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It has been an interesting few days with the United States renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Persian Gulf while also doubling down on spying directed against Greenland in expectations that it will be acquired as a US territory sometime soon. Meanwhile, some of us who have been watching developments in what has been described as Donald Trump’s “peace initiative” trip to the Middle East, which might also have included a stop in Istanbul to sit in with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, are now examining the pluses and minuses as the travel has ended. In my mind, high grades should be awarded for two aspects of the trip. The first one is what he did do, and that was speak sensibly and decently in his address to the Saudi, Emirates and Qatari leadership when he specifically rejected a hegemonistic “neocon” inspired approach to US foreign policy, saying that independent countries in the Middle East and elsewhere are perfectly capable of acting to develop their economies and societies in such a fashion as to prosper and provide fundamental liberties for their citizens.

Two years ago this month, the US State Department did the unthinkable. It has fired Devin Brooks, a security specialist who worked as an armed protection officer at the State Department. The reason? He grew a beard in compliance with his Islamic faith. His supervisors disregarded his Islamic beliefs and ordered him to shave. After he was left with no choice, he was forced to shave his beard. Subsequently, Brooks was fired. That is preposterous! Brooks then contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for help. CAIR sued the State Department on his behalf.

In the spring of 2025, central Illinois was swallowed by a wall of dust so dense it erased the horizon—and lives along with it. Vehicles collided in a deadly chain reaction on Interstate 55, as visibility vanished and the dust became a visible cry from the land, a desperate signal of the devastation being wrought upon it. This was not a natural disaster. It was the consequence of decades of extractive farming practices that leave the land bare, lifeless, and vulnerable. It was a warning that when we abuse the soil, we unravel the systems that protect our safety, our health, and our future.

The dust storm that caused the deadly multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55 in Illinois was not an anomaly—it is part of a disturbing trend.

Triggered by 35 to 45 mph winds lifting bare, degraded soil from recently tilled farmland, the storm reduced visibility to near zero and resulted in the deaths of at least eight people.

There was a time when Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have all the cards.

Letter To The editor: LTE/LATimes

Start by following the money: 

Nowhere is nuclear power (which DOES emit heat, toxic poisons and radioactive & other carbon) cost competitive with modern renewables.

Solar & wind are VERY substantially cheaper than old operating nukes AND projected new small ones.

Continuing to operate the two uninsured nukes at Diablo Canyon is costing us $11+ billion over market...with no accounting for the unsolved waste problem, local health impacts & the virtual certainty of uninsured apocalyptic explosions when the next quake hits. 

Newsom's war on rooftop solar has already cost CA more than 17,000 jobs & is the chief reason our rates are the highest in the continental US.

The principle challenge to going 100% renewable is the cost & toxicity of lithium-based batteries. the soon-to-come conversion to sodium (already being deployed in electric cars produced by the Chinese BYD) will seal the deal.

In the coming months, tens of millions of public citizens will rally to fight fascism worldwide.  Especially with Donald Trump trying to turn the US into his personal dictatorship.
To oppose the rising fascist tide, we can expect countless great gatherings that energize the masses while impressing the media. 

Fortunately—-especially since Trump’s 2017 first coming—-rally organizers have grown increasingly adept at using these gatherings to build the data bases needed to follow through with a critical political mass.

Some methods work better than others  

Individuals hand gathering signatures, e-mails and phone numbers with lists on clipboards can be inefficient and error-prone.  

Fliers can be wasteful, clunky & prone to discard, especially if they lack a union bug or are printed on something other than hemp or recycled paper.  

But trial-and-error, plus some deep discussion (grassrootsep.org), have offered up a viable alternative worth considering:  business cards with QR codes that lead quickly and easily to pre-programmed websites.  

RICHARD ESKOW: In a recent column you asked, “What’s preventing a united front against the Trump regime?” You say, “America desperately needs a united front to restrain the wrecking ball of the Trump regime.” I get the “wrecking ball,” but why do we need a united front? What’s wrong with a multi-pronged approach from various groups and actors?

 NORMAN SOLOMON: There’s a serious lack of coordination at the political level. The Democratic Party is a constellation of 50-plus state and other local parties, and there are many organizations which are—or should be—independent of the party.

 To the extent there is any governing body, it's the Democratic National Committee. The DNC should provide leadership at times like these. But there’s still no leadership, several months into a second Trump regime that’s much worse than the first. There's energy to oppose, but it’s uncoordinated.

 Rethinking the Left and the Party