosives outside the mayor’s mansion in New York City. Next came a deadly shooting March 12 on a Virginia college campus and, the same afternoon, a car-ramming at a Michigan synagogue. Days later, agents arrested a man charged with threatening a mass shooting at an Ohio mosque. To current and former national security officials, these were omens, signs of the dangers they predicted last year when President Donald Trump began redirecting counterterrorism resources toward his mass deportation campaign. They had warned of a diminished ability to respond should major global events inflame threats at home and abroad. Now, they say, the war in Iran has locked the Trump administration into a showdown with a sophisticated state sponsor of terrorism at a time when U.S. security agencies have hemorrhaged expertise and leadership is in flux. The urgency of the moment has trained a spotlight on Sebastian Gorka, the White House counterterrorism adviser tasked with drafting a blueprint for fighting homegrown and international threats. Nearly a year ago, Gorka declared a national counterterrorism strategy “imminent.” By July, he was “on the cusp” of unveiling the plan — a phrase he repeated three months later in October. And again in January. To date, no strategy has appeared, and no explanation for the delay. When it is finally released, current and former counterterrorism personnel say, they expect a document rooted in politics rather than intelligence, with little detail on how to combat threats after a year of deep cuts across national security agencies. “Strategies are only worth the amount of resources you put into them,” said a former senior official who served in the first Trump administration. “We’re entering very dangerous territory.” The shifting promises are unsurprising to colleagues familiar with the brash, quick-tempered Gorka, a gate crasher in Washington’s buttoned-up defense establishment. His threats and boasts are laced with grandiose language and delivered in a booming, British-accented voice. ProPublica interviewed more than two dozen national security specialists across party lines to trace Gorka’s path to one of the most sensitive jobs in government. Nearly all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the Trump administration’s record of retaliation. His ascent, they said, tells the story of a startling transformation of the U.S. counterterrorism agenda in Trump’s second term. Eye-rolling over Gorka’s bombast has given way to anxiety about the administration’s preparedness to identify and stop major plots. In the first Trump administration, Gorka lasted just seven months before being forced out by the “adults in the room,” as some staffers referred to the more moderate gatekeepers then around the president. In that brief stint, he reportedly struggled to obtain security clearance and faced an outcry over ties — which he denies — to a far-right group in Hungary. After the exit, he hosted a right-wing podcast and popped up in ads selling fish-oil pills for pain relief. Then his fortunes changed again with the 2024 election that swept Trump back to power, this time with a more conspiratorially minded wing of the Make America Great Again movement. Gorka’s loyalty paid off with a phoenixlike return to the White House in a role sometimes called “counterterrorism czar.” “I’ve been waiting 25 years for this job,” he confided on his podcast before taking office. The first year of Trump’s second term was so frenzied that even the colorful Gorka faded into the background as the administration dismantled federal agencies and created a secretive, sometimes deadly immigration force. Now, however, the counterterrorism director’s role is coming back to light as hostilities roil the Middle East and heighten the risk of attacks in the United States or against American interests or allies overseas. Days before U.S. military operations began in Iran, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen personnel from a counterintelligence unit that monitored threats from Iran, CNN reported — part of a wider purge of some 300 agents specializing in counterterrorism. Former officials said the sudden loss of that many colleagues is devastating to the sensitive, granular work of preventing attacks. “I don’t think about it in raw numbers. I think about it in the wealth of expertise and knowledge that has been cut across all levels,” a former senior Justice Department official said. “What you lose is that nuance — with a smaller team, you can only go so deep.” An FBI spokesperson said the bureau does not comment on personnel numbers but that agents are “working around the clock” and had disrupted four alleged U.S.-based terrorist plots in December alone. “The FBI continuously assesses and realigns our resources to ensure the safety of the American people,” the statement said. ProPublica sought an interview with Gorka directly and via the White House. He did not respond to a detailed list of questions but assailed the requests in two posts on X, where he has 1.8 million followers. The first was a “no,” along with insults, addressed to several journalists who had asked him to comment on the strategy. In the second post, directed at ProPublica, Gorka accused the reporter of writing a “putrid piece of hackery.” “If the criticism is we’re killing too many Jihadis (759) since 20th January 2024, or rescuing more US hostages in 12 months (106) than Biden did in 4 years, I stand by our historic wins for AMERICA First,” Gorka wrote, with an apparent typo. Trump took office in January 2025. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in an email that the restructuring of agencies “has made the entire foreign policy apparatus even more responsive to potential threats” and praised Gorka for “an incredible job” leading interagency talks. “Anyone attempting to smear him and the President’s national security team is only revealing that they haven’t been paying attention for the past year,” Kelly wrote, “as anyone with eyes can see that our homeland is more secure than ever.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="At the State Department, two men in suits stand behind a golden rope separating them from a crowd of people observing something off camera." class="wp-image-74847" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2265148787_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and counterterrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka Photo by Brendan Smialowski/ AFP/Getty Images Inattention “Can Be Deadly” Gorka has emerged as one of the last men standing after a tumultuous stretch for U.S. counterterrorism leadership. His original boss, national security adviser Mike Waltz, was booted to the United Nations after the Signalgate scandal, leaving the role to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was already juggling portfolios and is busier now with Iran. Another blow came when Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned last month in protest of the war in Iran, which he said was pushing the United States “further toward decline and chaos.” Gorka was livid. He told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that he called Kent the day of his resignation and left a message calling him an “utter disgrace” for criticizing the president in wartime. “At the end of my voicemail,” Gorka recounted, “I said, ‘Good riddance to you, Joe.’” Within days, Gorka was angling for Kent’s old job at the counterterrorism center, the government’s hub for analyzing terrorist threats, The Washington Post reported. Colleagues said they weren’t surprised — the role brings more power — but added that Gorka would likely face a tough Senate confirmation process if nominated. The leadership disarray compounds the risks of hollowed-out counterterrorism operations, say national security analysts. At a time when hundreds of personnel typically would’ve been assigned to thwarting attacks amid international conflict, the administration “has gutted this capacity through firings, forced resignations, and slashed budgets,” a panel of national security analysts wrote in the journal Lawfare. The Justice Department acknowledged in budget proposal documents that its National Security Division is facing “unprecedented personnel constraints,” struggling to keep up with increasing caseloads and a 40% drop in the number of prosecutors. At the State Department, former officials said, Iran specialists at the counterterrorism bureau were dispersed to regional offices where counterterrorism is one of many priorities. The entire team focused on threat prevention was eliminated. As a senior official who recently left put it, “They keep saying we can do it all even though they have half an arm now, and no legs.” Since the Iran war started, officials say, some counterterrorism specialists who had been reassigned to immigration have returned to their old roles, creating a whiplash that can disrupt investigations and analysis. “If you’ve dropped all the cases and have taken people off the target set for an extended period of time, you can’t just drop back in and pick up where you left off,” said Ben Connable, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who leads the nonprofit Battle Research Group. “The men and women who are back on that portfolio are going to have to play catch-up, and that conveys risk.” The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t published any national terrorism advisory bulletins, periodic updates to alert the public to the current threat level, since September. It has not released the annual Homeland Threat Assessment since Trump returned to office, according to Colin Clarke, executive director of the security-focused Soufan Center, and fellow terrorism scholar Jacob Ware. A DHS spokesperson said updates on the documents “will be provided following the end of the Democrat DHS shutdown.” Gorka’s long-awaited strategy, Clarke and Ware said in an op-ed, could help clarify White House thinking on how to handle threats when “defenses are divided, disorganized and under-resourced.” “This is the moment for the Trump administration to demonstrate that it recognizes the stakes,” the researchers wrote. “In counterterrorism, inattention can be deadly.” Winding Path to White House Gorka’s path to the White House began in the cottage industry of self-styled terrorism experts that sprang up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He became a regular on a training circuit where speakers received lucrative contracts from international governments and law enforcement agencies to teach about the threat of militant Islamist movements. Many trainers of that era maligned Islam and backed policies that violated the rights of ordinary American Muslims in the name of counterterrorism, according to civil liberties watchdogs. “For him, counterterrorism is kinetic and it’s against one type of enemy: the jihadist enemy,” said an associate who has known Gorka for two decades. Born in the United Kingdom to Hungarian parents, he attended college in London and served as a reserve intelligence soldier in the British military. He later spent time in Hungary, dabbling in nationalist politics and earning a doctorate degree. In 2008, Gorka moved to the United States with his American wife, also a counterterrorism specialist, and eventually became a naturalized citizen — “a legal immigrant,” as he is introduced at events. As an instructor at think tanks and military institutes, he pushed an image of Muslims as inherently violent, according to current and former colleagues. They say his fixation on Islamist militancy crosses into a more generalized bigotry, a claim Gorka has dismissed as “absurd.” He insists that his focus is “the war inside Islam” between radicals and Western-aligned Muslim leaders. “We want to see our friends win that war,” he has said. A former senior Justice Department official recalled an FBI agent lobbying hard to get Gorka hired as a counterterrorism trainer several years ago. The official “didn’t feel comfortable clearing him in on my credentials” for an office visit so instead drove over an hour to watch a lecture. Gorka’s talk was “reductionist” in its portrayals of Islam as locked in a civilizational war with the West, the former official recalled. Immediately after the event, the official advised against hiring Gorka because his teachings potentially violated department principles against bias in training. “I came back and said to the U.S. attorneys, ‘Let’s be careful here,’” the former official said. “They put a flag.” Concerns about Gorka’s approach flared again when he joined the first Trump administration through the MAGA strategist Steve Bannon. Gorka, who had worked at Bannon’s right-wing Breitbart outlet, was appointed to the Strategic Initiatives Group, an in-house think tank at the White House. The appointment prompted 55 House Democrats to demand his firing in a letter calling his association with far-right groups “deeply troubling.” They focused on the Hungarian nationalist group Vitézi Rend, whose medal Gorka wore on a military tunic to Trump’s inaugural events. Gorka has denied belonging to the organization, which had Nazi ties during World War II, and said the medal honors his father’s escape from communism. Gorka’s qualifications for the job also came under scrutiny. Critics dug out and posted his dissertation, which was pilloried by other academics for a simplistic chart that placed terrorism on a spectrum somewhere between “peacekeeping” and “thermonuclear war.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1128" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A close-up image of a man in glasses with a beard. He is wearing a suit and tie, headphones and an American flag pin. His hand is gesturing as he speaks." class="wp-image-74848" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15016470_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Gorka at the Values Voter Summit in 2017 Mark Peterson/Redux He eventually was ousted in August 2017, days after Bannon, in an internal power struggle. In his resignation letter, Gorka blamed his departure on the idea that “forces that do not support the MAGA promise are — for now — ascendant within the White House.” Reporters spotted him outside loading his belongings into the back of a Mustang convertible with vanity plates “ART WAR.” Dream Job Gorka’s comeback symbolizes the hard-right swing of Trump’s second term. Even some prominent conservatives were shocked by Gorka’s return. Michael Anton, who also served in the last Trump administration, reportedly withdrew from consideration for a senior national security role rather than work alongside him. The jabs don’t seem to faze Gorka, who tells a story of standing outside the White House in January 2025, ready to swipe his badge the moment it was activated after Trump’s swearing-in. He has referred to his role as a dream job. “I pinch myself every single day,” Gorka told the “Triggernometry” podcast. The counterterrorism director’s responsibilities include coordinating policy for external threats as well as leading efforts to free wrongfully detained Americans around the globe. Gorka can be remarkably candid and mercurial for a senior official with such a sensitive remit, according to hours of his public remarks reviewed by ProPublica. He has exploded at journalists (“Go to hell!”) and cut off interviews when he didn’t like the questioning (“We’re done!”). He repeats anti-immigrant tropes and boasts that “Judeo-Christian civilization is the ultimate form of human existence.” He has urged Christians and Jews to buy guns to defend themselves “on the front line of the war between civilization and barbarity.” Gorka’s public remarks also offer behind-the-scenes glimpses of working for a boss he calls “the most consequential American president” of modern times. At one event, he pulled out his phone to let the audience hear his ringtone: Trump delivering his classic “tired of winning” line. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A man in a suit yells toward another man. They are surrounded by press and photographers with cameras." class="wp-image-74849" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1166043226_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Sebastian Gorka, then host of Salem Radio Network’s “America First” program, argues with Playboy’s White House reporter, Brian Karem, after President Donald Trump delivered remarks on citizenship and the census in the Rose Garden in 2019. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images Gorka has said his workday begins with a drive to the White House while listening to his favorite podcast, hosted by pro-Trump military historian Victor Davis Hanson. Upon arrival, he has to turn in his cellphone before spending up to 12 hours a day in “my SCIF,” the acronym for the secure chambers where senior officials discuss classified matters. On Thursdays, he convenes an interagency discussion of the latest threats. He name drops “Marco,” “Kash” and other friends in senior roles: “They ask me as I bump into them in the West Wing: ‘Have you killed more jihadis today?’” In his office, Gorka keeps a globe on his desk and a large poster of the Twin Towers on the wall, an ever-present reminder of 9/11. His team’s custom lanyards are printed with “WWFY & WWKY” in honor of a Trump line: “We will find you and we will kill you.” Cloud of “Red Mist” On Gorka’s watch, targeted militants don’t simply die. They are “human filth” who are “obliterated,” he tells audiences, describing bodies stacked “like cordwood” after receiving “eternal justice” from the Trump administration’s “hammers of hell.” Before the Iran conflict, Gorka was focused on a revival of the “war on terror” in parts of Africa and the Middle East. He claims U.S. strikes have killed more than 750 militants he has described as “leading jihadis” with “American blood on their hands or who were plotting attacks against Americans.” “If we know where you are, anywhere in the world, we can kill you within 72 hours if the president says so,” he boasted last spring. In the example Gorka shares most often, he briefed the president on a militant recruiter in Somalia who had been under surveillance for over a year during President Joe Biden’s administration. On the spot, he said, Trump ordered the fighter killed. Around 30 hours later, on Feb. 1, 2025, Gorka says, he watched live from the White House Situation Room as a U.S. strike vaporized the fighter into “a cloud of red mist,” a description he has repeated at least half a dozen times. He sometimes screens declassified video of the militant being blown to pieces, as several State Department staffers found out when they watched him speak last year. Unsettled, they tried to rush out after the event but were corralled to flank Gorka in a photo op. “I look like a hostage,” one person in the picture said. The staffers — since pushed out of government by cuts — said they had expected Gorka’s bravado but were horrified by his glee over what they described as a “snuff film.” Many other personnel expressed similar concerns that issues requiring level-headed professionalism were entrusted to someone they regarded as a volatile ideologue openly preaching bloodlust. “He’s trying to show off” to the president, one longtime counterterrorism official said. “‘I nuked another 100 jihadis — pay attention to me.’” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A man wearing a suit is speaking behind a lectern in front of a large American flag. His arms are open in a T shape as he addresses the crowd." class="wp-image-74850" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/h_15749760_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Gorka speaking at the Rod of Iron Freedom Festival in 2022 Mark Peterson/Redux Gorka’s claims of battlefield victories are often exaggerated or misleading about who was targeted and why, according to security officials and counterterrorism analysts. They say there are fewer than 10 “leading” Islamist militants in the world, and the idea of killing hundreds is absurd. The White House did not address a question about whether the numbers are inflated. “It’s the word ‘leading’ that gets me,” said Clarke, of the Soufan Center. “I have no doubt they’re killing people, but they’re probably foot soldiers.” Reports of civilian casualties from U.S. operations also muddy the death tolls, especially in Somalia and Yemen. But the Trump administration has shown little interest in investigating; it gutted a Pentagon office tasked with addressing civilian harm. Take the “red mist” strike, for example. It targeted Ahmed Maeleninine, an Islamic State group recruiter who was hiding out in a cave complex in Somalia. Gorka said the Biden administration had surveilled Maeleninine for more than a year without striking. That’s true, said one former counterterrorism official with direct knowledge of the intelligence involved, but there was more to the story. “He left out the part about the women and children,” said the official, who recently left government. “I knew the reason we hadn’t gone after him before was because he had his wife and children around him 24/7. Now, maybe they got lucky and found one time where they got a clear strike.” U.S. Africa Command, which oversees the military’s Somalia operations, said in announcing the February 2025 strike that “approximately 14 ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed.” New Urgency Gorka’s formal title is deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council. The role was upgraded from “special assistant” in recent years, though officials say the powers of the office have weakened since the days of early counterterrorism czars like Richard Clarke, who served under three presidents and revealed that senior leaders had ignored repeated warnings about al-Qaida before the 9/11 attacks. Christopher Costa, a retired Army intelligence officer who spent a year in the same job under the first Trump administration, described the role as “the convening authority for all things counterterrorism for the president of the United States.” “It was rolling up your sleeves,” Costa recalled. “It was more than just policy work — it was mitigating current threats.” Iranian threats against U.S. targets have brought renewed attention to the lack of a Trump counterterrorism doctrine. Gorka has been tight-lipped about the contents of his strategy. Officials who typically would’ve been involved in interagency discussions say they haven’t been consulted. One person briefed on a working draft summed it up as “Sunnis. Shiites. Cartels.” Others said they expected the addition of far-left antifascist militants, a tiny subset of the extremist threat that receives disproportionate attention from the Trump administration. Gorka told another colleague he was writing the document himself, without traditional input from partner federal agencies. “There was no ‘U.S. government strategy’ involved,” the colleague said. “It might as well have been a new book he was writing.” At his recent Council on Foreign Relations appearance, Gorka was asked — again — when the strategy would be released. He glanced at his staff and shifted in his seat. He confided that he had “put my life’s work into this massive document” but had received feedback in recent days to “Cut it down, Gorka!” He said he would make trims and send the draft back to senior aides in hopes of getting a presidential signoff. “Keep your fingers crossed,” Gorka told the audience. The post The Counterterrorism Czar Without a Counterterrorism Plan appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Hannah Allam.
How deep-red Utah helped launch a portable plug-in solar movement
Since Utah passed a law last year, 30 more states and the District of Columbia have drafted similar bills.
Utah state Representative Raymond Ward was reading a story in The New York Times about a growing trend in Europe, and it sparked an idea to make energy more affordable and portable at home. Plug-in solar panels — sometimes called “balcony solar” — allow people to generate electricity by plugging panels directly into a standard outlet and help cut down on utility bills, without the need for expensive rooftop installations. The relatively cheap technology has taken off in parts of Europe, and a recent Utah law sponsored by Ward has spurred interest across the U.S. Utah lawmakers passed HB 340 last year with bipartisan and unanimous support, becoming the first state to allow residents to plug solar systems directly into residential outlets. “It’s great for anyone who wants a little solar power but does not want to pay $30,000 for a roof install,” said Ward, a Republican. Ward learned about plug-in solar panels after reading about their popularity in Germany. Balcony panels there added 10 percent more solar capacity to the grid in just a few months, The New York Times reported, just as Russia’s war with Ukraine was draining energy supplies. Since Ward’s bill passed last year, 30 more states plus the District of Columbia have drafted similar bills, according to information tracked by the plug-in solar lobbying group Bright Saver. “Thank you, Utah,” said Cora Stryker, a co-founder of the California-based nonprofit. “It’s a common-sense, no-brainer thing that should keep sweeping the country.” Maine’s governor signed a similar bill earlier this month. Virginia’s plug-in solar bill currently sits on the governor’s desk awaiting a signature. Colorado and Maryland have legislation approved by both chambers of their statehouses. Bills in Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Vermont have passed in one chamber so far. Despite that momentum, U.S. residents still can’t buy plug-in panels from the same big box stores that sell other consumer electronic appliances, like hair dryers, washing machines, or toasters. That’s because Utah and other states also need rules and regulations for the panels, because while they sound simple, they flip the way the electrical utility system works on its head. Residential households are only designed to pull power off the grid, through wires to outlets, and into plugged-in devices. Balcony solar does the opposite by creating power and pushing it backward into the outlet and “upstream” through a home’s wires, Ward explained. “Utilities tend, in general, not to want anybody else to make power,” he said. Power providers also have concerns about safety, the lawmaker said. If line workers are trying to repair an electrical line they think is switched off, for example, but a condo’s solar panels are still pushing electricity through that line, it could put those employees in danger of getting electrocuted. To Ward, those problems were solvable. “The electricity is the same over [in Europe] as it is over here,” he said. “All the same rules of physics work and have proved to be safe.” But U.S. residents can’t smuggle balcony solar systems over in a suitcase from Europe, because North America uses different plugs and voltages. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=711&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2222922062.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="An apartment building with solar panels attached to a balcony" data-caption="Solar panels attached to a balcony in Berlin, Germany. " data-credit="Alexandra Schuler / picture alliance via Getty Images"/> Solar panels attached to a balcony in Berlin, Germany. Alexandra Schuler / picture alliance via Getty Images Ward collaborated with Utah’s largest electricity provider, Rocky Mountain Power, to craft language for his bill so that the plug-in movement in Utah can be homegrown. A spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power noted the utility took no position on Ward’s bill. “We remain concerned that some products entering the market may not meet the requirements of the bill,” the spokesperson wrote in an email, “potentially creating electrical hazards for utility workers.” The legislation removes liability for utilities, and owners of plug-in panels can’t ask for payments for the electricity they send back to the grid. It also requires a company called Underwriters Laboratories, often shortened to UL Systems, to develop safety certification for plug-in panels. UL develops all kinds of safety standards for consumer products, building materials, and other goods. But Utah’s legislation marked the first time they were asked to test plug-in panels, and the company got to work over the summer. Kenneth Boyce, vice president of engineering for UL said he was surprised to see his company named in Utah’s legislation. “But we take it very seriously,” Boyce said. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Microinverter-Solar-Panels-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Portable solar panels and an invertor system, seen here installed on an apartment balcony, are now possible for Utah residents, and states across the country are following suit. " data-credit="Courtesy of EcoFlow"/> Portable solar panels and an invertor system, seen here installed on an apartment balcony, are now possible for Utah residents, and states across the country are following suit. Courtesy of EcoFlow The company issued a white paper in November outlining potential hazards with the panel systems themselves as well as how they might interact with a typical home’s wiring. From there, it developed product-level requirements that will allow the UL mark to appear on certified products. “We’re … making sure we keep (consumers) safe while they get the benefits of participating in the energy transition,” Boyce said. “We can do both.” Underwriters Laboratories’ researchers tested ways to ensure that plug-in panels don’t make circuit breakers explode, or that GFCI plugs that are supposed to trip and switch off — commonly found in bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoors — don’t fry and malfunction without the residents’ knowledge. No plug-in systems have been certified by UL to date, Boyce said. “We expect that will change soon,” he said, noting he’s heard from multiple manufacturers. He expects the UL stamp to appear on U.S. panels in “months, maybe even weeks.” Some inventive individuals, including the popular Utah YouTuber JerryRigEverything, have cobbled together their own plug-in systems. They use components that are individually UL certified, like panels, cords, and inverters. But all the components combined into a balcony system haven’t been tested and green-lit for safety, Boyce cautioned. For those willing to take the risk, a global company called EcoFlow is one of the most popular online retailers for plug-in panels in the U.S. They’re currently in conversations with UL about how to certify their product, according to Ryan Oliver, a spokesperson for EcoFlow. They’ve sold portable solar systems for about four years in Europe “where they’re very popular,” he said. An inverter, which brings electricity from the solar panels into the home and shuts down generation to ensure safety, currently costs about $300 on EcoFlow’s website. A system that includes a battery to store solar energy costs $1,200. And compatible solar panels run between $250 to $1,000, depending on the size of the array. “It’s consistent with Utah’s values of wanting to supply your own energy, and letting people make their own decisions around meeting their needs,” said Josh Craft, director of government relations and public affairs for Utah Clean Energy. Craft said he’s experimenting with his own plug-in system at home donated by EcoFlow. “It works. It’s fun,” he said. “I have foldable panels set up on my patio roof.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/260320_BALCONYSOLAR.03XX26_1070_bb.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Josh Craft, the Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs for Utah Clean Energy, shows the outdoor plug that connects his solar panels to his home in Salt Lake City. " data-credit="Bethany Baker / The Salt Lake Tribune"/> Josh Craft, the Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs for Utah Clean Energy, shows the outdoor plug that connects his solar panels to his home in Salt Lake City. Bethany Baker / The Salt Lake Tribune The panels could also amp up an entirely new market for clean energy. Their surge in popularity comes at a time when the Trump administration is slashing subsidies for wind and solar projects, even as energy bills are expected to spike due to demands from data centers and artificial intelligence, Craft noted. Utah code resulting from Ward’s bill caps power output from plug-in systems at 1,200 watts, which means they won’t offset all the electrical use from a typical household. On his YouTube channel, JerryRigEverything reported that his array saves about a dollar a day on his electricity bill. Craft figures his system, which is combined with a battery, cuts down his power bill by about 10 percent, but he hasn’t tested it while running an air conditioner. In just the last few weeks, Ward said he’s had conversations with lawmakers in Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, and Colorado about how to facilitate plug-in solar in their states. With Maine adopting a similar policy and several other states close behind, Utah’s experiment is already spreading. “Heck yeah,” Ward said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How deep-red Utah helped launch a portable plug-in solar movement on Apr 21, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Leia Larsen.
The Green New Deal has evolved. Now it’s all about ‘affordability.’
A new "working-class climate agenda" seeks to provide economic relief and tackle global warming at the same time.
Eight years ago, three little words took hold of the environmental movement: Green New Deal. Part popular slogan, part political philosophy, the phrase described a sweeping agenda to create jobs, advance social justice, and combat climate change through major public investment inspired by the New Deal of the 1930s. The term made its way from hats and protest signs to the halls of power, where it shaped local and national policy. Progressives even pressured future president Joe Biden to adopt plans to address the crisis in the lead-up to the 2020 election. Congress eventually whittled his ambitions down to the Inflation Reduction Act, a package of green tax credits and incentives that became the nation’s first comprehensive climate policy. That is, until Republicans dismantled the law last year. Under President Donald Trump, the national policy wins Democrats had scored by leveraging the Green New Deal’s momentum all but vanished. The party was left soul-searching, wondering how it should talk about climate change, or if those calling for solutions should even talk about it at all. Progressives seem to have settled on an answer: Make everything about affordability. A new climate agenda released Wednesday by the Climate and Community Institute, a left-leaning think tank, aims to lower costs for everyday people through home insurance rate caps, bans on utility shutoffs, and other measures. It promotes “green economic populism,” a framework to provide relief for the working class through policies that also happen to cut carbon emissions (such as free transit or a moratorium on data centers), while regulating the corporations contributing to climate change and the cost-of-living crisis. The architects of the so-called “working-class climate agenda” say they’ve learned lessons from the Green New Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act: One lacked political will, while the other failed to deliver tangible results to working-class voters quickly enough. “I think we’re all hugely inspired by the Green New Deal, and the Green New Deal moment, and what that represented,” said Patrick Bigger, research director at the Climate and Community Institute. “But I think that we recognize that we’re in a radically different place, politically, socially, economically now than we were eight years ago.” American voters have declared, in poll after poll, that their top concern is paying the bills as food, housing, and health care become more expensive. But many of these rising household costs are related to climate change. Because heat waves diminish harvests, and extreme weather leads to spikes in energy prices and home insurance rates, climate advocates are connecting the dots. An analysis the Brookings Institution released last year found that the effects of a warming world — including the health costs of wildfire smoke and flooding — are costing the average household somewhere between $219 and $571 a year. As the war in Iran drives up fuel prices, revealing the economic fragility of the nation’s dependence on oil, it creates a unique opportunity to advance the new agenda, said Daniel Aldana Cohen, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding co-director of the Climate and Community Institute: “It should be easier than it’s ever been before to say, ‘Fossil fuels are unreliable. They drive up your cost of living. They cause wars and people die. And if we make a green transition, that will make everyday life better for working people who are struggling.’” The agenda was also inspired by the mayoral campaigns of Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Katie Wilson in Seattle, both of whom won elections last year with populist platforms focused on affordability. Like the Green New Deal, green economic populism also seeks to mobilize massive investments in communities, infrastructure, and industry. In the medium-term, that means rolling out technologies that can cut household expenses alongside fossil fuel use, like heat pumps, induction stoves, and electric vehicles — and making them accessible to the working class, unlike Biden’s EV tax credits that were taken advantage of mainly by the wealthy. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it? Naveena Sadasivam Some of the climate solutions you might expect are noticeably absent from the agenda. For example, it makes no call for carbon taxes or cap-and-trade, since these economic systems can pass on costs to consumers — an option Bigger said is “not politically tenable right now.” Meanwhile, some of the plan’s suggestions, such as implementing rent caps or freezes, might not even strike most people as climate policies. But making housing easier to afford is a climate solution, according to Wilson, the new mayor of Seattle, where transportation is the leading source of carbon emissions. “When you build affordable housing in the city near where people work, near where people shop, near where people do all the things — that is what enables people to not drive a car an hour to get to work each day,” Wilson said during a press briefing about the agenda. Grace Adcox, senior climate strategist at the progressive polling firm Data for Progress, said Americans’ lack of trust in institutions, combined with a skepticism that they’ll reap the benefits, could make implementing bold public investments difficult. “I will say that the biggest question I often get about proposed climate solutions or climate infrastructure is, ‘How can you assure me that I’m not going to be paying the cost down the line?’” Adcox said. Her polling firm, however, found that 70 percent of voters believe economic policy can simultaneously lower costs and emissions. But Emily Becker, director of communications for the climate and energy program at the center-left think tank Third Way, described the agenda as “Biden on steroids,” warning that it may not resonate as broadly as its proponents hope. “It lacks the imagination of the Green New Deal, and it lacks the pragmatism of the Inflation Reduction Act,” she said. “They find themselves stranded between, ‘OK, do we tell policymakers how to make something durable that works and that has political fortitude? Or do we paint the picture of the world we wish to build?’” That middle ground makes her think the agenda won’t catch on. She also thinks using a populist framing to convince the public to care about climate is unnecessary. “You are lucky to be a clean energy advocate in this moment, because clean energy is affordable energy,” Becker said. “So talk to them about addressing energy affordability and how clean energy can satisfy that.” Advait Arun, an energy policy analyst at the Center for Public Enterprise, which advocates for state-led economic development, said the agenda is promising, but wonders if focusing so narrowly on how climate-friendly measures could cut individuals’ bills might be a mistake. Could climate advocates get so caught up in, say, pitching people on how a heat pump could cut their electric bills that they fail to fight for the larger changes needed to reduce price spikes? Or communities’ recovery costs after weather disasters? “I think [it] actually limits our imagination for the kind of stability we can sell and the kind of politics we can build around it,” Arun said. The architects of the plan are working with their allies to refine the particular policies of the agenda, but they feel confident in the general vision. “I would characterize green economic populism at this stage,” Bigger said, “as very much that sort of overarching North Star towards which we’re orienting.” Frida Garza and Jake Bittle contributed reporting to this story. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The Green New Deal has evolved. Now it’s all about ‘affordability.’ on Apr 21, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Kate Yoder.
At the UN, Indigenous leaders tackle how to enforce global climate court rulings
The gap between what international courts say and what governments do is stark.
Indigenous communities in the Pacific are facing increasingly devastating storms worsened by warming oceans. Mining operations continue expanding on Indigenous lands in the Amazon. Oil wells in Ecuador keep pumping despite court orders. And at the United Nations this week, Indigenous leaders and advocates are asking: What will it take to force governments to comply with international court rulings that mandate climate action? Last year, the world’s highest court — the International Court of Justice — issued an advisory opinion saying state governments that contribute to climate change should be accountable for the harm they cause, particularly to small island states. The Inter-American Court on Human Rights issued a similarly sweeping decision last summer, calling on governments to reduce fossil fuel emissions and incorporate Indigenous knowledge into climate policies. But the rulings have collided with a harsh reality: Many U.N. member states would prefer to ignore their climate obligations, leaving open the question of whether these rulings can be implemented, enforced, and used to protect Indigenous land and rights. “This is a moment of opportunity. These advisory opinions are not symbolic, they are instruments of power,” Luisa Castañeda-Quintana, executive director of the advocacy group Land is Life, told hundreds of Indigenous advocates at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday. “They can and must be used to strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ advocacy at every level. But to do so, Indigenous Peoples must claim them, integrate them into the rights narratives, and take them into every space where their futures are being decided.” That gap between legal recognition and enforcement is particularly stark in Ecuador. Magaly Ruiz Cajas, a member of the country’s Judiciary Council who also spoke at the forum, noted that Ecuador’s constitution has recognized the rights of nature since 2008. “In Ecuador, green justice is not an option, it is an obligation,” Cajas said, pointing to court rulings including a 2011 case regarding pollution in the Vilcabamba River. But multiple speakers from Ecuador said those constitutional protections haven’t stopped companies from ignoring Indigenous land rights. Juan Bay, President of the Waorani Nation of Ecuador, told the forum that Ecuador is not complying with international or national law to protect Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or living close to oil wells — actions he called “incompatible with climate action and with the rights of Indigenous Peoples.” Indigenous land defenders in Ecuador have faced persecution and death in recent years, and in February, Ecuador passed a law to accelerate mining that weakened environmental protection requirements, ignoring criticism from Indigenous and environmental organizations. The pattern isn’t unique to Ecuador. Albert Kwokwo Barume, the U.N. special rapporteur on Indigenous peoples, identified it across the region in a report last year: “Latin America and the Caribbean presents a paradox. The contributions reveal strong legal frameworks that coexist with persistent failures in implementation,” he wrote. “Even favourable court rulings are undermined by poor enforcement and lack of consultation.” Resistance has come from more powerful nations as well. Vanuatu and a dozen supporting states introduced a U.N. resolution earlier this year to operationalize the ICJ ruling, calling for fossil fuel phaseouts and climate reparations. In response, President Donald Trump’s administration sent a message to all U.S. embassies calling the resolution “disturbing” and a “charade,” and urging Vanuatu to withdraw the resolution and other countries to reject it. Vanuatu did not back down, but the vote in the General Assembly has been delayed until May. Joie Chowdury, an attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, said the ruling gave states clear obligations to address climate change. “It remains important to translate that legal clarity now into action,” she said. As policy discussions continue, Indigenous Nations in Northern Ontario are dealing with climate-driven flooding, large-scale evacuations, and contaminated water supplies. “We’re in 2026 right now, and we have Indigenous communities living in a poverty state,” said Ryan Fleming, of the Attawapiskat First Nation. “And it is not just an implementation gap. This becomes a human rights issue.” Fleming said the flooding highlights the intersection of climate change and Canada’s failure to honor treaty obligations. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori lands face stronger storms without increased support. Janell Dymus-Kurei, who is from Te Whakatōhea, spoke at the Forum on behalf of National Iwi Chairs Forum Pou Tikanga, a national group focused on Māori self-determination, and said international courts and forums present an underused opportunity. “We’re just not really making the most of those mechanisms,” she said. Despite the resistance, legal momentum continues to build. The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is currently considering a case on states’ climate obligations, including how African governments should handle climate-related displacement. Fleming said spaces like the Permanent Forum are crucial for pressuring countries like Canada to honor their human rights obligations. “We understand the importance of leveraging these international mechanisms,” he said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline At the UN, Indigenous leaders tackle how to enforce global climate court rulings on Apr 21, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Anita Hofschneider.
We asked climate leaders what’s keeping them inspired. Here’s what they said.
"There are going to be times that are very, very hard, and we are in one of them. And we have to keep going with passion, dogged determination, and belief that we can make the impossible possible."
Climate action may be facing headwinds right now. But the passion, courage, and creativity that defined the climate movement for decades have not gone anywhere. Doctors continue to care for the health of their patients on a changing planet. Grantmakers continue to reach for new pots of funding to enable crucial climate and justice work. Communicators continue to share information in creative ways and drive cultural change, one mind at a time. This Earth Month, Grist reached out to climate leaders across the country, to hear about how they’re staying motivated and continuing to push forward. Their responses remind us that wins are still happening, progress is still possible, and inspiration comes in so many forms. [Read even more of these conversations, and find out how to see them live] These interviews were conducted over email, and have been lightly edited for clarity and length. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="750" height="550" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gaurab-Basu.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=750" alt="" class="wp-image-696839 size-full" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gaurab-Basu.png?quality=75&strip=all 750w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gaurab-Basu.png?resize=330%2C242&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gaurab-Basu.png?resize=150%2C110&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /> Gaurab Basu is a primary care physician and an assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is a leader in integrating climate education into medical curriculum, and studies the health impacts of climate change and the health benefits of climate solutions, in the U.S. and overseas. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=775&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> What originally led you to work on climate solutions? The U.N. IPCC report in 2018 was a catalytic moment for me. I had been spending my career studying global health inequity around the world, and how social systems in the U.S. impacted health and disease. This report made it clear that climate change was at the heart of everything I cared about in my professional and personal life. It fundamentally changed me, my understanding of the world, and my sense of responsibility. From that time on, I worked to incorporate climate solutions into all facets of my work. How have you seen climate action change over the past five to 10 years? We created an unprecedented movement for climate action in recent years. I’ve never seen so many people passionate about protecting our planet — and anchoring in our responsibility to protect people’s health and the vitality of future generations. We’ve made a lot of progress in explaining to people that climate change is a health issue. At the same time, we have seen an unprecedented rejection and destruction of science and an extraordinary regression on the progress we were making. So much of what I have taken for granted — funding for science, medicine, and international aid — it’s made me appreciate how extraordinary the progress and gains we have made through these funding streams have truly been. I have no illusions of the challenges ahead of us, but I believe deeply that we can catalyze a new era in which we once again fund science, create durable policy, and take pride in protecting the planet and people. So many people are putting their heads down and pushing forward, in spite of the challenges. What’s your best advice for staying motivated and making a difference? One of the projects I am working on right now that I care most about is in the Indian Sundarbans, a region that has beautiful ecology, including being a part of the largest continuous mangrove forests in the world. But it’s extremely poor, and being hit harder and harder by cyclones like Cyclone Amphan. They are clear-eyed about the tremendous challenges that face them — they know their home is changing, that floods are impacting their farmlands and threatening distressed migration and impacting health, education, nutrition, and gender equity. But they remain a vibrant, courageous community, ready to face the challenges with determination. I want to channel that clarity of purpose and courage in my own work, dig in, and continue to try my very best to be of service to the world for the rest of my life. Who or what inspires you and gives you hope? I see the ways that solar and batteries are profoundly decreasing emissions in California. I’ve been following Bill McKibben’s message of just how transformative solar has become in the clean energy transition. I’m also watching Pakistan exponentially increase solar on its grid. So many developing countries are switching to EVs faster than we ever could have imagined. I’m inspired by organizations like the Environmental League of Massachusetts, where I am on the board. It’s a state organization that is fighting the headwinds from the pullback of federal policy, but just continues to push forward. There are going to be times that are very, very hard, and we are in one of them. And we have to keep going with passion, dogged determination, and belief that we can make the impossible possible. <img decoding="async" width="800" height="450" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/emily-graslie-fixer-db-featured.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=800" alt="Emily Graslie" class="wp-image-696749 size-full" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/emily-graslie-fixer-db-featured.png?quality=75&strip=all 800w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/emily-graslie-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/emily-graslie-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/emily-graslie-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/emily-graslie-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> Emily Graslie is an independent science communicator and digital media producer. Her Youtube show, The Brain Scoop, breaks down science topics for hundreds of thousands of viewers. She has worked with a number of organizations (recently including the Great Lakes chapter of the Audubon society and the state tourism board of Montana) to make engaging videos about their research, education, and conservation efforts. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=775&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> What originally led you to work in the climate space? As a non-scientist myself (I studied art and history in college), I never really felt like there was a place for me in the world of science or conservation. During the end of college I got involved with the campus natural history museum with the goal of creating artwork about the collections, but soon realized there was a major gap when it came to museums and scientists sharing their work broadly. That was a gap I was uniquely able to fill, as someone interested in being an informational conduit for others. How have you seen things change over the past 5 to 10 years? Well, climate-wise, it’s become incredibly apparent that our world is undergoing unprecedented and likely irreversible changes. As I’ve learned more about deep time and the many phases our planet has gone through over the last 4.56+ billion years, it’s astonishing to realize the human-influenced environmental catastrophes we’re experiencing are happening on a scale unlike anything Earth has ever before endured. So, that’s terrifying. But on the bright side, there are also way more people involved in climate and environmental sciences, and awareness of these issues is way more pervasive than it was 10+ years ago when I started in the YouTube / digital media space. Social media gets a lot of (warranted) flack for all of its ills and detriments, but these platforms have established and facilitated incredible connections around the world. Creating and participating in online spaces is a powerful way to fight overwhelming feelings of isolation and hopelessness when it comes to facing an oftentimes daunting future. What challenges (foreseeable and unforeseen) have you encountered in your work? The stakes feel much higher today than they were when I started my career during the starry-eyed Obama era. I saw a meme about how we thought becoming science educators was going to be similar to Bill Nye conducting whimsical experiments — not convincing people that the world isn’t flat, it is older than 6,000 years, and climate change is real. Add on the prevalence of harassment that women content creators face, and there’s a real weariness that has culminated over the years and resulted in various stages of burnout. And yet … Nearly 15 years later, I’m still in the field, and still feeling as strongly and passionately about this work as ever. What’s your best piece of advice for staying motivated and making a difference? Find like-minded people and communities that leave you feeling inspired, not tired. Working in the climate / environment space can be emotionally draining, so it’s imperative to surround yourself with those who share your passion and can support you fundamentally as a person. And get a hobby completely outside of your profession. I play violin in a professional symphony orchestra outside of Chicago. It’s glorious to have a space a few hours every week where the focus is on creating something beautiful with a group of incredibly talented musicians. <img decoding="async" width="950" height="675" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/tilsen-nick.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=950" alt="Nick Tilsen" class="wp-image-416860 size-full" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/tilsen-nick.png?quality=75&strip=all 950w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/tilsen-nick.png?resize=330%2C234&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/tilsen-nick.png?resize=768%2C546&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/tilsen-nick.png?resize=150%2C107&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px" /> Nick Tilsen is the founder and CEO of NDN Collective, a national, Indigenous-led advocacy organization. NDN Collective “bolsters the ability of Indigenous peoples, communities, and nations to exercise our inherent right to self-determination, while fostering a world that is built on a foundation of justice and equity for all people and Mother Earth.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=775&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> What originally led you to work on climate solutions? I’ve been connected to the climate justice fight since before I was born. My parents met at the 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee, where Native people were demanding the U.S. government stop violating their own treaties by desecrating our rightful land. Indigenous peoples have been stewarding our land sustainably for centuries, and have been fighting against environmental destruction since the U.S. government slaughtered millions of buffalo as part of their strategy to eradicate us. Our peoples hold a vast amount of traditional ecological knowledge that mainstream climate groups are finally beginning to take seriously. Our message remains that landback is a necessary solution to the climate crisis, and should be centered in every climate organization’s mission. The more power Indigenous people have over our lands and waterways and can protect them from extractive industries, the better and safer our shared planet is for everyone. How have you seen climate action change over the past five to 10 years? What challenges have you encountered? While Indigenous people have been ringing the alarm on climate change for many decades, most people began understanding the urgency and importance of developing alternatives to the extractive economy within the last decade or so, once folks started seeing material impacts to their lives. From flooding and fires in the colonized kingdom of Hawai‘i, to the disastrous rains in Alaska, wildfires sweeping the plains, smoky orange skies in California, a hurricane devastating Western North Carolina — more and more people are regularly facing climate disaster. Under the Biden administration we saw the largest ever climate investment in history, a victory which was the result of decades of Black and brown frontline organizers working tirelessly and strategically to make the climate crisis a national priority. When Trump took office, climate groups, programs, and efforts were totally gutted, with federal funding swiftly pulled out from under them. Many philanthropic organizations have followed suit, tightening their grip around their money rather than releasing it to the frontline organizations fighting to protect all of us. NDN Collective’s budget was rapidly cut in half. Despite an enormous funding and resourcing gap, we will continue to fight because our great -grandchildren are asking us to. The central problem is colonialism, which manifests itself in countless daily challenges, both ongoing and still emerging. We see colonialism show up in insidious ways, even within climate justice and environmental spaces. In the last five years alone, hundreds of Indigenous people have been killed for protecting Mother Earth — from forest defender Tortuguita in Atlanta, to Eduardo Mendúa in Ecuador, to Mãe Bernadete in Brazil, and many more. We honor their lives by continuing the work. What’s your best piece of advice for staying motivated? It is important to stay grounded in your purpose. We didn’t sign up to do this work because it is easy or popular. We do this work because it is necessary, because it is what the people need and what Mother Earth needs. Sometimes that means our work gets lifted up as a shining example — and other times, that means it gets attacked. The other piece of advice I would offer is that you must have a strong belief in radical possibility. When doing this work, we need a steadfast vision — if we don’t have a vision of what is possible in the world, then it is really hard to keep fighting for a better one. So you need that vision of what you want the future to look like — and then be audacious enough to go after it. What solutions excite you, or what gives you the most hope within your field? Our movement is strong, and we are telling our own stories in our own way. Our youth are learning our traditions and languages, keeping our ceremonies alive, and bringing invaluable insight and energy to movement spaces. Because we maintain and use our spiritual power, we have made impossible things happen. Indigenous people are building sustainable food systems across Turtle Island — from revitalizing buffalo corridors, to having access to spearfishing in Wisconsin, to rebuilding traditional eel harvesting practices, to running a school in South Dakota centered around our interconnectedness to everything, and more. We have the solutions. I remain steadfast in my belief that the best days are ahead of us. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="950" height="675" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/backer-benji.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=950" alt="Benji Backer" class="wp-image-416826 size-full" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/backer-benji.png?quality=75&strip=all 950w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/backer-benji.png?resize=330%2C234&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/backer-benji.png?resize=768%2C546&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/backer-benji.png?resize=150%2C107&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px" /> Benji Backer is the founder and CEO of Nature Is Nonpartisan, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting public lands and pursuing environmental action across party lines. The organization emphasizes natural climate solutions, aiming to build a movement that makes it easy and fun to take action for the protection of nature. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=775&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-Heat-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> What originally led you to work in the climate and environmental movement? I grew up in Wisconsin, where snowy winters have become increasingly rare, invasive species have become a major issue, wildlife populations are out of balance, and ecosystems (like our prairies and the Mississippi River) have become significantly damaged. From childhood until today, I’ve watched the environment worsen in front of my eyes. Additionally, I’m an avid hiker, camper, and skier, so fighting for these places means a lot to me. As someone who has a background in politics, I thought this issue was the best way to bring Americans together again. Talking one-on-one with people across the spectrum offers great hope, as there is far more alignment than people realize. How have you seen things change over the past 5 to 10 years? The issue has become more polarizing than I’ve ever seen it. People feel really divided on this issue, believing it is more partisan than ever before, and understandably so. But in the hearts of most Americans, they actually largely want the same things when it comes to environmental protection, which makes this work really frustrating yet also hopeful. As environmental advocates, there’s just so much outside our control. Between the mass media’s incentive to divide us, the ever-changing social media algorithms, and worsening global and national events (wars, the economy, etc.), focus on the environment has decreased for nearly every voter, making it difficult to rally and reach people. Additionally, the loudest voices in the country are increasingly the most hateful, which makes it hard to create a narrative. What’s your best piece of advice for staying motivated and making a difference? “This too shall pass.” Everything we’re seeing right now is temporary, and we need to build for when the moment is right for us again. Outside of social media and the political landscape, when I talk to everyday people from all walks of life, I’m reminded that the army of Americans who stand together on this still exists, and that we can — and will — absolutely win again. Giving up is what they want us to do. Being divided is what they want us to be. And we must be better than that. The world needs it. What solutions excite you, or what gives you the most hope within your current field? We’re launching entertaining, informative content like “The Firepit,” which is our YouTube show where two unlikely allies who are well-known and respected in their fields sit over a campfire to talk about environmental issues and the world at large. We want to educate and activate Americans in a way that makes environmental action engaging, uplifting, and impactful. I think the most immediate opportunity is rallying people around nature and conservation — natural climate solutions — which is exciting, because that’s what most people’s connection to climate and the environment is. That’s what people want to fight for. Nature isn’t just the grandiose mountains out West or a lavish beach vacation — it’s the river in your town, the trees in your neighborhood, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. It’s personal to everyone, and it’s worth fighting for every time. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="450" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/melanie-allen-fixer-db-featured.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=800" alt="Melanie Allen" class="wp-image-696854 size-full" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/melanie-allen-fixer-db-featured.png?quality=75&strip=all 800w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/melanie-allen-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/melanie-allen-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/melanie-allen-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/melanie-allen-fixer-db-featured.png?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> Melanie Allen is CEO of the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice. The Hive Fund supports groups working to accelerate the clean energy transition across the South — in ways that center justice, redistribute power, and create healthier, safer, and more prosperous communities. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=775&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0530_Fertility-IVF-Divider.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> What originally led you to work on climate solutions? Like many people in this movement, I came to environmental justice through the lens of public health. As a young person, I got really sick and was diagnosed with a chronic illness. That eventually led me into advocacy around making sure all people could have access to health care. Over time, it became clear that many of these challenges weren’t just about health care access. They were shaped by environmental conditions like air pollution, water quality, and housing. That realization fundamentally shifted how I understood the work. I began to see environmental issues as deeply connected not only to public health, but also to economic justice and the broader conditions that allow communities to thrive. That holistic lens has stayed with me ever since. How have you seen things change over the past 5 to 10 years? The last decade has shown that, when the conditions are right, even institutions many thought were immutable can change. We saw this during the early days of COVID, when funders streamlined processes to move money faster, and again in the summer of 2020, when many introduced practices centered on racial justice. But it shouldn’t take a crisis to move organizations to operate in ways that are more equitable and work better for all of us. And the rollback of much of that progress is a reminder that shifts driven by external pressure alone rarely hold. For change to endure, it has to go deeper — not just at the level of institutional practices, but into an organization’s values and how it understands its mission. What has also become clear is that no matter how conditions shift, frontline and grassroots groups find ways to hold the line. At the end of the day, this work is about things most people want: lower energy bills, cleaner air and water, and communities that can truly thrive. What challenges (foreseeable and unforeseen) have you encountered in your work? One of the most persistent challenges in this work is a mismatch between where the need and opportunity are greatest, and where resources actually flow. We’ve seen this play out in the South for decades. Southern states account for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s climate pollution, yet groups in this region receive only less than a quarter of U.S. regional climate funding. This gap reflects longstanding assumptions in philanthropy about where change is possible and whose leadership is worth investing in. But Southern groups have shown that when they’re well resourced, they can and do win. In the past year alone, we’ve seen Hive Fund grantee partners stop polluting projects, secure major public and municipal investments in clean energy, and build coalitions that cut across partisan divides. Yet climate philanthropy continues to underinvest in the region. If funders can close this gap, it’s one of the most powerful levers we have to slow pollution, accelerate clean energy, and build the people power needed for long-term climate progress. What solutions excite you, or what gives you the most hope within your current field? What’s most exciting to me right now is seeing communities get creative about meeting the need for affordable, reliable, and scalable clean energy. Supporting communities to be the architects and builders of new possibilities and new futures is something we’ve been really intentional about at Hive Fund. Communities most impacted by climate and environmental injustice have long been forced to spend limited resources fighting harm and resisting injustice. That work is essential and will continue, but what’s often missing is support for people to not only fight, but also to imagine and create what comes next. Photos: Gretchen Ertl; Tom McNamara; Willi White; Brad Konopa; Cornell Watson Photography This story was originally published by Grist with the headline We asked climate leaders what’s keeping them inspired. Here’s what they said. on Apr 21, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Grist staff.
Indonesia’s human rights body to investigate deaths of 12 Papuans in military operation
RNZ Pacific Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights says it is investigating deaths of a dozen West Papuans in a military operation. The commission, known as Komnas HAM, says the incident took place last Tuesday in Kembru District in Puncak regency of Central Papua Komnas HAM said 12 civilians, including women and children, died as
RNZ Pacific Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights says it is investigating deaths of a dozen West Papuans in a military operation. The commission, known as Komnas HAM, says the incident took place last Tuesday in Kembru District in Puncak regency of Central Papua Komnas HAM said 12 civilians, including women and children, died as the result of gunshot wounds sustained in an Indonesian military operation. READ MORE: Other West Papua reports It said any operation that results in civilian casualties “cannot be justified on any grounds”. Komnas HAM said that dozens of other civilians suffered serious injuries. Indonesia’s military told local media its forces killed four Papuan pro-independence militants in an armed exchange in Kembru. However, the West Papua National Liberation Army has denied that there was any exchange with the Indonesian military in Kembru. Restraint urged Urging the head of Indonesia’s military to investigate the incident, Komnas HAM has urged restraint from all parties. It also urged both Indonesia’s national government and the Papua regional government to ensure measures are taken to protect civilians, treat those injured and recover bodies of those killed. The human rights body also noted the risk of mass displacement of villagers impacted by the military operation. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Who is breaking international law in the Strait of Hormuz? It’s not Iran, says scholar
Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, I’m Amy Goodman. As we continue to look at the US and Israeli war on Iran, we’re joined now by Dr Maryam Jamshidi. She is an Iranian American associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute.
Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, I’m Amy Goodman. As we continue to look at the US and Israeli war on Iran, we’re joined now by Dr Maryam Jamshidi. She is an Iranian American associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute. She has written a new piece for The Nation magazine headlined “Only One Side Has Clearly Broken the Law In the Strait of Hormuz: And it isn’t Iran.” Professor Jamshidi, explain. MARYAM JAMSHIDI: Hi, Amy. Thanks for having me. So, you know, what I was trying to get at in that piece is that, you know, there’s been a lot of international outcry about what Iran has done in the strait, specifically its efforts to regulate passage of ships through the strait and to charge certain ships a fee for going through the strait. The international rhetoric has been that what Iran is doing is completely and clearly illegal. And from my perspective, that’s not entirely true. This is not a black-and-white issue. Iran does have a reasonable legal argument to regulating the Strait of Hormuz, as well as to charging fees. READ MORE: ‘Predators’: Amnesty slams Netanyahu, Putin, Trump as human rights decline Tehran spurns talks under threats; Trump says blockade stays Other US-Israel war on Iran reports By contrast, the criticism of what the United States and Israel has done to Iran, which is an aggressive and illegal war, has been more muted, in particular from Western states, as well as from some of the regional Arab states. And I think this contrast between these two reactions is very telling — on the one hand, total condemnation of Iran on legal issues that are far from clear, and very more muted criticism, more limited criticism of the United States and Israel when it comes to actions they’ve taken that are very clearly unlawful under international law. I think this says a lot about the ways in which international law is being deployed in this moment as a way of restraining and regulating Iranian behavior, while effectively allowing the United States and Israel a free hand to do what they want against the Iranian government. Who is breaking international law in the Strait of Hormuz? Video: Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: What do you think this unprovoked war that Israel and the US — this war of choice, as it’s called — have engaged in with Iran has done to international law and people’s perspective view of it around the world, and the consequences when people want to apply international law? MARYAM JAMSHIDI: Yeah, I mean, it’s a great question. I mean, you know, over the last few years, we’ve seen the ways in which Israel, in particular, with support from the United States, as well as with support from much of the rest of the West, Western governments, has eroded and violated and scoffed at international law, in its actions towards the Palestinians, its actions in Lebanon, its actions in Syria, its actions in Yemen, its other actions in Iran. And I think that, you know, these actions that Israel has taken has understandably led many to question the utility and importance of international law, whether or not it still exists or not. And, you know, now with this war against Iran, that, those concerns, those fears that international law is really meaningless, have only increased. In this moment, though, I think what’s also important to understand is that states like Iran are also at the same time saying, “No, international law matters very much, and we expect to be treated as equals under international law.” Iran, in this moment, is framing a lot of what it’s doing in international law terms, because it understands that if international law is truly going to be thrown into the dustbin, then it’s going to be far more vulnerable on the international stage. So, we basically see a battle. We see a battle between, on the one side, states like Israel and the United States, states that are, by and large, Western, you know, basically saying, “International law doesn’t apply to us. We can do what we want,” and then other states, like Iran, states of the Global South, saying, “No, we want international law. We value international law. International law is necessary to ensuring that we are sovereign and equal to other states on the international scale. And so, we are not going to let international law just be taken away from us.” AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk more about the UN Security Council? You’ve noted multiple resolutions have been introduced to condemn Iran’s regulatory actions in the strait. Who is behind these resolutions? Meanwhile, the Iranian Parliament is reportedly considering legislation that would formalise its regulatory system, including the fee system, as part of its domestic law. MARYAM JAMSHIDI: Right. So, there were — there have been multiple resolutions brought before the Security Council since the war started. They have mostly been focused on Iran and Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz. The states that have been the real force behind these resolutions appear to be the Arab Gulf states, in particular Bahrain and the UAE, who have also been the subject of the most attacks by Iran. What’s, again, very interesting and, I think, important to understand about these resolutions is that they very clearly and absolutely condemned Iran for its regulatory actions within the Strait of Hormuz. As I mentioned, even though those actions do have a legal basis, those resolutions presented them as being fully unlawful. And one of those resolutions, which, thankfully, was vetoed by China and Russia, would have effectively authorised all UN member states — that’s over 190 states — to go to war with Iran in order to open the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, that is a very radical proposition, to basically validate and allow states to engage in armed conflict against another state simply for the purpose of opening a waterway. So, you know — and again, there were no resolutions that were brought to the Security Council to explicitly condemn the US and Israel for their actions against Iran. In terms of the domestic legislation inside Iran, you know, that the Iranian Parliament appears to be contemplating, as you mentioned, this legislation would basically make the regulatory scheme within Hormuz, in the Strait of Hormuz, a part of Iranian law. It’s not entirely clear what the terms of that law are, you know, what the basis for it is, what kind of regulation it will in fact implement. But it does seem to have a fee system as a part of it. So, the Iranians are trying to take this ad hoc fee system that they have developed over the course of the last few weeks and actually institutionalise it within domestic law. AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to end by asking you about [US President Donald] Trump’s comments. On Saturday, he told a reporter at Fox News, “If Iran doesn’t sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up.” That followed two weeks before, when he warned, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Professor Jamshidi? MARYAM JAMSHIDI: These comments are absolutely unacceptable. I mean, they are borderline genocidal in their intent and in their implications. To say to the world that you’re going to obliterate an entire civilisation is, in fact, to make very clear that you desire to destroy an entire people. You know, I don’t know if he thinks that this is an effective negotiating tool, but certainly from a legal perspective, from a moral perspective, it’s beyond the pale. This article is republished from Democracy Now! under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States Licence. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Why Is Iran Parading Pink Weapons? | US Iran Update
Athletic coach, curator, and founder India Bailey on integrity over clarity
How have years spent in sport and the wellness industry shaped how you understand creativity, and the role of the body in creativity?
How have years spent in sport and the wellness industry shaped how you understand creativity, and the role of the body in creativity? I was in downhill ski racing from a young age. Competitive sport really taught me discipline and the power of community. But it also taught me something just as important, which is that talent alone isn’t enough if desire isn’t there. We might feel like we want to go down this route because that’s what we should do, but if your heart isn’t in it, it won’t reap the same rewards. I remember very clearly a teammate of mine: she woke up before all of us for our morning run, and she was doing hill runs with bricks in her backpacks before we even woke up. She was so dead set on the Olympics; that is the definition of grit. I endured an injury that re-pivoted me slightly. The universe has its very witty ways in doing this. I wish I didn’t have to experience a fracture for that to happen, but the universe has ways to redirect you. I knew that movement was my medicine, and I loved the camaraderie that came with team sport. When I moved from sport into the wellness and fitness industry, I learned about optimization outcomes and functional strength, which of course have their place and are very important. But what was missing for me was expression. It wasn’t until I really started teaching spin in particular that music, movement, and collective energy really came together. It’s this journey you’re in for 45 minutes and it can be incredibly impactful. It’s like therapy for many people. I realized the body isn’t just something to train or fix, but it’s actually a creative instrument. And creativity happens through the body for me, not despite it. What’s something that you’re unlearning about creativity through movement, and vice versa? Oftentimes—and I’m sure people can empathize with this—it’s like, “I’m out here writing poetry when I’m under duress—in stress or suffering.” It’s like you have to burn yourself to prove that you’re serious. But I don’t believe that anymore. I think creativity thrives when it’s resourced and not extracted. It can come from a place of rest, play, and actually taking the time to acknowledge what’s coming up in between us trying to control the narrative. I want to learn how creativity changes across different seasons of our lives. How does creativity respond with age, nervous system state, or a collective environment? I’m really interested in creativity that’s sustainable, that makes an impact, and isn’t just impressive. I really want to feel authenticity through the creativity that flows through me. What was the moment that you decided “play” was the way to approach creativity and art? I think they come hand in hand, to be honest. My creativity has flowed massively through the choice of my career, taking a risk on building a company around it. It’s forced me to keep testing and reflecting and thinking about how I would like to express myself. I think it stretches beyond just the collective. It’s also been a great way for me to learn about myself. But to be honest I decided to do PLAY when I experienced some of the dark underbelly of the wellness industry. I found myself preaching wellness when I was actually so burnt out and exhausted. I wanted to create something where people could walk in and be honest with who they were that day… It all mirrors my journey. I think, for lack of a better word, it’s quite ballsy: to lead a business with an ethos that is still yet to be explored. There’s not a lot out there to draw from. I wouldn’t say that it was a singular moment so much as a pattern that I couldn’t ignore anymore. I realized the part of my work I loved the most was creating shared experiences that had rippling effects on me and my mental health. I think spin really did show me that I had the power to be authentic and share what was happening for me through music, movement, and the atmosphere I was creating. It wasn’t just the movement I loved, but also creating worlds and colliding them. Walk me through how you started PLAY, and what it was like building a business centered on an ethos that is antithetical to optimization and productivity, mindsets we’re told are essential. PLAY came from years of moving across different worlds: wellness, sport, culture. Curating events at Soho House and beyond, and always feeling constrained by having to choose one lane. As a Capricorn with ADHD—which I wouldn’t wish on anyone, honestly—I’m wired to keep getting curious. The ambition runs deep, but so does the impulse to turn over every rock before getting distracted by the next one. Which is probably why I’ve ended up bringing all these worlds together in what I can only describe as a childlike experiment. It was also built on confidence. Years of creating experiences for other brands, until I realized I wanted to build something that reflected the full spectrum of who I am. And that wasn’t easy. Because there are parts of ourselves we still don’t fully know. If you look closely, most of us still have a relationship with ourselves that needs a little TLC. Stepping into that unapologetically became its own act of self-discovery. And building a business around play isn’t anti-optimization; it feels more anti-reduction. We still work with structure and intention but we’re not interested in flattening the experience into something scalable at the cost of depth. Success for me is about resonance and return, not just reach. In the landscape we’re living in now, that’s counterculture. But I want to build something that lasts. How does that coexist: building a business guided by play and intuition, while also maintaining strategy, commercial relationships, revenue? Intuition sets the direction. I’m working to refine that more and more. I think over time we get shown what intuition is, and we still choose to ignore it. It’s still hard to cut through the noise. But right now, I’m really focused on that connection, sharpening it, oiling it. Intuition tells me what matters. Strategy is the container that protects it and gives it reach. One without the other doesn’t work, not in this landscape. But I never want strategy to lead. That’s where things go flat. What compromises have you refused to make while growing PLAY? I’ve refused to reduce PLAY to a single modality or to strip the reflective and integrative elements just to make it more commercially palatable. I’ve resisted jumping on trends, and I’ve resisted chasing scale for scale’s sake. Presence matters too much; it’s what we preach. So as a founder, it’s important to keep returning to the reason you started. And to trust that if it’s right, people will come. That means being selective about brand collaborations, about who we work with, making sure there’s a genuine alignment with our ethos, not just an opportunity. Do you find it hard to give yourself permission to explore? Have you noticed that creatives generally struggle with that? I don’t want to generalize, because I believe that anyone putting creative work into the world—whether it’s public or entirely private—is creative. I believe we all have it within us. But as a founder, giving myself permission is a daily practice. I’ve been doing work recently with an acupuncturist, in a modality called theta, where you allow the body to express what you’re actually feeling, bypassing the mind. You stand up straight, answer questions, and your body moves forward or back in response. Through that work, I’ve learned that I hold a lot of my identity in what I do. Which makes sense—before PLAY, everything was under my own name… But I’ve been working to untangle that, to start relating to PLAY as its own entity. Because the whole point is that this is a sum of multitudes. Not one person, not one ideology, not the India Bailey brand. When we bring in different art forms, different movers, different backgrounds and perspectives, that’s what makes PLAY more than any one of us. The power is in the collective moving toward the same intention, each in their own way. And I think that should be celebrated. Do you feel like the industry is moving in a direction where playfulness is being taken more seriously? Honestly, there’s always been an internal fear of PLAY being seen as soft, or indulgent, or immature, because of what people associate the word with. I did have to ask myself early on, is this actually something people want, or is it just me? Externally, there’s always pressure to niche down, to make things more legible or marketable. But I’ve worked through that by accepting that integrity matters more than immediate clarity. I’d rather build something that reflects how humans actually move through the world than force it into a neat category. That means making mistakes, finding our footing, doing it anyway. That’s just the human experience. What’s one small shift someone could make this week to bring more play into their creative process? Remove the outcome entirely. If you’re genuinely prioritizing play, the outcome has no place in the room. And follow curiosity for ten minutes without documenting it. That’s a good place to start. What’s keeping you curious right now? The idea that rest isn’t a reward. It connects back to what I’ve been uncovering about identity—separating myself from the work I do, the things I produce, the metrics of my life. I want to know that I’m whole without any of it. That I’m enough in silence, in stillness, in my own presence. Like any relationship, it needs tending. And I keep coming back to this: sustainability is a creative skill. You don’t need to suffer to make meaningful work. India Bailey recommends: Healing East acupuncture mat My V&A membership card Vuori Kit Friendly Pressure Sound System (wish list) Verden. Bath salts for my wellness ritual, magnesium balm for a good sleep! This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Rachel Leong.
On Chicago’s Trains, Homeless Outreach Workers Meet People Where They Are
For too many Chicagoans, public transit is one of the only accessible places to shelter during the brutal winter.
For too many Chicagoans, public transit is one of the only accessible places to shelter during the brutal winter. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Maia McDonald.
Citizen Journalists Shine a Light on Gaza
In the absence of on-the-ground reportage from Gaza, citizen journalists have stepped in to tell the stories that traditional news platforms could not.
In the absence of on-the-ground reportage from Gaza, citizen journalists have stepped in to tell the stories that traditional news platforms could not. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Malak Hijazi.
‘It’s All About Keeping Wages at Poverty Levels to Overpay Their CEOs’: CounterSpin interview with Sarah Anderson on poverty wages
"It's our taxpayer money that is going into those public assistance programs that these companies are using to make this model workable."
Janine Jackson interviewed Institute for Policy Studies’ Sarah Anderson about “successful” corporations paying poverty wages for the April 17, 2026, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260417Anderson.mp3 Forbes (5/24/24) Janine Jackson: In 2024, Forbes asked, “What Is the Secret to Walmart’s Success?” The answer: Walmart’s strategy is boring but reliable. The foundation is provided by the scale of the business, creating the fuel necessary to maintain cost leadership. In 2025, the <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2025/05/15/how-walmart-became-a-tech-giant-and-took-over-the-world?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17210596221&gbraid=0AAAAADBuq3Jm-Mb12v4sB9IHCX_0VTKoz&gclid=CjwKCAjwtIfPBhAzEiwAv9RTJr3vzj1kTliy9TV9V9JQVnvTExesVTY_aSwTZyRVUMDsI_7T3-mSQxoCnf4QAvD_BwE">Economist explained to readers “How Walmart Became a Tech Giant—and Took Over the World.” The answer, well, founder Sam Walton, a “trucker-capped, pickup-driving penny-pincher,” had a simple idea: “Keep costs low, pass savings on to customers, win market share, harness scale to further lower costs, and listen as the cash registers sing.” Early this year, Inc. Magazine gave us “One Bold Decision Helped Make Walmart a Trillion-Dollar Company.” That story says: Most experts see the company’s tremendous growth as a triumph of technology, including AI, and that’s certainly true. Walmart has used its heft, highly efficient warehouse network and the ubiquity of its stores as a competitive advantage. But oho, the shocker, the big reveal, is that former CEO, Doug McMillon, “visited Walmart stores and asked the people working there what they needed. He listened to their answers and he started paying them more.” Well, I hope you’re sitting down for this: “To begin with, every associate, as Walmart calls employees, would earn at least $9 an hour and soon move up to $10 an hour.” McMillon took home $27.4 million in 2024. Inequality.org (3/4/26) That the same media that herald companies like Walmart for supposedly building a better mousetrap, and getting their rightful riches, also complain about government spending on public assistance programs like SNAP encapsulates a certain media mythology that needs puncturing. And that’s just what a new report does. “America’s 20 Largest Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis” is out from the Institute for Policy Studies, and we’re joined now by its author. Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, and co-edits the IPS website Inequality.org. She joins us now by phone; welcome back to CounterSpin, Sarah Anderson. Sarah Anderson: Really great to be here. Thank you. JJ: Media talk about companies as not just successful, but as evidence that profit-driven capitalism—and the deregulation that enables it—really is the best thing for everyone, because, look, they’re providing a product or a service; they’re creating jobs. So, really, any criticism is wrong, and maybe just jealousy. Your new report is not about a small, ancillary thing that companies could improve on. It really drives a stake through the heart of this mythology. So tell us, what did you look at, and what did you find? Sarah Anderson: “The rest of us are affected, because it’s our taxpayer money that is going into those public assistance programs that these companies are using to make this model workable.” SA: Yeah, well, just continuing with the Walmart example, you mentioned that the CEO made $27.4 million in 2024. So, yeah, if we criticize that, then sometimes people will say, “Oh, you’re just envious. You want to make that amount of money, and it doesn’t have anything to do with you, so why should you complain?” Well, it does have to do with all of the rest of us, because, for one thing, Walmart and many other large US corporations are really based on a business model that extracts wealth from low-wage workers and funnels it up to guys like Doug McMillon. And they are paying their low-level workers so little that many of them have no choice but to rely on public assistance. And so that’s what our report looks at, is the 20 largest US corporations with the lowest median worker pay, and we found that the vast majority of them have median pay that’s so low that a worker at that level would qualify for Medicaid for a family of three. Most of them would qualify for SNAP food aid benefits. And what that means is that not only are workers getting the shaft from this business model, that it’s all about keeping wages at poverty levels at the base to overpay their CEOs, but the rest of us are affected, because it’s our taxpayer money that is going into those public assistance programs that these companies are using to make this model workable. And I think that this is a big part of the current affordability crisis that so many people are talking about, as they struggle with the rising costs for things like housing and groceries. And there’s a lot of focus on how can we bring these costs down, but we’ve also got to look at why do people have so little money in their pockets in the first place, and that’s because of wage suppression by companies like Walmart. JJ: I just want to say, if we can say “poverty-wage business model,” like 10 times; I want that to enter the lexicon. Washington Post (11/30/25) But I feel like some media feel like they found a hack. The Washington Post had a thing a few months back, “Why You May Not Want Lower Prices as Much as You Think You Do.” And I get it. They’re saying prices are one factor, and we have to look at other factors. But if you just report it that way, “Oh, you’re so dim, you want prices to go down. You don’t understand how the economy works.” It’s like giving the ball score, “Yankees four.” There are other elements of course at work here, and this is in a context, as the report lays out. It’s in a context of cuts to benefits, union participation, stock buybacks. There’s a lot going on here that is part of the affordability crisis, yeah? SA: Absolutely. And the companies are saying, “Oh, with rising costs for so many things, we have to pass those costs on to customers, or we have to cut jobs. There’s no other way to find money to cover these things”—when, if you look at what they really are spending money on, these 20 companies altogether have been on a massive stock buyback spending spree. Altogether, let’s see, I think it was over $200 billion over the past 20 years. Some companies are just completely outrageous examples, like Home Depot spent $38 billion on stock buybacks over the past six years, and every dollar that’s spent on stock buybacks—first of all, I should explain what they are. This is when companies go out and repurchase their own stock on the open market, and when they do that, it artificially inflates the value of their shares, because they’re reducing the available supply. IPS (3/4/26) And what that also does is it inflates the value of their CEO paychecks, because CEOs get most of their compensation in some form of stock-based pay. And every dollar that’s spent on those buybacks is a dollar that’s not spent on worker wages. And so at Home Depot, if they’d taken all the money that they spent on buybacks over the past six years, and instead gave it to their workers, they could have given every one of their 419,000 US employees a $15,000 bonus every year for those six years. At Lowe’s, Home Depot’s competitor in the home improvement field, the figures are even more insane. I think that they could have doubled the level of median pay at that company if they had spent money on worker wages instead of stock buybacks. So it’s not that these companies don’t have the resources to be paying something other than poverty wages; it’s that they’re choosing to use their resources to enrich those at the top. JJ: It’s so important to indicate that these are choices. When you read economic reporting, it’s often like, “They had to pass the cost on to customers.” Like they had to. No, these are choices. These are priorities that are being made. We could talk about them that way. SA: Absolutely. They also say, “Well, of course pay is low at these companies, because the workers are mostly part-time.” Again, that is a choice, to have a business model that’s based on an overwhelmingly part-time workforce, which comes with all kinds of costs. It tends to contribute to higher levels of turnover, and people not feeling as invested in their workplace. And so there’s all kinds of business arguments as to why it might make more sense for them to have more full-time employees with benefits, but it’s a choice. They want more part-time workers so they don’t have to pay benefits, so they can keep their labor costs down. So it is a choice. It’s not just something like the weather, that just happens out of their control. BLS Reports (5/24) JJ: Right. And it’s a storyline. It’s such an old storyline: “We don’t need to pay fast food workers a livable wage because they’re teenagers, and they’re just getting pick-up money to go to the movies.” And it’s so outdated and unrealistic. And I have such frustration with the unending power of these narratives. SA: Exactly. There’s such a large share of these low-wage workers are parents, many of them single parents, who are really struggling to make ends meet. We’ve talked about our country’s largest private-sector employer, Walmart, but if you look at Amazon, too—we were able to get data from a handful of state governments that report how many employees big companies have on public-assistance programs. The state of Nevada actually is the only one that reveals this information for Medicaid, and Amazon had 8,900 employees in Nevada on Medicaid, and that was 48% of their whole workforce. So imagine that, they’re the second-largest private-sector employer, with a gazillionaire founder in Jeff Bezos. They’re generating enormous wealth for people at the top, and yet 48% of their employees in this one state are on Medicaid. JJ: OK. I’m going to need to talk to you more about this, I suspect, but for now, I just would ask you, what could happen today, tomorrow, policy-wise, legislatively? What could happen that could start to address this situation? The Nation (3/11/26) SA: Yeah, there’s a lot that could be done. First of all, raising the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for 16 years now. We could strengthen our labor laws, so that workers like the ones at Amazon and Starbucks that have voted to unionize about four years ago now, but still don’t have a first contract because our protections for union rights are so weak, and these companies have just used every trick in the book to undermine the desires of their employees to be members of unions to bargain collectively for better pay. And then I’m very excited about efforts to also use the tax code to address this issue of overpaying CEOs and underpaying workers. And this year, there are ballot initiatives moving ahead in both Los Angeles and San Francisco that would raise local taxes on businesses based on the size of the gap between their CEO and their worker pay, as an incentive for them to either narrow those gaps by lifting up worker pay or bringing down CEO pay, or, if companies refuse to do that, and want to stick with the status quo of having really large pay gaps, then they would pay more taxes into public services and infrastructure that is so needed by so many states and cities because of the federal cutbacks in funding. JJ: All right, then. OK. We’ll end there for now, but I suspect I’ll be talking with you again soon. Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, and co-edits the IPS website Inequality.org. The report we’re talking about is “America’s 20 Largest Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis,” and I encourage you to check it out. Sarah Anderson, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin. SA: My pleasure. Thank you. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Janine Jackson.
