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November 12, 2025
Socialist looks like she will be next Seattle mayor
Politico - A progressive activist appears to be on the cusp of winning her bid for mayor of Seattle in a narrow victory that has echoes of the race to lead New York City. With a dwindling number of ballots left to count, Katie Wilson led Mayor Bruce Harrell by just over 1,300 votes, according to results released Tuesday by King County Elections. The incumbent led by more than 10,000 votes the day after the election but mail-in ballots counted after Nov. 4 favored the challenger.
Harrell has not conceded but it was unlikely he can make up the difference with the ballots left to count, Democratic strategists said. “Kate Wilson won 61.23% of the 6,121 ballots counted today. Huge percentage and her total is close to not requiring a recount,” Crystal Fincher, a Seattle-based political consultant, said by text after the latest results. “I’m comfortable calling this race for Wilson now.”
Polls
Newsweek - President Donald Trump’s handling of the federal government has lost support among Republicans and independents as the government shutdown stretches into its sixth week, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research...
The survey, conducted after Democrats’ recent off-year election victories but before Congress advanced measures to end the shutdown, found that only 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s management of the government, down from 43% in March. The decline was fueled largely by falling support among Republicans and independents. About 68% of Republicans now approve of Trump’s management, compared with 81% earlier this year. Among independents, approval dropped from 38% to 25%.
The penny dies at 232
New York Times - The American penny died on Wednesday in Philadelphia. It was 232.
The cause was irrelevance and expensiveness, the Treasury Department said.
Nothing could be bought any more with a penny, not even penny candy. Moreover, the cost to mint the penny had risen to more than 3 cents, a financial absurdity that doomed the coin.
The final pennies were minted on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Top Treasury officials were on hand for its final journey. No last words were recorded....
Even after death, the penny will not vanish for a while longer. There are some 250 billion pennies in circulation and they will be out there, gathering dust, or maybe, very, very rarely, being used to help pay for something. As the last pennies slowly disappear, businesses will have no choice but to round transactions to the nearest nickel when dealing with cash.
With the penny’s demise, coin enthusiasts’ worried eyes now turn toward its longtime associate, the nickel. Its purchasing power has also shrunk to nearly nothing, and it costs more than a dime to make.
Taiwan’s Population Plunges Further
Newsweek - There were more deaths than births in Taiwan for the 22nd consecutive month, according to new government data for October.
More troubling for policymakers than the sheer drop in population, however, is the island's steady march toward what the United Nations classifies as a “super-aged society,” where people aged 65 and older make up at least 20 percent of the population.
Birth rates are falling across many high- and middle-income countries as younger generations delay or opt out of having children amid rising living costs and shifting attitudes toward family life.
Taiwan now has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, raising concerns over the economic impact as a dwindling number of working-age people are left to care for a rapidly growing elderly population.
Weather
Florida has been blasted by a cold snap, bringing plummeting temperatures as low as 26 F in some parts of the state. In Miami, the temperature of 48 F recorded on Tuesday was the coldest on record for a November 11 since 1913—over 110 years ago—according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Newsweek - Parts of America have been told to continue to brace themselves for more wintry weather, as gusty winds as high as 100 mph and up to 2 feet of snow are expected to blanket certain areas from Wednesday, with some areas experiencing snowfall until Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), which has issued alerts for three states...The following three states have been issued winter weather advisories by the NWS: New York, Nevada, and parts of California's Northeastern region.
Washington Post under Jeff Bezos
NPR- On at least three occasions in the past two weeks, an official Washington Post
editorial has taken on matters in which owner Jeff Bezos has a
financial or corporate interest without noting his stake. In each case,
the Post’s official editorial line landed in sync with its owner’s financial interests
Getting folks working together
Nice News - One group of pals in Charleston, South Carolina, formed The MARSH Project to restore a tidal wetland that runs through their neighborhood. They host trash cleanup events, plant native species, and in the process, gain a new sense of hope. “We can be paralyzed by the bad news that we are fed every day, or we can work within our local communities and engage with people and actually do things,” said co-founder Joel Caldwell.
