in? – Radio Free

3 Years in, horrors wrought by anti-abortion ‘Dobbs’ ruling are apparent to all

Lauren Rankin, Truthout — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 20:45:20 +0000

This story originally appeared in Truthout on June 24, 2025. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

It’s been three years since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an odious Supreme Court ruling that has unleashed a veritable crisis of rights, health, and safety for people who can become pregnant.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and sent abortion’s legality back to the states, abortion bans have spread widely across much of the U.S. As of June 2025, 16 states have enacted a total or near-total abortion ban, rendering the entire Southeast a legal abortion desert. Other states, like North Carolina, Nebraska, and Utah, have banned abortion at 12 or 18 weeks, which would have been unconstitutional under Roe just a few short years ago. In 2023 alone, the first full year after Dobbs, 171,000 people were forced to travel out of state to access abortion care in the U.S.

Traveling, especially out of state, isn’t just a logistical burden; it also means added cost. Plane tickets, lodging, gas money, child care, food — so much is needed to make abortion accessible when someone is forced to travel for care. The Brigid Alliance, which provides financial and logistical assistance to people forced to travel for abortion care, estimates that the average cost per abortion travel itinerary now exceeds $2,300, despite the fact that a first trimester procedure costs only a quarter of that.

Dobbs doesn’t just hurt people seeking abortion care. If a pregnant person in a state with an abortion ban has a different outcome other than a live birth, including a miscarriage or stillbirth, they can face serious prison time. People like Serena Maria Chandler-Scott of Georgia, who miscarried at 19 weeks, and Brittany Watts of Ohio, who miscarried at 22 weeks, have been charged under their respective states’ restrictive anti-abortion laws. And the net of criminalization also extends beyond pregnant people to providers and doctors, creating a network of fear for pregnant people, their families, and the health care providers they entrust to care for them.

That’s bad enough and a crisis in its own right. But the ramifications of Dobbs are far broader than hindering abortion access.

Dobbs is, quite literally, killing people.

Doctors are afraid to provide basic care to pregnant folks in states where abortion bans are in effect, unsure if they will be charged with murder.

At least two Black women in Georgia, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, died because of the ramifications of Dobbs. Georgia has a strict, six-week abortion ban. Thurman died after being denied basic care because she was pregnant and past the six-week point in her pregnancy in 2022: she had an infection related to fetal tissue that hadn’t been fully expelled from her body, but the hospital delayed performing a routine dilation and curettage due to Georgia’s restrictive laws. Miller, afraid of possible prosecution, refused to go to the hospital after complications from a self-managed abortion in the fall of 2022. Thurman and Miller were, essentially, killed by the state instead of receiving the basic, life-saving care to which they were constitutionally entitled just a few months before.

And then there’s the abhorrent case of Adriana Smith, a Black woman diagnosed with brain death who has been forcibly kept alive by the State of Georgia — against her family’s wishes — because she was nine weeks pregnant. She was taken off life support on June 17 this year after her fetus was delivered via C-section. That the state can force a Black woman’s body to be used as a literal incubator is a direct result of the Dobbs decision.

Because of Dobbs, to be pregnant in a state with an abortion ban, even if it isn’t an outright total abortion ban, is to risk your life.

But Dobbs has also wrought a different shift, one unexpected to just about everyone: It made abortion rights politically popular.

Abortion has won in nearly every election in which it’s been on the ballot since the Dobbs decision came down in June 2022, including conservative states like Ohio, Montana, and Kansas. Even when the ballot initiative failed, like in Florida, it was only because the state required a 60 percent threshold. (The initiative was approved by 57 percent of voters.) Support for abortion rights is a winning issue, and it is currently more politically popular than it has been since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.

Unfortunately, that popularity doesn’t automatically translate into legality, and legality doesn’t translate into access. For example, in November 2023, Missouri voted to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom into the state constitution, which should override the state’s total abortion ban and make abortion legal to Missourians once again. However, the Missouri Supreme Court has, so far, refused to allow the change to take effect. Before Dobbs, Missouri only had a single clinic left, and it’s been shuttered for three years. If the state ever does allow abortion to become legal, reopening a clinic will require a significant expense and effort.

One of the most important lessons that the tragedy of Dobbs can teach us is that a right is hard to retrieve once it’s lost. It’s not impossible, and we cannot afford to stop this fight because it isn’t just about abortion. Trans rights, immigrant justice, freedom for Palestinians — all of these are about our most sacred and fundamental rights.

Bodily autonomy isn’t an empty catch phrase; it’s a worldview, one predicated on everyone’s shared humanity. Dobbs, like many egregious Supreme Court rulings that came before it, is a great injustice, done by the state to the people. To undo that injustice, we cannot simply wait for the state to change hands. Instead, we must do it ourselves.

This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Lauren Rankin, Truthout.