Why is the Trump admin gutting the U.S. Forest Service?
As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his FBI director, Kash Patel, took steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Patel’s efforts in 2026 in this regul...
As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his FBI director, Kash Patel, took steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Patel’s efforts in 2026 in this regularly updated report. Also read about Patel’s efforts in 2025, and how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more. This article was first published on April 20, 2026. April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation Attorneys for FBI Director Kash Patel sued The Atlantic and its reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, on April 20, 2026, accusing them of defaming him in an article about Patel’s alleged erratic behavior and poor job performance. Fitzpatrick’s article, published April 17, reported that Patel’s conduct on the job has included “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” and that more than two dozen sources, including current and former FBI officials, “described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability.” Patel’s lack of availability has exacerbated bureaucratic delays at the FBI, Fitzpatrick reported, and his alleged excessive drinking may have led to his sharing inaccurate information about active law enforcement investigations. Fitzpatrick quoted a statement from the FBI, attributed to Patel, responding to her list of questions: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.” The day the article was published, Patel’s attorney Jesse Binnall posted a letter on social platform X that he said he had sent to The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick, alleging that Fitzpatrick’s questions had contained false claims and threatening legal action if those claims were published. Three days later, Patel’s attorneys filed their complaint in federal court for defamation, claiming that the article’s allegations were “designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” and that the article’s publication was done with “actual malice,” and demanded $250 million in damages. “The statements,” the complaint argued, “falsely assert that the Director of the FBI—the nation’s chief federal law-enforcement officer—is a habitual drunk, unable to perform the duties of his office, is a threat to public safety, is vulnerable to foreign coercion, has violated DOJ ethics rules, is unreachable in emergencies, has required the deployment of ‘breaching equipment’ to extract him from locked rooms, allows alcohol to influence his public statements about criminal investigations, and behaves erratically in a manner that compromises national security.” The Atlantic responded to the suit on X, writing: “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.” Back to Top This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
California’s Regressive Rooftop Solar Policy Hit With Second Appeal to State Supreme Court
The Center for Biological Diversity, The Protect Our Communities Foundation and the Environmental Working Group have appealed to the California Supreme Court to overturn the state’s new rooftop solar policy after a lower court approved it a second tim...
The Center for Biological Diversity, The Protect Our Communities Foundation and the Environmental Working Group have appealed to the California Supreme Court to overturn the state’s new rooftop solar policy after a lower court approved it a second time. The policy significantly slashes the credit new solar users get for sharing extra solar energy with the grid and has reduced demand for new rooftop solar systems. “The appeals court ignored the Supreme Court’s order, so we’re asking the state’s highest court to force it to follow the law and stop capitulating to state regulators on this policy that’s devastating rooftop solar,” said Roger Lin, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s illegal to give undo deference to the utility commission. The Supreme Court agreed and ordered a do over. So why did the appeals court rubberstamp the commission’s decision again and basically endorse utility talking points? I’m hopeful another appeal gets this unfair policy thrown out so more Californians can afford rooftop solar, which an essential tool to fight the climate crisis.” In March the California Court of Appeals upheld the California Public Utility Commission’s December 2022 action for a second time, despite the Supreme Court ruling in August 2025 that the lower court gave the commission too much latitude and needed to revise its ruling. Friday’s appeal to the state Supreme Court says the lower appeals court again ignored state law, which requires the court to review the commission’s statutory interpretations as it would those of any state agency. Instead, the three-judge panel resurrected the same flawed review standard giving extreme deference to commission decisions. That leaves the agency virtually untouchable, which was what the legislature was trying to prevent when it passed the law in 1998. “We’re asking the California Supreme Court to provide additional clarity to the lower courts so that both its decision and the Legislature’s intent have real effect in practice,” said Malinda Dickenson, who is representing The Protect Our Communities Foundation. California’s updated net-metering policy slashes customer credits by up to 80% for electricity generated on rooftops and sold back to the grid, which reduces the financial benefit of installing solar systems. This has crushed efforts to expand rooftop solar in California, including in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, and led to huge layoffs in the solar industry. It also violates state law, which requires that any policies ensure the rooftop solar market keeps growing.. The net energy metering rollback also goes against the United States’ recent global agreement at COP28 to triple renewable energy by 2030. “From rising costs to wildfires to blackouts to air pollution, California consumers are fed up with the state’s investor-owned utilities,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California with the Environmental Working Group. “And yet the one government agency that voters created over a 100 years ago to stand up to these monopoly utilities on behalf of consumers is now doing their dirty work, blocking consumers from having access to the technologies needed to solve myriad problems. At its core, that’s what this lawsuit is really all about.” In its 2025 ruling, the Supreme Court said the appeals court had overlooked the California Legislature’s 1998 direction to limit deference to regulators, rejecting arguments from the utility commission and the three large investor-owned utility companies in California — Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric Company. For-profit utilities across the country are trying to gut rooftop solar programs because distributed energy resources like rooftop solar threaten the utility business model. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Facebook and Instagram Tighten Censorship Rules for Saying “Antifa” #politics #tech
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 20, 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 – April 20, 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 – April 20, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Israel is racing to expand West Bank settlements before new political realities end its era of impunity
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near the Jewish settlement of Snanur. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342919" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/israel-is-racing-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-before-new-political-realities-end-its-era-of-impunity/israeli-bulldozers-are-razing-palestinian-owned-land-near" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1706" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"5","credit":"SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark III","caption":"JENIN, WEST BANK, PALESTINE - 2026/03/18: Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near the Jewish settlement of Snanur. Jewish settlers have returned to their abandoned settlement and raised Israeli flags around the Snanur settlement, south of Jenin in the West Bank. Snanur was one of four settlements in the northern West Bank evacuated in 2005 as part of the "disengagement" plan. (Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1773792000","copyright":"\u00a9 2026 SOPA Images","focal_length":"214","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0003125","title":"Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near the Jewish settlement of Snanur. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Israel is approving the construction of new West Bank settlements at an unprecedented rate because it knows its window of impunity is closing — especially if Iran emerges intact from the war and the Republicans lose the U.S. midterms.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near the Jewish settlement of Snanur. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-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="342919" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/israel-is-racing-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-before-new-political-realities-end-its-era-of-impunity/israeli-bulldozers-are-razing-palestinian-owned-land-near" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1706" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"5","credit":"SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark III","caption":"JENIN, WEST BANK, PALESTINE - 2026/03/18: Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near the Jewish settlement of Snanur. Jewish settlers have returned to their abandoned settlement and raised Israeli flags around the Snanur settlement, south of Jenin in the West Bank. Snanur was one of four settlements in the northern West Bank evacuated in 2005 as part of the \"disengagement\" plan. (Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1773792000","copyright":"\u00a9 2026 SOPA Images","focal_length":"214","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0003125","title":"Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian-owned land near the Jewish settlement of Snanur. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266703246-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="755" height="153" data-attachment-id="272634" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/death-to-arabs-israeli-flag-march-features-racist-anti-palestinian-chants/untitled-design-21-2" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?fit=755%2C153&ssl=1" data-orig-size="755,153" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1623862217","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="mondoweiss-logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?fit=755%2C153&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=755%2C153&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-272634 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?w=755&ssl=1 755w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=300%2C61&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=400%2C81&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=706%2C143&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px" /> This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on April 19, 2026. It is shared here with permission. The Israeli cabinet approved the construction of 34 new West Bank settlements last week, bringing the total number approved by the ruling coalition led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu up to 103. The cabinet decision is the largest batch of new settlements approved in decades, breaking the record set by a previous landmark decision in June 2025, which approved 22 new settlements. While the latest decision has been overshadowed by the regional conflagrations related to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, its timing indicates that Israel perceives a closing window for its ability to entrench its colonial project in its own backyard — the West Bank — in light of shifting realities that might see Iran emerging from the war intact and in a strengthened position regionally. These developments come as Israel has reportedly been “coerced” to halt its onslaught against Lebanon by U.S. President Donald Trump, forcing it to accept a ceasefire with Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the very fact that the U.S. agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Iran was condemned by the entirety of the Israeli political establishment, both from within Netanyahu’s camp and from the Israeli opposition, who lambasted Netanyahu’s “failure” to overthrow the Iranian government. While Israel will attempt to use the ceasefire in Lebanon to force the hand of the Lebanese government to accept the ongoing occupation of the southern part of the country, little military progress has been made against Hezbollah, which has reportedly rebuilt its military capabilities since it was bloodied by Israel in October 2024. Iran has also continued to show strength in the region through exerting control over the Straits of Hormuz, and has been described by analysts as an emerging “major world power.” This is the crucial backdrop to Israel’s moves in the West Bank. It seeks to further cement its de facto annexation of the territory in a race against time to entrench its colonial project in the only geographic region where it can proceed with comparatively minimal resistance. The closing window The impatience of the Israeli decision is not only suggested by the magnitude and speed of the cabinet approval, but also by the fact that Israel is in an election year, with polls indicating that Netanyahu and his hardline allies, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, show a low chance of winning. For Netanyahu, this is personal. The Israeli Prime Minister remains the face of Israel’s attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies in the region, claiming that he is “changing the face of the Middle East” — an achievement he hopes would compensate for the security failure on October 7, 2023. The ceasefire with Iran, and now with Lebanon, signals a turn for the worse, giving rise to the need for a “victory” elsewhere. For Israel as a whole, this is about rebuilding and reinforcing its own image of force and creating as many facts on the ground as possible during the Trump administration’s remaining years. Although the cabinet decision is a continuation of Israel’s ongoing annexation plan, “this is an indication that Israel believes its annexation of the West Bank has not been achieved,” according to Jamal Jumaa, the coordinator of the Palestinian grassroots Stop the Wall campaign. “Israel fears that it won’t be able to achieve what it wants in the future,” Jumaa told Mondoweiss, noting that a sweeping Democratic Party victory in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections might limit the Trump administration’s ability to continue launching indefinite wars in the region. “The next administration might not be as compliant with Israeli wishes,” he added. This is made clearer by the nature of the settlement approval, which would drastically reduce the PA’s already limited jurisdiction. Jumaa emphasizes that eight out of the 34 settlements, which are spread across the West Bank from north to south, fall under Area B, which makes up the 22% of the West Bank that falls under joint Israeli-PA administration per the 1993 Oslo Accords. Only 18% of the West Bank, known as Area A, falls under exclusive PA control, and the remaining 61% of the territory, Area C, falls entirely under Israeli control. Building eight settlements on Area B would “push Palestinians further into isolation, trapping them inside the main urban areas,” Jumaa explained. He believes that the aggressive nature of Israel’s settlement expansion is unprecedented, which suggests that the move is not being pursued due to internal politics alone. “Taking such a drastic leap might not be as easy once the war in the region stops,” he said. “World attention would shift back to the unfinished Gaza ceasefire and the West Bank.” Already, Spain and Italy have suspended military contracts with Israel over its war on Lebanon, Jumaa pointed out, expecting that “more countries will take similar stands in the future.” Yet this doesn’t mean that the Palestinian territories will be included in any regional understanding after the war. In fact, according to Jumaa, the opposite motivates Israel’s leaps in the West Bank. “Israel is refusing to include Lebanon in the Iran ceasefire, so it is only logical to assume that the West Bank and Gaza will remain out of any regional talks, especially with the current weakness and division of the Palestinian leadership,” Jumaa said. “This is precisely why the issue of the West Bank and Gaza will remain open once the war in the region stops, and Israel will face pressure over it.” Once it does, Jumaa added, Israel wants to have already achieved a de fact situation of annexation, “before the Palestine question is bumped back to the top of the world’s political agenda, and under a different set of regional and international circumstances.” Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank continue to face closures, movement restrictions, daily raids by the Israeli army, and rising violence by Israeli settler groups. Last week, armed Israeli settlers killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man at the entrance of his hometown of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah. On Thursday, Israeli forces killed another 28-year-old during a raid in Tubas in the northern West Bank. At least 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 2023. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Qassam Muaddi.
Want to resist a data center? These organizers share how they did it.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Protesters gather for a statewide data center day of action at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 12, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Photos by Joe Timmerman/Catchlight/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="342903" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/resist-data-center-organizers-share-how/wisconsin-state-capitol" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"13","credit":"Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R","caption":"MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 12: Protesters gather for a statewide data center day of action at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 12, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Organized by the Milwaukee branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, protesters denounced ongoing data center projects in Wisconsin. (Photos by Joe Timmerman/Catchlight/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1770897932","copyright":"2026 Wisconsin Watch","focal_length":"35","iso":"200","shutter_speed":"0.004","title":"Wisconsin State Capitol","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Wisconsin State Capitol" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Protesters gather for a statewide data center day of action at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 12, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Photos by Joe Timmerman/Catchlight/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Organizers from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Arizona share strategies for resisting data centers in other communities.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Protesters gather for a statewide data center day of action at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 12, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Photos by Joe Timmerman/Catchlight/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-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="342903" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/resist-data-center-organizers-share-how/wisconsin-state-capitol" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"13","credit":"Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R","caption":"MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 12: Protesters gather for a statewide data center day of action at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 12, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Organized by the Milwaukee branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, protesters denounced ongoing data center projects in Wisconsin. (Photos by Joe Timmerman/Catchlight/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1770897932","copyright":"2026 Wisconsin Watch","focal_length":"35","iso":"200","shutter_speed":"0.004","title":"Wisconsin State Capitol","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Wisconsin State Capitol" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Protesters gather for a statewide data center day of action at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 12, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Photos by Joe Timmerman/Catchlight/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261467628-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" 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="auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This article was originally published by Truthout on April 19, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. The prolific construction of massive data centers that house the physical computing power for artificial intelligence (AI) is galvanizing resistance in localities across the United States. Communities are fighting back against the billionaire tech and financial power behind these projects and their numerous harms, from their noise and pollution to their hyperconsumption of water and electricity. Truthout has been covering the corporate interests behind the data center boom and local resistance to data centers. In this roundtable, we brought together representatives from three campaigns across the U.S. to share their experiences and lessons from taking on data centers and AI infrastructure in their areas. KeShaun Pearson is the leader of Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP), based in Memphis, Tennessee, which is focused on fighting for environmental and climate justice in the predominantly Black community of southwest Memphis that’s most impacted by the concentrated pollution from nearby toxic release facilities. MCAP is currently campaigning against Elon Musk’s polluting xAI Colossus supercomputer. Tricia Boehlke is an organizer with No Data Center in DeForest, which recently succeeded in halting a proposed data center that was pushed by a private equity-owned company in a small town outside of Madison, Wisconsin. Lee Ziesche organizes with the Tucson Democratic Socialists of America and the No Desert Data Center Coalition, which has been taking on Project Blue, a huge data center proposed in the Tucson, Arizona, area. The campaign against Project Blue won a victory when Amazon recently pulled out of the project, but its developers are again trying to advance it. This roundtable has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Derek Seidman: What’s some initial advice you’d offer to people looking to organize against a proposed data center in their area? KeShaun Pearson: Activate your community as quickly as you possibly can and inform as many people as possible. These projects move with an urgency and speed by developers that we haven’t seen before. They’re steamrolling our communities and our elected officials. Also, if they’re talking about one data center, remember that it’ll likely be two or three. That’s something I wish Memphis Community Against Pollution knew earlier, because now there are three sites for the xAI project here. If they’re talking about one data center, remember that it’ll likely be two or three. Tricia Boehlke: The number one thing is to start going to public meetings. You need to get ahead of it. Get open records requests as soon as you can, because you don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors. Talk to your board members individually because they’re likely getting misinformation from staff and not hearing from the public. Also, find people who you can connect with. Get a Facebook group going and pull together volunteers so that you’re not alone. Lee Ziesche: Talk to literally everybody you know. By the time your community finds out about the data center, they’ve been working on it for years. It’s urgent to get the word out. And find your local experts. We have amazing people in Tucson who know about water and energy and were able to combat the propaganda of these companies. Figure out your levers of power. Who or what locally has the ability to say ‘no’? This varies by state or town. Also, reach out to people who have fought data centers. So many communities are fighting back now. There are a lot of brilliant people with creative ideas and information to share. You’re not alone. How did you get the word out about the data centers in your areas? Pearson: One of our biggest movers was social media. Post far and wide on Facebook, Instagram, and other accounts. Spread the word beyond your network. We also printed documents to hand out. We knocked on doors and talked to people at grocery store parking lots. Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth and face-to-face conversations. Boehlke: We learned that interaction on social media is what really drives things. We made our Facebook page into a public group. It gained 4,400 followers, which is huge for us. Find volunteers to help screen and administer the page. We used hashtags and QR codes to help people share things that ended up going viral. Local businesses also put up signs to get the word out. Once we realized that the big ‘public meetings’ about the data center were propaganda sessions, we held our own events to expose the disinformation and present the truth and discuss next action steps. Ziesche: We made short videos on social media to combat all the propaganda. That was huge for us. We were at every festival in Tucson talking to people and handing out flyers, making sure people were showing up to public meetings. Also, once we realized that the big “public meetings” about the data center were propaganda sessions, we held our own events to expose the disinformation and present the truth and discuss next action steps. What’s important for others to know about how you build coalitions and alliances to take on data centers? Boehlke: We just brainstormed whoever we knew that we could contact and who might be helpful. We created a volunteer survey asking about experiences and skills. We got the word out and found experts who lived in and outside of our community. We reached out to other No Data Center groups in Wisconsin and made a statewide coalition. Pearson: We’ve been blessed to have been in coalition with environmental justice groups since 2020 when we fought the Byhalia Connection Pipeline. We’ve literally been meeting together for six years. Do the power-mapping work and figure out who the experts are in your area. You want to meet often and also set your ground rules. We noticed that patriarchal dynamics manifest themselves in coalitions, so there’d be meetings happening outside of meetings to set standards of respect and how to move in a coalition in a way that is intentionally different from mainstream culture. Ziesche: The major issue in Tucson that reaches everybody is water. We’re in a desert, so that got people onboard quickly. There are environmental justice communities in Tucson whose water has been poisoned by the military-industrial complex here that have been fighting for clean water for decades. Recognizing the base and the social networks that already exist is important. Also, Tucson is a border community. Understanding that the data center was part of the web of surveillance that’s targeting our immigrant communities here was really important to center. Energy affordability was also a huge issue. If you can’t afford energy in the summer in Tucson, you literally die. We were able to grow a huge base of people who realized the data center was going to impact their lives. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your organizing? Ziesche: We’re almost entirely volunteer-run. It’s been challenging to keep that going day after day. We’re trying to figure out how to sustain this fight for the long term. It’s also been a challenge to get our expertise taken seriously. Many local elected officials don’t know much about data centers or how our grid or water system works, but they take corporations and private utilities to be experts. We’ve had to continually show that there’s expertise in the community and in people’s lived experience. Pearson: Everybody who’s fighting a data center will face the challenge of misinformation. The other side runs very expensive disinformation campaigns to resign people to the idea that the data center is just going to happen. You have to be prepared for that and intentional about combating it. They’ll also do everything they can to keep the talks around the data center clandestine. They’ll work behind closed doors with legislators who support them. In Memphis, we had to pass a resolution just to have our first-ever public hearing about an air pollution permit. You have to try to create public spaces for the public to be heard to bolster the support that you have. What are important lessons you’ve learned from your campaigns? Ziesche: I wish we would have known earlier that the data center was coming. It makes a huge difference if you can get ahead of it. Keep an eye on your planning boards. You have to be meticulous to catch these things. And how you present information is also really important. Make resistance to the data center part of local culture. For example, Tucson has amazing artists who created gorgeous posters that we put everywhere. Make resistance to the data center part of local culture. There are so many things wrong with these data centers, and you don’t want to overwhelm people. Figure out three or four main things to focus on. They can be diverse things, but simplify the message. Your top line messaging should focus on what’s going to move people in your community and what will move elected officials or the people with the power to stop it. Also, there are these supposed rules of decorum, but don’t be afraid to make elected officials uncomfortable. We had these meetings where like 900 people would show up. We didn’t control everybody there, and plenty of people were standing up and yelling when they knew they were being lied to. Making them a little uncomfortable can be helpful. You’re all taking on very powerful corporate forces. What keeps you motivated? Boehlke: The community resistance on both sides of the aisle is so enormous. This feels like the one thing that is connecting everybody together. I’ve connected with other people I otherwise would’ve never talked to. I learned how to be an activist fighting this data center. I saw how a small group of people can make a difference. If you’re dedicated, even if you’re just everyday people, you can fight and win against something that seems so impossible. It’s like there’s a big fish, but then there’s a school of little fish that come together to become an even bigger fish. That’s the visualization that I always have. We’re just little fish, but we’re all pulling together to become the bigger fish. The community resistance on both sides of the aisle is so enormous. This feels like the one thing that is connecting everybody together. Ziesche: This fight is about whether Tucson will be livable in the future. Will it be too hot here for people to live here? Will people be able to afford their electric bills with these data centers here? It’s also a test of our power. Are we powerful enough to come together as a community and stop this? Every community has a different story of an extractive industry that came in and took from it and leaves behind nothing but harm. We’re told these data centers are inevitable — that they’re the future, and we’re standing in the way of “progress.” But we know the truth. We know who is going to benefit from them. It’s Big Tech, the surveillance industry, the war industry, the fossil fuel industry. It’s not our community. At the end of the day, this is about whether we have a say over the future of Tucson. And we do not think that future is in data centers. Pearson: This is a life-or-death struggle for many people. The preciousness of life is being eroded. These AI billionaires and data center investors have decided that there are some communities that ought to be sacrificed on the altar of their progress. But I believe our lives are so much more valuable than the profits of companies that have built an extractive ecosystem across our entire world, where people are suffering to service these data centers and these AI models. In Memphis, we carry this environmental exploitation in our bodies. Our families live 10 to 13 years less than our counterparts just miles away. Our youth have higher than the national average rates of respiratory illnesses because of asthma. We have experienced grief and loss. I buried both of my grandmothers in their early 60s. They were these giants of character and integrity that I lost because they were raised in the wrong zip code. xAI is perpetuating that same harm. But the hope I have is rooted in the truth that evil cannot persist forever. These data center projects are not the end-all and be-all. We have seen them fail. I believe that we’re shaping a new future right now with our very lives and work. I am committed to seeing that come to fruition. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Derek Seidman.
Freed Palestinian political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda speaks
<img width="1024" height="644" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mahmoud-al-Arda-Headshot-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C644&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Photo of freed Palestinian political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda taken after al-Arda's release from Israeli prison and deportation to Egypt in October 2025. Photo credit: Ruwaida Amer/TRNN." data-attachment-id="342895" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/freed-palestinian-political-prisoner-mahmoud-al-arda-speaks/mahmoud-al-arda-headshot" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mahmoud-al-Arda-Headshot-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1611&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1611" 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="Mahmoud al-Arda Headshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Photo of freed Palestinian political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda taken after al-Arda&#8217;s release from Israeli prison and deportation to Egypt in October 2025. Photo credit: Ruwaida Amer/TRNN. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mahmoud-al-Arda-Headshot-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C491&ssl=1"> In this blockbuster episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa—a former Black Panther and political prisoner in the US—speaks with Palestinian political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda after his release from Israeli prison.
<img width="1024" height="644" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mahmoud-al-Arda-Headshot-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C644&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Photo of freed Palestinian political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda taken after al-Arda's release from Israeli prison and deportation to Egypt in October 2025. 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Photo credit: Ruwaida Amer/TRNN. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mahmoud-al-Arda-Headshot-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C491&ssl=1" /> Former political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda was first arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 1992 due to his involvement in the First Intifada and his membership in Islamic Jihad. Since then, for the past three decades, al-Arda has been incarcerated in different Israeli prisons, and he made international headlines in 2021 after leading a daring, successful, but short-lived escape from the maximum-security Gilboa Prison. In this blockbuster episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa—a former Black Panther and political prisoner in the US—speaks with al-Arda after he and 2,000 other Palestinian prisoners were finally released from incarceration in Israel in 2025. Additional links/info: B’Tselem, Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli Custody B’Tselem, “Welcome to Hell”: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps (Report) Mansa Musa, TRNN, “Inside Israel’s Prison Regime” Ruwaida Amer, Electronic Intifada, “Freedom is the eternal dream” Aseel Mousa, Middle East Eye, “Jailbreak, freedom, exile: Life of Mahmoud al-Arda, architect of daring Israeli prison escape” Credits: Videography: Ruwaida Amer, Cameron Granadino Producer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Voiceover: Danny Bou-Maroun Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Mansa Musa: For the past two years, the four major US Sunday news shows have almost entirely excluded Palestinian voices from their coverage of Gaza. Airing just one brief interview in that time, according to journalist Adam Johnson. Corporate media’s propaganda war isn’t only about the stories it chooses to show, but even more about the voices and perspective it leaves out. In contrast, the real news is committed to amplifying those voices. In this spirit, we connected with Mahmoud al-Arda , a 50-year-old Palestinian who spent 32 years in Israel’s prisons and made international headlines as one of six men who tunneled out of Gilboura prison using spoons and makeshift tools. Now extiled in Egypt, after his daring escape and returned to solitary confinement, El Ada offers a firsthand account of his life behind bars. Mahmoud al-Arda: My name is Mahmoud al-Arda . I am 50 years old. I was first imprisoned at the age of 16. I was first sentenced to four and a half years, and I spent three and a half years from 1992 until early 1996. I was imprisoned again in September, 1996 and sentenced to life for resisting Israeli occupation of our lands. I’ve spent nearly 32 and a half years imprisoned. We were freed in the latest deal on the 13th of October. The Palestinian resistance, my belief is that we are under occupation and that this enemy came by force and will only leave by force. Force is the main factor in getting rid of this enemy and fighting it. But we believe that resistance is not only armed resistance, but also mass resistance. Popular resistance through words and resistance through images and resistance through the media. Our concept of resistance is a general concept, but we believe that armed resistance is the fundamental and most important factor in resolving our cause and our historical crisis in Palestine because this enemy only understands the language of force. It did not leave Gaza in 2005 except by force, and it only left Lebanon through force, and it only left parts of the Northern West Bank through force. But we believe that resistance has many different forms that are complimentary. And armed resistance will not succeed, except when complimented by all the other forms of resistance, including words, images, sound, demonstrations, popular and mass action, social, cultural, political, and literary action in order to delegitimize this enemy. Armed resistance compliments all of these, and it won’t succeed unless combined with all these other aspects. After October seven, war was declared on the prisoner’s movement and all achievements of the prisoner’s movement were withdrawn. The situation is very harsh. The war is comprehensive. It was a condition of the extremist interior minister, Ben Guir, in order to enter the government and to remain in it and support it. They gave him free reign in the prisons and gave the prison guards free reign. He told the prison guards, “Do whatever you want, ” provided that it is not being monitored, meaning off camera, beatings, killings. Time will expose something huge in the coming years, meaning that mass actions happened inside prisons. And I believe they killed thousands, not hundreds of Gazans in prisons. They admitted to dozens. We know that they only confess to a number when there is no other option. They have no choice because the case will be exposed. They have no choice but to admit it. But what goes on behind the scenes and what goes on underground? What goes on in the absence of oversight is the biggest, most dangerous and worst. I believe that it has killed thousands of Gazans in Zionist prisons. Of course, they practice all forms of oppression with unprecedented brutality. Over 30 years, we witnessed oppression and beatings, but it was nothing like what we’ve seen in the past two years. The levels of repression have no historical precedent, and we had never seen anything like it, even while detained in their prisons. We have not heard of the like in the whole world. There’s something very strange in the prisons. Criminal prisoners are different from security prisoners. We may meet them during transfers and in waiting rooms at crossings. We meet criminal prisoners in solitary confinement. We mix with criminal prisoners, of course. Even among criminal prisoners, there is racial discrimination. There is a big difference between criminal prisoners and Arab prisoners. There are more privileges for criminal prisoners in general. Criminals are allowed to use phones. They get to go out. Sometimes they get three days a year to visit their families, different visits, different living conditions. Their circumstances are much easier than for security prisoners. But even inside prisons and courts, Arab prisoners are tried differently and clearly, and it’s reflected in the statistics. It’s even mentioned in many Israeli studies that say that the judiciary and courts treat Arab criminal prisoners differently and in a racist manner compared to Jewish prisoners in terms of sentencing, releasing, and treatment. In this war, Arab criminal prisoners are punished and beaten when they make mistakes, just as security prisoners are. Many Arab criminal prisoners had their cases turned into security cases just because they are Arabs while Jews who have Israeli citizenship are treated differently. There are two groups, Jews and Arab Israelis who hold Israeli citizenship. Arabs are not treated the same way Jews are. And when they make mistakes, they are severely punished. This is evident in the courts and there are statistics on the subject. We have seen with our own eyes the solitary confinement and the sells. Many Arab criminal prisoners have been brutally assaulted, just like the security prisoners. Jewish prisoners break the rules and every prisoner has transgressions. But the prison administration’s response to Jews is not the same as to Arabs. Feelings around the moment of release were mixed, honestly. I only felt freedom after I was transferred from the Israeli Post, which belongs to the Middle Ages, to the Egyptian coach that belongs to the 21st century with all its modern technology. At first, I had the feeling that it was possible I would get taken back to prison. Because in the first deal, they told me that I was being released, and they usually use this as a means to break the prisoner’s spirit. They told me that I was being released, but then I was transferred to solitary confinement. So I had the feeling I might be brought back to prison. I didn’t truly feel feelings of freedom and joy until I was transferred from the Israeli post to the Egyptian coach. They used this method even after the deal was done. The news came to us from the prisons that the prison administration had released many of the life prisoners and told them that they were being released and told them to prepare themselves. But after a few days, they told them that they weren’t being released. They used this strategy to break the spirit of the prisoners. Personally I was hoping to be released to my country and the joy was limited, but it didn’t happen. But I’m not far. Egypt is our country and I don’t believe in borders. I’m very happy and comfortable. I know that there are some things that have not been finalized. The war is not over and arrangements around our fate in Egypt or in other countries remain. But I am comfortable and happy. Our Egyptian brothers are welcoming us and treating us well. We are staying in a hotel. They are giving us a grand welcome and we will feel like we are in our country among family. The truth is that when a person is subjected to injustice, it is human nature to reject and confront it and to stand with the oppressed until the oppression ends. I have read European history. I have read the history of World War I and World War II. And this great human tragedy that occurred in Europe during World War II, specifically against the Jews is a crime against humanity that has never happened in human history. It is a major crime and must be condemned. I personally disagree with the numbers. I say that six million, it could be more than six million. There are people who have been oppressed and wronged in history. This was a great injustice and crime against the Jews, against a religion, against an ethnicity, and this is an unprecedented act of racism. I denounce it and every free person in the world rejects this crime and condemns it. If I had been there and aware of what was happening, I would have been among the first to defend the Jews and the first to fight that if I was there at the time, we saw the free people. We saw Czechovara and the free people of the world, how they stood with the oppressed, how fighters came from all over the world to stand with the oppressed wherever they were. This happened in the Algerian Revolution and the Vietnamese Revolution. And in all the revolutions of the world, the free people of the world came to fight alongside the people because free people defend the oppressed, regardless of their nationality or religion or identity or color. And if I had been around in the 1940s at the beginning of World War II and was aware of the reality of what was happening, that there were no means of communication. People were late in realizing the massacre and slaughter and the images appeared. If I had been there at the time, I would have been among the first to defend the Jews and the first to fight. And I would have been ready to sacrifice myself for them, not only for the Jews, but for all the oppressed. It saddens me greatly that they associate themselves with these people, That they considered themselves the children and grandchildren of those who were slaughtered in the Nazi camps and that they are committing the same injustices and worse. I saw all the pictures of the humiliation of the Jews in the Nazi camps. I saw people on their knees and they were raising their hands and people who were beaten in the camps. We saw many pictures, but I didn’t see any Jews crawling on all fours. We are on all fours. I didn’t see any Jews forced to kneel before the Nazis. I haven’t seen photos of a Jew prostrated in front of a Nazi. I’m talking about sexual harassment, beatings, and murder. These are practices, and I told the prison director once in Rimonim prison, “You came out of this massacre having experienced crimes you should reject. You shouldn’t be practicing them.” He said, “I am worse than the Nazis with you. I’m treating you worse than the Nazis treated the Jews.” It was strange. They shocked us. I expected to be killed, expected to be beaten, but I did not expect their brutality to exceed that of the Nazis. This was a sad fact. Even the enemy has a human side, so it was a big surprise how they have behaved towards us, especially in terms of humiliation, not killing. Killing is understandable. When the war broke out on October seven, I told my fellow prisoners that they would be killing. They would 100% be killing in the prisons, but I did not imagine that they would treat Palestinians in this way with humiliation and insult. They didn’t treat us as animals. They told us we are not animals, that animals have rights. In reality, their treatment of us was worse than that of animals. This aspect surprised us greatly, that you force a human being to get down on all fours and tie them by the knees and a rope, and they become like animals in front of you. The harshest scene I’ve experienced in my life, and this is the first time I am talking about it, was the day of Trump’s election. It was a Wednesday, and the court decreed that I was to see a social worker in Echel prison. So on that Wednesday, the day of Trump’s victory, they took me out of solitary confinement and forced me to crawl alone on all fours. This was in front of the cameras. I could feel that he tied rope around my neck and forced me to crawl in front of him. I was marched, and it was one of the hardest marches I’ve ever taken in my life, being forced to crawl on all force. We went three to 400 meters like that until I reached the social worker. The situation was very harsh. I didn’t imagine the extent of it. It was all filmed and every officer and policeman had to follow these rules. They had to learn how to make people crawl like this. It was a big surprise. I said they are enemies. They slaughter and commit massacres, but I couldn’t imagine they would reach this level of inhumanity, and they considered themselves connected to the Jews who were slaughtered in the concentration camps. I said these people have no connection to those who were killed and slaughtered. I believe that after this war, after all the blood and sacrifice, it will bear fruit, God willing, and the occupation will end very soon. I have great hope that our land will be liberated and our state will be established. It’s a monumental crime. The Israeli Zionists themselves say what we did in Gaza has never happened in the history of humanity on this planet. This is, in the first four months, the unprecedented killing, the scale of killing children, women, men, infrastructure, nothing remained. I love the American people and they are a free people. They built a great and advanced civilization. No one can deny the American role in the world in founding modern civilization, but we are against the American government that is blatantly and unjustifiably aligned with this enemy, supporting it with military power, logistics, and aircraft. In Gaza and the whole world know that we are not really at war with Israel. We are at war with America. When we say death to America, we do not mean death to the American people. We love the American people. We love all people. We have not forgotten that huge portions of the American people have stood with us. We do not oppose or hate America. We oppose those governments who stand with criminals, tyrants, and corrupt people, not only with Israel, but around the world. We hate governments and their policies, but we do not hate the American people. We thank them. Thank you very much. The role played by the masses was part of the reasons that led to the end of this war. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Mansa Musa and Ruwaida Amer.
Who’s really breaking international law in the Strait of Hormuz?
Lebanon: Solemn tributes to fallen peacekeeperGaza: $71.4 billion needed for recovery and reconstruction over next decadeNearly 3 in 4 countries use AI to diagnose illness: WHO
Lebanon: Solemn tributes to fallen peacekeeperGaza: $71.4 billion needed for recovery and reconstruction over next decadeNearly 3 in 4 countries use AI to diagnose illness: WHO This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
Lawsuit Targets Trump Administration Approval of BP’s Ultra-Deepwater Drilling in Gulf of Mexico, 16 Years After Deepwater Horizon
Gulf and environmental groups sued the Trump administration today over its approval of BP’s new ultra-deepwater oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico. The project endangers the health of Gulf residents, ecosystems and industries like fishing and...
Gulf and environmental groups sued the Trump administration today over its approval of BP’s new ultra-deepwater oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico. The project endangers the health of Gulf residents, ecosystems and industries like fishing and tourism. Kaskida is BP’s first completely new oilfield approved in the Gulf since the U.K.-based company’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, which occurred 16 years ago today. BP’s infamous accident killed 11 people, wiped out horrific numbers of marine animals, and caused billions of dollars in damages to the Gulf, including by eliminating thousands of local jobs, including in fishing and tourism. BP’s Deepwater Horizon remains the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Kaskida will be at greater depths than Deepwater Horizon, in riskier waters. BP will drill for oil as far down as six miles below the sea floor, deeper than the height of Mount Everest. The groups are challenging the approval of BP’s development proposal because legally required information is either missing or significantly flawed. For instance, BP failed to demonstrate it has the experience, expertise and certified equipment to conduct safe drilling under extreme conditions at Kaskida’s location, where a “loss of well control” incident (which caused BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster) is six to seven times more likely compared to typical deepwater oil wells. BP’s proposal also underestimated the volume of a worst-case oil spill by at least half-a-million barrels of oil, which the Interior Department unfortunately adopted in its environmental analysis. And BP did not show in its proposals that it will have the necessary containment capabilities in case the company needs to stop a blown-out well from spilling 4.5 million barrels of oil or more across the Gulf. The groups — Healthy Gulf, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Habitat Recovery Project, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity — are being represented by Earthjustice. “The Trump administration has teed up the entire Gulf region for a Deepwater Horizon sequel with its approval of BP’s extremely risky ultra-deepwater drilling project,” said Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy. “The greenlighting of BP’s project sets a dangerously low bar for oil-and-gas companies that want to drill in our public waters. We’ll see the Trump administration in court over its unlawful and insulting approval of Kaskida.” “Once again, BOEM has approved a deep water well in the Gulf of Mexico. Marine wildlife and communities along the Gulf coast were devastated by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill 16 years ago,” said Joanie Steinhaus, ocean program director for Turtle Island Restoration Network. “This project is a threat to our fragile ocean ecosystem, will inflame climate change and threatens the health of coastal residents. BP has not adequately demonstrated the capacity to operate and handle an oil spill in the high-pressure, high temperature conditions of this project.” “Kaskida is emblematic of a new era in offshore oil extraction: corporate hoarding of risky, ultra-deep water leases in an attempt to monopolize the future of oil production, with little to no oversight from the Trump Administration. We, as citizens of the Gulf South, are not standing for it,” said Martha Collins, Healthy Gulf executive director. “BP has shown how they handle oil spills on this anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster — their risky drilling and inexperience at this great depth will ensure their continued legacy of the Gulf never being the same again.” “Offshore drilling is one of the riskiest kinds of oil extraction, but the Trump administration is ignoring the law to allow Big Oil CEOs to endanger coastal communities for the sake of corporate profit,” said Devorah Ancel, senior attorney at Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. “This permit would allow BP to develop multiple ultra-deep high-pressure wells, which is already exceptionally risky, and with BP’s track record in the Gulf, coastal ecosystems face extraordinary danger. We’re suing the Trump administration to ensure the coastal communities that would suffer the consequences of BP’s actions get their day in court.” “It's appalling that the Trump administration has authorized this deepwater drilling project without having information critical to preventing harm to marine life,” said Rachel Mathews, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This will put Rice's whales, sea turtles and other Gulf wildlife at terrible risk. Ultra-deepwater drilling is ultra-dangerous, full stop.” Background The Trump administration’s approval of Kaskida follows a series of actions that prioritize the oil-and-gas industry in the Gulf at the expense of communities and ecosystems. Last month, the White House illegally exempted federally authorized Gulf oil-and-gas exploration, development and production from needing to comply with certain requirements of the Endangered Species Act, even though no Gulf projects have been rejected due to the Act, and the oil industry is not facing any burdensome requirements under the law that are slowing or halting offshore drilling activities. The U.S. is also already producing more oil than any nation in history, is the world’s top producer of gas, and is a net exporter of both. The administration has also proposed weakening “well control” rules developed to tighten up safety protocols in the wake of Deepwater Horizon. It has sought to roll back “financial assurance” requirements that require the weakest oil and gas companies to backstop their obligations to clean up the mess they leave behind, rather than forcing American taxpayers to foot the bill. And, it is now consolidating two federal agencies involved in offshore drilling oversight that were intentionally separated after Deepwater Horizon to root out industry influence over regulators. The White House has proposed a budget cut for the new agency of more than 30% in funding and staff that address safety and manage operations. While such measures may boost oil industry profits, they have done little to nothing to alleviate energy prices or inflation. In the 16 years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, the oil industry has set its sights on deeper and riskier Gulf waters. In the three most recent oil-and-gas lease sales, 90% of company bids are going for deep or ultra-deepwaters, even though the likelihood of uncontrolled oil spills arising from offshore drilling operations increases exponentially with depth. Meanwhile, the oil industry is sitting on millions of acres of leases (nearly 80% of all leases the industry is in possession of) in the Gulf that haven’t begun producing oil or gas. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
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Muckrakers & Media Freedom: Celebrating the Izzy Award
This week on the program, we celebrate Independent Media and press freedom with Izzy Fest 2026 and the 18th annual Izzy Award named after the legendary muckraker, I.F. Stone. First up, we have documentary filmmaker Abby Martin of Empire Files who is sh...
This week on the program, we celebrate Independent Media and press freedom with Izzy Fest 2026 and the 18th annual Izzy Award named after the legendary muckraker, I.F. Stone. First up, we have documentary filmmaker Abby Martin of Empire Files who is sharing the Izzy Award this year for her documentary Earths Greatest Enemy about how the Pentagon is the worlds greatest polluter and why we must all act to reverse the global damage caused by US military. Next up Izzy judge and professor Victor Pickard discusses the state of our free press, the challenges journalists face from the current administration, and how independent media can light the way to a more informed and just world. The post Muckrakers & Media Freedom: Celebrating the Izzy Award appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
Army veteran charged under Espionage Act for sharing classified details
Courtney Williams, a retired Army employee with the elite Delta Force, was indicted on April 8, 2026, by a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina, for allegedly sharing classified information with a journalist, in violation of the Espionage Act....
Courtney Williams, a retired Army employee with the elite Delta Force, was indicted on April 8, 2026, by a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina, for allegedly sharing classified information with a journalist, in violation of the Espionage Act. The journalist went on to write a book and article alleging sexual harassment and discrimination in the secretive unit, according to news reports and court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Although the reporter’s name and the specific military unit are not named in the court filings, the dates and other details coincide with the work of investigative journalist Seth Harp about Delta Force. Williams was arrested April 7 and appeared in federal court in Raleigh on April 13 to face four counts of felony communicating and disclosing national defense information, under Section 793(d) of the Espionage Act. Each count carries a prison term of up to 10 years, along with monetary fines. U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Meyers ordered Williams to remain under house arrest with a monitoring device at her home in Wagram, North Carolina, awaiting trial. According to the criminal complaint, Williams was hired as a defense contractor in 2010 and became an employee of the Department of Defense months later. She then held top-secret security clearance while working for a special military unit at Fort Bragg until 2016. The complaint alleges that Williams shared tactics, member names and other classified information related to the Army unit with a journalist. Williams spent more than 10 hours on phone calls and exchanged more than 180 text messages with the journalist between 2022 and 2025, the complaint states. “The tradecraft, tactics, and techniques used by the U.S. military unit in this case are classified and should be shared only with those with proper clearances and a need to know in order to protect American lives and safeguard classified National Defense information,” Reid Davis, the FBI special agent in charge in North Carolina, said in a statement. Harp’s 2025 book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces,” included Williams’ claims of mistreatment while working for Delta Force at Fort Bragg. Ahead of the book release, Harp also highlighted Williams’ story in a Politico article, “‘My Life Became a Living Hell’: One Woman’s Career in Delta Force, the Army’s Most Elite Unit.” Williams eventually filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, reaching a settlement and retiring from the Army in 2018, according to Harp’s Politico article. In an April 8 post on the social platform X, Harp hailed Williams as a “courageous whistleblower” who “exposed rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the US Army’s Delta Force.” “Unlike many of my sources, she was adamant that she be quoted by name and made no attempt to conceal her identity because her actions were entirely above-board, legitimate, and admirable,” he wrote. Harp himself was threatened with a subpoena in January by a member of Congress for his reporting on the U.S. military operation in Venezuela. “This is very clearly a retaliatory, anti-transparency prosecution and nothing more,” Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation — of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project — said of Williams’ case. “The notion that an administration that casually posts genocide threats during its illegal wars is worried about national security risks from whistleblowers who expose sexual harassment is absurd.” This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Trump Admin Aims to "Break the Forest Service," Nearly 200 Million Acres at Stake
Shepard Fairey on Art, Activism & Resisting Fascism
"Gulf of Trust" Between Iran & U.S. as End of Ceasefire Nears, Peace Talks Uncertain
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 20, 2026
North Korean operatives use fake identities to apply for tech jobs
Some land six-figure jobs to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back to the regime.
North Korean operatives are infiltrating global tech companies using fake identities to land six-figure jobs and funnel hundreds of millions back to the regime. An independent researcher turned a routine job interview into an intelligence operation when he identified a North Korean IT worker applying under a false identity. RFA’s Jaewoo Park sat down with him to understand how these operatives evade detection. North Korean IT worker exposed while seeking job This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jaewoo Park.
Forest Firings: Trump Admin Aims to “Break the Forest Service,” Nearly 200 Million Acres at Stake
The Trump administration in late March announced an extensive reorganization of the Forest Service, the federal agency responsible for managing 193 million acres of public lands across 43 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. As part of ...
The Trump administration in late March announced an extensive reorganization of the Forest Service, the federal agency responsible for managing 193 million acres of public lands across 43 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. As part of the changes, 57 of 77 research stations across the country will be shuttered, with the headquarters relocating from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City. While the overhaul is billed as an effort to improve efficiency, conservationist Jim Pattiz says it will effectively destroy the agency. “This is a critically important agency,” says Pattiz, co-author of the newsletter More Than Just Parks that tracks threats to public lands across the country. “The intent here is obvious. It’s to hollow out this agency and hand it to the resource extraction industry and prepare it for, potentially, the eventual transfer of our public lands to states.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Shepard Fairey on Art, Activism & Resisting Fascism: “It Can Happen Here, and It Is”
We speak with artist Shepard Fairey, best known for the Obama “Hope” poster, about the role of art in politics, the rise of fascism in the United States and more. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman spoke with Fairey in Los Angeles la...
We speak with artist Shepard Fairey, best known for the Obama “Hope” poster, about the role of art in politics, the rise of fascism in the United States and more. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman spoke with Fairey in Los Angeles last week and toured his studio. Some of his recent artworks depict ICE agents with labels like “Domestic Terrorist,” used by Trump administration officials to describe protesters who oppose the administration's immigration crackdown. Fairey says that while he doesn’t think of his art as propaganda, he also doesn’t shy away from the label. “If you want to call it propaganda, it’s meant to initiate a conversation, a counternarrative that isn’t happening in a robust enough way,” he says. Fairey created the film poster for Steal This Story, Please!, the new documentary about Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!, which had its theatrical opening earlier in April. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
While many Western countries have condemned Iran’s restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as a breach of international law, reaction has been relatively muted about the “clearly unlawful” war that the United States ...
While many Western countries have condemned Iran’s restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as a breach of international law, reaction has been relatively muted about the “clearly unlawful” war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran, says law professor Maryam Jamshidi. “This says a lot about the ways in which international law is being deployed in this moment as a way of restraining and regulating Iranian behavior, while effectively allowing the United States and Israel a free hand to do what they want,” says Jamshidi, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
“Gulf of Trust” Between Iran & U.S. as End of Ceasefire Nears, Peace Talks Uncertain
The Strait of Hormuz is closed to shipping traffic after Iran once again shut off access to the key waterway over the weekend in retaliation for the ongoing U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. This comes as the U.S. Navy intercepted and seized an ...
The Strait of Hormuz is closed to shipping traffic after Iran once again shut off access to the key waterway over the weekend in retaliation for the ongoing U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. This comes as the U.S. Navy intercepted and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Sea of Oman on Sunday. Iran said the seizure violated the ceasefire reached earlier this month. Despite the escalation, President Trump announced a U.S. delegation is heading to Pakistan for a new round of peace talks. Iran’s Foreign Ministry says Tehran has “no plans” to participate. There has been a “gradual escalation” in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran since the last round of talks in Islamabad, says Iranian American analyst Vali Nasr, professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Iran’s leadership is “suspicious that President Trump was really using the talks in Pakistan as a cover for renewing war on Iran and that he was not serious about diplomacy.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Iran Shuts Access to Strait of Hormuz as U.S. Navy Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship, Israeli Soldier Filmed Destroying a Statue of Jesus in Southern Lebanon, British Authorities Probe Recent Arson Attacks on Jewish Sites in London, Oil and Gas Prices Surge After U.S. Navy Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship, United Nations: More Than 38,000 Women and Girls Killed in Gaza from October 2023 to December 2025, Eight Children Shot and Killed by Louisiana Father, as Five People Injured in Shooting Near University of Iowa, At Least Six People Killed in Mass Shooting in Ukraine, U.S. Says It Killed 3 Aboard Alleged Drug Boat, Pushing Death Toll in Such Attacks to Nearly 200, Mexico Admits Gulf Oil Spill Was Caused by a Leaking Pemex Pipeline, Joe diGenova, Who Tried to Overturn 2020 Election Results, to Lead Probe of Trump’s Critics, Appeals Court Allows Trump to Resume Construction of $400 Million White House Ballroom, Federal Judge Blocks $6.2 Billion Merger of Nexstar Media Group and Rival Tegna, Activists Attempting to Save Dogs from Medical Experimentation Met with Tear Gas in Wisconsin, Brazil’s Lula and Spain’s Sánchez Lead Progressive Push to Counter Rise of Far-Right Parties
Iran Shuts Access to Strait of Hormuz as U.S. Navy Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship Israeli Soldier Filmed Destroying a Statue of Jesus in Southern Lebanon British Authorities Probe Recent Arson Attacks on Jewish Sites in London Oil and Gas Prices Surge After U.S. Navy Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship United Nations: More Than 38,000 Women and Girls Killed in Gaza from October 2023 to December 2025 Eight Children Shot and Killed by Louisiana Father, as Five People Injured in Shooting Near University of Iowa At Least Six People Killed in Mass Shooting in Ukraine U.S. Says It Killed 3 Aboard Alleged Drug Boat, Pushing Death Toll in Such Attacks to Nearly 200 Mexico Admits Gulf Oil Spill Was Caused by a Leaking Pemex Pipeline Joe diGenova, Who Tried to Overturn 2020 Election Results, to Lead Probe of Trump's Critics Appeals Court Allows Trump to Resume Construction of $400 Million White House Ballroom Federal Judge Blocks $6.2 Billion Merger of Nexstar Media Group and Rival Tegna Activists Attempting to Save Dogs from Medical Experimentation Met with Tear Gas in Wisconsin Brazil's Lula and Spain's Sánchez Lead Progressive Push to Counter Rise of Far-Right Parties This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Headlines for April 20, 2026; “Gulf of Trust” Between Iran & U.S. as End of Ceasefire Nears, Peace Talks Uncertain; Who Is Breaking International Law in the Strait of Hormuz? It’s Not Iran, Says Scholar; Shepard Fairey on Art, Activism & Resisting Fascism: “It Can Happen Here, and It Is”; Forest Firings: Trump Admin Aims to “Break the Forest Service,” Nearly 200 Million Acres at Stake
Democracy Now! 2026-04-20 Monday Headlines for April 20, 2026 "Gulf of Trust" Between Iran & U.S. as End of Ceasefire Nears, Peace Talks Uncertain Who Is Breaking International Law in the Strait of Hormuz? It's Not Iran, Says Scholar Shepard Fairey on Art, Activism & Resisting Fascism: "It Can Happen Here, and It Is" Forest Firings: Trump Admin Aims to "Break the Forest Service," Nearly 200 Million Acres at Stake Download this show This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Fiji police confirm murder probe launched into death of man in military custody
By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist The Fiji Police Force has launched a murder investigation following the death of wellknown drug pusher Jone Vakarisi, who died in military custody on Thursday. Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro told RNZ Pacific that “investigators are gathering intelligence to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the victim’s death”. “The
By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist The Fiji Police Force has launched a murder investigation following the death of wellknown drug pusher Jone Vakarisi, who died in military custody on Thursday. Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro told RNZ Pacific that “investigators are gathering intelligence to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the victim’s death”. “The heads of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) and the police are reconfirming their commitment towards conducting a thorough investigation, appealing once again to members of the public to allow the investigative process to run its course,” Naisoro said. READ MORE: Commander says RFMF remains committed to accountability Fiji military faces questions after death of Jone Vakarisi in custody Other Fiji military reports Meanwhile, the Suva High Court has closed criminal proceedings against Vakarisi, after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) made an application to stop proceedings. Fijivillage.com reports that public prosecutors were appealing Vakarisi’s suspended sentence for having marijuana within the confines of a court in January 2023. He was reportedly found with 15.2 grams of marijuana and sentenced to three months in jail, suspended for two years by the Suva Magistrates Court. The appeal hearing was meant to be held on Monday. Application granted Chief Justice Salesi Temo granted the ODPP’s application after reviewing medical evidence. The court requested a copy of the death certificate, which was released by the police’s Director of Criminal Investigations. Conflicting reports emerged over the weekend regarding the death of Vakarisi, who was reportedly linked to major criminal networks. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126757" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jone-Vakarisi-RNZ-680wide.png" alt="Fiji drug peddler Jone Vakarisi at a court appearance in March 2026" width="680" height="583" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jone-Vakarisi-RNZ-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jone-Vakarisi-RNZ-680wide-300x257.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jone-Vakarisi-RNZ-680wide-490x420.png 490w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Fiji drug peddler Jone Vakarisi at a court appearance in March 2026 . . . his death in military custody blamed on “a pre-existing condition”. Image: FB/The Fiji Times/RNZ Pacific News of his death broke on Friday, while top military and police brass were gathered on Bau Island, farewelling the late President and Speaker of the House, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. The RFMF said in a statement on Saturday that the death was due to “a sudden and severe emergency” during questioning at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua, approximately 10 minutes’ drive from Suva City. RFMF commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai said the victim, in his late 30s, had “voluntarily presented” himself with three others to the RFMF headquarters “to assist with investigations.” Kalouniwai attributed Vakarisi’s death to “a pre-existing condition”. However, Vakarisi’s family has disputed the military’s account, telling local media that he was “not a sickly person at all”. Later statement However, a later statement by General Kalouniwai corrected aspects of the initial military communication concerning the death of Vakarisi, saying that the RFMF acknowledged that the earlier description of the incident as a “medical emergency” did not fully reflect the medical findings now available, reports Fijivillage.com. This followed the receipt of the post mortem report for Vakarisi. The commander said the RFMF recognised the seriousness of these findings. Queenie Osbourne, the mother of Vakarisi’s children, told The Fiji Times, that Vakarisi and others were taken from their home to the army barracks on Thursday night without any formal explanations. A leaked death certificate, which first appeared on Fijian social media on Saturday, has now been verified by Fiji Police commissioner Rusiate Tudravu to be an official police document. According to the document, the causes of Vakarisi’s death were listed as asphyxia, aspiration of gastric contents, severe traumatic head injuries, and blunt force trauma to both the head and chest. “No one informed us of his death from the night he died. We found out when he was in the morgue,” Osbourne was quoted as saying by The Fiji Times. Vakarisi’s family is calling for justice. A high-level meeting took place in Suva involving the Prime Minister, security chiefs and military leaders before the police decided to issue a statement classifying Vakarisi’s death as murder. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
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Trump Pardoned a Nursing Home Owner Who Owed Almost $19 Million to a Grieving Family
The post Trump Pardoned a Nursing Home Owner Who Owed Almost $19 Million to a Grieving Family appeared first on ProPublica.
President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders and a pardon in February 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images When Amanda Coulson was a child, she visited her mother at work at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. Doris Coulson was a nurse, and one memory never left her daughter. A code blue was called, and suddenly her mother was racing alongside a patient’s bed. “She jumped into the middle of the bed and was doing CPR in the bed as it flew down the hallway,” Amanda Coulson said years later in court. “I realized she didn’t play at work all day.” That was the kind of caregiver her mother was: someone who understood what quality care meant because she had spent her life giving it to others. After Doris Coulson retired, she became a patient at a nursing home owned by Joseph Schwartz, a New Jersey businessman who was buying up nursing homes across the country. The staff wasn’t supposed to serve her solid food, but they did, and she died. Doctors told the family they found scrambled eggs in her lungs. Nine years after Coulson’s death, President Donald Trump pardoned Schwartz in a federal case in which he had admitted to withholding $39 million in employee payroll taxes from his nursing home empire and diverting the money for other purposes. Schwartz’s lawyers argued that his actions were not an attempt at personal enrichment but to save his company. The White House said Schwartz was “an example of over prosecution” and argued that a third-party entity had managed the tax filings and that serving all three years of his prison sentence would have been detrimental for someone of his age and poor health. Behind the tax charge was a business that families and lawsuits said had left real people neglected, injured and dead. The Coulson family sued Schwartz and his company for wrongful death. Schwartz did not appear in court to challenge the case. Six years ago, a judge awarded Amanda Coulson and her sister and brother nearly $19 million. (He later claimed he never received key filings and had mistaken the complaint for the same lawsuit first filed in 2017. He argued the company that took over the home was the proper defendant.) Schwartz never paid. Amanda has since died. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="405" height="607" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0026_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=405" alt="An elderly woman in a wheelchair, wearing a long-sleeve pink shirt and green socks, holds a small brown dog in her lap. Two large drinking cups with lids and straws sit on the table in front of her." class="wp-image-73763" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0026_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 405w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0026_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0026_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px" /> Doris Coulson’s family filed a wrongful death suit against New Jersey businessman Joseph Schwartz and his company. The Coulsons were awarded nearly $19 million in damages but have yet to see any compensation from Schwartz. Courtesy of Melissa Coulson Stories about pardons are often told as stories about presidential power — who got mercy, who had access, who persuaded a president to intervene. What drew me to Schwartz’s pardon was the people on the other side of that act of grace: people like Doris Coulson and her family, whose lives had already been shattered long before the White House celebrated Schwartz’s first Shabbat with his family after Trump freed him from prison and a top Justice Department official declared him “free to rebuild.” The pardon for Schwartz came while I was reporting on Trump’s broader clemency spree, which has favored allies, donors and other well-connected defendants, including people convicted in serious financial fraud cases. This pardon felt different to me. To understand the human toll, I turned to court records. In states where Schwartz owned nursing homes, I found harrowing accounts of patients suffering and insiders desperately trying to protect them as problems piled up. The damage reached workers, too: As facilities fell apart, some employees said they were buying food for residents out of their own pockets. Others were left with medical bills after insurance premiums were taken from their paychecks but the coverage was never funded. And yet, Schwartz still appears to have money, perhaps even great sums. Lobbying disclosure forms showed he had paid more than $1 million to lobbyists to help secure his pardon. And even after his business collapsed, prosecutors said he still had $58 million in assets, though none was in his own name. The White House has said the president does not issue pardons at the request of lobbyists. After the pardon, Schwartz still had to return to Arkansas in late December to serve nine months in prison for defrauding the state’s Medicaid program. I saw his return as a chance to speak with him. The prison system said I could reach him only by mail. In the first week of January, I sent a letter requesting an interview by phone, email or in person, noting that I could easily drive from my home in Missouri to meet him. A lawyer for the Coulson family saw that same narrow window as a chance to do something more consequential: serve Schwartz with a subpoena for a deposition and records that might help locate his assets and force payment of judgments he had ignored. The window for both of us closed almost immediately. One of Schwartz’s lobbyists had also been hired to seek relief for him in Arkansas. Within three weeks, the parole board released him. My letter came back as undeliverable. The lawyer had no better luck tracking him down. That episode helped me understand the story more clearly. At first it felt like a reporting failure. The more I sat with it, the more I realized that the missed window was actually a mirror of the broader story. Even after criminal convictions, civil judgments and years of litigation, Schwartz remained elusive to the people seeking answers or accountability. There was a machinery working to shorten his punishment. But nothing to help the victims. Read More A Nursing Home Owner Got a Trump Pardon. The Families of His Patients Got Nothing. The post Trump Pardoned a Nursing Home Owner Who Owed Almost $19 Million to a Grieving Family appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Jeremy Kohler.
The Trump administration wants to take an ax to the East’s last great forests
The fight over the roadless rule has long focused on the West, but its repeal could fragment some of the last pristine forests in the eastern United States.