Decline in school math skills
Free Press - Between 2020 and 2025, the number of freshmen at the University of California San Diego falling short of middle-school math standards grew nearly thirty fold, reports Tanner Nau. Almost 10 percent of students now need remedial math that teaches basic first-grade concepts. The slide in math has also reached the Ivy League. More
Fossil fuel projects threaten the health of 2 billion people
The Guardian - A quarter of the world’s population lives within three miles (5km) of operational fossil fuel projects, potentially threatening the health of more than 2 billion people as well as critical ecosystems, according to first-of-its-kind research.
A damning new report by Amnesty International, shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that more than 18,300 oil, gas and coal sites are currently distributed across 170 countries worldwide, occupying a vast area of the Earth’s surface.
Proximity to drilling wells, processing plants, pipelines and other fossil fuel facilities elevates the risk of cancer, respiratory conditions, heart disease, premature birth and death, as well as posing grave threats to water supplies and air quality, and degrades land.
Almost half a billion (463 million) people, including 124 million children, now live within 0.6 miles (1km) of fossil fuels sites, while another 3,500 or so new sites are currently proposed or under development that could force 135 million more people to endure fumes, flares and spills, according to Extraction Extinction: Why the Lifecycle of Fossil Fuels Threatens Life, Nature, and Human Rights.
Flight delays likely to linger
NPR - Even if the shutdown ends this week, flight disruptions are likely to linger. Airlines have already canceled thousands of flights to comply with a Federal Aviation Administration order and now there are staffing shortages. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the FAA’s restrictions will remain in place until regulators are satisfied that staffing levels are back to normal, NPR’s Joel Rose reports.
Politics
Mayra - Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly confirms that Trump called American service members “suckers” and “losers,” refused to visit their graves, and that he didn’t want to be seen with amputee veterans because “it doesn’t look good for me”
Donald Trump has repeated a request to Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, for a pardon for Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial in three separate corruption cases
NY Times - House Democrats on Wednesday released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein wrote that President Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims, among other messages that suggested that the convicted sex offender believed Mr. Trump knew more about his abuse than he has acknowledged. Mr. Trump has emphatically denied any involvement in or knowledge of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. He has said that he and Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019, were once friendly but had a falling out.
John F Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg has said he will run for the US House next year, announcing Tuesday that he was seeking a key New York seat set to be vacated by longtime Democrat Jerry Nadler.
NPR - Some Democrats have called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to be ousted from his leadership role, even though he voted against the plan. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dodged questions about Schumer with reporters last night, highlighting divisions within the party.
Time - Many in the U.S. are already concerned about the growing role of wealth in politics, and the influence it could have on lawmakers. A 2023 Pew study found that over 70% of Americans believed there should be spending limits for political campaigns, while 85% believed that “the cost of political campaigns makes it hard for good people to run for office” and 80% said those who donate to campaigns have too much influence over members of Congress.
Americans waiting longer to buy a house
NBC News - Faced with higher prices, big student loan bills and elevated mortgage rates, Americans are waiting longer than ever to buy a home.
Problems with a 50 year mortgage
Time - The monthly payments for a 50-year mortgage would be lower than those for a 30-year mortgage, according to Alex Schwartz, professor of urban policy at The New School.
Imagine, for instance, that a person is purchasing a $500,000 home with a 30-year mortgage. The current interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is about 6.22%, according to Freddie Mac. That means if the home buyer put down a down payment of 20%, their monthly payment of the principal and interest would be $2,455, according to Fannie Mae’s mortgage calculator. But if they took out a 50-year mortgage, again with a down payment of 20%, then their monthly payment of principal and interest—assuming that the interest rate is the same—would be $2,171, according to Fannie Mae. That’s a little under $300 less than the monthly payment for a 30-year mortgage.
“It’s a reduction, but it’s not dramatic,” Schwartz says of the difference between monthly payments for 30- and 50-year mortgages.
He also notes that the interest rate for a 50-year mortgage likely wouldn’t be the same as that for a 30-year mortgage, which could reduce the potential savings. A higher interest rate is just one of a few possible drawbacks to a 50-year mortgage, he says.
