“A series of mild eruptions at the most active volcano in the Philippines has prompted the evacuation of nearly 3,000 villagers from a danger zone on its foothills, officials said Wednesday. Authorities raised the 5-step alert around Mayon Volcano in the northeastern province of Albay to level 3 on Tuesday after detecting intermittent rockfalls, some as big as cars, from its peak crater in recent days along with deadly pyroclastic flows — a fast-moving avalanche of super-hot rock fragments, ash and gas. Alert level 5 would indicate that a major explosive eruption, often with violent ejections of ash and debris and widespread ashfall, is underway. ‘This is already an eruption, a quiet one, with lava accumulating up the peak and swelling the dome, which cracked in some parts and resulted in rockfalls, some as big as cars,’ Teresito Bacolcol, the country’s chief volcanologist, told The Associated Press.” (01/07/25)
“We are just a few weeks away from another deadline on government funding, and all sides want you to know something: This will not go the way it did the last time. Nobody wants to see a replay of the longest shutdown in American history that happened last October and November. Democrats are not going to ask for an extension of Obamacare subsidies, which ran out on December 31, as a condition of passing appropriations. (There will be a House vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies on Thursday, but that’s happening outside of the government funding process.) Republicans are going to try to negotiate appropriations bills with Democrats, rather than a unilateral demand to extend current funding. The sting of that shutdown, the subsequent Republican wipeout in special elections, and the Democratic capitulation to end the impasse have made all sides wary of disrupting the flow of government funding.” (01/07/25)
“Venezuela’s military held a mass funeral in the country’s capital on Wednesday as it began to bury dozens of soldiers slain during the United States'[s] weekend operation to capture former President Nicolás Maduro. Men carried wooden caskets cloaked in the Venezuelan flag past rows of uniformed officers. Singing echoed out from a nearby church in Caracas and music from a military orchestra ceremony echoed over the cemetery, while throngs of family members and soldiers marched behind a row of caskets. As the caskets were lowered into the ground, gunfire from a military ceremony echoed out over the state-owned graveyard in a low-income neighborhood in the city’s south side. Earlier in the day, families cried and embraced next to the caskets during a wake. ” (01/07/25)
“‘Are You Not Entertained?’ With the country’s economy improving and other issues losing traction with the public, Democrats are increasingly turning to the one thing lacking in Washington: impeachment. As they work to take back the House in the midterms, Democrats are again promising voters the equivalent of the Roman Games by restarting impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. For many liberal voters, impeachment has become the thrilling cage match of lawfare. Facing a challenger on the left in New York, Rep. Dan Goldman [D-NY] was the latest to dangle impeachment before his constituents. He insisted that Trump can be removed for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The same people who introduced what I called an abusive ‘snap impeachment’ against Trump are now suggesting that he can be impeached for an act that was previously upheld as lawful in the courts.” (01/07/25)
“The husband of Karen Budd-Falen, a senior leader in the Department of the Interior, made millions of dollars from a Nevada mine that Budd-Falen’s agency approved, according to reporting by Public Domain and High Country News. As the associate deputy secretary, Budd-Falen is third in command at the department, which oversees the National Park Service. Her current role doesn’t require Senate confirmation. She also served in the Interior Department during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Her meetings and financial self-disclosure — or lack thereof — at the time are now coming under fire, after records showed that her family sold water rights necessary for a mining project without disclosing the hefty profit. Save Our Parks, an advocacy group for national parks, said that the ‘self-dealing goes beyond conflicts of interest into outright corruption’ in a news release.” (01/07/25)
Source: In These Times
Azadeh Shahshahani & Stephanie Guilloud
“A leaked Justice Department memo in early December outlined Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive to the FBI to ’compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism’. In addition to establishing a ‘cash reward system’ for information, the memo, first published by journalist Ken Klippenstein, lays out targets that include those who express ‘opposition to law and immigration enforcement’, ’adherence to radical gender ideology’, ’anti-Christianity’, ’anti-capitalism’, and ’anti-Americanism’. These documents imply that the “terrorists” are the brave teachers, neighbors, librarians, and community members blowing whistles, protecting students, keeping books on shelves, advocating for trans rights, and organizing for economic and social equity. Bondi’s directive builds on President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum known as NSPM-7 which names anti-fascism as domestic terrorism.” (01/06/25)
“When the Bush administration was planning and selling its war of aggression against Iraq in 2002, a common argument made by anti-war activists was that the whole thing was about oil. … This didn’t make all that much sense (for one thing, the war and occupation ended up costing on the order of $3 trillion, and Hussein would have been more than willing to just sell us the oil for a lot less than that), but for an administration whose two top leaders were both former oilmen, it had a surface plausibility. Donald Trump has done Bush one better: He simply said outright that his military attack on Venezuela, in which commandos kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to Manhattan to be put on trial, was about oil.” (01/06/25)
“‘Quiet, Piggy!’ The president was intent on silencing Catherine Lucey. The Bloomberg reporter had provoked him with a question about the release of the Epstein files. His insult caught the public’s attention. But Trump’s tongue-lashing lexicon against women has a long history. Other female journalists have been dubbed ‘obnoxious,’ ‘terrible,’ ‘third-rate’ and ‘ugly.’ Vice President Kamala Harris, opposing him in the 2024 presidential election, was labeled ‘retarded’ and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘crazy as a bedbug.’ The list goes on (and on and on). And who knows what was redacted from the Epstein files along those very lines? Mind you, those Trumpian insults hurled at women (and regularly offered about them) are anything but performative throwaways. They reveal Donald Trump’s deep and abiding contempt for females, an attitude that has taken a giant leap forward (or do I mean backward?) in policy terms in the Trump 2.0 years.” (01/06/25)
Source: New York Post
by Nicole Huyer & William DuVall
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign message was simple: New York City’s cost of living is too high. True, starting a family and raising children have become unaffordable in New York City — and Mamdani believes his socialist plans are the answer. ‘We will deliver universal child care for the many by taxing the wealthiest few,’ he said in his inaugural speech last week. The scale of the city’s problem is undeniable: Three of the four most expensive US counties for child care, in terms of share of family income, are within New York City: The Bronx, Queens and Kings County (Brooklyn). Day-care center costs in The Bronx, for example, range from $300 to $406 per week ($15,600 to $21,112 a year) depending on the child’s age — but with a median household income of only $48,610, center-based child care is completely out of reach for most local families.” (01/05/25)
“Lego has unveiled Smart Bricks – tech-filled versions of its small building blocks – which it says will bring sets to life with sound, light and reaction to movement. However, the new product range is causing unease among play experts, who say it risks undermining what makes Lego special for children in an increasingly digital world. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 in Las Vegas, the Danish toymaker’s Smart Play system introduces new electronic components to the classic plastic blocks. Lego says its new tech-enabled products, launching in March with a new Star Wars set, are its most revolutionary innovation’ in nearly 50 years. But Josh Golin, executive director of children’s wellbeing group Fairplay, believes Smart Bricks ‘undermine what was once great about Legos’ – harnessing children’s own imagination during play.” (01/06/25)