When most people think about national forests, they imagine vast Western landscapes: Alaska, the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest. But millions of acres of federal woodlands dot the eastern half of the country, too. These great swaths of vibrant ecosystems have long been free of roads, protected by a policy called, appropriately enough, the “roadless rule.” That may soon change. Adopted in 2001 during the final days of the Clinton administration, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, as it is formally known, grew out of a realization within the U.S. Forest Service that it had built more roads than it could afford to maintain. Many were crumbling into streams, fragmenting habitat, and degrading drinking water, alarming even agency scientists. The rule barred road construction and logging in nearly 60 million acres of undeveloped national forest in 39 states. In the eastern U.S., these areas provide rare pockets of ecological and natural relief in a densely developed region. As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the policy and open those lands to logging and mining, the future of these forests — and the communities that rely on them — is in question. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Tongass 1925x1333" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?quality=75&strip=all 1925w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?resize=1200%2C831&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?resize=330%2C229&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?resize=768%2C532&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?resize=1536%2C1064&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tongass-1333.png?resize=150%2C104&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1333" width="1925" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> The Roadless Rule is supposed to protect our wild places. What went wrong in the Tongass National Forest? Jacob Resneck, Eric Stone, Edward Boyda, & Clayton Aldern The Department of Agriculture, under which the Forest Service sits, argues the roadless rule limits its ability to reduce wildfire risk, maintain access for firefighters, and promote forest health. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has called the policy an “absurd obstruction” and “overly restrictive.” She said its repeal would give the Forest Service greater flexibility to protect woodlands and support rural economies. But conservationists argue the administration’s position is unsupported by science and ignores the importance of these relatively pristine expanses of forest. The woodlands play an outsize role in sheltering wildlife, supporting recreation, and protecting drinking water supplies to millions of people, as well as storing carbon to help fight climate change. “Roadless areas are a finite resource,” said Garrett Rose of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “They are our last best stretches of national forest land.” Even some former leaders of the Forest Service oppose the repeal. Four former chiefs, drawing on 150 years of collective experience, have urged the administration to preserve the rule. “Removing protection of these precious lands that belong to all citizens, rich and poor, would be an irreparable tragedy,” said Vicki Christiansen, who led the agency from 2018 until 2021. The policy safeguards about one-third of all national forest land. Ninety-five percent of it lies in 10 Western states where vast, contiguous forests remain the norm. East of the Mississippi River, however, the policy shields smaller, more vulnerable parcels. In Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, for example, just 4,000 acres are road-free; across the Southeast, the total is roughly 416,000. <img decoding="async" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/roadless-acres-light.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> 12 Western states hold 96% of all roadless acreage Inventoried roadless areas in U.S. national forests, millions of acres Source: Congressional Research Service; USDA Forest Service Clayton Aldern / Grist / Geranimo / Unsplash <path d="M137 98.5C133 98.5 132 97.5 132 92.5V50.2C133.579 49.0591 135.454 48.3993 137.4 48.3C140.5 48.3 143.2 49.6 147.5 54.7C148.8 56.3 150 57 151.3 57C153.3 57 154.5 55.7 154.5 53.4V38H151.5C147.812 37.9397 144.155 38.6872 140.786 40.1901C137.418 41.6931 134.419 43.915 132 46.7V38H108V41.5H112C116 41.5 117 42.5 117 47.5V92.5C117 97.5 116 98.5 112 98.5H108V102H145V98.5H137ZM158.5 41.5H161.2C165.2 41.5 166.2 42.5 166.2 47.5V92.5C166.2 97.5 165.2 98.5 161.2 98.5H156.8V102H189.9V98.5H186.2C182.2 98.5 181.2 97.5 181.2 92.5V38H158.5V41.5ZM195.4 102H199.1V101C199.1 98.7 200.8 98.8 202.8 99.5C210.5 102.2 214.4 103 220.5 103C236.8 103 244.5 95.4 244.5 82.7C244.5 74.2 239.6 66.7 227.3 63.1L211.2 58.4C203.5 56.1 201.2 53 201.2 49.7C201.2 46.4 204.2 43.4 209.1 43.4C216.6 43.4 223.8 48 234.3 56.3C235.151 57.0952 236.241 57.5873 237.4 57.7C239.4 57.7 240.6 56.4 240.6 54.1V38H236.9V39C236.9 40.7 235.8 41.5 233.7 40.7C226.3 37.9 221.8 37 217.6 37C203.1 37 196 45.2 196 56.9C196 65.3 201.8 72.4 215.2 76.5L229.6 80.9C236.8 83.1 239.3 86 239.3 89.9C239.3 93.8 236 96.6 231.1 96.6C224.3 96.6 215.3 93.2 202.1 83C201.131 82.094 199.911 81.5015 198.6 81.3C196.6 81.3 195.4 82.6 195.4 84.9V102ZM257.8 83.9C257.8 96.3 265.1 103 278.7 103C285.1 103 294.8 101.2 302.3 98.7V87C302.3 84.7 301.1 83.4 299.1 83.4C297.9 83.4 296.8 84.1 295.6 85.9C288.4 96.7 282.8 99.6 278.2 99.6C274.2 99.6 272.8 97.8 272.8 92.7V49.5H304.7V38H272.8V14H269.1V14.7C269.1 29 260.3 40.4 247.8 42.8V49.5H257.8V83.9ZM166.2 30H181.2V12.5H166.2V30ZM84.9 64V88.3C79.1 91.9 72.6 94 67.1 94C39.7 94 15.1 64.1 15.1 33C15.1 18.4 24.7 6.9 41.4 6.9C51.9 6.9 72.3 13.6 87.4 29.8C87.8588 30.38 88.4339 30.8576 89.0884 31.2021C89.7428 31.5465 90.4621 31.7502 91.2 31.8C93.2 31.8 94.4 30.5 94.4 28.2V2H90.7V3C90.7 6.6 88.6 7.6 83.4 6C72.9626 2.50408 62.0057 0.813193 51 1C18.1 1 0 26.8 0 52C0 80.8 21.9 103 51 103C63.148 102.914 74.9783 99.11 84.9 92.1V102H99.4V50H46.4V64H84.9Z" fill="#3C3830"></path> The Trump administration began its repeal effort last fall with an unusually short 21-day public comment period — far shorter than the usual timeframe, which can be as long as 90 days. Still, it drew more than 220,000 responses, nearly all of them opposed, according to an analysis by the advocacy organization Roadless Defense. Most cited concerns about wildlife, tourism, and water quality. Still, the administration plans to press ahead. The rollback is part of a broader push to expand logging and remake the nation’s second-largest land management agency. Last month, the Trump administration shuttered 57 of the 77 research stations the Forest Service operated nationwide, many of which studied the impacts of climate change, invasive species, and wildfires on woodlands. The shakeup included plans to move the agency headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah from Washington, D.C. and shutter nine regional offices. Since his return to office last year, President Donald Trump has pushed federal agencies to intensify timber production, an effort that includes making it easier to use legal loopholes to fell trees. With the Department of Agriculture aiming to overturn the roadless rule this year, the debate is shifting from Washington to the woods — and to the communities living alongside some of the last protected forests in the East. — Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="a tree is visible beyond two rock formations" data-caption="The Garden of the Gods observation trail is seen from the Shawnee National Forest near Herod, Illinois, in March 2019. " data-credit="Patrick Gorski / NurPhoto via Getty Images"/> The Garden of the Gods observation trail is seen from the Shawnee National Forest near Herod, Illinois, in March 2019. Patrick Gorski / NurPhoto via Getty Images Shawnee National Forest, Illinois A quiet stand in the woods against a warming world In the summer of 1990, John Wallace celebrated his 31st birthday by looping a bike lock around his neck and securing himself to a log skidder deep within Shawnee National Forest. He was among dozens of activists who spent 79 days occupying the woodland to stop the sale of its timber. U.S. Forest Service officers arrested him only after cutting him free with a blowtorch. The campaign, which drew national attention, helped secure an injunction on commercial logging and oil and gas drilling that ended in 2013. Still, the roadless rule continued to protect about 2 percent of the forest from harvest. Thirty-five years after locking himself to that skidder, Wallace worries about what President Trump’s push to expand logging will mean for the land he loves. “The impact in the Shawnee is not going to be as profound as the impact in the forest out west,” said Wallace, who spent part of his career managing public lands in Carbondale, Illinois. “But make no mistake, the Trump administration is determined to open up our public land to industrial exploitation.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/John-Wallace-Shawnee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A man with white hair and a beard looks out at a beautiful forest" data-caption="John Wallace walks through the Shawnee National Forest in 2026. He was among a group of activists who spent 79 days occupying the woodland to stop the sale of its timber. " data-credit="Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco / WBEZ / Grist"/> John Wallace walks through the Shawnee National Forest in 2026. He was among a group of activists who spent 79 days occupying the woodland to stop the sale of its timber. Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco / WBEZ / Grist Shawnee stretches across the southern tip of Illinois, covering nearly 289,000 acres of steep hills, hardwood forest, and sandstone bluffs. Heavily logged a century ago, the forest has grown back unevenly, hemmed in by farms, power lines, warehouses, and small towns. Only a handful of scattered pockets of the forest, about 10,000 acres in all, are safe from pavement through the rule. The roadless areas in the park are vital to imperiled species like the cerulean warbler, the bird-voiced tree frog, and the Indiana bat. One tree can also absorb approximately 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each year — and many of these woodlands are at a stage when that process is at its peak. “Eastern forests are middle-aged,” typically between 80 and 120 years old, said Richard Birdsey, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and former U.S. Forest Service researcher. “That’s a period when they are optimally removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in biomass and the soil.” Birdsey has spent decades studying the role forests play as carbon sinks. Woodlands offset more than 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and a study he co-wrote in 2023 found that Eastern forests had reached only about half of their carbon storage potential. Left intact, they could continue accumulating it for decades, even centuries. Stopping all timber harvesting in these forests could absorb about 117 million metric tons of CO2 annually by 2050. Accelerating timber harvest, as Trump wants to do, could increase emissions by a similar amount. Back on the ground in Shawnee, Wallace navigated the winding backroads, passing a patchwork of fields, power lines, and scattered homes that cut across the forest. “I can see national forest in my rearview mirror and there’s national forest up here on our left,” he said. “When we get close to the roadless area, we’ll be surrounded by national forest.” After missing a turn and backtracking onto a country road, he pulled into the modest cabin of his longtime friend Mark Donham. It’s tucked deep inside the Shawnee near Burke Branch, an expansive woodland ecosystem that fell short of the protection criteria of the roadless rule, but that the Forest Service still preserved from timber harvests due to its sensitive plant and water resources. Inside, Donham — who works at a grocery co-op across the river in Kentucky — stoked one of his wood-burning stoves, the home’s only source of heat, and unrolled a large map. “Down here and over, all of this up to here — all the way up to where that transmission line is — that’s the roadless area,” he said. Donham moved to the cabin with his late wife in 1980 and soon joined the fight against logging. “It’s almost 7,000 acres.” Outside, he led the way down a muddy, uneven path into Burke Branch, which is crisscrossed by a dense network of improved and unimproved roads, according to the forest’s 2006 management plan. Donham pointed out towering pines, one rising nearly eight stories. “And these aren’t even the biggest ones,” he said, gesturing farther down the trail toward even taller conifers. His mood shifted as the path narrowed. Deep ruts from all-terrain vehicles marred the soil. Beer cans lay scattered about. “I’ve lived here 45 years,” Donham said, filling a white plastic bag with trash. “Other than it being abused by vehicles, nothing’s happened in this area. You can take off walking that way, go four or five miles and just be in the wilderness.” To Donham, the damage is a warning. Roads mean access — and access, he said, rarely brings good things. — Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Chattahoochee-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A waterfall in a fall forest in Georgia" data-caption="Water falls into a pool in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. " data-credit="Tom Wozniak / 500px via Getty Photos"/> Water falls into a pool in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. Tom Wozniak / 500px via Getty Photos Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia The fire risk on both sides of the road A narrow, heavily potholed dirt road stretches deep into the Chattahoochee National Forest outside the tiny north Georgia mountain town of Clayton — a moderate hike on foot, or a fun, if bumpy, ride on a mountain bike or all-terrain vehicle. But scramble up the steep slope to one side, through the leaf litter and scattered branches, and you’ll crest a ridge overlooking an expanse of woodland with no roads at all. Pines, oaks, and twisty mountain laurel roll down the mountainside. Off in the distance, another peak rises into the sky. It’s beautiful — and remote. The Chattahoochee covers roughly 751,000 acres in the Appalachian foothills of northern Georgia. Just 7 percent of the forest, a tapestry of winding streams, steep ridges, and mixed woodland, remains free of roads. It feels vast and untouched — a rarity in the East. But that beauty comes with risk. “If lightning hit one of those peaks and started burning, starting a fire, it would get a fair way before they could maybe do much about it,” said JP Schmidt, an ecologist with Georgia Forest Watch. That concern — access — lies at the heart of the U.S. Forest Service’s argument for repealing the roadless rule. Agency officials say that without roads, firefighters may struggle to reach blazes quickly, giving them ample opportunity to grow larger and more dangerous. In 2016, the Rough Ridge fire tore through 28,000 acres of the forest, underscoring those fears. “It was a fire that they were unable to keep up with,” said James Sullivan, also with Georgia Forest Watch. The blaze, which burned for about a month, threatened small mountain communities like Tate City and Betty’s Creek. Though firefighters defended those areas, “the rest of it burned on its own.” Allowing a fire to run its course — so long as people and homes are protected — isn’t necessarily a failure of forest management. It clears leaf litter, thins crowded saplings, and reduces the buildup of debris. “You’ve got all these fuels taken care of,” Schmidt said, “and there’s much less threat of a major fire again any time soon.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/chattahoochee-trees.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1000w" alt="A view from the ground looking up at trees" data-caption="The untouched portions of Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest are beautiful, but officials say their remoteness comes with risks." data-credit="Emily Jones / WABE / Grist"/> The untouched portions of Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest are beautiful, but officials say their remoteness comes with risks. Emily Jones / WABE / Grist It wasn’t always that way. The National Forest Service was founded in 1905 with aggressive fire suppression as a key policy. That began to change in the 1960s, and today some blazes burn themselves out under careful supervision. In fact, many public lands are managed with fire, a technique Indigenous peoples used for millennia to promote forest health. “Prescribed fire is one of the most effective tools for reducing hazardous fuels and maintaining healthy, fire-adapted forests in the Southeast,” said Laura Fitzmorris, a Forest Service spokesperson. Roadless areas make up only about a sliver of the Chattahoochee and are “generally small and interspersed with nearby communities, roads, and recreation sites.” Access, she said, is “one of many operational factors considered” in wildfire response. But access cuts both ways — because roads allow more than fire trucks in. “If there were more roads, there would be more access,” Schmidt said. “So people might start fires, purposely or accidentally.” Human activity is by far the leading cause of wildfires. From Virginia to Texas, people sparked 23,980 fires in 2024, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Lightning strikes caused just 809. Many of those fires start near roads, the result of cigarettes tossed from passing cars. Hot exhaust pipes or dragging tailpipes throwing sparks also are common causes. Hikers and campers can start them when they fail to extinguish campfires. And then there are those who intentionally start a blaze, using roads to easily get in and out. In all of these cases, said Sam Evans, the National Forests and Parks program leader at the Southern Environmental Law Center, “roads are the common denominator.” The roadless rule already makes an exemption for firefighting, and he called the administration’s argument that repealing it will make that job easier “malarkey.” “They’re trying to trick the American people into thinking that timber production is somehow making us safer from wildfire,” he said. “It’s not.” — Emily Jones <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Green-Mountain-National-Forest.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="a hooded figure walks through snowy woods on a hike" data-caption="A Vermont hiking path includes views of the Green Mountain National Forest on a snowy winter day in February 2023. " data-credit="Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images"/> A Vermont hiking path includes views of the Green Mountain National Forest on a snowy winter day in February 2023. Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont A denuded swath of woodland hints at the future The snow crunched under Zack Porter’s boots as he wove his way to the crest of a small ridge in the thick of Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest. When he reached the knoll, he looked out at acres of denuded land and wondered aloud: “Why?” It’s unclear exactly when it happened, but sometime between 2020 and 2025, loggers legally stripped away the maple, beech, birch, and ash trees that had stood here for more than a century. In their place grew prickly brambles that caught on Porter’s pants and left thorns in his socks. “I am blown away,” he said. Porter, who co-founded Standing Trees, a nonprofit that advocates for forests in New England, hadn’t visited the site since it was logged. “They turned this into a moonscape,” he said. He worries that more clearcutting may be coming. The U.S. Forest Service manages about 376,000 acres of Green Mountain National Forest, and this stretch — called Homer Stone — lies in the southern portion of that range. The government has labeled the 11,619-acre parcel as a roadless area, but because it wasn’t designated as such until after the 2001 rule took effect, it has remained ripe for what the Forest Service calls “early successional habitat creation.” “You have to get used to that with the Forest Service. There’s a lot of gobbledygook, a lot of names that kind of throw you off,” said Porter. “That’s shorthand for logging.” The Forest Service has deemed roughly 81,000 acres of Vermont part of a “roadless area,” but only about 25,000 acres of that are projected by the Clinton-era rule. The other 56,000 aren’t covered, and the Forest Service has approved about 6,000 acres for logging. This is a preview, Porter said, of what would happen to protected trees across the country if the Trump administration scraps the Clinton-era protections. “The roadless rule is really one of the best tools we have to keep these public lands on a path to ecological restoration,” he said, staring at land covered in stumps, some of them 3 feet or more in diameter. The Forest Service maintains that cutting mature trees can help revitalize the forest by creating swaths of young, fast-growing vegetation that provide food and cover for songbirds, small mammals, and insects. Some ecologists, ornithologists, and conservationists support this approach, arguing that decades of fire suppression and development have reduced the amount of this habitat on the landscape. The trees in this patch of Homer Stone are, for the most part, now gone. With them, Porter argues, went irreplaceable ecological benefits. Less old growth forest means a smaller potential habitat for the American Marten, which is endangered in Vermont. It also means fewer shaggy bark trees, and the inevitable fallen deadwood, that make great homes for northern long-eared bats. A dearth of cover can also increase runoff, exacerbating Vermont’s growing problems with flooding. Porter is also troubled by how these trees came to be cut. The Forest Service announced its plans to log during the first Trump administration, but didn’t provide exact locations. The public comment before cutting began was brief, Porter said, and led only to superficial changes. For example, some of the proposed roads were re-labeled “temporary,” though Porter said it is unclear what, in practice, distinguishes them from permanent roads. Tracey Forest runs the Spirit Hollow silent retreat in southern Vermont and told the local news outlet VTDigger that she wasn’t aware of the public comment periods. Foresters appeared in the forest surrounding her land in 2024, and trees began to fall last year. She has since had to relocate parts of her business. “To place such a giant, loud, factory operation right at our border — it seems unconscionable to us,” Forest said. Driving deeper into the Homer Stone forest, the evidence of logging is easy to find: stumps where trunks have been hauled away, a hilltop where light pours through thinned trees. Then, abruptly, the forest resumes, largely undisturbed. On either side of this invisible line, the trees are ecologically identical — but those beyond it were inventoried before 2001, and so are shielded from logging. “There’s little to stop the logging of this place, except for the roadless rule,” said Porter, crossing into protected land, onto a path lined with sturdy Vermont hardwoods. “Look how easy it would be for someone to drive a logging truck in here.” — Tik Root This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The Trump administration wants to take an ax to the East’s last great forests on Apr 20, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Grist staff.
War, climate change, and AI: What’s at stake at this year’s UN Indigenous forum
Delegates are arriving in New York this week for the world’s largest gathering of Indigenous peoples. Amid other challenges, the U.S. has made it increasingly difficult for delegates to secure visas to attend.
Hundreds of delegates are arriving at the United Nations this week for the world’s largest gathering of Indigenous peoples. But they arrive against an increasingly hostile global backdrop, facing an artificial intelligence boom driving new extraction on ancestral lands, a U.S. administration that has made it increasingly difficult for Global South delegates to secure visas to attend, and the twin challenges of climate change and green energy projects that have frequently run afoul of Indigenous land rights. This year’s United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is focused on the grim topic of survival in the midst of war, with its official theme “Ensuring Indigenous peoples’ health, including in the context of conflict.” Experts emphasize that Indigenous peoples already face health inequities from colonialism and climate change, and these harms are compounded by armed conflicts and militarization that risk ecological degradation and further displacement of Indigenous peoples from their lands. Experts say that health for Indigenous peoples is directly tied to the environment, land, and sovereignty, and can’t be siloed into clinical discussions about medicine or public health. Warfare isn’t the only concern — advocates are seeing the extraction of critical minerals for the green transition drive Indigenous rights violations, and are echoing a long-standing call to make climate financing directly available to their communities, instead of through state or foreign intermediaries. But before diplomatic conversations can even begin, many delegates must confront the practical barrier of visa restrictions put in place by the Trump administration. Mariana Kiimi Ortiz Flores, who is Na Ñuu Savi from Mexico and works as an advocacy assistant at Cultural Survival, said last year, her organization prepared Indigenous representatives from Africa to attend the forum, but their visa applications were denied — and this year, one of their Indigenous staff members from South America was denied her visa as well. “It’s getting harder and harder to access the United States, not only because of the visa [issues],” said Flores. “People from the Global South, especially Indigenous peoples that have a certain look like brown skin and certain characteristics, we feel threatened because of the general climate of insecurity and hate speech against Latin people and Indigenous peoples.” Last year, Flores’ organization helped Indigenous leaders from Bolivia attend the forum to protest mining in their traditional lands. They left the forum after being harassed by the leader of a political party in Bolivia, and, coupled with health issues, have decided not to return. “The forum is meant to be for Indigenous peoples, but we really felt that that’s not what’s happening anymore and that at the end of the day, the states are the ones who have more power over our lives,” Flores said. “This struggle of defending their land against this extractive industry is really affecting them not only physically but also mentally, spiritually.” That comprehensive toll is one of the central focuses of a key report by Geoffrey Roth, a Standing Rock Sioux descendant, former vice chair of the Permanent Forum, and board chair of the Indigenous Determinants of Health Alliance, an international Indigenous health advocacy nonprofit. “You can’t separate human health from the health of the environment, or our culture, or our language,” Roth said. “Indigenous people view health from a holistic perspective.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII174.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Geoffrey Roth during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22, 2025. " data-credit="Tailyr Irvine / Grist"/> Geoffrey Roth during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22, 2025. Tailyr Irvine / Grist In his report, Roth outlines the Indigenous determinants of health, ranging from land tenure and governance authority that strengthen Indigenous well-being to risk indicators like land dispossession and exclusion from decision-making. Roth argues that fragmented approaches to Indigenous health frequently embraced by the U.N. system and state governments fail to adequately address health problems and underlying causes. For example, biodiversity policies that ignore Indigenous rights miss opportunities to restore Indigenous land tenure that can both improve ecosystem outcomes and strengthen access to traditional foods. Mental health interventions that ignore state-sanctioned Indigenous language erasure overlook the potential to improve Indigenous mental well-being through language revitalization. “Indigenous health is not just about healthcare, it’s about land, culture, food systems, and community,” Roth said. The Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon adopted the Indigenous determinants of health by ordinance last year, and Roth has been working with them as chairman of their executive health board to incorporate the determinants of health across their agencies. “They understand that when they take elders out on a monthly basis to do fishing activities, that is health for those elders,” he said. “It’s continuing their tradition as Coquille people, and it improves the mental health, behavioral health of those elders that are able to participate in that, let alone the food they catch.” Roth also calls on the U.N. to recognize the value of Indigenous midwifery, which has been frequently banned in favor of Western practices, forcing Indigenous women into conventional institutions where they often face racism and “obstetric violence,” such as procedures performed without their consent. “Indigenous people have been doing this for thousands of years, not only midwifery, but also caring for the environment and caring for our culture and preserving these food systems,” he said. In another report to UNPFII, former Permanent Forum chair Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, who is Indigenous Mbororo from Chad, warns that AI acts as a double-edged sword for Indigenous communities. While she urges governments to help Indigenous peoples develop AI tools to revitalize endangered languages and monitor their territories, she also warns of a looming era of digital extractivism as generative AI systems and tech companies actively scrape cultural content, such as medicinal knowledge, traditional stories, and even genetic data. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII177.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Former UNPFII chairperson Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22, 2025. " data-credit="Tailyr Irvine / Grist"/> Former UNPFII chairperson Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22, 2025. Tailyr Irvine / Grist Lydia Jennings, citizen of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Yoeme) and Huichol (Wixáritari), is an assistant professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College. She said her advocacy for Indigenous data sovereignty — the movement ensuring communities retain the right to own and control their own data — began after a troubling discovery. She noticed a mining company had pulled information about Indigenous cultural practices from an environmental impact statement and was using it on its website to promote a mining project. “That was very alarming to me,” she said. “How much information do we share in efforts to protect our sacred homelands? And what are the ways that we can govern how and who uses that data?” Like Ibrahim, she said AI can be an opportunity for tribes, noting some might be interested in hosting data centers or using AI to help with language preservation or synthesizing information. However, she remains wary of how much Indigenous data AI systems may be co-opting without consent, as well as the severe risks that massive data centers pose to tribal lands and water resources. “Who has the power and how do we redistribute that power?” she asked. “It can be a tool to power and a tool to harm, but how do we choose to wield it?” Jennings said there’s a growing movement to incorporate best practices of Indigenous data sovereignty on multiple levels, ranging from academic research to national and international policies. Another focus of this year’s Permanent Forum is the climate crisis. In a February report focusing on nomadic peoples, experts warned that rigid state borders and exclusionary “fortress conservation” models are curbing the traditional mobility of pastoralists, hunter-gatherers, and seafarers, even as they deal with the fallout of both climate change and increasing lack of access to ancestral lands and waters. The authors argue that mobility is a deliberate, knowledge-based climate adaptation strategy that state policymakers are actively erasing, citing an example of the Tuareg people in the Sahara Desert. “While the desert knows no borders, contemporary militarized frontiers increasingly restrict ancestral routes and undermine pastoral systems and access to services, rendering these lived realities of Indigenous peoples invisible in official data and policy frameworks,” the authors describe. That echoes sentiments expressed by Samante Anne, who is Indigenous Maasai from Kenya and recently spoke at a virtual panel on pastoralists’ legal rights on behalf of the Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization. Anne said although 60 percent of land in Kenya is considered communal, land is increasingly being subdivided for developments and claimed for carbon offset projects that limit pastoralists’ access to land and movement. “Mobility has everything to do with us adapting to climate change,” Anne said. “Mobility has everything to do with ensuring our livelihoods are secure, our food security is good.” Making progress on Indigenous health, artificial intelligence, and territorial rights is complicated by a persistent trend within the U.N.: lumping Indigenous peoples together with “local communities.” In official policies and initiatives, the two groups are frequently merged under the acronym “IPLCs” — Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. But while local communities represent a broad category of stakeholders, Indigenous peoples hold distinct, legally recognized rights under international law. Roth from the Indigenous Determinants of Health Alliance said he recently confronted this issue at the World Health Organization when the agency categorized an Indigenous initiative merely as an “equity” issue. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/250423_UNPFII81.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Participants at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22, 2025. " data-credit="Tailyr Irvine / Grist"/> Participants at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22, 2025. Tailyr Irvine / Grist “This is not an equity issue,” Roth said he told the agency. “We are not just another one of your minority populations. We are rights holders, and this needs to be approached from a rights-based approach. “Conflating us with other populations really diminishes our rights and diminishes our ability to maintain our health in our communities,” Roth said. This grouping also actively hinders participation, he added, pointing to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity’s IPLC working group as an example. “I’ve tried to participate in that group several times, and as an Indigenous person, I don’t feel welcome and I’m not able to participate,” he said. “These [IPLC] institutions are a way to lessen or dilute the voice of Indigenous peoples in these global mechanisms, and that, to me, is unacceptable.” He is far from the only one who feels that way. In 2023, the U.N.’s three top Indigenous rights bodies — the Permanent Forum, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — issued a joint statement demanding that U.N. environmental treaties stop using the IPLC acronym entirely. “Indigenous Peoples should not be grouped with an undefined set of communities that may have very different rights and interests,” they wrote. For advocates on the ground, that debate is just one part of a growing disillusionment with the U.N. system itself. Cultural Survival’s Mariana Kiimi Ortiz Flores said that the institution has suffered from a willingness by member states to simply disregard its laws. “The United Nations as an international institution has been losing its influence and its power,” said Flores. But despite its bureaucratic hurdles, visa denials, and geopolitical hostility, she said she’s among the many Indigenous people determined to show up this week. “If we as Indigenous peoples don’t do it,” said Flores, “No one else will speak for us and defend us.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline War, climate change, and AI: What’s at stake at this year’s UN Indigenous forum on Apr 20, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Anita Hofschneider.
The state of solar: Despite partisan rhetoric, the industry is still booming
Solar power is cheap, fast, and in demand as data centers consume more and more electricity.
The future looked dire for renewable energy in the United States last spring. Republicans in Congress started gutting the Inflation Reduction Act, forcing its generous tax credits for wind and solar into an early retirement. The Interior Department then rolled out a series of byzantine regulations aimed at restricting clean energy on federal land. Some feared those regulations would curb wind and solar development on private land, too. Although these restrictions do seem to have hindered the wind industry, there are some signs that its fortunes are changing. But a year later, solar continues to boom. MAGA influencers are promoting it, there’s hope for legislation that would speed up approvals for new projects, and the industry has continued to expand over the last year as energy requirements from data centers demand fast, cheap power. The Trump administration has even signed off on some big solar projects: In February, the administration announced that it would allow several solar projects that had been blocked by the new Interior regulations to move forward. “I feel like there has been so much written that’s like, ‘The Trump administration is delaying this stuff. It’s holding it all up in red tape. Nothing’s getting built,’” said Hannah Hess, director of the Rhodium Group’s Clean Investment Monitor team. “When we look at the data, that’s not true.” Combined, solar and battery storage (which banks excess energy for use when the sun’s not shining) accounted for 79 percent of power generation brought online in 2025 and are expected to continue to grow by 49 percent before the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits expire at the end of 2027. Support for solar among rank-and-file-conservatives has fallen in recent years, caught up in partisan culture wars, but it could gain more traction in the party if it’s paired with affordability concerns. Some 69 percent of Republicans say they are supportive of solar, provided it lowered electricity costs, according to a recent poll from the research organizations GoodPower and NORC at the University of Chicago. The Solar Energy Industries Association, the industry’s primary lobbying group, has emphasized that its industry aligns with President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda and lowers energy costs for families and businesses. “Conservative voters are drawing a clear distinction between rhetoric and practical solutions that lower costs,” read a blog post from the association in February. Even prominent conservative figures seem to be softening toward solar. Katie Miller, a former Trump administration official and the wife of Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy, has gone so far as to herald solar as the “energy of the future.” In February, she posted to X: “Giant fusion reactor up there in the sky — we must rapidly expand solar to compete with China.” That same month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who had been a vocal critic of solar power, started saying it could be beneficial. “Is there a commercial role for solar power that can add to the grid affordable, reliable energy?” he said. “Certainly there is.” Data center developers have begun looking to solar as a complement to oil and gas, rather than a competitor. The incoming demand “feels crazy,” said Jim DesJardins, executive director of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico. “It’s scary, almost. Five years ago, we were talking about an increase in load from EVs and building electrification — we’re not talking about that anymore. It’s all data centers and how are you going to power them.” This year marked the first time, said DesJardins, that the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association reached out to sponsor the renewable energy association’s annual conference. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Workers and officials gather at the State Pier in New London on August 25, 2025 to discuss the Trump administration's order to halt construction on Revolution Wind, an offshore wind project that has been in constructions since 2023 and is already 80% completed." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2261788462_Revolution-Wind-construction.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> There’s hope for the offshore wind industry — yes, really Jake Bittle Solar is, by far, the cheapest and fastest way to bring energy online, especially as the shortage of gas turbines — internal combustion engines that convert fuel into a steady, reliable energy — in the U.S. creates yearslong delays to build new power plants that run on natural gas. The technology is crucial for data centers that need to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “The backlog alone [for turbines] is five to nine years,” said Mike Hall, CEO of Anza Renewables, a solar energy equipment supplier based in California. “Then you’ve got to permit it. Then you’ve got to be near a gas pipeline for fuel, and then you’ve got the climate and the carbon issues.” A recent study from the analytics company Sightline Climate found that half of data center deals were expected to be delayed due to power constraints and local opposition, and developers are beginning to realize that waiting in line for a gas turbine could spell doom for their operation. There are still some obstacles ahead for solar power, however. “We’ve definitely seen examples from our developer customers where the Department of Interior rules are creating challenges for their projects on federal land, but we haven’t seen that it’s really slowed down development on private land,” said Hall. “The bottlenecks are typically still local permitting and interconnection with utilities — those are still major challenges, and we haven’t seen a lot of improvement in either area yet.” Shortly before Congress adjourned for its winter recess in December, the House passed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act, also known as the SPEED ACT, a bipartisan bill that would streamline the permitting process for energy, infrastructure, and transportation projects by overhauling the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Signed by President Nixon in 1970, NEPA requires federal agencies to consider how proposed infrastructure projects or drilling permits would affect the environment before approving them. Permitting reform is the rare, bipartisan issue that has sparked real enthusiasm on both sides of the aisle. After a scuffle over the Trump administration’s decisions to shut down offshore wind projects, which judges ruled invalid, Democratic senators Martin Heinrich and Sheldon Whitehouse are coming back to the negotiating table to hammer out a deal. “Right now, we’re leaving electrons on the table thanks to Trump’s deliberate attacks on clean energy — forcing Americans to pay higher electricity bills,” Heinrich’s office told Grist. “To lower costs, this administration needs to stop stalling and slow walking clean energy projects and take the politics out of permitting reform.” The war in Iran, which has caused oil prices to skyrocket, may serve to boost interest in solar power even more — especially as a way to combat rising electricity costs and promote energy independence. “Energy poverty has always been a problem in the U.S., and it’s gotten significantly worse in recent years,” said Brad Townsend, vice president of policy and outreach at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an environmental policy nonprofit. He pointed to a study from the nonprofit RMI, formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute, that found 1 in 3 households were struggling to pay their utility bills. “I think folks in the administration are increasingly becoming aware of the fact that we can’t turn away renewable energy.” In terms of the geopolitical reasons to support solar, “no one has fought a war over the sun,” DesJardins told Grist. “Not yet, anyways.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The state of solar: Despite partisan rhetoric, the industry is still booming on Apr 20, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Rebecca Egan McCarthy.
The world desperately needs to decarbonize shipping. Can nations find a consensus?
The shipping industry is responsible for 3 percent of global climate emissions. The Trump administration and the Iran war are complicating efforts to clean it up.
The shipping industry has been facing an acute crisis. For the first time in modern history, both of the Middle East’s critical waterways — the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea — were effectively closed for the past several weeks. Since early March, as Iran and Houthi rebels threatened ships attempting to cross these waterways and blocked the movement of oil in response to U.S.-Israel bombing, crude oil prices have soared. Maritime fuel costs in turn rose so sharply that some biofuels are now cheaper. And more than 150 ships were marooned, unable to safely pass through the Strait, which carries 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. Others have been making long detours around the southern tip of Africa, adding to the mounting cost of shipping and weeks of travel time. After briefly reopening the Strait, Iran seized the waterway once again over the weekend, restricting ships from passing. It’s under these conditions that the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, the United Nations agency overseeing global shipping, is meeting this week to discuss reducing the climate change impact of the shipping industry, which is responsible for 3 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. For the last three years, the 176 countries that are members of the IMO have been working toward adopting the so-called net-zero framework, an international policy requiring shippers to pay a fee for every ton of greenhouse gas emissions above a certain threshold. These proceeds would then be used to drive the development of alternative, cleaner fuels and support lower-income countries. But last summer, just as nations were nearing a vote to formally adopt the framework, the Trump administration threw a wrench in those plans. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with the heads of other agencies, released a statement warning countries that voting for the framework would result in a number of punitive actions by the United States, including visa restrictions, additional tariffs, and port fees. Seemingly overnight, countries that were previously in favor of the net-zero goal seemed to lose their nerve. And at an October meeting where the framework was expected to be adopted, countries voted instead to delay the decision by at least a year. In the months since, technical work has continued, but the political backing required to adopt the international agreement has largely dissipated. The consensus that once seemed within reach has fractured. “The Iran war has certainly complicated things,” said Evelyne Williams, a research associate with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “It’s tricky because if the U.S. does want to kill this thing, it has considerable leverage in its LNG market to threaten countries.” Williams said the meeting this week will demonstrate where countries stand and what their priorities are, given the current crisis. Several countries have proposed alternatives to the framework in the past few months. One proposal from Japan seeking middle ground considers doing away with the fee structure altogether and allowing shippers that emit excess greenhouse gases to trade away their surplus with companies in compliance — essentially a carbon trading system. Another proposal — by Liberia, Argentina, and Panama — does away with the fees, too, eliminating the crux of the framework that incentivizes compliance. A group of petrostates is calling for the cancellation of the framework altogether, while island states, which are among the most vulnerable to climate change, are calling for the framework to be adopted as originally planned or a more ambitious carbon levy. For its part, the U.S. has maintained its position that the net-zero framework essentially functions as a carbon tax, a move it predicts will raise costs for American consumers. In a separate proposal, the Trump administration has called for scrapping the framework and calling for a new proposal that doesn’t penalize fuel types that are more carbon-intensive and does not include an “economic element,” such as a tax or levy. “The United States submits that the most appropriate path forward is to end consideration of the IMO Net-Zero Framework entirely,” it noted in the proposal. “This would be a logical development given the plethora of existing alternative proposals and clear lack of consensus over the IMO Net-Zero Framework.” Doing away with the fee structure altogether would be “catastrophic,” said Em Fenton, a senior director at Opportunity Green, a U.K.-based climate group that has been closely tracking the IMO negotiations. The net-zero framework penalizes shippers whose carbon emissions are above a certain threshold. These fees, which independent analyses have estimated will range around $12 billion by 2030, are then expected to help with the development of clean technologies for the shipping industry. Doing away with the fee, Fenton said, would remove the policy’s “regulatory teeth” and jeopardize a just and equitable transition. “Nothing can replace an economic element in terms of the value it brings for leveraging investment, for creating certainty,” said Fenton. “Nothing can replace that.” The shipping industry has largely continued to back the net-zero framework, despite the additional cost and the current geopolitical crises. Absent a unifying global policy, the industry fears that a patchwork of regulations will complicate logistics. The European Union already has a carbon pricing mechanism in place for the shipping industry. If other countries adopt their own policies, it would add logistical complexity for a shipper moving products, say, from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. The International Chamber of Shipping, the trade association representing shipowners and operators, and other industry groups have defended the IMO as the primary international shipping regulator. “The shipyards of tomorrow will not only build vessels; they will build confidence in the industry’s ability to meet its sustainability goals,” the International Chamber of Shipping Secretary General, Thomas Kazakos, said in a statement. Fenton, Williams, and other experts will be following the discussions this week to see where countries stand and whether political consensus is still possible. “As long as something is moved through the door, it can be iterated upon,” said Williams. “The fear for most parties is that this is abandoned in its entirety, and then you have to start from scratch.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The world desperately needs to decarbonize shipping. Can nations find a consensus? on Apr 20, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Naveena Sadasivam.
After stepping away for seven years, how does it feel to return to music at this point in your life and what have you learned during your hiatus?
After stepping away for seven years, how does it feel to return to music at this point in your life and what have you learned during your hiatus? I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I don’t know if it feels like returning because I’ve definitely done a lot musically that people may not have seen—across galleries, artist collaborations, installations, and a few scores. Within the seven years between Blood and So Help Me God, I’ve definitely changed my relationship to how I make things. I’m more interested in understanding why I was drawn to making music like this in the first place. There was a lot of fear and the questioning of why? Because it meant really letting go of certain structures or identities that felt stable. This process has been shaped by learning how to stay with that uncertainty and allowing things to take longer, letting them be unresolved. I think that’s where the growth comes from. My spirit animal is definitely a snail. I move at my own speed, and for me, music is home. Are you scared of expectations? I think I’m more scared of my own expectations than the expectations of others. I can be really hard on myself. My classical background taught me a level of perfectionism that isn’t always sustainable. Those are things that I needed to let go of, for sure. Your new album is called So Help Me God. What does this mean to you and how does spirituality play a role in your work? So Help Me God is a sort of a cry for help, but the help is one that comes from within. I think we all have the source within us. This process, for me, has been about taking time to reconnect with myself, to trust myself, my decisions, my intuition, and my gut. Many of us look outside ourselves for answers. While many things can serve as beautiful guides, I believe that, at our core, we are made from beauty and love. Being able to return to that source feels deeply important, especially now. So Help Me God comes from that moment when you feel like you cannot take it anymore, like you are on the verge of something—some action, some breaking point, some transformation. It is a cry for help, a plea to make it through to the other side. That cry may be spiritual, ancestral, or deeply personal. Throughout the album, I am having many different conversations, and a lot of them are with myself. Do you think making this album helped you make it through to the other side? Did you find some sort of personal reckoning you were looking for? The themes explored in the album definitely revealed themselves throughout the process of making it. When I’m making it, I’m just in it. But toward the end, things begin to reveal themselves, and I start to find the answers I was searching for. It all came from a place that was much more instinctual, almost subterranean. Rituals were a way of moving through it and the reckoning felt inevitable. I was confronting patterns, histories, and inherited beliefs that live in my body as much as in the mind. And the album became a space where all of that could surface without needing to be resolved. What are some of your favorite songs on the album? My heart holds a special place for “Only The Lonely” and “Running to Pain.” They change. I’m not great at playing favorites with anything. They each hold such different memories and hold a different space. I think “Reaper” is one that feels so special because it feels like the thesis of the album, in a way. It moves through so many different spaces and storylines. There’s this liminal place in the middle that brings you into this; it just lifts you up into this place of hope again. I really love that one. “Running to Pain” is also a favorite. Also “Comfort.” “Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost” was a bit unexpected, especially the way it hits when the chorus drops. When I was listening to your album, I thought, “Lu is more than just a singer; they are an artist.” There’s such a cinematic, immersive quality to it, like you’re creating this entire world around the music. Listening to it, I felt like the main character moving through the album. How intentional was that for you? You are the main character. I think cinema and visual art are foundational for me. They’re not separate from the music. They’re part of the same language. I’m really drawn to works that don’t explain themselves, that trust the viewer to feel their way through. Films where time stretches, where silence carries meaning, and where light and shadow become emotional states. Those influences shape how I think about pacing, atmosphere, and presence—not just what’s shown, but what’s withheld. In that sense, So Help Me God lives in those spaces between revelation and obscurity. Are there any movies or artworks that particularly inspire you? Caravaggio was a painter that inspired me a lot—his depth of shadow and how he really transformed painting… Chiaroscuro. Yeah. Everyone was painting realism, like a basket of flowers and fruit that’s all ripe. He brought in the points of rottenness and of death. He was painting a lot of religious iconography, but it was also riddled with darkness, and he wasn’t afraid to go there. He was a major inspiration to me, as a painter. Actually, I was just about to say that I revisited chiaroscuro. There are so many textures within it. Building that textural world into the album was so important, because it carries all of those layers of thought and mind. What was the inspiration behind the short film for “Running to Pain”? There’s Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura, where so much of the film is shaped by wandering, longing, and emotional drift. And then there’s Gus Van Sant’s Gerry, where the two characters are literally wandering for almost the entire film, searching for a destination without ever being entirely sure what that destination is. “Running to Pain” is about surrendering to the cycle. The push and pull feels really real, this choreography of attachment and resistance. With the camera movement, you feel you can’t really escape it. You have to stay inside of the tension and allow the energy to build without interruption. Not cutting away, so it forces you to sit with what’s happening and knowing that something may hurt you, but you’re still moving towards it. I found the final scene especially poignant. It begins almost playfully, but gradually becomes more confrontational, and you start to understand what’s happening emotionally: your character is now blaming the other one. The first time I watched it, I started crying. It made me think about young love, the joy in it, and then the cycle that follows. What did that ending represent for you? I think it’s a moment when illusion sort of collapses. Beginning with playfulness and tenderness, and you start to slowly reveal the undercurrent of something that’s more complex and more confrontational, as you’re saying. I think the end is the recognition, and seeing the pattern clearly maybe for the first time, and not necessarily escaping it. It’s not something that’s happening to you; you’re not just the victim, it’s something that you’re participating in as well. You collaborated with several artists on this album, including Jack Antonoff, Yves Rothman, Yumna Al-Arashi, Kamasi Washington, and Kim Gordon. How did those collaborations shape the album as a whole? I think each of them brought a very distinct sensitivity, and that was really important to me. A lot of it was about creating space for that to exist for these artists I have so much respect and love for. With Jack and Yves, it was really about building sonic environments that could hold all of those emotional layers: something expansive but still very precise. Kim and I had actually met many years before. She saw me perform in LA at a fundraiser, I think for the Dublab, and came up to me afterwards. I did not know who she was at first because I am terrible with faces, so I just took it as this incredibly kind compliment. Then my friend came up to me and was like, “Oh my god, do you know who that was?” and I was like, “Oh my god.” Then fast-forward a few years. I was in LA recording with Yves. I had been working on this album mostly by myself. I wrote all the songs, and for the first five years I was producing and recording them on my own. Then I reached a point where I felt ready for some outside collaboration to help me close the chapter. I felt like I needed that help, and I love collaborating. So I was in LA working with Yves, and my friend Natasha asked, “Do you want to go see Kim Gordon perform at Zebulon?” After the session, I went over. It was amazing, obviously. Then we were in the green room afterwards, and I said, “I do not know if you remember me.” And she said, “Of course I remember you.” I told her, “I am recording in the studio right now, if you want to come by.” And she said, “I’m down.” She came through and we just jammed, literally jammed. We freestyled for a while. I played her a few things, and then I played her something I had made almost on a whim. It was the end of the day, and I was really frustrated. It was one of those studio days where I felt like I just could not get to what I was trying to reach. Usually when that happens, I set up my loop pedal with my cello and just bang something out in a really guttural way. So that is what happened. I played her that piece, and as soon as I started, she said, “That’s what I want to play. That’s what I want to play with.” We ended up taking some of her guitar from that session and interlacing it into “Reaper” and it worked really beautifully. With Kamasi Washington, it was about infusing a kind of wisdom into the music, something that feels really grounding. His compositions are something I have always found grounding, but they also create so much space to wander and dream. Then for the artwork, Yumna Al-Arashi is like a sister. We are best friends. For me, her work holds a kind of intimacy that feels both deeply personal and mythic, and I can be extremely vulnerable with her. Even though I love collaboration, this felt a little less like collaboration in the traditional sense and more like convergence—different worlds meeting and informing each other. What advice would you give to the version of yourself who was making Blood seven years ago? Now that you’ve gained so much wisdom about your career, collaboration, and the creative process, what would you want to tell that younger self? Don’t forget to enjoy yourself. Kelsey Lu starter pack: This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Yang Shi.
Fiji defends its isolated UN stance supporting Israel
By Anish Chand in Suva Fiji’s Ambassador to Israel, Jesoni Vitusagavulu, has defended his country’s voting record at the United Nations, saying it is guided by principle, not pressure. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Vitusagavulu said Fiji carefully assessed each resolution on its merits rather than aligning with majority positions. “Fiji votes at
By Anish Chand in Suva Fiji’s Ambassador to Israel, Jesoni Vitusagavulu, has defended his country’s voting record at the United Nations, saying it is guided by principle, not pressure. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Vitusagavulu said Fiji carefully assessed each resolution on its merits rather than aligning with majority positions. “Fiji votes at the United Nations on principle. We’ve consistently been one of the few nations to stand up against one-sided, anti-Israel resolutions,” he said. READ MORE: Fiji votes on Israel “We don’t just follow the crowd; we evaluate every measure on its merits. For us, it’s about fairness and sovereign equality.” He said Fiji’s approach reflected a broader commitment to balanced diplomacy. “We believe that isolating Israel through lopsided resolutions is counterproductive to peace, and we choose instead to be a consistent voice for balanced dialogue,” Vitusagavulu said. The ambassador stressed that Fiji maintained an “inclusive” foreign policy stance. “We are ‘friends to all.’ Fiji is transparent about its values, so our partners know exactly where we stand.” He added that supporting Israel did not equate to opposing other nations. “Supporting Israel doesn’t mean we’re ‘against’ anyone else… It’s not a blanket endorsement of another country’s policies,” he said, referencing remarks by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. Vitusagavulu said Fiji aimed to play a constructive role on the global stage. “We believe that by keeping our doors open to everyone, Fiji can act as a moderate, honest voice for engagement in a very polarised world.” Republished from The Fiji Times with permission. Asia Pacific Report: The UN General Assembly continues to pass resolutions critical of Israel, including a March 2026 resolution demanding an end to occupation and a December 2025 vote (123-7) directing withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights. Recent resolutions consistently emphasise the illegality of settlements, demand humanitarian access in Gaza, and act on International Court of Justice findings regarding the occupied territories. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Fiji military faces questions after death of Jone Vakarisi in custody
RNZ Pacific The Fiji military has found itself at the centre of a national firestorm following the death of a wellknown drug peddler, Jone Vakarisi, in army custody last Thursday. Conflicting reports have emerged over the weekend regarding the death of Vakarisi, who was reportedly linked to major criminal networks. News of his death broke
RNZ Pacific The Fiji military has found itself at the centre of a national firestorm following the death of a wellknown drug peddler, Jone Vakarisi, in army custody last Thursday. Conflicting reports have emerged over the weekend regarding the death of Vakarisi, who was reportedly linked to major criminal networks. News of his death broke while top military and police brass were gathered on Bau Islands, paying their final respects to the late President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. READ MORE: Man linked to gang activity dies after Fiji military detention, local media report Other Fiji military reports The Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) said in a statement on Saturday that Vakarisi’s death was due to “a sudden and severe emergency” during questioning at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua, approximately 10 minutes’ drive from Suva City. RFMF commander Ro Jone Kalouniwai said Vakarisi, in his late 30s, had “voluntarily presented” himself alongside three others to the RFMF headquarters “to assist with investigations”. Kalouniwai pinned Vakarisi’s death to “a pre-existing condition”. However, Vakarisi’s family has disputed the military’s account, telling local media that he was “not a sickly person at all”. Queenie Osbourne, the mother of Vakarisi’s children, told The Fiji Times, that Vakarisi and others were taken from their home to the army barracks on Thursday night without any formal explanations. Leaked death certificate A leaked death certificate, which first appeared on Fiji social media on Saturday, has now been verified by Fiji Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu to be an official police document. According to the document, the causes of Vakarisi’s death are listed as asphyxia, aspiration of gastric contents, severe traumatic head injuries, and blunt force trauma to both the head and chest. “No one informed us of his death from the night he died. We found out when he was in the morgue,” Osbourne was quoted as saying by The Fiji Times. Vakarisi’s family is calling for justice. Commisioner Tudravu said heads of the RFMF and Fiji Folice Force “are both in consensus of letting the law take its course, through the conduct of the investigation which is currently underway”. According to the RFMF statement, at least one military officer has already been placed in military custody for internal disciplinary investigations. Fiji’s Human Rights Commission said it was “concerned” about the death in military custody and has called for “a prompt [and] independent investigation”. Aman Ravindra-Singh, a Fiji human rights lawyer who is in exile in Australia, said that based on other similar deaths in custody matters that he has looked at in the past, the injuries listed in Vakarisi’s death certificate “are consistent with torture, where a person is brutally beaten repeatedly to the head and chest resulting in death”. ‘A matter of grave concern’ – minister Fiji Defence Minister Pio Tikoduadua has described Vakarisi’s death as “a serious matter”. Tikoduadua said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the circumstances of the case while police inquiries were ongoing. “The proper process must be allowed to take its course, and all relevant facts must be established independently and professionally. Any loss of life in such circumstances is a matter of grave concern,” he said in a statement. “I expect the full cooperation of all relevant authorities with the police investigation. Accountability, adherence to the rule of law, and respect for due process must remain paramount. He also urged the public to allow the investigation to proceed without speculation or the spread of misinformation. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
North Korean IT Worker EXPOSED During Job Interview
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
Maine presses pause on large data centers. Will other states follow its lead?
The moratorium is the first of its type to pass a legislative chamber, but about a dozen other states have pending proposals.
Maine is now the first state to pass a moratorium on the development of large data centers, and others may follow. The Maine House and Senate this week passed LD 307, which prohibits state and local governments from approving data centers with at least 20 megawatts of electricity demand until at least October 2027. The bill awaits a signature from Governor Janet Mills, who has not commented on whether she will sign it. Maine is one of about a dozen states with legislative proposals this year to pause or ban data centers amid rising concerns about the projects’ size and energy and water consumption. Community opponents of data centers are grappling with what they view as intrusive development as the broader public worries that the rise of artificial intelligence — fueled by data centers — will lead to mass job losses. Analysts who follow state-level discussions of data centers say Minnesota is also a good candidate to pass a bill on this subject, along with Illinois, even though there is not yet a bill pending in Illinois. U.S. data centers had more than 50 gigawatts of electricity demand as of last year, which, for context, is about double the peak demand of the entire New England grid, which covers six states, including Maine. And this is before some supersized data centers that are still in early planning stages. It’s not clear how the electricity grid will build enough power plants to meet demand, or how residential ratepayers can be shielded from high electricity bills driven by data center demand. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=641&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/datacenterbans.png?quality=75&strip=all 750w" alt="Map of states considering data center pauses or bans" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> The debate in Maine gives a sense of how this topic interacts with partisan politics. It passed the House, 79-62, and the Senate, 21-13. The Democrats who control the House and Senate described the bill as providing breathing room to write rules to regulate data centers. The opponents, mainly Republicans, said the bill would discourage investment and harm the economy. The measure calls for convening a special council to evaluate concerns about data centers and recommend new policies to the legislature. Maine has had relatively little data center development, with about 10 sites, none of which are large “hyperscalers” that are inspiring backlash in Virginia, Texas, and other states. The goal of the bill is to use the experiences in other states as “a cautionary tale that Maine could really learn from,” state Representative Melanie Sachs, a Democrat and lead sponsor of the bill, said in an interview. “Let’s just make sure our regulatory framework can meet the moment,” she said. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1235716024_data-center-construction.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it? Naveena Sadasivam State Senator Matt Harrington, a Republican, was among the opponents. He said the bill would delay or cancel major projects, including data centers being discussed in the communities of Sanford and Jay. “This is billions of dollars in potential investment in Maine,” he said during debate last week. Mills had indicated she wanted the bill to include an exemption for the project in Jay, which would redevelop a former paper mill site. The bill does not contain such an exemption. The governor could sign the legislation, veto it, or allow it to become law by taking no action within 10 days. Sachs said she doesn’t know what Mills will do, and her office did not respond to a request for comment. Environmental advocates are praising the bill as a model for how states can take control of a wave of development that has outpaced regulators’ ability to protect the public. “Voters do not want these facilities in their backyard,” said Sarah Woodbury, legislative director for Maine Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy group. “In Maine, every time a community has tried to get [a data center], the town has rebelled and it has failed. So I think the politics around data centers are similar here [as] they are in other places.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A high-voltage power line runs behind a construction site in Archbald, Pennsylvania." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2689w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?resize=1200%2C798&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?resize=330%2C219&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?resize=768%2C511&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?resize=1536%2C1021&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?resize=2048%2C1362&quality=75&strip=all 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PowerlineCover4.jpg?resize=150%2C100&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1788" width="2689" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> The AI boom has plunged a small Pennsylvania town into chaos Rebecca Egan McCarthy Woodbury is proud that Maine would be leading the country in reining in data centers if the bill becomes law. Lawmakers in 13 other states have introduced bills or resolutions that would pause development of data centers in some way, but none of these have passed a legislative chamber, according to the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. Dozens of local governments across the country have also adopted bans and moratoria, and many others are in the works. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont; and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, have proposed a national moratorium on AI data centers. “The politics of this are still evolving,” said Anthony Elmo, a researcher for Good Jobs First, a nonprofit watchdog organization that tracks government subsidies for corporations. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Salt Lake City valley at night time with a cloud of haze" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-633244546.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> These data center developers asked Trump for an exemption from pollution rules Naveena Sadasivam Elmo cautions against characterizing data centers as a partisan topic. He has seen opposition to development from Democrats and Republicans, especially when talking about specific projects. That said, he thinks data center restrictions are most likely in states where Democrats control the legislature and the governor’s office, in part because Republicans tend to be skeptical of regulation. Asked which state is most likely to follow Maine, he said there is no clear answer, but he is watching Illinois and Minnesota as examples of places where a data center backlash is happening and elected officials are sympathetic to the concerns. Regardless of what states do, he expects data center backlash to grow as the developments get bigger, expand to more places, and their backers continue to have difficulty answering basic questions from residents. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Maine presses pause on large data centers. Will other states follow its lead? on Apr 19, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News.
Shooter Kills Six In Daylight Attack In Kyiv, Ukraine
On Witless Great Vengeance and Furious Anger
Seeking to rally the troops for his unholy war, Christian nationalist, TV-carnie and war fanboy Pete Kegseth just passed off some vengeful Gospel According to Tarantino as scripture at his (unconstitutional) Pentagon prayer service, and yes we have th...
Seeking to rally the troops for his unholy war, Christian nationalist, TV-carnie and war fanboy Pete Kegseth just passed off some vengeful Gospel According to Tarantino as scripture at his (unconstitutional) Pentagon prayer service, and yes we have them now. Added to the "shameless blasphemy" of quoting - without credit - Samuel Jackson's homicidal hitman Jules as "prayer," Pete moronically misses the redemptive point: As he cites the "tyranny of evil men," he, unlike Jules, doesn't friggin' get that he is one. With their calamitous illegal war continuing to spiral out of control, flailing regime officials are striking out in ever more erratic ways. Nursing his deranged feud with Pope Leo XIV, a vindictive Private Bonespurs - Suffer the little children to own the Pope - abruptly cancelled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities in Miami to fund a vital, decades-long foster program for migrant children, aka small deadly illegals, who enter the U.S. alone in what experts call "an incredibly psychologically harmful" move for already vulnerable kids. Meanwhile, slimy, Bible-and-chest thumping braggadocio Pete is working hard to match his boss' outrages with some fire-and-brimstone carnage. Blithely pressing on with a serial slaughter based on evidently "entirely make-believe" grounds, Hegseth killed three more "narco-terrorists," likely fishermen, in the Eastern Pacific last week, the third boat bombing in three days - complete with giddy video - in the name of a "narco-trafficking" criminal conspiracy of which, experts say, there is "zero evidence," with "no impact at all" on America's drug problems. Despite bogus legal theories scrounged up by the regime in an attempt to justify the deaths of at least 177 mostly innocent people, rights advocates note, “'Murder' is the general term for premeditated killings outside of armed conflict." In the wake of those transgressions and many more, Democrats just filed six articles of impeachment against Hegseth; their lead sponsor, Iranian-American Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari, cited "high crimes and misdemeanors,” including war crimes, abuse of power, and other charges. The bill didn't mention Hegseth's clearly unconstitutional worship services (what separation of church and state?), part of a brazen Christian crusade that faces a lawsuit arguing, "The federal government’s role is to serve the public, not proselytize." Nor does it flag his bloody, unseemly prayers for U.S. troops to inflict “overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy." Finally, the impeachment effort fails to note the movie plagiarism and general dumbfuckery committed by cosplay Hegseth, one of a host of inept imposters in this awful Oceans 11 re-make, in his latest, lamest piece of performance art: Asking Pentagon officials and their families at last week's "Christian" service to bow their heads in prayer for a godless war as he recited scripture from the Book of Ezekiel, or maybe of Caesar or Samuel or Snakes On A Plane, a prayer he claimed was delivered by the lead planner of the “Combat Search And Rescue” mission that earlier this month rescued two pilots downed in Iran."They call it 'CSAR 25:17,' which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17," he blustered of "the Lord’s word about who we are and how we conduct ourselves." "Pray with me please." Then, with his greasy smirk, he launched into an almost word-for-word rip-off of the iconic speech by blood-stained hitman and aspiring philosopher Jules Winnfield, played indelibly by Samuel Jackson in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 black comic morality tale Pulp Fiction, just before Jules point-blank executes hapless young Brett, not because he posed any threat to Jules or was allegedly developing nuclear weapons, but because Jules was just following orders. Because that's his job, and each time he does it he likes to recite that "prayer" before killing strangers he’s been hired to kill in cold blood; it helps make him feel powerful, morally upright, cleansed of whatever guilt or grief or questions that might otherwise trouble his sleep. "The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men," Pete declaimed. "Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy One when I lay my vengeance upon thee, and Amen." Some in the audience, presumably moviegoers, chuckled at the source; others looked dutifully, cluelessly solemn as their kids squirmed in boredom. Blessed be the hitmen. Let us prey, indeed. In reality, of the three passages in Ezekiel 25:17, only the shortest comes close to Pete's/Jules' harangue: "I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes, and they shall know that I am the LORD when I lay My vengeance upon them." Tarantino, a fan of Kung Fu flicks, lifted his own fake version from a 1973 Japanese martial arts film, Karate Kiba, about a Kung Fu vigilante who vows to eliminate the crime-infested drug business in Japan. Hegseth, the guy with Nazi tattoos who lectures people about "Christian values," didn't mention or credit Tarantino, a theft and sacrilege first caught by Baptist minister Brian Kaylor. But no harm no foul: In today's idiocracy, notes Mary Trump, "Who among us has not mistaken the holy words of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction for Biblical scriptures?" Online, Pentagon shill Sean Parnell acknowledged the prayer was "obviously inspired by dialogue in Pulp Fiction"; of Pete's failure to note that, he argued, "Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality." The next day, at a briefing on the war, the thin-skinned Hegseth went off on the press, calling their accurate reports on an unpopular war "unpatriotic" and likening the media to the Pharisees: "They were there to witness (but) their hearts were hardened (in) pursuit of their agenda." The whining didn't go over well; America really seems to hate Pete. "The gospel according to St. Jack Daniels. What a dick," they griped, and, "Talibangicals' perverted take on Christianity - Hegseth is literally an anti-Christ. And a rapist." Mostly, people were pissed at his ignorant appropriation of the much-loved Pulp Fiction for his own base and bloody purposes, declaring, "And you call yourself a white Christian nationalist?" and, "I'd take Samuel Jackson's character over Pete's any day." They wondered if, next time, Pete would add the famed Biblical parable, "You know what they call a quarter-pounder with cheese in Paris?” (Royale.) They argued Pete's "scriptures" should include more "Motherfucker"'s, they offered hilarious video of Jules meeting up with another quivering Brett, and they marveled at the idiocy and ignorance of Hegseth, a bellicose grandstander who evidently didn't understand that, in Jules' bonkers, vengeful "prayer," the speaker is actually the bad guy. In one of Pulp Fiction's two final scenes, in the diner where the film begins, Jules comes to a reckoning with himself on his own moral journey. He has long justified his bloody past by telling himself (like Pete) he's taking righteous vengeance on the "bad." But earlier that day, after killing Brett, he's untouched by a barrage of gunshots, a survival he attributes to "divine intervention, and a sign to re-evaluate his life. Telling the young thief about his ritual recitation, he says, “I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass...The truth is, you’re the weak, and I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo, I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd." Drunken Pete, who missed the point, should too. "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth - Pope Leo X1V This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.
Ukrainian Drone Hunter Units Keep Busy In Donetsk Day And Night | Ukraine Front Line Update
US, Israel ‘forced into two ceasefires’ as regional balance of power shifts
Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: To look more at the latest developments in Lebanon and the Middle East region, we’re joined by Dr Rami Khouri, a Palestinian American journalist and distinguished public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut. He’s also a nonresident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC. Rami, we began talking
Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: To look more at the latest developments in Lebanon and the Middle East region, we’re joined by Dr Rami Khouri, a Palestinian American journalist and distinguished public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut. He’s also a nonresident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC. Rami, we began talking about the Iran-US second round of negotiations, went to this news of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, though Hezbollah wasn’t a party to those talks. Your overall comments on what’s happening right now in the region, where you think it’s all going? RAMI KHOURI: Well, there are so many different dynamics going on at the same time within individual countries, among countries in the region and between the region and the global powers, especially the United States, but also China and others, and Israel, of course. My comments are that one of the striking things about this situation is that we’ve seen now, in the last six weeks, Iran and Hezbollah almost single-handedly checking — not defeating, but checking — the two biggest military powers in the region, which is the US and Israel. They forced them into two ceasefires: one in Iran and now one in Lebanon. Now, this is not a finished story. This is still going on. This might collapse, and the war may resume. US and Israel ‘forced into two ceasefires’ Video: Democracy Now! But the fact that the US and Israel have been forced to enter these ceasefires, I think, is a sign of the evolving balance of power across the region. And you’re going to see this reflected, for instance, in many Arab countries, who are — especially in the energy-producing Gulf region, who are going to recalibrate their relations. They’ll still be very close friends with the US, buy a lot of weapons and buy a lot of tech stuff, but they’re also going to recalibrate to have more meaningful ties with Iran, with Türkiye, with China, with Russia and other people like that. So we’re seeing a slow-motion evolution of the entire balance of power in the region, with the background being that the overwhelming majority of people in the Arab region and Islamic Türkiye and Iran, about three-quarters of a billion people, the overwhelming majority of them see Israel and the US as their main security threat. So, something historic is going on here in slow motion. AMY GOODMAN: And how does, Rami Khouri, these negotiations between Israel, the United States, Iran and Lebanon impact on the current situation in Gaza? Talk also about the role of the other armed groups, like Hamas, the Houthis. If you can talk about what’s happening across the region? RAMI KHOURI: Yes. The Palestine-Israel conflict remains the starting point for all of these other conflicts. So, Iran and Israel, Hezbollah’s birth, Israel-Hezbollah, all of these tensions and conflicts ultimately derived from the unresolved battle between Palestinian nationalism and Zionism and the state of Israel. So, it’s crucial for any attempt to get a permanent peaceful situation across the region, in the Arab countries, Iran and Israel — it’s crucial to address the Palestine issue, which means right now looking at Gaza. Now, Gaza is in a situation of reconfigured colonial domination by the United States and Israel, with carpetbaggers from around the world, like Tony Blair and others. I call it the joint venture of the carpetbaggers and the carpet bombers. They’ve all come together on this to dominate Palestine, destroy Gaza, and now they’re looking to do the same thing in Lebanon. But the fact that the Iranians were able to pressure the Americans, to pressure Netanyahu to enter into this ceasefire is a significant sign that the group of movements and countries that have been involved in the so-called Axis of Resistance, which pushes back against Israeli hegemony and American militarism, that group of actors is still effective. They may not dominate the region, but they’re strong enough to do what they’ve just done, which is force the Americans, to force the Israelis to enter into a ceasefire that the Israelis did not want. The Israelis wanted to keep bombing and attacking and occupying and creating more buffer zones. But they’ve done that. This is the seventh time, seventh time since the late 1960s, that Israel goes into Lebanon militarily in a big way, occupies land, moves millions of people around. And every time, they’ve had to pull out because of the resistance they’ve met and because they could not achieve their goals, which is an acquiescent, passive Lebanese state that agrees to be a vassal state of Israel. And they still refuse to do it. So, finding the negotiated mechanism to arrive at a point where the Lebanese have their sovereign rights and security protected and the Israelis have the same rights, that’s the big challenge that lies ahead. It can only be done if it is accompanied by a serious effort to resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict on a permanent and fair basis. Republished from Democracy now! Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States Licence. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Ralph welcomes journalist and author Megan Greenwell to discuss her book "Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream." Then, Ralph speaks to James Zogby (co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute) about the recent Isr...
Ralph welcomes journalist and author Megan Greenwell to discuss her book "Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream." Then, Ralph speaks to James Zogby (co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute) about the recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Megan Greenwell is a journalist who has written or edited for publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, New York Magazine, WIRED, and ESPN. She is also the deputy director of the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, a workshop and college-access initiative for students from low-income backgrounds. She is the author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream. The real trick with private equity (and this was the thing that made me want to write a book on it) is that when they take out those billions of dollars worth of loans (if you’re buying a bigger company), the private equity firm is not responsible for paying those loans back. Only the portfolio company in whose name the private equity firm has taken the money out is on the hook for that money. And so what you end up with is this split in incentive where what’s good for the private equity firm is not necessarily what’s good for its own portfolio company. Megan Greenwell [Congress hasn’t repealed the carried interest loophole] because Congress is in the pocket of the private equity industry. 88% of members of the House and Senate take donations from private equity. Interestingly, Donald Trump has called twice for the carried interest loophole to be closed. And still, even he, as much of a stranglehold as he has on the Republican Party, he can’t build support for it among Republicans. Because they’re all taking private equity money, as are the vast majority of the Democrats. So this is not a partisan issue. Megan Greenwell One of the reasons I was really interested to write this book as a series of narrative profiles of people trying to do something about [private equity] is: none of them are trying to do something about it through the federal government. And I think when we talk about “Only the federal government can save us,” we really risk turning people away from trying to do anything. And I think we’ve seen on the private equity issue there has been some really interesting movement on the state level in several places—real reforms that are much easier to accomplish on the state level than on the federal level. Megan Greenwell James Zogby is co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, and he is featured frequently on national and international media as an expert on Middle East affairs. Since 1992, he has written a weekly column— “Washington Watch” —that is published in 12 countries. He is the author of several books, including Looking at Iran: The Rise and Fall of Iran in Arab Public Opinion, The Tumultuous Decade: Arab, Turkish, and Iranian Public Opinion - 2010-2019, Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters, and Palestinians: The Invisible Victims. Not only are thousands being killed [in Lebanon], but there’s a process underway of demolishing villages, obviously expelling lots of people, creating internal refugees and sectarian tension as a result of it. And clearly (as Israel has stated, and I think we have to believe them), that they actually want to annex the territory up to the Litani River and maybe even further. They call it a buffer zone, but we’ve heard that buffer zone stuff before. It’s merely a way of taking new land and providing opportunities for settlements. James Zogby As we saw ourselves in Vietnam, as we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel is now getting PTSD reports that are deeply disturbing to them. They’re getting suicides. They’re getting an exhausted military. They’re not exhausted with the weapons that they’re losing (because they’re losing a lot and they’re using a lot), they’re getting emotionally and physically exhausted. Look, when the soldiers do what they’ve been doing—which is basically inhuman behavior, I mean, it’s disgraceful behavior—it begins to eat away at the soul. You get these suicides. You get these emotional collapses. And what gets me upset is that—72,000 Palestinians dead, a few Israeli soldiers having PTSD and trauma and committing suicide becomes a news story? My feeling has to be with the Lebanese and Palestinians. James Zogby When I hear on the DNC from other members who say to me, “When you talk about Israeli genocide, that’s anti-Semitic, it makes me uncomfortable,” I said, “You know what makes me uncomfortable? That genocide is actually taking place. And it makes me equally uncomfortable that you won’t admit it or even want us to talk about it.” James Zogby News 4/17/26 * Our top story this week comes to us from New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani is delivering on yet another campaign promise thought impossible by mainstream pundits and beltway insiders: the creation of municipal grocery stores. Capping off his first 100 days in office, Mayor Mamdani delivered remarks in front of La Marqueta in East Harlem, the site of one of the original city-run grocery stores created under Fiorello LaGuardia. Mamdani laid out how the stores will operate, noting that while “A private operator will run the store,” they will “answer to the standards the city will set…[including] requirements that at our stores bread will be cheaper. Eggs will be cheaper. Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation. And workers will be treated with dignity.” Mamdani plans to have the first of these stores open in 2027 and stores in all five boroughs open by the end of his term in 2029. This from NBC4 New York. * Meanwhile, in New York’s 10th congressional district, former NYC Comptroller and Mamdani ally Brad Lander is aligning himself with AOC and calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. In a meeting with a group of local journalists, Lander said “We need to follow the Leahy Law and condition all of our foreign policy aid on human rights and international law compliance…At the moment, Israel is very far from complying with human rights and international law. So I would not vote for any more aid,” adding that he “hopes” Israel will “[get] there.” The Forward notes that this is an evolution from the position he took during his mayoral candidacy last year. At that time Lander opposed sending offensive weapons to Israel, but believed that the US should keep funding Israel’s Iron Dome, per the New York Post. Through a representative, Lander’s opponent in this race, incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman, told the Forward he “will always support defensive systems,” like Iron Dome. * The liberal Zionist organization J Street is also shifting its position. The Middle East Eye reports the group is calling for an end to “direct” US military support to Israel, according to a new policy paper. To be clear however, while this does mark a shift from J Street’s previous position that the U.S. should provide defensive weapons systems – like resupply for Iron Dome, at no cost to Israelis – J Street now argues that Israel should simply purchase these weapons instead. In short, J Street is arguing that Israel is rich enough to provide for its own defense and that the American financial subsidies are “unnecessary and politically counterproductive, creating avoidable tensions in US domestic politics and in the bilateral relationship.” This is in line with statements by Netanyahu himself, who has made it clear that Israel wants to reduce its reliance on U.S. military aid “all the way down to zero.” * In other news, Reuters reports Apple is closing several of its brick-and-mortar stores, including the first ever unionized Apple store. Over 100 workers at the store, located in Towson Town Center mall in Maryland, voted to join the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) in 2022; Reuters notes that “a similar union drive in Atlanta [around that same time] was withdrawn, ‌with ⁠Apple workers alleging intimidation.”At the other stores being shuttered, employees were offered the option to continue their jobs at other nearby Apple stores. At the Towson store however, Apple is claiming that the collective bargaining agreement prevents relocation. The union says this is “false” and is reportedly exploring all legal options. IAM also expressed “serious concerns that ​this closure is a cynical attempt to ​bust ⁠the union.” * Elsewhere in Maryland, the state legislature has passed the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act. This bill, which Gov. Wes Moore has vowed to sign into law, is designed to prohibit surveillance pricing, the practice of retailers charging different shoppers different prices for the same item at the same time based on information the store knows about them as an individual. While crucial and innovative legislation, Consumer Reports – which “engaged on the bill…throughout the legislative process,” argues that it has been watered down to the point of inadequacy via lobbying by the Maryland Retail Alliance. Some of the added exceptions include failing to establish any baseline or standard price – given that “with no set standard price, everything can be marketed as a discount” — and exempting any pricing associated with loyalty or membership programs or subscriptions. The bill also does not contain strong enforcement provisions, such as a private right of action. So, while this bill is a start – and you have to start somewhere – we echo Consumer Reports’ urging that “other state legislatures considering personalized pricing legislation to build in stronger consumer protections and avoid loopholes that weakened this bill.” * In more consumer news, the scourge of sports betting continues to metastasize. A new report from Siena Research Institute has produced staggering findings: “27% of Americans and [52%] of men ages 18-49…[say] they have an active account with an online sportsbook such as DraftKings, Caesars, FanDuel, or BetMGM.” And, while most respondents maintain that they bet because it is “exciting” and “fun”, “31% of bettors report having had someone express concern about their usage of online sportsbooks, [42%] of bettors...say they have felt that they bet more than they should…Fifteen percent of bettors…say they have called a problem gambling Helpline or sought other help with problem gambling, and 22% of respondents overall say they know someone that has or has had a problem with online sports betting.” Taken together, this represents a deeply troubling gambling wave cresting in this country. And, while legislators are beginning to take notice, the sports betting interests are beginning to fight back, with Bloomberg reporting that these companies – FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics Sportsbook – are beginning to dump money by the truckload into new Super PACs. Just this year, they have contributed $41 million to Win for America, according to new FEC filings, and show no sign of stopping there. * In our final domestic story, this week saw the implosion of leading California gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell. Swalwell ultimately opted to resign his seat in Congress after it became clear that the Democratic and Republican House leadership was mulling a deal to expel him and flagrantly corrupt Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick along with two scandal-ridden GOP Reps., Tony Gonzales and Cory Mills. The fact that Swalwell’s resignation was paired with that of Gonzales lends credence to the idea that some deal was worked out behind closed doors. Yet, deal or no, this leaves Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills in their seats despite general acknowledgment that they should be expelled, per the Hill. This constitutes congressional horsetrading at its most base. * Turning to international news, this week Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has for months governed the country with a plurality in the House of Commons, has successfully secured a majority for his ruling Liberal Party. This majority was secured via three byelection victories, but more significantly, by five recent “floor crossings” – elected MPs switching parties to join the Liberals. Having secured a majority, Carney is now confident in his ability to stave off a no-confidence vote and will likely remain in power at least until the 2029 general election. Unfortunately, the New Democratic Party (NDP) saw improvement in their share of the vote in only one “riding” despite their new leadership. This just proves the party has a long, difficult climb back to relevance in Canadian politics. This from the CBC. * Looking Southward, this week, Peru held the first round of their presidential election. The top two vote getters will advance to a runoff, but who those candidates would be remained unclear for an agonizingly protracted period of time. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the former Japanese-Peruvian dictator and a perennial far-right candidate herself, came in first with 17% of the vote. And at first, it seemed like the second slot would be taken by ultraconservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga. However, following days of vote counting, Aliaga moved down to third place, with the second place finisher proving to be Roberto Sanchez, a figure of the Peruvian Left and ally of ousted former President Pedro Castillo. Sanchez however is also allegedly allied with the Andean supremacist movement led by Antauro Humala in Peru. The Peruvian political system has been rocked by instability, churning through “eight presidents in the past 10 years, including four who were impeached,” per France 24. Castillo, the last democratically elected president, was sentenced to over 11 years in prison in 2025; if elected, Sanchez would likely pardon the former president as other left-wing Latin American leaders including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum have urged. How long Sanchez, or for that matter Fujimori, might last in office is another question. * Finally, we turn to the United Kingdom where the dream of a new Leftist party – Your Party – is foundering. After a promising start, Your Party ultimately descended into infighting between the Grassroots Left faction, led by Zarah Sultana, and another faction, the Many, led by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Your Party also chose to bar from participation any avowedly leftist organizations. These moves, alienating to the very constituencies most interested in backing the YP, paired with the meteoric rise of the Green Party under Zack Polanski and a threatened exodus by the Scottish YP segment, have rendered what could have been a substantial power in Parliament, pressing for concessions on issues if not achieving a majority itself, utterly toothless. An inside account of the internal battles is available at Counterfire. 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.
How war in the Gulf could worsen war in Sudan
This Earth Day, let's remember our need to train a new generation to take on environmental challenges.
This Earth Day, let's remember our need to train a new generation to take on environmental challenges. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Kathleen Rogers.
A more troubling picture of sea level rise is coming into view
Scientists have uncovered a “blind spot” in the research on rising seas, revealing that tens of millions of people thought safe from coastal flooding are at risk of inundation.
