May 21, 2026

US votes against historic UN climate change decision

The Guardian -   The UN has voted 141-8 to adopt a resolution backing a world court opinion that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change, with the US – which is the world’s biggest historical emitter – among the small group opposing it.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said Wednesday’s general assembly vote, in which 28 countries abstained, underscored that governments are responsible for protecting citizens from the “escalating climate crisis”.

“I welcome the adoption of the General Assembly resolution on the ICJ’s advisory opinion on climate change – a powerful affirmation of international law, climate justice, science + the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate crisis,” Guterres said in a post on X.

The resolution, brought by the Pacific island Vanuatu, affirms a July 2025 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that states are obligated to reduce fossil fuel use and tackle global warming.

While not legally binding, the court’s advisory opinion is already being used in climate litigation around the world and judges are starting to reference it in their climate-related rulings....

The US joined Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel, Iran, Yemen, Liberia and Belarus in opposing the resolution on Wednesday. Cop31 climate summit host Turkey, India, and oil producers Qatar and Nigeria were among those abstaining.

Grocery prices continue to climb

The Hill -  Federal inflation data confirms what you may have been feeling already: Groceries are getting more expensive. Unfortunately, things may be about to get a whole lot worse, economists are warning.  The price of groceries rose 2.9% in April compared to the same month a year earlier, according to government figures released in May. That was the highest year-over-year inflation rate for the category since August 2023.

When compared to the same time last year, fruits and vegetables have seen some of the biggest price hikes. Tomatoes are 40% more expensive now than they were this time last year. Bad growing weather, tariffs, and rising fuel prices have all contributed to the huge change in tomato prices, reports the New York Times.

Coffee, another imported product, is 19% more expensive than it was last spring.

You’re also likely seeing inflated prices at the butcher counter. Meat is up 9% overall, but beef has grown even more expensive. Ground beef is about 15% pricier, beef roasts are 18% more, and steak is up 16%.

Trump's tax scheme could save him more than $100 million

NY Times -   A tax audit that President Trump has been fighting since his peak earning days as a television celebrity was most likely wiped away in this week’s agreement with the Justice and Treasury Departments.

The agreement, part of a resolution to an unusual lawsuit that Mr. Trump and his sons filed against the Internal Revenue Service, frees the president from a potential adverse ruling that could have cost him more than $100 million, according to an analysis of his tax returns in 2020 by The New York Times.

Two years ago, Mr. Trump’s middle son, Eric Trump, acknowledged to The Times that the audit remained active. During his father’s first term in office, the matter was put on hold, records obtained by The Times showed.

It is unclear whether the matter was placed on hold again during the president’s current term or was resolved. If it was still pending until this week, the increased interest and penalties would have grown significantly.

Polls


THe Hill  - Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed one of his lowest ratings recorded so far, finding only 34 percent of respondents approved of his job performance. Only a third said they approve of his handling of the economy.

The results were split along partisan lines, with nearly all Democrats disapproving of him on the economy and an overwhelming majority of Republicans in approval. But there was a significant shift within the president’s party.

Only 73 percent of Republicans said they approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, while almost a quarter disapprove. That’s a significant change from Quinnipiac’s poll last month, when 88 percent of Republicans approved of the president on the issue.

Health

NY Times  -  The rate of children’s primary care visits that included a mental health diagnosis rose dramatically from 2014 to 2023 in Massachusetts.  Anxiety showed the largest jump of any mental health condition tracked, with a 300% relative increase over the decade.

The Guardian -   Individuals bear at least 80% of the responsibility for their ill health in old age, according to a report aimed at challenging the belief that physical decline is either inevitable or primarily the responsibility of the state.

The report, launched at the Smart Ageing Summit in Oxford last week, argues that individuals have far greater control over their longevity than is commonly understood. The authors call on the government to take legislative action on alcohol comparable to restrictions on smoking.

Newsweek -  Emergency room visits for tick bites have climbed to the highest levels for this time of year since 2017 in every U.S. region except the South Central states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in warning earlier this morning.

Artificial Intelligence

Deep State Tribunal -    A mandatory artificial intelligence dispatch system at Pizza Hut is now accused of wrecking a successful franchisee’s business and vaporizing $100 million in value—raising fresh alarms about centralized tech mandates and who pays when automation fails.