One drawback of a 50-year mortgage is that it would take home buyers longer to pay off their debt.
“If you were 30 years old and bought a home with a 30-year mortgage, it would be owned free and clear at age 60, so you’d only have to pay property taxes and maintenance on the home, no longer having to pay a mortgage during your older years or retirement,” Schwartz says.
“If you were now paying a loan for a 50-year mortgage, and you’re 30, the mortgage wouldn’t end until you’re 80, and so you would have a period of time, most likely during retirement, where you have to pay the debt service costs on top of the property taxes and maintenance,” he continues.
Tensions Between India and Pakistan
Time - Tensions between India and Pakistan appear to be on the rise again after both countries’ capitals were rocked by deadly blasts just a day apart from each other, fuelling fears of another full-blown clash this year.
On Tuesday afternoon, a suicide bomber self-detonated next to a police car outside a court building in Islamabad, killing at least 12 others and wounding at least 27. Many of those killed or injured were passersby or people attending court appointments, according to Islamabad police.
The leader of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Associated Press, although another commander from the group denied association with the attack. The group has split from and remerged with TTP on a number of occasions, including breaking away in 2022 after its leader was killed in a bombing in Afghanistan. A TTP spokesperson disclaimed involvement in Tuesday’s attack.
But Islamabad has been quick to point fingers at New Delhi, even as it says it is still investigating the attack. The Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad appeared to blame India for the attack, calling it one of the “worst examples of Indian state-sponsored terrorism in the region.” Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also claimed the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies.”
November 11, 2025
Museums had a rough 2025
NPR - Museums faced a whirlwind of brutal challenges in 2025. It wasn't just the federal government cancelling grants, leaving museums with holes in their budgets to fill. But President Trump's targeting of museum programming
led to downstream effects on funding, putting a "chill on corporate
philanthropy," according to Marilyn Jackson, president and CEO of the
American Alliance of Museums. "We're seeing corporations and
foundations thinking twice about funding certain projects or programs
they would have naturally funded in the past, because of all these
executive orders that came down," Jackson said.
Politics
The New York Times - Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. chose new leaders on Tuesday. The new president is an archbishop from Oklahoma City who issued a statement two days after President Trump’s inauguration calling on Catholics to remember that Jesus was once a refugee.
CBS News - Democrat Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in as a member of Congress on Wednesday when the House returns, seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona
Supreme Court extends pause on order to fully fund November SNAP benefits
Senate Republicans say they’re open to extending a pot of Affordable Care Act funds that will expire at the end of the year — but only if Democrats acquiesce to stricter abortion restrictions on insurance plans. Read more →
Fact Post News - Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly confirms that Trump called American service members “suckers” and “losers,” refused to visit their graves, and that he didn’t want to be seen with amputee veterans because “it doesn’t look good for me”
Note from your old editor
San Smith - In less than two weeks your editor will be 88 years old. I'm observing this event in part as I recover from another attempt to break into and manipulate this site. As an early practitioner - starting in 1964 - of what became known as the underground press - now the alternative media - I think 61 years is probably long enough to handle such problems and so I have decided to change the predominant tone of Undernews from the evil of others to positive alternatives. Having only started thinking about this a few days ago, I urge your patience as I seek a new approach. And I welcome any news about efforts to make America better.
Why I celebrate Veterans Day
Sam Smith - I graduated from Harvard in 1959 soon faced with the prospect of being drafted into the Vietnam War. President Kennedy would increase the American military presence there from 900 in 1960 to 16,000 in 1963.
Which is the ignoble reason I decided to join the Coast Guard - aka the Hooligan Navy - through its officer candidate school. After all I had started sailing as a young teenager and had been on the Harvard varsity sailing team.
I even graduated second in my class among classmates not already in the Guard but it turned out that the Coast Guard was really looking for public information officers and I had worked for a Washington radio station so my dry land skills were far more important
To my disappointment I was not only assigned as public information officer in St Louis, about as far away from the coast as you can get. My job covered the inland waterways from about Pennsylvania to Coloado. I took the post with the defense that inland waterways had two coasts and so were twice as hard to guard.
