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Drag queens living it up at  "Les Misérables"
Further

Do You Hear the People Sing

In honor of Pride Month, singular acts of courage and "being brave, strong and gorgeous," cue the glad spectacle of four drag queens dolled up to kill, see Les Misérables, and crash Dear Leader's first visit to a Kennedy Center purportedly scrubbed of wokeness. Yet here they were - buoyant, sparkling, cheered by a crowd that moments before had loudly booed the ugly tyrant and his MAGA cohort. The queens' gist, said Mari Con Carne: "You can’t erase us."

The queens turned up for an evening already bursting with irony if any MAGA goons and losers were capable of it. Amidst a Pride Month he refused to recognize - and fierce pushback to his hate - the Bigot-In-Chief who already decimated a time-honored institution devoted to art and open-mindedness witlessly chose to attend a beloved show about an oppressed people fighting back against tyranny much like his.

Accompanied by the grotesque likes of Vance, Bondi, Loomer, RFK Jr., Kellyanne Conway and a fragile Gym Jordan who visibly cringed when he walked past four people who don't look like him, Trump et al were roundly booed by the modest crowd. There were also shouts of "Felon!" and "Rapist!" - what a time to be alive - along with a muted, incongruous chant of "USA!" on behalf of the cretins who are working so hard to destroy it.

In full, defiant finery, the four drag queens - Tara Hoot, Ricky Rosé, Vagenesis, and Mari Con Carne - were greeted by the audience with joyful whoops, cheers and applause as they sashayed in and took their seats below the presidential box. Their tickets had been donated by season ticket-holders through Qommittee, a national advocacy network of drag artists and allies led by survivors of high-profile hate crimes like the Pulse and Club Q mass shootings.

"It was delightful,” said Hoot, stressing their "message of inclusivity" but adding, "I love musicals. I mean, I’m a drag queen." "Kudos to all bringing art to the world," she said. "Unfortunately, there were some other people there too, but I think we brightened the audience as much as we could." In family story time events, she noted, "I often read books about being brave (and) true to who you are. Showing up (here) with my fellow drag stars allowed me to live those words. Here's to being brave, strong, and gorgeous."

Trump, ever uncouth, left before the lights came up. Still, Mari Con Carne felt it was "crucial" to be there before him. As a drag queen and an immigrant, "I wanted it to be known you can prevent us from performing on your stages, but you can’t erase us...We aren’t going anywhere and we will face you head-on with every ounce of courage we have." When Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables, he was shocked by thesilence of his compatriots before "the negation of all law, equilibrium resting on iniquity." This week's troupe of "delightfully audacious" drag queens might give him hope.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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An underwater view from the Red Sea
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'Ticking Time Bomb': Study Says Ocean Acidification Crossed Planetary Boundary

As this year's United Nations Ocean Conference began in France on Monday, scientists published a study showing that another "planetary boundary," or barriers that ensure the Earth is a "safe operating space for humanity," has been crossed.

Researchers said in 2023 that 6 of the 9 boundaries—biogeochemical flows, biosphere integrity, the climate, freshwater, land use, and novel entities—had been crossed. Last year, they issued a "red alert" about ocean acidification, the topic of the new study, Ocean Acidification: Another Planetary Boundary Crossed.

As the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains, humanity's burning of fossil fuels and land use changes have caused the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to soar, and the ocean absorbs some of it. The resulting chemical interactions make seawater more acidic.

In the new study, scientists from NOAA, Oregon State University, and the United Kingdom's Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) wrote that "we improve upon the ocean acidification planetary boundary assessment and demonstrate that by 2020, the average global ocean conditions had already crossed into the uncertainty range of the ocean acidification boundary."

"This analysis was further extended to the subsurface ocean, revealing that up to 60% of the global subsurface ocean (down to 200 m) had crossed that boundary, compared to over 40% of the global surface ocean," they continued. "These changes result in significant declines in suitable habitats for important calcifying species, including 43% reduction in habitat for tropical and subtropical coral reefs, up to 61% for polar pteropods, and 13% for coastal bivalves."

"As our seas increase in acidity, we're witnessing the loss of critical habitats that countless marine species depend on, and this, in turn, has major societal and economic implications."