A major Pizza Hut franchisee alleges a required artificial intelligence platform caused “cascading operational breakdowns” and about $100 million in losses.  The lawsuit claims the Dragontail system clashed with the operator’s DoorDash-heavy delivery model and stripped local managers of control.

Filed in Texas Business Court, the case highlights how corporate technology mandates can shift risk and cost onto small-business owners.\

The dispute underscores the need for accountability and human oversight as artificial intelligence spreads through everyday commerce... The complaint alleges that Pizza Hut’s required Dragontail artificial intelligence system caused “cascading operational breakdowns,” slowed order times, disrupted third-party delivery integrations, and triggered a claimed “loss of business and enterprise value of around $100 million.”

Legal issues

New Republic -   A federal judge ruled Wednesday that President Trump has to comply with the Presidential Records Act, overruling an opinion from the Department of Justice last month.  The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion in April claiming that the act was unconstitutional because it unfairly restricted “the constitutional independence and autonomy of the Executive.” In response, two organizations, the nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight and the American Historical Association sued in federal court, and on Wednesday U.S. District John Bates ruled that the act is in fact constitutional.

Workers

Newsweek -   A growing number of Americans are running out of unemployment benefits as hiring slows, leaving job seekers without income support after months of searching.  The trend highlights a gap in the labor market, where layoffs remain low but finding new work is taking longer.

Workers in industries like tech, media and retail are among those most affected, as long-term unemployment rises.

Despite a relatively low unemployment rate, economists say the labor market is stuck in a “low hire, low fire” cycle—companies aren’t cutting jobs in large numbers, but they also aren’t adding them. That means workers who lose jobs are increasingly struggling to find new ones before their benefits expire.

.The unemployment rate has remained near historic lows, but analysts say it does not fully capture the growing strain beneath the surface.

More Americans are working part-time when they want full-time jobs
Multi-job households are rising
Long-term unemployment is increasing

Reuters described the stability as a potential “mirage,” while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy is in an “unusual and uncomfortable” balance.

The Guardian - US employers spend more than $1.5bn a year on labor union opposition efforts, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute.

“This is millions or even billions of dollars that’s not going towards workers and investing into their workplace,” said Margaret Poydock, a co-author of the report and a senior policy analyst at the EPI. 

Employers spent company money hiring consultants and law firms specializing in union avoidance and on legal counsel, representation and litigation services during union elections and organizing campaigns.

Poydock said the role of these union-avoidance law firms and consultants has, in part, contributed to the decline of unionization membership and density over several decades. Union density in the US is at 10%, compared with 20.3% in 1983. Despite this decline, Gallup polls report nearly 70% of Americans approve of labor unions.

Meanwhile. . .

Congressional Insider - Former Assistant United States Attorney Carmen Lineberger is charged with emailing confidential Trump-investigation records to her personal accounts.  Prosecutors say she disguised files with “recipe” names and even forwarded a report after Judge Aileen Cannon ordered it sealed.

The case highlights double standards in how Washington treats document handling in politically charged Trump investigations.  Lineberger has pleaded not guilty, so the evidence and motives will be tested in court.

Donald Trump

Huffington Post -    President Donald Trump has once again invoked Jesus Christ, this time in his latest erroneous claim that the 2020 election he lost was “rigged.”  This comes just weeks after the president faced backlash for sharing a social media image depicting him as ... Him.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday morning, the president argued that if the Son of God had been a vote-tallying election official, he would’ve actually won California. “You have a rigged vote out there. That’s the problem,” Trump claimed. “You have really rigged votes in California. You have all the mail-in ballots, everything else. Very hard to win because the elections are very dishonest.”

“If we had Jesus Christ come down and count the votes, I would have won California, because I do great with Hispanics,” he added.

Ethnicity

Huffington Post -  The Tr ump administration has proposed ending a long-standing federal civil rights requirement, which legal experts say will make it harder for employees to raise concerns about discrimination and may help make the American workplace whiter.

Most companies are required to report their employee demographic data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces anti-discrimination law in every single workplace across the country, thanks to a rule created in 1966. Collecting and sharing this data ensures that companies are complying with civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on protected characteristics like race or gender.

The EEOC proposed last week to end the rule mandating such data collection, known as EEO-1.

“The decision to no longer collect this data, I think, is part of a larger pattern of the federal government stepping back from its historic role of protecting workers and ensuring equal opportunity in the workplace,” said Amalea Smirniotopoulos, senior policy counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, a legal organization that advocates for equality.

