The changing climate of the Little Ice Age forced radical thinkers to reconsider humanity’s place in the universe

The changing climate of the Little Ice Age forced radical thinkers to reconsider humanity’s place in the universe

Timothy Grieve-Carlson writes: The sky in the northern hemisphere had been darkened, the winters unusually harsh, and the summers barely arriving for decades when the German Lutheran author Johann Arndt published his Four Books on True Christianity in 1610. Arndt warned his readers that: when the sky burns like this, and the sun turns blood-red, it is telling us: Behold, one day I will perish in fire. In this way, all the elements speak to us, announcing our wickedness and…

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Federal judges in Jan. 6 cases issue scathingly critical statements about Trump’s pardons

Federal judges in Jan. 6 cases issue scathingly critical statements about Trump’s pardons

Politico reports: A prominent federal judge on Wednesday ripped President Donald Trump’s mass clemency for Jan. 6 rioters, saying the justification he offered in his proclamation — to correct an “injustice” and trigger a “national reconciliation” — was “flatly wrong” and a “revisionist myth.” “No ‘national injustice’ occurred here, just as no outcome-determinative election fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election,” U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote in an eight-page order in the case of two Jan. 6 defendants who…

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Trump staff ‘furious’ after Musk trashes AI project but ‘the president doesn’t have any leverage over him’

Trump staff ‘furious’ after Musk trashes AI project but ‘the president doesn’t have any leverage over him’

Politico reports: Some of President Donald Trump’s key aides and allies are furious with Elon Musk for publicly trashing his $500 billion artificial intelligence mega-deal. A White House official said Musk “very much” got over his skis when the tech tycoon launched a daylong screed against the AI project. One Trump ally said Musk abused his closeness to the president. Another Republican close to the White House went further, saying Trump’s staff is “furious” over Musk using his massive social…

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King Trump and his court

King Trump and his court

Martin Kettle writes: The US is a nation increasingly governed by a court. But this governing court is not a court of law. Trump’s grip on the top judges in the US supreme court, many of whom he appointed during his first term, is already tight and likely to now grow tighter. Instead, Trump governs by placing himself at the centre of a presidential court almost on the monarchical model. Not all of this is down to Trump alone. During…

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How to start an ICE Watch neighborhood program in your community

How to start an ICE Watch neighborhood program in your community

Nikki Marín Baena writes: In 2017, following a previous set of Trump executive orders, immigrant families in North Carolina were inundated by misinformation and rumors about ICE agents hidden in grocery store parking lots and supposed substations near after-school facilities, leading some people to avoid leaving home. There was no Spanish-language rumor verification hotline here in Greensboro, so our organization — which was just a handful of volunteers at the time — created one, giving more people the ability to…

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Leaked documents expose deepening ties between Israeli army and Microsoft

Leaked documents expose deepening ties between Israeli army and Microsoft

Yuval Abraham reports: Microsoft has a “footprint in all major military infrastructures” in Israel, and sales of the company’s cloud and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli army have skyrocketed since the beginning of its onslaught on Gaza, according to leaked commercial records from Israel’s Defense Ministry and files from Microsoft’s Israeli subsidiary. The documents reveal that dozens of units in the Israeli army have purchased services from Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, in recent months — including units in…

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‘My neighborhood was one of the most beautiful in Gaza. All that’s left is rubble’

‘My neighborhood was one of the most beautiful in Gaza. All that’s left is rubble’

Ahmed Ahmed reports: As soon as the ceasefire came into effect in Gaza on Sunday, Hamza Othman had only one thought in his mind: to go and see whether his home was still standing. The 22-year-old had refused to leave the Fallujah neighborhood of Jabalia refugee camp for over a year — even after he was wounded by an Israeli airstrike that killed his mother and brother as they sold candy from a stall in front of the house last…

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Imperialist posturing by the United States has always spurred resistance from its southern neighbors

Imperialist posturing by the United States has always spurred resistance from its southern neighbors

Antonio De Loera-Brust writes: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s public threats to retake the Panama Canal, by force if necessary, have already done meaningful damage to U.S. standing in Latin America. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded immediately: no way. Other Latin American states, including Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, were quick to offer their solidarity to Panama. United States began building the Panama Canal during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, who once advised, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Trump…

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Trump’s immigration plans are already wreaking havoc on the food industry

Trump’s immigration plans are already wreaking havoc on the food industry

The New Republic reports: Fear of increased ICE raids have already negatively affected the nation’s agricultural sector, causing alarm that food prices could skyrocket in the near future as a result of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies. Bakersfield, California, saw a massive drop-off in the number of field workers showing up for work Tuesday while ICE agents in unmarked Chevy Suburbans rounded up and detained immigrants in the area, profiling individuals they believed to be field workers, reported CalMatters. The…

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Trump’s immigration crackdown met with defiance from local police

Trump’s immigration crackdown met with defiance from local police

Axios reports: Police departments across the country are pushing back against President Trump’s hardline immigration policies, saying they won’t take part in the administration’s deportation raids. Why it matters: Just days into the new administration, Trump’s campaign pledge to oversee mass deportations of immigrants is taking shape, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids expected. Driving the news: Trump has already declared a national emergency at the border and rolled back longstanding protections that restrict immigration enforcement in sensitive locations, like churches and schools. Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan told…

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Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons — the potential for political backlash is real

Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons — the potential for political backlash is real

Ankush Khardori writes: Even though President Donald Trump had vowed to deliver pardons to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the Capitol, his sweeping clemency for roughly 1,500 people was stunning. The recipients of Trump’s incredible generosity included Enrique Tarrio, a onetime leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of sedition and serving a 22-year sentence; Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, who was serving an 18-year sentence for his involvement; and about…

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Convicted U.S. Capitol rioter turns down Trump pardon ‘because I was guilty’

Convicted U.S. Capitol rioter turns down Trump pardon ‘because I was guilty’

BBC News reports: One of the people who served jail time for taking part in the US Capitol riot four years ago has refused a pardon from President Donald Trump, saying: “We were wrong that day.” Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, told the BBC that there should be no pardons for the riot on 6 January 2021. “Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of…

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Bishop explains her plea to Trump to ‘have mercy’ on LGBTQ+ people and immigrants on The View

Bishop explains her plea to Trump to ‘have mercy’ on LGBTQ+ people and immigrants on The View

  Just one day after she delivered her remarks in front of Trump, Bishop Mariann Budde said on The View on Wednesday morning that her responsibility on Tuesday was to reflect and “pray with the nation for unity”. “As I was pondering what are the foundations of unity, I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility,” she said. “And then I also realized that in unity requires a certain degree of…

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Increasing climate losses threaten the insurance industry and financial stability

Increasing climate losses threaten the insurance industry and financial stability

Ilan Noy writes: The impact of climate change on insurance markets has been systematically underestimated, with profound implications for financial stability and the sustainability of the risk-sharing services insurance provides. In my research on the economic impacts of climate change and other disasters, I’ve observed a persistent pattern: insurers treat climate change primarily as a future risk while failing to recognise how it has been transforming the risk landscape for some time now. This misunderstanding is now coming home to…

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