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Beloved tenured History professor and Socialist Horizon member Tom Alter was summarily fired on September 10th by Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse for expressing his views in a virtual conference unrelated to the university. This action cannot stand. Socialist Horizon calls on people everywhere to join us and demand that Professor Alter be reinstated to his tenured position.
President Damphousse fired Dr. Tom Alter based solely on a video published online by an extreme rightwing provocateur who infiltrated and secretly video-recorded segments of a virtual socialist conference with the intention of publishing information to slander and attack conference participants. In videos posted on their website, this person declares that they are a proud fascist, who tries to monetize exposure of the left as an “anti-communist cult leader”. This grifter publicly exhorts followers to embrace fascist ideology and take action, is an antisemite that states that Jewish people ‘chose to die in the Holocaust’, is a self-declared racist and xenophobe, a homophobe and a transphobe that spews hate speech throughout their platform that is solely designed to inflame and incite.
After the fascist’s ‘exposure video’ reached President Damphousse, he summarily fired Dr. Alter, a tenured professor, without questioning or investigating the content, without considering its authenticity or validity, without any form of due process, and violating existing state law and campus policy which requires a formal due process procedure.
After the fascist’s ‘exposure video’ reached President Damphousse, he summarily fired Dr. Alter, a tenured professor, without questioning or investigating the content, without considering its authenticity or validity, without any form of due process, and violating existing state law and campus policy which requires a formal due process procedure.
What did Alter talk about that triggered fascists, and that Damphousse considers so unacceptable?
The statement issued by Damphousse to terminate Dr. Alter unambiguously affirms that he fired Alter for what he said at that conference, stating no other reason, and accusing Alter of “inciting violence”. But his speech, a transcript of which can be viewed here, in no way calls for violence.
Alter spoke against this cruel and unjust system and argued in favor of replacing it with socialism, and he advocated organizing politically to achieve this. Alter’s political views reflect those of nearly half of the total US population. Almost half now oppose capitalism and 40% favor socialism over capitalism. Alter’s views are far from subversive, they reflect the mainstream. It is a just cause that more and more people are joining, one people believe to be worth fighting for, and represents a change in thinking that is scaring the bigots, fascists, and capitalists.
It is in fact the fascist infiltrator who incites violence against oppressed people, and in this case, directly against Alter. It is Alter’s employer Texas State University that inflicted violence: stripping Alter of his job, refusing him any due process, casting him and his family into the uncertainty of unemployment and making them a target for the extreme right, while slamming the door shut on his free speech and academic freedom. Alter’s First Amendment right to speak, guaranteed by the Constitution, has been violated, as has his academic freedom– a protected right developed by his national faculty union, the American Association of University Professors.
The fact that a marginal fascist streamer with a dangerous and extremist ideology can pressure the president of a prestigious public university system to illegally fire a tenured professor for his opinions is alarming. Most concerning, if we do not stop this, it will set a precedent that will embolden the most dangerous bigots, right wing extremists and fascists who will continue to target people across the country. If they can influence and direct the President of the Texas State University system so easily–who else will they go after?
We call on President Damphousse to stop this flagrant attack on constitutionally-protected free speech, to undo this wrongful termination, and to immediately reinstate Dr. Tom Alter to his teaching position.
We call on President Damphousse to stop this flagrant attack on constitutionally-protected free speech, to undo this wrongful termination, and to immediately reinstate Dr. Tom Alter to his teaching position.
The termination of Dr. Alter is a serious attack that upends his livelihood, his professional and academic career, and sets a very dangerous precedent. President Damphousse’s actions appear to be in accordance with the far-right politics of Texas politicians Greg Abbot and Ted Cruz, as well as being in-line with that of Donald Trump who has used the office of the presidency to wage war on his political opponents.
Damphousse’s actions align with Trump and the far right forces trying to impose and enforce an authoritarian regime that wants to silence critics, crush political dissent, and attack anyone they perceive to be oppositional to their project. Even more threatening, Damphousse’s actions strengthen the power and influence of fascists and enable the most violent and reactionary groups to also attack and take action against anyone they deem to be part of the left.
It is Trump who inflicts violence against millions through his authoritarian political attacks that target people of Color, women, transpeople, immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities, impoverished and unhoused people, and the working class as a whole . It is the far right and the fascists who are building movements to harm innocent and vulnerable people. It is this capitalist system that Alter spoke against that inflicts mass violence condemning billions to hunger, poverty and war while a handful accumulates ever growing obscene amounts of wealth that is stolen from the rest of us.
Alter is being attacked because he is telling a truth that many people in the United States believe today: that capitalism is ruining their lives and that socialism is a better system. If Dr. Tom Alter can be fired for expressing his personal beliefs and principles, then people everywhere are in danger. If he can be fired for expressing a point of view at a conference, away from his work and in his daily private life, then none of us are safe.
His case must draw support from people of all sectors of society: workers, teachers, nurses, students—anyone and everyone who upholds the value of free speech. As the great anti-slavery abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said, “The law on the side of freedom is of great advantage only when there is power to make that law respected”.
We call on everyone to join us in building the broadest possible solidarity campaign to win this decisive battle.
We call on everyone to join us in building the broadest possible solidarity campaign to win this decisive battle.
The attacks on Dr. Tom Alter and socialist politics will not intimidate Socialist Horizon. We will defend our comrade and we will continue fighting for the very cause he is being attacked for: justice, freedom, and equality. We will also continue building the organization that it will take to win it.
Dr. Tom Alter is not only a beloved faculty member at Texas State but also an advisor to several student organizations. He is the author of a celebrated history of socialism in the American South, Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth: The Transplanted Roots of Farmer-Labor Radicalism in Texas (University of Illinois Press). He is also the father of two children. Socialist Horizon demands that Texas State University immediately restore Tom Alter’s position as Associate Professor of History.
Socialist Horizon also calls on all organizations and individuals that defend the basic democratic right to free speech and reject fascism and authoritarianism, and all socialists in particular, to join this fight. This is an attack on all of us. We need to confront it with the broadest unitary campaign for Alter’s immediate reinstatement, in defense of free speech and against fascism.
This is an attack on all of us. We need to confront it with the broadest unitary campaign for Alter’s immediate reinstatement, in defense of free speech and against fascism.
What you can do to support:
*Donate to help Tom Alter and his family with living and legal expenses: https://gofund.me/27c72f26d
*Sign and share this petition demanding Tom Alter be given his job back: https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
*Write to and call the President and Provost at Texas State University demanding that Tom Alter be given his job back:
President Kelly Damphousse: president@txstate.edu
President’s Office Phone: 512-245-2121
Provost Pranesh Aswath: xrk25@txstate.edu
Provost Office Phone: 512-245-2205
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Dear Friend,
Since March 2025 the prison administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections was aware that Mumia's eyesight deteriorated to 20/200 (legally blind). Mumia was not able to read, including his mail, nor retrieve phone numbers, or proceed with his research and writing to complete his Phd dissertation.