Sea levels are much higher than we thought. Real-world oceans are making a mockery of flood-risk forecasts based on crude global modeling. And to make matters worse, coastal lands almost everywhere are subsiding faster than anyone realized — often many times faster than the seas are rising. These findings come from two major new studies that are reshaping our understanding of the threats posed by rising tides and sinking land and underlining the imminent risk of inundation facing tens of millions of people in some of the world’s largest megacities, say researchers not involved in the studies. “The impacts of sea level rise under climate change have been systematically underestimated,” concluded Matt Palmer, a specialist on sea level rise at the U.K. Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Science. “We could see devastating impacts much earlier than predicted — particularly in the Global South.” “Taken jointly, these two papers paint a considerably more concerning picture than either would in isolation,” said Franck Ghomsi, an oceanographer at the University of Cape Town. “We are seeing an emerging body of research that rewrites the story of coastal vulnerability.” It has long been known that sea levels vary a lot globally, and have been rising more in some places than others. But now, a groundbreaking Dutch analysis of actual sea levels as measured by tidal gauges has found that almost the entire scientific literature has dramatically underestimated current sea levels. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="overhead view of sea ice floating in a bay near Greeland" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267118780.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Oceans are absorbing the Earth’s excess energy. That’s bad news for food systems. Frida Garza Katharina Seeger and Philip Minderhoud, geographers at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, said seas are on average almost 1 foot higher than standard estimates, which are based on global models that assume calm seas and ignore ocean currents and the effect of winds. Sea levels are not rising faster than thought, but the baseline for future rise is considerably higher in most places. In many of the 385 cases the pair examined, previously accepted sea levels are 3 feet or more off — almost all of them too low. They conclude that around 80 million people are today living on land in coastal areas below sea level — almost twice previous estimates — dramatically increasing the numbers at risk as sea level rise accelerates in the coming decades. For many low-lying coastal areas, scientific forecasts of how soon they may flood as sea levels rise may be off by several decades, making planning to protect coastlines much more urgent than previously supposed by policymakers and funding bodies such as the World Bank that rely on scientific assessments of flooding risk. The other new study focused on the world’s river deltas. It has long been known that many deltas are sinking under the influence of groundwater pumping. But as Robert Nicholls, climate adaptation researcher at the University of East Anglia, noted, “There have been lots of different estimates.” Data were inconsistent and based on crude, delta-wide estimates. “Now at last we have a consistent data set, with high spatial resolution.” That data comes from Leonard Ohenhen, an Earth system scientist at the University of California, Irvine, who used satellite-mounted radar to produce 3D maps of subsidence on 40 of the world’s biggest and most populous river deltas. He has found that subsidence afflicts more than half those deltas. Most startlingly, in 18 cases subsidence rates exceed those of rising tides — hence, more than doubling the effective yearly rise in local sea levels, and in some cases multiplying it tenfold. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A home is severely damaged after Hurricane Beryl swept through the area on July 08, 2024 in Freeport, Texas. Tropical Storm Beryl developed into a Category 1 hurricane as it hit the Texas coast late last night. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 3000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?resize=330%2C220&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&quality=75&strip=all 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2161268089_hurricane-2.jpg?resize=150%2C100&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="2000" width="3000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Is your state becoming uninsurable? We have the latest data. Jake Bittle, Emily Jones, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, Vivian La, Anila Yoganathan, Katie Myers, & Clayton Aldern This again puts tens of millions of people once thought safe from rising tides this century in imminent harm’s way, including those living on the deltas of the Nile in Egypt, the Mekong in Vietnam, the Mahanadi in India, and the Yellow River in China. If the current rate of subsidence persists, these areas will be flooded much sooner than thought. Researchers say many deltas and other low-lying coastal areas not included in the two studies are at greater risk than believed and urgently require detailed investigation of both actual sea levels and the rate of land subsidence. The two studies, conducted largely independently, show glaring gaps in past research tracking the severity of climate change impacts. Seeger said peer-reviewed studies and reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are almost all based on faulty methodology. One problem is that more than 90 percent of local studies estimating current sea levels and future rises cut-and-paste the results of mathematical models of the “geoid,” the shape of the Earth as calculated from the planet’s rotation and gravitational fields. They deliver approximate sea levels, but by assuming calm and uniform oceans, they result in significant local errors, said Seeger. Very few studies use actual measured data, even when it is available. In particular, Seeger said, this approach “ignores ocean dynamics” such as currents, water expanding from unusally high temperatures, and prevailing winds piling up water along shorelines. Her painstakingly assembled real-world data from tidal gauges shows that actual sea levels worldwide are on average 9.4 to 10.6 inches higher than predicted by geoid models. This discrepancy exceeds total global sea level rise since the start of the 20th century, noted Jonathan Bamber, a glaciologist at the University of Bristol. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/California-house-wildfire.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Is the world heating up faster than we thought? Rebecca Egan McCarthy Higher-than-expected sea levels turn out to be greatest “in the Global South, where ocean dynamics tend to be stronger,” said Minderhoud. Tides along the coasts of Southeast Asia are 3 feet or more higher than geoid modeling predicts. Just a few places have lower levels — notably around Antarctica and the northern Mediterranean. “Our corrected calculations reveal that up to 37 percent more area and up to 68 percent more people will fall below sea level following [3.3 feet] of sea level rise,” said Seeger. That represents an additional area at risk of inundation the size of the United Kingdom — occupied by 132 million people, equivalent to the population of Mexico. Seeger said the “methodological blind spot” that she and Minderhoud have uncovered went undetected for so long in part because geoid estimates are most accurate in Europe and the Eastern Seaboard of North America, where the majority of published researchers are based. The fact that current sea levels are higher than supposed does not directly alter global projections of future rise. But it raises the baseline from which future rises will occur in most places, and the evidence of strong local variations in sea levels suggests that future rises in some places will be higher than in others. Minderhoud said the prevalence of geoid data in the scientific literature has led to complacency, by predicting that many heavily populated coastal regions have more leeway before flooding thresholds are crossed than now appears likely. A case in point is the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where Minderhoud began his own investigations into the reliability of sea level data in the scientific literature a decade ago. Published data predicted that “the land would start to become inundated if sea levels were to rise by [5 to 6.6 feet],” he said. “But I could see that the surface water level was already in many places … much higher.” Without urgent protection, the land was on the brink of becoming inundated. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Four researchers in coats and hats stand around a hole dug in the ice on top of a glacier, while the sun peeks over the mountains behind them" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Glacier-scientists-e1773773901971.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Scientists race to decode data from Europe’s vanishing glaciers Matt Simon Many deltas face a similar harsh confrontation with reality, because they are also sinking into the rising ocean. Some deltas subside naturally, if rivers do not supply enough sediment to replenish what is lost to erosion by the ocean. But “natural subsidence is rarely more than [0.1 inches] a year,” said Nicholls. That is a fraction of current rates, which mostly have an anthropogenic origin, he said. Parts of Shanghai, a megacity of 25 million people on the Yangtze Delta, have subsided by more than 6 feet, Bangkok by more than 5 feet, and Osaka and Tianjin by around 10 feet, said Nicholls. Much of Jakarta, the megacity capital of Indonesia, has sunk by up to 13 feet since 1970, and it continues downward 10 times faster than seas are rising in the adjacent bay. The threat of widespread submersion was a primary reason for the Indonesian government’s 2019 decision to move its capital to Borneo. Ohenhen’s analysis confirms that subsidence of deltas is usually caused by pumping groundwater to fill city faucets and supply industry and agriculture. The dried-out subsurface loses volume, causing widespread sinking at the surface. Jakarta is just the largest of many coastal cities and farming areas threatened by groundwater withdrawal on Java, the world’s most populous island. Semarang, a booming coastal Javan city of 2 million people, pumps so much water that subsidence reaches between 20 and 50 times sea level rise, according to analysis by Ohenhen. Floods washed through the city in October 2025 and again in February this year. Waterlogged residents repeatedly rebuild their houses on ever higher stilts to avoid inundation. But whole neighborhoods are disappearing permanently beneath the waves. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?resize=1200%2C801&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?resize=330%2C220&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?resize=768%2C513&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1025&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2174622583.jpeg?resize=150%2C100&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1068" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Scientists have a dire new warning about the state of the planet Matt Simon A second cause of subsidence is dams and levees on rivers. These structures cut off sediment supplies that maintain deltas. Thanks to a total of more than 20 large dams on its main stem, China’s Yellow River is no longer so yellow from sediment. Ohenhen found that, as a consequence of the reduced sediment, its delta has been subsiding up to 10 times faster than the Yellow Sea, into which it empties, is projected to rise. In Europe, the Po Delta in Italy is sinking by between 2 and 4 inches per year, said Ohenhen. This after losing 71 percent of its sediment supply to dams. In North America, the Mississippi Delta has lost 1,900 square miles in the past century. It continues to sink by an average of 2 inches per year, said Ohenhen, as levees prevent the river from flooding across the delta and depositing sediment. The subsidence renders it ever more vulnerably to storm surges during hurricanes. Sometimes subsidence has a range of causes, said Nicholls. The Nile Delta, which contains two-thirds of Egypt’s farmland, has been starved of sediment by the High Aswan dam, which was constructed in the 1960s, and undermined from beneath by groundwater pumping to irrigate crops. The new analysis found rates of subsidence were “much bigger than previously reported, with millions of people in harm’s way.” Nicholls said. It is the dominant cause of a retreat in the delta coastline that in places exceeds 300 feet per year, engulfing farmland, threatening the city of Alexandria, and poisoning palm trees as salty water infiltrates underground water. The new findings point to urgent problems for governments and aid agencies. In many parts of the world, authorities are acting to protect communities against rising tides without realizing either how high current sea levels already are or the extent of land subsidence. In Java, the Indonesian government and NGOs have been restoring coastal mangroves as a natural way to help hold back tides that have swamped whole villages. But as the work has progressed, it has emerged that groundwater pumping in Semarang and elsewhere is making this work much less impactful. Still, the often-dominant role of land subsidence as a cause of coastal flooding is potentially good news. For, while rising sea levels can only be halted with global climate action, subsidence can be stopped quickly by local action, such as ending groundwater pumping, said Scott Jasechko, a hydrologist at the University of California Santa Barbara, and author of a new global study of groundwater recovery. Parts of Tokyo sunk by up to 15 feet between 1920 and 1960, as it became the world’s most populous metropolitan area. But then the city largely banned groundwater pumping, and land levels have been stable ever since, said Nicholls. Elsewhere, the operation of dams can be altered, and levees removed, to restore sediment supplies to deltas. After Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began turning the tides in the Mississippi Delta by diverting sediment-rich water to restore protective coastal marshes. Still, the threats loom large, especially in Southeast Asia and Africa, where Ghomsi, of the University of Cape Town, sums up what faces countries with few resources to repel the tides: “The sea level baseline is higher than assumed, the land is sinking in many critical regions, the sea is rising faster, and extreme events now come on top, producing impacts that are greater than the sum of their parts.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A more troubling picture of sea level rise is coming into view on Apr 18, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360.
South African activist praises world court genocide case against Israel
Asia Pacific Report A South African-born New Zealand critic of Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing today delivered strong praise for his home country’s genocide case filed with the International Court of Justice. Israel is currently on trial on allegations of genocide with the ICJ in The Hague and South Africa has been joined by at
Asia Pacific Report A South African-born New Zealand critic of Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing today delivered strong praise for his home country’s genocide case filed with the International Court of Justice. Israel is currently on trial on allegations of genocide with the ICJ in The Hague and South Africa has been joined by at least 15 other countries as accusers — but New Zealand is not among them. Noting how global iconic leader Nelson Mandela spoke out in his lifetime in support of Palestinian rights, Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) campaigner Achmat Esau said South Africa was not speaking out of convenience, “but out of principle”. READ MORE: Global protests mark Palestinian Prisoners Day Israel passes mandatory death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism, drawing widespread condemnation Other Palestinian and Iran human rights reports Speaking at the combined Banners of Humanity and Banners of Palestine exhibition and concert at the Corbans Art Centre, Esau paraphrased the Irish poet and essayist W B Yeats’ famous 2019 poem “The Second Coming”: “In a time when the world feels like it is unravelling, we must choose to be that centre — to hold the line for justice, dignity and humanity.” <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126732" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Achmat-Esau-APR-680wide.png" alt="Anti-apartheid activist Achmat Esau " width="680" height="483" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Achmat-Esau-APR-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Achmat-Esau-APR-680wide-300x213.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Achmat-Esau-APR-680wide-100x70.png 100w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Achmat-Esau-APR-680wide-591x420.png 591w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Anti-apartheid activist Achmat Esau . . . “Why does South Africa persist? The answer lies in our history.” Image: Asia Pacific Report A veteran activist of the Bastion Point and the 1981 Springbok tour anti-apartheid protests, he told the audience he was speaking about “camaraderie — a spirit of shared struggle, trust and solidarity” and how it shaped South Africa’s decision to take legal action against Israel at the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC). On 29 December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the ICJ, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention in the besieged Gaza Strip. By January 2024, the court found these genocide allegations “plausible” and ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide, a legal order Tel Aviv has since ignored. Support for South Africa “Since then, multiple countries have joined the lawsuit action, and South Africa has submitted extensive to support its case,” Esau said. Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Iceland, Ireland, Libya, Maldives, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Palestine, The Netherlands, and Türkiye are among countries joining the lawsuit. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126733" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Pal-banner-APR-680wide.png" alt=""Free Palestine" " width="680" height="442" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Pal-banner-APR-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Pal-banner-APR-680wide-300x195.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Pal-banner-APR-680wide-646x420.png 646w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> “Free Palestine” banners at the exhibition. Image: Asia Pacific Report The ICC has also issued arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders (all since assassinated). “in response, South Africa has faced intense pressure — particularly from the United States — through political threats, legal opposition and public condemnation,” said Esau. “So why does South Africa persist? The answer lies in our history. “Under apartheid, our struggle for freedom was sustained by international solidarity — by comrades who stood with us in our darkest hours. “That solidarity shaped who we are. “Countries such as Cuba, Palestine, Libya and Iran actively supported our liberation.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126735" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hooded-prisoners-APR-680wide.png" alt="Hooded "Palestinian political prisoners held hostage"" width="680" height="491" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hooded-prisoners-APR-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hooded-prisoners-APR-680wide-300x217.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hooded-prisoners-APR-680wide-324x235.png 324w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hooded-prisoners-APR-680wide-582x420.png 582w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Hooded “Palestinian political prisoners held hostage” at today’s Red Ribbon protest event in Auckland. Image: Asia Pacific Report Mandela’s message On Nelson Mandela’s release from Robben Island jail after being imprisoned for 27 years, he “honoured them, calling them brothers, comrades and leaders , because they stood with South Africa when it mattered most”. Esau also cited Mandela’s famous pledge, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Many other speakers, singers and musicans took part at the Banners for Humanity event, which was a fundraiser for the global medical charity MSF — Doctors Without Borders. The performers included Simon Frost and his daughters; PSNA’s co-chair Maher Nazzal; Taipua Kipa and Delta Johns, Waitakere College rangatahi; Lebanese singer Eva Maria Chasson; Mama Lema Shamaba, of the Democratic Republic of Congo; West Papuan Dr Mary Joku Ponifasio; Fatima Sanussi of Sudan; and Bibi Amina, speaking about Iran. Masses of protest banners on display included “End genocidal capitalism — Palestine forever”, “IDF = Murder Machine — your silence is complicit with murder”, “Luxon! Sanction Netanyahu now: End U$rael Illegal War$”, and “The more you oppress — the more we will resist”. Earlier in the day, Achmat Esau had also spoken at a PSNA rally in downtown Auckland’s Te Komititanga Square to mark the Red Ribbon Global Action to stop Israel’s plan to execute Palestinian hostages on the 132nd consecutive week of Gaza protests. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126736" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide.png" alt=""Tortured Palestinan prisoners" lying on the pavement in the street theatre protest" width="1024" height="630" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide.png 1024w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide-300x185.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide-768x473.png 768w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide-356x220.png 356w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide-696x428.png 696w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Bodies-on-pavement-APR-680wide-683x420.png 683w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> “Tortured Palestinan prisoners” lying on the pavement in today’s street theatre protest. Image: Asia Pacific Report ‘Prisoners’ in street theatre A street theatre performance led by the Artists for Sumud Ensemble and Under the Same Moon featured hooded prisoners (the protesters) and most of the crowd. The group was led by singers Acacia O’Connor and Eva Maria, and Uruguayan artist-filmmaker Eloiza Montaña. Speakers included Maya Swaid from the Palestinian community and social justice engineer Syed Iqbal, chair of Support Beyond Boards. Israel is currently holding more than 9600 political prisoners hostage — an 83 percent increase since before the genocide began in October 2023. Swaid related how many prisoners were arbitraily “taken from their homes, prosecuted and then incarcerated” in prisons notorious for torture under a military court system where they had no rights. “There are also many women housed in these prisons and more than 3500 people who are not charged with any crime at all,” she said. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126737" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maya-Swaid-APR-680wide.png" alt="Palestinian community speaker Maya Swaid" width="680" height="465" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maya-Swaid-APR-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maya-Swaid-APR-680wide-300x205.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maya-Swaid-APR-680wide-218x150.png 218w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maya-Swaid-APR-680wide-614x420.png 614w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Palestinian community speaker Maya Swaid . . . Palestinian “administrative” prisoners held with “No charge, no trial, no conviction.” Image: Asia Pacific Report “No charge, no trial, no conviction. They are jailed under ‘administrative’ detention based on ‘secret evidence’ that they are not allowed to see in a system where they cannot defend themselves. United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s latest report has warned that Israel is systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale that “suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent” and that “torture has effectively become state policy” since October 2023, reports Democracy Now! Earlier this month, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a law enabling mandatory executions of Palestinian prisoners by a 62-48 vote that has stirred global protests and condemnation by human rights groups. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126738" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Release-Palestinians-APR-680wide.png" alt=""Release the Palestinian hostages - Free Dr Abu Safiya" " width="680" height="495" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Release-Palestinians-APR-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Release-Palestinians-APR-680wide-300x218.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Release-Palestinians-APR-680wide-324x235.png 324w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Release-Palestinians-APR-680wide-577x420.png 577w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> “Release the Palestinian hostages – Free Dr Abu Safiya” in reference to the Palestinian paediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who was kidnapped detained by Israeli military forces in December 2024. Image: Asia Pacific Report This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Trump is blustering as usual but in reality praying for Iran peace deal
COMMENTARY: By Lim Tean Many American apologists cannot see the forest for the trees and think that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz represents a huge win for the United States and that Iran has caved in. Wrong. When the Iran ceasefire was first announced by US President Donald Trump on April 8, it
COMMENTARY: By Lim Tean Many American apologists cannot see the forest for the trees and think that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz represents a huge win for the United States and that Iran has caved in. Wrong. When the Iran ceasefire was first announced by US President Donald Trump on April 8, it was meant to cover Lebanon as well. Even the Pakistanis, who were the mediators said it covered Lebanon. But that war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to wreck the peace process and so bombed Lebanon viciously and committed genocide once again, killing hundreds if not thousands of innocent Lebanese. READ MORE: Iran warns US blockade of ports must end as Strait of Hormuz opens Trump tried to rein him in but Netanyahu refused to stop the genocide and the two got into a shouting match in the early hours of the morning. The Americans just could not control the Israelis. So Iran maintained their vice-like closure of the Strait of Hormuz. With each passing day, the world was moving towards an economic precipice and people all over the world were blaming Trump and the Americans for starting the stupid war. Trump eventually read the riot act to Netanyahu and unilaterally imposed the ceasefire in Lebanon. The Israelis were stunned. The ceasefire resulted not because of talks between the Lebanese and the Israelis, but because of the leverage Iran has over the Strait of Hormuz. That is why the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that because of the ceasefire in Lebanon, Iran is reopening the Strait — and Trump thanked the Iranians profusely for it. As for Trump still maintaining the blockade of the Iranian ports, this is pure posturing by him to show that he is strong. It means nothing. The Iranians have already warned him that if he continues with the blockade, they will not only close off the Strait of Hormuz again but also the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea and also the Gulf of Oman. That would plunge the entire world economy into a depression and no oil from the Gulf would flow. Trump as usual is blustering, but in reality he is praying every minute that the Iranians will go back to the negotiating table, and give him the peace deal he so desperately needs to extricate himself from the mess he created in starting this war. Iran is showing its maturity and displaying the might of a new global power. It will soon control the entire Middle East together with the other great power — Türkiye. 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.
Alternative Jewish Voices launches new access radio programme
Pacific Media Watch Alternative Jewish Voices | Sh’ma Koleinu — a collective of anti-Zionist Jews from the Far North to Dunedin — launched its new radio programme today. Rick Sahar and Marilyn Garson will host AJV Radio every other Saturday at 5.00 pm. Tune in for issues and ideas, solidarity movement news, Jewish culture and
Pacific Media Watch Alternative Jewish Voices | Sh’ma Koleinu — a collective of anti-Zionist Jews from the Far North to Dunedin — launched its new radio programme today. Rick Sahar and Marilyn Garson will host AJV Radio every other Saturday at 5.00 pm. Tune in for issues and ideas, solidarity movement news, Jewish culture and some hard questions — “all in a liberatory Aotearoa Jewish voice”. Highlights of today’s programme: Contribute to Dr Nick Riener’s crowdfunded defence Aida Tavassoli’s substack: https://aida4afreeworld.substack.com/ Ciara’s Notes From Elsewhere substack: https://substack.com/@ciaramoez?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=b3qt7 From hope to horror: voices from inside the war on Iran For more international movement news: https://globaljewsforpalestine.com/ https://members.greenolivecollective.com/ https://www.jewishfaculty.ca/static/pdfs/cija-report.pdf Look for Lynn Jenner’s new book, The Gum Trees of Keri Keri. Listen to Alternative Jewish Voices Radio This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
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Pacific Forum responds to current global fuel and energy challenges
RNZ Pacific The Pacific Islands Forum troika Leaders have agreed to activate the Biketawa Declaration, placing the region on a co-ordinated high alert framework to respond to the unfolding global energy security crisis. The declaration was made by the leaders of the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Palau following discussions in Nadi, Fiji, on Friday in
RNZ Pacific The Pacific Islands Forum troika Leaders have agreed to activate the Biketawa Declaration, placing the region on a co-ordinated high alert framework to respond to the unfolding global energy security crisis. The declaration was made by the leaders of the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Palau following discussions in Nadi, Fiji, on Friday in light of the looming energy crisis as a result of the illegal US-Israel war on Iran. The meeting brought together the incoming Chair, President Surangel Whipps of Palau, and outgoing Chair, the Prime Minister of Tonga, Lord Fakafanua. READ MORE: Other Biketawa Declaration security reports On a social media post, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele noted that Solomon Islands continued to experience the impact of global fuel price volatility and highlighted the importance of practical regional solutions to support vulnerable Pacific economies. Leaders noted that Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands had declared energy emergencies, while Solomon Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia were implementing national mitigation measures. Other Forum members remain on a regional watch phase, with ongoing monitoring by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware the Forum Troika has invoked the Biketawa Declaration to respond to the current global fuel and energy challenges. A spokesperson for MFAT said they are supportive of regional efforts to respond to regional crises, including through the Biketawa Declaration. They said they are working closely with Pacific Islands Forum partners to understand the fuel supply situation, and potential needs, across the region and how they could assist. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Owen Jones: At The Telegraph, journalist support for Israel is now mandatory
COMMENTARY: By Owen Jones Britain’s Daily Telegraph is being acquired by a German-based media giant — and now its journalists are formally expected to support Israel. The Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, has cleared the takeover by Axel Springer SE. Its CEO, Mathias Döpfner, has written to Telegraph staff “outlining his commitment” to the paper. An
COMMENTARY: By Owen Jones Britain’s Daily Telegraph is being acquired by a German-based media giant — and now its journalists are formally expected to support Israel. The Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, has cleared the takeover by Axel Springer SE. Its CEO, Mathias Döpfner, has written to Telegraph staff “outlining his commitment” to the paper. An employee at The Telegraph has sent me that letter. It is deeply revealing. READ MORE: Other Palestine and Iran media reports Owen Jones on Substack Döpfner insists that the values of The Telegraph and the publishing house founded by late tycoon Axel Springer — dubbed “Germany’s Rupert Murdoch” — are aligned. They are, he says, “Freedom, free markets, individual freedom and freedom of speech”. He goes further. Axel Springer, he explains, is “guided by a clear editorial compass.” Its employees are rooted in its “Essentials” — “core values to which we are firmly committed”. There is, he adds, “no such thing as neutral journalism”: only journalism that is “pluralistic and surprising, fair, and fact-based.” And yet, having invoked “freedom of speech” as a foundational principle, he insists these Essentials are not partisan — but rather “define a socio-political framework within which maximum journalistic freedom and intellectual independence can flourish.” ‘We support the right of Israel to exist’ Döpfner then sets out those ‘Essentials’: We stand for freedom, freedom of expression, the rule of law, and democracy. We support the right of Israel to exist and oppose all forms of antisemitism. We advocate the transatlantic alliance between the United States and Europe. We uphold the principles of a free-market economy. We reject political and religious extremism, as well as all forms of discrimination. Note where “we support the right of Israel to exist” sits: second. ‘Freedom’ — within limits Döpfner emphasises that editorial independence will be protected, including from pressure by politicians, celebrities, or advertisers. “I value debate in the spirit of pluralism and freedom of expression,” he writes. But the description of the Essentials is, frankly, Orwellian. It is not reconcilable to argue that these tenets create the conditions for “maximum journalistic freedom” while simultaneously requiring adherence to a political position on a specific foreign state. Out of 193 UN member states, only one is singled out in this way. No state has a “right to exist” under international law. Peoples have a right to self-determination — a right denied, in this case, by Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, and by subjecting its people to apartheid, colonisation and genocide. A Telegraph journalist put it to me bluntly: To be firmly told by our new parent company-to-be’s CEO that the second most important guiding principle is affirming the right of a country committing genocide and ethnic cleansing is more than a little concerning. It also raises the question of how any reporting from the paper can be considered factual if that is our core principle. As they note, this principle comes before any explicit rejection of discrimination. What ‘Israel’s right to exist’ means in practice In practice, the phrase “Israel’s right to exist” has been repeatedly deployed by Israel’s cheerleaders across the West to justify Israel’s crimes — from occupation and colonisation to apartheid and, now, mass destruction in Gaza. It is also telling what is not said. The Essentials do not prohibit racism in general, despite later rejecting “all forms of discrimination”. There is no explicit rejection of Islamophobia, for example, or anti-Arab racism. Instead, “oppose all forms of antisemitism” is fused directly with “support the right of Israel to exist”. That conflation matters. Because we know that defenders of Israel have repeatedly blurred the line between antisemitism and opposition to the actions of the Israeli state. So how, exactly, might Axel Springer SE interpret “oppose all forms of antisemitism”? ‘Free Palestine’ is a ‘pro-Hamas topic’ There are very strong clues, let’s put it that way. The late Axel Springer himself declared: It is the task of our generation to stand firmly by Israel’s side, even if this causes difficulties for our policies elsewhere. He further added: The country does not need encouragement, but advocacy, wherever and whenever it can be provided – in the European Community, in the United Nations, in diplomatic relations, at work, in the family. He described this as a “German duty”. In June 2021, when employees complained about the Israeli flag being raised at company headquarters, Mathias Döpfner responded: I think, and I’m being very frank with you, a person who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after antisemitic demonstrations, should look for a new job. He was referring to demonstrations against Israel’s assault on Gaza that May. In October 2023, a Lebanese employee at Welt TV — part of the Axel Springer empire — was dismissed: he says it was after he challenged the outlet’s pro-Israel positions. Axel Springer SE refuse to comment on “individual personnel matters”. In an internal email which was leaked that year, Döpfner reportedly summarised his political worldview with the phrase: “Zionism über alles” — “Zionism above all.” He has penned repeated pro-Israel polemics. “Will we stand with Israel against the enemies of freedom despite the risks, or will we allow fear and opportunism to prevail?” he wrote in October 2023, demanding “massive, unstiting political, financial and military support”. On a podcast for his employees, Döpfner claimed “a majority on Instagram, on other social media, and in particular on TikTok, took sides for the Hamas’ actions.” He argued that “an almost global wave of Anti-Semitism suddenly showed its ugly face”, which he described as a shock, despite knowing “that it is here and there, well hidden or presented in a politically correct manner as Anti-Zionism or “Woke-ism” or whatever.” And he said something deeply revealing about TikTok: “Concretely, more than 4 million posts until today have been published under the hashtag of #FreePalestine or other kind of pro-Hamas topics. And only 50,000 something, 53,000 posts basically standing by Israel.” “Free Palestine”, he argued, was a “kind of pro-Hamas topic”. Conflating antisemitism with critique of Israel When Israel launched its first war on Iran last June, Döpfner declared it was “surprising that Israel is not being celebrated worldwide for its historic, extremely precise and necessary strike.” Instead, he claimed: the public response is dominated by anti-Israel propaganda. The intelligence and precision of Israel’s actions are not admired but are instead used here and there to perpetuate blatantly antisemitic stereotypes. This attitude is characterised not only by racist undertones, but also by a strange self-forgetfulness. In other words, he directly conflated critique of Israel’s war with antisemitism. A few months ago, he quoted claims about atrocities committed on October 7th which included: “A first responder testified before the Knesset that he had seen the severed skulls of three children.” The claims that Israeli children were beheaded have been comprehensively debunked. He went on to write that: justified criticism of decisions made by an Israeli government is mixed with deep-rooted hatred of Jews and that, as a result, instead of an obvious global wave of compassion and solidarity, a global wave of cold-heartedness and increasingly aggressive anti-Semitism has emerged. The piece further criticised the German government — Israel’s most loyal European defender — for “massively” restricting arms sales to Israel. Tellingly, he said that decision meant that “From now on, unconditional support for Israel’s right to exist is effectively subject to conditions.” He described the recognition of Palestinian statehood “as a reward for the barbarism of October 7″. Last October, Al Jazeera published an investigation into German tabloid Bild, a cornerstone of Axel Springer SE, headlined “The Story of Israel’s Propaganda Machine Specialising in Anti-Palestinian Incitement’. Al Jazeera reported that the newspaper had suggested that a Palestinian journalist killed by Israel was a “terrorist”, denied famine in Gaza, and published a lengthy report it claimed had been found on the computer of late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. It transpired that the document was old, not authored by Sinwar, and had reportedly been leaked by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The newspaper, reported Al Jazeera, had also “consistently demonised pro-Gaza demonstrators in Germany, labelling them as “mobs”, “Israel-haters”, and “anti-Semites”. Israel’s supporters in the West have launched the biggest assault on free speech since the height of McCarthyism. We can see where the Telegraph’s new owners stand on that. Extracted and republished from Owen Jones’ article on his Battlelines substack. Read the full article here. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
ICE Agents Hide Behind Masks; Jesse Jackson Remembered As Determined Leader
Words from populist author, public speaker, and radio commentator Jim Hightower.
Words from populist author, public speaker, and radio commentator Jim Hightower. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Jim Hightower.
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Demands for Firing or Impeachment of Trump Breaking Out Everywhere
By Ralph Nader April 17, 2026 For over a year, firing Trump via Impeachment in Congress has been a taboo subject for the so-called Democratic leadership – Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. Recently, their grip on their flock is unravelling. (See: Root...
By Ralph Nader April 17, 2026 For over a year, firing Trump via Impeachment in Congress has been a taboo subject for the so-called Democratic leadership – Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. Recently, their grip on their flock is unravelling. (See: RootsAction’s petition “Tell Democrats in Congress to Insist That Schumer and Jeffries Step Aside”)… This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader and was authored by matthew.
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Paramount’s Purchase of CNN Heralds a New Trump-Friendly Media Empire
If the Paramount/WBD deal moves forward, Larry and David Ellison would gain control of a vast portfolio spanning legacy media and Big Tech.
The Hollywood Reporter (2/27/26) reported Paramount‘s disclosure that funding for its WBD takeover “may include other strategic and financial partners” who go unnamed. The Reporter noted that “previous bids included funding from Middle East sovereign wealth funds, Tencent and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.” The ultra-wealthy have long leveraged their capital to build sprawling media empires that narrow our public range of debate (FAIR.org, 6/1/87). But Paramount Skydance‘s winning bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) marks a major milestone in media monopolization that, if successful, will further expand Trump-allied tech moguls Larry and David Ellison’s burgeoning power over US news and entertainment media. Even before a winner was announced, the bidding war among Paramount, Netflix and Comcast to take over WBD had attracted intense scrutiny, as the acquisition would not only confer lucrative franchises and a huge advantage in the streaming wars, but also control of major media outlets, including CNN, consolidating a greater swath of the media ecosystem under a single owner. The fallout of the deal was destined to enhance the power of an already-sizable media behemoth, no matter which corporate giant won. On February 27, 2026, after a series of hostile takeover bids by Paramount that disrupted what seemed to be a done deal between Netflix and WBD, Netflix abruptly pulled out of the struggle for ownership, stating that it would not be matching Paramount’s higher offer. The current Paramount offer is valued at $31 per share and, including WBD’s debt load, amounts to a grand total of roughly $111 billion. Father-and-son moguls Alex Shephard (New Republic, 10/27/25): “The administration will use its antitrust power to ensure that it gets the owner of Warner Bros. that it wants: the Ellison family.” Steering this deal, and Paramount’s rapid expansion, are Larry and David Ellison, father-and-son moguls who, in just a single year, have parlayed their tech fortune into a colossal media empire. Larry Ellison, billionaire co-founder of Oracle, has bankrolled Paramount’s ballooning growth, which is overseen by his son David. The pair are notoriously close to Donald Trump, and have already weaponized their newfound media control to shift public discourse to the right (FAIR.org, 9/9/25, 9/19/25, 10/9/25, 11/6/25). In August 2025, the Ellisons’ Skydance Media acquired Paramount, owner of CBS, and spearheaded a blatant ideological overhaul of the news network (FAIR.org, 7/24/25). This MAGA-friendly transformation has been aided by Ellison-appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who had previously made a name for herself as an “anti-woke” crusader and founder of the right-wing media company Free Press. Weiss has been at the forefront of such decisions as canceling the Late Show With Stephen Colbert, pulling a 60 Minutes episode that criticized the Trump administration’s mistreatment of Venezuelan migrants, and promoting Tony Dokoupil to primetime anchor, where he promptly gave War Secretary Pete Hegseth an extended and uncritical platform. Less than six months after the closure of the Paramount deal, in January 2026, Larry Ellison finalized a deal with TikTok, which sold 80% of its US operations to an investor consortium that includes Oracle, and left Ellison with a majority stake in TikTok’s US operations. Since then, a number of changes have been implemented that reek of censorship and surveillance. For one, TikTok immediately altered its privacy policy to permit more extensive data collection, including tracking user location. There have also been accusations of content suppression. This became a prominent conversation after the murder of Alex Pretti, as many users reported that they were unable to upload anti-ICE posts and that, if uploaded, their content was receiving unusually low engagement. Researchers found there was a site-wide outage at the time, but they pointed out that because TikTok isn’t transparent with its data or its algorithm, there’s no way to confirm it’s not shadowbanning content (NPR, 2/4/26) Now, on the precipice of acquiring WBD, with a targeted completion date of September 30, 2026, the Ellisons are slated to have massively expanded their entertainment, media and tech empire in barely over a year. If the deal moves forward, the family would gain control of a vast portfolio spanning legacy media and Big Tech—including film, news, television, sports and social media—granting them substantial influence over how the world is seen and understood. Shuffling the media oligarchy In FAIR’s recent online news ownership study (2/3/26), WBD took the third spot and Paramount/Skydance the 16th. By taking over WBD, the Ellisons would vault into third, just behind Rupert Murdoch’s dynasty. What does this look like in terms of numbers? According to Pew, 37% of adults in the US use TikTok. Pew notes that “just over half of US adults who use TikTok (55%) say they regularly get news there. That works out to 20% of all US adults,” or about 54 million people. Given TikTok’s expanding reach as a news source, the Ellisons’ ownership of the platform is especially significant. When factoring in CBS and the additional audience that would accompany an acquisition of CNN, the scope of Ellison-owned media widens even more. As FAIR noted in a recent study (2/3/26), the digital reach alone of these networks is considerable—from December 2024 to November 2025, CBS and CNN attracted 905 million and 4 billion views, respectively. If we use these numbers to project a future in which the Ellisons control CNN, their annual online news view count would be around 5 billion. The actual broadcast and cable TV viewership of CBS and CNN adds relatively little to the Ellisons’ reach: In a recent week in March, CNN averaged 751,000 total primetime viewers, while the CBS Evening News typically had an audience of 4.3 million in the first quarter of 2026. While the Ellisons’ rapidly consolidating media dynasty is not unprecedented, these developments have reconfigured the media oligarchy, partially displacing established players and amassing holdings that extend beyond traditional cable and print news into digital and technology media. Revisiting FAIR’s ranking of digital media owners by site traffic, an Ellison acquisition of WBD would catapult them to the No. 3 spot, driven by CNN’s more than 4 billion annual visits, placing them just behind the No. 1 Ochs-Sulzberger family of the New York Times and the No. 2 Murdoch family. However, unlike with the Ochs-Sulzbergers, the Ellison media empire would also translate to a strong broadcast and cable news presence, as CNN is regarded as one of the “Big Three” cable news channels, generally trailing only Fox News and Comcast’s MS NOW (formerly MSNBC). And, although the Murdochs wield considerable power in cable, digital and print news, the Ellison portfolio expands into the social media realm as well. This is notable considering the ever-increasing number of Americans that rely on social media for news. According to Pew, 53% of US adults get news from social media “sometimes” or “often.” Facebook and YouTube are the most popular sites for news, while 20% get news “regularly” from Instagram and TikTok. While the Ellisons do not lead in social media news ownership—that distinction belongs to Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) and Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google (which owns YouTube)—their media empire, like the Murdochs’, ranks prominently across multiple platforms. Corrupted regulation The Wall Street Journal (12/8/25) reported that “David Ellison offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN…. Trump has told people close to him that he wants new ownership of CNN as well as changes to CNN programming.” The Paramount/WBD deal has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. The next phase is a WBD shareholders vote, which is scheduled to take place on April 23, 2026, and is expected to move forward without complications. Reuters (2/27/26) reports that approval in the EU is not anticipated to pose a significant hurdle, given that a combined Paramount/WBD entity would hold less than a 20% market share across European markets. In the US, the merger would require clearance from both the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which are both controlled by Trump appointees. The anti–public interest antics of FCC chair Brendan Carr are already well-documented by FAIR (2/26/25, 4/2/26; CounterSpin, 4/4/25), and newly appointed Attorney General Todd Blanche appears to have been promoted solely for his unwavering deference to Trump. DoJ official Omeed Assefi, himself a Trump appointee, has insisted that the transaction would “absolutely not” be fast-tracked for political reasons. Yet this claim has been loudly contradicted by statements from Trump’s inner circle. For instance, Hegseth recently said, “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network [CNN], the better.” A lawsuit filed against Paramount and assorted executives by a former consultant alleges that the elder Ellison was told by Trump, “Larry, it looks like Netflix is gonna get Warner Bros., but if you really really want it, Larry, I’ll make sure you get it” (Hollywood Reporter, 3/17/26). Even if Trump has not explicitly vocalized his preference for an Ellison-owned CNN, it is clear that his personal preference effectively amounts to federal regulatory approval. Put simply, when it comes to antitrust matters, or virtually anything regulatory, pandering to Trump is a prerequisite. And the Ellisons are not shy about pandering: In early December 2025, while the Netflix deal was still in play, David Ellison met with Trump and DoJ officials in Washington, DC, where he publicly pitched that, if Paramount acquired WBD, he would implement “sweeping changes” at CNN. As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo (12/8/25) observed, shady backdoor dealing and political corruption form the scaffolding of the media oligarchy, a dynamic that reaches new extremes under the Trump regime: Trump has refashioned antitrust oversight to be little more than a personal veto for the Trump family. Friends can do mergers; foes can’t. Indeed, the indifferent and uncommitted can’t either. You need to get right with the Trump family. Hope from the states David Dayen (American Prospect, 2/27/26): “A lifeline exists outside of Trump’s grasp to rethink this looming disaster…. But the state AGs are going to have to act fast.” While it seems unlikely that federal officials with the power to intervene will do so, there is some cause for optimism at the state level. State governments, particularly state attorneys general, have both the authority and a track record of blocking mergers, even those approved by federal agencies. Currently leading the charge is California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who, immediately following the news of a potential Paramount/WBD deal, posted on X (2/26/26) that his office would vigorously investigate the merger. California has taken center stage in this fight, due to the outsized impact that such a deal would have on the state’s television and film workforce. Recent history underscores the validity of these concerns. Just last year, mass layoffs followed the Ellisons’ Skydance/Paramount merger, demonstrating the damage that monopolistic practices wreak on workers. How effective this resistance will be against the sheer capital and political forces driving the Paramount/WBD deal remains uncertain. As David Dayen explains in the American Prospect (2/27/26), states are well aware of the path forward, and there is historical precedence for them to invoke the Clayton Act to challenge the merger. However, he emphasizes the need to act quickly, noting that states “are in a race against Paramount’s savvy consultants, who are trying to speedrun the deal in a matter of weeks.” ACTION ALERT: The progressive media policy group Free Press has a petition encouraging state attorneys general to block Paramount‘s takeover of WBD. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Caitlin Scialla.
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NYT’s Investigation of How Trump’s War on Iran Started Leaves Out the Paper’s Own Silence
A full accounting of how the disastrous Iran War came about must grapple with the US military/industrial complex's megaphone: the compliant US corporate media.
According to the New York Times (4/7/26), US intelligence officials assured Trump that “crippling Iran’s capacity to project power and threaten its neighbors” was “achievable with American intelligence and military power.” A New York Times exposé (4/7/26) detailed a presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Donald Trump in the White House Situation Room—meant to sell the president on a war with Iran roughly two weeks before the US’s initial attack—and Trump’s subsequent discussions with his inner circle. The Times report, headlined “How Trump Took the US to War in Iran,” is sparking renewed corporate media attention to how this conflict began. But that discussion has been clouded by the report’s fixation on Netanyahu’s sway over Trump and alleged divisions among his advisers. That Trump was narcissistic and gullible enough to believe lies Netanyahu told him, as the report lays out, was undoubtedly an important factor in the time and manner of a US/Israeli assault that has killed thousands and effectively widened the scope of the Gaza genocide. But buried within the report is an interesting detail indicating more structural forces were also at work: The Times‘ Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman reported that the US intelligence community determined that, while the prospect of regime change was “farcical,” “crippling Iran’s capacity to project power and threaten its neighbors” was “achievable with American intelligence and military power.” Iran’s continued capacity to close the Strait of Hormuz and exact a heavy toll on US bases in the region demonstrates this was a faulty assessment. Whether it was by groupthink, incompetence or the influence of neoconservatives and the Israel lobby, the fact that the national security state came to such an erroneous determination is going criminally underdiscussed. Military/industrial megaphone Despite Mossad openly bragging that its agents had directly participated in an armed uprising against the Iranian government, the New York Times (1/14/26) held that Tehran’s depictions of “protesters as puppets of foreign enemies” were “smears” that “should not intimidate the world into inaction.” This was the paper’s last Iran editorial before Trump and Netanyahu launched the war. A full accounting of how this disaster came about must grapple with the US military/industrial complex and its push for war. No less important is reckoning with that complex’s megaphone: the compliant US corporate media. And juicy scoops on palace intrigue concerning the leaders in the White House and Tel Aviv won’t wash away the Times’ participation in that push. The Times’ streak of failing to challenge, or even actively encouraging, major US wars (FAIR.org, 10/23/17) remains unbroken during this latest misadventure. Their approach this time was more disjointed than in the past: First, the usual bluster. But then, an all-too-conspicuous silence. When war with Iran—a heavily armed nation of 90 million people with eminent geographic advantages—was just theoretical, the New York Times’ editorial board was as hawkish as usual. That included cynically deploying humanitarian concerns in Iran to advocate for regime change just 12 days before the armada’s arrival in the gulf (FAIR.org, 2/10/26). In that January editorial (1/14/26), headlined “Iran’s Murderous Regime Is Irredeemable,” the Times pulled out arguments from the old regime-change playbook. The Iranian government, the Times said, is “among the world’s most nefarious regimes, and the people who bear the biggest cost are the citizens of Iran.” Having neatly packaged their argument urging empathy for the Iranian people, the Times then offered a familiar sleight-of-hand for its readers: It is possible—natural even—for coercive US power to be utilized to help the Iranian people “achieve liberty.” Offering the considerations it thought Trump should be taking into account, the Times wrote: The crucial question is what measures—diplomatic, economic and potentially militarily—have the best chance to strengthen the protest movement and sow division among elites allied with the Khamenei government. Never mind that US policy has been to the detriment of Iranians’ “liberty” for the better part of a century. The papers’ editors advised Trump that, if he chooses the military option, he should do so “much more judiciously than he typically does.” Suddenly silent As war became increasingly likely—that is, once Trump began amassing his “armada” in the Persian Gulf—the editorial board went silent. No more calls for coercive force. No more discussion of Iran at all. From January 26 to February 27—the 32-day period of military buildup, during which Trump was weighing one of the most consequential US foreign policy decisions of this century—the Times’ editorial board had nothing to say. That is unprecedented, given the page’s historic role in promoting US adventurism. In the 32 days preceding the US invasion of Iraq, for instance, the New York Times published 13 editorials perpetuating the weapons of mass destruction myth, which to them was sufficient justification for a war against Iraq. The public debate over whether or not to go to war with Iraq was so ubiquitous leading up to the invasion that one of the Times’ pro-war editorials (2/23/03) acknowledged that “the debate over Iraq has exhausted everyone.” That voluminous public debate, replete with fabrication and misinformation as it was, manifested in broad public support for the war. In the first days of the conflict, 76% of the US public favored military intervention in Iraq. The Iran War, on the other hand, is only the second major US war (after the 2011 Libyan intervention) in the era of modern polling to start with more Americans opposed than supportive of it. Any propaganda campaign in favor of war with Iran would have a steep hill to climb after two decades of experience with Middle East interventions. Mirroring Democratic silence While quibbling about how Trump went about attacking Iran, the New York Times (2/28/26) agreed that Iran’s government was a “distinct threat” that combines “murderous ideology with nuclear ambitions.” It counseled readers that “recent history demonstrates that military action, for all its awful costs, can have positive consequences.” In the last two weeks before Trump launched his attack, details of his military deployment, like the inclusion of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, indicated that the potential for war was serious. Still, the Times editorial board found no reason for comment. Given that the editors were advocating for regime change mere days before Trump took up their suggestion by ramping up its forces in West Asia, it is highly doubtful that they learned from their history of mistakes and had a change of heart. In any case, if they did, they didn’t voice it. What can be said is that the Times’ silence mirrors that of Democratic leaders in Congress, who also barely let out a peep during this period. For their part, it is clear that they aimed to conceal their support for the war from their base, who overwhelmingly oppose it. Within that dynamic, congressional Democrats waited until after the war began to propose a war powers resolution—demonstrating their issues, if any, were about process, not substance. The Times likewise saved its feckless criticism until after the war began, penning an editorial (2/28/26) the day Trump launched the war (proving their capacity to move quickly when convenient) voicing process concerns: Trump lacked clear achievable objectives, threatened to mire the US in another “endless war,” and failed to consult Congress. Like Democratic leaders, the Times failed to reject—and indeed reiterated—the logic of the war itself: that article of faith that Iran is an intolerably evil and belligerent state (FAIR.org, 3/13/26). Just like Democratic leaders, the New York Times failed to use its outsized influence to challenge this monstrous war. Instead, it participated in its genesis, through cowardice as much as through sanctimony. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Luca GoldMansour.
ProPublica Event: How to Use Our News App of Disclosures From Political Appointees
<img width="1024" height="752" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C752&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Carol Mack, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Henry Street Settlement Event on May 16, 1995 in New York City. Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342880" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/is-ai-creating-a-new-epstein-class/gettyimages-1161443015" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1880&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1880" 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="GettyImages-1161443015" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Carol Mack, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Henry Street Settlement Event on May 16, 1995 in New York City. Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C573&ssl=1"> From Epstein to AI, the question is the same: who is above the law? Congressman Khanna responds as fears grow of a new era of power without consequences.
<img width="1024" height="752" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C752&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Carol Mack, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Henry Street Settlement Event on May 16, 1995 in New York City. Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C220&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C752&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C564&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1128&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1504&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C881&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1469&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C573&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C294&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C752&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="342880" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/is-ai-creating-a-new-epstein-class/gettyimages-1161443015" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1880&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1880" 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="GettyImages-1161443015" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Carol Mack, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Henry Street Settlement Event on May 16, 1995 in New York City. Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1161443015-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C573&ssl=1" /> Welcome to Inequality Watch React, where we don’t just talk about inequality, we go straight to the source. This week, we take you inside the National Press Club, where we spoke with Congressman Ro Khanna about the future of the Democratic Party, economic patriotism, and the growing divide between the powerful and everyone else. From why Democrats struggle to win, to the unanswered questions surrounding the Epstein files, to whether Silicon Valley is creating a new class of untouchable elites, we break it all down. Because this isn’t just about politics. It’s about power, and who it protects. And the big question: can we protect ourselves from its excess and its consequences? Independent journalists Taya Graham and Stephen Janis head down to Capitol Hill to ask these questions. And if you have a question you want us to ask, please leave it in the comments! Credits: Written by: Stephen Janis Produced by: Taya Graham, Stephen Janis Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Taya Graham: Hello, my name is Taya Graham and welcome to our Inequality Watch React, the show where we discuss not just how this country is ruled by billionaires, but how and why. Reporting that seeks to hold the American aristocracy accountable for the destructive effect unimaginable wealth has had on our politics and on our lives. Now, unlike other YouTubers, we go right to the source to report back to you on America’s historic wealth imbalance, namely our nation’s capital, Washington DC. That’s where my reporting partner and I, hello, Steven. Stephen Janis: Hey, how you doing, Taya? Taya Graham: We often find ourselves on the Capitol steps or roaming the halls of Congress, bearing witness and asking tough questions to the people directly responsible for the wealth centric world we live in. So Steven, before I jump into this, how has Capitol Hill been treating you lately? Do you have any beefs about the way the Hill operates? I’m Stephen Janis: Just having to roll finding Republicans in the wild and that’s what I’m trying to do because I really feel like Republicans have a lot of questions to answer, but I can’t find they’re not holding press conferences the way they did even a year and a half ago. So that’s my only beef right now, but we’ll fix that. Taya Graham: I know. I haven’t seen a single free range Republican in months. Stephen Janis: Yeah, it’s weird. But you can get them on Capitol steps, but they’re not holding press conferences where they usually hold press conferences. And that’s been a little frustrating. Taya Graham: And they haven’t been having any town halls for their constituents either. Stephen Janis: Not really. Taya Graham: So they’ve really been quite quiet. Stephen Janis: Yeah. Interesting. Taya Graham: Okay. So let’s get right into this so we can discuss our first video. Now, this is a topic that seems to resurface fairly often on Capitol Hill, and it did again at the National Press Club this week. And it’s basically, why do Democrats keep losing? Now, we know the zeitgeist is slowly turning in the Democrat’s favor. Recent polls show a preference for blue candidates across the board, but a key progressive candidate, Congressman Ro Khanna, has a message for his party. Basically, man up if you want to actually win in the future. Let’s take a listen to what he had to say. Let’s run clip one. Ro Khanna: So where do we go from here? We cannot go back to the days before Trump. That led to a Democratic Party that had an approval rating of 27%. How and why should we go back to a party or a politics that got us two terms of Donald Trump? We cannot simply resort to incrementalism or this fashionable nudges of a broken system. There was a paper written about, let’s just nudge things in the government. It was haralded as some great academic insight. The era of nudges and incrementalism are over. Taya Graham: So Steven, one of the reasons I wanted to lead with this clip is this analysis of the Democrats’ inability to win. Well, we’ve discussed this several times in both articles and a discussion we had almost a year ago. Actually, let’s run the next clip. It is pretty clear Stephen Janis: That they need someone to jump the line to run that the Democratic establishment does not want to run. Taya Graham: Yes. Stephen Janis: Someone with a vision that seems authentic and someone who’s willing to take risks. Taya Graham: Yes. Stephen Janis: You got to take risks. I mean, the risk averse nature of the Democratic Party has turned them into losers. Taya Graham: Yeah. But hopefully the Democrat strategists out there who are spending millions of dollars, maybe they’ll take some time to listen to independent journalists as well as listen to the public and let them know that they have an authenticity issue and they need to find a way to break the inertia. Okay, Steven, I think we called this out several months ago. So do you think Democrats are finally getting the message? Stephen Janis: I’m going to make one argument that you’re probably not going to agree with. And it’s going to seem a little limited, but actually I think it comes down to this. If Democrats run on healthcare and if they make healthcare the center of their campaign, then they’ve learned their lesson. And if they push for Medicare for All, and if they push for the ASA subsidies, and if they don’t back down on this topic and embrace it and run ads about it and talk about how Trump was like, “We can’t afford to give healthcare to the American public. We can only afford to spend money on a war.” If they do that, then I will say yes, they learn their lesson. Otherwise, no. Taya Graham: You know what? Th seems to me like you’re almost recommending a Mondami strategy that obviously had success in New York. Pick something straightforward, simple that actually addresses people’s needs and then stick to it. But honestly, what he did was bold. Even I’m not a New Yorker and I know the five points of his plan and it was a very bold one and it was controversial, but it still worked. But it seems like President Trump is always bold and Democrats are almost always critics or incrementalists, always just trying to nudge things forward with baby steps. And I think Rocano was trying to make the point that incremental steps can’t beat boldness. I mean, you pointed that out in your piece. You can’t continually defend incremental change against a man who is constantly throwing executive orders against the wall to see which one sticks. I mean, I think this idea really becomes relevant. We look at what’s happening with Trump. I mean, he’s saying literally publicly that the federal government can’t help out with childcare. While he explicitly mentioned at the same time, the US is spending an estimated $1 billion a day dropping bombs on a foreign country. I mean, how much of an opening do the Democrats need? And yet I don’t think they’re taking the win here. I mean, if any party can be handed a loaded gun and managed to shoot themselves in the foot with it, it’s the Democrats. Stephen Janis: Yeah. I mean, the thing is that bold ideas, big ideas are just easier to run on, easier to campaign on. They permeate. They get through sort of the digital noise that we ought to deal with. If you’re like, “Well, let’s just increase the ACA tax credits by 2% and we’ll make them applicable to people who have income over 150.” If you get into that in those weeds, it doesn’t work rhetorically. It doesn’t work politically. But if you have big ideas, you can break off a lot of things from it. Just like Mundanis, I’m going to open five free grocery stores. It drove the right wing people crazy. But what it also did is it generated a lot of attention because people were debating ideas. It was bold, a city owned grocery store. But I think it did more than the policy itself was the fact that it made campaigning easier because the idea was bold and it created a lot of traction, a lot of discussion. And if the Democrats come and say, “This is just unacceptable.” We cannot have a country where people do not have healthcare. If they can be bold like that, it’ll generate discussion. And I’m sure you hear a lot of that like, “Well, we have to be kind of in the middle.” No, being in the middle and being incrementalist doesn’t get you attention and you won’t win. So unless Democrats are embracing healthcare all the way from top to bottom, they haven’t learned a thing. Taya Graham: It’s interesting you mentioned attention because I think the war has really been a great distraction. Don’t you think so? Stephen Janis: Yeah, the war has been a huge distraction from almost everything. And it makes it hard for Democrats to make that argument. But a leader will see an opportunity and say, “You know what? Trump is being engaged in this Strait of Hormez business, but we’re going to talk about what Americans really care about, which is being able to go to the doctor and pay for it. ” But I just don’t think there’s a leader with that kind of vision. I would call it a Mamdani kind of vision, being able to see the opportunity for changing the dialogue. And they have got to do that. And Chuck Schumer’s not going to do it. We saw him. Taya Graham: Well, yes, we did see him in person at that protest at the Federal Reserve, and I hate to say it, but his speech was not particularly inspiring to the crowd. But speaking of distractions, that’s going to lead us to our next video. And that’s because the just scant attention paid to the missing Epstein files came up when Rokhana was asked a question about the Epstein class. Now, it was a question about former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s refusal to appear before the House Oversight Committee, despite the fact that she’d been subpoenaed. Now, Bondi says she doesn’t have to appear anymore because she’s no longer the attorney general, but this led to Rokhana of accusing the Department of Justice of basically hiding evidence. Let’s take a listen. What don’t you know yet about the Epstein files? Ro Khanna: I don’t know a lot. I don’t know why the three million files that have been held have been so blacked out. Why the redactions took place in March where a lot of the names that were mentioned of people who were abusers, who raped young girls, why those are all blacked out and even members of Congress can’t see them. They claim, “Oh, this is to protect survivors.” But you don’t need to blank out three million pages of documents just to protect survivors’ names. That would be the first question. Why aren’t they releasing the actual documents where most of the people are named who raped and abused these girls? The second thing I don’t know is why she refused to meet with survivors. Why not meet with survivor’s lawyers? Just from protecting yourself. If I were attorney general, I would say, “Well, let me get the survivor’s groups in. Let’s have a process that the survivor’s lawyers agree to so that if there are any honest mistakes, we could have had the survivors buy-in and I wouldn’t get blamed.” But they refused to meet any of the survivors’ lawyers. They refused to sit down with the survivors. Why? Third, why are they not starting investigations in a criminal matter with people with serious allegations like Les Wexner, like Leon Black? I was asked recently about the very disturbing allegations against Congressman Swalwell, and how do I square that with the Epstein class? And I said, “There needs to be accountability, whether you’re a member of Congress or whether you raped or abused allegedly girls on Epstein’s Island.” But the Manhattan DA is within days opened up an investigation into Congressman Swalwell, and yet for years we don’t have a single investigation into Leon Black and into Les Wexner. Why? Why is there no investigation? How powerful are these people that you’ve not opened up a single investigation for prosecution of the people mentioned in the Epstein falls? Taya Graham: Now, Steven, we’ve both been going through the Epstein emails, and in fact, we’re going to have a large story coming out about what we’ve learned. But what’s the deal with Rokana? I mean, do you think his concerns here add up? Okay. Stephen Janis: I’m going to make a public announcement right now commenting on that. And I’m going to say something that is absolutely patently false and this question and this answer proves it. No one is above the law. That’s just utter BS in the United States of America. True. And the fact that that discussion happened at the National Press Club shows it. I’ve heard it so many times repeated ad nauseum and every day the Epstein continues without investigations, without accountability, with the poor victims coming to the Capitol Hill, just to be recognized who were not recognized. Without an interview with the attorney general, the idea that no one is above the law is absolutely false. And it speaks to the rampant inequality that we’re dealing with that people, there’s a different form of justice system for them and really what you would call like blanket immunity. We talked about on the police accountability report, blanket criminality. We’re a poor community. Everyone is suspect. Well, in the rich community, there is blanket immunity for the 1% and that’s what we’re talking about. No one is above law is absolutely untrue and this proves it. Taya Graham: Well said. And Congressman Rocano does make a point here. He does essentially illustrate that we have a two-tier justice system. And to me personally, as a woman who has covered this story extensively, I have interviewed survivors one-on-one. It’s the acknowledgement part that I have a really big problem with. I mean, the DOJ literally won’t even talk to these women. I mean, how is that even possible? How can that possibly be justified? It’s like you said, a blanket of immunity for the rich and powerful. And while the Trump administration is trying to send people to jail for throwing a sandwich while protesting, rich, powerful men who preyed on young women and children don’t even warrant a review by the DOJ. And I think this goes to the heart of inequality in this country. I’ve covered so many cases on the police accountability report. Like you said, of people driving to work or walking on a sidewalk or doing something completely innocent and they end up in the crosshairs of the police and their lives are upended. Meanwhile, the Epstein class seems untouchable, at least based on what has not happened at the DOJ. And the Epstein class leads to a question that I asked that was directed to Rokana. And namely, how could we prevent a new Epstein class from forming in the wake of the concentrated wealth and power that will be the result of this AI boom? So let’s listen to this answer. Let’s run the next clip. Taya Graham: Follow on AI question from Taya Graham of the Real News Network here in the audience. Do you support breaking up or regulating major tech firms to prevent AI from creating another Epstein class? Ro Khanna: Yes. I mean, we’re going to need to do more than that to prevent an Epstein class. We’re going to need to have attacks on billionaires, but absolutely we need to have AI regulation. I mean, I don’t even understand how this is a question. We have electricity and electricity is regulated. We have nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is regulated. We fly on planes. Great thing. And I’m glad there’s an FAA. Has anyone ever been on a plane when they’re like, “Wow, there are too many regulations.” Oh, you’re like, “Thank you. They’re seat belts. Thank you that you have all the … They say the same thing over and over again every time you board.” So AI, which by the founder’s own belief is a technology with that kind of power. Why wouldn’t you want safety regulations on it? Why wouldn’t you want to make sure there was certification and appropriate checks? And we should have that done in a federal regulatory AI agency. And we shouldn’t have a race to the bottom with China. We should say America will provide the safest, most excellent AI where you know that the AI isn’t going to take your data, where you know that the AI isn’t going to do crazy things. And if China wants to have a race to the bottom, let’s see who the Europeans and Asians and Africans want to buy the AI from. We should say we will have the highest level. And then I think we also need open source so that you don’t concentrate all the power in these companies. Taya Graham: Okay. Steven, what’s your take? Is Silicon Valley basically creating a new Epstein class? Stephen Janis: I love the metaphor that you use in your question because you are actually tiogram just so we know. Epstein class. What does an Epstein class connote? Well, it says that they’re all in kind of classical. They’re learning. They’re watching and learning. Look, the non-tech billionaires who got caught up in, like Leon Black got caught up in this scandal of Epstein are not being prosecuted. What are we going to learn from that? They’re not being investigated. That’s really interesting. Their names are being redacted while victims are being exposed. What are they learning? The Epstein class is getting smarter and they’re saying, “Well, you know what? I mean, maybe we’re not going to be pedophiles, but we can sure break the law and abuse our power because look what happened to these guys. Absolutely nothing.” So the Epstein class is really kind of, to me, it’s not funny, but it’s kind of ironic because it’s like we’re all going to learn together from the past scandals that when we have these AI companies and this massive amount of concentrated power, we certainly don’t have to follow law because they didn’t have to. And we’re actually more Taya Graham: Powerful.What concerns me is that this level of power and therefore this level of immunity will be godlike. I mean, if AI ends up rewiring the economy and throwing millions of Americans out of work, the power will continue to accrue to these people with capital. And that balance is already fraught in this country with, as we mentioned, historic wealth inequality, but it will only increase if AI evolves as predicted. For example, how will our justice system be able to corral an executive or major stakeholder in a technology that could literally replace humanity? Exactly. I mean, their absolute power will dwarf what was afforded to the owners of the social media platforms. I mean, a democracy cannot accommodate gods, and that’s what we will be trying to do. Okay, let me settle down. Stephen Janis: Yeah, but you make a good point. I mean, it really is getting close to godlike power. I mean, these people are actually espousing and saying, “We’re going to kill two million, four million, five million jobs.” They’re saying this without missing a beat. They’re not like, “We have to account for humanity and somehow help people. ” They’re like, “Yeah, it’s just a fact of life. We’re going to do this. ” And in the process, we’re going to become unfathomably rich. Let’s remember AI, OpenAI was started as a nonprofit and look what happened to Taya Graham: That. Compact change. Stephen Janis: These people are feeling it and I think they’re looking at the M.S. Glasses saying, “Yeah, well boy, they got away with this. ” Just imagine what we can get. We have no obligation. I mean, Rokana said in a press conference, we covered them that the second gilded age, which we’re currently in is worse than the first, and that the people at the top are doing less in terms of social largest than they did in the past. There’s no Carnegie Library. There’s no Sam Altman libraries right now. So imagine the power they’re going to have and the past statement I made about no one is above the law. They’re not even going to think of the law. It’s not even going to matter. They’re going to probably be making laws about us. Oh, Taya Graham: Absolutely. Stephen Janis: Identifying us and putting us in jail. Taya Graham: Absolutely. Especially with Citizens United, the amount of political power they’re going to be able to accrue is just going to be nearly impossible for the rest of us to be able to overcome. And then when you keep in mind the fact that none of them have proposed any sort of worker transition programs for people who lose their jobs to AI or any sort of fund for people who lose their jobs AI.com. Yeah, exactly. Nothing like that. Exactly. No. As well as their people who are fighting town by town to just protect their fresh water because the AI data centers are just stealing it from underneath them. I mean, if there is no regulation, I truly fear for the fate of our country. Stephen Janis: Well, you talked about the Epstein class and now we have the AI class Taya Graham: And Stephen Janis: We’ll see what the AI class does because I think they’re going to be quite difficult to deal with. Taya Graham: I think you’re absolutely right. Okay. So now let’s get to our segment called, I told you so, or better yet, our accountability moment that highlights when politicians equivocate and we catch them. Okay. So let me set the scene. Last year when we wandered into a press conference on Doge, now remember back then, the Department of Government Efficiency was led by Elon Musk and he led a group of tech bros that tried to dismantle the federal government basically like three weeks. Well, that didn’t actually work out too well. And Elon was briskly escorted off the premises and the Dosh swag was stuffed into a trash bag left in the former West Wing just prior to its demolition. Also, I did not receive my $5,000 DOS check. Let me know if you did. But the reason this is I told you so is a question that we asked Republicans touting DOJ last year. Okay, let’s see how they answer it. Let’s watch. Stephen Janis: Congressman, a third of the digital service resigned over concerns about access to sensitive information. What guarantees can you give to the American people that their sensitive information won’t be accessed by someone who’s not elected or otherwise appointed or otherwise? Ro Khanna: Let me say this, the IRS failed that test and has failed it for many, many, many years. We need to make sure that we give the tools and the correct tools in technology. And I talked to government technologists just two days ago within the Zoom call where we talked about their needs to make sure that they are brought in and that technology that is efficient and that works properly is a part of the future. Taya Graham: Now, Stephen, just recently there was a development specifically related to your question, which turned out to be so prescient as a whistleblower reported to an Inspector General that a former Doze software engineer told colleagues he had two thumb drives of highly sensitive social security information for over 500 million people, both living in debt. Steven, what on earth is going on here? Stephen Janis: Well, first thing I want to say is it’s been a year and a half since I asked that question like, “Can you guarantee the safety of your data?” And I still really don’t understand Pete’s session’s answer. That’s Congressman Pete’s sessions and he started talking something about the IRS and Taya Graham: How Stephen Janis: They failed or the treasury department. And I still don’t understand what he was saying, but it shows that he couldn’t answer the question because he knew something was afoot. And what was afoot was that these Doge Bros were like downloading social security data, which is the most sensitive data that we have. It includes our social security numbers, address, date of birth, just a way to open up a phantom credit card on everyone in the United States of America. So this also shows, I think, makes a very important point that the policy, like the way you implement and execute policies in the Trump administration is totally freaking off the rails. I mean, they have kids with thumb drives going around in the social security office downloading data. Think about that. Think about all the horrible things that could happen, but also think about the difference between the conceptualization of Doj and the implementation of Doge. Yes. The conceptualization is we’re all going to go in there and kind of literally, like you said, dismantle the government and save $2 trillion. Taya Graham: Yes. Stephen Janis: And what was the execution? Well, almost no money was saved of any material amount. True. Taya Graham: And Stephen Janis: Yet we keep having these repercussions like we all saw the famous TikTok videos of the Doge staffers talking about how they dismantled grants for people, I think from the National Endowment of the Arts on really using AI without even thinking about Taya Graham: It. Stephen Janis: So the point is that this is a perfect example, but it’s also showing how the Republicans are not doing their job in holding the Trump administration accountable. Taya Graham: Steven, I remember thinking when you asked the Congressman that his answer just didn’t make any sense. And now we’ve got a kid walking around with social security data, which of course is about a sensitive and potentially harmful information as it gets. Now, it’s worth noting this press conference happened on what’s known as the House Triangle. It’s a space adjacent to the House Chambers where members can hold press conferences. But oddly enough, or maybe even intentionally, that was the last time we saw a Republican holding court in that spot. Now, Steven, you’ve managed to corral a random Republican on the Capitol steps after the House convenes, but they’ve pretty much been absent from the triangle, at least for us. I mean, why do you think that is? Stephen Janis: Yeah. Well, I think after they passed a big, beautiful bill, they didn’t want to talk to the press In some of the unscripted ways. I mean, I monitor the electronic bulletimore, which tells you every day who’s going to be there. And I rarely … It’s not like I have not seen one, but I rarely see one. And I think after the big, beautiful bill, they just kind of vanish. I mean, they really just cut and run. I haven’t seen them, and I think they just don’t really want to have to answer questions about the particulars of that bill, especially when people are panicking over healthcare costs, the ACA credits, the Obamacare subsidies, which they let lapse. They just don’t want to answer questions about these very important issues. And now that gas is over $4 a gallon, I think they want to be also discreetly out of the spotlight. So that’s why, and it’s pretty frustrating because I really have a lot of questions I want to ask them, but I’m going to keep pushing. Taya Graham: Well, I’m going to keep pushing with you. Oh, good. Okay? Well, that basically wraps up our inequality Watch React Show. We appreciate you watching. And of course, if you have any ideas about how to hold the ultra rich accountable, we’d love to hear them. Just drop them down in the comments below. My name is Taya Graham, along with my reporting partner, Stephen Janis, and we are your inequality watchdogs reporting for you. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis.
Federal Bill Would Put Big Oil Above the Law
After months of fossil fuel industry lobbying, Republican lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that would give oil and gas companies immunity from any laws or lawsuits that aim to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis. El...
After months of fossil fuel industry lobbying, Republican lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that would give oil and gas companies immunity from any laws or lawsuits that aim to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis. Eleven U.S. states and dozens of city, county, and tribal governments collectively representing more than 1 in 4 Americans are currently taking major oil and gas companies to court to hold them accountable for deceiving the public about the dangers of fossil fuels and make them pay for the resulting damages. Many cases are heading toward discovery and trial after courts rejected Big Oil’s efforts to stop them. The oil and gas industry and its allies have been lobbying Congress and the Trump administration for more than a year to escape accountability. Last year, 16 Republican attorneys general proposed creating a “liability shield” for fossil fuel companies modeled on a 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits. In January, the American Petroleum Institute announced that killing state climate lawsuits is a top 2026 priority for the oil lobby. And a growing number of states have passed state-level laws that aim to shield fossil fuel companies from legal accountability. Recent reporting from ProPublica found those bills are "part of a coordinated effort by groups linked to right-wing activist Leonard Leo." Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said: “Big Oil companies have raked in massive profits at the pump while lying to the American people about the catastrophic harm of their products, and now they want to deny Americans their rightful day in court and stick taxpayers with the bill for the mess they made. If fossil fuel companies have done nothing wrong, why do they need immunity?” Jay Inslee, the former three-term Washington Governor who has been sounding the alarm about this growing threat, said: “Every elected official who cares about the interests of their constituents more than those of corporate polluters should oppose this disgraceful proposal. Juries are a fundamental bastion of democracy, and it’s beyond dangerous to allow powerful and wealthy corporations to shield themselves from ever having to face jurors’ judgment.” Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil: Eleven U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have active lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States. Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case from Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is one of a growing number of communities across the U.S. — including Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, the District of Columbia, and the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota and Connecticut — whose climate deception lawsuits against Big Oil companies are advancing toward discovery and trial after courts denied the companies’ motions to dismiss. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Could AI Create a New ‘Epstein Class’: Here’s Ro Khanna’s Answer!
U.S. & Israel were "forced into two ceasefires"
What’s Behind the Push to Make Schools Adopt the Science of Reading?
Restrictive laws about reading instruction repeat historical patterns of trying to privatize and centralize what happens in the classroom.
Restrictive laws about reading instruction repeat historical patterns of trying to privatize and centralize what happens in the classroom. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Rachael Gabriel.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 17, 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 – April 17, 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 – April 17, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Award-winning Burmese journalist Shin Daewe released from prison
Sentenced to life in prison for buying a video drone, Shin Daewe urged others to pray for those still in prison.
YANGON — Myanmar’s military junta Friday released award-winning documentary filmmaker and former RFA contributor Shin Daewe who had been in detention since October 2023 for buying a video drone. Outside of Yangon’s Insein Prison, Shin Daewe, who was handed a life sentence for “abetting terrorism” in 2024, told Radio Free Asia that there are still many on the inside that were in need of prayers. “I am the happiest,” she said. “Whether it’s me or one of the others, we all just wanted every day to see our families. I am lucky today, but I have many friends who are not as lucky as me. I ask everyone to pray for them too.” An undated photo of journalist Shin Daewe in Myanmar. (Courtesy of Shin Daewe's family) Known for her work highlighting the challenges facing Myanmar’s environment and the impact of conflict on civilians following the military’s 2021 coup, Shin Daewe was arrested in October 2023 in Yangon while picking up a video drone she had ordered online to use in filming a documentary. Then in January 2024, a military court sentenced her to life in prison, the maximum sentence under section 50(j) of the Counter-terrorism Law. Observers at that time said the ruling was a bid by the junta to stamp out criticism by using lengthy sentences to instill fear in opponents to its rule. The junta reduced her sentence to 15 years in January 2025 as part of a larger prisoner amnesty, before finally releasing her entirely on Friday. Shin Daewe told RFA Friday evening that she is back home now healthy and happy, and that she is grateful to those who helped her during her time of need. Shin Daewe had contributed to RFA’s Burmese Service since 2010 and up until her arrest. An undated photo of journalist Shin Daewe in Myanmar. (Courtesy of Shin Daewe's family) “The news of Shin Daewe’s release from detention comes as a welcome relief. Shin Daewe suffered enormously and unfairly for her work to bring uncensored journalism to people in Myanmar. This development is a testament to efforts by many, including RSF and PEN America, to secure her release. I am heartened to learn Shin is back at her home, reunited with her family and loved ones,” said Bay Fang, President of RFA, in a statement released immediately after her freedom. “The release of Shin Daewe is an immense relief, first and foremost for her loved ones, but also for the entire Myanmar journalism community. It must be made clear that she should never have been arrested, nor subjected to mistreatment. We now call on the Myanmar regime to immediately release the 40 journalists still detained in the country,” RSF said in a statement. In 2024, Shin Daewe won a Gracie Award for her 2023 RFA video report, Ayeyarwady Riverbank Erosion, and a Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.
Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz after Israel-Lebanon truce as Trump continues blockade
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 17, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Iran said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened to international shipping following an Israel-Le...
<img width="1024" height="701" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C701&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A woman walks past a large billboard referring to the Strait of Hormuz in Tehran's Vanak Square on April 15, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C205&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C701&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C526&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1051&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1401&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C821&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1369&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C534&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C274&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C701&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="342871" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/iran-strait-of-hormuz-israel-lebanon-truce-trump-blockade/iran-us-israel-war" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1752&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1752" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R6m2","caption":"A woman walks past a large billboard referring to the Strait of Hormuz in Tehran's Vanak Square on April 15, 2026. The US president said on April 14 that US-Iran peace talks could resume this week, while Israel and Lebanon agreed to launch direct negotiations, signaling movement on two key fronts in efforts to ease the Middle East conflict. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images) /","created_timestamp":"1776245372","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"IRAN-US-ISRAEL-WAR","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IRAN-US-ISRAEL-WAR" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A woman walks past a large billboard referring to the Strait of Hormuz in Tehran&#8217;s Vanak Square on April 15, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270908269-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C534&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 April 17, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Iran said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened to international shipping following an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement, prompting thanks from President Donald Trump—who then said the US naval blockade on Iranian ports will continue. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. Trump first thanked Iran in a post on his Truth Social network. However, about 20 minutes later, the president posted again on the site, writing: THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ IS COMPLETELY OPEN AND READY FOR BUSINESS AND FULL PASSAGE, BUT THE NAVAL BLOCKADE WILL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN, ONLY, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE. THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED. The US, Iran, and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7 after Trump threatened a genocidal attack on Iran, saying that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if there was no deal that day. Officials on all sides clarified that the truce did not signal the end of the ongoing war. Friday’s announcements followed the implementation of a tentative 10-day ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, where nearly 50 days of Israeli bombardment has killed or wounded thousands of Lebanese, including hundreds of children, and displaced more than a million others. It is unclear how Hezbollah, which did not take part in ceasefire negotiations, will respond. The Lebanon-based militant group has retaliated for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and attacks on Lebanon with rocket and drone strikes on Israel, and the Lebanese government is largely unable to stop Hezbollah from further attacks if it decides to launch them. Thousands of Iranians have also been killed or wounded by US and Israeli bombing since February 28, the day the war was launched. That was also the day that a US cruise missile strike on a girls’ school in Minab killed 168 people, mostly children. About half an hour after Trump’s Friday post confirming the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the president took to Truth Social again, this time announcing that “the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah [sic] situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” Lebanese and Israeli media reported that, minutes after Trump’s purported prohibition, Israel subsequently launched a drone strike targeting a motorcycle between the southern Lebanese towns of Kounine and Beit Yahoun, killing one person. The terms of Thursday’s ceasefire do allow Israel to conduct “defensive” strikes against “planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Brett Wilkins.
CPJ urges US lawmakers to enact reforms to protect press freedom from warrantless surveillance
U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Washington, D.C., April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on lawmakers to protect press freedom by rejecting an unamended extension of the warrantless surveillance of electronic communications permitted under Section 702 of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves the use of this warrantless surveillance, has itself...
Washington, D.C., April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on lawmakers to protect press freedom by rejecting an unamended extension of the warrantless surveillance of electronic communications permitted under Section 702 of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves the use of this warrantless surveillance, has itself noted the “persistent and widespread” abuses of Section 702, including backdoor searches of journalists, CPJ has previously noted. President Trump voiced his support in a Truth Social post for a “clean extension” of Section 702, ahead of a pending April 20 deadline for renewal. Lawmakers have debated bipartisan privacy concerns over the legislation’s sweeping powers—which under Section 702 allows national security agencies to collect and review the electronic communications of Americans to, and from, foreigners living inside and outside the country, without a warrant. The House early this morning approved a short-term extension of FISA until April 30, after failing to advance a five-year or 18-month extension. The Senate passed the 10 day extension on Friday by voice vote. “Without any sort of privacy reforms, the United States’ warrantless surveillance program directly undermines journalists’ ability to do their work and communicate with sources,” said CPJ Américas Director Jose Zamora. “Congress must create a framework to ensure proper oversight of Section 702 and protections to prevent the use of warrantless surveillance as a vehicle for undermining press freedom.” This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Will the U.S. be able to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment?
Middle East war: UNESCO grants ‘enhanced protection’ to 39 heritage sites in danger
Since the outbreak of the Middle East war on 28 February, sites of major cultural importance across Israel, Iran and Lebanon have come under threat.At the request of the Lebanese Government, the UN education and cultural agency, UNESCO, has placed 39 W...
Since the outbreak of the Middle East war on 28 February, sites of major cultural importance across Israel, Iran and Lebanon have come under threat.At the request of the Lebanese Government, the UN education and cultural agency, UNESCO, has placed 39 World Heritage sites under so-called “enhanced protection”- a special status aimed at safeguarding cultural heritage during times of conflict.To explain what this means in practice, UN News’s Nancy Sarkis spoke to Krista Pikkat, who leads UNESCO’s Culture and Emergencies Unit. This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Nancy Sarkis.
Sarah Anderson on Poverty Wages, Lia Holland on Wayback Machine
Why do news media label companies “successful” when that success stems from cheating and grifting and, crucially, shafting their workers?
https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260417.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”). Inequality.org (3/4/26) This week on CounterSpin: Tesla reported $5.7 billion in US profits in 2025 and paid $0.0 in taxes. As Rebecca Crosby and Judd Legum at Popular Information report, there’s little mystery to this miracle: Tesla used corporate tax breaks, proffered by Trump and co. in what reporters with straight faces call the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—including 100% bonus depreciation; and they exploited a long-standing deduction for executive stock options. At least 88 profitable corporations have reported paying $0 in federal income taxes last year, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Citigroup, CVS, Walt Disney—they “made” billions but, weirdly it turns out, they somehow owe the federal government bupkis, whereas you and I are playing a chump’s game, evidently. Cheaters cheat, grifters grift, but why do news media label companies “successful” when that success stems from cheating and grifting and, crucially, shafting their workers? Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-edits the site Inequality.org. She’s written a new report that gets to the heart of America’s “Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis.” We hear from her this week. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260417Anderson.mp3 Fight for the Future (4/13/26) Also on the show: The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is a nonprofit digital library with the fundamental mission of preserving web pages. For example, a union organizer used it to look up old job listings and check how what the company says it offers has shifted over time. When police edited a press release after a journalist reported on it, and then said her report was false, she was able to prove that the department had changed their statement. It’s kind of Information 101. But it’s under threat. We hear about that from artist and activist Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director at the group Fight for the Future. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260417Holland.mp3 This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by CounterSpin.
Lebanon: WHO highlights pressure on medical services as ceasefire beginsGaza war’s terrible toll on women and girls Record Rohingya death toll at sea highlights their desperation: UNHCR
Lebanon: WHO highlights pressure on medical services as ceasefire beginsGaza war’s terrible toll on women and girls Record Rohingya death toll at sea highlights their desperation: UNHCR This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
CPJ submission to UN documents series of journalist jailings, secretive trials, torture claims in Tajikistan
New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a report on the state of press freedom in Tajikistan to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of November’s 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session. The submission details a significant deterioration of media freedom — in what was already one of the world’s most restrictive environments...
New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a report on the state of press freedom in Tajikistan to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of November’s 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session. The submission details a significant deterioration of media freedom — in what was already one of the world’s most restrictive environments for the press — since Tajikistan’s last review in 2021, with a government crackdown intensifying already pervasive media self-censorship. Since 2022, nine journalists have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms of up to 20 years, making Tajikistan the world’s 10th-worst jailer of journalists in 2025. CPJ’s submission identifies the following troubling trends in these cases: Misuse of counter-extremism and counterterrorism laws: eight of the nine journalists were convicted on apparently baseless charges of extremism and terrorism, despite calls during the last UPR for Tajikistan to reform overly broad counterterrorism and counter-extremism legislation to prevent abuse. Torture and ill-treatment: allegations of torture and ill-treatment to obtain false confessions feature in the majority of these cases. One journalist said the mistreatment — beatings and electrocution — was so extreme he “thought [he] would die.” Severe violations of the right to a fair trial: all nine journalists were convicted in secretive, closed-doors trials held in detention centers, with little or no public information about the allegations against them; lawyers were made to sign non-disclosure agreements and lawyers and relatives were intimidated from speaking to rights groups or the press. The report further documents an uptick in transnational repression of exiled journalists, particularly in absentia criminal charges and harassment of family members in Tajikistan. Read the full report here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.
EU must suspend agreement with Israel over Gaza, West Bank violations
Brussels, April 17, 2026—European Union officials and foreign ministers should call for a full or partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement during the upcoming Foreign Affairs Council on April 21, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. The agreement sets out the EU’s legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation with...
Brussels, April 17, 2026—European Union officials and foreign ministers should call for a full or partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement during the upcoming Foreign Affairs Council on April 21, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. The agreement sets out the EU’s legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation with Israel, including respect for human rights as an essential element. Israel has engaged in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists that CPJ has ever documented. Palestinian journalists are being threatened, directly targeted, and murdered by the Israel Defense Forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work. Media infrastructure in Gaza is systematically destroyed, and censorship has been tightened throughout the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Israel, which has also blocked international media independent access to Gaza. A formal proposal made by the European Commission in September 2025 to suspend certain trade-related provisions of the Association Agreement has not received sufficient support from EU member states. “The European Union has failed to hold Israel to account for its silencing of journalists and violations of international law,” said Tom Gibson, deputy advocacy director, EU. “Our calls to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement have been unheeded by some member states for too long. Now is the time to use the EU’s unique leverage to finally secure justice and accountability.” This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Aliya Rahman v. DHS: Disabled Woman Dragged from Car Files Claim over Violent Arrest in Minneapolis
Rami Khouri: U.S. & Israel Were "Forced into Two Ceasefires" as Regional Balance of Power Shifts
Report from Beirut: Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Met with "Cautious Optimism"
As Iran Reopens Strait of Hormuz, Are U.S. & Iran Near Deal or Renewed Fighting?
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 17, 2026
Angolan journalist harassed, illegally detained for 4 days for protest coverage
New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Angolan authorities to investigate the harassment of Folha 8 reporter Hermenegildo Caculo, who was illegally detained for almost four days for attempting to cover a protest last week — the third time he was arrested while reporting on demonstrations in less than a year....
New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Angolan authorities to investigate the harassment of Folha 8 reporter Hermenegildo Caculo, who was illegally detained for almost four days for attempting to cover a protest last week — the third time he was arrested while reporting on demonstrations in less than a year. Caculo told CPJ that he was detained on April 6 at a protest in the capital, Luanda, by ex-employees of the national oil company, Sonangol, and taken to the covered yard of a local police station, where he slept on benches and chairs for three nights. His arrest was not officially recorded, he said. When Caculo appeared in court on April 9, his lawyer, Mauricio Quintas, discovered that his arrest had not been booked and asked the court to release him as the detention was illegal. The journalist was released without charges, Quintas and Caculo told CPJ. Caculo was also detained for nine hours on April 1 for seeking to cover the same ex-workers’ protest. On April 27, 2025, he was arrested and held for five hours for covering a student protest. “It is outrageous that a journalist was held for four days with no record of arrest. Unlawfully detaining a reporter covering protests is censorship and shows blatant disregard for press freedom and journalists’ safety,” said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal. “Hermenegildo Caculo’s third arrest in less than a year reflects a disturbing pattern of harassment. Angolan authorities must credibly investigate and hold those responsible to account.” Caculo told CPJ that shortly before his April 6 arrest, he received a call from Silário da Silva, deputy police commander of Luanda’s Ingombota municipality, who told him not to interview protesters in front of the Sonangol building as “it could be interpreted as incitement of rebellion.” Caculo followed the commander’s instruction and planned to interview two protesters about 300 meters away. While Caculo was preparing his equipment, police on two motorcycles and in a van came and ordered him to get inside. They first took him to the city’s 4th police station in Ingombota district, near the protest site, then to Boavista station, and lastly to the Bairro Operário neighborhood station, where he was detained until his release on the evening of April 9. Silva told CPJ by phone that he could not comment and referred CPJ to police spokesperson Nestor Goubel, who said he had been out of office for a week and would enquire about the case, but did not reply to subsequent calls. Interior ministry spokesperson Wilson dos Santos did not respond to CPJ’s calls. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
RFA welcomes release of Myanmar RFA contributor Shin Daewe
The news of Shin Daewe’s release from detention comes as a welcome relief.
WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia (RFA) President and CEO Bay Fang issued the following statement in response to the news that RFA contributor and award-winning journalist Shin Daewe, who has been jailed in Myanmar since October 2023 and recently sentenced to 15 years in prison, was released from prison under an amnesty: “The news of Shin Daewe’s release from detention comes as a welcome relief. Shin Daewe suffered enormously and unfairly for her work to bring uncensored journalism to people in Myanmar. This development is a testament to efforts by many, including RSF and PEN America, to secure her release. I am heartened to learn Shin is back at her home, reunited with her family and loved ones.” This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA.
Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident who was violently detained by ICE officers in January during “Operation Metro Surge,” filed a federal tort claim against the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, claiming the agency used...
Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident who was violently detained by ICE officers in January during “Operation Metro Surge,” filed a federal tort claim against the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, claiming the agency used excessive force and violated her rights. Rahman was never charged with any crime. “They battered Aliya. They assaulted Aliya. They were negligent in their medical care for Aliya,” says Jessica Gingold, one of Rahman’s attorneys. “All of those things are illegal, and this is our tool for making sure that they have to pay for that.” Aliya Rahman was on her way to a doctor’s appointment when her route was blocked by ICE vehicles. Rahman’s window was smashed, and she was violently pulled out of her car. She told the officers she is disabled and autistic, but says they mocked her. Rahman was brought to an ICE jail, where she was denied medical care. She eventually fell unconscious and woke up at a hospital. “My hope is that Americans can see that we have an option that might someday make mass acts of racial violence seem too expensive for these folks, even if they don’t share our values,” says Rahman. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Rami Khouri: U.S. & Israel Were “Forced into Two Ceasefires” as Regional Balance of Power Shifts
“We’ve seen now, in the last six weeks, Iran and Hezbollah almost single-handedly checking — not defeating, but checking — the two biggest military powers in the region, which is the U.S. and Israel,” says Rami Khouri. Khouri...
“We’ve seen now, in the last six weeks, Iran and Hezbollah almost single-handedly checking — not defeating, but checking — the two biggest military powers in the region, which is the U.S. and Israel,” says Rami Khouri. Khouri says the U.S. and Israel have been “forced into” ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon. This is all a sign “of the evolving balance of power across the region” and demonstrates that Iran’s Axis of Resistance “is still effective.” Khouri is a Palestinian American journalist and public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Report from Beirut: Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Met with “Cautious Optimism”
A 10-day ceasefire has begun in Lebanon. The news is being celebrated across the country, but major questions remain over what happens next. President Trump announced the deal between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday. Hezbollah, which is not a p...
A 10-day ceasefire has begun in Lebanon. The news is being celebrated across the country, but major questions remain over what happens next. President Trump announced the deal between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday. Hezbollah, which is not a party to the agreement, says it will observe the ceasefire. The Israeli military is occupying a large swath of southern Lebanon, about 10% of the country. Early on in the current war, the Israeli military announced the intention to create a “security zone” from the Lebanese-Israeli border all the way to the Litani River, 20 miles north of the border. Many in the country are questioning whether Israel will abide by the ceasefire, says Beirut-based journalist Kareem Chehayeb. Israel continued airstrikes on Thursday right up until the ceasefire took effect, including blowing up the last bridge over the Litani River. “With this kind of military mobilization and this ground invasion of Lebanon, many in Lebanon do fear this could lead to some sort of long-term or even permanent occupation, similar to that from 1982 until the year 2000,” says Chehayeb. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
President Trump on Thursday repeated his claim that a deal to end the war on Iran is “very close” and that direct talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan as soon as this weekend. Despite the claims, the Pentagon is surging thousan...
President Trump on Thursday repeated his claim that a deal to end the war on Iran is “very close” and that direct talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan as soon as this weekend. Despite the claims, the Pentagon is surging thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, including an additional 6,000 sailors and aviators joining the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier battle group. Around 4,200 others with the Navy and Marines are expected to arrive near the end of the month. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, says “we might be, at some point, returning to a hot war” because the Iranians, too, have “preserved a degree of retaliatory capacity.” The main question on the negotiating table is whether the Iranians, who “have been saying for years that they don’t want nuclear weapons,” will curb their nuclear activity, and if so, whether the U.S. would “be willing to provide them with economic incentives and sanctions relief.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Texas Medical Board Sanctions Three Doctors for Delayed Care That Led to the Deaths of Two Pregnant Women
The post Texas Medical Board Sanctions Three Doctors for Delayed Care That Led to the Deaths of Two Pregnant Women appeared first on ProPublica.
Photographs show Hope and Porsha Ngumezi, left, and Nevaeh Crain. Photos by Danielle Villasana for ProPublica The Texas Medical Board has disciplined three doctors ProPublica previously investigated whose patients died after receiving delayed or inappropriate pregnancy care under the state’s strict abortion ban. Two of the doctors failed to properly intervene as a pregnant teenager repeatedly sought care for life-threatening complications, the board found. The third did not provide a dilation and curettage procedure to empty a miscarrying patient’s uterus, and she ultimately bled to death. As ProPublica investigated those preventable deaths and five others across three states in the past few years, reporters found that abortion bans have influenced how doctors and hospitals respond to pregnancy complications. Facing risks of prison time and professional ruin, doctors have delayed key interventions until they can document that a fetus’ heart is no longer beating or that a case meets a narrow legal exception. Some physicians say their colleagues are discharging or transferring pregnant patients instead of taking responsibility for their care. Doctors and lawyers have questioned why medical boards, which oversee physician licensing and investigate substandard care, have not played a more active role in guiding doctors on how to uphold medical standards within the constraints of the law. When asked by ProPublica in 2024 what recourse miscarrying patients had when a doctor denied them necessary treatment, the president of the Texas Medical Board said it had no say over criminal law but that patients could file a complaint and “vote with their feet” to seek care from another doctor. Since then, the Texas board has taken more steps than those in other states, publishing guidance this year that provides case studies on how doctors can legally provide abortions to patients with certain medical complications. The state Legislature ordered the board to create the training materials as part of the Life of the Mother Act, which was passed after ProPublica’s reporting and made modest adjustments to the state’s abortion restrictions in an attempt to prevent additional maternal deaths. Georgia, where Amber Thurman died after doctors did not try to empty her septic uterus for 20 hours, has not revisited its ban or disciplined key doctors involved. Maternal care experts say health care providers will continue to hesitate to offer standard care as long as bans carry serious criminal consequences — Texas’ law can put a physician behind bars for 99 years. But those who spoke to ProPublica say that medical board sanctions are one of the few levers that can provide a counterweight, pushing hospitals and doctors to provide standard care despite uncertainty over vaguely written laws. Michelle Maloney, who is representing the families of both Texas patients in malpractice lawsuits, said she was pleasantly surprised by the board’s recent actions. “Over the course of my career, I’ve had many horrific, horrific death cases. For someone to get disciplined by the medical board, especially while there’s ongoing litigation, is just extraordinarily rare,” she said. In 2024, ProPublica reported on the case of 18-year-old Nevaeh Crain, who began experiencing severe pregnancy complications when she was six months pregnant in 2023. Although she exhibited clear signs of an infection, doctors at two hospitals sent her home. On her third visit, as Crain’s condition deteriorated, a doctor did not send Crain to the intensive care unit until he could confirm fetal demise with two ultrasounds. Texas law requires doctors to create extra documentation before performing procedures that could end a pregnancy. By the time the doctor had logged there was no fetal heartbeat, the medical record shows, Crain was too unstable for surgery. She died with her fetus still in her womb. Dr. Ali Mohamed Osman, an emergency medicine doctor who saw Crain at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas during her first emergency room visit, sent her home with a prescription for antibiotics for strep throat without investigating her stomach cramps, ProPublica reported. The medical board cited him for failing to appropriately treat her infection or check the health of the fetus. Dr. William Noel Hawkins, an OB-GYN who saw Crain at Christus Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth hospital during her second ER visit hours later, was cited for discharging Crain even though she had a 103-degree fever, screened positive for sepsis and had a fetus with an abnormally high heart rate. For both Osman and Hawkins, the board wrote, “this delay in care ultimately resulted in the death of both the patient and her unborn child due to complications of pregnancy.” A board spokesperson would not say whether it investigated Dr. Marcelo Totorica, who saw Crain at her third visit to an ER, at Christus, and required two fetal ultrasounds, 90 minutes apart, before wheeling Crain into the ICU for an operation. The board does not disclose open investigations or cases when a doctor has been cleared of wrongdoing. Totorica did not respond to a request for comment. ProPublica also investigated the case of Porsha Ngumezi, who died at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in 2023 after bleeding heavily during a miscarriage at 11 weeks. An OB-GYN overseeing her care, Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, gave her misoprostol, a medication that can be used to complete low-risk miscarriages. More than a dozen experts who reviewed the case for ProPublica, however, said that this was a high-risk case and she should have immediately been given a D&C — a procedure that has become fraught in states with abortion bans. Clearing the uterus is standard care to stop hemorrhaging; misoprostol would only make the bleeding worse, they said. The board investigation confirmed those findings, citing Davis for failing to quantify the volume of blood loss and choosing to monitor Ngumezi’s condition instead of immediately taking her for a D&C procedure. The board wrote, “This delay in care led to the patient’s death.” It added that it could not determine if Ngumezi would have survived if she received an emergency D&C. The board has the power to levy fines up to $5,000 and, in the most extreme cases, suspend or revoke doctors’ licenses. In these cases, however, each doctor was ordered to take eight hours of continuing education courses within a year. While under the terms of the order, all must notify any employers of the board’s findings against them. Davis and Hawkins were disciplined in October, and Osman was disciplined in March. None of the doctors or hospitals responded to requests for comment. In the medical board orders, the doctors neither admit nor deny the board’s findings and agree to comply with the discipline. Hope Ngumezi, Porsha Ngumezi’s husband, said the board’s order felt like “a slap in the face.” “What kind of justice is this for Porsha?” he said. “I feel like the doctor shouldn’t be practicing anymore.” Hawkins, who failed to meet the standard of care in Crain’s case, according to the board, had previously been disciplined by the board for improper care in several other cases, including failing to provide a tubal ligation and failing to diagnose a syphilis infection. The board issued an order to have Hawkins’ medical practice monitored in 2015; it was lifted two years later. Reproductive rights advocates welcomed the Texas board’s recent actions but said that it and medical boards in other states should do more. None of the Texas discipline orders, for example, directly sanction a doctor for failing to offer or provide an abortion for a high-risk medical condition. The board has disciplined some doctors in recent years for failing to provide D&Cs to patients after a confirmed miscarriage or for substandard care of pregnant patients experiencing emergencies, and the orders are typically released quietly. The board could be making public statements and sharing more robust guidance to remind doctors of the consequences, said Molly Duane, the litigation director of Amplify Legal, which is part of the reproductive rights advocacy group Abortion in America. “They should be saying loudly: This is what can happen if you don’t provide care in these circumstances,” Duane said. At the Center for Reproductive Rights, Duane represented 20 Texas women in a case against the state who alleged doctors inappropriately denied them abortions during medical emergencies. The Texas Supreme Court sided with the state and blamed doctors for misinterpreting the law. Duane is not aware of any doctors in those cases who received discipline from the board. ProPublica reported on the deaths of other Texas women, including Josseli Barnica and Tierra Walker, which experts said could have been prevented had the women been offered abortions for their high-risk medical conditions. And data analyses by ProPublica showed that sepsis rates and blood transfusions spiked among miscarrying women after the ban went into effect — an indicator of dangerous delays in care across the state. The board would not say whether it has opened investigations into doctors involved in those cases or any others in which pregnant patients may have received substandard care due to abortion restrictions. The post Texas Medical Board Sanctions Three Doctors for Delayed Care That Led to the Deaths of Two Pregnant Women appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Kavitha Surana.
Israel Agrees to 10-Day Ceasefire in Lebanon After U.S.-Brokered Talks, Israelis in Tel Aviv Protest Settler Violence After High Court Lifts Wartime Ban on Gatherings, House Votes 213-214 to Reject War Powers Resolution as Trump Claims Deal with Iran Is “Very Close”, Ukraine Strikes Black Sea Oil Refinery as Russian Attacks Kill 17, Progressive Democrat Analilia Mejía Wins Special Election for New Jersey House Seat, House Temporarily Extends FISA’s Mass Surveillance Powers in Late-Night Vote , House Votes to Extend Deportation Protections for 330,000 Haitian Immigrants, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Who Oversaw Mass Deportation Efforts, to Resign in May, Minnesota Prosecutor Brings Assault Charges Against ICE Agent Who Pointed Gun at Motorists, Texas Governor Threatens to Cut Millions of Dollars from Cities That Limit Collaboration with ICE, Man Shot by ICE in California Last Week Arrested on Assault Charges, Advocates Demand Release of Texas Interpreter Meenu Batra from ICE Jail, Virginia’s Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Shoots Estranged Wife in Murder-Suicide, Hampshire College to Close at End of 2026 Amid Financial Woes and Falling Enrollment
Israel Agrees to 10-Day Ceasefire in Lebanon After U.S.-Brokered Talks Israelis in Tel Aviv Protest Settler Violence After High Court Lifts Wartime Ban on Gatherings House Votes 213-214 to Reject War Powers Resolution as Trump Claims Deal with Iran Is "Very Close" Ukraine Strikes Black Sea Oil Refinery as Russian Attacks Kill 17 Progressive Democrat Analilia Mejía Wins Special Election for New Jersey House Seat House Temporarily Extends FISA's Mass Surveillance Powers in Late-Night Vote House Votes to Extend Deportation Protections for 330,000 Haitian Immigrants Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Who Oversaw Mass Deportation Efforts, to Resign in May Minnesota Prosecutor Brings Assault Charges Against ICE Agent Who Pointed Gun at Motorists Texas Governor Threatens to Cut Millions of Dollars from Cities That Limit Collaboration with ICE Man Shot by ICE in California Last Week Arrested on Assault Charges Advocates Demand Release of Texas Interpreter Meenu Batra from ICE Jail Virginia's Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Shoots Estranged Wife in Murder-Suicide Hampshire College to Close at End of 2026 Amid Financial Woes and Falling Enrollment This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Friday, April 17, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Gaza’s young, untrained journalists step up to document Israel’s war crimes
Pacific Media Watch At least 262 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war against the besieged enclave, marking one of the deadliest periods for media workers in recent global history, reports Al Jazeera. Despite newsrooms being destroyed and reporters losing their lives, coverage continues through a new generation of
Pacific Media Watch At least 262 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war against the besieged enclave, marking one of the deadliest periods for media workers in recent global history, reports Al Jazeera. Despite newsrooms being destroyed and reporters losing their lives, coverage continues through a new generation of young, often untrained correspondents determined to document the conflict. With international media access severely restricted, the responsibility of reporting increasingly falls on local journalists who work in makeshift shelters and tents amid rubble, facing constant danger. READ MORE: Foreign press access to Gaza: RSF and partner organisations call on Israeli Supreme Court judges to accelerate proceedings Other Gaza media reports For many, journalism has shifted from profession to urgent responsibility. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Gaza City on the new generation of journalists, many of them young women. Gaza’s young journalists document Israel’s war crimes Video: Al Jazeera This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
Man linked to gang activity dies after Fiji military detention, local media report
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Police Force has confirmed that a man who was taken in for questioning by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces in Suva has died in custody. Fijian media are reporting that the man was a wellknown “drug lord” known to local authorities. The man was among a group allegedly linked to
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Police Force has confirmed that a man who was taken in for questioning by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces in Suva has died in custody. Fijian media are reporting that the man was a wellknown “drug lord” known to local authorities. The man was among a group allegedly linked to gang activity who were taken in for questioning by the military on Thursday night, fijivillage.com reports. READ MORE: Fiji military puts public ‘on notice’ citing national security threats ‘We will comment later,’ says military chief over army custody death Other Fiji military reports Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said an investigation into the incident was underway. The incident comes amid ongoing joint operations between the police and the military. This week, the Fijian military warned that individuals responsible for “any attempt to destabilise national security” and those who aid “individuals engaged in criminal activity” had been put on notice. The death also comes as Fijians mourn the passing of the former President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, who has been accorded a state funeral today. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
A Protester Threw a Snowball. Federal Agents Responded With Tear Gas and Pepper Balls.
The post A Protester Threw a Snowball. Federal Agents Responded With Tear Gas and Pepper Balls. appeared first on ProPublica.
A federal agent shoots pepper spray out of the window of a moving vehicle. The stream hit FRONTLINE’s video team. Tim Evans/Reuters Five days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot activist Renee Good, tensions were running high in the Minneapolis neighborhood where she was killed. As federal immigration agents surrounded and questioned a man whose car they had stopped, people emerged from their homes onto the snow-lined sidewalks and street. They shouted obscenities, told the agents to leave and filmed what was happening on their phones. A crew from FRONTLINE and ProPublica was filming, too. The man being questioned, a U.S. citizen named Christian Molina, told ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson that federal agents had followed him and rammed his car: “They looked at me and they decided to pull me over for no reason,” Molina said. Co-published With <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="404" height="120" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/unnamed_a64377.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54265" style="width:198px;height:auto" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/unnamed_a64377.png 404w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/unnamed_a64377.png?resize=300,89 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/unnamed_a64377.png?resize=400,119 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px" /> What happened next can be seen in footage from FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s new documentary “Caught in the Crackdown.” Someone threw a snowball in the direction of the agents — and one of them responded by tossing a tear gas canister into the crowd. “You’re tear-gassing a fucking neighborhood,” a protester yelled. “People live here.” As the toxic haze rose, an agent pepper-sprayed protesters and a news photographer at close range. Another agent fired pepper balls into the crowd, hitting Thompson three times. One shot struck him above the right eye. Federal use of force guidelines generally instruct agents not to target people’s heads and faces with these weapons. Then, as the agents drove away, one of them shot pepper spray from a car window, hitting others on the film team, including FRONTLINE’s director Gabrielle Schonder and director of photography Tim Grucza, who was sprayed in the face. Watch Agents Use Tear Gas and Other Weapons on a Minneapolis Crowd Footage of the confrontation was captured for “Caught in the Crackdown,” a new documentary from FRONTLINE and ProPublica. <iframe loading="lazy" title="Protesters, Bystanders Arrested | Caught in the Crackdown (documentary) | FRONTLINE + ProPublica" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/MbPBVFRJQmk?start=2510&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen> In the Minneapolis neighborhood where Renee Good was killed, residents were protesting the actions of federal immigration agents. Someone lobbed a snowball toward the agents. Then came what one former Department of Justice official later called “use of excessive force after use of excess force.” FRONTLINE and ProPublica The Jan. 12 confrontation is one of many chaotic clashes documented in “Caught in the Crackdown.” Premiering April 14, the joint investigation examines how federal agents handled protesters and bystanders during the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps in major cities across the U.S., from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis — including by using tactics that experts say violated officers’ own rules. As the documentary explores, President Donald Trump’s administration said its immigration crackdown was protecting U.S. citizens by targeting criminals and people who had entered the country illegally. Through on-the-ground reporting and interviews with officials, experts, insiders and eyewitnesses, “Caught in the Crackdown” traces how federal forces arrested hundreds of U.S. citizens who were protesting or observing the raids, routinely portrayed those citizens as domestic terrorists or extremists, and repeatedly deployed weaponry like tear gas and pepper balls. The man heading the enforcement operations was unapologetic about his agents’ approach. “We’re here to conduct that Title 8 mission,” Greg Bovino, then-commander-at-large for Border Patrol, told a local TV station, referring to immigration enforcement. “It won’t stop despite rioters, agitators, and vast amounts of violence against federal officers. We’re not going to stop.” But when Thompson shared the footage from Jan. 12 with former law enforcement officials, they expressed concern. “We see, just, use of excessive force after use of excess force,” said Christy Lopez, who spent years investigating law enforcement misconduct for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “In no scenario is it OK to be pepper-spraying people as you’re leaving the scene.” “It’s pretty awful,” said Chris Magnus, a former head of Customs and Border Protection who once oversaw Bovino. Magnus, who served as a police chief in multiple cities, pointed to the principle of proportionality when using force in law enforcement: “People may well get under your skin under a lot of circumstances,” he said. “You don’t like it, but professionals don’t react to it.” As the documentary reports, ProPublica and FRONTLINE found that legal cases against many protesters have been falling apart, as the accusations against them have been contradicted by video evidence and witness testimony. Bovino was ultimately moved out of his role after federal agents shot and killed a second protester in Minneapolis — Alex Pretti. The Trump administration said it “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made” to its immigration enforcement operations. Bovino has since retired, but many of the questions raised on the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis under his watch remain unresolved. “Even if Gregory Bovino is gone, I wonder if his imprint will last through all the federal agencies that are continuing to go out on the street,” journalist Sergio Olmos, who reported on Bovino for the nonprofit news outlets CalMatters and Evident Media, says in the documentary. “I wonder if anything will change, really. He was the one who was the tip of the spear for this new type of immigration enforcement across the country.” The post A Protester Threw a Snowball. Federal Agents Responded With Tear Gas and Pepper Balls. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Patrice Taddonio.
Deep-diving robots help crack the mystery of Antarctica’s vanishing sea ice
A decade ago, southern sea ice suddenly and dramatically declined. Scientists say the culprit was a 'very violent release' of deep, pent-up heat.
Something strange has been swirling in the waters around Antarctica. From the 1970s until a decade ago, the floating sea ice that radiates from the continent had been expanding, even with climate change already in full swing. Then, in 2016, it suddenly and dramatically contracted — and has yet to recover — as rising global temperatures seemed to catch up with the Southern Ocean. Far from being just a local issue, the loss of sea ice has huge implications for Antarctica’s vast ice sheet, which would drive sea levels up 190 feet if it disappeared. Now scientists say they’ve identified what’s behind this rise and sudden fall, thanks to an assist from deep-diving robots. It all comes down to salinity, winds, and churn. “One of the key takeaways from the study is that the ocean plays a huge role in sort of modulating how sea ice can vary from year to year, decade to decade,” said Earle Wilson, a polar oceanographer at Stanford University and lead author of a new paper describing the research. Doing the grunt work here was a network of data-gathering machines known as Argo floats. Torpedo-shaped and about the size of a human, they sink thousands of feet, sampling things like temperature and salinity, before popping back up to the surface and transmitting all that data to a satellite. Because they float passively, the instruments could for years gather data about how conditions were changing. Now, forget about robots and think about swimming in a lake. When you dive, you’re hit by a sudden rush of cold water. That’s because the sun warms the surface, while the depths stay cool. This also happens in the world’s oceans, though obviously the cold water goes much deeper. The opposite happens in the waters around Antarctica. Because it’s so cold down there, the air cools the ocean surface, while warmer waters swirl below. (Argo robots could detect this in fine detail as they ascended and descended.) With warmer liquid kept away from the surface, more sea ice can form. As sea ice expanded in the decades before 2016, increased precipitation made surface waters fresher, in contrast to saltier waters below, resulting in stratification. (The saltier a liquid is, the denser it becomes.) This trapped the warmth in the depths, allowing it to build up. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A boat of researchers on the sea in Antarctica surrounded by ice" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sea-ice-antarctica.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Antarctica is in extreme peril Matt Simon Then the atmosphere played yet another trick, as winds intensified and shifted. This pushed surface waters away from Antarctica and churned up that deeper warmth. “What we witnessed was basically this very violent release of all that pent up heat from below that we linked to the sea ice decline,” Wilson said. This bluster was likely driven at least in part by climate change: As the planet warms, the atmosphere develops temperature gradients, which strengthen winds and change their patterns. Scientists, though, are still working out how much of this shift is might be due to “natural variability,” or what might happen anyway if humans hadn’t released so much carbon since the Industrial Revolution. Either way, the system shifted around 2016. Beyond bringing up warm waters, all that wind may have broken up the ice, both by pushing blocks together and by creating waves. “Recent research has shown that both atmospheric and oceanic warming is likely contributing to the sudden change in Antarctic sea-ice extent since 2016, and this paper helps to further develop the point that deeper ocean warmth is a significant player,” said Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at the research group Climate Central who studies Antarctic ice but wasn’t involved in the paper. As sea ice has declined, it has imperiled far more ice elsewhere. The Antarctic ice sheet that rests on land is bolstered by ice shelves that float along the coast. These essential supports are already in serious trouble as warming seas and violent underwater storms erode their bellies, weakening them. If they also lose the sea ice floating around them, they lose a significant buffer, as the floating chunks absorb wave energy. In addition, a healthy amount of sea ice is quite bright, meaning it reflects a bunch of the sun’s warmth into space, reducing local temperatures. Because the ice shelves hold back the ice sheet, losing them would mean an accelerated decline of an extraordinary amount of frozen water sitting on the continent. While the Argo floats provided invaluable data, scientists are scrambling to get still more measurements. “Overall, we need more international support to continue building observing networks across the Antarctic polar region, both for oceanic and atmospheric monitoring,” Labe said. “This is critical given the rapid changes we are beginning to observe in this part of the world in a warming climate, with potentially significant consequences for global sea level rise.” The big question now is whether we’re witnessing a permanent state of low sea ice, or whether atmospheric and oceanic conditions might swing back enough to encourage years of growth. The promise of this new research is that it will help researchers refine their models to predict how much the waters around Antarctica might change, and how quickly. Perhaps sea ice will see years of sharp decline, followed by years of growth. “But the long term, multi-decade trend will be negative,” Wilson said. “That would be my guess, but we don’t know for sure.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Deep-diving robots help crack the mystery of Antarctica’s vanishing sea ice on Apr 17, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Matt Simon.
American farmers bet on solar. Then Trump changed the rules.
We tracked how the collapse of federal rural energy support is ending solar projects across farm country — and costing some developers millions they'll never get back.
Over the past few years, Kentucky sheep farmer Daniel Bell has been expanding his flock, and that meant he needed to build a new barn. His land is far from the power lines he’d need to heat it, so he figured rooftop solar would be ideal. To help pay for it, he wanted to apply for a renewable-energy grant through the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP — only to find that the Trump administration had effectively halted grants through the program. Bell said that made it impossible to proceed with the idea on his land. “For me, it’s just been about freedom. Freedom to lower bills, freedom to control my own assets,” he said. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-1JB08612_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Daniel Bell, wearing a cap and green jacket, walks across a field alongside a row of solar panels." data-caption="Daniel Bell watches his sheep graze at his farm in Lancaster, Kentucky. " data-credit="Joshua A. Bickel / AP Photo"/> Daniel Bell watches his sheep graze at his farm in Lancaster, Kentucky. Joshua A. Bickel / AP Photo Many farmers work on the thinnest margins, fighting to stay profitable. Some, looking to cut costs on electricity, turn to the federal government for a little extra cash to help them install solar panels on top of barns, grain elevators, or offices. Others turn to commercial renewable energy leases as both an alternative income stream and a way to put fallow land to work. Within the first year of President Trump’s second term, two federal programs critical to the growth of solar energy production — REAP and the clean energy tax credit — have been rolled back. To document how those policy changes are affecting farmers, The Associated Press and Grist analyzed data on both commercial-scale solar projects and small-scale rural energy development across the country. They found that, so far this fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture hasn’t awarded a dollar in rural energy grants or loan guarantees. Reporters contacted roughly a quarter of the nearly 300 developers that have proposed projects on agricultural land in the last two years, and found that they are either preparing their businesses to do future projects without federal support, or have already lost millions in investment because of the administration’s new tax credit policies. <img decoding="async" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-obligations-ira-breakdown-light.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> Biden flooded rural energy programs with cash. Then Trump turned off the tap. Inflation Reduction Act grants supercharged USDA’s REAP program beginning in FY2023. No funding of any kind has been awarded since September 2025. Federal fiscal years begin Oct 1. Source: USAspending Clayton Aldern / Grist / Marco Pregnolato / Unsplash <g stroke="none"> <path d="M50.3773053,18.8546667 L38.2999801,18.8546667 L38.2999801,53.7011111 L46.6520077,53.7011111 L46.6520077,25.8842222 L50.017488,25.8842222 C53.9225832,25.8842222 56.1459382,27.7462222 56.1459382,31.1108889 C56.1459382,34.4153333 53.9225832,36.338 50.017488,36.338 L49.476762,36.338 L49.476762,43.3673333 L50.3773053,43.3673333 C59.3902942,43.3673333 64.6779855,38.8308889 64.6779855,31.1108889 C64.6779855,23.2404444 59.3902942,18.8546667 50.3773053,18.8546667" fill="#000"></path> </g> <path d="M137 98.5C133 98.5 132 97.5 132 92.5V50.2C133.579 49.0591 135.454 48.3993 137.4 48.3C140.5 48.3 143.2 49.6 147.5 54.7C148.8 56.3 150 57 151.3 57C153.3 57 154.5 55.7 154.5 53.4V38H151.5C147.812 37.9397 144.155 38.6872 140.786 40.1901C137.418 41.6931 134.419 43.915 132 46.7V38H108V41.5H112C116 41.5 117 42.5 117 47.5V92.5C117 97.5 116 98.5 112 98.5H108V102H145V98.5H137ZM158.5 41.5H161.2C165.2 41.5 166.2 42.5 166.2 47.5V92.5C166.2 97.5 165.2 98.5 161.2 98.5H156.8V102H189.9V98.5H186.2C182.2 98.5 181.2 97.5 181.2 92.5V38H158.5V41.5ZM195.4 102H199.1V101C199.1 98.7 200.8 98.8 202.8 99.5C210.5 102.2 214.4 103 220.5 103C236.8 103 244.5 95.4 244.5 82.7C244.5 74.2 239.6 66.7 227.3 63.1L211.2 58.4C203.5 56.1 201.2 53 201.2 49.7C201.2 46.4 204.2 43.4 209.1 43.4C216.6 43.4 223.8 48 234.3 56.3C235.151 57.0952 236.241 57.5873 237.4 57.7C239.4 57.7 240.6 56.4 240.6 54.1V38H236.9V39C236.9 40.7 235.8 41.5 233.7 40.7C226.3 37.9 221.8 37 217.6 37C203.1 37 196 45.2 196 56.9C196 65.3 201.8 72.4 215.2 76.5L229.6 80.9C236.8 83.1 239.3 86 239.3 89.9C239.3 93.8 236 96.6 231.1 96.6C224.3 96.6 215.3 93.2 202.1 83C201.131 82.094 199.911 81.5015 198.6 81.3C196.6 81.3 195.4 82.6 195.4 84.9V102ZM257.8 83.9C257.8 96.3 265.1 103 278.7 103C285.1 103 294.8 101.2 302.3 98.7V87C302.3 84.7 301.1 83.4 299.1 83.4C297.9 83.4 296.8 84.1 295.6 85.9C288.4 96.7 282.8 99.6 278.2 99.6C274.2 99.6 272.8 97.8 272.8 92.7V49.5H304.7V38H272.8V14H269.1V14.7C269.1 29 260.3 40.4 247.8 42.8V49.5H257.8V83.9ZM166.2 30H181.2V12.5H166.2V30ZM84.9 64V88.3C79.1 91.9 72.6 94 67.1 94C39.7 94 15.1 64.1 15.1 33C15.1 18.4 24.7 6.9 41.4 6.9C51.9 6.9 72.3 13.6 87.4 29.8C87.8588 30.38 88.4339 30.8576 89.0884 31.2021C89.7428 31.5465 90.4621 31.7502 91.2 31.8C93.2 31.8 94.4 30.5 94.4 28.2V2H90.7V3C90.7 6.6 88.6 7.6 83.4 6C72.9626 2.50408 62.0057 0.813193 51 1C18.1 1 0 26.8 0 52C0 80.8 21.9 103 51 103C63.148 102.914 74.9783 99.11 84.9 92.1V102H99.4V50H46.4V64H84.9Z" fill="#3C3830"></path> Bell, for his part, decided to go a different route: instead of building on his own property, he’s asked to build two new temporary barns on land owned by a commercial solar operation where he's paid to graze his sheep beneath solar panels to keep the grass down. If the business approves his request, the barns could draw cheaper power from their operation. But not every farmer has that opportunity. The effects of these policy shifts are uneven. Some solar projects are stalled because of permitting hangups. Some are right on schedule. And some are moving faster than anticipated, as developers race to break ground before tax credits expire. But, taken together, the findings reveal how the collapse of federal support for solar has spread across American agriculture from major corporations to family farms. The abandoned solar projects The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed by President George W. Bush, enacted a 30% investment tax credit for large-scale clean energy projects, boosting the solar industry. The tax credit was extended for eight years under President Obama and later extended under President Trump in 2020. When President Joe Biden signed the 2022 landmark climate bill, the tax credit was extended again through 2032 or when specific emissions targets were reached. Last July, when Congress passed President Trump’s tax bill, the timeline for the clean energy tax credits were again reset — in reverse. Now commercial solar projects must be under construction by July 2026 and placed in service by the end of 2027 to remain eligible for the credit. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-DJI_20260114151802_0459_D_XMIT-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="An aerial photograph of a large array of solar panels surrounded by farmland." data-caption="Solar panels operate at a farm in Lancaster, Kentucky. " data-credit="Joshua A. Bickel / AP Photo"/> Solar panels operate at a farm in Lancaster, Kentucky. Joshua A. Bickel / AP Photo At least 126 solar projects proposed since the beginning of 2024 are awaiting regulatory approval, according to a Grist and Associated Press analysis of the latest information developers supplied to the Energy Information Administration. Each is located near or on agricultural land, with at least one-fifth of the surrounding area used for grazing fields or crops, and would together supply about 20 gigawatts of electricity if built. That’s enough renewable energy to power about 4.5 million homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The new timeline, though, has prompted some developers to abandon projects after concluding they couldn’t move fast enough to meet the new tax credit cutoff. Bogdan Micu, CEO of the German solar developer Alpin Sun, said it had to abandon projects representing about $6 million in investments in about 1,000 megawatts in the U.S. Northeast. “Well. We lost our projects,” Micu said. The company simply couldn’t speed up its projects to meet the deadlines, he said. “There was no way for us to speed up that process” to meet deadlines, he said. A longstanding renewable energy program is gutted Through REAP, the USDA issues grants and loans to farmers, ranchers, and rural businesses interested in renewable energy — like installing solar to lower utility costs. According to Richa Patel, a policy specialist at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, REAP has funded more than 19,000 grants totalling more than $1.8 billion since its inception nearly two decades ago, and backed tens of thousands of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across the country in that time. The program was supercharged by funding from the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and up until then, when some congressional Republicans began to question the grant structure of the program, was largely supported by both parties. But for many of the farmers whose awards or applications were affected as Trump took office again, the past year has made farm country’s already-dire economic landscape even more difficult to weather. Elisa Lane, a flower and fruit farmer in Hampstead, Maryland, will never forget the anxiety she felt last February when she heard the Trump administration had frozen the $30,576 REAP grant she’d been awarded in 2024 to install solar panels — with no explanation. “Man, was that so stressful,” said Lane, who spent months worried she’d be “on the hook” for the amount that she’d already contracted a solar company to install. It was supposed to alleviate the stress of her energy bills, which she says ran around $500 a month before getting solar. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/electric-bills-energy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Person holding electric bill with orange lightning bolts sparking from it" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/electric-bills-energy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1120w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/electric-bills-energy.jpg?resize=330%2C435&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/electric-bills-energy.jpg?resize=768%2C1013&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/electric-bills-energy.jpg?resize=150%2C198&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1478" width="1120" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> What’s behind your eye-popping power bill? We broke it down, region by region. Naveena Sadasivam & Clayton Aldern In March 2025, the agency announced it would release already-awarded grants and loans — but there appeared to be some fine print. The USDA invited recipients to voluntarily revise their proposals to align with Trump’s executive order by “eliminating Biden-era DEIA and climate mandates embedded in previous proposals.” Although she was anxiously waiting on the funds, Lane decided not to revise her proposal after a local USDA representative advised her to proceed with her project without revising. (The representative assured her she would receive the payment, according to emails seen by Grist and the AP.) Later that spring, she heard from the USDA that the payment would be released and she could move forward with construction. So she did, putting up the full $70,000 it cost to install the panels. By August, they were up and running on her land. By September, she received her reimbursement check covering about half of the project fee from USDA — more than half a year after the funding was first frozen. In the span of roughly seven months, the USDA froze the program’s grant funding, invited grantees to reapply without climate and DEI language, imposed sweeping new restrictions on solar on farmland, and closed future application cycles. “It was so disruptive,” she said. “I just want to have a farm and be able to focus on my business.” Now, she’s doing just that. The panels, to Lane, represent a long-term investment into bringing down her farm’s enormous energy bill. Although things eventually worked out for Lane and other recent REAP grantees, the Grist and Associated Press analysis of USDA Rural Development data found the program has not committed a single dollar in renewable energy development since September. Even though the agency said it anticipated it would do so last October, USDA never reopened REAP's grant application cycle. Its loan guarantee program — geared toward larger farm and rural business projects — has remained open, though the analysis found that the agency has awarded no new agreements this fiscal year. <img decoding="async" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/reap-ira-cliff-light.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit=""/> The Inflation Reduction Act: a brief cash infusion for rural clean energy Cumulative REAP funding since FY2023, by source. IRA grants stopped abruptly after January 2025. Federal fiscal years begin Oct 1. Source: USAspending Clayton Aldern / Grist <g stroke="none"> <path d="M50.3773053,18.8546667 L38.2999801,18.8546667 L38.2999801,53.7011111 L46.6520077,53.7011111 L46.6520077,25.8842222 L50.017488,25.8842222 C53.9225832,25.8842222 56.1459382,27.7462222 56.1459382,31.1108889 C56.1459382,34.4153333 53.9225832,36.338 50.017488,36.338 L49.476762,36.338 L49.476762,43.3673333 L50.3773053,43.3673333 C59.3902942,43.3673333 64.6779855,38.8308889 64.6779855,31.1108889 C64.6779855,23.2404444 59.3902942,18.8546667 50.3773053,18.8546667" fill="#000"></path> </g> <path d="M137 98.5C133 98.5 132 97.5 132 92.5V50.2C133.579 49.0591 135.454 48.3993 137.4 48.3C140.5 48.3 143.2 49.6 147.5 54.7C148.8 56.3 150 57 151.3 57C153.3 57 154.5 55.7 154.5 53.4V38H151.5C147.812 37.9397 144.155 38.6872 140.786 40.1901C137.418 41.6931 134.419 43.915 132 46.7V38H108V41.5H112C116 41.5 117 42.5 117 47.5V92.5C117 97.5 116 98.5 112 98.5H108V102H145V98.5H137ZM158.5 41.5H161.2C165.2 41.5 166.2 42.5 166.2 47.5V92.5C166.2 97.5 165.2 98.5 161.2 98.5H156.8V102H189.9V98.5H186.2C182.2 98.5 181.2 97.5 181.2 92.5V38H158.5V41.5ZM195.4 102H199.1V101C199.1 98.7 200.8 98.8 202.8 99.5C210.5 102.2 214.4 103 220.5 103C236.8 103 244.5 95.4 244.5 82.7C244.5 74.2 239.6 66.7 227.3 63.1L211.2 58.4C203.5 56.1 201.2 53 201.2 49.7C201.2 46.4 204.2 43.4 209.1 43.4C216.6 43.4 223.8 48 234.3 56.3C235.151 57.0952 236.241 57.5873 237.4 57.7C239.4 57.7 240.6 56.4 240.6 54.1V38H236.9V39C236.9 40.7 235.8 41.5 233.7 40.7C226.3 37.9 221.8 37 217.6 37C203.1 37 196 45.2 196 56.9C196 65.3 201.8 72.4 215.2 76.5L229.6 80.9C236.8 83.1 239.3 86 239.3 89.9C239.3 93.8 236 96.6 231.1 96.6C224.3 96.6 215.3 93.2 202.1 83C201.131 82.094 199.911 81.5015 198.6 81.3C196.6 81.3 195.4 82.6 195.4 84.9V102ZM257.8 83.9C257.8 96.3 265.1 103 278.7 103C285.1 103 294.8 101.2 302.3 98.7V87C302.3 84.7 301.1 83.4 299.1 83.4C297.9 83.4 296.8 84.1 295.6 85.9C288.4 96.7 282.8 99.6 278.2 99.6C274.2 99.6 272.8 97.8 272.8 92.7V49.5H304.7V38H272.8V14H269.1V14.7C269.1 29 260.3 40.4 247.8 42.8V49.5H257.8V83.9ZM166.2 30H181.2V12.5H166.2V30ZM84.9 64V88.3C79.1 91.9 72.6 94 67.1 94C39.7 94 15.1 64.1 15.1 33C15.1 18.4 24.7 6.9 41.4 6.9C51.9 6.9 72.3 13.6 87.4 29.8C87.8588 30.38 88.4339 30.8576 89.0884 31.2021C89.7428 31.5465 90.4621 31.7502 91.2 31.8C93.2 31.8 94.4 30.5 94.4 28.2V2H90.7V3C90.7 6.6 88.6 7.6 83.4 6C72.9626 2.50408 62.0057 0.813193 51 1C18.1 1 0 26.8 0 52C0 80.8 21.9 103 51 103C63.148 102.914 74.9783 99.11 84.9 92.1V102H99.4V50H46.4V64H84.9Z" fill="#3C3830"></path> Then, on March 31, the USDA announced a suspension of all REAP grant awards so the agency may update regulations within the program to comply with an executive order issued by the president last July. The agency noted that it “will not be making further grant awards until the new regulations are in effect,” but added that REAP guaranteed loans “will continue to be awarded in this time.” In response to a request for comment, a USDA spokesperson said the “suspension of REAP grant awards is temporary” but did not provide further details on how long grants will be paused. When asked why the USDA has not yet issued any loans this fiscal year through the program, the spokesperson said the agency “continues to administer REAP in accordance with current guidance” and is “prioritizing program integrity and alignment with Administration direction as it conducts its review.” Robert Bonnie, the former undersecretary for farm production and conservation at the USDA under the Biden administration, said any loss in the program’s funding is going to be felt throughout rural America. Part of the USDA’s role over the long term, he said, has been to channel investment into rural parts of the country while making rural prosperity part of the climate agenda. “In places like Iowa and Texas, renewables matter, not just for additional power, and lower power bills, and clean energy, but also matters for farmers’ pocketbooks,” said Bonnie. “Anything you do to pull back on that is hugely problematic.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Select-2JB01361_XMIT.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Sheep graze in a field surrounded by solar panels and power lines." data-caption="Sheep graze in a field surrounded by power lines and solar panels in Lancaster, Kentucky. " data-credit="Joshua A. Bickel / AP Photo"/> Sheep graze in a field surrounded by power lines and solar panels in Lancaster, Kentucky. Joshua A. Bickel / AP Photo Racing to beat the tax-credit deadline For RIC Energy North America, a renewable energy developer based in New York City, the changes to the solar tax credits triggered an all-out sprint to advance every project in their pipeline, said CEO Jon Rappe. But new projects after that will essentially stop, he said. The company has about 150 solar projects in its North American portfolio with the bulk of those developments on fallow land, hayfields and former farmland. “Now, some companies are probably going to go out and continue to sign sites, and take some risks, in case there's an extension of tax credits or something like that,” Rappe said. “But the next generation of projects is not going to happen unless there's some change at the federal level.” One of RIC Energy’s projects is to develop 15 acres of solar on Tim Covert’s land in the primarily agricultural town of Sheridan, New York. The community solar project, where small-scale arrays would allow low-income residents to subscribe to get monthly credits on their utility bill, offers a new source of steady revenue for Covert, a former dairy farmer who has been battling cancer over the last year and struggled to work as a result. “I’m 100 percent cancer-free, but with the treatments, there's some side effects that take a little while to get rid of,” he said, which includes brain fog, muscle soreness, and depleted energy. ”So it would be great if they did have it done by fall, and I started getting money.” Under the agreement, the bigger payout, which Covert says equals roughly a quarter of his income as an electrical contractor, won’t start until the project is completed and online — and Covert isn’t sure when that will happen amid the shifting federal landscape. At the moment, he’s getting a small stipend simply for leasing his land. He’s been told that construction could start as soon as the end of May, though “it seems to be changing a lot.” RIC Energy, for its part, told Grist and the AP that the construction is slated to begin late summer to early fall. “I don't think they're going to stop now, because they have quite a bit of time and money invested in this thing already,” he said. “So I don't see them pulling the plug.” Even amid the shifting policies, some clean-energy developers say they are winning out. Solar energy is still one of the cheapest forms of energy out there, and energy is in higher demand than ever, partly due to AI data center construction. What’s more, tax equity sometimes made financing projects more complicated, so in some ways losing the tax credit also broke down a barrier to getting things done, said Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral LLC, a large-scale solar energy and battery storage developer with about 450 megawatts in operation and about 16,000 more planned or in construction. It’s “a very exciting time if you're a large enough developer that was in the right place at the right time doing large projects,” he said. “All the new rules really favor the big guys like us.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline American farmers bet on solar. Then Trump changed the rules. on Apr 17, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Ayurella Horn-Muller.
Moment Russian Drone Hits Transport Depot In Dnipro
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.
Dear Leslie, I’m a young adult trying to figure out what I’m doing with my life. It feels really hard to plan for my future given the uncertainty climate change produces, and sometimes I feel like my degree, which I’m passionate about, will be useless “when the apocalypse comes.” How can I plan well for my future when I don’t know what the world will look like in 10 years, let alone 50? — Scared Student Dear Scared Student, You’re asking one of the most significant questions of your generation, and it’s one that I’m hearing more and more from young people who are tuned into the rapid shifts occurring on our planet. Anyone who claims to know exactly what our changing world will look like in 50 years is deceiving themselves. It takes courage to sit with that uncertainty rather than push it away, so let’s start there: Give yourself credit for remaining aware of both the realities and the unknowns. That said, the word “apocalypse” doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for possibility. It’s hard to believe that anything matters if the end of times is a foregone conclusion. I think it’s worth breaking that down into two inquiries: what might actually happen, and how the uncertainty is affecting your ability to move forward. 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! Serious disruptions are taking place already and are essentially a guarantee — including in whatever field you’re training for. I don’t want to minimize the real fear underlying your question. Planning for a future that feels unstable is a genuine challenge. Let yourself feel the weight of that before reaching for solutions. Whatever our future does hold, we can be certain it will look different from the world we know today — perhaps in some wonderful ways, and likely in some bad. Feeling the loss is part of staying whole — neither turning away from what worries you, nor losing sight of what you can still shape. But collapsing all of our possible futures into a single worst-case scenario tends to make us freeze, and freezing helps neither us nor the communities and ecosystems depending on our action. Unfreezing, then, is not about pretending that everything will be fine: It’s about developing a skillful agility that allows you to shift as circumstances change. The skills, relationships, ways of thinking, and capacity for meaning-making that you cultivate when pursuing work you’re passionate about can translate into a wide range of scenarios. They’re not locked inside a single job title. The question isn’t whether your degree will survive in the future; it’s how you can show up with depth and flexibility and continue to seek out the next useful contribution, both personally and professionally. More from Ask a Climate Therapist <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Collage of person looking out plane window and snippets of boarding pass" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" 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" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Ask a Climate Therapist: How can I balance my travel itch with guilt about emissions? Leslie Davenport It can help to shift from long-range certainty-seeking to values-based navigation. Instead of asking, “Will this matter in 50 years?” try asking, “What matters to me now, and how can I build a life that honors that?” This is a core insight from acceptance-based approaches to anxiety. When we loosen our grip on specific outcomes and orient ourselves toward what we value, we can become more resilient and sustain our motivation. Values travel with us, and they’re what allow us to keep pivoting as circumstances change. No one can plan for a fixed future. Such a thing doesn’t exist. You’re developing yourself and your work in a very dynamic world that will challenge you to use your creative power as you pursue your goals. Your passion isn’t a liability. Today and in the future, whatever transpires, the paramount need is for people who care deeply. With you in this, 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 submit it here for a future column. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Ask a Climate Therapist: Why should I plan for my future when I feel we don’t have one? on Apr 17, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Leslie Davenport.
Climate adaptation funding is scarce. Private investors could help.
A new report highlights how resilience projects from the Netherlands to Malaysia offer a model for tapping private investment to protect cities from climate change.
The Afsluitdijk is a 32 kilometer causeway in the Netherlands that, since 1932, has been one of the country’s primary barriers against sea level rise. But after nearly a century of use it needed hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades. So, about a decade ago, the government turned to a consortium of contractors to reinvigorate the bulwark. Instead of paying for the project up front, the agency leading it signed a 25-year contract that allowed it to make payments over time — a move that effectively amounted to private financing for a public project. As climate risks intensify, cities around the world face a stark financial reality: Protecting themselves from rising seas and extreme weather will cost hundreds of billions of dollars — far more than many governments can afford. A new report from C40, a climate group representing cities, argues that one way of closing that gap is bringing in outside investors. Work on the Afsluitdijk is complete, and the sea wall continues fending off the encroaching water. The initiative is one of 10 case studies that form the backbone of the report, which C40 is releasing on the sidelines of the World Bank spring meeting this week. It cites examples from Dakar, Senegal to Washington D.C. to show why — and how — cities should be collaborating with the private sector. “The idea of this report is really to improve the conversation and bring in proof of concept so we can work with cities to leverage more of these opportunities,” said Barbara Barros, global head of adaptation finance for C40 and one of the report’s authors. “We can change the narrative.” As climate risks grow, so too does the price of defending against them. The report highlights research showing this could cost low and middle-income countries alone between $256 and $821 billion by 2050. Yet no more than 1 percent of all climate funding is currently going to urban adaptation, leaving a gap between what cities need and what they can afford. That’s in part because adaptation is a harder sell than projects that mitigate emissions. “Avoiding future damages is not a financing stream you can take to the bank in the way that you can energy efficiency and decarbonization,” said Dan Zarrilli, who was New York’s City’s chief resilience officer and chief climate policy advisor. “Projects need to be bankable.” Developing investments that meet public sector goals while being attractive to the private sector can be a difficult balance, but C40 hopes the report it released today will help accelerate adaptation efforts. Barros says that finding creative ways to engage funders will be especially important for cities that can’t easily raise taxes and those with a low credit rating. According to a report from the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance, private investment accounts for just 3 percent of the adaptation finance needs in developing countries. With concerted policy efforts that could rise to as much as 15 percent. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Hawaii-floods-climate-mitigation-funding-finance.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Glenn Duquez, associate pastor at Church of God Jesus is Alive Fellowship, begins to clean up after a fast-moving flood swept through Haleiwa, Hawai'i, on March 21." data-caption="Glenn Duquez, associate pastor at Church of God Jesus is Alive Fellowship, begins to clean up after a fast-moving flood swept through Haleiwa, Hawai’i, on March 21. " data-credit="Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images"/> Glenn Duquez, associate pastor at Church of God Jesus is Alive Fellowship, begins to clean up after a fast-moving flood swept through Haleiwa, Hawai’i, on March 21. Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images “There is a very big difference between mitigation and adaptation,” Barros said. “The only way to increase adaptation amounts is with more private investment.” Augmenting public funding is critical in the United States too, said Dakota Fischer, who works on adaptation issues for the environmental group NRDC. Smaller municipalities often lack the tax base to fund large projects, while the federal government — historically the primary source of climate adaptation funding — is dramatically scaling back its support under President Donald Trump. Amid that retreat, he said, “we all collectively are thinking more about how do you get more dollars for climate adaptation. Just about everyone working in climate adaptation has run into this problem, said Zarrilli, who is now the chief climate & sustainability officer at Columbia University. What this report does particularly well, he said, is concretely lay out options and scenarios others can duplicate. “The case studies are great,” he said. The report highlights a range of models: a wastewater recovery project in Sao Paolo, coral reef insurance in Mexico, and performance-based payments in Washington DC, to name a few. One project that caught Zarrilli’s eye was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where designers paired a stormwater management system with a revenue-generating toll road. “Now you have this revenue stream to do this joint thing,” he said, lauding the creativity. One key to designing projects that appeal to both the public and private sector, he said, is early engagement from the start, rather than one party taking a fully formed idea to the other. “You need to do some work to build that trust and get a shared vocabulary.” The report hints at other ways of getting around the barriers cities face. For instance, urban climate adaptation projects can be relatively small, so bundling them could make a package that’s more attractive to funders like the World Bank or multilateral development banks. Investment vehicles such as green bonds or funds can make it easier for companies to invest in adaptation more broadly, rather than bankrolling individual projects. Fisher wishes that rural communities and those with fewer resources, especially in the United States, were better represented in the report. A small town in Iowa that sees frequent flooding and has just a handfull of employees, for instance, may not relate to the case studies. But he said, “to have examples, period, is helpful.” But bringing private firms into a project isn’t without risk. The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance report cautions that governments must ensure that the quality of projects remains high, and remain attune to equity and justice concerns. Profit motives, the report notes, could lead to a focus on short-term initiatives and under-investment in long-term needs. There is also a limit to how much the private sector will be able to do, cautioned Debbie Hillier, the head of the alliance. “There is definitely scope there. But what we don’t want is to assume the private sector can do everything,” she said. “They cannot and they will not.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Collage of drought, water tower, and dollar bill" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/drought-municipal-bonds.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Drought is quietly pushing American cities toward a fiscal cliff Tik Root C40 published similar findings. Fischer adds that even the perception of favoritism, or that private firms are inappropriately receiving public funds could be problematic for officials. “Whenver you’re in government, you’re trying to ensure confidence,” he said, adding that clear rules around procurement, contracting, revenue and other types of oversights are vital. “You need to be able to lay out a clear plan for how the public and private sector can work together.” The ultimate aim, said Barros, is to make sure the most vulnerable are protected from climate impacts, rather than exposed to them. “Successful experiences depend on how projects are structured — particularly in terms of cost and risk sharing, as well as strong social and environmental safeguards,” she said. “It seems very capitalist, but the goal is to protect our citizens.” Zarrilli added that it’s about finding the “right balance” between bringing private finance to the table and getting a good project done —governments have long managed in other arenas, such as building roads and bridges. That said, he and Barros stress that the private sector isn’t suited for every situation. “What we are saying,” Barros explained, “is that, for projects that can build revenue streams, why not also involve the private sector?” Without that, many adaptation projects might not happen. Or at least won’t happen quickly enough to buttress against the climate-driven disasters that increasingly threaten cities around the globe. The private sector, C40 says, can help. “It will take some years for cities to think differently,” said Barros. But, she added, “I do expect this will change.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Climate adaptation funding is scarce. Private investors could help. on Apr 17, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Tik Root.
Writer and translator Sophie Strohmeier on getting inspiration from unlikely places
Your book is in the tradition of English Gothic literature, as there’s a story that’s told within the larger story. What made you want to structure your contemporary novel this way?
Your book is in the tradition of English Gothic literature, as there’s a story that’s told within the larger story. What made you want to structure your contemporary novel this way? When you have a character tell a story about another character, a potent doubling happens. It’s almost like a ghost story in itself. It’s a very compelling device to use for fantastical literature, because you immediately have reason to doubt something. Another element that was really important to me was queerness. When we construct our own queerness, a lot of it comes out of storytelling, gossiping, and this detective work that we do when we’re younger and we’re trying to figure out what this means for us. Dialogue and conversation are a huge formation of queerness, because we’re constantly looking for language to express who we are. What other works informed this novella? I’m one of those people who wants to read everything that’s gay. I also really crave horror fiction and romantic fiction. A huge influence on my book was this Austrian author, Gustav Meyrink, who wrote The Golem of Prague, and this witchy, demonic novel about Prague called Walpurgisnacht. He’s not well known in the English speaking world, but he’s kind of the Austrian-German H.P. Lovecraft. Of course, Russian literature influenced me, like Nikolai Levskov’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. I really love this writer, Sarah Waters, too. She is a contemporary British author, and her work is extremely post-modern. Every book she writes takes on the format of the type of book that would have been written in that era. Her most famous book is Fingersmith, which was later adapted into a movie by Park Chan-wook. Your book has so many wonderful sex scenes that also render the character’s gender philosophy. In your opinion, what are the elements of a good sex scene? My first novel, which hasn’t been translated to English, was actually very sex scene-heavy. It was basically erotica. So All Girls Be Mine Alone felt much more demure, actually. The sex scenes between the women in this book happen out of sight. There’s one that describes their sexual arrangement, but it still happens very out of sight, and it’s very much in a haze, like behind a foggy curtain. There’s one sex scene between a girl and a boy, and it’s very explicit. Everything that happens in that scene is described. I wanted to show that for the character, there’s this extreme presence when being with the guy. She’s so hyper-aware of what she’s doing, because she’s not really that into it. Whereas when you have really good sex, you usually don’t really know what happened. You have an overall memory, of course. But the effect is a creation of intimacy which, for some people, is like the one unmediated experience of pleasure we get. Sex to me, is the one way we can connect to the divine. It’s transcendence. But what makes a great sex scene? I don’t know. I’ve been thinking a lot about great sex scenes in literature, and honestly, the best sex scenes I’ve ever read have been in fan fiction. What kind of fan fiction do you like? I can’t tell you! But what I can say is: There’s some really great fan fiction writers out there. It truly blows [my] mind that they’re not more widely read. I read some of these authors even if I’m not in their fandom. There’s one in particular, and the way they write sex, I’ve never read anything so good or so sexy. Of course (and I’m not the first person to say this) it might just be the fact that fan fiction is essentially people taking two Barbie dolls of very attractive women actors, and contorting them into whichever position you want them to be in. It’s wish fulfillment, right? The whole point of it is the sex scene. This book is inextricably linked to music. Composers and symphony descriptions are woven into the text. What mood did you want the music to elicit for readers? I wanted people to feel invited into the milieu. For example, I have a friend who does not care at all about Mozart. He often tells me he hates him. So you want to write in a way that might make him interested in Mozart, and see the sides of Mozart that you find interesting. When you mention music, you want that music to do the atmosphere work for you. But it’s really tricky. You’re not writing a movie. You’re not making an opera. You can’t rely on the fact that somebody will know this piece. So for me, it was more like creating a material palette with the evocation of what each instrument might convey. For instance, whenever the main character, Stasi, sees the girl she’s obsessed with, Tanya, she associates her with the woodwinds. It was a way of creating a feel for that character. You’re also a wonderful illustrator. How do you balance practicing both art forms? I feel like I’m good at only one thing and, and that’s writing. I’m really an amateur at illustration. I’m self taught. I’ve been doing figure drawing at The Art Students League for a couple of years, which everybody can do. I highly recommend it, because there’s schools all over New York City where you can just do figure drawing. It’s like mental Yoga. You feel really good afterward. For me, drawing is way more pleasurable than writing. Oftentimes, when I was a kid, I used to draw to make up my stories. As I drew, I would develop the idea. It’s kind of like when you wash the dishes and you’re thinking of your story, just by something to do with your hands. I love drawing because there’s colors, there’s shapes, and everything is immediate. When you’re done, you can show it to somebody and get a reaction. With writing, you don’t have any of that. But I have more expertise and knowledge in writing and literature. I do love doing it more, but I guess it’s harder for me. Writing is hard. I don’t know why we do it, but we love doing it. How long did it take you to write this book? I feel like people might have the impression that a shorter book takes less time. I’m curious about your experience. I was unemployed because of the pandemic, so I participated in National Novel Writing Month. I was writing a novel that had a novel within it. That novel is gone now, but the novella within it was the second part of this book. You can’t really measure the time it takes to write something versus the time it takes to develop something. It’s not the same thing. There were so many revisions that I worked through with my editor. Word count and time are arbitrary. What’s most important is stepping away, and then letting your brain do the work for you. That’s when drawing comes in for me, or going to art class. It’s good to write every day. But the 500 words a day thing never really helped me. It does help me, for example, to write in the mornings, when you have time where you’re not infected by anything else. Then I go for a run or a swim. Then all of a sudden, ideas come. What made you want to work with an independent press like Joyland Editions? What was it like working with your editor, Michelle Lyn King? Michelle approached me about this project. She read my short story, and asked if I had anything longer. It was a fortuitous moment where we came together. Going with a small press like Joyland has been extremely lucky and helpful. Michelle was invested in my book, and she gave me a lot of attention. She was available and ready to talk through ideas, and she informed the process. I credit her with having the vision behind the novella, and she was really invested in making sure my book gets sold. Michelle has this generous vision and understanding of literature. It blows my mind. She has this very thoughtful, collaborative, and bespoke process. She really was my editor and my advisor. That’s the process that I wish everybody had for every book. Sophie Strohmeier recommends: Mulholland Drive. There’s no greater film. The work of Tzvetan Todorov, a Bulgarian-French philosopher, who wrote a taxonomy of the fantastical in literature. He actually coined the term “fantastical.” Writing first thing in the morning. Classes at The Art Students League in New York. Reading fan fiction. This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Madeline Howard.
