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This year, as cities around the world commemorate Earth Day, we, the Trump administration, will instead be celebrating America—the only part of the Earth that matters. And as part of our ongoing efforts to make America great again by slashing wasteful government spending, we are canceling all funding set aside for Earth Day tree plantings. Because we believe trees are DEI.

Urban tree planting initiatives are designed to restore the tree canopy in low-income neighborhoods, which have fewer trees than wealthier neighborhoods do. Did the trees in these low-income neighborhoods die because the residents didn’t take care of them, or because they were systemically cut down during periods of civil unrest so that police helicopters could better surveil those areas? It’s impossible to know for sure.

And does planting trees in cities reduce the urban heat island effect, lower air pollution, and decrease rates of asthma and respiratory illness, the way “scientists” say? We think the jury is still out.

Congo’s minerals, El Salvador’s prisons, and Trump’s war on dissent—Erik Prince is quietly at the center of it all.

The post What Do Congo’s Minerals and a Shadowy Prison Deal Have in Common? Erik Prince appeared first on MintPress News.

By shipping immigrants to Nayib Bukele’s megaprison in El Salvador, Trump is using a far-right ally for his own ends.

The post The Long History of Lawlessness in U.S. Policy Toward Latin America appeared first on The Intercept.

Under the guise of efficiency, the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to essential programs and agencies that are the backbone of America’s civilian government. The virtual elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and plans to shut down the Department of Education are just the most visible examples of a campaign that includes layoffs of budget experts, public health officials, scientists, and other critical personnel whose work undergirds the daily operations of government and provides the basic services needed by businesses, families, and individuals alike. Many of those services can make the difference between solvency and poverty, health and illness, or even, in some cases, life and death for vulnerable populations.  The speed with which civilian programs... Read more

A comic about a Terminator and a washing machine.

The Mother is a hilarious and harrowingly honest graphic memoir about Tendency contributor Rachel Deutsch’s journey into motherhood, from first dates to a first birthday and everything in between. Provocative and candid, The Mother illustrates the joys, challenges, and absurdities of modern parenthood in a way that will resonate with new and seasoned parents. We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from the book below.

With apologies to the great Joni Mitchell.

All right, I’ll just say it: I really, really like our town’s new parking lot.

And I know how controversial it was, given that it replaced paradise. Those were some of the longest, angriest meetings of the zoning subcommittee I’ve ever attended. But you know what took even longer and made me even angrier? Trying to find a parking spot before those meetings. And that is thankfully no longer a problem, thanks to this pristine, gorgeous slab of pavement stretching out as far as the eye can see.

Early modern ideas about nostalgia, infused with the elements of horror, invite us to think more deeply about human longing

- by Jac Lewis

Read on Psyche

- by Armand D’Angour

Read at Aeon

The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal interviews Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti, senior political officer and spokesman for Ansar Allah (the Houthi movement), on Yemen’s direct confrontation with a US military machine which is hellbent on destroying its ability to resist Israel. In this third conversation between The Grayzone and Bukhaiti, the Ansar Allah spokesman explains why he believes his movement’s war with the US-Israeli axis is unlike any conflict that preceded it, and why he believes Yemen is engaged in a righteous battle despite […]

The post VIDEO: ‘A battle between right and wrong’: Houthi spokesman on confronting the US and Israel first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post VIDEO: ‘A battle between right and wrong’: Houthi spokesman on confronting the US and Israel appeared first on The Grayzone.

In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene, the deadliest to hit mainland USA since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, struck the Big Bend region of Florida. The damage inflicted by natural disasters in the US is sometimes reported in terms of ‘insured losses’, which in this case ran into the tens of billions, but the human cost […]

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“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.” — New York Times

I’m a Wife Guy, just like my boss, Grand Moff Tarkin. That’s why I don’t get the big deal around this so-called Signalgate 2.0. Is a man not supposed to talk to his wife about his day anymore? If you ask me, our beloved Empire is under attack—and so is the sanctity of marriage.

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