For over seven months no treatment was provided. On September 2, Mumia was treated for complications from cataract surgery a few years ago. However, he remains disabled and at risk of loss of sight in his other eye, damaged by severe diabetic retinopathy. He needs that treatment immediately.
This is an outrageous attack on an innocent prisoner serving a life-without-parole sentence! A long history of Mumia’s 43 years imprisoned (29 of them on death row), have shown that prison authorities, who are required to provide adequate health care, failed to do so, leading Mumia’s supporters to the conclusion that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has actively tried to disable and even kill him. (They tried this in 2015 by failing to diagnose and treat Hepatitis C, sending Mumia into a near-fatal crisis.)
A loud and determined public response is required to win immediate treatment to restore Mumia’s full eyesight.
Please join this effort, do your part, and share this information.
Sincerely,
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Stop Cop City Bay Area
Did you know about a proposed $47 million regional police training facility in San Pablo—designed for departments across the Bay Area?
We are Stop Cop City Bay Area (Tours & Teach-Ins), a QT+ Black-led grassroots collective raising awareness about this project. This would be the city’s second police training facility, built without voter approval and financed through a $32 million, 30-year loan.
We’re organizing to repurpose the facility into a community resource hub and youth center. To build people power, we’re taking this conversation on the road—visiting Bay Area campuses, classrooms, cafes, and community spaces via our Fall 2025 Tour.
We’d love to collaborate with you and/or co-create an event. Here’s what we offer:
Guest Speaker Presentations—5-minute visits (team meetings, classrooms, co-ops, etc.), panels, or deep dives into:
· the facility’s origins & regional impacts
· finding your role in activism
· reimagining the floorplan (micro-workshops)
· and more
· Interactive Art & Vendor/Tabling Pop-Ups — free zines, stickers, and live linocut printing with hand-carved stamps + artivism.
· Collaborations with Classrooms — project partnerships, research integration, or creative assignments.
· Film Screenings + Discussion — e.g., Power (Yance Ford, 2024) or Riotsville, U.S.A. (Sierra Pettengill, 2022), or a film of your choice.
👉 If you’re interested in hosting a stop, open to co-creating something else, or curious about the intersections of our work: simply reply to this email or visit: stopcopcitybayarea.com/tour
Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to connecting.
In solidarity,
Stop Cop City Bay Area
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Dear Organization Coordinator
I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out to invite your organization to consider co-sponsoring a regional proposal to implement Free Public Transit throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
This initiative directly supports low-income families, working people, seniors, youth, and others who rely on public transportation. It would eliminate fare barriers while helping to address climate justice, congestion, and air pollution—issues that disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities.
We believe your organization’s mission and values align strongly with this proposal. We are seeking endorsements, co-sponsorship, and coalition-building with groups that advocate for economic and racial equity.
I would love the opportunity to share a brief proposal or speak further if you're interested. Please let me know if there’s a staff member or program director I should connect with.
A description of our proposal is below:
sharethemoneyinstitute@gmail.com
Opinion: San Francisco Bay Area Should Provide Free Public Transportation
The San Francisco Bay Area is beautiful, with fantastic weather, food, diversity and culture. We’re also internationally famous for our progressiveness, creativity, and innovation.
I believe the next amazing world-leading feature we can add to our cornucopia of attractions is Free Public Transportation. Imagine how wonderful it would be if Muni, BART, Caltrain, AC Transit, SamTrans, SF Bay Ferries, and all the other transportation services were absolutely free?
Providing this convenience would deliver enormous, varied benefits to the 7.6 million SF Bay Area residents, and would make us a lovable destination for tourists.
This goal - Free Public Transportation - is ambitious, but it isn’t impossible, or even original. Truth is, many people world-wide already enjoy free rides in their smart municipalities.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is promoting free transit, with a plan that’s gained the endorsement of economists from Chile, United Kingdom, Greece, and the USA.
The entire nation of Luxembourg has offered free public transportation to both its citizens and visitors since 2020. Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, has given free transit to its residents since 2013. In France, thirty-five cities provide free public transportation. Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, offers free rides to seniors, disabled, and students. In Maricá (Brazil) – the entire municipal bus system is free. Delhi (India) – offers free metro and bus travel for women. Madrid & Barcelona (Spain) offer free (or heavily discounted) passes to youth and seniors.
Even in the USA, free public transit is already here. Kansas City, Missouri, has enjoyed a free bus system free since 2020. Olympia, Washington, has fully fare-free intercity transit. Missoula, Montana, is free for all riders. Columbia, South Carolina, has free buses, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has enjoyed free transit for over a decade. Ithaca, New York, and Madison, Wisconsin, offer free transit to students.
But if the San Francisco Bay Area offered free transit, we’d be the LARGEST municipality in the world to offer universal Free Transit to everyone, resident and visitor alike. (Population of Luxembourg is 666,430. Kansas City 510,704. Population of San Francisco Bay Area is 7.6 million in the nine-county area)
Providing free transit would be tremendously beneficial to millions of people, for three major reasons:
1. Combat Climate Change - increased public ridership would reduce harmful CO2 fossil fuel emissions. Estimates from Kansas City and Tallinn Estonia’s suggest an increase in ridership of 15 percent. Another estimate from a pilot project in New York City suggests a ridership increase of 30 percent. These increases in people taking public transportation instead of driving their own cars indicates a total reduction of 5.4 - 10.8 tons of emissions would be eliminated, leading to better air quality, improved public health, and long-term climate gains.
2. Reduce Traffic Congestion & Parking Difficulty - Estimates suggest public transit would decrease traffic congestion in dense urban areas and choke points like the Bay Bridge by up to 15 percent. Car ownership would also be reduced. Traffic in San Francisco is the second-slowest in the USA (NYC is #1) and getting worse every year. Parking costs in San Francisco are also the second-worst in the USA (NYC #1), and again, it is continually getting worse.
3. Promote Social Equity - Free transit removes a financial cost that hits low-income residents hard. Transportation is the second-biggest expense after housing for many Americans. In the Bay Area, a monthly Clipper pass can cost $86–$98 per system, and much more for multi-agency commuters. For people living paycheck-to-paycheck, this is a significant cost. People of color, immigrants, youth, seniors, and people with disabilities rely more heavily on public transit. 55–70% of frequent transit riders in the Bay Area are from low-to moderate-income households, but these riders usually pay more per mile of transit than wealthy drivers. Free fares equalize access regardless of income or geography.
Free transit would help people 1) take jobs they couldn’t otherwise afford to commute to, thus improving the economy, 2) Stay in school without worrying about bus fare, 3) Get to appointments, child care, or grocery stores without skipping meals to afford transit.