‘Unconstitutional’ – NSW court strikes down Minns’ draconian anti-protest laws
By Stephanie Tran of Michael West Media The Supreme Court of New South Wales has struck down the state’s draconian anti-protest laws, ruling they impose an “impermissible burden” on political communication and are invalid. In a landmark decision yesterday, the court declared key provisions of the anti-protest laws introduced after the Bondi terrorist attack unconstitutional,
By Stephanie Tran of Michael West Media The Supreme Court of New South Wales has struck down the state’s draconian anti-protest laws, ruling they impose an “impermissible burden” on political communication and are invalid. In a landmark decision yesterday, the court declared key provisions of the anti-protest laws introduced after the Bondi terrorist attack unconstitutional, finding they gave police sweeping powers to shut down protests across large parts of Sydney without sufficient justification. “The impugned provisions infringe the implied freedom of political communication,” the court found. READ MORE: Other Australian anti-protest laws reports The court held that the laws were “not compatible with the maintenance of the constitutionally prescribed system of representative and responsible government.” Not constitutionally legitimate “It is not a constitutionally legitimate purpose to seek to discourage all forms of public assembly across a nominated geographical area to preserve social cohesion, on the grounds that the very act of holding public assemblies is apt to cause tension and division in the community,” the court found. The challenge centred on a suite of laws rushed through on Christmas Eve under the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW), in the aftermath of the Bondi attack that killed 15 people. The laws allowed the NSW police commissioner to issue sweeping “public assembly restriction” declarations across broad areas. Once in force, those declarations effectively shut down protests by preventing them from being authorised under the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW), cancelling existing approvals and enabling police to disperse gatherings using expanded powers under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW). In its reasoning, the court stated: “peaceful protest is indispensable to the exercise of political sovereignty by the people of the Commonwealth” and the laws imposed “substantial burden” to this right. It rejected the government’s argument that the measures were necessary to preserve “social cohesion”, finding the scheme was disproportionate. The system of government “does not permit the state … to impose such a sweeping and indiscriminate restriction on all public assemblies,” the court said. The constitutional challenge was brought on behalf of Blak Caucus, Palestine Action Group and Jews Against the Occupation ’48. ‘A big win for everyone’ Josh Lees, a spokesperson for Palestine Action Group Sydney, said the ruling was “a big win for everyone who cares about the right to protest”. “These laws were terrible. They were so wide-ranging, and that is what the court has found today, that they unfairly and disproportionately burdened our rights to political communication,” he said. Lees said the laws had been used by NSW Premier Chris Minns to violently suppress protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and called for Minns to “take accountability” and resign. The challenge came against the backdrop of heavily policed protests in early 2026, including the violent crackdown on the Sydney Town Hall protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Enabled police violence Nick Hanna, solicitor for the plaintiffs, said the laws had enabled “the most violent crackdown … against protesters in decades”. “Today’s decision makes clear that, in my view, it is inevitable that prosecutions of every single person who attended that protest will be unsuccessful, and they will be found not guilty if they proceed to hearing,” he said. “The maintenance of these prosecutions is untenable, and it’s time for police to do the right thing and discontinue them.” Hanna is currently representing a number of protesters who were arrested during the Herzog protest. Chris Minns responsible NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson said the ruling raised serious questions about police conduct during those protests. “What we saw … was police brutality on a scale we have not seen for decades in this state,” she said. “I hold Chris Minns responsible for that violence because it was his unconstitutional laws upon which the police acted.” Higginson said the state could now face “tens of millions of dollars in civil liability claims” arising from the policing of protests under the invalid laws. 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 is republished from Michael West Media with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Neoliberalism caused two fractures in the world – why Iran’s resistance is so vital
ANALYSIS: By Prabhat Patnaik It is the people of the Global South, not governments, who must resist this subversion of the concepts of the “nation’ and of non-alignment. The Indian government’s position on the US-Israeli war against Iran shows an unbelievable degree of pusillanimity. India attended the recent meeting of about 50 countries called by
ANALYSIS: By Prabhat Patnaik It is the people of the Global South, not governments, who must resist this subversion of the concepts of the “nation’ and of non-alignment. The Indian government’s position on the US-Israeli war against Iran shows an unbelievable degree of pusillanimity. India attended the recent meeting of about 50 countries called by the United Kingdom where Iran was strongly criticised for closing the Strait of Hormuz, but not a word was uttered against the US-Israeli aggression on Iran. READ MORE: Iran war’s big winners: Wall Street, weapons firms, AI and green energy ‘Vengeance for all’: How Iran’s Lego videos won narrative war against Trump Iran hasn’t survived decades of hostile sanctions, assassinations and sabotage by accident – it’s by strategy Other US-Israel war on Iran reports Likewise, India was one of the sponsors of a resolution at the UN General Assembly which criticised Iran for attacking other countries in the Gulf (though Iran was attacking only the American military bases located in those countries). Yet again, not a word was uttered in that resolution condemning the US-Israeli aggression on Iran. It is also noteworthy that India took several days before expressing any grief over the assassination Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several weeks before expressing any shock over the brutal killing of 175 innocent schoolgirls in Minab. Such pusillanimity, however, is not confined to India: as many as 135 countries were co-sponsors of the dishonest and duplicitous UNGA resolution mentioned above, afraid that they would otherwise offend the Americans. In fact, apart from a handful of countries in the entire world, none has had the gumption to condemn unambiguously the blatantly illegal and immoral war unleashed by the US-Israeli combine against Iran. Extreme concern This is a matter for extreme concern, for the attack on Iran abrogates the concept of sovereignty of nations that had been the core concept in the struggle for decolonisation and had underlain the entire post-colonial order. It destroys, in other words, the very rationale for decolonisation. This pusillanimity on the part of Third World countries is also a matter of great puzzlement. After all, these are countries that have had long and arduous anti-colonial struggles to achieve the status of independent and sovereign states; how can they remain silent when this very sovereignty is being violated in the case of a fellow Third World state by the armed might of US imperialism? The answer to this question, no doubt complex, must nonetheless incorporate recognition of at least two fractures that neoliberalism has introduced into our world. One is the fracturing of the concept of the “nation” whose coming into being had been accomplished by the anti-colonial struggle. This concept of the “nation” had differed fundamentally from the European concept that had developed in the wake of the Westphalian Peace Treaties in at least three ways: first, it was inclusive and did not identify any “enemy within”; second, unlike European nationalism it shunned any imperial ambitions of its own, in the sense of having designs over the resources of distant lands; and third, it did not apotheosise the nation as standing above the people whose “duty” supposedly was to serve it. The coming into being of this inclusive concept of the “nation” was in turn a reflection of the fact that the anti-colonial struggle was a multi-class struggle; and the dirigiste economic regime that was erected after independence, though it promoted capitalist development, also sought to put curbs on rampant capitalism in the name of achieving “national” development. This was in the interests of preserving its multi-class support base, which even the monopoly capitalists were not averse to at that time, since they had wanted a trajectory of development where the state exercised relative autonomy vis-a-vis imperialism. The existence of a large public sector was a part of this trajectory. Further, the policy of non-alignment pursued by these dirigiste regimes had complemented this quest for development in relative autonomy from imperialism. Michal Kalecki, the Polish Marxist economist, had erred in calling such regimes “intermediate regimes” and suggesting that the middle classes held decisive power in such regimes; but he had been right in identifying state capitalism (public sector) and non-alignment as the two most distinctive features of these regimes. Monopoly bourgeoisie With globalisation of capital, however, things changed. The domestic monopoly bourgeoisie integrated itself with globalised capital and abandoned its agenda of pursuing a development trajectory that was relatively autonomous of the metropolis. Sections of the upper professional and bureaucratic segments of society, keen to send their children to study and settle down in the metropolis, joined in as supporters of the neoliberal regime that emerged under the aegis of this globalised capital. The landed rich too sought their fortunes within this new neoliberal order, which not only promoted rampant unrestrained capitalism, but came down heavily against workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, petty producers and the lower salariat. A schism was effected within the class alliance that had been forged in the course of the anti-colonial struggle. It was no longer the “nation” against the metropolis that was in focus, but big capital including multinational capital against those social groups which stood in the way of instituting rapid “development” defined exclusively in terms of GDP growth-rates. The interest of big capital was, by a sleight of hand, identified as “national interest”, and the duty of all classes was to promote it. This shift in the meaning of the term “nation” meant in effect a fracturing of the “nation” whose coming into being was the desideratum of the anti-colonial struggle. Freedom of the “nation” from imperialist domination, far from being the over-riding objective, was no longer even a desired or a relevant objective for the government within a neoliberal setting. This is the first instance of “fracturing” referred to above. Because of this fracturing, the criterion on the basis of which the government of a neoliberal regime takes decisions is not whether a particular stance defends national sovereignty, but whether it promotes the material interests of big capital which are considered identical with those of the “nation” in its new meaning. Deafening silences Siding with the US-Israeli alliance appears, on balance, more advantageous than standing with Iran, the victim of aggression, from the point of view of the interests of big capital in countries of the Global South. This would go some way to explain the deafening silences, mentioned earlier, in the UNGA and other resolutions. There is also a second “fracture” brought about by the neoliberal regime. While the neoliberal regime is “sold” to the Global South as ushering in export-led growth that would bring about a higher GDP growth-rate for all countries compared with the earlier dirigiste regime, this claim is completely false. Since the growth rate of aggregate world demand does not increase when more countries pursue an export-led growth strategy, the neoliberal regime that generalises this strategy among all countries is, in effect, forcing them to engage in Darwinian competition against one another, that is, to pursue a “beggar-thy-neighbour” strategy. Some countries’ higher growth-rate than before under the export-led growth strategy, it follows, must be at the expense of other countries that now experience lower growth-rate than before. Countries engaged in a race to outdo one another can scarcely be said to be “co-operating” with one another. The effect of a general pursuit of the neoliberal strategy, therefore, is a de facto abandonment of non-alignment, of a trajectory where countries of the Global South stood with one another to face up to imperialism. Now, countries of the Global South, each obsessed with achieving higher GDP growth and hence, within the neoliberal paradigm, obsessed with drawing in larger metropolitan investment for this purpose, would rather curry favour with imperialism in order to outdo their neighbours. This leads to a fracturing of the non-aligned movement, which is the second fracturing we mentioned earlier. The silence of most countries of the Global South in the face of the US-Israeli aggression on Iran, which may appear puzzling at first sight, is not so puzzling after all. Subverting both ‘nation’, ‘non-alignment’ Neoliberalism has been at work for quite some time in subverting both the concept of the nation and the concept of non-alignment, abandoning the anti-imperialist core that characterised these concepts, and substituting in their place alternative concepts that prioritise the task of currying favour with imperialism over everything else. The outcome of this process is what we see today. Capitalism is invariably hostile to any collective praxis against it, even if this collective praxis takes the form of just trade union action. It believes in atomising economic agents. Neoliberal capitalism, which represents a return to unrestrained and uncontrolled capitalism once more, brings to the fore this tendency toward the atomisation of economic agents, through a break-up of the class alliance that had participated in the anti-colonial struggle, and through a subversion of the non-aligned movement that had stood for collective opposition by countries of the Global South to imperialist hegemony. It is for the people of the Global South, not the governments currently promoting the interests of the ruling big bourgeoisie, to extend solidarity to the people of Iran. The struggle of Iran against the US-Israeli alliance is of crucial importance for recovering the sovereignty of the Global South. Dr Prabhat Patnaik is professor emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The views are personal. This article is republished from Newsclick. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Marshall Islands government shuts down at 3pm daily amid fuel crisis
By Giff Johnson, editor, Marshall Islands Journal/RNZ Pacific correspondent Most government offices in the Marshall Islands began enforcing a new policy this week of closing by 3pm daily as a way to conserve fuel given uncertainties of fuel supply globally. The move is to save energy and reduce the strain on the Marshalls Energy Company’s
By Giff Johnson, editor, Marshall Islands Journal/RNZ Pacific correspondent Most government offices in the Marshall Islands began enforcing a new policy this week of closing by 3pm daily as a way to conserve fuel given uncertainties of fuel supply globally. The move is to save energy and reduce the strain on the Marshalls Energy Company’s diesel fuel resources with both fuel shortages and skyrocketing prices seen on world markets due to the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran and its retaliation by closing the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping. The 3pm daily closure directive for all non-essential government services was issued by the government’s cabinet on April 10 as an Emergency Electricity Savings Policy. READ MORE: Other Pacific impact of War on Iran reports Aside from the government office closure to reduce energy use, the emergency directive is expected to help the private sector through the mandate of government contracts for air conditioning maintenance and repair. Government offices are expected to remain open during the lunch hour, allowing workers to operate seven hours daily instead of the usual eight. A key provision about the shutdown of government offices by 3pm daily is that they are required to shut off air conditioners, lights and any other equipment drawing power. The aim is to reduce energy use by 30 percent over the 90 days of the emergency decree. The 90-day emergency order mandates the Marshalls Energy Company, the government’s power utility company, to provide detailed monthly electricity bills to every government ministry, state-owned enterprise, and subsidised agency that detail each government offices power consumption compared to the 30-day period immediately prior to the emergency declaration. Compliance ‘mandatory’ “Compliance with the 90-Day Emergency Electricity Savings Policy is mandatory,” the declaration said. “The National Energy Authority will monitor the monthly MEC baseline reports to verify progress toward the 30 percent reduction goal.” Various exemptions are made to the requirement of shutting down by 3pm daily. All essential services are exempted from the closure order, including public schools, the College of the Marshall Islands and Majuro and Ebeye hospitals. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://media.rnztools.nz/rnz/image/upload/s--ONJ6LtNI--/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050/v1776383421/4JQ1745_Majuro_hospital_Lerooj_Atama_sign_outside_3_26_26_gj_01521_jpeg?_a=BACCd2AD" alt="As an essential service, Majuro hospital is exempt from a mandatory 3pm government shutdown for the next 90-days, which went into effect his week as a measure to reduce usage of imported diesel fuel." width="1050" height="787" /> As an essential service, Majuro Hospital is exempt from a mandatory 3pm government shutdown for the next 90-days. Image: RNZ Pacific/Giff Johnson Secretary of Health Francyne Wase-Jacklick said the ministry was specifically exempted so there would not be disruptions. “So essential services remain ongoing,” she said. “Outpatient, maternal child health, immunization, public health programs, and rehab services will continue as usual, with only internal adjustments to reduce energy use where possible.” As a consequence of the 3pm daily closure of all non-essential government/agency/state owned enterprise offices, government workers will be working only 30 hours each week. They will, however, continue to be paid for a full week of work. The 90-day Emergency Electricity Savings Policy would accomplish two things, Finance Minister David Paul said this week ‘Skyrocketing’ fuel costs It was “an opportunity to cut down on energy usage” (while it) ⁠⁠allows people to maintain their purchasing power,” he said. Paul said the situation with skyrocketing fuel costs had caused “an affordability crisis — so it will be counterproductive if we are trying to address a problem while creating another one.” This is why workers will still get their full paychecks, he said. The new 90-day Emergency Electricity Savings Policy is likely to have a positive impact on the private sector. The new policy directs the Ministry of Public Works, Infrastructure, and Utilities to implement an “immediate transition” to contracting out air conditioning cleaning and repair services to the private sector. “Air conditioning constitutes the largest draw on the public power grid,” said the new government emergency policy. Performance and quality of air conditioners, therefore, had a big impact on their cost of power to operate. Public Works “currently lacks the capacity to service all government units”, the policy said. Transition maintenance To resolve this, the ministry is directed to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to immediately transition maintenance responsibilities and facilitate the contracting of air conditioning cleaning and repair services to the private sector. Further, the policy directs that “every government ministry, state-owned enterprise, and subsidized agency must allocate funds from their current budgets to hire private contractors for air conditioning repairs, maintenance, and cleaning. While agencies are directed to transition maintenance to the private sector, they are also encouraged to explore all available avenues — including internal staffing or collaborative partnership with other agencies — to ensure units are serviced.” A part of the emergency order requires that within the 90-day period of the order, “every agency must compile a complete inventory of their air conditioning units”. They must also secure a maintenance contract and schedule to ensure filters are cleaned every two-to-four weeks. While physical cleaning of all units may extend beyond this 90-day window, the finalised contracts and schedules must be in place.” This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Republicans deploy little-known law to open Minnesota wilderness to mining
Legal experts say the use of the Congressional Review Act to open mining near the Boundary Waters could drastically reshape U.S. public lands protections
Minnesota’s Boundary Waters are a vast stretch of wilderness bordering Canada, with over a million acres of untouched forest and thousands of lakes and streams. Accessible largely by canoe, it is an ecological gem and one of the most popular spots in the country for outdoor recreation. On Thursday, Senate Republicans voted 50-49 to open the area up to mining — passing a resolution that repeals a 20-year moratorium using a little-known law called the Congressional Review Act, or CRA. The act was designed in the 1990s by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who sought to cut back on government bureaucracy by eliminating regulations. It was engineered to allow Congress to quickly overturn regulatory rules with a simple majority, rather than the usual two-thirds vote. Critics say it’s dangerous because it enables public rules and regulations based on years of research to be quickly overturned with little debate. “It allows Congress to basically do a thumbs up or a thumbs down, where otherwise a filibuster would apply,” explained Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit, public interest law firm. During the CRA’s first 20 years of existence, it was used only once by the second Bush administration. But President Trump and Republicans have worked to dramatically expand and weaponize the CRA, with the Boundary Waters case being the latest example, Schlenker-Goodrich said. In 2017, the Trump administration invalidated 17 rules from the Obama era. In 2025 alone, Trump signed 22 CRA repeals. The CRA technically gives Congress 60 days to overturn a rule after it’s passed. The Boundary Waters protections were passed over three years ago during the Biden administration, and not as a rule, but rather as a Public Land Order. This puts the Senate and administration in territory that is “extraordinarily legally questionable,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice. “We are not done fighting, and there are a lot of open questions because this is such uncharted territory.” The decision could set a dangerous precedent. Should the resolution be allowed to stand, it could open up all land management decisions to political attacks. Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, for example, has proposed a CRA resolution to eliminate the resource management plan for the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. “All of these place-based attacks are occurring concurrently with talk on permitting reform,” Schlenker-Goodrich pointed out. Signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, requires federal agencies to assess how large-scale development would affect the environment before approving them. The policy has been an important tool for environmentalists, helping to halt or delay major industrial complexes or infrastructure. But in recent years, it has also curbed the deployment of solar and wind energy, as well as updates to the country’s grid required to accommodate new clean energy. Reforming NEPA has gained broad, bipartisan support in Congress, but when matched with this new use of the CRA, it could put protected areas in grave danger, Schlenker-Goodrich warned. The Trump administration’s use of the CRA also effectively cuts tribal nations out of Boundary Water negotiations. “Three Tribes — the Bois Forte Band, the Fond du Lac Band, and the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa — have extensive treaty rights in Northeastern Minnesota,” New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich said in remarks on the Senate floor. “These rights are guaranteed to them by the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe and have been reaffirmed by federal courts over and over again. By overturning the Public Land Order with a CRA resolution, Senate Republicans will not only cut Tribes out of the conversation. They disrespect Tribal treaty rights and directly risk those Tribes’ guaranteed access to their traditional way of life and subsistence use of this place.” The mining ban repeal comes despite widespread opposition from environmentalists, outdoor recreation companies, and neighboring communities. Minnesota Senator Tina Smith spoke on the Senate floor for five hours on Wednesday night in an attempt to block the vote. “The Senate and House should follow the law,” Smith said, according to CBS News. “They should follow the laws they wrote about how public land orders are treated in this country. I do not believe that happened here.” The main winner out of the Boundary Waters debacle is Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Chilean mining outfit Antofagasta. The company fought under the first Trump administration to build a copper and nickel mine on the Duluth Complex, one of the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of critical minerals located just 5 miles south of the Boundary Waters. At the time, the company was run by billionaire Andrónico Luksic, who was criticized for his connections to the Trump family — specifically for renting a house in Washington, D.C. to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Although Luksic has since stepped down from Antofagasta’s board, his family controls a majority stake in the company. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1157423309_ChileCopperMineTailingsPond.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="An aerial view of a tailings pond used to store byproducts of a copper mine in Rancagua, Chile in 2019." data-caption="An aerial view of a tailings pond used to store byproducts of a copper mine in Rancagua, Chile in 2019. " data-credit="Martin Bernetti / AFP via Getty Images"/> An aerial view of a tailings pond used to store byproducts of a copper mine in Rancagua, Chile in 2019. Martin Bernetti / AFP via Getty Images “The corruption of rich individuals around the world is a big part of this,” said Miller-McFeeley. So are data centers. Since re-taking office the administration has raced to ramp up domestic production of critical minerals — the materials that are required for computing, batteries, renewable energy, and military technology. Copper is critical to the artificial intelligence boom. The analytics giant S&P Global published a report earlier this year warning that copper demand was projected to expand 50 percent by 2040. Another recent report from the Carnegie Endowment for Peace predicted a significant nickel deficit by 2035, due in large part to demand from the defense industry and the United States’ “limited ability to increase domestic production.” Crucially, the report recommended shoring up international partnerships, rather than opening up protected land to mining, and it will take much more than mining to make the U.S. self-reliant when it comes to critical minerals. The country currently has only three copper smelters and no nickel smelters, making production the real bottleneck. Antofagasta would likely “ship its product abroad to be processed and sold offshore, and then maybe resold back to the U.S.,” said Miller-McFeeley. Even if this is merely a test case for the administration to see how far they’re able to push legal limits, it has once again set the federal government in opposition of its own researchers. “The U.S. Forest Service is 100 percent opposed to mining in this watershed,” said Marc Fink, director of the Public Lands Law Center and a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. In 2016, the Forest Service determined that a sulfide-ore copper mine, such as the one Twin Metals is proposing, could cause “extreme” and “serious and irreplaceable harm” to the area. “This clearly goes against the science and the administration’s own agencies,” Fink said. “It’s a really unfortunate situation, but we’ll definitely keep fighting.” The Boundary Waters bill will now head to President Trump’s desk. He is expected to sign it. Editor’s note: Earthjustice is an advertiser with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Republicans deploy little-known law to open Minnesota wilderness to mining on Apr 16, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Rebecca Egan McCarthy.
[Sheldon Whitehouse] The Trump, Putin & Epstein Triangle
The movie Nuremberg is about the trial of Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering. One of the characters asks rhetorically about the German atrocities: “You wanna know why it happened here?” He answers his own question: “Cause people let it happen. Cause the...
The movie Nuremberg is about the trial of Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering. One of the characters asks rhetorically about the German atrocities: “You wanna know why it happened here?” He answers his own question: “Cause people let it happen. Cause they didn’t stand up until it was too late.” No historical situation is identical, yet we can draw some parallels and inferences from the past to shine light on the present and predict the future. What is the relationship between Trump and the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein? And how does Putin of Russia factor in? Trump seemingly bends over backwards to accommodate the Kremlin leader. A close examination reveals connections. The New York Times reviewed the so far publicly available Epstein files and found that “Trump, his properties, his associates and related terms were referred to more than 38,000 times.” Crucial files remain unreleased or redacted. Key files are missing. Sheldon Whitehouse calls it “a cover up.” This content originally appeared on AlternativeRadio and was authored by info@alternativeradio.org.
Israel Destroys a Synagogue; US Media Yawn
Underplaying the story obscures not only Israel’s aggression, but the actual nature of Iranian society, portrayed as obsessed with wiping Jews off the map.
Religion News Service (4/9/26): “The synagogue was leveled in a strike overnight Monday (April 6) before the ceasefire was declared, one of scores of religious and cultural heritage sites destroyed or significantly damaged by the war led by Israeli and US forces.” An Israeli missile attack destroyed a Tehran synagogue during the Jewish Passover holiday (Religion News Service, 4/9/26). The Israeli military “expressed regret over what it called ‘collateral damage’ to a synagogue in Tehran caused by an overnight strike,” which was “targeting a senior Iranian commander,” said the Middle East Eye (4/7/26). Photos of the wreckage at the Rafi-Nia Synagogue have accompanied many of these pieces. The Council on American-Islamic relations condemned the attack in a statement (4/7/26): We strongly condemn the Israeli regime’s bombing of a synagogue in Tehran, which was the predictable end result of the indiscriminate US/Israel bombing campaign against mosques, hospitals, schools, apartments and other civilian sites across Iran. The group challenged “various Israel advocacy groups and politicians that support this war in the name of protecting Israel to condemn Israel’s synagogue attack.” Buried at best The Wall Street Journal headline (4/7/26) refers to the “damage” Israel did to a Tehran synagogue—similar to the “damage” done to the World Trade Center by Al Qaeda. The story of the attack on the Tehran synagogue was, at best, buried in the US corporate media. CNN posted a brief video (4/7/26) about the bombing but had no online article about it. The New York Times (4/7/26, 4/7/26) mentioned the attack, but as background in broader stories about the US/Israel war on Iran. A search for “Rafi-Nia” on the Washington Post website yields no results. Ditto for the AP, although the news service did post a video to YouTube (4/7/26). Al Jazeera’s coverage (4/7/26) of the attack was a mélange of AP and AFP copy. CBS News (4/7/26) also used a few paragraphs of AFP copy to report on the attack, although it was buried in the middle of a general timeline about the war. The Wall Street Journal (4/7/26) had the story, but led with Israel’s contrition over the destruction; that’s not a journalistic construction we see in US news coverage when it comes to the Israeli bombings of other civilian structures in Iran, Gaza or Lebanon. When Israel destroys a hospital, apartment building, encampment, etc., the stories don’t lead with official regret, but rather include Israeli claims that the civilian facilities were actually legitimate military targets. The Journal’s lead provided the government with public relations cover over the sensitive issue of destroying a Jewish house of worship. Newsweek (4/8/26), once a bigger player in the US media landscape, led with condemnation of the attack from Jewish Iranian leaders, who declared “their unwavering solidarity with Iran in defending the homeland.” Jewish presence in Iran Palestine Chronicle (3/6/26): “The Iranian Jewish community sees itself as part of the broader Iranian society rather than as an extension of Israel.” Underplaying the story obscures not only the wantonness of Israel’s aggression, but the actual nature of Iranian society, which is portrayed as obsessed with wiping Jews off the map (ADL, 6/25/25). “Iranian foreign policy freely mixes anti-Israel furies with anti-Jewish ones,” wrote New York Times columnist Bret Stephens (1/13/26), a pro-war cheerleader (2/22/26, 3/24/26). In fact, while Israel is obviously the center of Mideastern Jewish life, the Iranian Jewish population dwarfs those elsewhere in the Middle East. “Estimates range from 9,000 to 20,000 Jews currently living in Iran,” according to the Forward (6/18/25). Wrote the Palestine Chronicle (3/6/26): “The Jewish presence in Iran is among the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world, with roots that historians trace back more than two millennia.” Yes, Iran is a theocracy; the government is no model for an open society. But there is a Jewish member of Iran’s parliament, who even went on record this year openly criticizing Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s handling of popular unrest (i24, 1/29/26). ‘Well-protected second-class citizens’ Reporting on Judaic studies in the holy city of Qom, the Forward‘s Larry Cohler-Esses (8/27/15) writes of “the absolute distinction between Judaism and Zionism that the [Iranian] government makes.” US media have covered the Jews of Iran before. USA Today (8/29/18) did a story in 2018, reporting from Tehran. Former Forward reporter Larry Cohler-Esses (8/12/15, 8/12/15, 8/18/15, 8/27/15) reported extensively and critically on Iranian Jews, indicating that the country was at least open to letting a reporter for a Jewish publication do their job. Cohler-Esses told FAIR that Jews in Iran are “well-protected second-class citizens.” In fact, when he read about the attack, he “wondered if it was the synagogue I spent Shabbat in, but it wasn’t,” because there are more than a dozen active synagogues in Tehran—a reflection of the size of the Jewish community there. Recalling his 2015 reporting trip, Cohler-Esses said that on Shabbat, Jews would spill out of their synagogues and mingle in the street after services, a sight he didn’t often see in many places in Europe. In one instance, after he left a synagogue service, one of the congregants ran after him through a street teeming with people, wearing a kippah and a tallit (traditional religious attire), and “no one batted an eye.” The Jews of Iran do suffer discrimination, because Muslims are favored in the legal code over all non-Muslims, Cohler-Esses said. He noted that the Jewish population of Iran has shrunk significantly since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “Iranian Jews are viewed by Iranians as indigenous,” he said. “They’re the original Bundists,” a nod to the Jewish political movement that “stood not just for socialism, but for do’ikayt—Yiddish for ‘hereness,’” the concept that a Jew’s homeland was in whatever nation they resided in (New York Times, 4/6/26). Cohler-Esses was hopeful that coverage of the synagogue’s destruction in Israeli press (JTA, 4/7/26; Jerusalem Post, 4/7/26) had the “potential to make Jewish readers of Jewish media outlets go, ‘Oh, they have synagogues there.’” But with the underplaying of the story in US media, it’s a missed teachable moment for news consumers generally. More robust press coverage of the attack could have taught Americans that the Jews of Iran do have something to fear: Israel. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Ari Paul.
State officials want to usher in an ‘accountability era’ for homeless services by reviving a particularly sordid chapter of U.S. history.
State officials want to usher in an ‘accountability era’ for homeless services by reviving a particularly sordid chapter of U.S. history. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Robert Davis.
RFE/RL Reporter Caught Up In Russian Strike On Kyiv
The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good
Attractions that disallow wheeled walkers are facing legal repercussions, as well they should.
Attractions that disallow wheeled walkers are facing legal repercussions, as well they should. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
Three arrested after arson attack on London-based Iran International
London, April 16, 2026—Three men have been arrested following an arson attack on the London premises of Iran International, a Persian-language broadcaster whose journalists regularly face threats and intimidation from the Iranian regime. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on U.K. authorities to fully investigate this latest attack and put additional protection in place for...
London, April 16, 2026—Three men have been arrested following an arson attack on the London premises of Iran International, a Persian-language broadcaster whose journalists regularly face threats and intimidation from the Iranian regime. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on U.K. authorities to fully investigate this latest attack and put additional protection in place for exiled Iranian journalists. Iran International said a suspicious vehicle was denied entry to its site at around 8:15 p.m. on April 15. Shortly afterward, incendiary devices were thrown into a parking lot just meters from the broadcaster’s studios. According to police, the suspects left the area in a black SUV and, after a police chase ended in a crash, three men — aged 16, 19, and 21 — were arrested on suspicion of arson and endangering life, and taken into police custody. No damage was reported. “It is very alarming to hear of this brazen attack on Iran International, whose journalists are already facing extreme levels of threats and harassment as a result of their work,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s director for Europe and Central Asia. “While it remains to be seen who was behind this latest attack, it is clear that exiled Iranian journalists are currently at heightened risk and require extra protection. Journalists must be able to continue reporting safely and freely — and those attempting to intimidate and silence them must be held accountable.” Iran International’s editorial board said its journalists had experienced a sharp rise in harassment in recent months, as conflict flares across the Middle East. In a statement, the broadcaster said it had been notified of cyberattacks aimed at some of its journalists in Europe and North America, and that 63 of its journalists were included on a list of citizens abroad whose assets have been seized and bank accounts frozen by the Tehran prosecutor’s office. Journalists’ relatives in Iran have also had their homes raided and been questioned, tactics often used by the Iranian authorities to increase pressure on journalists working abroad. “These actions are part of a wider effort to restrict the free flow of information and deny the Iranian people access to independent news,” the board’s statement said, noting that tens of millions of Iranians rely on foreign-based Persian-language broadcasters for news at a time of sweeping internet shutdowns. Iranian journalists based in London, many of whom work for either Iran International or BBC Persian, have long been targeted for their work, facing physical and online attacks, sanctions and judicial proceedings, and the harassment of their family members back in Iran. Journalists from Iran International have been the subject of a number of assassination plots, and in 2024 one of the broadcaster’s journalists was stabbed in broad daylight on a London street. While the Iranian government and its proxies are the principal source of threats, in recent years there has also been a rise in harassment from opposition groups and political activists. Wednesday’s attack on Iran International is one of three arson attacks in northwest London being investigated by counterterrorism police. Arrests have been made in connection with the other two attacks, the first on volunteer-led ambulances run by the Jewish community on 23 March and another an attack on a synagogue on April 15. None of the incidents have been declared terrorist incidents. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 16, 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 – April 16, 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 – April 16, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Algeria re-arrests freelance journalist Hassan Bouras ahead of Pope’s visit
New York, April 16, 2026—Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release freelance journalist and human rights defender Hassan Bouras and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Monday, an investigating judge at the court of El-Bayadh, in northwestern Algeria, ordered Bouras’ detention pending investigation into four accusations — two...
New York, April 16, 2026—Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release freelance journalist and human rights defender Hassan Bouras and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Monday, an investigating judge at the court of El-Bayadh, in northwestern Algeria, ordered Bouras’ detention pending investigation into four accusations — two felonies and two misdemeanors. The exact charges have not been disclosed, according to a local journalist who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, adding that he believes that Bouras is being targeted for his journalistic work. Provincial security forces<a href="https://www.laradiodessansvoix.org/ar/post/%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%B7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D9%88%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%87"> arrested Bouras on Sunday in front of his home in El-Bayadh. Later that evening, officers raided his residence, conducted a comprehensive search, and confiscated a laptop. His arrest came on the eve of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Algeria, where he met religious leaders and the local Catholic community as part of a regional tour. “Algerian authorities’ repeated targeting of freelance journalist Hassan Bouras over his reporting the night before Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Algeria sends a clear message that independent journalism will not be tolerated,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Authorities must immediately release Bouras and ensure that journalists can report on corruption and human rights issues without fear of arrest or prosecution.” Bouras, a prominent journalist and former member of the dissolved Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, is known for reporting on corruption and documenting rights violations, particularly in marginalized regions, according to the journalist who spoke anonymously with CPJ. His detention follows years of legal harassment dating from 2003. Bouras was also previously arrested in 2015, 2016, 2021, and most recently he was sentenced to two years in prison in November 2022, but remained free until his April 12 arrest. At least six journalists are currently behind bars in Algeria in connection with their work, according to CPJ data. CPJ emailed Algeria’s Ministry of Interior for comment but did not receive a response. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ urges press freedom support in El Salvador in statement to Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday submitted a statement to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling attention to the systematic erosion of press freedom in El Salvador under the ongoing state of exception. The statement, filed during the “The State of Exception in El Salvador: Year...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday submitted a statement to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling attention to the systematic erosion of press freedom in El Salvador under the ongoing state of exception. The statement, filed during the “The State of Exception in El Salvador: Year Five” hearing in Washington, D.C., outlines how emergency measures in the country have been used to criminalize independent journalism, restrict access to public information, and enable surveillance, legal harassment, and intimidation of reporters. CPJ’s submission details how these conditions have forced at least 40 journalists into exile while those who remain face self-censorship and risk of arbitrary detention. Additionally, the ongoing state of exception situates El Salvador within a broader regional pattern of authoritarian practices used to silence the press and calls on U.S. policymakers to press for safeguards that protect journalists and restore democratic accountability. Read a copy of CPJ’s submission in English here and in Spanish here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Ukraine endures another night of Russian strikes: OCHA Lebanon: Israeli strike kills four health workers - OHCHR Epstein files: Rights experts stress States’ responsibility to act
Ukraine endures another night of Russian strikes: OCHA Lebanon: Israeli strike kills four health workers - OHCHR Epstein files: Rights experts stress States’ responsibility to act This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
Jared Golden Joins Republicans to Sink Iran War Powers Resolution
On Thursday, the House failed to adopt a war powers resolution to end the war in Iran. Notably, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) sided with a majority of Republicans to oppose the measure. Demand Progress is leading a campaign in support of the war powers res...
On Thursday, the House failed to adopt a war powers resolution to end the war in Iran. Notably, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) sided with a majority of Republicans to oppose the measure. Demand Progress is leading a campaign in support of the war powers resolutions. The following is a statement from Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Cavan Kharrazian: “Congress has once again failed to uphold its constitutional responsibility by refusing to block this unauthorized and dangerous war. While we are encouraged to see growing support, including three of the four previous Democratic ‘no’ votes flipping, it is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation, casting a decisive vote against the resolution. Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning. They previously declined to force a war powers vote before a critical period of escalation before recess, citing a lack of votes. Now they have moved forward under less favorable conditions, including during sensitive ceasefire negotiations, but still without the votes they previously claimed were necessary before proceeding, and with a changed balance in the House. That inconsistency raises a serious question about what is driving leadership’s priorities: strategy or politics. We urge members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to support sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict. The American people overwhelmingly reject this war and want a diplomatic end to it.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Photojournalist kicked in chest by police at LA immigration protest
Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was kicked in the chest by a police officer while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the...
Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was kicked in the chest by a police officer while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025. Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that once the LA Police Department called a dispersal order, they directed journalists at first to leave the area. They then told the press to go onto the other side of the street on the sidewalk to photograph. “We were then charged by some of the same officers,” he said. “Contrary to what they told us.” Stern, who was identified as press on his T-shirt and was wearing a press badge around his neck, said a majority of the people remaining were media. At one point, a group of officers ran up to arrest a woman and as they did so, a number of journalists moved forward to document it. Police pushed them with batons. “We then as a group were shuffling back,” Stern said. Still trying to get a shot, Stern held his camera up high, over the officers’ heads. “As they were pushing us, one officer then kicked me in the chest with his right leg.” Stern said that officer was then pulled back by a senior officer, seemingly reprimanded for his action, which was captured on a video the journalist posted to one of his social media accounts. “Everytime we go and argue our rights as journalists, they’re nodding their heads, and we go back out on the streets, and it’s all forgotten,” Stern told the Tracker. California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections. In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.” The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in at least a dozen press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed. “The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” 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.
‘The World Is Only Going to Get Darker if People Get Away With This’: CounterSpin interview with Chip Gibbons on holding Trump accountable
"War of aggression, UN charter, Nuremberg precedent: These are not foreign things being imposed on the US. These are part of our domestic legal system."
Janine Jackson interviewed Defending Rights and Dissent’s Chip Gibbons about holding Donald Trump accountable for the April 10, 2026, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260410Gibbons.mp3 Reuters (4/7/26) Janine Jackson: You don’t have to have deep thoughts about the history of the Middle East to see that a president who publicly threatens to end a civilization should not be in charge of a lemonade stand. Elite media have spent years telling us that if we object to the ground rules of grownup conversation—which include the idea that killing civilians in other sovereign countries is fine if current US leaders want them to change their leadership—well, then, we’re just not smart enough to be in that grownup conversation, because freedom, or something. Americans are used to having our voices co-opted, misrepresented, to being told we’re “demanding” things we’ve never even been asked about, told we don’t care about prices, or else we do, depending on who’s selling what and why. When leadership looks out of control, what kinds of power citizens actually have is among the most vital questions we can ask. But don’t look for major news media to host that conversation. Chip Gibbons is a longtime activist and researcher. He’s policy director at the group Defending Rights and Dissent. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Chip Gibbons. Chip Gibbons: Thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure to talk to you, although the topics we talk about are less pleasant. JJ: Never, never pleasant, never pleasant. Guardian (10/24/24) CG: But it’s good to have CounterSpin out there, after all these years, for challenging the corporate media. I think I’ve told this before, but I started relying on you guys during Bush’s illegal war in Iraq. And yesterday I was at the Capitol to hear Dennis Kucinich, at an event organized by Ralph Nader, discussing impeaching the president for war crimes in the Middle East, and I wasn’t sure if it was 2006 or 2026. JJ: Exactly. There’s a whole lot of deja vu going on right now. Well, all right. Even if you don’t think that Trump has a personality disorder, or whatever—which it’s hard to know how you avoid thinking that kind of thought, with a person who just confabulates and makes things up out of whole cloth, and who talks about reducing prices by 500%, and who talks about war crimes as though that’s not a thing. Everyone has their own list of things that they’re like, “All right, this is beyond the pale.” This is being “unable to discharge the powers and duties of office,” isn’t it? But until the last few days or the last week or so, we haven’t really seen news media taking impeachment seriously as an option; and that might be shifting now. But the thing is, it’s not just a rhetorical threat. It’s not a tool of punishment, per se. It’s a real tool that we can use because folks in the past thought we might need to use it. But I want to ask you, what would need to happen, and does the War Powers Act need to come first? What’s the process there? Chip Gibbons: “War of aggression, UN charter, Nuremberg precedent: These are not foreign things being imposed on the US. These are part of our domestic legal system.” CG: I think that’s a really complicated question. And I think that whatever we think of the Framers, I don’t think they quite envisioned a situation like this, in which the Congress is just totally cowardly, helpless and contemptible, and in league with the Executive Branch. I mean, I would say the War Powers Act needs to come first, because you need to end this war right now. It is an unconstitutional war. Of course, even if it was constitutional, that would not make it lawful under international law; Trump has violated the United Nations Charter, which, under the US Constitution, because it was ratified by the Senate, has the weight of federal law. The war of aggression is, of course, the charge that the US and others brought against the Nazi high commander in Nuremberg. They were convicted of it. So war of aggression, UN charter, Nuremberg precedent: These are not foreign things being imposed on the US. These are part of our domestic legal system. We just have not followed them for 80 some years. And even if Trump’s war was somehow lawful under international law, it would not be moral. So ending this horrific war is the first step here, but we have a Congress that has so far refused to invoke the War Powers Act, even though Trump has engaged in one of the most blatantly unlawful, unconstitutional acts of many presidents. I mean, every president breaks the War Powers Act. Every president bombs people without congressional authorization. And some of the legal authorizations cited by our friend (I say sarcastically) Barack Obama to bomb Libya without congressional approval have been cited by the Trump administration, both in term one to bomb Syria, and in this term to do all kinds of things. But the scale of the war, the scale of the atrocities, the scale of the blowback is very intense with this one. It is just troubling, and you need to end the war right now. Le Monde (9/27/24) And on top of that, not only is the war illegal, Trump is actively boasting, not just of war crimes anymore, but now of potentially committing genocide. “An entire civilization will die, never to return.” That’s outside the realm of war crimes. That is into the realm of genocide. This is just like—I don’t know what it is. We are deliberately plotting to bomb power plants, bridges. At one point they were talking about bombing desalination plants. These are unquestionably war crimes. And, of course, the US bombed the dikes during Vietnam, Clinton bombed the bridges in Yugoslavia. It’s not totally new, but there is something about the blood lust and openness about it that does feel very new. We are engaged in the campaign of assassinations. The CIA, of course, has a long history of assassinations, but the party who has pioneered this tactic has been Israel, our partners in this. And, again, US foreign policy has been murderous. There was a My Lai every day in Vietnam. You and I remember the killings of civilians we learned about during the Winter Soldier Hearings in Iraq, that was the veterans talking. Reagan mining harbors in Nicaragua. But this is very much an Israelification of American war fight. And we are employing the Gaza model on Iran, and it’s not to downplay the atrocities of past wars, but I spoke multiple times to Anthony Aguilar, who was a US soldier, who was then later in Gaza, becoming a whistleblower. And he was in some of the worst war zones in the world, where the US did awful things. And he said he never saw anything like Gaza. FAIR.org (7/7/09) I was talking to someone who has—I won’t say who—a background in intelligence, and yet they said assassinating the Ayatollah, that’s very much an Israeli thing. And of course we know that assassinating the Palestinian leadership and assassinating Lebanese leadership has been the Israeli strategy. So we are pursuing some of the most heinous crimes imaginable: killing children in schools, bombing power plants, threatening civilizations. So ending the war is the first step, but it isn’t enough to end it. We have to actually hold someone accountable. I remember the lame duck period during Bush and Obama, talking to a Vietnam veteran who said, “Worst mistake my generation did was not holding McNamara, the Johnson secretary of Defense, accountable for Vietnam. We have to hold Bush accountable or this will happen again.” And if we do not see Trump and Netanyahu imprisoned or impeached, I don’t know what we’re doing. It’s a long shot, but you cannot get away with what we’re doing. The world is only going to get darker, bleaker, more ugly, more violent if people can get away with this. JJ: I would have you go on, I appreciate it. I would just say that in terms of when we look for accountability, because it seems like everyone fails upward in US foreign policy, you can miscalculate, you can get things wrong, you can lead to horrendous devastation. And somehow you’re still the expert that we go to the next time. And I would only say that that extends also to pundits and to media experts who can sit around and stroke their chins and predict things that the opposite happens, and yet they’re still the experts that we’re going to hear from the next time around. There is no measurable accountability in terms of changing things so that things don’t happen again. Economist (11/16/19) CG: I’m old enough to remember all the “Noam Chomsky was right in Vietnam, but he’s wrong on Iraq” articles, only to live through the “Noam Chomsky was right about Iraq, but wrong about this thing” articles. It wasn’t just him, others as well. Or there’s always like the Economist always says it’s not a coup this time, even though it was last time. So during the Allende coup, “that’s not a coup,” and 30 years later, they’d admit it’s a coup, but Bolivia’s not a coup, right? I mean, somehow the people who are always wrong are still always right, even if they admit their critics were right the last time, but this time they’re not. It’s very, very weird. Although, I don’t know, is anybody outside the Fox News sphere optimistic about this war? This feels fundamentally different than some past US military crimes, in that other than Elon Musk’s X, where I’m exposed to the most insane opinions from people who I’m sure are totally, totally real, I don’t see anything like I saw during the Iraq War drive. Then I was living amongst Christian fundamentalists. Now I live in a neighborhood where there’s all these “no war” signs up. So, I mean, I have moved. Ipsos (3/31/26) But I’m not seeing the level of support for this that you have in past wars. It feels like real end-term US empire stuff, in that the government is dramatically disconnected from the people. And even the media isn’t…. I mean, they’re awful, but I don’t think they’re doing as awful a job as they used to. But you’ve studied the media more than I do. Maybe I’m off. JJ: Well, they’re just more just middling around. What I would say is maybe you’re not seeing the same vociferous support, but you are seeing, as I discussed with our earlier guest, a kind of gentle consensus that, “Yeah, this is messed up, but you know, we got to do it, because that regime needs to change. The Iranian regime needs to change.” And so even though there is concern about violence, there’s concern about mistakes being made, I don’t see the voice that would say: “These are war crimes. This has to stop. We need to do whatever it needs to stop.” There is kind of like a, “Yeah, but this is power being power, and so let’s just see how it plays out” is more of the vibe. CG: I totally agree with that. I do. I just think being middling, as opposed to vociferous, is such a low bar. But it indicates that we are a dying empire, that it’s getting harder and harder to defend. And you have a madman, just a mile, half-mile from where I’m standing right now, who wants to kill an entire civilization, because that’s a great negotiating tactic. I keep seeing on Elon Musk’s Twitter, from people who I assume are totally real, that I just don’t understand his excellent negotiation that he used in his business. How many bankruptcies did he have in business, Janine? JJ: No, no, but “Art of the Deal.” Art of the Deal, Chip. CG: I’m not sure. I’m starting to learn, if this is how he negotiates, why he kept having companies go bankrupt. Defending Rights & Dissent (4/6/26) JJ: Yeah. Well, listen, we can’t do everything today, but what I wanted to kind of start up with you is just the conversation that we don’t have to only sit passively by in horror, that it’s worth learning about what levers of power we have. And we can be frustrated with them. They need to be stronger. We need to build new ones. But just in closing, the idea that all we can do is watch this on TV, we can’t sit with that, no? CG: I know people are really sick of hearing “talk to your member of Congress,” especially how awful the Congress is, but each of these War Powers votes we’re having, we’re getting closer and closer. And I do think just a handful of Republican defections, which I think we may able to get with public pressure, I do think we could invoke the War Powers Act, but if the pressure’s really there. And I think that Trump is clearly losing the plot. A majority of Americans disapprove of Israel. If you’re a semi-skilled politician, and you believe there’s anything resembling democracy left in the United States—which maybe there are no semi-skilled politicians, and maybe they don’t believe there’s any democracy left—you are looking at this and you are sweating. So keep the pressure up, and let’s try to get this War Powers Act invoked. And then let’s talk about impeaching him and putting him in prison. JJ: Absolutely. We’ve been speaking with activist and writer Chip Gibbons from Defending Rights and Dissent. They’re online at RightsAndDissent.org. There’s lots of work to see there. Chip Gibbons, thank you so much for speaking with CounterSpin today. CG: Thank you. This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Janine Jackson.
‘Let me show you’: Survivors cling to life in Gaza’s tent cities
<img width="1024" height="669" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=1024%2C669&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Still image of Palestinian refugee Magdy Abu Asr inside the tent city in Gaza where she lives with her surviving family members. Still image from TRNN documentary report “Survivors Cling to Life in Gaza’s Tent Cities” (April, 2026)." data-attachment-id="342833" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/let-me-show-you-survivors-cling-to-life-in-gazas-tent-cities/trnn-gaza-tent-walkthrough" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=1652%2C1080&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1652,1080" 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"}' data-image-title="TRNN &#8211; Gaza Tent Walkthrough" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Still image of Palestinian refugee Magdy Abu Asr inside the tent city in Gaza where she lives with her surviving family members. Still image from TRNN documentary report “Survivors Cling to Life in Gaza’s Tent Cities” (April, 2026). " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=780%2C510&ssl=1"> “I'm going to show you our tent, where I live with my family and my sisters... As you can see, our lives are a real tragedy.”
<img width="1024" height="669" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=1024%2C669&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Still image of Palestinian refugee Magdy Abu Asr inside the tent city in Gaza where she lives with her surviving family members. Still image from TRNN documentary report “Survivors Cling to Life in Gaza’s Tent Cities” (April, 2026)." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?w=1652&ssl=1 1652w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=300%2C196&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=1024%2C669&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=768%2C502&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=1536%2C1004&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=1200%2C785&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=780%2C510&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?resize=400%2C262&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=1024%2C669&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="342833" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/let-me-show-you-survivors-cling-to-life-in-gazas-tent-cities/trnn-gaza-tent-walkthrough" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=1652%2C1080&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1652,1080" 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"}" data-image-title="TRNN &#8211; Gaza Tent Walkthrough" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Still image of Palestinian refugee Magdy Abu Asr inside the tent city in Gaza where she lives with her surviving family members. Still image from TRNN documentary report “Survivors Cling to Life in Gaza’s Tent Cities” (April, 2026). " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/TRNN-Gaza-Tent-Walkthrough.jpg?fit=780%2C510&ssl=1" /> Israel’s daily bombing of Gaza may have slowed down since a ceasefire was implemented in October, but the destruction and violence have not stopped. In the bombed-out ruins of Gaza, Palestinian refugees who have managed to survive Israel’s genocidal onslaught are clinging to life in tattered tent cities overwhelmed by rats, rain, cold, and illness. In this on-the-ground report from Gaza, 15-year-old refugee Magdy Abu Asr takes you inside the tent city where she and her family are struggling to survive so you can see it for yourself. Credits: Filmed by: Magdy Abu Asr Producer: Ruwaida Amer Voiceover: Dana Ballout Post-Production: David Hebden Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible. Hello, how are you? Today I’m going to introduce myself. My name is Magdy Abu Asr, I’m 15 years old. As you can see, today I’m going to show you the entrance to our tent. We live by the sea. As you can see, today I’m going to show you the entrance to our tent and how we live. We’re right next to the street. Come, let me show you. This is the entrance to our tent. This is our tent’s screen instead of the wall of our house. You can see how it’s torn apart by the wind and the air. Let me also show you the water container. Of course, we don’t carry water here, unlike at home. We used to open the water tank and water would come out. Now you have to carry water from a far place to find water to wash, perform ablution for prayer, or anything else. As you can see, today I’m going to show you our tent where I live with my family and my sisters. Let me show you. This is our tent where we live with my sisters. As you can see, our tent is just a shawl, and in the cold, our tent is freezing. And here are my sisters, as you can see. They were playing in it. Our tent was so cold and leaking a lot of water, it was freezing, and the wind was blowing all over the tent, up and down, making a racket. My sisters were scared of the sound and kept asking what it was, and I just told them it was wind and tried to comfort them. Our bedding was all soaked from all the rain. Thank God the sun came out today so we could dry our bedding. Come and see how we dried our bedding in the sun. These are our prayer rugs, as you can see, and these carpets are all soaked and wet. They also showed us our mattresses that we sleep on, they were all soaked too. But today the sun came out so we could dry them and cover ourselves with them. As you can see, this mattress was all soaked, and this prayer rug was all soaked. Thank God the sun came out and it dried. Let me show you the carpets too, so we could dry them out and make sure the wind didn’t eat them. There are no carpets like we were at home, sitting like we were in a ditch. There are no means of support for life, nothing at all. Today I’m going to show you my mother, who used to be a flower in the heart of the egg, going back and forth, walking. Today I’m so, so sorry for my mother. She’s spoiled. I can’t provide for all my needs, even the things I want, because my mother is sitting there, and I pray to God that she’ll get some relief so she can walk and provide for my sisters and those in need. Let me show you our bathroom, which is completely flooded. We’re sitting in the bathroom, and these are the mats we hung out to dry in the sun. We’ll show you, and these are our carpets, as you can see, we hung them out to dry in the sun. We used to spread them out for less. And these are the mattresses, all wet. We threw our mattresses in the sun to dry so we could cover ourselves. And this is our bathroom, our bathroom, where the whole scene is a mess. We’re sitting in the bathroom, and the water keeps pouring down from the low-lying areas. I hope all Arab countries and the whole world will help us with many things. There’s no one to help us. I hope everyone Something that’s easy to come by, like a house, like a house. I mean, I used to study and I’d have a table, my pen, and everything I needed. But this time, I can’t find a table, a pen, or anything at all. I’m sitting here today because there are no schools, no education, and I still have a future ahead of me. I haven’t finished my studies, and I’m very desperate. Today, I’ll show you our makeshift table. Look at our kitchen; it’s just baskets, and we put things in them, not like the kitchens of old. You put your plates on one side and your cups together all day, no matter what. This mattress is all wet, and today the sun came out so we could dry off and sleep on it. Now, back to the tent, and I’ll show you how it’s full of holes. The water pours down on us during the winter storms, and we freeze to death. The whole tent is full of holes, and the water pours down on us, as you can see. Our clothes and mattresses are all wet. We can’t sleep or cover ourselves. Our tent is really full of holes during the storms. How can I even describe it?I know how to express it to you, words can’t describe it. It’s a truly tragic situation, if you can see. The tent, because of the low pressure, the wind, and the storm, keeps blowing upwards, as if a bird might be flying away. These are my siblings, and there’s no school or kindergarten for them to attend. They’re stuck inside the tent 24/7, waiting for electricity. We don’t have a light, not even a battery. We sleep in darkness and wake up in darkness, as you can see. We also had another tent before, and it was even worse. After suffering, after so much suffering, they finally gave us a big tent. Look at our tent, how torn it is! The wind would come in, and there were so many rats playing with us at night. We couldn’t sleep because of it. It’s a blanket, as you can see, and it’s all wet. We hung it out to dry today because the sun came out, so we could spread out a blanket and sleep on it. I hope and pray that all the Arab countries will help us. Something so big, and we’d be happy, at least if it were a decent bathroom, so we could relax in it. As you can see, our lives are a real tragedy. Let me show you how we are, and the street is one, and we’re by the sea. As you can see, my mother was injured. This is my mother. She was injured on December 31st. My father, my sister, and my brother were all injured, and his brother and sister were martyred. We used to play and have fun together. Today, they’ve deprived us of our childhood and everything. And today, this is my mother, you see, her leg was amputated, and she’s sitting on a stretcher. I hope and appeal to all Arab countries and the whole world to help my mother get the same treatment she used to receive. I’m so excited that my mother will get the same treatment she used to receive, and that our physical well-being will be restored. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Magdy Abu Asr.
Life Inside Gaza’s Tent Cities: ‘Let Me Show You…’
A Different Kind of Democrat on Fixing Government ft. Matt Mahan | Shane Smith Has Questions
J Street’s ‘cut off military aid’ PR gambit changes nothing
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J Street National Conference. Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="342857" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/j-streets-military-aid-pr/jeremy-ben-ami-president-of-j-street-speaking-at-the-j" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"4.5","credit":"LightRocket via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON D5","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES - 2018/04/15: Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J Street National Conference. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1523750400","copyright":"\u00a9 2018 SOPA Images","focal_length":"86","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J Street National Conference. Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> The move from paying for genocidal weapons to simply selling them is about buying time and misdirecting activist energy.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J Street National Conference. Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-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="342857" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/j-streets-military-aid-pr/jeremy-ben-ami-president-of-j-street-speaking-at-the-j" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"4.5","credit":"LightRocket via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON D5","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES - 2018/04/15: Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J Street National Conference. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1523750400","copyright":"\u00a9 2018 SOPA Images","focal_length":"86","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, speaking at the J Street National Conference. Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-947806124-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> Over the weekend, some progressive pundits declared victory as influential liberal zionist organization J Street appeared to announce a major break with the pro-Israel consensus in the Democratic Party. The organization said on Twitter/X it is “calling for the U.S. to end unconditional financial military subsidies to Israel and to move towards a relationship where we treat Israel like any other ally.” “’No More Exceptions’: J Street Backs Phasing Out All U.S. Aid to Israel by 2028,” reads a Haaretz headline. “However you feel about J Street, anyone who is still saying that they are indistinguishable from AIPAC is either unintelligent or a bad faith actor,” wrote pollster Adam Carlson. “Democrats [are] coalescing around ending military aid to Israel,” boasted Executive Vice President of Center for International Policy Matt Duss. At first glance, this move may seem like a major shift left for the liberal think tank and the broader Democratic Party consensus around Israel. But upon closer inspection, it’s clear this talking point is mostly a sieve, a PR tactic that provides a pseudo-break from Israel but does little to alter the material reality of apartheid and genocide, all while buying time for a Democratic leadership increasingly at odds with their base—71% of whom now support cutting off military aid to Israel. This narrative that J Street and leading Democrats more broadly are all getting behind “cutting military aid,” while strictly accurate under certain interpretations of the word “aid,” is deeply misleading. The effort is explicitly aligned with a broader right-wing program to move from direct funding of the military to “co-development and co-production of weapons,” and is designed to provide zionist Democrats a superficially appealing talking point that looks Israel-critical, while doing nothing to materially change the status quo. The move to “phase out” direct US subsidizing of the Israel military isn’t just friendly with the Israeli and US right wing’s vision of US and Israeli “security cooperation” in the coming years: It comes directly from them. This pivot was laid four months ago by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Senator Lindsey Graham, and planned by far-right think tanks Foundation for Defence of Democracies and Heritage Foundation. Netanyahu told the Economist on Jan. 9 that he wants to “taper off” formal US military funding within ten years, an argument echoed by Graham, who called for doing so on a much quicker timeline. The effort is explicitly aligned with a broader right-wing program to move from direct funding of the military to “co-development and co-production of weapons,” and is designed to provide zionist Democrats a superficially appealing talking point that looks Israel-critical, while doing nothing to materially change the status quo. As progressive think tank IMEU noted in their January 2026 breakdown of this new arrangement, “Israel’s proposal to end US military funding is actually designed to further enmesh the US in its oppression of Palestinians”: …the emerging plan is to substitute formal military funding–known as Foreign Military Financing–with greater US taxpayer-funded co-development and co-production of weapons with Israel. This development would further enmesh the US in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and by extending the co-development and co-production of weapons into the spheres of cyber, AI, border, and drones”. J Street, for its part, is not shy about the fact that this is an approach endorsed by Netanyahu and both the Israeli and American right wing. J Street President Jeremy Ben Ami explicitly cited their approval when he rolled out their new plan, writing that “Netanyahu and Graham are not alone in this view. For years, analysts and policymakers across the political spectrum have been arguing that Israel no longer needs generous economic subsidies.” This was followed up by an op-ed in the Forward by Ben Ami where he reassured readers that “…phasing out US subsidies for Israel’s military will strengthen [the Israeli-US] alliance—not end it.” To Ben Ami’s warped credit, he explicitly frames the move as a PR tactic to avoid anti-Israel sentiment stateside while “strengthening” the military partnership. “Supporters of Israel,” he writes, “should welcome the development. The benefits of disproportionately large financial assistance today are outweighed by the damage to Israel when that financial support becomes a divisive wedge in American politics.” Translation: this “phasing out of aid” attempts to remove “military aid” from US political debates, rendering it as a non sequitur and providing Democrats a rhetorical dodge, all while further entrenching military support and avoiding the increased humanitarian scrutiny required of direct “assistance” (more on this later). As polls show Democratic support, and support more broadly, for Israel is perspicuously tanking there’s an urgent need for controlled opposition—something, like the “peace process” or “ceasefire talks” before it, that liberals can point to that maintains the status quo while appearing vaguely humanitarian and credible. Israel’s favorability with men under 50 has cratered pic.twitter.com/HwkL6FLrx8 — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 14, 2026 Enter: the J Street curated and Netanyahu approved “I support cutting off military aid to Israel” talking point. This makes sense. J Street is a self-avowed “pro-Israel” organization. They are effectively taking an agreed-upon security consensus in Israel and attempting to sell it to liberal audiences, while providing cover for Democrats who need to bring their increasingly anti-Israel base some type of talking point, any taking point, that will give them the appearance of “breaking from Israel” without the political downsides of actually doing so. This is part of a trend in professional Democratic circles focusing on perception management over Israel, as I documented last summer, that prioritizes patronizing the base and engaging in cosmetic tweaking over material changes in policy. Which is what makes progressive foreign policy analysts like Duss’ triumphalism so misguided and credulous. “If your goal is building progressive political power, your response to Democrats coalescing around ending military aid to Israel is going to be: ‘Years of activism went into this, let’s keep working,’” Duss scolded on Twitter/X last Sunday in response to JStreet’s announcement. “If your goal is performing radicalism on this website: ‘This must be an op.’” But Democrats are only “coalescing around ending military aid to Israel” in the most superficial manner possible and in complete strategic and messaging alignment with Netanyahu, Graham, and far-right think tanks Foundation for Defence of Democracies and the Heritage Foundation. Who knows what is and isn’t an “op,” but certainly those who want a meaningful break from Israel’s genocidal policies should expect more than pitching pre-planned “phase outs” that align almost exactly with the preferences of Israel hawks. The only real difference between J Street’s strategy and the right-wing version on offer from Netanyahu and Graham is that J Street makes repeated references to “conditioning” military sales so they, in their words, comply “with all relevant statutes including the Leahy Law, the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act.” But this merely gestures towards human rights without doing anything meaningful to advance them. Their preferred mechanism to hold Israel accountable, Ceasefire Compliance Act, leaves the determination of whether Israel is complying with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) up to the US State Department, the same State Department that covered up atrocities in Gaza under Biden while ignoring its own legal obligations to stop aid in support of a genocide. No one needs conditional, future determinations of compliance with IHL. Israel is committing genocide and enforcing an apartheid state right now, today, structurally and as a matter of government consensus. What, other than buying Israel time, would such a complex and unenforceable arrangement achieve? The idea that this convoluted, case-by-base legal formalism is sufficient, in lieu of a demand for a categorical and immediate arms embargo, is absurd on its face. Arming Israel is already breaking several US laws. We don’t need more laws to enforce existing laws—especially at the discretion of the very same State Department that, throughout the past two administrations, has actively aided genocide. Another under-appreciated part of this arrangement from a PR perspective is that having Israel “pay for its defenses” means US military hardware sent to Israel would no longer be covered by the Leahy Laws, which were originally passed in 1997 ostensibly to prohibit the US government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces committing “gross violations of human rights (GVHR).” But Leahy doesn’t apply to weapons sales, just “assistance” (see: subsidies). As Human Rights First laid out last year, “Leahy Laws do not apply to foreign military sales or direct commercial sales of equipment. Since these are commercial transactions in which the recipient country is paying for the weapons or other goods and services, the support is not considered to be ‘assistance’ under the meaning of the Leahy Laws, which is generally interpreted to mean that provided with U.S-appropriated funds.” So when J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami says arms sales “should continue in accordance with all relevant statutes including the Leahy Law,” it’s unclear what he means since this would most certainly not be the case, by design. This all comes on the heels of possible 2028 presidential candidate and current US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using a similar framing in her opposition to subsiding Israel military aid two weeks ago. “I believe the Israeli government is well able to fund the Iron Dome system, which has proven critical to keep innocent civilians safe from rocket attacks and bombardment,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on April 1. “Consistent with my voting record to date, I will not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and U.S. law.” Arming Israel is already breaking several US laws. We don’t need more laws to enforce existing laws—especially at the discretion of the very same State Department that, throughout the past two administrations, has actively aided genocide. While her comments on the topic reflected J Street’s convoluted Israel Can Pay For it framing, unlike J Street, Ocasio-Cortez has supported an arms embargo against Israel in other contexts (more clarity on her current position would be useful, as she did not reiterate this stance when commenting on her current position). Either way, the template for others seeking election in the current climate is obvious: Now Democrats can cite J Street and claim they “support ending military aid to Israel,” but this is true only in a hyper-literal and misleading sense. Because J Street’s plan, which is by their own admission simply a variation on Netanyahu and Graham’s plan, knowingly uses the misleading term “aid” to imply cutting off the supply of genocidal weapons rather than the simple act of changing who pays for it. It’s a brilliant piece of spin: offends no one in power, gets angry voters off your back, looks humanitarian and progressive while taking cues from the Heritage Foundation and, like all good counterinsurgency tactics, gives the illusion of moral progress while misdirecting activists energy into nice-sounding—but ultimately fatuous—busy work. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Adam Johnson.
"Into the Wood Chipper": Whistleblower’s Inside Story of DOGE Shredding USAID, 14 Million May Die
"Depths of Hell": Sudan Enters Fourth Year of Devastating Civil War Amid Growing Energy Crisis
Hormuz Crisis "Only Going to Get More Horrific Before It Gets Any Better": Prof. Laleh Khalili
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 16, 2026
Iran hasn’t survived decades of hostile sanctions, assassinations and sabotage by accident – it’s by strategy
COMMENTARY: By Prince Taofeek Ajibade US President Donald Trump probably thinks he can starve a country that feeds itself. Washington is selling the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a chokehold. However, it is worth asking whether the hand actually reaches the throat. Iran shares land borders with seven countries — Türkiye, Iraq,
COMMENTARY: By Prince Taofeek Ajibade US President Donald Trump probably thinks he can starve a country that feeds itself. Washington is selling the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a chokehold. However, it is worth asking whether the hand actually reaches the throat. Iran shares land borders with seven countries — Türkiye, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Nearly 5900 kilometres of border, criss-crossed by road and rail. READ MORE: US ready to restart combat if Iran does not agree to deal: Hegseth Caitlin Johnstone: I hope the US loses and the empire collapses Other US-Israel war on Iran reports No naval force on earth blockades a land route. Petrochemicals, minerals, manufactured goods are moved overland. Machinery, spare parts, consumer goods, all come back the same way. The Strait of Hormuz does not sit across any of that. Then there is the food issue, which is where blockades historically do their cruellest work. It will not work here. Iran is approximately 96 percent self-sufficient in essential foodstuffs. Iran doesn’t depend on imported food Fertile western plains, mountain valleys, Caspian lowlands, including wheat, rice, fruit, livestock. The Gulf states that cheered this blockade loudest — the UAE and Qatar — depend almost entirely on food imports. Iran doesn’t. You cannot starve a country that feeds itself. What about the blockade? Yes, that will hurt. Hard currency earnings from oil tanker traffic will fall. That is real and Washington knows it. But “hurt” and “collapse” are different destinations, and the distance between them is precisely what the architects of this policy appear not to have calculated. Central Asia and the Caucasus remain open. Regional markets will absorb what the sea lanes cannot carry. The economic pressure is genuine. The total isolation that the blockade promises is not. Iran has survived four decades of sanctions, assassinations, and sabotage. It did not survive them by accident. It survived them because its geography is not a weakness waiting to be exploited. It is the strategy. Prince Taofeek Ajibade is an educator and digital creator from Ibadan, Nigeria. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Ethiopian editor seized from Addis Standard newsroom by unidentified men
Nairobi, April 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to do everything in their power to locate and free Addis Standard managing editor Million Beyene who was taken by unidentified men from his newsroom in the capital Addis Ababa on Wednesday morning. The outlet’s publisher Jakenn Publishing PLC said in a statement...
Nairobi, April 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to do everything in their power to locate and free Addis Standard managing editor Million Beyene who was taken by unidentified men from his newsroom in the capital Addis Ababa on Wednesday morning. The outlet’s publisher Jakenn Publishing PLC said in a statement that the men, who were dressed in plainclothes, some wearing caps and face masks, told Million he was “needed for questioning” and took him to an undisclosed location. “Million Beyene’s disappearance from the Addis Standard’s newsroom marks a disturbing new chapter in the troubles faced by this respected digital outlet after authorities revoked its registration certificate in February,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “Ethiopian authorities must immediately establish who took Million Beyene away, ensure his release, and hold those responsible to account.” Addis Standard has repeatedly faced state pressure, including a newsroom raid in 2025 and a ban in 2021. Screenshots of April 15 security camera footage, published by Addis Standard, showed at least three men walking up and down a stairwell. The outlet described their movements as “deliberate and organized, with one leading ahead while other follow closely behind.” Jakenn’s leadership and legal team have been unable to locate Million and were told by four different police departments and stations that the journalist was not in their custody, the article said. Surveillance unit officers within the Addis Ababa Police and Federal Police Commission also said they did not recognize the individuals as members of their forces, it added. Million’s disappearance comes amid escalating pressure on media outlets in Ethiopia ahead of elections on June 1. In February, a journalist with Agence France-Presse was blocked from flying to the northern Tigray region. The regulatory Ethiopian Media Authority also revoked the accreditation of Reuters journalists, following an investigation, and the operating license of online outlet Wazema Radio for reporting that it described as contradicting the “national interest.” In October, the authority suspended the licenses of all nine Deutsche Welle (DW) correspondents in Ethiopia, accusing the outlet of non-specific violations of media and hate speech laws. Seven journalists have been allowed to return to work but the suspensions remain in place for the two correspondents who cover the Tigray and Amhara regions. When asked by CPJ whether he had any information about Million’s whereabouts and if he was in police custody, federal police spokesman Jeylan Abdi said via WhatsApp that Million’s family had confirmed he was not being detained by federal police. When asked if Million’s disappearance was being investigated, Jeylan told CPJ to direct subsequent queries to the Addis Ababa police. In a text message on April 16, Markos Tadesse, a spokesperson for the Addis Ababa police, told CPJ to contact the city force’s head of public relations, Thomas Eshete, who said in a subsequent phone call that he did not have any information. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
“Into the Wood Chipper”: Whistleblower’s Inside Story of DOGE Shredding USAID, 14 Million May Die
A new book tells the inside story of the second Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Its author, Nicholas Enrich, worked at USAID for over a decade before he was pushed out of the ag...