The rule promotes transparency, allows companies to analyze their own employment practices and helps the EEOC enforce the law. The data can also help individuals bolster their own discrimination claims.

For example, Bass Pro Shops, an outdoor-focused chain store, was forced to pay $10.5 million after the EEOC found that the store had a pattern of discriminating against Black and Latino men in its hiring and recruiting practices. In their initial complaint, the employees used the data to bolster their claims.

Helping other groups

Rural Organizing Based on our experience and the experience of many members of our network, we have seen that mutual aid is an essential tool to build political power and provide for our neighbors. Oftentimes door knocking or explicitly political outreach turns people off, but mutual aid provides an entry point to meet people's material needs, reach people that are hard to reach, and provide a different entry point to community participation.  We think incorporating mutual aid is important for anyone engaged in local politics: from no kings or immigrant defense work to traditional campaigning.

California's big inactive voters still signed up

Independence Journal - New court filings say California is sitting on 873,000 inactive voter registrations, raising fresh alarms about dirty rolls in a state already infamous for one‑party rule and mail‑in voting. Judicial Watch has sued California in federal court, alleging the state is ignoring voter‑roll clean‑up duties under federal law.

The group says at least 873,000 inactive registrations are still on the books across dozens of counties. Prior Judicial Watch cases forced major clean‑ups in Oregon and Colorado, removing hundreds of thousands of ineligible names.
Federal law requires states to make a “reasonable effort” to remove ineligible voters, but does not allow automatic purges of inactive voters.

Gas prices

Shortlysts - Average gasoline prices have moved above $4 per gallon in all 50 states, up from a national average of $3.19 in May 2025. AAA reported a national average of $4.56 on Wednesday, while seven states have already crossed the $5 mark. California now sits above $6 per gallon, while Georgia, the lowest-priced state, barely remains over $4.

Best states for military retirees

MOAA  -   South Carolina remained atop WalletHub’s annual survey of Best and Worst States for Military Retirees for the third year in a row, with North Dakota moving into the second spot and Wyoming – ranked by the financial site as the top state for all retirees – taking third.

 Oregon finished 51st in the military-retiree rankings (which include Washington, D.C.) for the fourth straight year. Vermont took 50th, while neighboring New Hampshire came in No. 4.

 The full list, released May 18, weighs economic, quality of life, and health care factors across 28 metrics such as tax rates, job growth, weather, availability and quality of VA and military facilities, and cost of living. Maryland fell from second place on last year’s list to fifth this year, while Virginia slipped from fifth to 11th.

 Among the survey’s findings:

South Carolina was the only state to rank in the top 10 in all three categories – second in Economic Environment behind Alabama, third in Quality of Life behind Wyoming and Maryland, and 10th in Health Care.

Massachusetts ranked first in Health Care and ninth in Economic Environment but finished 50th in Quality of Life, just above Oregon.

Washington, D.C., was the only jurisdiction that didn’t crack the top 40 in any category, finishing 41st in Economic Environment, 49th in Quality of Life, and 48th in Health Care to take 49th overall. Vermont finished 40th in Health Care but was last in Economic Environment and 42nd in Quality of Life.

Science

NPR - Thousands of researchers across the U.S. continue to grapple with the damage inflicted on science in 2025 during the Trump administration, despite a funding restoration earlier this year. After the Trump administration attempted to cut, freeze or suspend billions of dollars for research the previous year, some Republicans teamed up with Democrats to quietly restore portions of that funding through the appropriations process. But advocates say the money is not reaching scientists at the rate it should. They also say that the National Institutes of Health's lack of transparency is compromising the integrity and reliability of scientists’ research. NPR spoke with researchers who are feeling the consequences of having their funding previously terminated. Here's what they had to say.

Middle East

NPR 

Budget

NPR 

A big difference between being Trump and working for him

Alternet  -    Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner issued a reminder to those working on behalf of President Donald Trump that when former President Richard Nixon broke several laws, he may have been pardoned, but his accomplices were not.

"History often repeats itself and in one respect, I sure hope it does. After the Watergate scandal, 48 of Richard Nixon's goons were convicted of crimes and 30 of them went to prison. But you know what? Before they got caught, before they were prosecuted, before they were held accountable, they thought they were untouchable," Kirschner explained.