To conclude: Free Public Transit should be seen as a civil rights and economic justice intervention.
The Cost? How can San Francisco Bay Area pay for Free Transit throughout our large region?
ShareTheMoney.Institute estimates the cost as $1.5 billion annually. This sum can acquired via multiple strategies. Corvallis, Oregon, has had free public bus service since 2011, paid for by a $3.63 monthly fee added to each utility bill. Missoula, Montana, funds their fare-free Mountain Line transit system, via a property tax mill levy. Madison, Wisconsin’s transit is supported by general fund revenues, state and federal grants, and partnerships/sponsorships from local businesses and organizations.
Ideally, we’d like the funds to be obtained from the 37 local billionaires who, combined, have an approximate wealth of $885 billion. The $1.5 billion for free transit is only 0.17% of the local billionaire's wealth. Sponsorship from the ultra-wealthy would be ideal. Billionaires can view the “fair transit donation” they are asked to contribute not as punishment or an “envy tax”, but as their investment to create a municipality that is better for everyone, themselves included. They can pride themselves on instigating a world-leading, legacy-defining reform that will etch their names in history as leaders of a bold utopian reform.
Our motto: “we want to move freely around our beautiful bay”
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Hank Pellissier - Share The Money Institute
Reverend Gregory Stevens - Unitarian Universalist EcoSocialist Network
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*  Russia Confirms Jailing of Antiwar Leader Boris Kagarlitsky In a secret trial on June 5, 2024, the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber confirmed a sentence of five years in a penal colony for left-wing sociologist and online journalist Boris Kagarlitsky. His crime? “Justifying terrorism” — a sham charge used to silence opponents of Putin’s war on Ukraine. The court disregarded a plea for freedom sent by thirty-seven international luminaries. Kagarlitsky, a leading Marxist thinker in Russia’s post-Soviet period, recently addressed socialists who won’t criticize Putin: “To my Western colleagues, who…call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. [Would] you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? …In a country which…broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?” Thousands of antiwar critics have been forced to flee Russia or are behind bars, swept up in Putin’s vicious crackdown on dissidents. Opposition to the war is consistently highest among the poorest workers. Recently, RusNews journalists Roman Ivanov and Maria Ponomarenko were sentenced to seven, and six years respectively, for reporting the military’s brutal assault on Ukraine. A massive global solidarity campaign that garnered support from thousands was launched at Kagarlitsky’s arrest. Now, it has been revived. This internationalism will bolster the repressed Russian left and Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s imperialism. To sign the online petition at freeboris.info —Freedom Socialist Party, August 2024 https://socialism.com/fs-article/russia-jails-prominent-antiwar-leader-boris-kagarlitsky/#:~:text=In%20a%20secret%20trial%20on,of%20Putin's%20war%20on%20Ukraine. Petition in Support of Boris KagarlitskyWe, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison. Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles. The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested. On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release. The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison. The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences. There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering. Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course. We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally. We also call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to reverse their growing repression of dissent and respect their citizens' freedom of speech and right to protest. Sign to Demand the Release of Boris Kagarlitskyhttps://freeboris.infoThe petition is also available on Change.org *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* |
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Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical Defense Fund, Official 2024
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
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Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
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1) Anti-Genocide Protesters Take Over the Streets of Italy
By The Cradle News Desk
—The Cradle, September 22, 2025
Workers across Italy launched a nationwide strike on 22 September to oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza, halting public transport, rail services, schools, public offices, and ports in more than 60 cities.
Italian grassroots trade union, Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), called the strike to force Rome to “immediately break off relations with the terrorist state of Israel, which is the concrete way in which Italy can, and must, react to the genocide that is taking place.”
Rail freight was suspended on Sunday night, with ports including Ravenna, Livorno, Trieste, and Genoa joining the actions.
In Genoa, dockworkers blocked a vessel scheduled for Israel, while in Livorno, access to the port was restricted by protesters.
In Rome, several regional trains were canceled and others delayed for more than an hour, while in Milan, the city’s M4 metro line was shut down.
Students in Bologna occupied university lecture halls under the banner of the Cambiare Rotta group. Demonstrators also marched through Milan in heavy rain to demand a ceasefire and express support for the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla.
USB said protests were taking place in 81 locations across Italy, declaring, “For a free Palestine from the river to the sea, we will shout in every square.”
UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese voiced support for the strikes, writing on X, “In Italy, the general strike has shut down train lines, ports, highways, schools & shops. With a genocide ongoing, there can be NO business as usual. Stay peaceful, everyone. Do not react to any provocation. Freedom for all allows no mistakes.”
Protest organizers said more than 200 lawyers had issued an appeal to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani recently told the Senate that Rome was prepared to consider EU trade sanctions against Israel, including measures targeting Israeli ministers over what he called “unacceptable” policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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2) Why Obamacare Bills May Double Next Year
Extensive subsidies that reduce premium costs for millions are set to expire, unless Congress extends them.
By Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz, Sept. 24, 2025
The reporters have been covering the effects of Obamacare since its launch in 2014.
Works in progress on Ms. Morringello’s shelf. About half of the people now enrolled in Obamacare either work for small businesses that do not offer coverage or are self-employed. Ashley L. Conti for The New York Times
Earlier this month, Julie Morringello, an artist in rural Maine, received a notice that her health care premiums could nearly double next year.
She now pays $460 a month for her Obamacare plan, but that amount is contingent on government subsidies that the Republican-controlled Congress may not extend.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Ms. Morringello, 58, said. Her insurance also covers her 14-year-old daughter, and forgoing a plan altogether isn’t an option because Ms. Morringello has a history of cancer and needs continuing care.
Similar sticker shock may await millions of Americans who must start to sign up for coverage in November. The vast majority of people enrolled in plans under the Affordable Care Act receive additional federal tax credits that were first expanded by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Congress in 2021.
Those subsidies, set to expire at the end of the year, are now the subject of a standoff between Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have demanded an extension in exchange for their support of a government spending bill that must pass by the end of this month to prevent a government shutdown.
Republican leaders have cited the high cost of the subsidies, estimated at about $350 billion over 10 years, and potential fraud in enrollments for the program. And they have balked at attaching an extension onto this month’s short-term spending bill.
But many individual Republican lawmakers have expressed a willingness to extending the funding in some form, acknowledging that its disappearance would hurt their constituents before the midterm elections.
If a deal is not struck, more than 20 million Americans will face higher insurance premiums next year. The Senate was unable to pass any version of the spending bill last week, increasing the risk of a government shutdown over the issue.
“The consequences are potentially pretty dire for the 24 million people in the marketplaces whose costs are going to skyrocket,” said Drew Altman, the chief executive of KFF, a nonpartisan health research group.
KFF has estimated that Americans’ share of premiums could increase by an average of more than 75 percent. About two million people are expected to lose their coverage next year if the extra funding expires, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. And the number is expected to grow over the next decade.