The study's lead author, North-East Atlantic Ocean Acidification Hub chair and PML professor Helen Findlay, said in a Monday statement that "looking across different areas of the world, the polar regions show the biggest changes in ocean acidification at the surface. Meanwhile, in deeper waters, the largest changes are happening in areas just outside the poles and in the upwelling regions along the west coast of North America and near the equator."

"Most ocean life doesn't just live at the surface—the waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals. Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts of ocean acidification could be far worse than we thought," Findlay noted. "This has huge implications for important underwater ecosystems like tropical and even deep-sea coral reefs that provide essential habitats and nursing refuge for many species, in addition to the impacts being felt on bottom-dwelling creatures like crabs, sea stars, and other shellfish such as mussels and oysters."

Fellow PML professor and Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network co-chair Steve Widdicombe, who provided the study authors with comments on a draft, said Monday that "ocean acidification isn't just an environmental crisis—it's a ticking time bomb for marine ecosystems and coastal economies."

"As our seas increase in acidity, we're witnessing the loss of critical habitats that countless marine species depend on, and this, in turn, has major societal and economic implications," he warned. "From the coral reefs that support tourism to the shellfish industries that sustain coastal communities, we're gambling with both biodiversity and billions in economic value every day that action is delayed."

The 2024 Planetary Boundaries report showed 6/9 boundaries breached with the 7th, Ocean Acidification, in danger. A new study shows that this too has now been crossed. The implications are huge!onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...#climatechange #oceanacidification #planetaryboundaries #oceans

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— Dr Tom Harris (@drtomharris.bsky.social) June 9, 2025 at 9:22 AM

Costa Rica and France are co-hosting the U.N. summit in the French coastal city of Nice this week. The theme is "accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean."

Greenpeace USA oceans campaign director John Hocevar, who will be attending the meeting, said Monday that "this conference couldn't come at a more critical time. The ocean is reeling from the combined impacts of industrial fishing, plastic pollution, and climate change. And just when bold leadership is most needed, the U.S. has walked away from the global stage, opening the floodgates to destruction through a barrage of Trump administration executive orders that threaten both domestic and international waters."

"We can't afford any more delay," he stressed. "The decisions made in Nice will set the tone for key global efforts to stem the ocean crisis in the coming months, including the plastics treaty, the global ocean treaty, and deep-sea mining talks at the International Seabed Authority. Whether this conference marks a turning point or takes our oceans further down the road to ruin will depend on the strength and ambition of the commitments made by the international community to stand up for science, uphold international law, and advance environmental justice."

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Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) speaks during a Senate Committee on Finance
News

Senators Demand Answers From Trump Treasury Secretary on Impacts of Gutting IRS

In response to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's recent suggestion that hiring more Internal Revenue Service auditors hasn't been shown to increase tax collections or revenue, 10 senators on Wednesday demanded answers from the former hedge fund manager about the consequences of significantly reducing IRS staff.

"We write to ask whether Treasury has conducted any analyses on the effect cutting up to 40% of the IRS workforce will have on revenue collection, customer service, modernization efforts, and the share of audits comprised of corporations and the wealthy compared with those making less than $400,000," explains a letter led by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

"When Republicans forced through IRS budget cuts between 2010 and 2021, the results were clear. As the IRS enforcement staff shrank by 30%, audit rates fell for millionaires by 77% and for large corporations by half. Freeloaders rejoiced," the senators noted. "The IRS reported that between 2017 and 2021, over 125,000 high-income taxpayers with cumulative financial activity over $100 billion did not even bother to file a tax return."

"Between 2017 and 2021, over 125,000 high-income taxpayers with cumulative financial activity over $100 billion did not even bother to file a tax return."

While "low-income recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit were audited at a higher rate than millionaires," by the end of President Donald Trump's first term, congressional Democrats and the Biden administration sought to boost the agency's ability to target wealthy tax dodgers with nearly $80 billion in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the letter points out. Although the funding "had already begun to allow the IRS to improve customer service, modernize old technology, and crack down on wealthy tax cheats," Congress has since clawed back about half of it.

"Besides being unfair to honest taxpayers, hobbling the IRS increases the deficit," the senators stressed. "According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the more than $40 billion rescission of IRS funding provided by the IRA will mean over $100 billion less revenue collected, which on net will increase the deficit by over $60 billion. According to the Budget Lab, firing over 7,000 probationary employees will increase the deficit by an additional $100 billion. On top of these cuts, the president's budget proposes a $2.5 billion reduction in the IRS discretionary budget for next year."

