Music: Daggerboard and the Skipper — ‘The Dream Within a Dream’
Despairing about climate change? These 4 charts on the unstoppable growth of solar may change your mind
Shutterstock By Andrew Blakers, Australian National University Last year, the world built more new solar capacity than every other power source combined. Solar is now growing much faster than any other energy technology in history. How fast? Fast enough to completely displace fossil fuels from the entire global economy before 2050. The rise and rise of cheap solar is our best hope for rapidly mitigating climate change. Total solar capacity tipped over 1 terawatt (1,000 gigawatts) for the first time…
Climate crisis deniers target scientists for vicious abuse on Musk’s Twitter
The Observer reports: Some of the UK’s top scientists are struggling to deal with what they describe as a huge rise in abuse from climate crisis deniers on Twitter since the social media platform was taken over by Elon Musk last year. Since then, key figures who ensured “trusted” content was prioritised have been sacked, according to one scientist, and Twitter’s sustainability arm has vanished. At the same time several users with millions of followers who propagate false statements about…
Wagner chief offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine, leak says
The Washington Post reports: In late January, with his mercenary forces dying by the thousands in a fight for the ruined city of Bakhmut, Wagner Group owner Yevgeniy Prigozhin made Ukraine an extraordinary offer. Prigozhin said that if Ukraine’s commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, he would give Kyiv information on Russian troop positions, which Ukraine could use to attack them. Prigozhin conveyed the proposal to his contacts in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with whom he has…
Zelensky, in private, plots bold attacks inside Russia, leak shows
The Washington Post reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has won the trust of Western governments by refusing to use the weapons they provide for attacks inside Russia and prioritizing the targeting of Russian forces inside Ukraine’s borders. But behind closed doors, Ukraine’s leader has proposed going in a more audacious direction — occupying Russian villages to gain leverage over Moscow, bombing a pipeline that transfers Russian oil to Hungary, a NATO member, and privately pining for long-range missiles to hit…
The war on poverty is over. Rich people won
Annie Lowrey writes: Why do so many Americans live in poverty? Because so many rich people benefit from it. This is the thesis of the lauded sociologist Matthew Desmond’s new book, Poverty, by America. The best seller is at once a careful exploration of poverty statistics; a deeply reported depiction of the lived experiences of the poor; an examination of the ways America’s wealthy exploit the masses; and a case for ending poverty. Desmond shows how the country’s employers, financial…
Defending white nationalists, Tommy Tuberville fears a military that is ‘going wrong’
Paul Kane writes: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) sees the military in a dramatic leftward lurch that has hurt recruiting and combat readiness. The third-year senator believes Pentagon leaders are forcing troops to read liberal books. That they are helping provide abortion services. And, in new remarks the past few days, that they are inappropriately driving “white nationalists” out of the service. “They’re politicizing the military so much, they’re ruining our military,” Tuberville told reporters on Thursday, noting that the Army…
Trump’s ‘problematic behavior’ towards young women was an ‘open secret’ inside the White House
The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump’s ex-director of strategic communications has revealed that she saw “a number of problematic behavior and comments” by the former president during his tenure at the White House, largely towards young female staffers. She said she went so far as to report it—but that nothing was ever apparently done about it. Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is now a co-host of The View but was at the time among the dozen most senior staff in the…
Music: Daggerboard and the Skipper — ‘Agapanthus’
Biden warns of ‘sinister forces’ trying to reverse racial progress
The New York Times reports: President Biden declared on Saturday that white supremacy is “the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland” and warned a predominantly Black audience that “sinister forces” embraced by his predecessor and putative challenger are trying to reverse generations of racial progress in America. Mr. Biden never named former President Donald J. Trump in his sometimes stark commencement address to the graduating class of Howard University, the nation’s most prestigious historically Black college. He alluded, however,…
A pointed message from one judge to nine others about race and guns
Ruth Marcus writes: In our judicial system, lower-court judges take instruction from the Supreme Court, not the other way around. In the case of U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, that’s too bad. Walton, appointed to the local court in the District of Columbia by Ronald Reagan and to the federal bench by George W. Bush, has a message for the justices that is appropriate, respectful — and devastating. Messages, actually, delivered in a speech Thursday about the importance of…
Why a self-described ‘unwavering advocate of abortion rights’ voted for an extreme abortion ban
Jezebel reports: Imagine campaigning for a Democratic politician—a thankless, low-paying job, especially at the state level—because you believe in what they stand for. The candidate gives powerful speeches about abortion rights that make you proud. You’re in a purple state, where every single seat in the legislature is critical to protecting abortion access. So you join the fight, help them win, and continue working for them in the legislature. Then inexplicably, in the middle of their term, that politician does…
‘The point is intimidation’: Florida teachers besieged by draconian laws
The Guardian reports: Adam Tritt, a high school English teacher in Palm Bay, Florida, was shocked when his school’s librarian – eager to comply with Florida’s new law restricting “inappropriate” books in schools – removed one-third of the books on his classroom shelves, including a collection of Emily Dickinson’s poetry that was not on her list of approved books. Vivian Taylor, a seventh-grade teacher in Miami, says she was told to hardly discuss Emmett Till – the 14-year-old victim of…
Russia tried and failed to destroy U.S.-made Patriot system in Ukraine, officials say
CNN reports: Russia tried to destroy a US-made Patriot air defense system in Ukraine last week with a hypersonic missile, two US officials told CNN. The attack failed, and the Ukrainian military instead intercepted the missile using the Patriot system, the officials said, marking their first known successful Ukrainian use of the advanced air defense system only weeks after it arrived in country. The Ukrainian air defenders fired multiple missiles from the Patriot at different angles to intercept the Russian…
Turkey election: Opposition dares to dream of Erdogan defeat
BBC News reports: Turkey’s all-powerful President Erdogan is in the fight of his life against an opposition that has united against him for Sunday’s elections. His main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, appeared before a throng of supporters on Friday, flanked by allies from across the political spectrum who have come together as never before. As the rain beat down in Ankara, he vowed to restore “peace and democracy”. The man he wants voters to oust after 20 years – Recep Tayyip…
Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social
The Washington Post reports: An obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean-island bank that bills itself as a top payment service for adult entertainment sites would gain a sizable stake in former president Donald Trump’s media company if its merger deal proceeds, according to internal documents a company whistleblower has shared with federal investigators and The Washington Post. Yet the role ES Family Trust would assume in Trump Media and Technology Group has never been officially disclosed to the…