The generous credits now apply to more people and cover more of the cost of premiums than before the pandemic. At the low end of the income scale, individuals now pay nothing in premiums for plans with low deductibles. The extra subsidies also helped higher earners — like a family of four earning more than $160,000 a year — for the first time.
Reductions in the subsidies could have effects that cascade into the overall markets. Coupled with other changes made by this Congress and the Trump administration, the number of people with A.C.A. plans could eventually decline by roughly half, with states like Florida and Texas seeing the most significant drops, according to an analysis by the actuarial firm Wakely Consulting before Republicans passed their major tax and domestic policy bill this summer.
Actuaries expect that people with continuing medical needs, like Ms. Morringello, will be more likely to stay enrolled despite the higher costs, while younger, healthier people may be more likely to drop coverage.
Health insurers are watching warily, and most have increased rates to account for the anticipated flight of healthy customers. According to an analysis by KFF of company filings, insurers are increasing premiums by around 4 percentage points on average to account for a sicker group of customers next year. They are also raising prices because of increasing medical costs.
Other recent Trump administration actions could erode sign-ups among younger, healthier people. Health officials recently embraced less comprehensive forms of insurance that were not as expensive. They have also initiated rules that make it more complicated to enroll in Obamacare plans and harder to renew at the end of the year. Many of those changes are under legal challenge in the courts.
No one expects the Obamacare market to collapse. But after next year, experts warn, some insurers are likely to think twice about whether to sell plans in some markets, and choices could decline. In May, Aetna, the insurer owned by CVS Health, decided to leave the Obamacare markets altogether (though it only covered about one million people nationwide).
“I don’t think it will go away, but I think it will be a lot worse,” said Jeanne Lambrew, the director of health reform for the Century Foundation and a former state commissioner of Health and Human Services.
Linda Greenfeld, a senior executive at L.A. Care Health Plan, which offers Obamacare plans to low-income residents of Los Angeles County, said that losing the expanded subsidies would have “a devastating effect” on the plan’s customers. More than half are enrolled in plans where they don’t have to contribute to their premiums’ cost at all, which she said makes coverage “a reality for most people.” Even the difference between paying nothing and $50 a month would force some people to choose between health coverage and putting food on the table, she said.
Some critics of the subsidies argue that the expanded tax credits are helping wealthier Americans who don’t need the assistance. Others say the plans that require no direct payments from participants have led to fraudulent and duplicative enrollment. Some House Republicans have described the effort to make the expanded credits permanent as “massive taxpayer-funded handouts to the wealthy and large health insurance companies.”
Brian Blase, the president of the Paragon Health Institute, an influential conservative health policy group, has argued that Congress should eliminate the zero-dollar premiums to prevent fraud.
“I would say the underlying Obamacare subsidies are themselves very generous,” he said, noting that if the expanded subsidies disappeared, the lowest-income Americans would still pay around $30 a month for insurance.
But despite their party’s longstanding aversion to Obamacare, some Republicans appear increasingly interested in keeping at least some of the tax credits. Coverage losses are expected to occur disproportionately in Republican-governed states like Florida and Texas. And vulnerable Republican lawmakers worry about a political backlash if their constituents experience sticker shock before the midterm elections. Ten Republican House members have cosponsored legislation to extend the subsidies temporarily. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, introduced her own such bill last week. And a number of other Republican senators have expressed interest or openness to an extension.
But so far, Republican leaders have said they will not include the measure in the government spending bill, as Democrats have demanded.
In Alaska, where Obamacare insurance is particularly expensive without subsidies, higher earners would see large increases.
Without the extra aid, Natalie Kenley, 43, said that she expected her family’s premium to jump to more than $2,000 from $1,600 a month. Ms. Kenley, of Palmer, Alaska, whose husband owns a dental practice where she also works, has multiple sclerosis and needs the coverage. “I’m really concerned about health care costs because they feel very unpredictable,” she said.
Obamacare has become a critical insurance option for those without access to health insurance at work. About half of the people now enrolled either work for small businesses that may not offer coverage or are self-employed, according to a recent analysis by KFF.
Ms. Morringello’s husband is retired and on Medicare, and she has already chosen one of the least expensive plans, which includes a $7,500 deductible. Coming up with an extra $5,000 a year to pay for premiums won’t be easy — she is thinking about canceling things like her membership at the local Y.
“If I can’t pay it, I’ll have to use my savings,” she said.
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3) Relief, Grief and Pain as Gaza’s Wounded Are Flown to Safety
Hungry and injured passengers on a medical evacuation flight showed the toll of nearly two years of bombardment.
By Ismaeel Naar, Sept. 24, 2025
Ismaeel Naar traveled on an evacuation flight that took Gazans from Eilat, Israel, to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Members of the Mqat family with their father, Mohammed, after being evacuated to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Rajab, left, who is 10, was injured in Gaza in March. Natalie Naccache for The New York Times
Ismaeel Naar traveled on an evacuation flight that took Gazans from Eilat, Israel, to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Mohammed Rajab Mqat could not grasp that the crew on the evacuation flight from Gaza was offering him an entire roast beef sandwich — not one to be split with his four children traveling with him.
“Wait, is this for each of us?” the 37-year-old Palestinian father asked, when each was given a tray with a sandwich, fruit, orange juice and water. After nearly two years of war in Gaza, Mr. Mqat said his weight had dwindled from more than 240 pounds to 165.
“Famine slaughtered us,” he said as they headed last month to the United Arab Emirates to get medical treatment for his 10-year-old son, who was hurt in an airstrike in March.
The medical evacuation flight organized by the United Arab Emirates provided a route to safety for 155 Gazans. Their injuries and hunger were a visceral reminder of the continuing Israeli bombardment and the deepening humanitarian crisis in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza. It’s a situation made more acute by the Israeli military’s ground offensive in Gaza City.
Since November 2023, shortly after the war began, the Emirates has operated 27 such flights from Gaza, ferrying 2,904 patients and family members to a government complex in Abu Dhabi, according to the Emirati Foreign Ministry. Evacuations are in conjunction with the World Health Organization.
When asked how long the evacuees could stay in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati government said in a statement, “These families must be able to return to their homes once their treatment is complete” and “when conditions permit them to do so in safety and dignity.”
Around 16,000 people in Gaza need medical evacuation, according to a W.H.O. estimate.
As the war drags on, the demand has grown, along with the challenges of treating the sick and wounded, aid officials and medical workers say.
“From the very first flight, we saw objective evidence of malnutrition: iron deficiency in blood tests, children who were visibly hungry and some who ran up to food like they had never seen it before,” Dr. Maha Barakat, assistant health minister at the Emirati Foreign Ministry, said in an interview. “Starvation is a medical condition we thought the world had stopped needing to treat.”
