curated news excerpts & citations
Gulf News: Crypto’s dirty secret: How mining it is hurting the planet — and farms
Bitcoin’s energy use per dollar generated now exceeds that of mining copper or gold
Every Bitcoin transaction has to be validated through a process called “mining,” where thousands of computers compete to solve mathematical puzzles. The first to solve it adds a block to the blockchain and earns a reward.
The catch: this process devours electricity. According to UN University’s 2025 report, Bitcoin’s energy use per dollar generated now exceeds that of mining copper or gold. The study found that for every dollar of Bitcoin created between 2020 and 2021, around $0.35 worth of environmental damage occurred — more than most metals or industrial products.
Much of the electricity powering these “mines” comes from coal- or gas-fired plants, especially in countries with cheap power. That means more greenhouse gases — and fine-particle air pollution — are released into the atmosphere.
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Water is another overlooked casualty. Mining farms need massive cooling systems to prevent overheating. Whether drawn from rivers, desalination plants, or power-station cooling systems, that water use adds up — and competes with agriculture in regions already facing scarcity.
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Investigations found that some farmers were running illegal mining operations inside agricultural facilities, tapping subsidised electricity intended for irrigation and cooling. Officials warned that such practices damage soil quality, risk electrical fires, and undermine food-security goals.
(Gulf News more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – October 9, 2025
Today Trump appointee Lindsey Halligan did what President Donald J. Trump placed her at the position of U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to do: deliver an indictment of New York attorney general Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. The previous U.S. attorney there, Erik Seibert, refused to take either the James case or a case against former FBI director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress to a grand jury for an indictment, believing there was not enough evidence to convict.
Seibert resigned in the face of Trump’s fury at his decision, and Trump replaced him with Halligan, a former aide and Trump’s personal lawyer. It is not clear that Halligan holds her position legally, but she has now delivered the indictments Trump demanded.
…Federal judges are standing firm against the administration’s overreach. Today U.S. District Judge April M. Perry stopped the federal deployment of 200 National Guard troops from Texas and another 300 from Illinois in and around Chicago, Illinois, for two weeks. “I have found no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois,” Perry said.
She pointed to the refusals by grand juries—including one Tuesday night—to indict protesters accused of assaulting law enforcement, and said they cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security’s “credibility and assessment of what is happening on the streets of Chicago.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez: Where Is DOJ Getting No-Billed Today?
On Wednesday morning the DOJ got no-billed again. This time the humiliation was delivered in Chicago, where grand jurors refused to indict Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo, a married couple who were arrested during a protest at the Broadview ICE facility outside Chicago.It’s a pattern that’s become familiar as Trump’s shock troops fan out across blue states, kidnapping non-white people and staging deliberate provocations as a pretext to call up the military. After alienating the local population, the government can’t get grand juries to indict protesters on what are mostly bogus, trumped up charges. …
(Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez more…)NY Times: Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago
Gov. Kevin Stitt, the current chairman of the National Governors Association, broke with Texas, saying, “Oklahomans would lose their mind” if Illinois sent troops to their red state.
Liz Dye: Trump is the insurrection
Closer to the Edge: Release the video
Jennifer Rubin: Trump Takes Judges for Fools
Rejecting unwarranted deference means preserving judicial review
Above the Law: Letitia James Becomes Second Trump Political Enemy To Be Indicted
Another Trump foe, another flimsy legal case.
Attorney General Letitia James Issues Statement on Donald Trump’s Weaponization of the Department of Justice
NY Times: How Letitia James Will Do Her Day Job
LawFare: The Situation: Three Thoughts on the Comey Arraignment
James Eagle: Manhattan prosecutors go silent
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The judge basically said prosecutors had become tools of political control, not justice. This wasn’t the beginning of a trend. It was the culmination of something, as the chart below shows.
…The new DOJ memo from May explicitly warns prosecutors against “overreach that punishes risk-taking”. The timing is suspicious. Just as AI creates unprecedented opportunities for fraud, just as crypto needs serious oversight, just as private equity swallows the entire economy, the federal prosecutors go home.
(James Eagle more…)Closer to the Edge: The Antifa next door
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Dispatch: Trump’s New Furniture Tariffs Are (Almost) Everything Wrong with U.S. Trade Policy Today
There is no ‘national security’ basis for them, and they won’t accomplish the administration’s stated goals.
(Dispatch more…)
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Scientific American: Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity
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Al Jazeera: Nobel Peace Prize 2025: What are Trump’s credentials, and can he win?
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Jack Hopkins: They Said She’d Never Cross the Line…Now She’s Torching Her Own Side. But Why…and Why Now?
She’s blaming Republicans for the shutdown, defending Epstein victims, and threatening to read names on the House floor. Here’s what it really means.
(Jack Hopkins more…)
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The Big Picture and Todd Beeton: The Trump Administration’s Growing Tom Homan Problem
Their attempt to spin away their border czar’s bribery scandal isn’t going so well
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Ken Klippenstein: Senator Warns of Trump’s Secret Watchlist for Americans
NSPM-7 finally gets Congressional attention
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Dan Rather: MAGA Tested, Trump Approved News
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Guardian: US anti-fascism expert leaves country a day after blocked from flying to Spain
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NY Times: Librarian Fired in Books Dispute to Receive $700,000 Settlement
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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