At a recent press conference, U.S. Defense Secretary and Christian nationalist Pete Hegseth justified the Trump administration’s unconstitutional act of starting the war with Iran by saying that before launching missiles, “We sent our best people to negotiate — Steve and Jared.”
Brief #61 – Education Policy
By Lynn Waldsmith
Global warming is, above all else, a looming crisis for children.
With extreme weather events such as heat waves and wildfires expected to rise in frequency, intensity and duration under global warming, it should come as no surprise that younger generations will face many more such events over their lifetimes compared to their parents and grandparents. In fact, a new survey published in Science magazine predicts children born in 2020 could face seven times more climate disasters than those born in 1960.
Brief #21 – Elections and Politics
Patrick Dwire
The campaign ads of the Republican challengers of Galvin Newsom for governor of California in the upcoming recall election portray the state as suffering the same dystopian fate as Venezuela- with flash frames of despair and voice-over narratives of businesses and workers fleeing the economic collapse brought on by the government over-reach of Covid restrictions.
Brief #104—Economic
By Rosalind Gottfried
President elect Joe Biden’s 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus plan provides a comprehensive assault on what ails America and reinstates some of the controversial elements rejected by Republicans in the $900 billion December plan. Most notable is a reinstatement of 350 billion dollars to bolster state and local budgets suffering shortfalls largely attributable to the pandemic crisis. It also includes 400 billion dollars of pandemic aid to vaccinate Americans and open schools. Biden set a goal to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office.
Now three months into his Iran war, President Trump continues to spew so much contradictory nonsense on the conflict that anyone attempting to take the president at his word would be lost in the morass. One moment Trump is threatening to annihilate Iran’s civilization, hurling churlish curses at the country’s leadership for not doing what he wants, the next he’s saying a deal is nearly complete. One minute he’s claiming the goal of regime change, the next he’s abandoning it in favor or “winding down” the war. One hour he’s saying “you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” the next he’s gladly accepting a ceasefire.
Missouri, the “Show Me State,” enters the 2026 election cycle as a firmly Republican-controlled state, with all eight U.S. House seats on the ballot and no Senate race this cycle. Democrats currently hold just two congressional districts, MO-01 and MO-05, represented by Wesley Bell and Emanuel Cleaver, respectively. Both districts are anchored in the state’s urban cores of St. Louis and Kansas City and are considered safely Democratic.
Uber has buried statistics on assaults and accidents on its platform for years. Journalists and advocates have dug hard and are revealing disturbing levels of both. As more customers are suing the company for its inadequate safety measures, Uber is responding with a ballot initiative in California that would limit its liability for accidents, and consumer attorneys are supporting measures that would increase Uber’s liability and accountability.
Space exploration has transitioned from a public endeavor driven by international cooperation to a heavily privatized industry dominated by billionaire-backed mega-corporations. At the center of this shift is Low Earth Orbit (LEO), defined by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and NASA as the region of space at an altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) or less. Low Earth Orbit, once viewed as a pristine global commons, is rapidly becoming a celestial dumping ground. The exponential deployment of satellite megaconstellations by private tech monopolies has drastically accelerated the accumulation of space junk, raising profound environmental and safety concerns. While these networks boast of bridging global connectivity gaps, their unchecked proliferation commodifies the orbital environment, prioritizing corporate dominance over the long-term sustainability of the cosmos.
The July 2023 military takeover in Niger, led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani and the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), marked a significant setback for democratic governance in the Sahel. However, the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum must be viewed not merely as an isolated authoritarian power grab, but as a catalyst for a profound geopolitical realignment. In the two years since the coup, the CNSP has systematically dismantled long-standing security frameworks, resulting in the expulsion of French forces in late 2023 and the complete withdrawal of United States military personnel and the closure of key drone bases by September 2024.
If you were new to President Trump’s Oval Office press conferences with world leaders, you might have found his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) on Tuesday, November 18, to be an astonishingly low moment for a U.S President. As though determined to debase himself and weaken U.S. credibility, Trump dismissed U.S. intelligence findings linking the crown prince to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, while savagely attacking the reporter who asked about it. And, per usual, Trump went out of his way to denigrate past presidents and brag about himself ad nauseum.