In August, a panel of international experts reported that parts of Gaza were experiencing an “entirely man-made” famine, which a top United Nations humanitarian official said was caused by Israel’s “systematic obstruction” of aid. Israel imposed a blockade from March to May, when some aid distribution resumed under a much-criticized, Israeli-backed system that bypassed the United Nations.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has called the report “an outright lie.”
Israeli officials have said they let enough food into Gaza but argue that it is stolen or that aid agencies are struggling to distribute it properly. The United Nations and other aid groups say that Israel frequently denies or delays requests to pick up supplies waiting at the border and move them into Gaza safely, among other challenges.
The W.H.O. said that, to be selected for evacuation, a patient must have been referred by a doctor in Gaza for treatment that is unavailable locally. It also said that Gaza’s health ministry then vets cases and, if approved, sends them to the W.H.O., which finds a host country and secures clearance from the Israeli authorities for the patients to leave.
The journey to Abu Dhabi was arduous for the evacuees in August: They entered Israel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, southern Gaza, and were then driven to Eilat in southern Israel before boarding the three-hour evacuation flight.
The trip had exhausted Asma al-Ladawi, who sat on the plane clutching her belly, barely noticeable even at eight months pregnant, with her daughter and son by her side.
Ms. al-Ladawi said that a blast in December 2023 had landed close to their tent at a school in northern Gaza, throwing her son, Ahmad, 12, into the air and breaking both his legs. The Israeli military asked for more information about the blast but did not immediately comment.
After Ahmad’s initial treatment, his mother said, she took him from one hospital to another, seeking advanced care. But Gaza’s medical system has been devastated by Israel’s military campaign. By the time he was evacuated, Ahmad was unable to walk unassisted.
The war’s toll on children in Gaza has been immense.
The ordeal of Iyad al-Masri, 6, began in April when he picked up unexploded ordnance, his mother, Shireen al-Masri, said. The resulting blast embedded shrapnel in his abdomen, severed two of his toes and shredded his legs.
Iyad’s legs were pinned with bolts, and he has relied on a wheeled mobility aid to walk. A bright boy who used to be gregarious, Iyad has become withdrawn, Ms. al-Masri said.
Ms. al-Masri said Iyad was injured during a period of intense food shortages. The prospect of life in the Emirates, and a full plate of food, felt like a miracle, she said.
On the flight, Mr. Mqat and other parents said they were grateful to be safe but were tormented by guilt and worry for loved ones left behind.
Mr. Mqat said that his wife was still trapped in the destroyed landscape of northern Gaza along with his mother and three eldest daughters.
“Half of me is here and half of me is there,” Mr. Mqat said, his voice breaking into a sob. “Imagine yourself in my place.”
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4) Israeli Strike Kills Gazans Sheltering in Warehouse, Local Reports Say
The Israeli attack in Gaza City killed nearly two dozen Palestinians, the reports said. The Israeli military said it had hit two “Hamas terrorists.”
By Liam Stack, Reporting from Tel Aviv, Sept. 24, 2025
Mourners at Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday carrying the bodies of people who medics said were killed in an overnight Israeli strike. Credit...Ebrahim Hajjaj/Reuters
An Israeli airstrike near a market in Gaza City killed nearly two dozen Palestinians on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense rescue service.
The civil defense said six women and nine children were among at least 22 dead in the attack near Firas Market on the eastern side of the city. The Wafa news agency, which is linked to the Palestinian Authority administration in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said all of those killed were seeking shelter in a warehouse that was hit by the strike.
An Israeli military statement said the strike had hit “two Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip,” without providing further details about who they were. It went on to say the number of casualties reported “does not align with the information” obtained by the Israeli military. But the military did not say how many people it believed had been killed in the strike.
Israel has said it launched the ground invasion of Gaza City last week to root out the Palestinian militant group Hamas from one of its last strongholds. Hamas led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the Gaza war. The Israeli military has said that its operations in Gaza target militants and the infrastructure they use to mount attacks, such as weapons caches or tunnels, and that those targets are often located in civilian areas.
Israel has come under growing international pressure recently for escalating the war with the ground invasion of Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban center. The operation has already displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been displaced before in the war, and deepened a humanitarian catastrophe across the Gaza Strip.
In the past few days, almost a dozen countries have expressed their frustration with the conflict by formally recognizing a Palestinian state, angering Israeli officials.
On Wednesday evening, a drone from Yemen struck the Israeli city of Eilat, the military said. Twenty people were injured in the attack, two of them seriously, according to Israeli paramedics. The military said it had attempted to intercept the drone, which evaded Israeli air defenses.
The Houthi militia in Yemen, an Iran-backed group, is the last of Israel’s regional adversaries that still regularly attempts to attack the country. Most of their attempts — which the Houthis say are launched in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in Gaza — are intercepted or are otherwise unsuccessful and casualties are rare.
Before launching the ground invasion of Gaza City, the Israeli military ordered the entire population — hundreds of thousands of people — to evacuate. It instructed them to go to what it described as a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.
But many civilians remained in the city, with some saying they could not afford to leave and others skeptical that anywhere in Gaza was safe to flee to.
Wafa reported that in addition to the deaths in the warehouse, another five people were killed in strikes on Wednesday in different parts of Gaza City, four women and a man.
The civil defense said it had also retrieved four bodies from the rubble of a building that had been hit by another strike in Nuseirat in central Gaza, roughly seven miles south of Gaza City. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment about the strike in Nuseirat.
Nedal Abu Sherbi, 37, a resident of Gaza City, said he could not afford to leave. But even if he could, he could not imagine fleeing again.
Earlier in the war, he said, he left the city to seek shelter in the south but found it to be “a very humiliating experience.”
“If I am going to suffer anyway, then I am staying here,” said Mr. Abu Sherbi, a freelance journalist. He is now sheltering in a school in Rimal, a once upscale neighborhood, after his home was destroyed.
He said Israeli troops appeared to be “in full control” of many neighborhoods, but not in the area where he was staying. But it was impossible to walk more than a few blocks in any direction from his shelter, he said.
“Things in Rimal are relatively better than in other areas, but strikes still take place all the time,” he said. “We cannot sleep through the night because of the constant strikes.”
Before the evacuation order, the United Nations said nearly one million people were living in Gaza City, about half of the territory’s total population. Israeli officials have said estimated that 640,000 people have fled the city since the evacuation orders were given.
Israel has destroyed large areas of the city in recent months.
A New York Times analysis of satellite images showed one Gaza City neighborhood, Zeitoun, was transformed into a barren wasteland over a few weeks in August, when many if not most of its buildings were destroyed.
In recent weeks, a U.N.-backed panel of food experts has said there was famine in Gaza City, and a U.N. commission investigating the war in Gaza has said Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians there. Israel has denied both claims.
Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting.
