“Months before overturning the scientific determination behind federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin restated his plans for the agency at an auto dealership in Indiana, saying, ‘The Trump EPA is proposing to end 16 years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers’. The reality is that the Trump EPA has abdicated responsibility for the agency’s quintessential mandate of protecting human health and the environment. The EPA has elected not to contest climate science, instead relying on legal arguments that appear to be tweaked versions of what the Supreme Court rejected in its landmark 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA. ‘To state the obvious, this White House doesn’t give a damn about clean air or clean water,’ Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) said in an interview with the Prospect.” (03/04/26)
“Officials from the San Francisco Unified School District have launched an investigation into a teacher at Lowell High School over allegations of ‘inappropriate questions’ on exams that reportedly included fat-shaming and sexist content. ‘SFUSD is aware of the allegations regarding inappropriate questions on a teacher’s exam and other related concerns,’ Laura Dudnick, the director of communications at SFUSD, said in an emailed statement to SFGATE. ‘We take these concerns seriously and are actively investigating.’ Lowell is known for its rigorous academics and has consistently ranked ‘one of the highest performing public high schools’ in the state. According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, Tom Chan, a Lowell math teacher, included quiz questions that asked students to figure out how much it would cost to pay for dinner for girls who weigh 120 versus 220 pounds. Another question, which was allegedly titled ‘Mr. Chan vs. The Fat Kid (part 2)’, appeared to be fat-shaming.” (03/03/26)
“Recently, Evanston, Ill., enacted the first reparations program in the country. San Francisco is following suit, but its reparations plan is less about policy and more about performance. What is being sold as a moral reckoning and care for citizens in need feels more like a moral play, meant to lull the intended recipients into a false sense of hope. In December, Mayor Daniel Lurie signed a bill, unanimously passed by the city’s Board of Supervisors, that created a mechanism for distributing a one-time $5 million payment to eligible black residents as a form of reparations. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie speaking at a podium with a logo of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. It was not long before taxpayers and civil-rights advocacy organizations sued the city for violating the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.” (03/03/26)
“An independent researcher claimed on Wednesday that a marble bust of Christ in a Roman church is by Michelangelo, the latest purported attribution to the Renaissance genius who is one of the most imitated artists in the world. The unverified claim by Valentina Salerno has unsettled Renaissance scholars, especially since a recent sketch of a foot that was attributed to Michelangelo — but disputed by some as a copy — recently fetched $27.2 million at a Christie’s auction. Given the stakes — and Salerno’s suggestion that several other works can now be attributed to Michelangelo based on her documentary research — leading experts have declined to comment. Salerno has published her theory on the commercial website academia.edu, a non-peer reviewed social networking site academics use, and announced the first ‘rediscovery’ at a press conference Wednesday. The claims have drawn perhaps more attention than they normally would, given the Vatican seemed at least initially interested.” (03/04/26)
“As news broke that the United States and Israel had launched war on Iran, two posts kept showing up over and over on my social media feeds. One was from the Israeli military’s official account, which stated an oft-repeated phrase: ’Israel has the right to defend itself’. The other was a video from the Iranian city of Minab, where the first reports of casualties were emerging. The joint U.S.-Israeli attack had hit a girls’ elementary school; the death toll kept ticking higher and higher. At the time of publication, Iranian authorities said 165 people, mostly schoolchildren, had been killed in the strike, with many more injured. Plenty has been written, in Truthout and elsewhere, about the totally incoherent justifications for this war, the illegality of it, the potential for regional disaster, the joke it has made of the very idea of diplomacy.” (03/03/26)
“Power is felt, attributed, invisible, all-important, descriptive, without shape, and so much more. There is personal power, governmental power, and the collective power of the people. Power can be bought, sold, traded, bestowed, even rescinded. It can be good or bad, positive or corrupt. However you might wish to describe power, one thing is clear: how it’s used depends on the society in which we live. At present, of course, our society is one in which President Donald J. Trump is the quintessential seeker of power, a man who needs power the way most of us need food. And as it happens, he has at his beck and call not just the entire military establishment, but ICE (and so much more). With him in the White House, power is distinctly in fashion.” (03/03/26)
Source: Fox News
by US Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA)
“As a principled opponent of military adventurism since America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, I was devastated this weekend when we learned that once again, American servicemembers will be coming home in body bags. Trump announced, ‘There will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.’ No. That’s not the way it is. That must not be the way it is. As Trump now refuses to rule out sending ground troops to Iran, I believe we must do everything in our power to stop this horrific war of choice before more Americans are killed. That is why this week, I am forcing a vote in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan resolution with my Republican colleague, Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, to end this illegal and unconstitutional conflict.” (03/03/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“War is the worst thing in the world. Westerners talk about it like it’s a fucking video game, like ‘hurr durr, we just go in there and achieve our objectives and win,’ when really war means shredding human bodies to bits. Children burning to death in front of their parents. People holding their own guts in their hands as their life slowly slips away. People getting trapped under rubble and dying excruciatingly slow deaths of suffocation or dehydration. People picking up pieces of their beloved family members. Westerners are able to hold this compartmentalized video game mentality about war because war isn’t something that happens to us. We’ve never had bombs dropped on our neighborhoods. We’ve never had the experience of seeing a severed hand on the ground after an explosion and trying to figure out who it belonged to.” (03/03/26)
“This week, French President Emmanuel Macron put his leadership legacy on the line, by explicitly offering to share the country’s nuclear defenses with key European allies. Speaking at the home port of France’s nuclear missile fleet in Brittany on Monday, Mr. Macron declared plans to increase France’s nuclear warhead stockpile (currently about 290) as well as place some of those in partner countries. His offer marks ‘the most important revision to France’s nuclear doctrine in a generation,’ the Financial Times wrote, calling it ‘indispensable for Europe’s defence.’ Since the days of Charles de Gaulle, who doubted the United States’ commitment to defend Europe from a Soviet nuclear attack, France has held to an independent stance on pursuing its own nuclear weapons development. ‘Would you trade New York for Paris?’ General de Gaulle famously demanded of President John F. Kennedy in 1961.” (03/03/26)
“Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has warned that the growing private credit market could lead to a financial crisis similar to the one in 2008, potentially affecting retail investors and the broader economy. In an interview on Bloomberg’s ‘Big Take’ podcast, the renowned moneyman said the $1.8 trillion private credit sector involves risks from hidden leverage, lack of liquidity and opaque assets. He compared the situation to the subprime mortgage crisis, noting that these investments are increasingly being offered to individual investors through retirement accounts. Blankein warned that he sees a possible financial crisis brewing in the private credit market. ‘We’re getting close to the end of the late stages of cycles on this, and we’re due for a kind of a reckoning,’ he said. He expressed concern that firms are promoting these products to retail clients just as risks are rising.” (03/03/26)
