Music: Fadaway — ‘Walking In Circles’
The murky plan that ensures a future war in Ukraine
Anne Applebaum writes: The 28-point peace plan that the United States and Russia want to impose on Ukraine and Europe is misnamed. It is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else. The plan was negotiated by Steve Witkoff, a real-estate developer with no historical, geographical,…
The real reason Trump is fawning over Saudi Arabia’s ruler
Noah Shachtman writes: You remember the pictures. The images of tech oligarchs kissing the ring at President Trump’s inauguration were instantly iconic, markers of a new and rather unnerving era. But months earlier, Mr. Trump made a corrosive pact with another set of moguls, and that one is already remaking global politics, wiping out jobs at home and strangling what little hope was left of avoiding a climate disaster. This one happened behind closed doors. These moguls were leaders of…
Marjorie Taylor Greene might run for president in 2028, allies say
Time reports: Marjorie Taylor Greene is leaving Congress, but that may not be the end of her political ambitions. The Georgia lawmaker has privately told allies that she has considered running for president in 2028, according to two people who have spoken with her directly about the prospect and three others familiar with her thinking. The possibility comes amid the dramatic rupture in Greene’s relationship with President Donald Trump, which contributed to her decision to announce on Friday that she…
What Trump’s Mamdani praise — and MTG’s ouster — says about MAGA’s future
Politico reports: [F]or Democrats, Friday’s friendly confab presented a possible path forward for handling the president. In a year when Democrats have struggled with how to engage Trump, in which at least one of them hid behind a folder in a White House meeting and left the base wondering about her 2028 sauce, Mamdani just put on a masterclass, [Rebecca] Katz and other Democratic strategists said. Their theory of the case: In his meeting, he offered a template for handling…
Jair Bolsonaro arrested as he appeared to be poised to escape
The Guardian reports: Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor “out of curiosity” after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions he was poised to abscond. In a video released by the supreme court, Bolsonaro – who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for masterminding a military coup – can be heard admitting to a security official that he had used a soldering iron to tamper with…
Emails reveal that Noam Chomsky regarded Jeffrey Epstein as a ‘highly valued friend’
WBUR reports: Emails show convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had a tight friendship with MIT professor Noam Chomsky that spanned discussions about vacation, politics and included an apparent letter of support from Chomsky. The emails were part of a trove of documents released last week by the U.S. House Oversight Committee detailing communications between Epstein and powerful figures across politics, academia and business. A WBUR review of the emails shows despite Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution…
Cosmic paradox reveals the awful consequence of an observer-free universe
Matt von Hippel writes: Tinkering at their desks with the mathematics of quantum space and time, physicists have discovered a puzzling conundrum. The arcane rules of quantum theory and gravity let them imagine many different kinds of universes in precise detail, enabling powerful thought experiments that in recent years have addressed long-standing mysteries swirling around black holes. But when a group of researchers examined a universe intriguingly like our own in 2019, they found a paradox: The theoretical universe seemed…
Music: Shakti — ‘Two Sisters’
House votes to denounce ‘horrors’ of socialism while comrades Mamdani and Trump promote ‘affordability’
Politico reports: The House voted 285-98 to approve a resolution condemning the “horrors of socialism” Friday morning, just hours before President Donald Trump is set to meet with New York’s incoming democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani. Eighty-six Democrats joined with Republicans to approve the measure. Two others voted present. No Republican voted to oppose it. Speaker Mike Johnson and House GOP leaders have decried Mamdani’s election as the next mayor of the country’s largest city, citing his far-left politics and…
Zelensky says Trump plan forces Ukraine to choose between ‘dignity’ and a key partner
Axios reports: President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Ukrainian people on Friday and said President Trump’s 28-point peace plan will force Ukraine to choose between “losing our dignity” or risking the loss of U.S. support. Why it matters: The plan would force Ukraine to accept harsh concessions, including the loss of even more territory than Russia currently controls. Zelensky has told the Trump administration he’s prepared to negotiate, but the White House is pushing him to sign within one week. What he’s saying: “This is one of the most…
Illegal orders: Trump and Johnson doth protest too much
Greg Sargent writes: House Speaker Mike Johnson is outraged—absolutely outraged—that Democrats dared to suggest in that viral video this week that military and intelligence professionals should be wary of following illegal orders. “That was a wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do,” Johnson told reporters. Shockingly, Johnson didn’t think it “inappropriate” for Trump to accuse those Democrats of sedition that’s “punishable by death.” What’s been oddly absent from much of the coverage is any consideration of this…
ICE: The secret police reveal nothing after one of their targets disappears
David Noriega, MS NOW National Reporter and Lindsey Toczylowski, President and CEO of Immigrant Defenders Law Center join Alicia Menendez in for Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House to tell the story of an undocumented immigrant who has been caught up in Trump’s immigration crackdown, who after suffering a medical emergency while ICE custody has disappeared and his family and lawyers have been unable to locate him. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating in an unprecedented way…
ICE recruiting drive is breaking the federal prison system
By Keri Blakinger This story was originally published by ProPublica After years of struggling to find enough workers for some of the nation’s toughest lockups, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is facing a new challenge: Corrections officers are jumping ship for more lucrative jobs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is one of the unintended consequences of the Trump administration’s focus on mass deportations. For months, ICE has been on a recruiting blitz, offering $50,000 starting bonuses and tuition reimbursement…
Sen. Ron Wyden presses for investigation into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein
The New York Times reports: The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee issued a report on Thursday calling for an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase deliberately underreported more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions by Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. The report from the senator, Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the compliance failures by the nation’s largest bank during its nearly 15-year relationship with Mr. Epstein were “alarming” and impeded law enforcement’s ability to examine…
How humanity has broken a cycle that sustains life on Earth
Jack Lohmann writes: Stored in rock and organic material, phosphorus cycles slowly around Earth, through magma and mountains, down rivers, through waste and into oceans. Without it, there’d be no life – every living being needs it to grow. Unlike other mined materials, we all eat it. In the human body, it gives our cells energy, structure and identity, and it is particularly concentrated in our bones. Rare enough to be notable, common enough to be necessary, phosphorus tracks the…