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5) Immigration Agents Collected U.S. Citizens’ DNA at Border Checkpoints
A report said DNA collected at checkpoints from about 2,000 Americans, mostly during the Biden administration, was sent to an F.B.I. database. Hundreds were not charged.
By Francesca Regalado, Sept. 24, 2025
Border patrol agents collected DNA from about 2,000 U.S. citizens at border checkpoints over a four-year period, researchers at Georgetown University said in a report. Credit...Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
Immigration agents collected DNA samples from about 2,000 U.S. citizens who were stopped at border checkpoints over a four-year period, even though hundreds of them were not charged, researchers at Georgetown University said in a report on Tuesday.
The report by Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology is based on data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in February. The data came from forms that immigration agents fill out when they send genetic information to an F.B.I. database of convicted criminals, missing persons and evidence from crime scenes.
The report’s authors argued that border agents were exceeding their authority with the collections, accusing them of violating U.S. citizens’ rights under the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
The report analyzed data from October 2020 to December 2024, a period covering a few months of the first Trump administration and most of the Biden administration. The researchers found that of the 2,000 Americans subjected to cheek swabs agents from Customs and Border Protection, more than 800 were not arrested or charged with a crime at the time.
Law enforcement officers in the United States are allowed to collect DNA from citizens arrested in connection with serious crimes.
The Georgetown report said that federal agents sending genetic information to the F.B.I. had provided “legally questionable, nonsensical, or altogether absent” justifications for collecting DNA samples.
Neither U.S. Customs and Border Protection nor the F.B.I. responded to requests for comment overnight.
A February directive from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that federal agencies are required to collect DNA samples from Americans who were under arrest, facing charges or convicted, and from noncitizens in U.S. detention. The directive said that DNA collection by agency was a “routine booking measure parallel to fingerprinting.”
The authors of the Georgetown report said that data on DNA collection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection during Mr. Trump’s second term was not yet available. They said they expected it to “reveal an even broader and more reckless approach” because of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The second Trump administration has overseen a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration, threatening mass arrests and deportations.
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6) A Sitcom Star and the King of England Walk Into a Fire Ceremony
By Rainn Wilson, Sept. 24, 2025
Mr. Wilson is an actor, a producer and an environmental activist in Los Angeles.
Liew Li Anne
As the shaman guided us to turn to the east, our hands outstretched to the sky in supplication, I looked around and took in a series of absurd facts:
That the roughly 50 of us invited to Highgrove Gardens in Britain to explore new directions in climate action were dressed in prim suits and summer dresses, while the handful of Indigenous elders among us from Mexico, Hawaii, the Amazon and South Africa were decked out in elaborate feathers, beads and hand-tooled leather.
That the air was full of smoke from a bonfire, a smell that reminded me that half of my house had burned down in the Los Angeles area wildfires only eight months before.
And that about 20 feet away, his royal arms in the air, was Charles, the king of friggin’ Britain.
This gathering in July was sponsored in part by an environmental group I work with called Grounded, and it was one of many I’ve attended in my newfound role as a part-time climate activist. You see, about six years ago, during my daily practice of sitting in my underwear and sending out angry tweets to climate science deniers, I looked at myself in the mirror and decided it was time to be more than a keyboard warrior.
Absurdity aside, the event at Highgrove cemented one central idea: To transform our relationship with our planet in this time of climate crisis, we need to value nature as profoundly sacred. Spiritual, even.
As global warming speeds up, the impacts are growing more frequent and destructive. Just last month, my family and I had to evacuate our cabin in Oregon because of wildfires worsened by a heat wave, our fourth evacuation in the past six years. (I’m starting to take this personally. I mean, give me a break, Oh Vulcan, god of fire!)
Between heat stress, habitat destruction, food scarcity and increased parasites, biodiversity loss is also increasing exponentially. According to the National Audubon Society, over 30 percent of California’s native species are threatened with extinction.
We can pass all the legislation and sign all the international agreements we want, but if most humans have learned to treat the earth as an A.T.M. to suck resources out of, and a garbage can to dump waste and pollution into, there is a much deeper imbalance.
A changing climate, a changing world
Climate change around the world: In “Postcards From a World on Fire,” 193 stories from individual countries show how climate change is reshaping reality everywhere, from dying coral reefs in Fiji to disappearing oases in Morocco and far, far beyond.
The worst climate risks, mapped: In this feature, select a country, and we'll break down the climate hazards it faces. In the case of America, our maps, developed with experts, show where extreme heat is causing the most deaths.
Without respect for nature, our hearts stiffen, as the Lakota leader and author Luther Standing Bear wrote in 1933: “The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.”
Around the same time, Black Elk, the Oglala Lakota holy man, wrote, “Let every step you take upon the earth be as a prayer” in “Black Elk Speaks.”
Encouraging more people to make a spiritual connection with nature may sound ambitious if not downright delusional. But it is something that the political right and left could potentially embrace. The left might find this in science and the beauty and interconnectedness of life. The right might find resonance in God’s creation and the stewardship of agriculture, and in the conservation of land and water.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Why should I listen to 1970s hippy-dippy, tree-huggy concepts from the guy who played Dwight in “The Office”? We need climate action, stat! Laws. Accountability. Renewables instead of coal and oil.
And to that, I draw upon my years of improv training and say, “yes, AND!”
We must pass laws to cut emissions and we must deepen our relationship to the majesty of the Earth. Awe is a gateway to deeper environmental healing. It can inspire us toward ever more committed action.
But what exactly do we do, weirdo? I mean easier said than done!
If we want to plug into the wonder of nature we need to start by actually spending time outside.
Rachel Hopman-Droste is one of many scientists who have studied the neurological changes that happen when we have regular contact with the outdoors. She found changed cognitive functioning and reduced stress and anxiety.
She came up a 20-5-3 rule for spending time in nature: Go outside for 20 minutes three times a week, for example a stroll or time in a park. Spend five hours per month in a semi-wild place such as a forested park, lake or river. Spend three days once a year off the grid in a cabin, tent or on a boat without a cellphone.
Granted, it’s going to take a lot more than camping and dog walks to move our culture’s relationship with nature in the right direction. But it’s a start.
It was actually at a Baháʼí religious youth camp in Seabeck, Wash., where we sang for hours around a campfire, collected shells at the beach and prayed and meditated under a cathedral of Douglas firs, that I first discovered blissful interconnectedness with nature. Perhaps instead of obsolete classes (I’m looking at you cursive!), we could systematically impart that same spirit in a nondenominational way to our children. We can call on leaders from across the political spectrum to prioritize teaching our children about conservation and the majesty of the natural world through outdoor experiential learning.
Back in Britain after the fire ceremony, our sundry group circled in to learn from the wise men and women who had come from Latin America, Hawaii and Africa. Civilization, they told us, has, for the last several hundred years, had a relationship of extraction with our sacred Mother Earth. Instead we need one of sacred regeneration.