The lawmakers sent Bessent questions about recent IRS terminations and resignations under the deferred resignation program, and how staff reductions impact customer service, efforts to modernize outdated technology, revenue collection from individuals making over $400,000, and corporate audits. They called for responses by June 27.

In addition to Whitehouse and Wyden, the letter is signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

"For wealthy and corporate tax cheats, an IRS starved of resources means a free pass," the letter declares. "For the vast majority of hardworking Americans who pay what they owe on time and in full, it means not getting their calls answered and bearing a larger share of audits."

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Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and James Lankford (R-Okla.)
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Senate GOP Dumps Gasoline on 'Five-Alarm Fire' by Proposing Even Deeper Medicaid Cuts

Senate Republicans on Monday proposed cutting Medicaid even more aggressively than their House colleagues to help offset the cost of trillions of dollars in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.

The legislative text unveiled by the GOP-controlled Senate Finance Committee is a central component of the sprawling reconciliation package that Republicans are hoping to send to President Donald Trump's desk by next month.

The bill contains broader Medicaid work requirements than the House-passed legislation, expanding the ineffective and punitive mandates to low-income adults with children over the age of 14.

The Senate version would also sharply limit provider taxes that states use to fund their Medicaid programs. Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, warned the provision would "devastate" state finances, particularly where lawmakers have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"This will create huge budget holes over time, some in as little as two years, forcing states to make severe, highly damaging cuts," Park wrote in an analysis of the new legislation.

"Senate Republicans have made this cruel, heartless bill even worse as they continue on their endless pursuit to destroy our healthcare system."

Senate Republicans released the bill text less than two weeks after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the House-passed reconciliation package would strip healthcare from nearly 11 million Americans over the next decade—a number that rises to 16 million when accounting for the GOP's refusal to renew ACA tax credits set to expire at the end of the year.

Even more people would lose healthcare if Republicans adopt the Senate plan, analysts and advocates warned. One recent study estimated that around 51,000 additional people across the U.S. would die unnecessarily each year due to large-scale health insurance losses caused by the GOP's proposals.

"It shocks the conscience that Senate Republican leaders saw the impacts of the House bill—16 million more people uninsured and millions losing help buying groceries, including families with children—and chose to double down," said Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Leslie Dach, chair of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said in a statement that "this bill was already a five-alarm fire for American healthcare, and Senate Republicans have just poured gasoline on it."

"Contrary to what they've repeatedly promised, Republicans are torching Medicaid, ripping apart the Affordable Care Act, and leaving 16 million people without the critical care they need, all so Trump and the GOP can funnel more money to their billionaire and corporate friends," said Dach. "Seniors will be thrown out of nursing homes, people fighting cancer will be cut off from treatment, and rural hospitals will shutter. Senate Republicans have made this cruel, heartless bill even worse as they continue on their endless pursuit to destroy our healthcare system."

If Senate Republicans adopt the proposed changes, the House would have to pass the reconciliation bill again before it can reach Trump's desk. One House Republican, granted anonymity by Politico, said "hell no" in response to the Senate language pertaining to Medicaid provider taxes, a signal that the proposal is likely to face intraparty opposition.

But experts stressed that both the House and Senate versions of the reconciliation bill would be disastrous for low-income Americans and a boon for the rich.

"Now that we've seen Senate text, we can say for certain: Either the House or the Senate version would be the largest transfer from the poor to the rich in a single law in history," wrote Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress.

"Each would kick millions of people off their health insurance and each would rip food assistance away from millions of households," Kogan noted. "Each would increase deficits by trillions of dollars while making the poorest Americans poorer and making the richest Americans richer."

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Woman protests California National Guard
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'That's a Dictator': Trump Threatens Force Against Military Parade Protesters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to respond with force to protesters who gather this coming weekend in opposition to his costly and authoritarian military parade in Washington, D.C., remarks that came amid growing fears that the administration is planning to mobilize troops across the country.

In his comments, Trump made no effort to distinguish between peaceful demonstrators and those who commit violence or property damage, telling reporters, "For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force."

"I haven't even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force," the president continued.

