Daily News 07/26
Daily News 07/26
Daily News Archives Since I Got Blocked From Facebook
The week around the world in 20 pictures Wildfires in Europe, Russian missile strikes in Kyiv, the cockroach protests in New Delhi and the World Cup final – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
From This Land is Your Land: When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me. \As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
That side was made for you and me. In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me? Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
Is Capitalism Democratic?: Always Remember Why Capitalism is Fundamentally Undemocratic and that Trump Admistratuion is a Committee for Managing the Common Affairs of the 1% and 1% Rule!: From the Manifesto of the Communist Party:
Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class. An oppressed class under the sway of the feudal nobility, an armed and self-governing association in the medieval commune(4): here independent urban republic (as in Italy and Germany); there taxable “third estate” of the monarchy (as in France); afterwards, in the period of manufacturing proper, serving either the semi-feudal or the absolute monarchy as a counterpoise against the nobility, and, in fact, cornerstone of the great monarchies in general, the bourgeoisie has at last, since the establishment of Modern Industry and of the world market, conquered for itself, in the modern representative State, exclusive political sway. The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish. In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians. —Human Rights Watch World Report 2026: Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?
Recommendations Recognise and respond to the impact of climate change on the prevalence and behaviour of wildfires Climate change is increasing the likelihood of fire occurrence in many regions. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report indicates that weather conducive to wildfires (“fire weather” – hot, dry, and windy) is becoming more frequent in some regions and will continue to increase with higher levels of global warming. Countries must meet and exceed their commitments under the Paris Agreement to reduce global warming and the prevalence and behaviour of wildfires globally. This will, in turn, reduce the social, economic, and ecological impact of wildfires. There is a critical need to better understand the behaviour of wildfires in different ecosystems and under a changing climate. This knowledge will support consistent fire data collection and analysis across organisations and countries, thereby improving the management of wildfire fuels, facilitating ignition prevention, and reducing gaps in fire management preparedness and response. Identifying how existing wildfire management practices encourage or discourage harmful wildfires can help improve decision-making and management systems. Improved data collection and analysis will also help monitor changes in fire activity, assess ecosystem response to changing fire regimes, and enhance climate models. — SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE THE RISING THREAT OF EXTRAORDINARY LANDSCAPE FIRES
Yes, America now dominates A.I. with the most powerful systems and more data centers than any other nation. But that lead hasn’t come free of charge, and it’s eroding quickly. The lead is based on colossal spending on data centers, especially by Oracle, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. A stumble by any one of them would spill over to the rest of the economy. It’s estimated that these five companies combined will account for more than $800 billion in A.I. investments this year. They plan to spend a additional $1.2 trillion in 2027 — more than Trump’s entire military budget request for 2027. Where’s all this A.I. money coming from? Some from investors, but much of it is being borrowed. One worry is their borrowing is outpacing their profits. Not surprisingly, the bond market has begun to charge premiums for what it considers a heightened risk that they won’t be able repay. Oracle’s debt now stands just a bit above junk bond status. Amazon’s bond prices have also been hard hit. So have those issued by SpaceX, which is also building A.I. data centers and whose bonds have been trading at junkish rates.— The Crash of 2026
Why is Europe falling behind in investment and growth compared with the US, let alone China and India? In a new report, Labour Squeezed, Investment Stalled – the renowned economist Mariana Mazzucato and a team at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, financed by the European Trade Union Federation (SETU), reckon that the EU’s declining competitiveness is not the result of too much regulation or the lack of cheap credit as mainstreamm economists and Mario Draghi is his report for the EU Commission argued.
Instead it is due to “falling investment and productivity caused by the hoarding of profits and higher payments to shareholders and CEOs rather than reinvested in production, innovation and good jobs”. The decline is the result of an emergence of a “capitalism of rent” in Europe, where income is increasingly captured not by producing anything, but by owning assets, financial positions and market power, and charging for access to them. Mazzucato concludes that Europe must switch from “an economy based on value extraction to one based on value creation”. — EU companies: a ‘capitalism of rent’?