Regeneration is the key word in this conversation; it points to the cycle of death, growth and life. Regeneration is hope.
Since that unforgettable afternoon, I have let this concept sink in so that it motivates me to make my steps upon this Earth be more like prayers. And so that the fires in the future are the kind that involve Indigenous elders (and perhaps the king of friggin’ Britain).
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7) General Assembly Updates: ‘Palestine Is Ours,’ Abbas Tells U.N. by Video
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, vowed that his people “will not leave our land.” His address came days after 10 Western countries joined 150 other nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood.
By Farnaz Fassihi, United Nations bureau chief, September 25, 2025
Denied a visa to enter the United States, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority delivered virtual remarks on Thursday. Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, used his remote address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Thursday to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza as “war crimes” and to reject any notion that Palestinians would abandon their land.
Appearing by video from the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank because the United States had denied him and his delegation visas, Mr. Abbas denounced the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, saying, “These actions don’t represent the Palestinian people.”
He said the Palestinian Authority was willing to take responsibility for Gaza and that Hamas would have no part in governing the enclave after the war. He also called on Hamas to lay down its arms. “We reiterate that we do not want an armed state,” he said.
Mr. Abbas, whose organization administers part of the West Bank and considers itself the rightful government of a future Palestinian state, spoke to an audience that is largely sympathetic to his cause. The war in the Gaza Strip has dominated the addresses of world leaders at this year’s General Assembly, and Palestinian statehood took center stage at a conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday.
In speech after speech, world leaders have recognized Palestinian statehood, slammed Israel for a military campaign in Gaza that has killed 65,000 people and displaced more than a million, and called for an end to the suffering of Palestinians. In his speech, Mr. Abbas described Israel’s conduct in the territory as a “genocide.”
Abbas thanked the countries that had recently recognized Palestinian statehood and noted that his authority had recognized Israel’s “right to exist” as early as 1988 and again in 1993. He also criticized Israeli leaders who have called for territorial expansion, saying that the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the state of Palestine.
Israeli officials have suggested that their government could annex at least part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank in retaliation for the Palestinian statehood announcements. But President Trump assured leaders of Arab and Muslim-majority nations this week that he would not allow Israel to annex territory in the West Bank, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Abbas said that no matter how much suffering the Palestinians endured, they would remain in Gaza and rebuild it. “It will not break our will to survive,” he said. “Palestine is ours.”
Mr. Abbas has been serving as president of the Palestinian Authority since 2005 even though he was elected to only a four-year term. Repeatedly delaying elections that might unseat him, he has concentrated power in his office, sidelined rivals and allowed security forces to crack down on critics. Opinion polls have shown that most Palestinians want him to resign.
Still, this week brought progress on the elusive prospect of Palestinian statehood, as 10 Western countries, including France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Belgium, announced their recognition of Palestinian statehood, joining about 150 countries that had already done so.
Israel and the United States opposed the move, saying it was a gift to Hamas, which set off the war in Gaza by leading an attack on southern Israel in 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and led to the abduction of about 250 others. Gazan officials say more than 64,000 people have been killed in the enclave during Israel’s military operations, figures that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
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8) Three School Districts to Lose $65 Million Over Gender and D.E.I. Policies
The federal Education Department accused New York, Chicago and Fairfax, Va., of discrimination and said it would pull federal funds from their magnet schools.
By Troy Closson, Sept. 25, 2025
The Trump administration said this week that it would withhold more than $65 million in federal grants from magnet schools in three large school districts after they refused to overhaul their policies regarding transgender and nonbinary students or to change their diversity and equity programs.
The three school districts — in New York City, Chicago and Fairfax, Va. — were accused by the federal Education Department last week of violating civil rights law.
The Trump administration called for the nation’s biggest school system, in New York City, to overhaul guidelines that allow students to use bathrooms and to participate in physical education and athletic programs based on their gender identity.
In Fairfax County, the most populous suburb in the Washington region, federal officials requested similar changes to gender policies. That district previously faced scrutiny from the administration over its diversity efforts.
And in Chicago, home to the fourth-largest U.S. school system, the administration demanded the elimination of the district’s Black Student Success Plan, accusing the city of unfairly distributing resources to a single group of students.
The threats from the federal Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights came as the Trump administration has opposed what it calls “illegal D.E.I.” initiatives. The department contends that the rights of girls are violated when school policies recognize transgender identities.
The Education Department sent notices to the three districts on Sept. 16 and gave them one week to meet the demands. If they refused, they would forfeit funding from a federal effort known as the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, which was developed decades ago to promote desegregation by providing money to establish magnet schools with diverse student populations.
By Thursday, the districts had declined to overhaul their policies, and the Trump administration announced that it would cancel the funding, which was expected to flow during the next three years. Several thousand students in the three school systems are expected to be affected.
Julie Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Education Department, said that the federal government would not “rubber-stamp civil rights compliance” for the districts “while they blatantly discriminate against students based on race and sex.”
“These are public schools, funded by hardworking American families, and parents have every right to expect an excellent education — not ideological indoctrination masquerading as inclusive policy,” she said in a statement.
The administration’s initial notice that the funding could be in jeopardy provoked an especially large uproar in New York when Mayor Eric Adams began criticizing the school system’s gender policies during news conferences and media interviews — starting one day after the city received the Education Department’s letter.
Mr. Adams, who had not expressed concern with the city’s guidelines since taking office in 2022, said last week that he did not “believe a safe environment is allowing boys and girls to use the same facility at the same time,” and pushed the school system to reconsider the policies.
Under the state’s Human Rights Law, denying the use of facilities because of a person’s gender identity is considered unlawful discrimination.
New York City’s education officials said that the funding cut could affect roughly 8,500 students, possibly leading to unfair rollbacks including canceled courses.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokeswoman for Mr. Adams, said in a statement that the federal government was “threatening to defund our children’s education as a tool to change policies it doesn’t like.” She added that City Hall was reviewing its options, which include litigation.
She added that “while Mayor Adams may not agree with every rule or policy, we will always stand up to protect critical resources” for students.
Federal officials criticized similar gender policies in Chicago. But the Trump administration took particular issue with the district’s plan to assist Black students, including by doubling the number of Black male teachers hired by 2029 and by enrolling more Black pupils in advanced courses.
In a letter last week, the administration called the program “textbook racial discrimination” under Title VI, which seeks to prevent such discrimination.
Elizabeth K. Barton, the acting general counsel for the Chicago Board of Education, said in a letter to the federal Education Department on Tuesday that it had “failed to cite any violation of law or provide any evidence of harm done to our students.”
Ms. Barton wrote that “this one-sided process not only undermines the fairness and integrity our students deserve but overtly disregards” the procedures of the department’s Office for Civil Rights.