Under the banner of "No Kings," roughly 2,000 rallies have been planned across the United States on June 14 to protest Trump's birthday military parade and grave abuses of power, including his deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to crush demonstrations in Los Angeles.

Organizers opted against holding a "No Kings" rally in the U.S. Capitol, saying that "real power isn't staged in Washington."

"Instead of allowing this birthday parade to be the center of gravity," they said, "we will make action everywhere else the story of America that day: people coming together in communities across the country to reject strongman politics and corruption."

Leaders of the rallies have stressed their commitment to nonviolence, saying in a statement this past weekend that "organizers are trained in de-escalation and are working closely with local partners to ensure peaceful and powerful actions nationwide."

Public Citizen, a "No Kings" partner organization, was among those responding with alarm to Trump's remarks on Tuesday.

"That's a dictator," the group wrote on social media.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes wrote that it's "worth stressing that he's not threatening rioters or people who are violent or lawless but literally just 'protesters' with 'very big force.'"

"My strong instinct is that Trump's threats against Americans' First Amendment right to peaceably assemble are going to massively juice attendance at Saturday's protests," Hayes added.

A map of rallies planned across the U.S. can be found here.

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U.S. refueling tankers fly toward Europe, as seen on flight-tracking software
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'Unprecedented Mass Deployment' of Warplanes Across Atlantic Fuels Fears of US War on Iran

Flight-tracking websites showed dozens of Air Force aerial refueling planes departing from military bases in the United States and heading to Europe on Sunday, fueling speculation of direct U.S. involvement in the widening Israeli-Iranian war.

Military-focused news sites reported that around 30 U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers were identified by flight-tracking software in what The Times of Israelcalled an "unprecedented mass deployment" to Europe.

According toThe Aviationist:

Most of these aircraft landed this morning at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and at Morón Air Base and [Naval Air Station] Rota in Spain, while two landed at Aviano Air Base in Italy and at least one landed at Prestwick International Airport in the U.K. At the time of writing, some tankers are in flight over the Balkans, headed south, possibly towards Souda Bay in Greece or Incirlik in Turkey.

"While tanker movements in this direction are far from abnormal, such a large, near-simultaneous migration of the jets was very peculiar, especially at a time of extreme crisis in the Middle East," The War Zone's Tyler Rogoway wrote Monday. "The exact reason for the mass deployment is unclear, although many of the potential answers would indicate a change, or preparations for a potential change, in the current conflict between Israel and Iran."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, two U.S. officials toldReuters Monday that the tankers are being deployed to provide the administration of President Donald Trump with flexibility to act in the Middle East. Military experts said the deployment could portend expanded U.S. support for Israel's war on Iran or even American strikes against the country.

The Trump administration—which recently concluded that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons—insists that Israel is acting "unilaterally" against its enemy in an effort to prevent it from developing nukes.

However, Trump said Sunday that "it's possible" that U.S. forces could enter the fight. Iran has accused the United States of complicity in Israel's bombing—which Iran says has killed more than 200 people, 90% of whom are civilians—and warned Washington of potential dire consequences if it boosts involvement in the war.

Asked about possible U.S. intervention in the war, Trump told reporters during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Alberta, Canada on Monday, "I don't want to talk about that."

"We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved," the president added.

As Reuters noted:

The United States already has a sizable force in the Middle East, with nearly 40,000 troops in the region, including air defense systems, fighter aircraft, and warships that can help bring down missiles.

Last month, the Pentagon replaced B-2 bombers with another type of bomber at a base in the Indo-Pacific that is seen as being an ideal location to operate in the Middle East. The B-52 bombers can carry large bunker-busting munitions, which experts say can be used against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran has responded to Israel's bombardment with waves of apparently indiscriminate missile attacks against Israeli cites, killing at least 24 Israeli civilians including women and children and Palestinian citizens of Israel and wounding hundreds of others.

Iranian state media—which was bombed by Israeli forces Monday with reported fatalities—claimed late in the day that Tehran is "preparing for largest and most intense missile attack in history on Israeli soil," even as Iran's government reportedly signaled its willingness to negotiate an end to hostilities if the U.S. guarantees it will not attack.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently toldABC News that Israel would continue bombing Iran, dismissing Tehran's reported overture as a ruse meant to "lie, cheat, and string the U.S. along."

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