A new book tells the inside story of the second Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Its author, Nicholas Enrich, worked at USAID for over a decade before he was pushed out of the agency in early 2025, when the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency summarily cut its staff and funding. An estimated 14 million people are projected to die “unnecessarily” over the next five years due to these cuts, and nearly a million, mostly children, already have, says Enrich. His new memoir, Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID, is named after one of Musk’s social media posts from that period, when the South African billionaire wrote, “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” Since its establishment in 1961, USAID has saved the lives of tens of millions around the world by treating and preventing serious health issues such as HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, malaria and more. By slashing the agency, the U.S. “pulled the rug out from under people around the world,” says Enrich. “We broke promises to millions who were relying on USAID services, and left them hanging out to dry. We broke promises to governments and broke partnerships that will have lasting effects for years to come.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
“Depths of Hell”: Sudan Enters Fourth Year of Devastating Civil War Amid Growing Energy Crisis
Sudan marked three years since a bloody civil war began between its national army and the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. The RSF revolted against the Sudanese Armed Forces after a 2021 military coup left it with diminished p...
Sudan marked three years since a bloody civil war began between its national army and the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. The RSF revolted against the Sudanese Armed Forces after a 2021 military coup left it with diminished political power. The coup itself upended the civilian-led democratic revolution that ousted Sudan’s longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Both the RSF and SAF have been accused of major war crimes since the conflict began, reportedly carrying out ethnic cleansing, systemic sexual violence and starvation tactics on the country’s civilian population. “This war is not just fought on the bodies of civilians by happenstance. It’s not incidental to the fighting. It is precisely the point. This war is a war of succession between the SAF and the RSF, who want to inherit the military security state,” says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair, “and they’re doing so in large part not just by fighting each other, but also by diminishing as much as possible the revolutionary fervor and the calls for civilian democratic rule in Sudan.” Khair adds that the burgeoning U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, separated from Sudan by the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea, threatens to deepen the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, as supply chain disruptions make agricultural production even harder and opportunities for resource exploitation incentivize other countries to turn the conflict into even more of a “proxy war.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Hormuz Crisis “Only Going to Get More Horrific Before It Gets Any Better”: Prof. Laleh Khalili
Amid the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, we speak with Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf studies who researches the shipping and logistics industry and its impact on the global economy. The U.S. implemented a naval blockade on Iran ea...
Amid the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, we speak with Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf studies who researches the shipping and logistics industry and its impact on the global economy. The U.S. implemented a naval blockade on Iran earlier this week, which Khalili says could lead to its military “firing on ships that it assumes are Iranian or carrying oil from Iran or other cargo to Iran.” Iran, in response, could “interpret this as a belligerent action,” ending the fragile ceasefire agreed to by both parties. “Iran is going to defend itself against this imperial imposition, and how it’s going to do that remains to be seen.” Meanwhile, explains Khalili, shipping disruptions in the Gulf have affected the supply chains of key resources including oil, aluminum, helium and fertilizer. “Transportation costs are going to be higher, so food prices are going to be higher; people’s MRIs are going to be scheduled out by six months … semiconductor manufacturing is going to be affected,” Khalili says. “The crisis is only going to get more horrific before it gets any better. ” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Senate Narrowly Rejects Resolutions to Halt Iran War and Arms Sales to Israel, Iran Warns It Will Blockade the Sea of Oman and Red Sea Unless U.S. Ends Its Naval Blockade, Israel Continues Deadly Strikes on Lebanon Even as Diplomats Hold First Direct Talks in Decades, Palestinians Hold Funeral Procession for Five Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza City, Pentagon Announces Fifth Deadly Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in a Week, Democrats File Articles of Impeachment Against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, The Guardian: Top Oil and Gas Companies Made $30M Per Hour in Windfall Profits from Iran War, Nine Killed as Turkey Suffers Second School Shooting in Two Days, Oklahoma High School Principal Tackles School Shooter While Suffering Gunshot Wound, Jury Finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster Operated as a Monopoly, Overcharging Ticket Buyers, Tax Day Protesters Object to Funding Wars, Genocide and Mass Deportation
Senate Narrowly Rejects Resolutions to Halt Iran War and Arms Sales to Israel Iran Warns It Will Blockade the Sea of Oman and Red Sea Unless U.S. Ends Its Naval Blockade Israel Continues Deadly Strikes on Lebanon Even as Diplomats Hold First Direct Talks in Decades Palestinians Hold Funeral Procession for Five Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza City Pentagon Announces Fifth Deadly Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in a Week Democrats File Articles of Impeachment Against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth The Guardian: Top Oil and Gas Companies Made $30M Per Hour in Windfall Profits from Iran War Nine Killed as Turkey Suffers Second School Shooting in Two Days Oklahoma High School Principal Tackles School Shooter While Suffering Gunshot Wound Jury Finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster Operated as a Monopoly, Overcharging Ticket Buyers Tax Day Protesters Object to Funding Wars, Genocide and Mass Deportation This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Thursday, April 16, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Russia Hits Ukraine Overnight With Deadly Drone And Missile Attack
3D-Printed Homes, an Abandoned $590,000 Deposit, the FBI: What Really Happened in This Small Town?
The post 3D-Printed Homes, an Abandoned $590,000 Deposit, the FBI: What Really Happened in This Small Town? appeared first on ProPublica.
State and city officials break ground on the Cairo, Illinois, 3D-printed duplex project in August 2024. Outside a repair shop in rural southeastern Illinois, the parts of a massive 3D construction printer sat disassembled on a flatbed trailer, weeds climbing the wheels. The $1.1 million investment wasn’t meant to end up there, abandoned. Two local men had taken out a loan from a tiny bank to buy the printer, promising it would spark an affordable-housing revival across hard-pressed southern Illinois. Their first stop was Cairo, at the state’s southern tip — a historic river town beset by the loss of jobs and safe housing, now home to fewer than 2,000 mostly Black residents. In August 2024, after months of negotiations, the city finalized a deal with their company, Prestige Project Management Inc., to build 30 duplexes. Days later, the printer arrived and crews assembled it on a vacant corner lot at 17th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. More than 100 people showed up for the groundbreaking. Children clutched cotton candy and popcorn. Pallets of Amazon giveaways spilled from a truck. Behind a chain-link fence, the towering printer hummed to life, two American flags clipped to its steel legs, laying down the base of what was billed as the first new home built in Cairo in at least 30 years. The crowd cheered. Kaneesha Mallory pressed against the fence. She had grown up in Cairo, moved away, then returned after her daughter was born. Living in a cramped one-bedroom public housing unit across town, she imagined a bedroom her 6-year-old could finally call her own. Mayor Thomas Simpson called the project “just the beginning.” State Sen. Dale Fowler, whose district incorporates some of Illinois’ most destitute counties, described it as an “extraordinary project” — the start of more development to come. His nonprofit organization, which serves low-income children and families, had secured a $40,000 donation to help pay for the event. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="74369" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking01-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="An overview of a field with tents, cars, people and a huge structure that is a 3D printer." class="wp-image-74369" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking01-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking01-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, 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https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking01-PDcrop_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="74372" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="People standing outside clap, cheer and record with their phones." class="wp-image-74372" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking06-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> More than 100 people gathered to watch a massive 3D printer lay down the walls of Cairo’s first home built in 30 years. Mallory couldn’t bring herself to leave while her future seemed to be taking shape. She stayed in the August heat so long that she fainted and was taken to the emergency room by ambulance. Crews worked overnight to avoid the heat. Within about a month, the walls went up. Interior work followed. But then the work stopped before the duplex was finished. The owners would later say cracks — dozens of them — had begun running through the walls and that they needed to make sure the structure was sound. The printer disappeared. A year later, no one had moved into the duplex. It stood alone in a wide lot along a sun-bleached road. As I began to examine what happened, the story grew complicated. I learned that before the 3D printer arrived in Cairo, the Prestige owners had forfeited about $590,000 as a deposit for a different printer when they ended up canceling the order, a fact that would quickly turn the atmosphere tense as I pressed the company’s owners, the bank, Fowler and others for answers. I also learned that not long after the groundbreaking, several employees left Prestige around the same time a spray of anonymous emails hit inboxes across the region. The emails called the Cairo duplex project little more than a publicity stunt and alleged fraud tied to Prestige’s other construction projects. I also wasn’t the only one asking questions. I discovered that the FBI has launched an investigation into Prestige led by an agent in southern Illinois who specializes in white-collar and public corruption investigations. To date, there have been no charges filed or arrests made, and Prestige’s owners deny any wrongdoing. Over the past eight months, the more questions I asked, the more public officials distanced themselves from the project and the company. The broader housing plan — the one that had fueled speeches and celebration — started to look increasingly uncertain. I was determined to know: Was this simply another failed pitch to this dirt-poor delta town — or something more? “God Sent Us” Jamie Hayes, who inherited a Ford dealership from his father, and Erik Burtis, who had long supplied labor to coal mines, founded Prestige in 2021 in Harrisburg, Illinois, a town of fewer than 8,000 people about 80 miles northeast of Cairo. It is one of seven companies Hayes has started since 2020, three of them co-owned with Burtis, according to Illinois business records. The two, business partners since 2012, have taken on an eclectic mix of projects: school construction management, solar farm fencing and the 3D printing venture. Hayes provides the capital; Burtis runs the day-to-day operations. Burtis said he landed on 3D printing in early 2023 after asking his son Josh, who works for the company, to find out what was hot in construction. He reported back that it was 3D construction — based on trends in Europe. “Usually we’re five, maybe six, seven years behind what happens there,” Burtis said. Burtis said God then laid it on his heart to start building in Cairo by donating the first home his company would print. Fowler, the state senator whose district office is in the same building as Prestige, said he listened to Burtis’ plan as they drove to Cairo to meet with town officials a few years ago. Fowler said he suggested building a duplex instead of a single home so two families could benefit. Burtis was moved by that idea. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="750" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A man stands at a podium speaking into a microphone. Seated in a row next to him are men wearing gray shirts. Behind them are two tower-like structures, part of a huge 3D printer." class="wp-image-74373" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,196 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,501 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,668 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1002 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1336 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,563 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,275 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,360 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,364 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,344 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,491 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,750 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1305 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,261 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,522 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,783 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Groundbreaking10_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1044 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Illinois state Sen. Dale Fowler addresses the crowd at the groundbreaking. Prestige owners Erik Burtis and Jamie Hayes (seated from right to left) look on, alongside Burtis’ son Josh. “He literally started tearing up,” Fowler said. He told me the story in August as we talked in the back booth of a local barbecue restaurant. “Did you cry, too?” I asked. “Yeah,” Fowler said. “I’m about to right now just thinking about it.” Cairo’s housing crisis is rooted in a long and complicated history. In 1972, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights visited the town and documented how racism had harmed Black families, including through neglect of their segregated public housing. Those problems only worsened over time. I grew up nearby and have reported on Cairo’s housing problems for more than a decade. In 2015, I documented how conditions in those once-segregated developments had withered into mice-infested slums, overrun with mold and contaminated with lead, while federal overseers looked the other way. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="74645" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="" class="wp-image-74645" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 1745w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,682 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-4_Cairo-Public-Housing-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1066 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Children ride bikes through Cairo’s Elmwood housing complex in 2017. Isaac Smith/The Southern Illinoisan <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="750" height="500" js-autosizes data-id="74366" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg" alt="Several large apartment buildings are partially destroyed, with their doors and siding lying in piles in front of them." class="wp-image-74366" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 750w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/File-17_Cairo-Public-Housing_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /> The McBride Place housing complex partway through demolition in 2019. Molly Parker/The Southern Illinoisan <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="500" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A man yelling into a microphone points a finger at other speakers, in a church where dozens of people are sitting in pews." class="wp-image-74364" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 1765w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,681 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1022 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,574 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,367 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,371 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,500 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,764 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,266 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,532 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,798 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP17124759617736_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1064 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Kevin McAllister demands answers in 2017 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during a residents’ meeting before the demolition of the McBride Place and Elmwood Place public housing. Richard Sitler/The Southern Illinoisan via AP In 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took over the local housing authority and then demolished those apartment homes, displacing nearly 400 residents. In 2022, HUD evacuated another high-rise for seniors, then home to about 60 people. In less than five years, more than 300 apartment units were razed, accelerating the county’s decline into one of the fastest-shrinking places in America. Cairo had seen ambitious promises before the 3D printer arrived. At the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it draws entrepreneurs who see unrealized potential in its vacant storefronts and magnolia-lined streets of dilapidated mansions built by river barons in another era. Some come to help, others to take advantage — it can be hard to tell. Residents have grown wary of outsiders with big ideas. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="495" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A brick mansion on a tree-lined street." class="wp-image-74576" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,198 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,506 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,674 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1011 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1348 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,568 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,278 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,363 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,367 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,347 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,495 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,756 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1317 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,263 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,527 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,790 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cairo12_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1053 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Magnolia Manor, built in 1869, is one of several mansions lining Washington Avenue in Cairo. City Council member Connie Williams, a retired school principal, said city leaders had warned the Prestige owners not to make promises they couldn’t keep. “We kept saying to them, ‘Look, we’ve had enough people come through Cairo talking all this crazy stuff and then back out,’” she said. “And they were just like, ‘No, no, oh no, that’s not us. We are here. God sent us.’” The project attracted attention from Illinois’ top powerbrokers: Gov. JB Pritzker met privately with Burtis and Fowler in Harrisburg. Fowler also invited staff from U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office to learn about the project. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza toured the unfinished duplex and praised the effort on social media. To help manage the project in Cairo, the company hired Bucky Miller, a broad-shouldered lineman with a baritone voice. He said part of his job was to craft development plans and an agreement with city officials. Miller regularly drove 300 miles round trip from his home near St. Louis to meet with city officials. He told residents at a housing task force meeting that he took the job after reading about the decades of failed promises made to Cairo, and “because of what I’m good at: keeping my word.” But he had no experience developing affordable housing, and neither did anyone else at Prestige. Burtis acknowledged the inexperience but said he planned to partner with developers who would secure financing and hire his company to handle construction. Before the Party, an Unraveling The block party in August 2024 — kids clutching cotton candy, everyone in a jubilant mood — made it look like everything was on track. But I have now learned that significant parts of the project already were shaky even before the printer squeezed out the first cement. One big problem was acquiring the printer to begin with. In October 2023, Grand Rivers Community Bank approved the $1.1 million loan to purchase the printer — a big bet for the rural lender in Karnak, Illinois, population 450, about 25 miles north of Cairo. The loan was nearly double the bank’s single-customer limit, requiring another regional bank to join in. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="669" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A small, drive-through bank building in a small-town setting, with roads and parked cars in the foreground and houses, other buildings and trees in the background." class="wp-image-74368" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,175 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,447 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,597 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,895 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1193 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,503 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,246 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,322 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,325 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,307 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,438 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,669 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1165 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,233 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,466 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,699 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GrandRivers_02_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,932 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Grand Rivers Community Bank approved a $1.1 million in October 2023 loan for a 3D printer purchase. That month, Grand Rivers sent half the cost of the printer, about $590,000, to Peri 3D Construction, which operated out of Texas, to purchase one of its most expensive models. Their agreement stated that delivery of the printer would occur six months “at the earliest” from receipt of the deposit. The exchange of funds triggered Peri 3D to commission a large-scale commercial printer from COBOD International, a Danish company that bills itself as the world’s leader in 3D construction printing technology. By January 2024, Hayes and Burtis said, they had become impatient. It had been only three months, but they said they’d given Cairo their word they’d start building that spring and felt the printer wasn’t progressing fast enough. Hayes said, “‘Here we go again’ is what Cairo is thinking.” Fowler emailed the governor’s office a few days ahead of a visit Pritzker had scheduled that month in southern Illinois, calling the new 3D printer business “a major humanitarian mission” and asking for an opportunity to introduce the governor to Burtis, records show. Fowler and Burtis met with Pritzker at Harrisburg City Hall and discussed with Pritzker whether he had contacts in Germany, where Peri is headquartered, who could help speed production, according to Burtis. A Pritzker spokesperson said the governor’s office took no action after the meeting. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="552" height="325" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/january-2024-fowler-email-to-governors-office-PDedit.jpg" alt="A screenshot of an email, including the text, “This is a major humanitarian mission,” and, “This will be the first residential single-family home construction in over 40 years in the city of Cairo.”" class="wp-image-74447" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/january-2024-fowler-email-to-governors-office-PDedit.jpg 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/january-2024-fowler-email-to-governors-office-PDedit.jpg?resize=300,177 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/january-2024-fowler-email-to-governors-office-PDedit.jpg?resize=422,248 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/january-2024-fowler-email-to-governors-office-PDedit.jpg?resize=527,310 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/january-2024-fowler-email-to-governors-office-PDedit.jpg?resize=400,236 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px" /> Fowler sent an email in January 2024 requesting a meeting with Gov. JB Pritzker to discuss the 3D-printed homes. Obtained by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="Three men in business attire look at the camera and smile, in a room with numerous framed black-and-white historical photos hung on the wall." class="wp-image-74367" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 960w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Governor-Meets-with-Fowler-on-Printer_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> From left: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker poses for a photo with Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek and Fowler. During a January 2024 meeting at Harrisburg City Hall, Fowler talked up the Cairo 3D printer project to the governor. Courtesy of Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek Days later, a Peri 3D sales rep emailed Burtis’ son that the printer was on track for delivery that April. Then, shortly after, Burtis and other Prestige employees traveled to Las Vegas to a concrete industry expo. Fowler said that Prestige paid for him to come along and that he agreed because he wanted to see demonstrations of the 3D printer technology. He did not report the trip on his annual economic disclosure form; he amended the form after I asked him about it last year. Burtis said a COBOD engineer at the expo told them that their printer was only 10% complete, though a COBOD executive said it did not have any engineers present at the expo that year. While there, Burtis also met with one of the few other potential printer suppliers, Black Buffalo 3D. That New Jersey-based company said it had printers available that it could deliver right away, according to Burtis. Shortly after the conference, Prestige tried to cancel the order for the original printer. Peri 3D did not appear to respond to Prestige’s requests, according to an email exchange that Hayes shared with me. Two months later, Prestige’s lawyer sent a letter to Peri 3D saying the company’s request had been “blown off” and proposed Peri 3D keep about $60,000 — 10% — and return the rest. When Peri 3D responded in April, just as the printer was due, it said none of the $590,000 deposit would be returned. Prestige did not write back, according to email records the company provided. Burtis and Hayes hadn’t yet spent about $500,000 of their loan. Hayes told me they were ultimately “no worse for the wear” since Black Buffalo 3D agreed to sell a printer for what they had left. “If I get 10 grand for a car,” Hayes said. “Say I pay 5 grand for a car and I don’t get my money back, but I can buy another car that does the same exact thing, and I only pay another 5 thousand. What do I give a shit if I can get back and forth to work?” He called the bank. “We don’t need any more money,” Hayes said he told them. “Can we get this taken care of?” The bank agreed and wired the remaining funds to Black Buffalo 3D in April 2024. A Flimsy Plan Getting the printer to Cairo was one problem — it wouldn’t arrive until August 2024. Getting it to make sense financially was another entirely. For months before the printer arrived, Miller, the Prestige employee managing the project in Cairo, had been telling city leaders that Prestige would secure financing to build the remaining 29 homes after donating the first duplex. But city attorney Rick Abell said he couldn’t get straight answers about how the development would be paid for or what it might look like. We kept saying to them, ‘Look, we’ve had enough people come through Cairo talking all this crazy stuff and then back out.’ City Council member Connie Williams Typically, housing tax credits are used to build affordable housing in the U.S. But acquiring those is a highly competitive process that can take years to complete, a process that would be made even more challenging using an unproven construction technology and in a rural community. There’s no record that Prestige applied for any housing program funding. Phillip Matthews, who chaired the town’s housing task force, said he repeatedly asked for a project rendering but “never got it.” That was strange, Matthews said, “because normally, when a company determines they’re going to develop a piece of property, they have designs.” Abell and city officials grew frustrated with the lack of clarity around the deal. Weeks before the kickoff party, city officials visited Prestige’s office in Harrisburg. According to Abell and Matthews, Burtis told them Cairo would need to come up with the financing to build the other homes. The city did not have that kind of money. Simpson, the mayor, was perplexed. He said Burtis offered to help the city apply for grants for a fee but offered no specifics. “I’ve been getting grants for all kinds of stuff, but there’s nothing for building housing,” Simpson said. Burtis would later say that Miller had made unauthorized promises that Prestige would secure financing for the project; Miller disputes this. Despite the uncertain financing, the city wrote up a contract: Cairo would sell a vacant lot to Prestige for $1. Prestige would build one duplex, manage it for 18 months and then transfer ownership back to the city. The contract called for 29 more over the next three years, with no details on how they would be funded. The mayor signed the contract, hopeful the project would build momentum in a place that hadn’t experienced much. Cairo’s Last Hope: Not “Some Big Serious Whatever” I first met Hayes, the Harrisburg car dealer who co-founded Prestige, in early September 2025, more than a year after Cairo’s 3D printer party. At the time, I didn’t know about the abandoned $590,000 deposit or that there had never been a real plan for additional housing. I didn’t know Prestige and its suite of sister companies had drawn the attention of the FBI. But I had already visited the defunct printer in the middle of nowhere late last summer. A former Prestige employee had sent me a Google pin to show me where it had been parked for nearly a year. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1707" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=2560" alt="A truck with a large machine attached to it sits in a field in a rural setting, next to a camper van, a couple of buildings, silos and a pond." class="wp-image-74359" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3D-Printer-in-Field_02-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> After the 2024 Cairo duplex celebration, the 3D printer was parked at this country repair shop in Galatia, where parts of it sat outside on a flatbed trailer for more than a year. So I was taken aback when Hayes told me the printer, the size of a small garage when assembled, was stored on his lot. I asked if he’d show it to me, a request that seemed to take him by surprise. Outside, we walked past rows of vehicles to the back lot. There was no printer — just heat shimmering off blacktop and a long chain-link fence. He squinted into the sun, looked at me and shrugged. “I don’t see it, do you?” He’d later tell me it had been there at one point, and he didn’t realize it was gone. That strange episode would set the stage for the interviews that followed. Over many weeks, we’d spend hours talking in the corner office of his car dealership in Muddy, Illinois — population 40, a fading patch of coal country just outside Harrisburg near the Indiana border. With an easy, elastic charm, Hayes slid between humor and confession, candor and confusion. He told me Prestige was named after the fictional do-nothing company in the Will Ferrell comedy “Step Brothers.” “It’s just stupid,” he said. “I’m not like some big serious whatever.” Eventually, he’d blame everyone else — including both printer suppliers — for what happened: the stalled project, the cracks and the fact that Cairo still has no new housing. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="695" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A patch of dirt and gravel sits vacant in the middle of a field, with houses in the background." class="wp-image-74363" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,182 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,465 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,620 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,929 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1239 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,522 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,255 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,334 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,338 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,319 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,455 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,695 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1210 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,242 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,484 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,726 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_06_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,968 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> In August 2024, Cairo signed an agreement with Prestige for the company to build one duplex it would donate, plus another 29 homes over the next three years if the city could secure funding. Two years later, the lot in the center of town where the homes were to be built remains empty. Hayes told me Prestige had sued Peri 3D to recover its printer deposit. But for weeks he was vague about it. He said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit and didn’t know where it was filed — “nowhere around here,” he told me. He flew into a rage when I told him the Peri 3D salesperson they’d worked closely with had called his company “shady.” At that point, he promised to find out where it was filed, but over multiple visits, he’d tell me he still hadn’t located it. I found the lawsuit during a records search at the Saline County Courthouse, steps from Prestige’s office. It turned out that Prestige had filed the suit in early 2025, just as Peri 3D was laying off its U.S. staff. Prestige claimed in the lawsuit that it signed a “mock document,” not a real contract, and that it never received the language Peri 3D later claimed made clear the deposit was nonrefundable. Five months later, in August, a judge ruled in Prestige’s favor after Peri 3D failed to respond to the lawsuit. In Saline County, where the poverty rate hovers around 20%, nearly double the statewide rate, the lost money stood out. “That’s a lot of money,” the judge remarked, according to a court transcript. “It’s a bad situation,” Prestige’s lawyer said. The judge replied, “I guess good luck trying to collect it.” Before I could tell Hayes that I had located the lawsuit, he texted me that afternoon: “Looks like we did sue and won!!!” he wrote. “Who’s the shady one now?” (He later said he couldn’t tell me where the lawsuit had been filed because he’d largely left the business to Burtis to manage.) Still, he said he was resigned to the fact that they’d likely never collect their money — and to date they haven’t. Burtis said they can’t locate anyone from Peri 3D. When I followed up with Hayes this month, he acknowledged that the contract made the deposit nonrefundable and said he regrets not reading the fine print. “Every time I’ve done that, I’m like, you know what, gahhh, why do I get screwed? Next time I’m going to read through everything,” he said. Ask Dale Fowler if there’s any-fucking-thing going wrong. Jamie Hayes Burtis said Prestige owes the bank roughly $13,000 a month under the terms of its 10-year lending agreement to pay for the original $1.1 million printer; over the full term, the company would pay more than $400,000 in interest. Prestige can’t afford the note; Hayes said he’s paying it out of one of his other business accounts. In an emailed statement from its German headquarters, Peri 3D said in October that it had conducted business “in accordance with the terms and conditions” of its contract with Prestige but would “investigate the matter diligently in the coming weeks.” When I followed up recently, the company declined to comment further. COBOD said it had not been delayed in constructing the printer and that it had no knowledge of a lawsuit since its contractual obligation was to Peri 3D and not Prestige. As I continued to ask Hayes questions, he told me the state senator could vouch for the deal. “Ask Dale Fowler if there’s any-fucking-thing going wrong,” he said. A Modern-Day Daniel When I reached out to Fowler in October, he wasn’t vouching for much. He described Burtis and Hayes as acquaintances and himself as “just a guy that wants to help people.” He scoffed at Hayes’ claim that he could speak to any of their business dealings. And he said his role with the Cairo duplex project was minimal, limited to that of a cheerleader. His attempts to distance himself from the housing plan and company struck me as odd. The month after Prestige secured a loan for the printer, Fowler’s office emailed promotional materials for Prestige’s 3D printing business to the Illinois Housing Development Agency and touted the project before the state poverty commission he sat on, public records show. He brought other top state officials into the orbit as well. Three months after Cairo’s duplex block party, Fowler led Mendoza, the comptroller, on a tour of the property with Burtis and his son. In since-deleted social media posts, she called them “visionaries.” A Mendoza spokesperson said Fowler asked if she wanted to tour the duplex, but she was not otherwise involved with the company or its owners, and they’ve received no state funding. The posts were removed after I asked the spokesperson if Mendoza had been aware that FBI agents had delivered a subpoena to Prestige’s office just days before her tour. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="672" height="656" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=672" alt="Four men and one woman stand in front of a partially built house, smiling at the camera." class="wp-image-74375" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 672w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,293 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,412 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,539 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,545 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,514 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Mendoza-Facebook-Post-PDedit_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,390 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px" /> In a since-deleted Facebook post, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, center, poses in front of the 3D-printed duplex with, from left, Fowler, Erik and Josh Burtis, and Cairo Mayor Thomas Simpson. Screenshot by Molly Parker Fowler didn’t tell me, but I’d later also find out he’d convened Duckworth’s staff to a meeting with Prestige’s owners and the president of Grand Rivers Community Bank in early 2023 — 18 months before the 3D groundbreaking party in Cairo. A Duckworth spokesperson said the senator’s office had just revived discussions about how to address Cairo’s housing crisis when Fowler reached out and that the office did not have additional involvement with the company. People in Cairo also saw Fowler as key to the deal and reached out to him after it became clear the duplex had been left unfinished. “When it fell through, we were all calling Sen. Fowler personally, because he brought them here,” said Williams, the council member. According to Williams, Fowler told Cairo officials he was oblivious to Prestige’s business dealings. Since its founding in September 2021, Prestige has been Fowler’s largest source of campaign donations, not including those from political action and other committees. The company, and others owned by Burtis and Hayes, gave him $22,000 between May 2022 and August 2024. Its final donation of $6,500 was made to Fowler five days after the groundbreaking party for the 3D-printed duplex. Fowler said he doesn’t track who donates to his campaign; he and Burtis said the donation was for Prestige co-sponsoring a golf fundraiser two months earlier. Fowler, a decadelong state senator who plays a key role shaping his caucus’ legislative priorities as a Republican assistant leader, announced last summer that he wouldn’t seek reelection, citing a 10-year term limit pledge; his term expires in January. Fowler also told me in October that he had no knowledge of the federal probe of Prestige and had never been approached by investigators. “Are they grabbing for straws?” he said of the FBI. Fowler said he’d known Hayes and Burtis for decades and doesn’t believe they’ve done anything wrong. Still, he said he’d taken some unfair heat over the ordeal — “guilty by affiliation, I guess.” But Fowler told me it wasn’t the first time he’d been criticized as an elected official, leading him to believe in his “spiritual soul” that he is the modern-day Daniel. In the Old Testament, Daniel was a virtuous believer thrown into the lion’s den by his enemies. But angels closed the lion’s mouth, saving Daniel, while his enemies ended up being “chomped, mutilated, by the lions.” Fowler said the story put him “at peace.” “I’ve never told this to anyone,” he added. “I’ve never told this to my wife.” The FBI Comes Knocking Not long after I began digging into what happened to the duplex in Cairo, I learned the FBI was also looking into Prestige’s broader business dealings. Within weeks of the block party, six employees — more than half Prestige’s staff — quit. Then Prestige received a federal grand jury subpoena asking for its financial records, Hayes and Burtis said. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="74648" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="" class="wp-image-74648" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_09-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.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="74649" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="" class="wp-image-74649" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3Dhome_06-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Ryan Moore, then a Prestige employee, points to a crack in the duplex in December, one of dozens the company says caused it to stop work. Prestige said it waited a year for its printer supplier to provide a crack remediation plan. When one wasn’t provided, the company used hydraulic cement. The FBI has also subpoenaed two school districts and the city of Harrisburg for their contracts with and payments to Prestige for work unrelated to the duplex project, according to records obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The FBI declined to comment on the status of its investigation. Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek said the city did two projects with Prestige, though he said Fowler had encouraged the city to use the company more. A school district in Eldorado, one of those subpoenaed, ousted the former superintendent in September, in part for failing to get school board approval for about $2 million in payments to Prestige and related companies, public records show. The district declined to comment, and the former superintendent did not respond to requests for comment. Miller, the Prestige employee who hyped the 3D printing project to Cairo residents, was one of the employees who quit. When we first met up late last summer, he told me he had become an FBI whistleblower. Miller told me he’d been taken advantage of, sent to Cairo to sell a false promise the company had no intentions of standing behind. He also told me about a flurry of anonymous emails sent via Proton, an encrypted email service, that accused Prestige of fraud not long after Cairo’s block party. The emails went out to various businesses and schools that had contracted with Prestige. I’ve seen a lot of deals fall through. But we always knew why. Here, we got nothing. Rick Abell, Cairo’s city attorney I, too, had received a Proton email about Prestige. It wasn’t anonymous like the others, but was instead from someone claiming to be a COBOD executive. It directed me to open a DropBox file, but the link didn’t work. That executive told me she’d been impersonated; the company said it takes the matter “very seriously.” At one point, Miller claimed to me that he was the one who sent the Proton emails — under instructions from the FBI, in an attempt to drum up investigatory leads. The FBI declined to comment, though three law enforcement experts told me this would be highly unlikely. Miller later changed his story, saying he hadn’t sent the emails. Burtis initially refused to answer my calls, texts and knocks on his door, but he called me back in October and said he wanted to talk. “For some reason, I woke up today, and after praying, it was like, ‘You need to go ahead and talk to her,’” he said. Tears streaked his face. His aunt sat beside him, taking notes on a legal pad. He blamed Miller for trying to ruin his company and for spreading unfounded rumors about him and Hayes. Miller did not respond when I asked him about Burtis’ claims. Burtis also said he and Hayes have fully cooperated with the FBI, handing over all the financial records requested in the subpoena, though he said they’d never been interviewed by agents. “If I was really in trouble, don’t you think I’d have been handed an indictment by now?” Burtis said. His son Josh, who had been put in charge of the 3D printing venture, said the construction issues had been disappointing but they had been keeping the city updated. Hayes said he’d been fully transparent with me and investigators. As I asked questions last fall, the printer sat outside on the flatbed, though some parts of it recently moved to Hayes’ car lot. The cracked house remained abandoned. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="732" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="Sunset light illuminates an unfinished house that is partially boarded up." class="wp-image-74362" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,191 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,489 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,653 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,979 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1305 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,550 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,269 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,352 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,356 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,336 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,479 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,732 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1275 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,255 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,510 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,765 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A-Year-later_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1020 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Crews began working again on the duplex last fall after reporters started asking questions, but it remains unfinished. Hayes said the concrete “ink” that came with the Black Buffalo 3D printer was faulty and that’s why the printer has been idle since. Black Buffalo 3D said it has offered Prestige a new concrete solution and to find a buyer for the printer if Prestige no longer wants it. Prestige and Black Buffalo told me in a joint email in September that they would return to Cairo by the end of October to fix the cracks, which they said were nonstructural. But Black Buffalo never showed up, saying its engineer couldn’t sign off on a repair plan without city permits, which don’t exist because they aren’t required. The company, which has sold only two printers in the U.S. since its founding in 2020, filed for bankruptcy in December. Burtis later said he engaged his own engineering firm to sign off on a remediation plan to fill the cracks with a hydraulic cement, though he declined to share that plan or the company name. Crews were recently working on the duplex; Burtis said the cabinets they ordered did not fit. Once the duplex is finished, Burtis said, he plans to turn the keys over to the city. Simpson said he will be ready. Still optimistic, the mayor said he hopes someone else will eventually follow through and build homes in Cairo. Abell, Cairo’s city attorney, said the failed venture has never sat right with him. “I’ve seen a lot of deals fall through,” Abell said. “But we always knew why. Here, we got nothing.” “Even today,” he added, “I probably have a lot more questions than I’ve got answers.” While some questions remain unanswered, one set of facts is undisputed: When HUD began dismantling housing here a decade ago, officials promised there would be an effort to build back. Today, the only thing that has been built is one duplex, still unfinished. Mallory, the mother who’d hoped to have a two-bedroom home one day, said she is tired of waiting, as much as Cairo has always felt like home. In mid-March, she applied for a housing assistance program in Chicago. She worries Cairo can’t give her daughter all she needs to thrive. “I want more for her,” she said. “I thought I was going to be able to get a two-bedroom apartment.” But in the end, she sighed, with the kind of resignation that comes from being disappointed too many times, it was just “a bunch of broken promises.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A close-up photo of a woman looking off camera." class="wp-image-74374" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Kaneesha_03_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Kaneesha Mallory, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with her 6-year-old daughter, had hoped to move into the duplex. The post 3D-Printed Homes, an Abandoned $590,000 Deposit, the FBI: What Really Happened in This Small Town? appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Molly Parker.
What You Should Know About Lead Contamination in Omaha, Nebraska
The post What You Should Know About Lead Contamination in Omaha, Nebraska appeared first on ProPublica.
ProPublica reporter Cassandra Garibay collects soil samples to test for lead in Omaha, Nebraska, last fall. Chris Bowling/Flatwater Free Press For more than a century, a lead smelter and other factories in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, spewed toxic dust across the city, contaminating the soil and causing lead poisoning. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Omaha have spent decades trying to clean it up. But in 2019, the EPA acknowledged its plan may not do enough to protect kids, and the agency is reexamining the site to potentially expand the cleanup, which could result in more residential yards being remediated. Journalists at the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica teamed up to report on how well the cleanup effort is going. This included collecting soil samples from more than 600 yards in and around the affected area, called the Superfund site. Many people we met in the process told us they had never heard of the Superfund site and had no idea they could be at risk from lead exposure. They asked a lot of questions about how to stay safe. So we talked to experts and got answers below. Get Involved We're testing the soil around Omaha, Nebraska, for lead, and we’re turning our attention to homes just outside the federally designated cleanup zone. If you live in Council Bluffs, Iowa; Carter Lake, Iowa; or the northern part of Bellevue, Nebraska, and are interested in having your soil tested, you can fill out our sign-up form. If anyone in your family has had elevated blood lead levels, you can contact reporter Chris Bowling at cbowling@flatwaterfreepress.org to share your experience. Sign Up for a Free Soil Test 1. What is lead poisoning? Lead poisoning occurs when lead, a toxic metal that was used in paint, gasoline and plumbing for decades, is ingested and builds up in the body, causing issues like developmental delays and behavioral problems in kids. It’s more of a concern for children because their bodies are still developing and they absorb more of the lead they inhale or ingest than adults. But lead poisoning can also affect adults, causing problems like high blood pressure, memory impairment and joint and muscle pain. 2. What are considered unsafe lead levels? There is no “safe” level of exposure to lead. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a high level as 3.5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. If your child’s test shows lead levels above that, the Douglas County Health Department will schedule an environmental risk assessment, which will include a home inspection and education about how to prevent exposure. The nonprofit National Center for Healthy Housing also has a good checklist for how to reduce lead exposure. If you live within the Superfund site, you can check your soil levels on the Omaha Lead Registry. An EPA risk model predicts a soil lead concentration of 100 parts per million or less would protect kids from developing what the CDC currently considers a high blood lead value, assuming there are no other exposures. 3. What should I know about the lead Superfund site in Omaha? The Superfund site is generally located north of Harrison Street, south of Read Street and between 45th Street and the Missouri River. It was designated a Superfund site in 2003, meaning the federal government would oversee a cleanup of the toxic waste there and try to get the polluters to pay for it. The EPA drew boundaries for the Superfund site based on where fewer than 5% of residential properties tested above 400 parts per million of lead in the soil, the concentration of lead at which the government would conduct a cleanup. That’s roughly the size of a marble in a 10-pound bucket of dirt. People who live beyond the boundary may still have elevated soil levels and can contact the city if they’re interested in testing and possible cleanup. 4. Is my soil contaminated with lead? How can I get my soil tested? If you live in the Omaha Superfund site, you can check the Omaha Lead Registry to see the highest level of lead found in your yard through soil sampling of every property done by either the EPA or the city of Omaha. You can request a detailed diagram of your home from the city, showing average lead levels in different areas of your yard. These levels may have changed over time if you have flaking lead paint on your home or have added, removed or covered up dirt in your yard. If your soil hasn’t been tested and you live within or near the boundaries of the Superfund site, you can contact the city’s Lead Information Office. Midwest Laboratories in Omaha also provides heavy metal screening for a fee through its garden and lawn soil testing program. 5. Is there lead in my house? Is there lead in my water? Homes built before 1978 likely contain lead paint. You can test for lead with at-home kits approved by the EPA. A common sign you might have lead paint is if it chips in a geometric pattern called “alligatoring” because it looks like scaly alligator skin. East Omaha has extensive lead plumbing. You can use this map to see if your home is eligible for service line replacement. If you have lead service lines, you can request a free water test from the Metropolitan Utilities District. 6. What is the city’s process for remediation? If the soil has a high enough lead concentration to qualify for cleanup, the city will also assess the exterior of the dwelling for lead-based paint. If the home has lead-based paint, a contractor hired by the city will remove flaking paint and repaint the surface before the soil is remediated. Contractors remediate properties by removing 4 inches of soil and testing it. If levels are still concerning, they keep digging and testing to a depth of 1 foot. If contamination still exists, contractors put down a barrier like landscaping fabric before adding fill dirt and laying sod on top. Following the city’s work, the Douglas County Health Department will also reach out to see if the property owner would like a dust assessment of the home and a free vacuum cleaner with a filter that captures small particles. We’re reporting on how this remediation process is going. If you have a story or concerns about your remediation process, contact the Flatwater Free Press. 7. My yard was remediated, should I still be concerned? Will it be retested? The EPA remediated yards in Omaha by digging up and replacing areas that had more than 400 parts per million of lead in the soil. Most properties do not require resampling, EPA spokesperson Kellen Ashford said. However, the EPA and the city of Omaha have resampled properties on a case-by-case basis. One example is when a structure has been demolished, exposing lead-contaminated soil or spreading dust from lead paint. Tens of thousands of properties that had high levels of lead contamination but that were under the 400-parts-per-million benchmark were not remediated. The Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica are investigating how effective the cleanup has been. If you have questions or concerns, contact the Flatwater Free Press. 8. If I’m outside the Superfund site, should I still be concerned? The EPA is analyzing whether to expand the bounds of the Omaha Superfund site, a Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica investigation found. The agency currently allows for some remediation beyond the Superfund site’s bounds. Testing and remediation would need to be approved by the EPA, but the process would look the same as it does for properties within the site. If you live within city limits, you can contact the city of Omaha if you’re interested in testing and remediation outside the Superfund site. 9. Is it safe for me, my kids and my pets to be in the yard with contaminated soil? Spending time outdoors in the Superfund site can be safe if you manage risks, said Naudia McCracken, supervisor of Douglas County’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. Read More The EPA Was Considering a Massive Lead Cleanup in Omaha. Then Trump Shifted Guidance. Omaha Is Home to a Massive Superfund Site. Most Kids Living There Aren’t Tested for Lead. “Casual outdoor activity like walking through a yard, sitting on grass or brief play on covered surfaces does not by itself represent a high-risk exposure scenario,” she said. “The concern is repeated or prolonged contact with bare contaminated soil, especially activities like digging or play that result in soil on hands, faces or objects that enter the mouth.” You can reduce risks by keeping bare soil covered, washing hands, taking off your shoes at the door, cleaning indoor dust and preventing pet contact with bare soil when possible, McCracken said. 10. Is it safe to garden if my soil is contaminated? Safe gardening starts with limiting contact with the dirt. Wash your produce well, peel root vegetables and discard the outer parts of leafy vegetables like cabbage and lettuce, the EPA recommends. Wear gloves while working in the garden, wash your hands and take your shoes off when you enter the home. The best way to avoid contamination is to build a raised bed, said Shannon Kyler, community programs manager at the urban farm group City Sprouts. An 18-inch bed with a layer of landscape fabric below should keep roots away from the base soil. Mixing compost into soil will also dilute lead levels and improve soil health. It’s a good idea to retest soil every year, she said. While crops absorb some lead, it’s usually a small amount in well-maintained soil, studies from Washington and Kansas found. With the right precautions, gardening can be a low-risk activity, Kyler said. Several resources like the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Nebraska Extension and City Sprouts can also help answer questions. 11. Is blowing dust a concern for lead contamination? Lead is particularly dangerous in small dust particles because it can be more easily absorbed in the body, said Gabriel Filippelli, executive director of Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute and a lead and Superfund researcher for decades. Contaminated dust that blows into homes or is tracked in through dirt can deposit on surfaces like floors and tables where kids can reach it. 12. Does lead go away over time? Lead generally does not break down in the environment. Once ingested or inhaled, some of it will naturally leave the body, though that depends on factors such as age and diet. Most of it is stored in bones for decades and can be released back into the bloodstream, especially in times of stress like pregnancy. Health institutions like the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic write that the damage lead causes cannot be reversed. But some recent studies suggest exercise, educational experiences like going to a museum or taking art lessons, and a nutrient found in many fruits and vegetables can counter some of the effects. The post What You Should Know About Lead Contamination in Omaha, Nebraska appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Chris Bowling.
Is Chernobyl At Risk Of A Radiation Leak?
A ‘super typhoon’ just devastated the Mariana Islands — months before peak storm season
The storm exposes the U.S. commonwealth's climate risks, economic fragility, and federal strain.
The strongest storm of 2026 slammed into the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands this week, where it flooded homes, ripped roofs off of houses, and lingered for more than two days, forcing families to shelter without electricity, cell service, or running water as they waited for the worst to pass. Super Typhoon Sinlaku formed southeast of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or CNMI, and Guam, two U.S. territories that make up the Mariana Islands archipelago in the western Pacific, and rapidly grew to a Category 5, 185-mph monstrosity. First, the storm hit Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, where it left one person dead and one fisherman missing at sea. It then passed north of Guam, which suffered flooding from tropical storm winds, before hitting the islands of Saipan and Tinian in the CNMI, following a similar path as Super Typhoon Yutu eight years ago, which destroyed thousands of homes and forced children to go to school in tents. Destructive storms are familiar to the Northern Mariana Islands, which is home to about 50,000 people, including Indigenous Chamorros and Carolinians. But this typhoon felt different. “It’s still whistling and you can still hear it going on and things are banging outside,” said Ed Propst, a Chamorro resident and former commonwealth legislator, when reached in his home on Saipan Thursday morning. “I’ve never seen anything like this, where a typhoon just doesn’t seem to leave.” The storm also hit in April, at least two months before typhoon season usually starts. “When was the last time we had a super typhoon hitting us this early in the year?” Propst said. “This is the first that I can recall.” The super typhoon comes at a critical time for the U.S. territory: It has struggled to get federal help to address a yearslong economic downturn, and is still recovering and rebuilding from Super Typhoon Yutu. The storm also comes amidst a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees federal disaster relief, and longstanding efforts by the Trump administration to slash disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation programs. “We are taking a devastating hit from Super Typhoon Sinlaku, compounding the urgent local priorities we already face, from coastal erosion to an economic crisis,” said Sheila Babauta, a Chamorro climate justice advocate on Saipan and a fellow with the nonprofit Right to Democracy, who sheltered from the storm with her two-month-old. “On top of that, we’re constantly fighting ecological threats from the federal government, like deep-sea mining and militarization. Our community is strong, but even warriors need rest.” Scientists say that Super Typhoon Sinlaku might have existed regardless of climate change, but warming seas increased the odds of it happening and the likelihood it would intensify quickly. “In the days leading up to the development of this supertyphoon, ocean surface temperatures in the region were as high as 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit above the recent average (which is already warmer than much of the 20th century),” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the California Institute for Water Resources, in an email. “Because warm tropical oceans are ‘hurricane fuel,’ the current supertyphoon has rapidly intensified in a favorable environment that is at least partly linked to climate change via warming oceans.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/typhoonsinlaku_vir_20260413_16x9.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Super Typhoon Sinlaku spins over the North Pacific Ocean in this image acquired on April 13." data-caption="Super Typhoon Sinlaku spins over the North Pacific Ocean in this image acquired on April 13. " data-credit="NASA Earth Observatory / Michala Garrison"/> Super Typhoon Sinlaku spins over the North Pacific Ocean in this image acquired on April 13. NASA Earth Observatory / Michala Garrison The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, approved disaster relief for the archipelago ahead of the storm, and said it has 90 personnel in place in Guam and the CNMI to help. “FEMA’s distribution center in Guam is stocked with approximately 1.1 million liters of water, 723,000 meals, 5,300 cots, 3,600 blankets, 4,400 tarps, and 78 generators, which can be used if needed,” the spokesperson told Grist, adding that 42 generators are already on their way to Saipan. But the agency said a stalemate in Congress over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, due in part to Democrats’ concerns over Trump’s immigration crackdown, could harm the availability of disaster relief funds. FEMA is located within Homeland Security. “We urge Democrats in Congress to stop playing games and restore DHS’s funding before American communities suffer the next disaster ALONE,” a spokesperson for FEMA said. Adi Martínez Román, co-director of the nonprofit Right to Democracy that advocates for U.S. territories, is more concerned about Trump’s more permanent reshaping of disaster relief and climate change mitigation programs. For more than a year, the administration has been slashing FEMA staff, reducing support for hazard mitigation, and removing references to climate change across the federal government. Román is glad that FEMA disaster aid has been approved for Sinlaku but wonders what resources will ultimately be available for long-term recovery. “That’s a very big question,” she said. During the storm, Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the commonwealth’s only representative on Capitol Hill, posted a Facebook video assuring residents that she’s working with federal partners to get the help they need. “At this stage, funding issues have not been raised by FEMA or any other federal agency in our communications,” King-Hinds’ spokesperson Chris Conception told Grist. “However, we remain mindful that the CNMI relies heavily on timely federal support following major disasters, and any constraints on resources could affect the speed and scope of recovery, particularly in remote and infrastructure-constrained communities like ours.” Before the storm, King-Hinds was among the commonwealth’s top political leaders who pleaded with the Trump administration for federal help to address the islands’ massive economic downturn. The islands are disproportionately dependent on tourism, and arrivals are down more than half of what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing businesses to close and driving outmigration. King-Hinds and the CNMI have asked the Trump administration for specific policy changes to help bring in more tourists, including loosening flight restrictions from China and visa restrictions from the Philippines, as well as a federal bailout. But Trump officials have so far been noncommittal. Román, who is from Puerto Rico, said U.S. territories’ status as effectively modern-day colonies makes it exceedingly hard to sway federal policies. Residents of the CNMI and other U.S. territories cannot vote for president. They don’t have any voice in the U.S. Senate. Their delegates to the House of Representatives, like King-Hinds, may argue their cases, but are ultimately also non-voting. “It is so difficult for us to have agency in federal policies,” Román said. “Programs are built responding to constituencies, and we are not considered a constituency.” That disparity is increasingly problematic as residents of U.S. territories deal with the worsening effects of climate change — not only more intense storms, but also rising seas, coral bleaching, worsening heat-related illnesses, more limited freshwater, and other impacts. Propst from Saipan said that one challenge that the territories often must overcome is educating far-away federal officials about who they are and the realities that residents are living with. “They’re thousands and thousands of miles away, just totally unplugged and clueless as to our real economic challenges,” he said. Propst is no longer a sitting legislator, but he is still getting lots of messages from his former constituents braving Sinlaku: A mother who is trapped in her house and needs baby formula, a friend who lost all but two of his solar panels, a colleague whose property now looks like a lake. Whether or not federal funding materializes, Propst knows his neighbors will help those in need. “We’ve been through this before, and we know what it takes to get through it again,” he said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A ‘super typhoon’ just devastated the Mariana Islands — months before peak storm season on Apr 16, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Anita Hofschneider.
‘A bellwether for new forms of repression’: 2 Indigenous rights advocates remain behind bars in Russia
The U.N.’s biggest Indigenous gathering is happening next week, but a key climate advocate will be missing.
Daria Egereva was supposed to be in New York next week. The Indigenous Selkup climate advocate was expected to return to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, where two years ago she spoke about how Indigenous peoples are confronting environmental degradation and climate change. Instead, this year she is in a Russian jail, facing up to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges. Egereva was arrested on December 17 along with Natalya Leongardt, another Russian advocate for Indigenous peoples, whose name was not released publicly until last week. Both face accusations of participating in a terrorist group due to their former involvement in the Aborigen Forum, an informal network of Indigenous advocates that was shut down by the Russian government two years ago. Experts say their detention is indicative of a growing repression of Indigenous advocacy in the Russian Federation, part of Russia’s broader shift to authoritarianism that has worsened since the country invaded Ukraine. “Indigenous activists have been a bellwether for new forms of repression that the Russian government then tries out on all the other activists, environmentalists, feminists, other groups of people, human rights,” said Laura Henry, a professor of government at Bowdoin College who studies contemporary Russian politics. Egereva has been active in international climate advocacy for years and is a current co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, which represents Indigenous perspectives at U.N. convenings. Despite working on entrenched challenges like climate change, those who know her describe her as upbeat and motivating to others. “She’s strongly advocating … the need to recognize the security of land rights of Indigenous peoples,” said Joan Carling, who is Indigenous Kankanaey from the Philippines and co-founder of Indigenous Peoples Rights International, adding that Egereva also is a strong advocate for acknowledging the value of Indigenous knowledge. “Not only to be recognized, but to be enhanced and supported, because we are contributing a lot of effective solutions to climate change using our traditional knowledge.” Two years ago, Egereva spoke at the Permanent Forum in New York, where she urged U.N. member states to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples. “Many Indigenous peoples continue to be pushed off their land, experience land degradation, environmental degradation, and lack of access to basic services,” she said, adding that climate change is a new challenge. “Those challenges are heightening the vulnerability of Indigenous peoples all over the world.” Her comments were in line with statements that Carling heard from Egereva. “Even in global spaces she’s not even attacking Russia as such, she’s contributing to discussing and presenting Indigenous issues in general,” Carling said. In November, Egereva attended COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where she spoke about the importance of including Indigenous women in climate policy discussions. On December 17, she was arrested along with Leongardt, who is known for her work leading educational programs for Indigenous peoples in Russia and a former intern at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva. Last month, a Russian court agreed to extend their detention until at least June. They each could face up to 20 years in prison. The sharp increase in Russian repression prompted the U.N. to appoint a new special rapporteur on the Russian Federation. In a report last fall by the current special rapporteur, Mariana Katzarova, she wrote that Russia has been silencing opposition to the war on Ukraine and that repression has worsened in 2024 and 2025. She emphasized specific harms against journalists, environmental defenders and Indigenous advocates, among other marginalized groups. “Sergei Kechimov, a shaman of the Indigenous Khanty people, who battled oil giant Surgutneftegaz over a sacred lake, died while undergoing prolonged persecution for his environmental work,” her report recounts. Just last week, Katzarova and other U.N. officials called for the release of both Egereva and Leongardt. “We are profoundly alarmed by such blatant abuse of counterterrorism and anti-extremism legislation to criminalize peaceful expression and anti-war positions, leading to the total destruction of civil society in Russia,” they wrote. “This practice cannot be tolerated and must end.” Indigenous environmental activists in Russia have long clashed with the state over their rights. “There was this moment in the 1990s where Indigenous activists were right there alongside others struggling for democracy, for self-governance, for more regional decision-making,” said Henry, the professor at Bowdoin College. “But I think one of the real challenges that emerged even well before the authoritarian turn is that Russia began to be kind of a petrostate, extractive, natural resource-dependent state, that was what was fueling economic growth and economic recovery, and that model became the state’s priority. And it just so happens that there’s a pretty significant coincidence of traditional Indigenous territory and these sites of extraction.” As Indigenous communities in Russia experienced more environmental degradation from fossil fuel production and loss of access to their territories, they spoke about what they were experiencing both locally and internationally, to the displeasure of the Russian government. In 2012, Russia created a “foreign agents” law that was used to shut down organizations that were allegedly influenced by foreign governments. Around this time, the government also accused Indigenous rights activists of being “separatists,” with increasing repression driven by an intolerance of dissent and a desire to control narratives and information. “These newer accusations of extremism and then terrorism are just a further escalation, and I think really shocking to many, many people,” Henry said. In 2018, Johannes Rohr, a German researcher of and advocate for Indigenous rights, was banned from Russia for 50 years after raising concerns in Geneva about how Indigenous Nenets in Russia’s Yamal Peninsula were being affected by a liquified natural gas project. According to OVD-Info, an independent group that tracks political prosecutions and detentions in Russia, Rohr’s expulsion from the country occurred amidst a broader, sharper increase in political crackdowns. The number of politically motivated detentions quadrupled from 46 in 2012 to 220 in 2018, and then doubled from 220 in 2018 to 449 in 2024, the year with the latest available data. “Back then that felt like the end of the world,” Rohr said. Now he said his fate pales to Egereva and Leongardt, who could be imprisoned for decades. “Every time you think it can’t possibly get any worse, it manages somehow to get even worse,” he added. In 2024, Russia designated more than 170 organizations as terrorist groups, including the Aborigen Forum, an informal network of Indigenous rights advocates. Egereva was affiliated through her work at a member organization known as the Center for Support of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North. Leongardt is also a former administrator of the center, where she organized internships and international exchanges for Indigenous participants. “We condemn this deliberate strategy of using ‘extremism’ and counterterrorism frameworks to dismantle civil society, criminalize and imprison human rights defenders, and target those seeking their support,” the U.N. special rapporteurs said in their recent statement. “Russian authorities must immediately halt proceedings against human rights defenders and anti-war critics and release all those arbitrarily detained for their peaceful human rights work.” The effect, Henry said, is that Indigenous advocates are discouraged from maintaining global networks in solidarity with other Indigenous peoples and from speaking out about what’s happening in their territories and on issues like climate change. “Russia is one of those countries where there is still quite a bit of climate change denialism, where there’s a sense that international efforts to address climate change are actually in part covert efforts to weaken Russia,” she said. “This rhetoric exists alongside the fact that the permafrost is melting rapidly in the Russian north and causing no end of problems with infrastructure from roads to railways to pipelines to housing, and the Russian government has set up elaborate permafrost monitoring.” Egereva and Leongardt’s international colleagues say that their detentions are costing the global community. “Daria represents a small Indigenous community in Russia, the Selkup people, and her absence [from the U.N. Permanent Forum] has particular significance for representation of small-numbered Indigenous peoples,” said Aivana Enmykau, who is Indigenous Nuvaqaghmiit from Russia and planning to attend the U.N. event. “Even [losing] one such person like Daria has a serious impact on their ability to represent their problems, their concerns, their ability to be heard.” Carling said Egereva’s absence will grow stronger with each coming climate gathering, the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany this June and COP31 event in Turkey in November, given her work advocating for Indigenous women in international climate discussions. “We should not tolerate the silencing of Indigenous peoples, wherever they are, in whatever country they come from,” Carling said. For Egereva and Leongardt, the cost of this crackdown on Indigenous and environmental advocacy is exceedingly personal. This month, Egereva observed her 49th birthday in jail. She is a mother of two. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline ‘A bellwether for new forms of repression’: 2 Indigenous rights advocates remain behind bars in Russia on Apr 16, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Anita Hofschneider.
Caitlin Johnstone: I hope the US loses and the empire collapses
COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone I don’t mind admitting that I hope the US and Israel suffer a crushing, devastating defeat in Iran. I hope this war collapses the entire US empire. My only loyalty is to humanity, and being on Team Human in today’s world means being against the US empire and against Israel. I
COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone I don’t mind admitting that I hope the US and Israel suffer a crushing, devastating defeat in Iran. I hope this war collapses the entire US empire. My only loyalty is to humanity, and being on Team Human in today’s world means being against the US empire and against Israel. I hope the empire falls. I hope the apartheid state of Israel is dismantled. LISTEN: A reading by Tim Foley I hope humanity is able to pry the steering wheel from the fingers of the ghouls who currently rule our world, so that we can create a healthy planet and a harmonious future together. I hope the US loses and other notes Video: Caitlin Johnstone YouTube has banned the channel that’s been creating viral AI Lego music videos criticising the US war on Iran. The Google-owned platform claims the Lego videos somehow constituted “violent content”, but we all know it was to facilitate the US propaganda effort by shutting down effective propaganda for the other side. Silicon Valley is a crucial arm of US imperial control. It chooses to advance the interests of the empire at every significant juncture. It’s a branch of imperial soft power in the same way the military is a branch of imperial hard power. Iran-linked accounts are circulating a new LEGO-style propaganda video portraying U.S. and Israeli leaders as corrupt elites tied to the “Epstein files,” part of a broader online campaign aimed at undermining support for the war. The animation depicts President Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/PdjcJGrjuy — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 9, 2026 ❖ The US and Israel have so normalised the assassination of national leaders that the mainstream press now discuss it as a standard military tactic. The other day The Washington Post ran an article by Marc Thiessen arguing that the US should “carry out a final barrage of leadership strikes, eliminating the Iranian officials who had been spared for the purpose of negotiations”. “Iran’s leaders must be made to understand that their lives literally depend on reaching a negotiated settlement to Trump’s liking. If they refuse to do so, they will be killed,” Thiessen writes. At some point one of America’s enemies is going to assassinate a US official and my replies are going to be full of shrieking, outraged Americans acting like I’m the bad guy when I say Washington had it coming. ❖ Even if the US wasn’t directly responsible for the Strait of Hormuz situation, it would still be the last country on earth with any business whining about it. They’re openly imposing a fuel blockade on Cuba while complaining that nobody should be allowed to block shipping lanes, for Christ’s sake. ❖ The Democratic National Committee voted to reject a resolution denouncing the influence of AIPAC in US politics. Eighty percent of Democrats have a negative view of Israel today. The DNC’s main function is to keep the Democratic Party and its representation on the ballot from reflecting the will of the public. ❖ pic.twitter.com/K0kNiJYbKs — Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 14, 2026 Dear Trump supporters, send me all of your money. I have a plan to make America great again. I will end all the wars and drain the swamp. Don’t worry if it looks like I’m not doing any of those things, I’m playing 4d chess, trust the plan. Send me your life savings right now. ❖ It’s important not to let them pin this all on Trump, in the same way it’s important not to let them pin Israel’s crimes on Netanyahu. Everything we are seeing with this disastrous Iran war is the product of the entire power structure which gave rise to it, not one guy’s dopey decisions. The warmongers in the DC swamp have been pushing war with Iran for decades. Trump is just the guy who was chosen by Zionist oligarchs and bloodthirsty empire managers to carry out the deed. He happens to be the face on the operation, but if it wasn’t him it would have been someone else. American warmongering insanity didn’t start with Trump, and it isn’t going to end with him either. Don’t direct your rage merely at the fleeting puppets who come and go from the imperial stage as the US murder machine trudges onward. Direct it at the empire itself. Caitlin Johnstone is an Australian independent journalist and poet. Her articles include The UN Torture Report On Assange Is An Indictment Of Our Entire Society. She publishes a website and Caitlin’s Newsletter. This article is republished with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Musicians MUNA on leaning into specificity
When you write, are you ever worried about anchoring your lyrics in a specific place, like Los Angeles on “East Side Girls”?
When you write, are you ever worried about anchoring your lyrics in a specific place, like Los Angeles on “East Side Girls”? Katie Gavin: I mean, when I write, I’m worried about everything. There’s a certain point within the process where you’re just worried, especially when you already have a platform and you know that people are going to be listening to it. I think we were really inspired by LA with this whole record, but the thing that we landed on with the “East Side Girls,” especially in the bridge, is that there is a whole historical canon of artistic gay communities on the East Side of a bunch of different cities. I remember being in Berlin and talking about this. Historically, factories have been on the East Side of many cities, so the rent around there is cheaper. The different places we list in the bridge are all places where I know that there has either now or at one point been an East Side culture. At the same time, the more specific you get, the more people actually do attach to a song. I don’t think you can overestimate people’s ability to put themselves in your shoes. Listeners are so creative. They can fill in with their own experiences, even if you’re giving them a clear feeling in a song. Can you talk a bit about your decision to lean into political themes on Dancing on the Wall? Did you have any discussions in the band about that? Naomi McPherson: Our art is going to be politicized whether we like it or not. So, we might as well try our best to make educated, cogent, informed, and interesting statements if we are to make them overtly in the songs. “Big Stick” was a song that we’ve been working towards, a way to talk about these things in music. I often think songs that are super political run the risk of coming across as condescending, but I think there are plenty of examples of political songs that are super effective. We’ve just been waiting to figure out the way that we could be effective with our version of it without running the risk of people feeling like we think we’re smarter or better than them. It was never really a conversation of whether or not we should do it. It was just like how and what is the best way. There’s a reference to climate change on “It Gets So Hot,” and “Buzzkiller” has some moments as well. Acknowledging the contemporary political reality that we’re living through is just an effort to write truthfully about our lived experience. To leave that part out would be dishonest. It’s something we’re very preoccupied with and think about a lot, as I’m sure most people do. Josette Maskin: It’s also been who we are since we started as a band. One of the first singles that we put out was “Loudspeaker,” a song shrouded in the guise of pop music, but with a really heavy message that we felt have always needed to be heard. “Big Stick” is maybe the most overt and also the most critical rather than personally motivated, but it’s part of MUNA’s DNA. There’s never been a question about it. Naomi, you produced this record, and you’re a producer for other musicians. Do you approach songs differently from a production standpoint than you would as a musician? NP: I think for me, production is almost like the instrument that I play in the band. I wouldn’t describe myself as the strongest instrumentalist at any one particular instrument. I play keys and guitar when we perform live, and I sing background vocals. But production is where my brain as a musician functions most effectively, and it’s kind of how I think about music. I fell into that role pretty naturally from the beginning of the band. I think production first, and then I figure out what the hell I’m going to be playing for the songs live later. I’m beat first, production first, and then I just figure it out on the backend as a band member. The songs get to take on their own new life in the live iteration of our project, which is cool too. Did the success of “Silk Chiffon” create any pressure for this record? KG: The reality of your life when you have success is it immediately becomes, “Okay, so how are you going to keep this up?” Or, “Are you going to do it again? Are you going to be able to repeat this thing that people liked?” We had a very human response. I don’t think we were reacting against “Silk Chiffon,” but when you cross over to the mild extent that we did, you can feel like people don’t totally understand you because they just know you as the “queer joy mini-skirt rollerblade” band. We had a desire to take the time and the resources that that song allowed us to make the most cohesive body of work that we could, that we felt really represented who we have been the whole time as a band. If people respond to this record with open arms in the same way that they did with “Silk Chiffon,” I will be so over the moon. But even if they don’t, this is my favorite MUNA record that we’ve ever made. That was our approach to surviving this dilemma of what to do when your dreams come true. JM: I think it’s less about the song and more about the change in the political climate. We were seen in terms of queer joy, and then queer joy was subsumed by capitalism. We’re in this era where rights are being stripped away. It’s our reaction to that message as queer people who aren’t just joyful. We’re full of rage. We’re people who are full of many emotions. This record hopefully reflects the political climate that we’re in now. We’re not going to fit into a beautiful Target ad. Was it hard to be vulnerable as a songwriter after that success? KG: I think that’s always been an involuntary strength of mine as a songwriter, to be honest with you. If anything, I constantly have dysmorphia about the fact that we have gotten bigger or that the platform is bigger. When I’m writing, I forget how many people may hear something, which I guess is a good thing. It’s worked in my favor. Katie, about you released a solo record since MUNA’s last album. Were there songs on there that you felt like you might save for MUNA? How did you know how to compartmentalize your solo creative process from the band? KG: The solo record started before our third album came out. It was the result of having a hefty group of songs that Naomi and Jo didn’t feel like were right for a MUNA record, but I still wanted to share with the world. “Aftertaste” was almost a MUNA song, but by that point in the process, I was like, “I need to have a single, so, sorry, but it’s too late.” I started playing “She Gives Me Feelings” on that tour, and then I started a campaign to get “She Gives Me Feelings” on this most recent MUNA record. We tried it a bunch of different ways, and it just didn’t work. It’s kind of a constant negotiation, but MUNA is my primary project. I think the Katie Gavin solo world is a space for me to be able to experiment with other things, and that’s ultimately really good for me because it closes the loop on a lot of these things so that I can keep the songs moving. How did the lyrics take shape for this record? KG: This has definitely been our most collaborative record. “It Gets So Hot” was written in the room together from start to finish. “Girl’s Girl” was written the same way with another songwriter, Justin Tranter. I tend to bring the band the rough draft of something or the first verse and chorus of something. Naomi had a note folder of a bunch of beats that they’d made. If I’m not making a skeleton of an Ableton session and writing over it, I’ll go through and see how to wrap it around something from that. With Dancing On The Wall, Naomi and I went into the studio and recorded the basic idea for the verse and chorus, and then ended up reworking a lot of the chorus because Josette had ideas about how to fine tune and make it the best version of what it is. We’re really not anti-revision as a pop band. I’ve had to build up my tolerance for that, because obviously you’re always going to idealize the experience of something coming out perfect on the first try. We’ve had so many experiences revising songs. Maybe they don’t get better right away, but they usually end up better. It’s this tried and true thing for us that you have to be willing to try stuff out. What other creative practices outside of the band feed into MUNA? NM: I’m hopeful that after this album, I’ll be able to parlay my production into other producing jobs, but I would probably be pretty selective with what I took on. My girlfriend’s a standup comedian, and we share ideas about our different creative pursuits. I get a kick out of engaging with her and whatever she’s working on because I’m a big comedy nerd. I really enjoy getting to participate to whatever removed extent I can in her world. JM: When we’re not doing MUNA stuff, I help other people write songs for their projects. That’s always nice, because I do best helping other people reach what they’re trying to say, or at least helping people parlay that. It’s just helpful to see how other people work and think about songwriting in different ways. I think that helps influence the record in terms of song structure and form. I like collaborating. That’s my favorite part about this project, and that’s my favorite part about the other projects that I get to work on. That’s really the creative part, other than bodybuilding. NM and JM: Gym, tan, laundry. Is there any overlap in the goals you set for yourself as a musician and the goals you’re setting for yourself at the gym? JM: My training has literally switched to preparing for the live show. As well as weightlifting, I’m doing jump roping to get cardiovascularly ready. I think we all have to get into a certain amount of shape to be able to perform the actual show because it’s not like we’re just standing around. We’re really going for it. NM: There is something about having a gym practice that feels almost contemplative for me. Lifting weights is a time for me to gather my thoughts and think about my creative practice, but not be doing it. I think I have a lot of ideas when I’m at the gym. It does get the juices flowing in other ways. It really is just a good embodied practice. A lot of our work is totally out there and esoteric. We’re talking about music. It’s very groovy, and weightlifting is very practical. How you track your progress is just a numbers game. There’s something soothing about that, too. I think it’s gained in popularity all over the world because it’s an arena in which you can feel yourself making progress in a world where often that is not made available to a lot of people. You can feel really stagnant and stuck in a life that maybe is very repetitive, and you can’t feel yourself growing, but at the gym you can. MUNA Recommends: Doppelganger by Naomi Klein 24 Hour Party People Visiting the LA River and LA Public Library This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Arielle Gordon.
Singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett on the importance of looking back at your progress
How did you get into making music? I became obsessed with music at some point as a child, maybe from watching my brother and his friends play music. My family listened to music and liked music, but they didn’t really play instruments. I started learning guitar pretty young and then I got lessons from a really great teacher and he essentially showed me how easy it was to put a few chords together. It kind of blew my mind. And so I feel like I started writing songs when I was kind of young; around 8, 9, 10. Do you remember the first song you wrote where you thought, “I’m proud of this?” Yeah, I think I was proud of it actually. It was just kind of a love song and I guess I was just kind of copying what I was hearing. When I turned 18, I started doing open mic nights and started performing my own songs. Around that time, I was like, “Oh, I’m proud of these songs enough to perform them.” And then I think in my early 20s, I wrote songs for the first EP that I released. And I think that that’s when I found my voice. I think before then I was kind of imitating or copying other songwriters or other music I was listening to. But I feel like in my early 20s, I just found something that felt really comfortable to me. I’ve never written a song before, but I imagine you have to think about the lyrics, you have to think about the musicality of it, and then there’s just the general idea and theme. Which one usually comes first for you? The way I’ve found works the best for me is to almost not think about it. When I think about it too much, it feels really forced or it feels fake or something. So a lot of the times I try to do this kind of free writing, or writing this from this subconscious place or a dream state almost–just to try to tap into the part of my brain that isn’t filtering itself. I’ve really tried to do that on this album. A lot of the time I would find themes afterwards. But it really wasn’t intentional. And I guess I find that interesting because I’m trying to tap into a part of my brain that’s not thinking. How do you enter that dream state? I definitely write down all my dreams. I’ve kind of been doing that for a while, but I’ve been trying to be more disciplined about it and study them a bit more and just spend more time thinking and analyzing them. And then in that kind of free writing place, I just kind of have notebooks that I just sit and just write. I try my best to tune out of my brain or sometimes I might pick a theme or pick an idea or whatever, but normally I try to let myself wander off and then I just see where it goes. And often I’ll come back to the same place or I’ll find myself using some of the same words or phrases, which is interesting in itself to see what kind of continues to pop up. It’s interesting to hear that you are not thinking about theme as you’re writing because while listening to your music over the years, I picked up a lot of themes that carry over across albums: you write about all different types of relationships so beautifully and I appreciate the way that you write about mental health as well. How does that work when you’re putting together an album? Do you ever write songs where you decide, “This actually doesn’t work with this project?” There were some songs that I omitted. They were in the pile, in the long list of songs, but some of them were older. I think they just felt less relevant, or they were kind of older songs that I had never finished, so it wasn’t so much… I guess that’s the subject matter, but maybe it’s that they felt like they were from a different time or something. But I don’t think that happens very often because I think I really like the idea that an album for me is kind of a document of time, so I feel like it captures this three year period roughly, or whatever it is. And I like seeing all the places that it goes. Could you talk a bit about your day-to-day when you’re in the process of making an album? I guess it always changes. I think on this album, I was investigating in a way my method and my writing processes and my writing habits or just my artistic habits in general. Normally I like to have a desk wherever I am, and I like to sit and write. And that’s normally where I start, like I was saying before, just like pages and pages of nonsense. Honestly, whatever is in my head with no direction or filter. That’s almost like my warmup period or something. When I really felt the album starting, I made a conscious effort to sit at my kitchen table every morning with a notepad and a guitar and try to start one new song idea each day. So that was just a little exercise to exercise that muscle. I always have the best intentions, but I always fall into laziness or procrastination or old habits. But I think procrastination is good. Instead of beating myself up about it, I try to just say that that is part of it and we need to go and watch a show or go and listen to something or take a walk or whatever it is. I think that there’s a healthy way to look at it without beating ourselves up. So that’s why I’m trying to allow space for those things. I’m curious how you refill your creative well–do you read a lot, or listen to a lot of different albums? I don’t listen to much music when I’m working on a project. I think there’s maybe a part of my brain that doesn’t want to be influenced or hear things and then unconsciously imitate them or something. I find myself watching more films. I’ve recently been reading more and getting back to a place of enjoying reading. But I think I tend to find a lot of inspiration from film and like television and television sometimes and even reality TV or something, I’m like, “Well, this is psychologically really interesting.” I try to look at everything as a form of study, even if it sounds ridiculous, but I’m trying to learn something or at least empathize with what’s going on or just understand it on a deeper level. I think there’s always something to learn. How do you feel like your relationship to making art and music has changed since that has become your job? I think it’s hard to understand why and how, but it’s definitely changed and it would be a lie to state otherwise. [The] early songs or early work of any artist–the kind of not knowing if anyone will ever see it or hear it–there is a real kind of innocence and naivety to that, which is pretty beautiful and maybe hard to ever, ever replicate. I think it’s really interesting to see how that evolves as people do start listening or start coming to shows. But also I think just with experience, general life and writing experience, I kind of like the evolution of my writing. I don’t hate anything I’ve done, but I can look back and I can see the progress or the evolution. It’s nice to look at it in a curious way instead of like, “Oh, I wish I didn’t write that.” Because that’s growth. And I’ve noticed over the years, even how much a song changes from me playing it in my bedroom and making a demo to showing it to one friend. Not even releasing it or playing it to an audience, just like one person, how much it changes the song. How does it change the song? I guess this is a thought in progress, but as soon as someone else perceives it, you see it through a different lens. It’s like a feeling more than anything, I guess, because obviously it doesn’t literally change it. It’s like you can feel the projection. It’s a messy thought. But it’s interesting to see how much it can alter something. I totally get what you mean. I feel like deciding who the first people are who are going to see something so raw is important. Because even if you say, “I’m not going to take any feedback, it’s not going to impact me”–yes, it is. Yes, of course. And I guess I’m curious what that actually is. If it’s our own assumptions about what they’re thinking or as soon as you share the thought, you hear it in a different way. I guess it’s like therapy. I started therapy around the same time I started writing this album. So I feel like in a way it’s a similar thing to saying a thought out loud that you’ve never said out loud, but you say it for the first time and it puts it in a different perspective as soon as someone else hears it, or even just as soon as you say it out loud. You were mentioning earlier that you feel like you can track the growth in your songwriting. How do you feel, particularly with this album, your songwriting grew? This album was interesting because I feel like I had a lot of writer’s block on this album and I remember a similar feeling from my second album. For some reason I just kept coming up against all these blocks and a lot of self-doubt. And I think when I started it had been a while since I’d written a song, so it felt like I was starting again. There must be some sort of metaphor in there: I was going through this transitional period in a way in my life, and I was, in a way, starting again. I was trying to find this honesty. Before, I thought I was being honest in my writing, and maybe I was being as honest as I could. But I feel like I would often have a wall up, or I would cover things with sarcasm or humor or whatever it was. I guess I was looking at that and just trying to be like, what is honesty and what is vulnerability actually? And what is authenticity? Because those words get thrown around, but I think I’m often like, “Well, what does it actually mean? And how do I know I’m being honest because I’m still presenting an image of myself to people.” Looking to the future, do you have any particular dreams for the rest of your career or next projects or anything? I’m like a big list maker, so often, over the course of my career, I make little dream lists, which I think is a really fun thing to do because you look back at them sometimes and you’re like, “Oh, I did that. I did this little thing that I thought was a total pipe dream.” So I definitely would encourage anyone to do that because I think it’s a really nice thing to do. But at the moment, I guess I’m so focused on this album and releasing this album, performing this album. And then I think just the hope and the dream is just to keep growing and evolving through my music, through my writing, which sounds so simple, but I think it’s kind of a hard thing to do. Courtney Barnett recommends: Stranger Than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch (film) McCartney II by Paul McCartney (album) Working With Anger by Thubten Chodron (book) Pluribus (television) Hiking in nature (no headphones) This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Mary Retta.
NZ’s $86 billion Super Fund failed to properly address human rights, court rules in Palestine case
By Keiller MacDuff, RNZ News senior reporter The managers of the New Zealand’s $86 billion Super Fund failed to properly address human rights issues when considering whether to exclude companies from its investments, the High Court has found Justice Simon Mount granted an application by the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) for judicial review of
By Keiller MacDuff, RNZ News senior reporter The managers of the New Zealand’s $86 billion Super Fund failed to properly address human rights issues when considering whether to exclude companies from its investments, the High Court has found Justice Simon Mount granted an application by the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) for judicial review of Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation’s policies relating to ethical investment. In a decision released today, Justice Mount declared parts of the fund’s policy documents, standards and procedures, and its sustainable investment framework were “unreasonable and unlawful”. READ MORE: Illegal Israeli settlers kill Palestinian during raid on occupied West Bank village How Israel’s record budget will finance expanding illegal settlements Other PSNA Super Fund reports The court also ordered the crown entity to pay PSNA’s legal costs. PSNA co-chair John Minto said the decision was a victory for Palestinian rights, while Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation said it was considering its next move. The sovereign wealth fund was created in 2001 to help provide for New Zealander’s superannuation costs. By law, Guardians are required to invest the funds on a prudent commercial basis, manage and administer the fund with best-practice portfolio management, and avoid prejudice to New Zealand’s reputation as “a responsible member of the world community”. Backbone of case That last duty formed the backbone of the case taken by PSNA, who have long lobbied the Guardians to divest from companies it claims to be complicit in human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Guardians excluded development, construction and technology companies involved in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 2012. In 2021, following years of lobbying by PSNA, the Guardians also excluded five Israeli banks from its portfolio on the grounds there was an unacceptable risk the banks were materially contributing to breaches of human rights standards and that engaging with the banks themselves was unlikely to be effective. PSNA continued to request the exclusion of other investments due to alleged human rights breaches and focused on four companies that featured on a United Nations Human Rights Council database of companies trading with illegal Israeli settlements — Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and Motorola. Justice Mount said the chief executive of the Guardians replied to the group in mid-2024 noting none of the companies “currently meets the exclusion threshold under our Sustainable Investment Framework”. Justice Simon Mount . . . Super Fund policies failed to meet the basic requirements of the law when alleged breaches of human rights standards were concerned. Image: Stuff/Robyn Edie/RNZ In later correspondence, the Guardians’ head of sustainable investment reiterated that stance, which led PSNA to indicate it would seek the judicial review. In his findings, Justice Mount noted the Guardian’s 2020 policy documents identified several standards and benchmarks that were later removed — including the Principles for Responsible Investment, principles of the UN Global Compact, and a broad reference to “other good practice standards”. Earlier policy removed The earlier policy referred to several sets of standards described as “universally recognised by the world community — with signatories including investment managers, investee companies and the peers of Guardians — and unlikely to be superseded”. The 2020 policy stated its applicable principles were based on the UN Global Compact, in particular the requirements to support and respect human rights and “no complicity in abuses”. It also set a threshold for excluding government bonds where there was “widespread condemnation or sanctions by the international community and New Zealand has imposed meaningful diplomatic, economic or military sanctions”. Justice Mount noted the almost 3000 pages of evidence filed for the judicial review allowed him to gain a picture of how the Guardians had used their policy documents in practice. The judge noted the Guardians’ approach to excluding investments was not entirely coherent and the policies failed to meet the basic requirements of the law when alleged breaches of human rights standards were concerned. The Guardians had a duty to reformulate its policy documents to be consistent with the Act, he said. Minto celebrated the court’s ruling. PSNA co-chair John Minto . . . The country’s leading sovereign wealth fund should . . . not be deriving money from war crimes and massive human rights abuses. Image: RNZ/Nate McKinnon Fund raking in money The group was confident the Super Fund would divest from Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Motorola once it had rewritten its policies to comply with the law, he said. The High Court judgment showed the Super Fund had invested $67 million in the four companies. Minto said the fund was raking in money from appalling breaches of international law by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The country’s leading sovereign wealth fund should be setting the benchmark for all New Zealand investment funds, not deriving money from war crimes and massive human rights abuses, he said. The lack of a clear grounds to exclude companies from investment because of human rights abuses were particularly problematic, Minto said. “This is beyond outrageous. Our largest sovereign wealth fund, owned by the government on behalf of the people of New Zealand, has no specific references to human rights standards in its investment exclusions policy.” The case had revealed the exclusions policy was weakened and direct references to human rights standards were removed the year after the fund divested from five Israeli banks, Minto said. Replaced with vague policy “The Super Fund replaced a principled policy with an entirely vague and subjective assessment of companies which meant they could resist pressure from human rights groups such as PSNA. “The fund was entirely making up legal sounding excuses as it went. It meant they could now keep on their books other companies which abuse the human rights of Palestinians,” he said. “The Super Fund owes us all an apology and in particular an apology to Palestinians here and in Palestine, whose suffering is helping pay the price of the fund’s increasing wealth.” Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation chief executive Jo Townsend said the crown entity was still considering its response to the decision. “We recognise that we are investing on behalf of all New Zealanders, and that gives people a legitimate interest in how we manage the fund,” she said. “We will thoroughly evaluate today’s decision and determine how best to respond to it,” she said. The UN Human Rights Council database featuring the four companies is from a list of 97 companies involved with illegal Israeli settlements. The database came about following a 2016 UN Security Council resolution, co-sponsored by New Zealand, that led to diplomatic rupture between the two countries and Israel recalling its ambassador. Israeli media reported at the time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully proceeding with the resolution wold be considered a “declaration of war”. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Surging violence haunts Indian journalists ahead of elections in politically polarized West Bengal
Indian journalists Soma Maity and Ranjit Mahato had been at the protest for a matter of minutes before they were attacked by a mob on January 16. Maity said she was grabbed and lifted by two men, who pulled her hair, restrained her legs, and tore at her clothes while others touched her body. She...
Indian journalists Soma Maity and Ranjit Mahato had been at the protest for a matter of minutes before they were attacked by a mob on January 16. Maity said she was grabbed and lifted by two men, who pulled her hair, restrained her legs, and tore at her clothes while others touched her body. She suffered injuries to her arm and ankle from which she has not fully recovered. Mahato, a cameraman, was hospitalized with head injuries after the crowd beat him with blunt objects. The two journalists from Bengali-language broadcaster Zee 24 Ghanta were assaulted in Murshidabad district in the eastern state of West Bengal, one of India’s most politically violent regions and one of the most dangerous to be a journalist. At least four journalists were assaulted over 48 hours while covering the unrest, which was ignited by the death of a local Bengali-Muslim migrant worker in the neighboring state of Jharkhand. Far from isolated incidents, the attacks were part of a pattern of violence against journalists in West Bengal — home to more than 90 million people — where political polarization and sectarian tensions have been intensifying ahead of two-phase state elections scheduled for April 23 and 29. Election-related violence has become commonplace between supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), a regional party anchored in welfare populism and minority inclusion, and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has dominated federal politics with a Hindu-nationalist agenda for more than a decade. The environment for journalists covering these events has become increasingly dangerous in recent years, particularly in border districts prone to communal violence. Attacks on journalists and the unwillingness of authorities to condemn them have created a culture of impunity, journalists say, compromising independent coverage of state politics. “Something may begin as a simple protest but will soon be taken over by mob — journalists then become immediate targets,” said Palash Singh, a reporter for KTV Bangla in Murshidabad. “The mobs break our phones while the police and the government tell us to stay away from covering these issues for security reasons. We’re squeezed from both sides.” ‘Targeted for recording the truth’ In interviews, six West Bengal journalists told CPJ that violence, intimidation, harassment, and seizure of equipment was worsening in the state, particularly in sensitive areas like Murshidabad. In most cases, they said, police provided no help during mob violence and authorities have consistently failed to act on violations of press freedom, leading to a climate of fear and self-censorship. Maidul Islam, a journalist with the Bengali daily newspaper Dindorpon, said police stood by as his clearly marked press motorcycle was torched in April 2025 by protesters angered by a new law on land use perceived as discriminatory against Muslims. “[Mobs] target us because they know that if we record the truth, that footage becomes evidence,” he said. “To date, no case has been registered in my instance. The mobs now openly shout that anyone seen with a camera should be attacked.” <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" height="576" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?w=1024" alt="A motorcycle burns on a street in Suti, Murshidabad district, West Bengal, during protests against the Waqf Amendment Act in April 2025. The bike belonged to Maidul Islam, a journalist with the Bengali daily Dindorpon, who was covering the unrest when the mob set it alight. Photo: Maidul Islam" class="wp-image-581065" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg 1600w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=1024,576 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=1536,864 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=570,321 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=652,367 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=760,428 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=1140,641 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maidul-bike.jpeg?resize=367,206 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> A motorcycle owned by Maidul Islam, a journalist with the Bengali daily Dindorpon, burns on a street in Murshidabad during protests against the Waqf Amendment Act in April 2025. (Photo: Maidul Islam) Another veteran journalist who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisal, said violence that was once associated with criminal networks is now used by political actors. “During the last local body elections in Raninagar, Murshidabad, we saw ruling party supporters engage in assaults while the police stood by as mute spectators,” he said. “When journalists tried to document voting irregularities, they were met with retaliatory violence.” For others, the threat of being attacked has made it too dangerous to report from the field. “Many of us stay in the city. We have stopped reporting from the interior because anything can happen,” said a journalist in Murshidabad, who did not want to be named for safety reasons. Official silence West Bengal has a long history of political violence and data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project shows consistent spikes around elections. During previous election periods, including the 2024 general elections, West Bengal recorded some of the highest levels of political violence in the country, including attacks against journalists. Despite repeated attacks on the press, rarely have they been condemned by the state government or comprehensively investigated by police. Instead of denouncing the violence on January 16, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who leads the TMC, suggested that journalists should avoid entering volatile crowds, saying the situation was “beyond her control.” Monideepa Banerjie, a veteran broadcast journalist based in West Bengal’s capital Kolkata, said the chief minister should have immediately sent a strong, zero-tolerance signal that violence against reporters was unacceptable. “In moments like these, political leadership and messaging really matter,” Banerjie told CPJ. In March, CPJ met with political parties contesting the West Bengal elections and urged them to make public commitments to journalist safety and press freedom. Opposition parties including the BJP, Indian National Congress, and Communist Party of India (Marxist), indicated a willingness to include commitments in their manifestos. The ruling TMC emphasised that the media must act ethically, adding the party was open to discussing specific protections for journalists, but it would not make commitments ahead of the election. <img decoding="async" height="452" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?w=1024" alt="CPJ India researcher Somi Das submits a letter asking for commitments on journalist safety to (left to right) Mohammad Salim, state president of the Communist Party of India (Marxist); Debjit Sarkar, chief spokesperson of the BJP’s West Bengal unit; and Subhankar Sarkar, president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, in Kolkata in March 2026. " class="wp-image-581014" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg 1812w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=300,132 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=768,339 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=1024,452 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=1536,678 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=570,252 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=652,288 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=760,336 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=1140,503 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpj_letter_collage-2.jpg?resize=367,162 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> CPJ India researcher Somi Das submits a letter asking for commitments on journalist safety to (left to right) Mohammad Salim, state president of the Communist Party of India (Marxist); Debjit Sarkar, chief spokesperson of the BJP’s West Bengal unit; and Subhankar Sarkar, president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, in Kolkata in March 2026. (Photo: CPJ) Caught in the sectarian crossfire The government’s refusal to meaningfully address journalist safety has contributed to an environment in which brazen partisan attacks are not uncommon. On February 25, Mayukh Thakur Chakraborty, a correspondent with Bengali-language broadcaster ABP Ananda, was assaulted on camera by a mob in Howrah city after he questioned a local TMC lawmaker about his alleged links to a murder suspect. In 2024, Santu Pan, a former journalist with Bengali-language news channel Republic Bangla — which critics say is aligned with the BJP — was arrested live on air while reporting on protests over allegations of abuse by TMC officials. Pan has now quit journalism and works for the BJP. Journalists in West Bengal say the challenges of reporting have multiplied as religious sectarianism has intensified and become the dominant feature in local politics. Tensions between the TMC and BJP have been fueled by competing narratives around immigration and religious identity in the state, which was a communist stronghold for decades until the TMC took power in 2011. <img decoding="async" height="576" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?w=1024" alt="Police personnel in riot gear face a crowd during protests in Berhampore, Murshidabad district, West Bengal, following the Waqf Amendment Act unrest in April 2025. Journalists covering the demonstrations were among those targeted by the mob. (Photo: Maidul Islam)" class="wp-image-581116" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg 1280w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=1024,576 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=570,321 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=652,367 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=760,428 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=1140,641 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-13-at-9.23.36-AM.jpeg?resize=367,206 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Police personnel in riot gear face a crowd during protests in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, against the Waqf Amendment Act in April 2025. Journalists covering the demonstrations were targeted by the mob. (Photo: Maidul Islam) The BJP has alleged the government has facilitated illegal immigration from neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh, framing it as a demographic and security threat. The TMC, which positions itself as a secular defender of Bengal’s pluralistic identity, has refuted the claims and accused the BJP of targeting Bangla-speaking Bengali-Muslims as part of a divisive, Hindu-majoritarian agenda. “What makes it complicated now is that the violence is no longer purely political. It has a sectarian texture that did not exist before,” said Jayanta Ghoshal, a senior journalist and political analyst with New Delhi-based broadcaster NDTV. “There is a religious bias mindset operating in some of those spaces that makes any journalist with a camera a target, regardless of which outlet they work for.” When his reporters are in the field, Ghoshal tells them to take precautions in hostile crowds and to remember that their safety comes first. However, he added, “When the issue is law and order, the onus lies with the government.” Breaking the cycle of impunity As political violence in West Bengal increasingly merges with sectarian tensions and mob impunity, the space for independent journalism is narrowing. Some of the most acute press freedom challenges are playing out not just in Kolkata’s newsrooms but at the district level, where stringers and neighborhood-level correspondents operate without institutional protection, formal credentials, or legal recourse. Local journalists interviewed by CPJ said news outlets could help by issuing official press IDs to every stringer and district correspondent working in the field. They said press clubs should be more active in defending journalists, including through collective action such as work stoppages, street protests, and sustained public pressure on the district governments. Finally, efforts must be taken to break the cycle of impunity, journalists said. They recommended that every assault or detention of a journalist should be designated for fast-track judicial processing. The chief minister’s office and home department should also be held to a standing protocol of issuing formal public statements following every documented attack on a working journalist. TMC State Vice President Jay Prakash Majumdar said the government was committed to press freedom “in principle.” “However, media must be ethical — we expect a level playing field and neutral reporting, not coverage submerged in biased opinion,” he told CPJ in an interview. “When reporting is perceived as partisan, it can create tensions on the ground.” The Chief Minister’s Office, the home department secretary, the director general of police, West Bengal, and the superintendent of police, Murshidabad, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Somi Das.
Deadly landslide claims 10 lives in PNG’s East New Britain, reports local media
RNZ Pacific Ten people have died in a landslide in Gazelle district in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain Province following continuous heavy rain, according to local news media reports. The disaster occurred after the Toriu River burst its banks after intense rainfall and severe weather conditions experienced across the region over the past few
RNZ Pacific Ten people have died in a landslide in Gazelle district in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain Province following continuous heavy rain, according to local news media reports. The disaster occurred after the Toriu River burst its banks after intense rainfall and severe weather conditions experienced across the region over the past few days due to Cylcone Maila. Local media is reporting that the incident happened on Sunday in the Gazelle Baining Local Level Government area. READ MORE: Other PNG landslide reports The Post-Courier reports the victims included a five-month-pregnant woman and three toddlers. Provincial Administrator Levi Mano said the landslide was a result of adverse weather conditions brought by the cyclone. Gazelle MP Jelta Wong confirmed the deaths. Wong said recovery teams faced challenges reaching the disaster area because of its remoteness, but the recovery was eventually successful. According to the Post-Courier, East New Britain Governor Michael Marum visited the site by helicopter to inspect the damage and coordinate relief supplies. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Trump’s naval blockade of Strait of Hormuz actually targets China
COMMENTARY: By Lim Tean Most of Iranian oil — 96.7 percent — is destined for China. If you note this figure, you will realise that the Americans are really trying to choke off the supply of Iranian oil to China by blockading the Strait of Hormuz. This is a major part of the American containment
COMMENTARY: By Lim Tean Most of Iranian oil — 96.7 percent — is destined for China. If you note this figure, you will realise that the Americans are really trying to choke off the supply of Iranian oil to China by blockading the Strait of Hormuz. This is a major part of the American containment strategy against China. Now that America will most likely lose control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, they are shifting their attention to the other most critical chokepoint in the world — the Strait of Malacca. READ MORE: Indonesia, US sign ‘major’ defence cooperation agreement Why Trump’s naval blockade to ‘strangle’ Iran is a joke Pakistani army chief in Tehran amid bid to restart US talks Other US-Israel war on Iran reports About 80 percent of China’s imported oil has to pass through the Strait of Malacca. Vessels come down the Strait, sail past Singapore which is at the southernmost tip of the Strait, before they swing upwards into the South China Sea to go to the Philippines and East Asia, including China. The two most important countries which border the Malacca Strait are Indonesia and Malaysia, one on either side of the Strait. A very interesting development took place on Monday in Washington when the Defence Minister of Indonesia Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin signed a cooperation agreement with US War Secretary Pete Hegseth. Speculation on details People are speculating about the details of the agreement: Will it allow the Americans to base troops in Indonesia and use Indonesian airspace for their air assets? Will American naval vessels be allowed to dock at the old Dutch port of Belawan, near Medan, in Northern Sumatra, which is near the opening to the Strait? Will the Malacca Strait now become the focal point in this great power struggle between America and China? What will Indonesia’s other BRICs partners, principally China and Russia think of Indonesia’s move in signing this agreement with the Americans? To spice things up, Indonesian President Probowo Subianto was in Moscow a few days ago meeting with President Putin. 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. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-126525" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Strait-of-Malacca-map-LT-660wide.jpg" alt="The two most important countries which border the Malacca Strait are Indonesia and Malaysia, one on either side of the Strait" width="660" height="638" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Strait-of-Malacca-map-LT-660wide.jpg 660w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Strait-of-Malacca-map-LT-660wide-300x290.jpg 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Strait-of-Malacca-map-LT-660wide-434x420.jpg 434w" sizes="(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" /> The two most important countries which border the Malacca Strait are Indonesia and Malaysia, one on either side of the Strait. Image: Lim Tean FB This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Maoz Inon & Aziz Abu Sarah on Israelis and Palestinians working together
Soft power ‘win’ for Beijing as Chinese medical ship treats 5,400 for free in PNG
Floating hospital Silk Road Ark’s 220-day goodwill humanitarian mission ends with Port Moresby port call
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — Thousands of sick, disabled and otherwise unwell queued at Wharf T over the past week, hoping to board a Chinese hospital ship to receive free medical care. Some who were lucky enough to be taken in told Radio Free Asia that it was “a miracle” to receive medical services that are not available in local hospitals on board the Silk Road Ark, a type 920 hospital ship run by China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, in town for only seven days. After seeing its last patients Tuesday and holding a farewell ceremony on deck with PNG’s Prime Minister James Marape, the ship departed Wednesday, having completed a 220-day humanitarian mission, where it visited around a dozen countries in Latin America and the South Pacific. “My daughter Margaret is a sick child,” Kimberly Yanogen, a PNG resident, told RFA Tuesday. “I would have paid 1,000 kina (US$231.47) or more if I took her to the public hospital or private clinics here.” Chinese medical ship Silk Road Ark, after arriving at the port city of Valparaiso, Chile, March 1, 2026. (Rodrigo Garrido/Reuters) She said the doctor performed a physical checkup on her daughter and advised her how to deal with her condition. “I am so happy to be given this advice free of charge,” she said. “I would like to say thank you to the Chinese government for sending this ship here. They have made our access to service and our lives easier,” she said. For the Papua New Guinea leg, the final tally was 5,493 patients seen, 339 surgeries performed, China’s ambassador to PNG Yang Xiaoguang reported during a speech at the ceremony. “This is a visit that deepens friendship,” he said. “As a Chinese saying goes, ‘more exchanges will bring families and friends closer together.’” Soft power win Humanitarian visits by the Silk Road Ark and other Chinese hospital ships, that often include services like surgeries, are very effective soft power diplomacy for Beijing, Graeme Smith, Associate Professor at the Department of Pacific Affairs at The Australian National University, told RFA. “It’s interesting in that it is something that China can do that probably the U.S. and Australia can’t do because of their appetite for risk, he said, noting that complications after surgery could arise and the hospital ship will not be around for post-operative care. ”So if you’re in a country where the immediate medical care is not really there to provide that kind of support then you are opening yourself up to liabilities that I think Australia and the U.S. wouldn’t be willing to take on," he said. Papua New Guinean patients are identified and triaged prior to boarding the Chinese hospital ship Silk Road Ark in Port Moresby, April 11, 2026 (Harlyne Joku/RFA) The U.S. Navy also sends hospital ships on goodwill missions, and they do perform surgery, but a visit of the USNS comfort to Trinidad in August last year performed two “critical surgeries” among 46 procedures, compared to the 339 of the Silk Road Ark’s Port Moresby port call. Smith recalled his encounter with the Peace Ark, another Chinese medical ship that visited Vanuatu as part of a previous mission. “It’s not just the soft power of being able to offer these services but also the soft power of ‘we will train up people from your country to become doctors,’ and to be fair I don’t think America in particular does enough of that, or Australia,” he said. “It is an easy win.” Missions carried out by Chinese hospital ships in the Pacific however “risk undermining health sovereignty by reinforcing dependence on external providers,” Malika Knapp, a fourth-year student at the Australian National University wrote in an article published by the Australian Institute of International Affairs in March. “Medical assistance and defense objectives are closely intertwined, with free treatment serving to normalize a foreign military presence while advancing China’s geopolitical aims,” Knapp wrote. “But from a health systems perspective, the benefits are immediate but fleeting.” Long lines On Tuesday, the final day that the Silk Road Ark was performing medical services, residents at a local marketplace told RFA that people have even slept at the wharf overnight to try to get on the ship. <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/4N4TTNYPGNBP3AKV52DGFE4GKY.jpg?auth=0fae9ae726dbd8178782008dfe36f140a559539607192581f9d16a5f2627d3c2&smart=true&width=1500" alt="Thousands queue before a security check prior at Wharf T in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, April 11, 2026. After security they will visit triage and might be granted access to the Chinese Navy's Silk Road Ark hospital ship." height="780" width="1500"/> Thousands queue before a security check prior at Wharf T in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, April 11, 2026. After security they will visit triage and might be granted access to the Chinese Navy's Silk Road Ark hospital ship. (Harlyne Joku/RFA) “I want to take my husband for an eye check on the China ship,” a resident identified only by her given name Grace, told RFA. “I hear all the medical services are free and; there are lots of people waiting in lines so long, but people are sleeping outside the gate to be early enough to get a pass in.” Some waited long hours to be seen, but told RFA that they left the wharf empty handed. “I am so worried and disappointed,” said Sherina, who had visited with her husband hoping to remove a lump. They were told to instead visit Port Moresby General Hospital, or PMGH. Kimberly Yanogen (right) and her daughter after visiting the Silk Road Ark in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, April 11, 2026. (Harlyne Joku/RFA) Enno Awoi, a diabetic, and her husband, who has been immobile since 2003 when he suffered a stroke, waited in line since 1 a.m. on Tuesday. She was given medicine to manage her condition, and they referred her husband’s case back to PMGH. For Junior Pule, who has high blood pressure, filling out the intake forms was so difficult that he asked RFA for assistance. But residents who assisted with the Silk Road Ark’s visit told RFA they were glad they were able to help. “It was a good experience for me,” Ayisha Gizoria, a dentistry student in her final year at the University of Papua New Guinea, who volunteered at the pre-boarding triage station, told RFA. “As volunteers we come and do the job for free. We don’t get paid. We do it because we have the heart and empathy to help the sick people around us.” Ayisha Gizoria, a Papua New Guinean dental student volunteered at the triage station during the Silk Road Ark's visit to Port Moresby, April 11, 2026. (Harlyne Joku/RFA) Ronald Jack, who served as a security guard, said he was happy to witness thousands of the country’s ill come for medical help. He told RFA he wanted to thank the Chinese government. Though there were many positive reviews, many on social media wrote that it was “not heartwarming” to see families queuing overnight for basic medical services provided by a foreign entity, saying that it exposed the fact that their own government could not provide these services. Giving free medical services is “pretty effective, the caveat being that it’s sugar hit effective,” Smith said. “So they’re there for five days and then you don’t see them for a couple more years.” But regardless of the efficacy of the mission in terms of long-term health outcomes, Smith said it was “money well spent in terms of building goodwill and doing something that Australia and America probably aren’t willing to do. Edited by Charlie Dharapak. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Harlyne Joku and Eugene Whong for RFA.
On Tax Day, Patriotic Millionaires descend upon Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to raise their taxes
Today, standing steps away from the U.S. Capitol, the Patriotic Millionaires, along with Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD), Senator Edward Markey (MA), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rep. Don Beyer (VA-08), Rep. Chris Deluzio (PA-17), and countless other o...
Today, standing steps away from the U.S. Capitol, the Patriotic Millionaires, along with Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD), Senator Edward Markey (MA), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rep. Don Beyer (VA-08), Rep. Chris Deluzio (PA-17), and countless other organizations, demanded Congress tax the rich in order to defeat the oligarchs and billionaire class and advance a new kind of economy that works for everyone. The “Tax the Rich, Make Life Affordable” rally highlighted efforts to reform the tax code for working people and to unrig our economic system that currently rewards wealth over work. During the press conference, speakers noted previous failures over the past 60 years to stem the growth of inequality and the billionaire class and the current administration’s priorities and policies that actually accelerated it. Several organizations noted their support for current bills in front of Congress that would raise taxes on high earners and bring much-needed economic relief to low- and middle- income people. “While I’ve seen examples of the good that wealth can do, I have also seen all the ways it can lead to irreparable harm to our personal, political, moral, and societal well-being. There is a level of wealth beyond which it threatens the health and even the existence of our democracy and our economy. We cannot hand over the keys to our democracy to people who are unwilling to address the economic injustices that exist today,” said Patriotic Millionaire Scott Ellis, who spoke on behalf of the organization. “I joined Senator Van Hollen, Representatives Jayapal, Beyer, and DeLuzio, and others to urge our government leaders to deal with the money problem in our country head-on with solutions like those found in the Patriotic Millionaires’ MONEY Agenda platform. Every time inequality reaches extraordinary levels, we create a vulnerability to authoritarianism where money becomes power. If we want to unrig our economy, we need a bold, surprisingly simple economic vision. Millionaires like me who want a rich, stable, free country demand an economy that ensures it. That begins with commonsense revenue raisers and tax reforms that stop the accumulation of oligarchic concentrations of wealth.” Today’s rally also follows an increase in state momentum to pass legislation to tax the rich in light of federal inaction on the issue. States like Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington state have passed their own laws to raise taxes on high earners and the wealthy in recent years, with states like California, Virginia, and others now considering similar actions. Speakers pointed to these efforts as evidence that federal lawmakers should proactively address economic inequality. “Our federal tax code is stacked in favor of the wealthy, especially those who make their money off of money – while disfavoring working Americans who are living paycheck-to-paycheck. My Working Americans’ Tax Cut Act creates a fairer system that ensures those who are stretching to make ends meet can keep more of what they earn, while asking the well-off to pitch in more. It’s long past time that we rebalanced our tax code to put working people first – and promote greater opportunity and shared prosperity for all,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD). “Our government has a fiscal recklessness problem, and it looks like this: the richest people in the history of Earth facing lower tax rates than Americans who earn a paycheck,” said Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17). “Yet that is the Republican plan—jack up the national debt and slash healthcare and more for the American people to pay for these huge tax giveaways to corporations and the ultra-rich. We need a vastly different approach, like passing the Ultra-Millionaires Tax to get some sanity back into our tax system.” Over the past several months, the Patriotic Millionaires saw two elements of its legislative platform, The MONEY Agenda, introduced in both chambers of Congress. The first component, the Equal Tax Act, was introduced in the Senate by Senator Edward Markey in March and in the House by Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) in September. It would ensure millionaires and billionaires, who earn most of their money passively through investments, pay the same tax rates as working people and close other common loopholes used by the super rich to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. In March, the second component, known as the “Cost of Living” Tax Cut Act, was introduced as the Working Americans’ Tax Cut Act in the Senate by Senator Chris Van Hollen and in the House by Representative Don Beyer (VA-08). The legislation would provide a substantial tax cut for working people, paid for by a surtax on millionaires. “We welcome the introduction of the Equal Tax Act. Investment income being taxed less than income from work is one of the most glaring examples of how the ultra-wealthy exploit and rig our broken tax system to their advantage,” said David Kass, Executive Director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “It's only reasonable that Wall Street elites and the ultra wealthy should not be made to pay lower federal tax rates than nurses, teachers, and most working Americans. These changes are long overdue and mark a vital step toward a fairer tax system that ensures these ultra-wealthy individuals pay their fair share like everyone else.” “As an organization that fights for women and girls, we know that we can’t achieve gender justice without tax fairness,” said Emily Martin, Chief Program Officer at the National Women's Law Center. “Through their tax agenda, Republicans in Congress and the Trump-Vance administration have made it crystal clear that their priorities lie not with women and families, but with the billionaire class. Women and their families deserve a government that ensures the wealthy pay their fair share, invests in health care, child care, and education, and builds an economy that works for everyone—not just billionaires and big corporations.” “The affordability crisis isn't an accident. It's the result of policy choices that protect concentrated wealth over the prosperity of working families,” said EJ Juárez, State Innovation Exchange (SiX) Executive Director. “We know that when extreme wealth goes unchecked, the costs get passed down to working families: in rent, health care premiums, childcare bills, groceries, and electricity. In 2025 alone, billionaire wealth grew 22%—from $6.7 trillion to $8.2 trillion—while working families see the cost of living go up, and wages too low. That is why SiX is working alongside state legislators across the country to lead the way. Across all 50 states, lawmakers are advancing bold solutions to make the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe, close corporate loopholes, and build tax systems that actually lower costs and empower working families. Together, states are proving a better future is possible.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Israel’s demands of Lebanon are "anything but reasonable"
‘It’s Been a Setback for the Trump Administration and the Bipartisan War Party’: CounterSpin interview with Sina Toossi on the war on Iran
"Iran is a country that, on a bipartisan basis, has been a bogeyman for America for many decades now, and has been demonized across the mainstream media."
Janine Jackson interviewed the Center for International Policy’s Sina Toossi about the US/Israeli war on Iran for the April 10, 2026, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260410Toossi.mp3 The Nation (4/2/26) Janine Jackson: Crass and belligerent from day one, Donald Trump still manages to turn corners that surprise you. The reckless violence inflicted on Iran, the tweets threatening to end a civilization, to bomb power plants and bridges, seem like the senseless actions of a power-drunk tyrant. But as our guest has written, that Iran is the target is not just the result of Trump or Hegseth or Kushner throwing darts at a map. It grows from decades of distorted and misleading storytelling about Iran, reflected in US policy. Sina Toossi writes about Iran and US/Iran relations. He’s a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy. He joins us now by phone. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Sina Toossi. Sina Toossi: Thank you for having me. JJ: If you look at the pundits on television, for example, you will find a sort of consensus that there were miscalculations, and that the war on Iran might be unfortunate—but the Iranian “regime” has to go. So the war has to go on. Yet recent polls show at least 28% of Americans saying they don’t want war on Iran, but those people aren’t really reflected in media’s conversation. It’s very frustrating, but this disconnect on Iran, as on other issues, this disconnect between a substantial amount of the public and the experts we see isn’t new, is it? Sina Toossi: “Iran is a country that, on a bipartisan basis, has been a bogeyman for America for many decades now, and has been demonized across the mainstream media.” ST: It is not. And most of the polls I’ve seen show a much higher percentage of Americans actually who have been opposed to this war, between 50 to 60%, and some polls have seen even upwards of 70%. But regardless, yes, Iran is a country that, on a bipartisan basis, has been a bogeyman for America for many decades now, and has been demonized across the mainstream media for a long time. And not to say that the government there or the regime there is a good government, and they’ve had hostility towards the US as well, since the 1979 revolution. But US and Iran relations, at many points, had prospects to improve, for them to come out of this hostility that they’ve been in. Trump really put the two countries on a path to war in 2018, when he left the negotiated deal that Obama struck in 2015 over the nuclear program. And we’re in this situation now where, yes, there’s many hawkish voices across the spectrum who’ve been advocating for this conflict, but it’s really become an undeniable strategic quagmire for the US, and for any rational interpretation of American national security interests or national interests, just in the Middle East, where Iran, you know, the regime has not collapsed. It’s withstood pretty much everything the US and Israel can throw at it, short of a ground invasion, and short of this catastrophic escalation that Trump threatened to destroy all the power plants. And Iran also hit back throughout the region, hitting US bases, Israel, energy infrastructure and, most importantly, the Strait of Hormuz closure. This war has ended in a ceasefire for now, and there’s new negotiations that are going to start, but they view themselves as in a stronger position than they were before the war. So it really has been a strategic setback and quagmire for the Trump administration, and even for this bipartisan war party that we’ve had that has really advocated for these interventions in the Middle East for decades now. And this is a culmination of a lot of their efforts and advocacy also reaching a dead end and backfiring. New York Times (4/8/26) JJ: I should note that we’re recording on April 9, and the New York Times has a front-page piece that leads, “President Trump faces new diplomatic tests as he prepares for weekend talks with Tehran.” And there are doubts about the durability of the ceasefire, it says. I know that it’s just mainstream journalistspeak, but “faces new diplomatic tests” seems like a denatured way to describe a man who’s just threatened to end a civilization. But the overall story is that there are fractures in the ceasefire agreement. There’s unclarity on what it even says. Iran says Israel’s attacks on Lebanon violate it; the White House says, that’s not even in there. But at a certain point, we are told that the White House is striking an “optimistic tone.” And I guess I just wonder, at the level of language, at this point, what are we supposed to think “optimism” means for the Trump White House? And why should that imply that anyone else should feel optimism? It’s just hard to respond to these strange, “this is normal” stories that we’re reading. ST: Absolutely. And Trump has this knack or propensity to twist the reality, and to make it fit with his own political ends. And so he’ll frame anything that he’s doing in this conflict as a great victory, or he destroyed Iran’s navy. But the fact is that when he launched this war, ambitions were very clearly stated. It was clearly aimed at regime change. We’re getting Iran to surrender and capitulate on its core means of deterrence, like its missile program, its nuclear program, its regional allies. None of that has happened, and the Strait of Hormuz has now, for the first time, given Iran real leverage over the US and the global economy. And now we’re back at these negotiations. Reuters (6/22/25) But as you said, there’s this huge gap in trust, where Iran had been negotiating with the Trump administration heading into this war, was negotiating with them heading into the war last summer. Both times they came under surprise attack. Last summer it was Israel that attacked in the middle of those negotiations, this time the US and Israel both attacked. And so there’s zero trust going into these negotiations. But what there is is just hard power, this kind of hard leverage that each side has over the other one. Like Iran has the Strait of Hormuz, has this ability that it’s withstood everything the US and Israel can throw at it, and it’s still there. And so the US obviously has these very severe economic sanctions that have been on Iran for many years. So this is the quid pro quo that’s basically on the table, that Iran wants the economic horizon, it wants to come out of this pressure and isolation it’s been under. At the same time, the US wants to get these nuclear concessions out of Iran, wants normalcy to return to the Strait of Hormuz. So there’s many serious divisions between them, but I think the nature of this conflict has, at least for now, put them on this path to try to see if they can get a deal. But like you said, it’s very difficult to be optimistic, and the ceasefire is proving very fragile. This is obviously one of the most serious ones right now, where actually the Pakistani mediator, the prime minister of Pakistan who mediated the ceasefire, said himself in his tweets that announced the ceasefire, Lebanon was included. But Israel is trying to sabotage this. They’ve been opposed to this ceasefire, and now they’re launching this massive attack, bombardment of civilian areas in Lebanon yesterday. The Nation (3/1/26) JJ: As we see in other cases, so-called “ordinary Iranians” are talked about a lot in the media, but rarely listened to. And so it’s not hard to see why many folks can be persuaded that a country of 93 million is somehow univocal, or somehow all caught up in a mass delusion of some sort. In March, you wrote a piece for The Nation, “The Iranian Voices America Isn’t Hearing.” Just what or who gets lost when we see Iran painted in such broad strokes? ST: So the way we tend to view a country like Iran, this demonized other, and this rival adversary of the US that is portrayed in our media and culture, really for many decades now, is as a kind of black-and-white actor. There’s this authoritarian, totalitarian regime, these oppressed people, and the oppressed people want to be liberated and free and welcome US intervention. That is not at all the reality of the situation. The reality is that there’s been a strong pro-democracy movement in Iran for over a century, that the Iranian people have struggled for more representative governance, and they’ve had ups and downs, various governments that have come and gone. But in the current era, that came to power in 1979, that has been very authoritarian and repressive, and especially in the past 10 years, it’s grown more repressive as the conflict with America has heated up. And we’ve seen these waves of protest and these brutal crackdowns. But with that said, the opposition movement within Iran, the homegrown domestic, organic opposition that’s grassroots-led, the civil society there, they have a long record of being both against authoritarianism of their own government and pushing for reforms and fundamental political change, as well as [against] foreign intervention. Middle East Eye (4/7/26) And so, yeah, in my Nation article, I really tried to highlight these voices. People like Mostafa Tajzadeh, the former deputy interior minister turned outspoken dissident who’s been a political prisoner for over a decade now; various independent labor unions that have a track record of bringing people to the streets, teachers unions, bus worker unions; these are the real civil society groups in Iran that have pushed for change, and they’ve all been emphatic in both opposing the repression and authoritarianism in their country, and this is reflected in all their advocacy, as well as opposing military intervention by foreigners, and viewing war as very unhelpful to the cause of democratic change in Iran. And so this war has also proven that, that this idea of the thesis that the Iranian people would welcome this, that the regime would collapse, it just needed one more push, that did not happen. If anything, the Islamic Republic rallied its base, its base grew more radicalized. Many other Iranians on top of that base were angry at this war, and major solidarity cut across the political spectrum there. And, again, it’s not black and white anyway. So, of course, there are people who are so desperate, and hope that this war could lead to something better, but ultimately you saw that Trump and Netanyahu didn’t launch this war caring for the Iranian people. And so they’ve attacked all these civilian targets, everything from universities, to critical infrastructure, to hospitals, to historical sites in Iran have been damaged. And even a synagogue in Tehran the other day that the Israelis acknowledged they bombed, and they said it was a mistake or whatever. But so this is the reality of war, and unfortunately war cannot lead to democratic change, as many of the advocates of these US interventions in the Middle East have long argued. It has a track record of resulting in much more instability and chaos and suffering for the people of these countries, like Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, now Iran. And so that’s proven to be the case here, that now we’re in a ceasefire, that government is still there. There’s more hardliners in power. It’s rallied its own social base, and so there’s no democratic change that’s come out of this war. JJ: All right. I’m going to end on that note for now. We’ll stay in touch. We’ve been speaking with Sina Toossi from the Center for International Policy. They’re online at InternationalPolicy.org. The articles we’ve been referencing are at TheNation.com. Thank you so much, Sina Toossi, for joining us this week on CounterSpin. Sina Toossi: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
A Majority of Voters Support Senate Resolutions To Block Bombs and Bulldozers To Israel
Polls released Wednesday, April 15, by IMEU Policy Project, and conducted by Data for Progress, found that 58% of Arizona voters, 67% of California voters, 61% of Colorado voters, and 53% of Michigan voters support the resolution the Senate will vote ...
Polls released Wednesday, April 15, by IMEU Policy Project, and conducted by Data for Progress, found that 58% of Arizona voters, 67% of California voters, 61% of Colorado voters, and 53% of Michigan voters support the resolution the Senate will vote on today to block President Trump’s delivery of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs to Israel. 54% of Arizona voters, 65% of California voters, 57% of Colorado voters, and 52% of Michigan voters also support the resolution to block Trump’s delivery of $295 million worth of bulldozers to Israel. Israel has used these bombs and bulldozers to destroy homes and kill civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. View full Arizona results View full California results View full Colorado results View full Michigan results MORE KEY FINDINGS: Strong majorities of Democrats and independents in each state support these resolutions, including: 74% of Arizona Democrats and 62% of Arizona Independents support the resolution to block bombs, and 73% of Arizona Democrats and 55% of Arizona Independents support the resolution to block bulldozers 79% of California Democrats and 76% of Colorado Independents support the resolution to block bombs, and 77% of California Democrats and 72% of Colorado Independents support the resolution to block bulldozers 85% of Colorado Democrats and 60% of Colorado Independents support the resolution to block bombs, and 78% of Colorado Democrats and 58% of Colorado Independents support the resolution to block bulldozers 67% of Michigan Democrats and 60% of Michigan Independents support the resolution to block bombs, and 65% of Michigan Democrats and 59% of Michigan Independents support the resolution to block bulldozers Majorities in each state believe war with Iran benefits Israel more than the United States 54% of Arizona voters say war with Iran benefits Israel more, while just 33% say the US benefits more 66% of California voters say war with Iran benefits Israel more, while just 24% say the US benefits more 58% of Colorado voters say war with Iran benefits Israel more, while just 29% say the US benefits more 54% of Michigan voters say war with Iran benefits Israel more, while just 30% say the US benefits more Majorities of Democrats and Independents in each state say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, including: 76% of Arizona Democrats and 53% of Independents 74% of California Democrats and 68% of Independents 84% of Colorado Democrats and 52% of Independents 66% of Michigan Democrats and 53% of Independents This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
How Zionism’s anti-Jewish logic led Israel to bomb an Iranian synagogue
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270225710-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A person holds the damaged fragments of a text in Hebrew after a US-Israeli strike on a residential building destroyed the adjacent Rafi-Nia Synagogue on April 7, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images" data-attachment-id="342822" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/how-zionisms-anti-jewish-logic-led-israel-to-bomb-an-iranian-synagogue/u-s-and-israel-wage-war-against-iran-2" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270225710-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1706" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark IV","caption":"TEHRAN, IRAN - APRIL 7: A person holds the damaged fragments of a text in Hebrew after a US-Israeli strike on a residential building destroyed the adjacent Rafi-Nia Synagogue on April 7, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. The United States and Israel continued their joint attack on Iran that began on February 28. Iran retaliated by firing waves of missiles and drones at Israel, and targeting U.S. allies in the region. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1775565065","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"85","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.005","title":"U.S. And Israel Wage War Against Iran","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="U.S. And Israel Wage War Against Iran" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A person holds the damaged fragments of a text in Hebrew after a US-Israeli strike on a residential building destroyed the adjacent Rafi-Nia Synagogue on April 7, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270225710-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Israel bombed Tehran's Rafi-Nia synagogue in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The attack revealed, to a shocking degree, Zionism's willingness to treat Jewish life as disposable in the service of its ideological project.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270225710-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A person holds the damaged fragments of a text in Hebrew after a US-Israeli strike on a residential building destroyed the adjacent Rafi-Nia Synagogue on April 7, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. 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The United States and Israel continued their joint attack on Iran that began on February 28. Iran retaliated by firing waves of missiles and drones at Israel, and targeting U.S. allies in the region. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1775565065","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"85","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.005","title":"U.S. And Israel Wage War Against Iran","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="U.S. And Israel Wage War Against Iran" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A person holds the damaged fragments of a text in Hebrew after a US-Israeli strike on a residential building destroyed the adjacent Rafi-Nia Synagogue on April 7, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270225710-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="755" height="153" data-attachment-id="272634" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/death-to-arabs-israeli-flag-march-features-racist-anti-palestinian-chants/untitled-design-21-2" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?fit=755%2C153&ssl=1" data-orig-size="755,153" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1623862217","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="mondoweiss-logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?fit=755%2C153&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=755%2C153&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-272634 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?w=755&ssl=1 755w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=300%2C61&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=400%2C81&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?resize=706%2C143&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-21.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px" /> This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on April 15, 2026. It is shared here with permission. The state of Israel and its propaganda machine (officially called “Hasbara”, Hebrew for “explanation”) has long claimed that Jews across the world are under existential threat from terrorists and antisemites emanating from the Muslim world and their “far-left” allies. This narrative asserts that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran hate Jews simply for being Jews; that they seek the destruction of all Jews; and that their opposition to the Israeli regime is driven by this anti-Jewish hatred. Hasbara further posits that Israel is the only guarantor of Jewish safety – and that without it, we are doomed to a repeat of the Nazi Holocaust. Yet, in the name of Jewish safety, Zionists have colonized Palestine, ethnically cleansed and destroyed its population, and constructed a regime of apartheid to manage ever-shrinking bantustans in the West Bank. In the name of Jewish safety, Israel has annexed Palestinian land and, as part of its Greater Israel project, sought further expansion into Syria and Lebanon. In the name of Jewish safety, Israel has jailed over ten thousand Palestinian political prisoners, turned Gaza into a concentration camp, and has recently adopted a law applying the death penalty only to Palestinians, while Jewish murderers and rapists are defended, even celebrated, by its parliamentarians instead of punished. Finally, in the name of Jewish safety, Zionists have transformed the overwhelming majority of Jewish religious and cultural institutions into de facto embassies and propaganda arms of the Israeli state. Because it presents an obvious threat to the Zionist colonial project, the long and extraordinary history of Jewish anti-Zionism has been suppressed, with its proponents sidelined or ostracized. Diverse Jewish cultures – from the Qırmızı Qəsəbə (Red Village) of Azerbaijan, to the mellahs and haras of North Africa, to the shtetls of Eastern Europe – have been supplanted by an increasingly homogenized and diminished Israeli colonial culture modelled on German “high culture”. Rich creolized languages such as Ladino, Krymchak, Kayliñña, Judeo-Arabic, Yevanic, Gruzinic, and Yiddish are now endangered or extinguished, eroded in part by the imposition of German-accented Hebrew in 1948 Palestine. Under this compulsion to conform, traditional cultural practices such as the shtetl badchan (wedding jester), Sephardic amulet-making, Yiddish theater, and Mekonenot mourning have also been eroded or erased. Ethno-nationalism targets not only its external enemies. In attempting to manufacture a non-existent ethnos, it also seeks the dissolution of its perceived internal enemies. In this case, Zionism works to eliminate Jewish diversity in all its forms, especially that which directly challenges the Zionist project. This is why anti–Zionist Jews (like me) are dismissed as “self-hating” and constantly have our Jewishness invalidated. The goal is to either force conformity through intimidation and fear, or to blackball us from Jewish institutions, events, and communities that Zionists want to ideologically “purify”. This is also why many Zionists dismiss the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-lemba-people-how-they-view-their-jewishness-challenges-zionist-ideas-that-identity-is-linked-to-one-homeland-228632?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+August+6+2025+-+3476935404&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+August+6+2025+-+3476935404+CID_6b8c93143a544dcaffde5562e122b924&utm_source=campaign_monitor_africa&utm_term=South+Africas+Lemba+people+how+they+view+their+Jewishness+challenges+Zionist+ideas+that+identity+is+linked+to+one+homeland" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lemba of Limpopo – who see Africa as their homeland – as insufficiently Jewish. And this is why Israel and the United States show little hesitation indiscriminately bombing Iran, even when this risks harming or killing the Kalimi Jews who have lived there for millennia. The Kalimi community of Iran – now numbering around 15,000 – are Iranian Jews who refused to join the Zionist project of colonizing Palestine. Despite sustained efforts by Israel to encourage their emigration (their numbers once exceeded 100,000), this remaining community has insisted that Iran — not Israel — is their home. This presents an profoundly uncomfortable contradiction for Zionism. On the one hand, it insists that Iranian Jews are oppressed by what it describes as “the most antisemitic regime on the plant.” On the other, it is confronted by a community that has forsaken Zionism and, by refusing to leave Iran, directly undermines narratives of Iranian antisemitism. It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that Israel bombed the Rafi-Nia synagogue in Tehran on April 7, in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Passover. According to reports, confirmed by Israel, the entire building was reduced to rubble, with footage of the aftermath showing Jewish community leaders salvaging prayer scrolls from the debris while calling for unity against Israel. Iranian Jewish leaders, including former MP Siamak Moreh-Sedegh and the current MP, and Tehran Jewish Association leader, Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, have publicly condemned Zionism and called for resistance to Israel and the United States. This is not to claim that Israel deliberately targeted the synagogue; Zionism’s internal opposition to diversity is probably not that crass. It is, however, to recognize a broader logic of Zionism. The use of the Hannibal Directive, including on October 7, 2023, and the prolonged and fanatical refusal to agree to a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, point to a pattern in which Jewish captives’ lives are subordinate to political objectives. Reports indicate that the Israeli army killed an unknown number of its own soldiers and civilians on 7 October and that many of the captives were killed in the months that followed by Israeli airstrikes, suffocation from bombings, and sniper fire. That is to say, Israel has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to treat Jewish life as disposable (and at times politically useful) in service of its ideological project. At a minimum, this logic renders Kalimi Jews acceptable collateral damage in Israel’s pursuit of regional dominance. In fact, the Israeli army has referred to the bombing of the synagogue as exactly that: “collateral damage”. As the “wrong” kind of Jews, their destruction is treated as scarcely worthy of concern. If antisemitism is understood, not as opposition to Zionism or its manifestation in Israeli apartheid, but as the systemic racial discrimination and hatred of Jews for being Jewish and the consequent devaluation of Jewish life, then how should we understand Israel’s bombing of the Rafi-Nia synagogue? If we recognize the long and important history of Jewish political, ethnic, and cultural diversity, if we accept that Jewishness is inherently heterogeneous, then any attack on that diversity must be understood as anti-Jewish. Situated within the broader Zionist project that seeks to erase such diversity in the name of ethnonationalism, the bombing of Rafi-Nia begins to resemble a form of internal Jew-hatred which positions elite Zionist Jews against other Jews. In particular, against the traditional, non-Westernized, diaspora Jew. Whether Israel set out to bomb the synagogue or not, it operates within a political logic that ranks Jewish lives, rendering such outcomes predictable, even tolerable. Zionism does not necessarily explicitly seek to harm Jews. Rather, it manufactures a hierarchy among Jews in which those who refuse to conform must either be assimilated or be expendable. Is the Rafi-Nia bombing, in some perverse way, not then a general expression of Zionist antisemitism against other Jews? We must oppose Zionism first and foremost because of what it does to the Palestinians. But this is another reason to oppose it: because the very future of humanity, including Judaism itself, is at stake. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Jared Sacks.
Reporter pushed by police while covering LA immigration protest
Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was pushed back by police and later shoved by an officer while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.The protest, which included a few dozen participants, ga...
Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was pushed back by police and later shoved by an officer while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025. Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an LA Police Department captain directed members of the media to document from the sidewalk, which they did. “I had my back to the police line, and the next thing I know, we were just being bombarded,” she said. “A group of cops just all ran forward into us.” Berg, who was clearly identified as press, said she confronted officers for assaulting the media after they had complied with orders to document from the sidewalk. As she was talking to one media relations lieutenant, he told her, “That’s it, I’m done,” before shoving her through the police line. “I’ve never had a media relations person behave like that,” Berg told the Tracker. “It’s just so offensive.” In a video posted by journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel on Bluesky, officers positioned themselves in front of the media and aggressively advanced on them, using their batons and yelling for them to back up and leave the area. One journalist was kicked. “You have been advised to leave, all the members of press. You are subject to arrest — all of you. Now,” an officer told them, adding, “You cannot get in the way of arrests.” “We’re not,” one journalist said. “You’re coming over here when we’re making arrests,” the officer replied. California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections. While the statute states press may access closed areas during emergencies, it does not extend that access to designated crime scenes or secured perimeters established by law enforcement. In another video, posted by journalist Mel Buer, an officer invoked that portion of the law, telling the media the area had been declared an emergency operation and they were subject to arrest. “Here’s the thing that upsets me: It’s never consistent,” Berg said. “Sometimes you have situations on the same day where police handle things appropriately, know what the law says, and then you’ll have the opposite happen in the course of the same protest.” In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.” The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in at least a dozen press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed. “The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” 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.
Reps. Swalwell & Gonzales resign over sexual misconduct allegations
Bipartisan Privacy Champions Slow Johnson’s Roll to Renew FISA
Today, the House Democratic Whip advised that a debate on a rule to allow a vote on renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was postponed. The House had previously planned to vote on the rule around noon. The White Hou...
Today, the House Democratic Whip advised that a debate on a rule to allow a vote on renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was postponed. The House had previously planned to vote on the rule around noon. The White House and intelligence agencies have been exerting maximum pressure to get Congress to pass a “clean” renewal of FISA without any privacy reforms. However, both Republicans and Democrats keep raising concerns about moving forward without enacting privacy protections. Demand Progress is part of a bipartisan coalition urging Congress to close loopholes in the law that allow the government to bypass the courts to surveil Americans. The following is a statement from Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Hajar Hammado: “This time, fearmongering was not enough to overcome a bipartisan movement fighting for the privacy rights of all Americans. We rarely ever see the full force of the White House and the intelligence agencies fail to browbeat Congress into giving them what they want. That this happened today is a testament to the tireless work of our movement, which has been successfully bringing Republicans, Democrats and independents together for a common cause. Of course, this fight is nowhere near over. Speaker Johnson can still force a vote any time with extremely short notice, but our coalition feels the wind at our backs and we won’t stop fighting for a self-evident truth: the government should not be able to bypass the courts to surveil Americans.” A robust set of resources on the need for privacy reforms for FISA is available here and here, and additional background, context, polling, reform demands, resources and other information is available here. Video of Drop Site News asking members about their support for a clean FISA renewal is here. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Photographer pushed, jabbed by police baton at LA immigration protest
Independent photographer Enrique Dominguez was shoved by officers and poked with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.The protest, which included a few dozen participants, ga...
Independent photographer Enrique Dominguez was shoved by officers and poked with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025. Dominguez, who was not wearing a press badge but has since received one from the National Press Photographers Association, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was taking pictures of the protest and is working on a documentary film. While on the scene, the LA Police Department started forcing members of the press backward, away from the detention center. Dominguez said he tried to take a picture of a woman being arrested at a certain angle, but he was diverted after an officer pushed him, followed by several others. “They pushed us more aggressively when we started taking pictures of them arresting everybody,” Dominguez said. “The police started jabbing me with their batons and started pushing me.” At one point, an officer pointed at him and told him that he would be detained next. Dominguez said he just walked away. California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections. In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.” The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in at least a dozen press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed. “The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” 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.
Middle East Tensions Threaten South Asia’s Migrant Workers
Millions of South Asian workers in the Gulf live on the frontlines of geopolitics. The effects of conflict, wage disruptions, and insecurity ripple across families and fragile economies back home.
Millions of South Asian workers in the Gulf live on the frontlines of geopolitics. The effects of conflict, wage disruptions, and insecurity ripple across families and fragile economies back home. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Sajad Hameed.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 15, 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 – April 15, 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 – April 15, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Fewer Vaccine Mandates Result in Fewer Doctor Visits for Kids
Every year, schools remind families to keep up with their children’s vaccines. But according to Sarah Carr for the Hechinger Report, the recent rise in vaccine exemptions means that more and more children are not going to their doctors at all. Va...
Every year, schools remind families to keep up with their children’s vaccines. But according to Sarah Carr for the Hechinger Report, the recent rise in vaccine exemptions means that more and more children are not going to their doctors at all. Vaccine refusers were once a small, fringe group, but… The post Fewer Vaccine Mandates Result in Fewer Doctor Visits for Kids appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
New Report Warns of Growing Debt and Climate Crises in Developing Countries
A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) examines the sovereign debt trap cycle and the need for systemic reforms to the international financial architecture that perpetuates it. As of March 2026, 75 out of 119 low- and mid...
A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) examines the sovereign debt trap cycle and the need for systemic reforms to the international financial architecture that perpetuates it. As of March 2026, 75 out of 119 low- and middle-income countries evaluated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and credit rating agencies were either already facing a debt crisis or are at high risk of one. Developing countries are forced to choose between meeting debt obligations and investing in vital public services, climate resilience, infrastructure, and other Sustainable Development Goals. “Our report shows how the debt and climate crises are interconnected,” report coauthor and CEPR Senior Research Associate Ivana Vasic-Lalovic said. “Developing countries shouldn’t have to choose between paying off debt and funding schools, hospitals, or climate preparedness and response.” The economic impact of the Iran war is likely to worsen these dynamics, due “not only [to] the immediate impact of higher energy and food prices, but the broader dynamics that can follow: inflation persists, interest rates remain high, and external financing becomes more costly,” the report states. It goes on to note: “In the context of multiple unfolding crises, the current debt burden of developing countries is unsustainable and requires a comprehensive policy response, including systemic reforms, debt cancellation, as well as immediate relief measures.” The IMF warned this week in its World Economic Outlook that the Iran war could lead to the risk of a global recession in a “severe scenario” of highly elevated oil prices continuing through 2027. An adverse, but less severe, scenario could lead to only 2.5 percent global growth this year and a 1.5 percent increase in inflation, and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that “now, even our most hopeful scenario involves a growth downgrade” due to damage to oil and shipping infrastructure, supply disruptions, “and other scarring effects.” The CEPR report finds that interest payments on external public debt rose from 1.4 percent of government revenue in 2010 to 3.5 percent in 2024 — higher than during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Higher interest on debt at a time of lowered economic growth risks creating the kinds of debt traps that have ensnared countries in the past, leading to the Jubilee movement for debt cancellation, debt audits, and greater scrutiny of foreign debt holdings. “Unfortunately, the dynamic is all-too familiar: the IMF continues to insist on conditions that put many countries in a debt trap, where burdensome debt service payments prevent governments from being able to spend on essential services and human needs ― as well as on climate response and climate change mitigation measures,” coauthor Paola Jaimes said. “The IMF — and therefore the US government, which has decisive influence there — can no longer ignore their responsibility in both the debt and climate crises. We need climate finance commitments that won’t worsen indebtedness, such as a new issuance of SDRs. Without urgent reforms, the world’s most vulnerable countries will remain trapped in a never-ending cycle of debt distress and climate disaster,” CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
CPJ, partners file emergency motion to Israeli Supreme Court seeking independent media access to Gaza
On Monday, April 13, 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists, together with its amicus partners the Foreign Press Association in Israel, the Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), filed an emergency motion to the Israeli Supreme Court asking the justices to expedite a decision on allowing the international media to...
On Monday, April 13, 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists, together with its amicus partners the Foreign Press Association in Israel, the Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), filed an emergency motion to the Israeli Supreme Court asking the justices to expedite a decision on allowing the international media to enter Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, Israel closed its border with Gaza and has barred the international media from entering independently. This closure is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent for reporting from other conflict areas. The court has delayed ruling on the case for numerous times in the last 18 months since the Foreign Press Association filed its petition challenging the ban. The reasons given for these delays by the Israeli government — and accepted by the court — are no longer relevant. There are no more hostages in Gaza. There is a longstanding ceasefire in place. There are no substantiated or specific threats against journalists, and journalists pose no threat to Israeli troops. The most recent rationale provided – the war in Iran – never was relevant. Palestinian journalists have reported under extremely harsh and dangerous conditions from inside Gaza throughout the war, and have had to endure hunger, displacement, arbitrary detentions, and attacks by the Israeli military. Read the full statement here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
Report from Lebanon: “We will return to these villages”
The ABLE Act Reduces Some Harm But Does Not Address Underlying Causes
Recipients of Supplemental Security Income must still play what amounts to an impoverishment game.
Recipients of Supplemental Security Income must still play what amounts to an impoverishment game. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Mike Ervin.
Educating Students On Climate Change Through A New Curriculum
As climate change continues to shape our planet’s future, it is more important than ever for younger generations to understand the implications of this environmental crisis. A news story from the Hechinger Report published by Olivia Sanchez on March 1,...
As climate change continues to shape our planet’s future, it is more important than ever for younger generations to understand the implications of this environmental crisis. A news story from the Hechinger Report published by Olivia Sanchez on March 1, 2026, reports on a recent initiative to integrate lessons on… The post Educating Students On Climate Change Through A New Curriculum appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
Trump’s extreme use of military is stirring a crisis of conscience among troops
This article was originally published by Truthout on April 13, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. As President Donald Trump increasingly uses the U.S. military to carry out his agenda through brute force,...
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2216837225-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="US President Donald Trump walks the field prior to addressing graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point in Michie Stadium on May 24, 2025 in West Point, New York. Photo by Michael M. 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Over one thousand cadets are expected to graduate in the same year that the U.S. Army celebrates its 250th birthday. This year's graduating class included honorary member Peter Wang, a junior ROTC cadet who was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1748077416","copyright":"2025 Getty Images","focal_length":"319","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0015625","title":"President Trump Speaks At West Point Commencement Ceremony","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="President Trump Speaks At West Point Commencement Ceremony" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" US President Donald Trump walks the field prior to addressing graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point in Michie Stadium on May 24, 2025 in West Point, New York. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2216837225-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 April 13, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. As President Donald Trump increasingly uses the U.S. military to carry out his agenda through brute force, organizations that provide counseling services for U.S. servicemembers are reporting growing numbers of calls. These calls have further spiked in response to Trump’s war on Iran, one of the most unpopular in U.S. history. The United States has carried out the war through intense attacks on densely populated civilian areas, the impact of which was clearly shown in the bombing of a girls’ school, killing well over 100 children. Not even concerned with selling the war to the public, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has leaned into treating the intervention as a “holy war” for Christianity. Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran and executive director at the Center on Conscience & War (CCW), told Truthout that troops are telling his organization that they don’t want to be involved in the killing. “That’s pretty much all of the cases that we have,” Prysner said. “It’s all people who don’t want to take part in killing in a war that they don’t believe in, and this war has made them realize that they can’t take part in any kind of U.S. military action ever again.” The CCW, formerly the National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors, was founded in 1940 to assist religious communities whose beliefs prohibited them from participating in war. Over time, and as a result of broadening criteria for who can qualify as a conscientious objector (CO), the organization evolved to assist troops of all backgrounds whose values prevent them from being able to participate in war. Prysner told Truthout that in recent weeks CCW has already been able to help several servicemembers become COs to avoid being deployed. To reach more servicemembers experiencing crises of conscience, CCW and other organizations including the Quaker House founded the GI Rights Hotline in 1994. Steve Woolford, a resource counselor at the Quaker House, has taken calls for the hotline since 2001 and agreed that the war on Iran, and Trump’s broader use of the military, has caused a spike in calls. “This war has made them realize that they can’t take part in any kind of U.S. military action ever again.” “The biggest increase has come from people who are feeling a lot of opposition to the ways the military’s currently being used,” Woolford said. “That includes people who feel like they don’t want to be sent into cities and point a weapon at U.S. citizens, they don’t want to be part of what to many of them look like war crimes, shooting down speedboats in Venezuela that wouldn’t be able to make it to the United States, and I would say with the invasion, or whatever you want to call it, ‘Operation Epic Fury’ in Iran, there’s been significant opposition to that.” Woolford clarified that not all troops who call the hotline are able to leave the military by filing as COs. While every member of the military has that right, the process requires applicants to prove that they have deeply held antiwar beliefs. This means that even if someone is opposed to certain orders or operations, they don’t qualify as CO if they aren’t opposed to participation in all wars. Prysner said that the social pressure in the military can also make it difficult for troops to declare themselves COs. “Especially for people who have deployments happening, you’re telling all of your brothers and sisters in uniform that you don’t believe in what you’re doing and you’re not gonna be able to do it with them,” Prysner said. “The thing is, the people that we’re dealing with, they simply don’t have any other choice … They cannot live with themselves participating.” Echoes of Antiwar History This is not the first time that members of the military have questioned their role in U.S. wars. In fact, there is a rich history of GI dissent throughout U.S. history. The role of antiwar veterans was especially important in bringing about the end of the Vietnam War. During the height of the antiwar movement there was a proliferation of underground newspapers which criticized the war and highlighted the fact that soldiers being sent to die were disproportionately from working-class communities, many of which still faced racial discrimination within the United States. It was common for soldiers to circulate these newspapers among themselves at bases and at antiwar organizing spaces known as GI coffeehouses. By the end of the war, opposition within the military’s own ranks was so widespread that deployed soldiers had developed codes to communicate with Vietnamese fighters to avoid shooting at one another, and the military was recording hundreds of cases of troops throwing grenades at their officers, a practice known as fragging. This widespread GI resistance contributed to the United States ending the draft in 1973. The switch to an all-volunteer military has made it less likely that troops will resist war en masse. However, the so-called “war on terror” produced its own share of antiwar veterans. Millions of people opposed the Iraq War from the start. As the war continued with no clear end, some U.S. troops began to question the war as well, especially as it became known that the United States was carrying out atrocities against the Iraqi people like the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison. Some troops formed the group Iraq Veterans Against the War to demonstrate to the public that as veterans, they were opposed to the wars they had participated in. This organization, now under the name About Face Veterans, continues to organize against U.S. militarism at home and abroad. As the genocide in Gaza and Trump’s domestic use of the National Guard to wage war on immigrants have led many people to question U.S. militarism, veterans organized in groups like About Face and Veterans For Peace have been at the forefront of opposing these expressions of state violence and connecting them to a larger culture of militarism. It remains to be seen how in the longer term the war on Iran, recently marked by Trump’s genocidal threat to end an entire civilization, might further change how people in the U.S. military feel about their role in the institution carrying out such violence. Both Prysner and Woolford suggested that the increase in troops reaching out to their organizations could be a sign of a deeper transformation taking place. “I think you can start to get a picture of the fact that there is quite a bit of opposition from within the ranks,” Prysner said. “That has not yet manifested into a movement or radical actions or people speaking out publicly or refusing to go on deployment publicly, but there’s real potentialities when you have that many people who are this opposed to the war.” Woolford, comparing the current moment to the early 2000s, thought it was important that antiwar sentiment is already more common. The war on terror “was very much a boots on the ground, where people were feeling shot at, they were feeling like they were being asked to do terrible things, whereas now, we don’t even have boots on the ground and people are already upset,” Woolford said. When it comes to the troops, “the opposition is way earlier this round.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Sam Carliner.
Hundreds of Rohingya feared missing or drowned in new shipwreck Iran: 3.2 million now displaced inside country: UNHCR Caribbean on brink as war shock and drought fears collide, says WFP
Hundreds of Rohingya feared missing or drowned in new shipwreck Iran: 3.2 million now displaced inside country: UNHCR Caribbean on brink as war shock and drought fears collide, says WFP This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
An interview with author M. E. O’Brien. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Ly Rosengard.