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.
November 11, 2025
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.”...
More....
NPR - David Szalay's latest fiction novel, Flesh, has won this year’s Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in literature.
Jim Hightower - Washington’s pay-to-play game has long been used by corporate powers to buy particular government favors, but now the money corruption “game” is so routine, so massive, and so flagrant that it has become the government...But what can we do about it, especially since Democratic Party officials also plays this plutocratic game? Well, Zohran Mamdani showed us one solution last week with his grassroots populist victory over New York’s Big Money establishment to become the city’s mayor.
He ran a true people’s campaign on progressive issues and values – which he was able to do because of a populist campaign funding option the city initiated years ago called small donor public financing. This alternative provides matching dollars from a public fund for candidates who rely on small donations from regular citizens, rather than begging for big bucks from billionaires.
In Mamdani’s case, his unabashed progressivism excited long-ignored working-class voters, who contributed a few dollars each. Then, the public match added up to $13 million – enough to get his message out and organize turnout. Though he was still outspent four to one, the small donor fund provided the margin he needed to be competitive in a big race.
So far, public financing options have been adopted in 17 jurisdictions, from Arizona to Maine, Seattle to Baltimore. Why not where you live? For guidance, go to CommonCause.org.
Jim Hightower - Washington’s pay-to-play game has long been used by corporate powers to buy particular government favors, but now the money corruption “game” is so routine, so massive, and so flagrant that it has become the government...But what can we do about it, especially since Democratic Party officials also plays this plutocratic game? Well, Zohran Mamdani showed us one solution last week with his grassroots populist victory over New York’s Big Money establishment to become the city’s mayor.
He ran a true people’s campaign on progressive issues and values – which he was able to do because of a populist campaign funding option the city initiated years ago called small donor public financing. This alternative provides matching dollars from a public fund for candidates who rely on small donations from regular citizens, rather than begging for big bucks from billionaires.
In Mamdani’s case, his unabashed progressivism excited long-ignored working-class voters, who contributed a few dollars each. Then, the public match added up to $13 million – enough to get his message out and organize turnout. Though he was still outspent four to one, the small donor fund provided the margin he needed to be competitive in a big race.
So far, public financing options have been adopted in 17 jurisdictions, from Arizona to Maine, Seattle to Baltimore. Why not where you live? For guidance, go to CommonCause.org.
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.
Best states for community connection
SmileHub - To highlight the best states for community connection and the ones that
have the most room to improve, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states
based on 21 key metrics. The data set ranges from the number of
community support charities per capita to the volunteer rate to the
number of hate crime incidents per capita.
Most Tight-Knit States |
States in Need of Improvement |
|
| 1. Minnesota | 41. Arizona | |
| 2. Utah | 42. Florida | |
| 3. Massachusetts | 43. Mississippi | |
| 4. North Dakota | 44. South Carolina | |
| 5. New Hampshire | 45. West Virginia | |
| 6. Vermont | 46. Alabama | |
| 7. Nebraska | 47. Arkansas | |
| 8. Connecticut | 48. Nevada | |
| 9. South Dakota | 49. New Mexico | |
| 10. Pennsylvania | 50. Louisiana |
Key Stats
- Utah has the highest volunteer rate – 2.5 times higher than Rhode Island, which has the lowest rate.
- Vermont has the most community & social services workers per capita – 3.2 times more than Alabama, which has the fewest workers.
- California has the most community support charities per capita – 8.4 times more than New Hampshire, which has the fewest charities.
AI and democracy
Eric Schmidt and Rather than replace democracy with A.I., we must instead use A.I. to reinvigorate democracy, making it more responsive, more deliberative and more worthy of public trust.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the path we’re currently on.
A majority of adults across 12 high-income countries say they are dissatisfied with the way their democracy is working. We see this disaffection manifest in turnstiles ablaze, smashed storefronts and streets choked with tear gas — the seemingly endless churn of protests against governments that are perceived as out of touch, ineffective and corrupt.
Meanwhile, A.I. systems continue to improve rapidly. We already have models that outstrip human performers in fields like geometry and medical imaging. The public is also becoming more familiar with the technology (even if Americans use it significantly less than those in many other nations do, most notably in China).
Perhaps it isn’t surprising, then, that people around the world already trust emergent A.I. systems over established democratic ones. Three rounds of surveys run by the Collective Intelligence Project between March and August 2025 consistently found that people believed A.I. chatbots could make better decisions on their behalf than their elected representatives.