A spokeswoman for Fairfax County’s public schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The county’s school system, which enrolls more than 180,000 students, has several magnet schools.
They include the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which is regarded as one of the nation’s pre-eminent high schools and which the Trump administration began investigating this spring over accusations that its admission system discriminates against Asian American students to favor other racial groups.
The administration’s decision to slash funding this week, though, focused largely on the district’s policy allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, arguing that it violates Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding.
Dana Goldstein contributed reporting.
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9) What Declines in Reading and Math Mean for the U.S. Work Force
U.S. employers and colleges are contending with more young people who are behind academically. Some are trying to make up where schools have failed.
By Sarah Mervosh, Sept. 25, 2025
Professors and company leaders say math and reading skills are essential in a wide range of careers, including trade professions. Video by Desiree Rios
The U.S. military is seeing lower scores on its Armed Forces Qualification Test.
At Texas State Technical College, a two-year college based in Waco, students increasingly have to take a basic math class alongside their college-level courses to get ready for careers in welding, heating and air conditioning, and manufacturing.
And at selective four-year colleges, professors complain that students have lost their reading and writing stamina.
New national test results for 12th graders, released this month, showed significant declines in students’ math and reading abilities since 2019, results that are now being felt in college and the labor market.
“My students now, they leave high school and don’t have the capacity to read a lengthy 25-page article. They don’t know what to do with it,” said Deepak Sarma, a humanities professor at Case Western Reserve University, where the average reported SAT score is between 1440 and 1520. Dr. Sarma recently counseled a student daunted by a dense academic article, suggesting basic tactics like printing it out in order to highlight and underline key passages.
On the national test, students’ reading scores were the worst in three decades, and math scores were the lowest since 2005.
The scores are at least partially explained by the pandemic and school closures. But they also reflect broader societal changes, including an increase in time spent in front of screens for both young people and adults. The decline was primarily driven by lower-scoring students, who have been losing ground for a decade.
The results have vast consequences for a generation of students, the U.S. economy and the country, which already ranks 28th in the world for math, behind Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and nearly every other major industrialized democracy.
“The U.S. is an example of frogs in the boiling water when it comes to talent,” said Jamie Merisotis, chief executive of the Lumina Foundation, which is focused on higher education and work force credentials. Because the United States has a large and diverse economy, he said, “it’s harder to see when the rest of the world is catching up.”
The world’s highest-performing countries not only produce students who outscore the brightest American students at the top. They also manage to lift far more students up to a base level of skill — something some experts believe is only going to become more important in a world of artificial intelligence.
“A.I. can do the first draft of the memo or solve the math equation,” Mr. Merisotis said. “It is the worker who needs to understand what they are reading, be able to ensure it is accurate and decide what to do next.”
Fundamental reading and math skills are needed for a wide range of jobs, employers and industry leaders said, from health care workers calculating medication dosage and documenting patient care to truck drivers navigating the nation’s highways.
“There is a lot of math that you don’t necessarily think about,” said Lindsey Trent, president of the Next Generation in Trucking Association, a trade group, who said that even entry-level drivers must be able to calculate weight distributions on their trucks and estimate mileage without exceeding federal limits for hours on the road.
Randall Stephenson, who was the chief executive of AT&T from 2007 until 2020, said that during his tenure, the company screened candidates for math and other basic skills, which often required going through a large pool of candidates to make a single hire.
“Anybody who is going to be doing basic customer interactions — working on billing issues and rates, what is the right rate plan for a customer? — simple basic math is absolutely required,” Mr. Stephenson said.
He has now turned his attention to education. He and his wife funded an intensive math tutoring program for high school students in the Oklahoma City area who are in the bottom 25th percent of their class.
Even as scores have fallen, there are few indications that dramatically more students are dropping out. Nationally, 87 percent of students graduate high school on time. Only about 5 percent of young adults don’t have a degree or a high school equivalency diploma.
Instead, students are graduating with fewer skills, leaving them less prepared for college and beyond.
At Texas State Technical College, students who arrive needing extra help are placed into a fundamentals class, to be taken alongside their college-credit courses. The school tries to emphasize why academics are necessary for each line of work, said Cledia Hernandez, a vice chancellor. Fractions, for example, are essential for pipe fitting, where a job may come down to “a one-sixteenth of an inch in a pipe.”
Nationally, there has been little political will from either party to meaningfully lift student outcomes. While Republicans focus on giving parents more education choices, including helping families pay for private school and home-schooling, Democrats have spent political capital on what they see as root causes for challenges at school, like poverty and mental health.
One of the largest-ever federal investments in education, $122 billion for pandemic recovery during the Biden administration, did little to raise scores across the board, in part because it required districts to use just 20 percent of their money on academic recovery.
About 62 percent of recent high school graduates immediately enroll in college. The rest make their way into the work force, hoping to make a living without taking on debt.
They can make about $23 an hour working at an Amazon warehouse, or work to build up their skills and experience in the construction industry, where a crane operator might bring in anywhere from $45,000 to $80,000 a year.
“I’ll be really honest — this industry is less concerned with test scores than any other industry,” said Jackie Roskos, director of the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Foundation, which works with crane and rigging companies focused on specialized transportation projects, such as replacing parts of a bridge.
She said companies care far more about building on-the-job skills and safety experience than any test score. “It’s so highly skilled and they need so much experience,” she said. “It’s not because they can’t read and do math.”
Still, experts said, many workers become limited when they try to climb the ladder and move into higher-paying roles.
“Yes, you can probably get an entry-level warehouse job with very limited math and reading skills. But then what? And whose responsibility is it to help that individual?” said Jeff Bulanda, vice president of the ASA Center for Career Navigation at Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit that works to bridge education and the work force.
“Employers need to now step in,” he said, “because our educational system failed.”
Guild, a talent development company, works with companies like Target, Chipotle and Tyson Foods to help their employees get a high school equivalency diploma, and master basic math and English skills.
In the last two years, the company has gotten more requests for “foundational learning,” which includes math and helping non-English speakers become more comfortable with the language, Guild’s chief executive, Bijal Shah, said. “It goes back to things like customer service,” she said.
The U.S. military, the nation’s largest employer, is also taking on training of its own. The Army and the Navy offer academic prep courses aimed at helping recruits with lower test scores become eligible for a wider range of jobs across the military, a Pentagon official said.
At least part of the solution may lie in helping students get ready to work before they even leave high school.
Wellstar Health System, which operates 11 hospitals in Georgia, partners with several high schools to produce a pipeline of new talent. Students can work part time at Wellstar while still in high school, earn a health care certificate and graduate with a job offer.
The company sees it as a win-win, helping students establish stable careers while also addressing a work force shortage.
“Yes, the learning gaps are real,” said Laura Dannels, Wellstar’s chief talent officer. “But rather than seeing that as a barrier, we see it as a call to action.”
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