Fortunately, the admiral, for whom I was also his aide, was reassigned to the east coast and offered to get me a better assignment which led me to being the operations officer for Rhode Island's Coast Guard cutter Spar for which I happily help in posting aids to navigation and leading search & rescue efforts. Whatever doubts I may had had were squashed by the fact that I was not in Vietnam.
Peanut allergies have plummeted among kids since 2017
The Guardian - According to a paper published in the Journal of Pediatrics this month, the number of peanut allergy diagnoses among children has dropped over 40% since 2017. The reason? Food allergy guidelines have undergone a massive sea change in the past decade.
Visa and Mastercard May Lower Fees
Newsweek - Visa and Mastercard could lower some of the fees they charge retailers in the U.S. as part of a possible $38 billion settlement—here is what it could mean for you.
The companies announced the settlement on Monday, after 20 years of litigation over Visa, Mastercard and banks allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. antitrust laws, according to Reuters.
Visa and Mastercard have not admitted to wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The agreement, pending court approval, ends two decades of litigation involving antitrust allegations over how these fees are set.
Polls
Independent UK - Democratic governor Gavin Newsom is leading JD Vance among young male voters, according to a new poll over a hypothetical 2028 presidential battle.
Republican pollster League of American Workers/TIPP found the Californian governor is making headway with young men, following the demographic’s well-documented support for President Donald Trump in 2024...
TIPP surveyed 2,100 registered US voters aged 18-25 between October 22 and 28. When participants were asked whether they would vote for Newsom or Vance if the 2028 presidential election were held today, 38 percent picked Newsom, 33 percent chose Vance, 15 percent said someone else, and 15 percent were undecided.
Sweden figures out how to save birds from road salt
PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE -
Made with beet extract and maize starch, it melts ice safely while feeding wildlife instead of poisoning them during brutal winters.
Beyond animal welfare, the eco-salt leaves fewer chemical residues in runoff water, benefiting nearby soil and streams. Sweden's snowplow reform shows that even routine maintenance can become an act of ecological stewardship. A simple change in salt chemistry is saving
countless lives, feathered and otherwise.
Energy consumption
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Cities Are Building Subsidized Housing To Lure Teachers Back
Nice News - For much of the 20th century, teaching was a stable, middle-class job in the U.S. Now it’s becoming a lot harder to survive on a teacher’s salary: Wages have been stagnant for decades, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, and teachers earn 5% less than they did a decade ago when adjusting for inflation.
That’s one reason why there’s a widespread teacher shortage, with tens of thousands of positions going unfilled. At the same time, according to a 2022 report from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, there are more than 160,000 underqualified teachers in the classroom, meaning they don’t meet full certification or credentialing standards.
This issue has become particularly acute as housing costs have risen sharply across the country over the past decade. Why become a teacher if it means you’ll struggle to put a roof over your head?
In response, many states and cities, from California to Cincinnati, are exploring ways to attract and retain teachers by developing education workforce housing — affordable housing built specifically for public school teachers and staff to make it easier for them to live near where they work. In doing so, they seek to address aspects of both the teacher shortage and housing crisis. MORE
Hope for Young Patients Battling Cancer
Nice News - In the United States, the five-year survival rate for children with
cancer is 85%. But for kids with certain solid tumors and sarcomas, that number can drop to under 30% — something Dr. Catherine Bollard is trying to help improve.
“There
just hasn’t been the same amount of effort and financial support around
really understanding the biology of pediatric cancers,” Bollard told The Washington Post, comparing pediatric and adult disease. “We have not gone fast enough as a field.”...
Climate negotiations
NPR - Delegates from nearly 200 countries have begun climate negotiations at the COP30 in Brazil. As with previous summits, the negotiations begin on a weak note as countries are still not meeting their goals to cut heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels.
The world is on track for five degrees Fahrenheit of warming currently, NPR’s Lauren Sommer reports, which could lead to heatwaves and storms becoming more intense, as well as ecosystems like coral reefs having a low chance of survival. But there’s good news: over 90% of new power projects built last year were renewable showing electricity is becoming cleaner globally.
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