Video: Chris Hedges on Why the US Empire Is Entering Its Final Stage ‘Unchecked Militarianism’
Video: Donald Trump is the Most Corrupt President in U.S. History
Video: Michael Hudson: The U.S. Plan to Revive Geoeconomic Dominance
Perhaps. But in the wake of the trade, ESPN reported that “demand for Jaylen Brown was just not there” when Boston tried to deal him around the league. Why? One possibility is Brown’s outspokenness. Educated at University of California, Berkeley, he has been a vocal spokesperson for social justice causes. Returning to his alma mater, Brown spoke out against panopticism, a surveillance architecture devised to spy on and control workers and prison inmates. — The Paradox of Jaylen Brown The former Celtics star represents the limits and contradictions of trying to raise consciousness along with banners in modern professional sports.
‘Astonishingly corrupt!’ Reaction to report Don Jr.’s firm is ‘cashing in’ on Trump’s policy. Trump’s Junior’s Investemnt Firms Sees 200% Returns! Since his father’s return to office, Donald Trump Jr.’s investment firm has gone from managing a few hundred million dollars to overseeing more than $3 billion, according to The New York Times. NYT Finance Reporter Maureen Farrell and veteran Washington correspondent John Harwood join Stephanie Ruhle to share their analysis.
Trump Threatens “Massive” Attack of Unprecedented Proportion on Iran The president said that Iran “wants to negotiate,” but “they haven’t received enough pain yet.”
Naked Fossil Fuel Corruption The 2026 heatwave is a global phenomenon, inflicting extreme temperatures on billions of people from the United States to Europe and South Asia.
A ‘Super’ El Niño Appears to be Emerging. What’s the Big Deal? It could bring ‘shockingly high’ temperatures in November and December … Recently, climate change has made detecting an El Niño’s onset and strength more difficult. Why? Global temperatures have been warming steadily over the last decade, which can mask an emerging El Niño. So in May, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center adopted a new tool for its El Niño forecasts. This now adjusts for that climate change–related warming. Using this new tool, NOAA predicts that this winter, sea-surface temps in the eastern tropical Pacific are 63 percent likely to be more than 2 degrees Celsius higher than average. That’s what suggests a super El Niño is developing. In fact, computer models are now forecasting “shockingly high” global temperatures for November and December, Di Liberto says.Such heat can have deadly consequences. A rise in heat-related illnesses is one. Another is upticks in diseases (such as cholera, typhoid and malaria) carried by mosquitoes and other pests that like it hot.
Who Wants to Be Tied to the Energy of War? Renewable energy comes without the emissions, without the climate consequences, and without the oil wars that have plagued the last 30-plus years.
Madison Residents Protest After Police Shoot, Kill a Black Man in Broad Daylight
AOC: US-Israeli Military Integration Measure “Existential Threat” to Democracy The measure, known as Section 219, is included in the Pentagon budget bill advancing through Congress.
Corporate Media Failed the Prairieland Test The ominously harsh sentencing of eight anti-ICE protestors in Texas was woefully underreported by national outlets—and all but ignored by broadcast media.
Shadow Government Statistics Inflation Rate, reflects our estimate of inflation as if it were calculated the same way it was in 1990. The CPI on the Alternate Data Series tab here reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living,as of June 1, is 12.12%.
The Long Goodbye To The US Dollar The dollar may appear to be a neutral currency, yet it is in fact a form of imperial power. Disciplining economies, financing war, and forcing the Global South to fund its own subordination. There are moments in history when a system appears so complete that it becomes difficult to imagine its end. When Britannia ‘ruled the waves’, it was thought in large parts of the world that sterling was not merely a currency but the natural language of commerce itself. Since the mid-twentieth century, the United States has spoken of the US dollar in much the same way. Writing in 1980, amid the crisis of the post-Bretton Woods order, the Argentine economist Raúl Prebisch observed that ‘in the United States the illusion of the almighty dollar held sway’. By then, however, this was not only a US illusion. The dollar had already become the world’s principal reserve currency and the dominant currency of international trade. Now that illusion has begun, slowly and unevenly, to fray.
US Measles Cases in 2026 Have Already Surpassed Last Year’s Total “The best way to prevent contracting measles is through measles vaccination,” Johns Hopkins University explains.
Measles, Salmonella, Explosive Diarrhea: Public Health Crises Erupt Under RFK Jr.’s Leadership