- The Trump regime is trying to shut down the Mauna Loa laboratory in Hawaii, which has been measuring atmospheric CO2 concentration since the 1950s. Of course this is no doubt because he doesn't like the implications of what the laboratory is documenting. In a better world someone else (like, say, the UN) would step in and take over the lab's operations, but I suspect Trump would actively seek to dismantle it before that becomes a possibility.
- The US dollar has lost over 10% of its value when compared to those of its closest trading partners - the most dramatic loss of value since 1973. Trump's tariffs are one plausible reason. There are concerns about inflation, and even more so, concerns that foreign investors are avoiding the US.
- California governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law two bills that make significant changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. While the existing law has drawn praise from some environmentalists, some provisions in it have been weaponized by NIMBYs, not only against affordable housing but even against clearly pro-environment measures like bike lanes. The amendments are intended to fix these issues; among other things they exempt infill housing from the Act's requirements for environmental review (since such housing is by its very nature not constructed on pristine land anyway).
- Russia bombarded Kyiv overnight with hundreds of drones and several larger missiles, injuring at least 23 people and causing widespread damage. This would seem to be a lot less indiscriminate than Ukraine's recent strikes on military factories; one could be forgiven for thinking that the real goal is to destroy Ukraine's viability as a country.
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March, says that he was brutally beaten and subjected to various psychological torments while incarcerated at the CECOT facility there.
- Flights in Canada were heavily disrupted on Thursday as bomb threats were called into airports in six major cities.
- Winnipeg mayor Scott Gillingham plans to seek a second term in next year's municipal elections.
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