curated news excerpts & citations
BBC: Renewables overtake coal as world’s biggest source of electricity
Renewable energy overtook coal as the world’s leading source of electricity in the first half of this year – a historic first, according to new data from the global energy think tank Ember.
Electricity demand is growing around the world but the growth in solar and wind was so strong it met 100% of the extra electricity demand, even helping drive a slight decline in coal and gas use.
However, Ember says the headlines mask a mixed global picture.
Developing countries, especially China, led the clean energy charge but richer nations including the US and EU relied more than before on planet-warming fossil fuels for electricity generation.
(BBC more…)
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Daily Kos: Trump team thinks if you can’t see a law, it no longer exists
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There’s really no other way to explain the recent deletion of references to the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act—signed into law by President Donald Trump himself—mandating back pay for furloughed federal workers.
…The Trump administration also just recently removed information from the Treasury Department website regarding an 1866 law saying that no living person can appear on currency, making way for plans to mint an incredibly ugly Trump coin.
(Daily Kos more…)Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – October 7, 2025
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today floated the idea that workers furloughed during a government shutdown are not guaranteed back pay when the shutdown is resolved. Marc Caputo of Axios broke the story of the new OMB memo this morning. Caputo pointed out that in 2019, during the last government shutdown, President Donald Trump signed a law designed to make it clear that furloughed workers would get paid. Caputo notes that the OMB’s new reading of the law is “a major departure from the administration’s own guidance issued…last month.”
Two people familiar with the administration’s plans told Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post that officials are hoping the memo will give the Republicans more leverage against Democrats in negotiations over the shutdown.
…Polls show that most Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown and that 78% of Americans want to see the premium tax credits—the issue of healthcare costs on which the Democrats are making a stand—extended. That the administration is concerned about the healthcare issue showed in Trump’s statement to reporters yesterday that “we have a negotiation going on right now with the Democrats that could lead to very good things…with regard to health care.” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said “Trump’s claim isn’t true—but if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table.”
Of the threat to withhold back pay for furloughed employees, a senior White House official told Caputo: “OMB is in charge.”
The power being wielded by unelected officials in the Trump administration echoes the conditions of the U.S. government a century ago. …
…In the second Trump administration, the president does not seem especially interested in governance. He seems to want to use the government to persecute those he considers his enemies and to protect and enrich himself.
Attorney General Pam Bondi encapsulated that approach to the government when she appeared today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She refused to answer questions, instead attacking Democratic senators. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Bulwark: The attorney general came to the Hill to deliver a message to Democrats: Your ‘oversight’ couldn’t matter to us less.
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Ken Klippenstein: Secretive Watchlisting Center Executing NSPM-7
“We’re expanding the watchlist,” FBI director says amid 300% increase in domestic terror cases.
As the federal government begins to implement President Trump’s new national security directive to investigate the so-called radical left as domestic terrorists, a little known FBI organization, located in an affluent and leafy suburb of Northern Virginia, is at the center of it all.
(Ken Klippenstein more…)
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Joyce Vance: A Thing You Can Do Right Now To Help Protect The Right To Vote
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Guardian: Federal agents taunted Chicago woman to ‘do something’ before shooting her, attorney claims
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During a detention hearing on Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Martinez’s defense attorney, Christopher Parente, challenged the government’s account of the incident, and claimed that the body-camera footage shows an officer saying to Martinez, “Do something, bitch,” before firing at her.Parente at the hearing also said that the footage showed the officer driving the vehicle suddenly “turn the wheel to the left” then jump out and “just start shooting”, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“What I do know is – it was Ms Martinez who has seven holes in her body from five shots from this agent, who fired within seconds of getting out of this vehicle,” Parente said, as the Tribune reported.
The body camera footage has not been made public.
(Guardian more…)
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Atlantic: Are You a ‘Heritage American’?
Why some on the right want to know if your ancestors were here during the Civil War
… he has also argued that “the majority of blacks have demonstrated that they cannot function within the old European cultural standards” and that the concept of heritage Americans affirms “the domination and pre-eminence of the European derived peoples, their institutions, and their way of life.”
(Atlantic more…)
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Daily Kos: DEI for me, but not for thee: The Pete Hegseth story
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“Ensuring low-income and minority children have the same opportunities as more affluent majority students is an essential goal and worth pursuing with vigor and substantial investment,” the young Hegseth insisted.
(Daily Kos more…)
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Bulwark: The Obamacare Repeal Movement Is Dead. Long Live Obamacare Repeal.
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Judd Legum: Trump approves mining road, delivers $70 million windfall to MAGA billionaire
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Your Local Epidemiologist: Updated 2025 fall vaccine guide
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Decoding Fox News: Fox News – The ‘ILLEGALS’ Stole Your Health Care!
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Dean Obeidallah: Pam Bondi just reminded us that she’s part of the Jeffrey Epstein cover up
Tuesday’s Senate hearing gave us even more proof
(Dean Obeidallah more…)
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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