Fewer people remember WWII
Josh Barro, NY Times - “The key thing here is that Democrats were never going to get the outcome their voters craved: either a substantial change from Republicans’ desired health care policy or a broader change in the nature of the Trump administration.”
Israel and the West Bank
“A U.S., European or Arab policy that says no to formal annexation but does nothing to stop de facto annexation will be interpreted by Israel as an invitation to continue apace. Israel has made life in the West Bank increasingly unbearable for the approximately three million Palestinians living there.” - Mairav Zonszein, NY Times
The benefits of leaf mold
AP News - There are a lot of leaves outside my window, and I’m guessing your view might be similar. This carpet of dead foliage is often viewed as a nuisance, but it can be an important component in the garden.
I’ll push a 3-inch (7.6-centimeter) layer of them into beds and borders to serve as root-protecting and insect-sheltering winter mulch. When they decompose, they’ll also add nutrients to the soil, which will fortify my plants in spring.
Others will make it into the compost pile, which, along with food scraps, weeds and spent annuals and perennials, will cook into what we gardeners call “black gold.” But there’s another use for fallen leaves that might have escaped your notice: leaf mold.
Simpler than compost but similarly beneficial, leaf mold contains only one ingredient — leaves. It helps increase moisture retention in sandy soil, improve drainage in clay soil, regulate soil temperature and suppress weeds when applied over the soil in beds and borders.
As far as nutrients go, compost wins, but leaf mold is no slacker. It supports earthworms, beneficial insects and soil microbes, and boosts the health and vigor of plants
Politics
Other times Trump has sued the media
Does Trump have mental health problems?
Trump’s latest pardons aim to make fake elector scheme legal
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Donald Trump: "Nobody knows what magnets are."
The Eight Senators Who Broke With Democrats to End the Government Shutdown
Donald Trump on his 50-year mortgage plan: "It's not even a big deal! You go from 40 to 50 years. And what it means is you pay something less. From 30, some people had a 40, and now they have a 50...You pay it over a long period of time. It's not like a big factor!" ....A 50-year mortgage at 4% interest costs ~67% more in total interest than a 30-year mortgage at 4% for the same loan amount and rate—primarily because interest is paid over a much longer period, even with lower monthly payments.
The Intercept - Since September 2, Donald Trump has summarily executed 76 civilians suspected of drug trafficking in 19 separate airstrikes in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. But as The Intercept reported last month, the administration admitted in a closed-door briefing to Congress that they don’t even know the identities of the people they’ve killed. Two people who survived boat bombings were released back to their home countries because the Trump administration lacked sufficient evidence to even arrest them.
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| Via hustlechowinMop | |
November 10, 2025
Polls
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FactPost - We are dealing with the worst ever view of current economic conditions, dating all the way back since 1951. Consumer sentiment of current conditions down 30% from January when Donald Trump took office. More than 3 in 5 Americans say that Trump's policies have worsened economic conditions in America. 51% of Americans say that Trump's policies have worsened their own finances.
AI
Prime Chronicle - Seven lawsuits filed against OpenAI and Character.AI present damning evidence that AI chatbots contributed to suicides and psychiatric emergencies among vulnerable users. Families of victims allege these companies rushed their products to market without basic safeguards or mental health expertise. The legal filings detail how chatbots validated self-destructive ideation and failed to recognize clear crisis situations, prioritizing engagement over user safety in pursuit of market dominance.
Word
Senator Amy Klobuchar - The President is breaking the law, abusing his power, setting a dangerous precedent, and undermining our economy.
Supreme Court rejects effort to overturn same-sex marriage ruling
NBC News - The Supreme Court turned away a long-shot attempt to overturn the landmark 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The justices, without comment, rejected an appeal brought by Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who was sued in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses because of her opposition to same-sex marriage based on her religious beliefs.
Trump's war on SNAP
CALL TO ACTIVISM - The First Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled AGAINST Donald Trump’s efforts to stop November SNAP payments after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sent them the case.
NBC News - The U.S. Department of Agriculture said states that issued full November SNAP benefits to recipients following a court decision should "immediately undo" the distributions and that failure to comply could result in the cancellation of future federal funds. The latest memo was a reversal of earlier guidance the USDA had issued before the Supreme Court paused the distribution of full SNAP benefits on Friday, sending the case back to a lower court.