Trump, as his Justice Department announced this week, is setting up a fund to dole out money to people who believe they were victimized by the Department of Justice. Kirschner explained the emboldened allies of Trump are not unlike those in the Nixon regime who believed that they were "untouchable."

Experimental Drug Yields Dramatic Weight Loss

NY Times -  An experimental shot helped participants in a large trial lose far more weight than obesity drugs already on the market, Eli Lilly, the maker, announced on Thursday.... The drug, retatrutide, appears to be the most powerful yet in a wave of injections and pills that have transformed the treatment of obesity — so much so that some participants in other research have said they stopped taking retatrutide because they felt they were losing too much weight.

If the drug’s effects do not wane with time, and if its results in the real world echo those in the clinical trial, it may extend the notion of what a weight loss drug can accomplish. Eli Lilly reported the findings in a news release. The results have not yet undergone peer review or been published in a medical journal....

Eli Lilly reported that 11 percent of participants who got the highest dose dropped out of the study because of side effects, higher than the figures seen with less powerful obesity drugs that are already available.  All of these drugs often cause side effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation, but those effects are rarely severe....

The results announced by Eli Lilly were from a randomized study of 2,339 patients who were obese or overweight. Those who got the highest dose of the drug had lost 70 pounds on average, or 28 percent of their body weight, after 80 weeks, the company said.

Naturalized Citizens Barred from Congress?

Deep State Tribunal -   A sweeping constitutional fight over who can write our laws is erupting after Rep. Nancy Mace moved to bar naturalized citizens from Congress and other powerful federal posts. Supporters cite existing “natural born” limits for the presidency as precedent. Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal denounce the plan as anti-immigrant. The amendment route confirms the measure would require broad political consensus to pass.

Cuba

The Guardian - On Wednesday, the US issued a federal criminal indictment against Raúl Castro, Cuba’s former president, and five others, in a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to oust the country’s communist regime.  The indictment, filed in US district court for the southern district of Florida, comes at a time of heightened tension between the US and Cuba. Donald Trump has threatened military action against the Cuban government, and an energy crisis created by a tight US oil embargo has caused rolling blackouts and prompted protests in the capital.

Trump was asked by reporters on Wednesday if there could be an arrest similar to that of the ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January. “I don’t want to say that,” he said.

Castro, 94, was charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft related to an incident in 1996 – in which four men were killed by the Cuban military, when two small planes were shot down during a humanitarian mission in the Florida Straits.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Cuban president, condemned the indictment as a political stunt that sought only to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba”.


May 20, 2026

The real split in our culture

Sam Smith – Lately I’ve come to think of America as no longer  divided politically by liberals and conservatives but as a country split by the powerful and the weak, the fun and the obsessive,  the honest and the deceptive and human and the egotistic. With a father who worked for FDR and my own activism and media work, I have experienced America  in the most recent third of its existence but, right now, it seems so dramatically different than just a while back.

After all, presidents used to represent their party and supporters more than their personal dysfunction.  With Trump we face an unprecedented leader who feels he can start a war that no one asked him for because of his power rather than the  concerns of his constituency. I covered my first Washington story more than six decades ago and have never seen our national politics so badly affected by a distorted mentality.

Trying to figure out what is really happening has led me to realize that the real institutional winner in all this has not been politics but show business. Our culture as well as our politics has been increasingly reflective of the growth of television, movies, and the Internet over communities, civic associations, and values found in neighborhoods, churches  and families.

One of the effects of this change has been the lessening of real human interaction in favor of watching things and a change in the role of citizens based more on what they like and less on who they are.  Part of the cost of the rise of Donald Trump, for example, is that for many he can become a role model above, say, their mother or brother.

I have lived in cultural models of both the present and the past.  Washington DC  was my home for decades until I finally escaped full time to a small town in Maine. I now live where we don’t have Trump like characters defining our lives and values. Instead, I rarely hear a lie and we have five good candidates for governor, an overflow I have never seen before.  

Even Washington had different ways of living depending on whether you were part of its power and prestige. Most of the country never heard about this because their image of the city was dependent on media that did not consider the culturally sound or decent to be worth covering.

In the case of Washington when I lived there, for example, few in the rest of the nation  knew that the city was majority black and had culturally strong communities  even with  elected advisory neighborhood commissions.

I have long viewed important news as far beyond just money and power, in part because as a teenager I took what was then one of only two high school anthropology courses in the country. So influential this was, that I went on to be one of about eight anthropology majors at Harvard. And to this day the habits and values of news figures mean a lot to me.  As well as the cultural effects on their constituencies.

