Argentina’s win for clean governance

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“Nearly a quarter century ago, Argentina became famous for the world’s biggest debt default in history. A string of populist governments had overspent, while endemic corruption had cut tax revenues. On Tuesday, the second-largest country in Latin America became famous for something else. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a six-year sentence for a former president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, affirming her conviction for fraud on public contracts during her presidency from 2007 to 2015. The court said it acted to ‘protect our republican and democratic system’. The decision marks another corner-turning moment for a nation witnessing rapid reforms under the latest president, Javier Milei. His reforms since late 2023, such as cutting the number of ministries in half, have eliminated many incentives for corruption.” (06/11/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0611/Argentina-s-win-for-clean-governance

RFKj’s Clean Sweep

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“‘All of the guardrails for this kind of a committee, which I served on many years ago, have simply disappeared,’ says Sara Rosenbaum, Professor Emerita of Health, Law and Policy at George Washington University. She’s referring to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy’s ‘retiring’ of the entire 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). You know, the group that did such a bang-up job for the Centers for Disease Control during the pandemic.” (06/12/25)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/06/12/rfkjs-clean-sweep/

To Defeat Trump’s Fascism, We Must Confront Militarism

Source: Common Dreams
by Christine Ahn & Leslie Cagan

“President Trump’s deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to quash peaceful demonstrations against brutal ICE raids is a wake up call. Now is the time to push back against this administration’s use of military violence against its own citizens to consolidate authoritarian power. As Trump threatens to arrest California Governor Newsom and unleash ‘troops everywhere’, the people of this country must reject militarization as a tool of authoritarianism and stand firm to defend and expand democracy. As tanks and troops descend upon Los Angeles to silence dissent, on Saturday, they will roll through Washington in a display of power, revealing the undercurrents of an administration that wields militarization not for defense, but for domination. On his 79th birthday, President Trump will finally get his ‘big, beautiful’ military parade, brandishing unrivaled U.S. military might on the streets of the nation’s capital.” (06/12/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/fascism-militarism

NASA delays commercial crew launch to assess space station air leak

Source: CBS News

“Concern about a small but persistent air leak in a Russian compartment of the International Space Station has prompted NASA and Axiom Space to indefinitely delay this week’s launch of a commercial flight to the orbiting outpost, officials said Thursday. The privately-financed Axiom-4 crew … originally planned to take off Tuesday. But the flight was delayed to the end of the week, first by high winds in the off-shore emergency splashdown zone and then by an oxygen leak in their Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage. SpaceX tentatively targeted Thursday and then Friday for launch, with Saturday and Sunday available if needed. But during SpaceX troubleshooting to find and fix the rocket’s propellant leak, NASA engineers decided they needed more time to assess recent efforts to plug an air leak aboard the International Space Station in a Russian vestibule known as the PrK.” (06/12/25)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-delays-commercial-crew-launch-to-assess-space-station-air-leak/

Pushing East Asia to hike defense could boomerang on Wall Street

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Karthik Sankaran

“For years now, the United States has justifiably wanted its allies to pick up a bigger share of the burden of their own defense. But as America now asks its partners to boost military spending to 5% of GDP, the sheer scale of these demands — especially on allies in East Asia — could push yields higher on U.S. Treasury bonds at a time when they are already under pressure by skeptical global bond investors and ratings agencies.” (06/12/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/defense-spending-asia/

New Poll Has Mamdani Ahead of Cuomo in NYC Mayoral Primary

Source: Common Dreams

“A June survey from Public Policy Polling shows New York City mayoral candidate and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani ahead of opponent and former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the city’s Democratic primary draws near. Primary day is June 24 and early voting begins June 14. Cuomo has been the consistent front-runner in the race, though Mamdani, a state assemblymember who is running on an affordability platform, has risen from long-shot candidate to serious contender. ‘All gas, no breaks,’ wrote Mamdani on X on Wednesday of the poll results. ‘When you run a disciplined, grassroots campaign relentlessly focused on an agenda to address the crises in working people’s lives, these are the results,’ Andrew Epstein, spokesperson for Mamdani, told Politico, which was first to report on the results of the poll on Wednesday.” (06/12/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/mamdani-poll-public-policy-polling

The Broken City

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Naomi Wolf

“I am in New York again, and I am sending you this postcard from a city I love and have loved; from a broken city. Broken; yet struggling to reimagine itself, as it has so many times before. Are we better? Are we lost? Are we changed, changed utterly? Here are some images, some moments, for you.” (06/12/25)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-broken-city/

Turkey: Istanbul mayor boycotts court hearing in one of many cases that could see him banned from politics

Source: ABC News

“Istanbul’s imprisoned opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and his lawyers boycotted a court hearing Thursday, claiming a late change of venue was ‘unlawful.’ Thursday’s case, which was over comments Imamoglu made over the prosecution of other officials from his Republican People’s Party, or CHP, is one of numerous criminal allegations Imamoglu faces. The mayor was arrested in March alongside other prominent politicians as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. His arrest triggered the largest street protests Turkey has seen in more than a decade. A conviction in any of the cases could see Imamoglu banned from holding or running for public office.” (06/12/25)

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/istanbul-mayor-boycotts-court-hearing-cases-banned-politics-122762250