Arctic blast to hit two thirds of US
NBC News - An Arctic blast dumping snow on the Midwest is expected to eventually cover two-thirds of the nation and bring record cold to the South.
The blast broke off from the polar vortex above Canada, sending the cold air south. A list of National Weather Service bulletins shows more than 105 million people are the subject of advisories, watches and warnings on freezing conditions, winter weather and lake effect snow.
The cold sweep is forecast to spread across the eastern two-thirds of the nation, and it could bring freezing temperatures to much of the South by Tuesday while setting low temperature records, the weather service said in last night’s national forecast discussion. Afternoon highs in parts of the South were expected to be 10 to 25 degrees below normal.
The blast broke off from the polar vortex above Canada, sending the cold air south. A list of National Weather Service bulletins shows more than 105 million people are the subject of advisories, watches and warnings on freezing conditions, winter weather and lake effect snow.
The cold sweep is forecast to spread across the eastern two-thirds of the nation, and it could bring freezing temperatures to much of the South by Tuesday while setting low temperature records, the weather service said in last night’s national forecast discussion. Afternoon highs in parts of the South were expected to be 10 to 25 degrees below normal.
Immigration
The Guardian - The administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, recently claimed that an audit revealed “more than $1bn of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants”, but experts say the audits were unrelated to immigration, and that rhetoric like this could make immigrant families – regardless of legal status – afraid to seek necessary medical care.
Leo Cuello, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, noted that he has not “seen what this audit is”, but “based on the reporting, it appears that it is related to administrative errors in state claiming for matching funds, which is a relatively common occurrence, and which CMS monitors closely as they should”.
For example, it is common for states to ask for federal reimbursement for programs that are supposed to receive state funding exclusively, such as Meals on Wheels. Cuello said these types of audits are “the most vanilla and normal thing that happens all the time. States are constantly sending CMS claims, and CMS is constantly reviewing whether or not they’re paying something properly.” Reporting from Oregon Live and KFF confirms that the audits were routine.
What is not normal is for a CMS administrator, like Mehmet Oz, to post about these audits on social media, Cuello said. In his X post, Oz claimed that “Democrats are demanding the repeal of the President’s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation in order for their votes to reopen the government. This law wisely strengthened our ability to limit federal dollars from being spent on health care for illegal immigrants.”
Senate votes to end shutdown
| NPR - A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal last night to reopen the government and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The vote on the first procedural step was 60 to 40, with seven Democrats and one independent joining most Republicans on the measure. The agreement would fund the government through Jan. 30. |
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| The Trump administration now has two days to increase SNAP benefits from 65% to 100% after a federal appeals court refused a request to pause a lower court's orders to do so. The administration could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved
in the matter for the second time in just a few days. Another battle is
unfolding involving states that have already paid out full benefits
after a federal judge ordered it, but before the higher court said ‘not
so fast,’ NPR’s Tovia Smith says. Much of these legal battles could be rendered moot with the expectation that when the government reopens, Congress can appropriate SNAP funding for the fiscal year. Smith says there is no certainty as to when families will receive the benefits after the shutdown ends, but in the past states motivated to get benefits flowing did so within a matter of days. When speaking with Americans who receive SNAP benefits, Smith has heard a sense of relief from some that they could soon receive the funds, and others have been cautiously hopeful. Axios - The promised Senate vote on the ACA, on a bill of Democrats'
choosing, is set to occur by the end of the second week in December, per
a source familiar.
But an ACA deal still faces difficult odds, especially now that President Trump has weighed in against an extension and proposed sending the money directly to consumers to spend on health care as they chose. The decision by eight moderate senators — including Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Angus King (I-Maine) — to support reopening the government without concrete action on the subsidies prompted blowback from other Democrats.
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Donald Trump
CNN - Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and other key figures involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
NY Times - President Trump has granted pre-emptive pardons to Rudolph W. Giuliani and others accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to an official familiar with the matter.
The official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said on Monday that those pardoned include John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign, and Sidney Powell, a conservative pundit who was briefly a public face of his campaign.
The presidential pardons, which would only apply in federal court, are largely symbolic. None of those named are currently facing federal charges, and the pardons cannot shield them from ongoing state-level prosecutions.
November 9, 2025
Trump regime orders states to stop full food assistnce benefits
The Washington Post - The Trump administration over the weekend ordered states to stop distributing full food assistance benefits for November to the 42 million low-income Americans risking food insecurity.
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