We need to rediscover our role in our communities, our respect for decent others, caring for those in pain, and contempt for those whose only real success has been achievement of status at the expense of others. We need to rediscover our communities, our gatherings, unselfish values, and those who share our interests.

As Donald Trump illustrates, even his selfish goals have not made him happier or more at peace. Like other would-be dictators he is, in the end, his own worst enemy.

Word

But if Trump... or his kids... or his businesses cheat on their taxes, the law doesn't apply. This is insane & beyond corrupt. DOJ works for the American people, NOT Donald Trump.
Quote

Millions Urged To Stay Out of Sun in 6 States As Temperature Records Broken

Newsweek -   Millions of Americans across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are being urged to limit time outdoors as a powerful early-season heat wave drives record-breaking and near-record temperatures across at least six states.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued widespread Heat Advisories for Wednesday, warning that "hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses," particularly as the region experiences an unusually hot mid-May.

Forecasters say the event is notable not just for the heat itself, but for its timing: Early-season heat waves can be more dangerous because people are not yet acclimated, increasing the risk of heat-related illness.  More on the six states


US commercial and naval shipbuilding not keeping up

Newsworthy-  Government and policy analysts say U.S. naval shipbuilding is behind schedule across major programs, including submarines and surface ships. Commercial shipbuilding has also withered, leaving the United States with a far smaller industrial base than it once had. Long build times and workforce shortages are slowing fleet growth even as threat levels remain high. The Trump administration is facing a defense-industrial problem built over decades, not a quick fix.

In Closed-Door Talks, U.S. Demands a Major Role in Greenland

Immigration

The Guardian -   The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could cause the US to potentially lose up to $479bn in lost tax revenue over the the next 10 years, with enforcement deterring undocumented workers from filing their taxes this year, according to tax experts. Tax advisers say major changes, including proposed data sharing with immigration enforcement, have made filing taxes risky for undocumented immigrants. Tax benefits for immigrant parents have also been removed, further removing incentive to file taxes at all.

How millions could save money in child care

Newsweek -   Millions of American families could save more than $1,300 per month on child care under a long-running proposal championed by Senator Elizabeth Warren ahead of the 2028 presidential race.

Warren is urging Democrats to make universal child care a core campaign promise, arguing the cost burden on families has reached a breaking point and could define the party’s economic message moving forward.


“It would be political malpractice for Democrats not to be talking about child care every chance we get going into the midterms and beyond,” Warren said, per her prepared remarks for a speech at the CAP IDEAS Conference on Tuesday.

A universal system could increase workforce participation and reduce financial stress while boosting overall household income. However, it would also require one of the largest expansions of federal social spending in decades.

In a speech tied to the CAP IDEAS Conference, Warren is calling for universal access to affordable or subsidized child care and legislation ready to pass on day one if Democrats win control in 2028.

“When I look at the upcoming Democratic presidential primary, every 2028 candidate who understands what’s happening in this country, who wants to win, and who will govern effectively to deliver for families, will make universal child care a core piece of their agenda,” Warren wrote.

Harvard faculty votes to limit A grades

Washington Post -   Harvard faculty voted to cap the number of A grades given to undergraduates, taking assertive action to reverse years of grade inflation at a time of intense scrutiny of higher education. The vote, reported Wednesday, is the most prominent symbol of a reckoning at some elite schools concerned by the increasing number of A’s — a widespread issue that some faculty members warn is fundamentally damaging the integrity of education.

“This is a consequential vote,” said Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education. “It will, I believe, strengthen the academic culture of Harvard; it will also, I hope, encourage other institutions to confront similar questions with the same level of rigor and courage.”

Universities have long been worried about grades creeping up, but have found it difficult to change. Some schools have tried various measures, then backtracked. Discussions about grading are happening at Yale University as well, with a presidential committee on trust at Yale recently recommending a B average, or some other collegewide standard.

Princeton University capped A’s more than 20 years ago but lifted the policy in 2014, after finding it added a lot of stress to students.

At Harvard, the trend is stark: In the 2012-13 academic year, about a third of the grades were A’s — a grade intended to indicate not just full mastery of the subject, according to the student handbook, but work of “extraordinary distinction.” In the 2024-25 academic year, two-thirds were A’s. Almost 85 percent of grades were either a straight A or an A-minus.