Project 2025: Five Months in, Trump’s Shock Doctrine Is Delivering

Bill Berkowitz — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 14:45:11 +0000

Project 2025 is hollowing out government — and it’s just getting started

As we approach the fifth month of Donald Trump’s second term, you might be asking: “What’s up with Project 2025?” According to GPAHE (Global Project Against Hate and Extremism), “Data compiled by the Project 2025 Tracker reveals a presidency operating with methodical precision, adhering to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook. Of the 313 total objectives identified in Project 2025, 98 have been completed as of June 2025, representing a 42 percent completion rate in just five months of governance. This rapid-fire execution creates one of the most striking paradoxes of the early Trump presidency: a policy framework the candidate repeatedly disavowed during his campaign has become the most reliable predictor of his administration’s priorities.”

In short, despite the Trump administration denial that it is following the Heritage Foundation’s playbook, Project 2025 is aggressively strip mining government agencies, providing rebar for an authoritarian takeover of democracy.

Let’s review. Project 2025 is the 920-page blueprint for authoritarianism in the U.S., spearheaded by the powerful and extreme far-right Heritage Foundation. More than 100 far-right organizations were involved in crafting the document, which, according to GPAHE “is proving to be the source for Trump’s anti-democratic policies, despite his repeated disavowal of Project 2025 during his campaign.” In addition, “Dozens of members of the new administration have direct ties to the effort.”

Project 2025’s playbook turns back the clock on civil rights and deprives people of their hard-won constitutional rights, while “pushing for the erosion of environmental and education protections. It also advocates for a frightening centralization of power in the executive branch, something Trump is keen to achieve.” [Full analysis of Project 2025]

So what is up with Project 2025?

In a June 1 interview with Russell Vought, the Office of Management and Budget director, CNN’s Dana Bash asked him about DOGE, presidential power potentially overruling Congress, and the “woke” administrative state, among other topics. Vought was smoothly responding until the conversation turned to Project 2025, when things got a little frosty.

According to GPAHE, “Bash asked him about the unmistakable convergence between Trump’s governing agenda” and Project 2025 — “a document for which Vought himself had served as a key architect and co-author — and his denial came swiftly and absolutely.”

“‘No, of course not,’ Vought declared when asked whether his current work represented an enactment of Project 2025. ‘The only people that are delusional about whether the president is the architect, the visionary, the originator of his own agenda that he was very public about throughout the campaign … are his adversaries.’”

Here are excerpts from GPAHE’s reporting on Project 2025:

The chronological record tells the story that Vought seemed determined to obscure during his CNN appearance. Within hours of his January 20 inauguration, Trump had executed 25 distinct Project 2025 recommendations, ranging from deploying active-duty military personnel to the southern border to eliminating diversity offices across federal agencies. The systematic nature of implementation becomes particularly apparent when examining agency-specific progress rates.

The personnel enacting these policies also tell the story. A report by DeSmog reveals that 70 percent of Trump’s cabinet maintains direct ties to Project 2025 organizations — more than 50 high-level officials bound to the very groups that authored or co-sponsored Project 2025, the blueprint they are now executing. Vice President JD Vance connects to five Project 2025 entities, Secretary of State Marco Rubio to four, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to three. This represents the Heritage Foundation’s ultimate victory: the architects have become the executors.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has achieved 100 percent completion of its single objective: to reduce regulations on cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, all six of Project 2025’s objectives regarding USAID have been completed. The White House itself has completed 88 percent of its 13 objectives, while the Department of State has finished 75 percent of its 10 Project 2025 objectives.

Environmental policy offers the most vivid illustration of this systematic execution. Project 2025 called for eliminating “the use of the social cost of carbon” in federal decision-making — Trump’s January 20 executive orders accomplished precisely that objective. Project 2025 recommended immediate withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — both withdrawals were announced within hours of the inauguration. When Project 2025 suggested abolishing the Office of Domestic Climate Policy, Trump dissolved it before the inaugural celebrations had concluded. The Environmental Protection Agency has proven exceptionally responsive to Project 2025’s policies.

In May, the agency repealed energy efficiency standards for appliances, with Trump signing four Congressional Review Act resolutions to roll back energy efficiency rules while the Energy Department simultaneously rolled back 47 efficiency regulations. Earlier, the EPA had fired 388 probationary employees and terminated grant agreements worth $20 billion.

Project 2025 has been methodically checking off the boxes of its agenda. ICE, under “border Czar” Tom Homan is cranking up its activities; private prison corporations and companies providing infrastructure for ICE are profiting handsomely; and, the Department of Homeland Security eliminated its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, while also dissolving the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman. Media companies and individual journalists are under attack.

GPAHE noted that when Bash When Bash “pressed Vought about pending Project 2025 recommendations — ‘eliminating the Fed, privatizing Fannie and Freddy, banning medication abortion’ — his response carried the careful ambiguity of calculated evasion. ‘What’s on the agenda is what the president has put on the agenda, most of which he ran on,’ he replied, neither confirming nor denying while maintaining the fiction of presidential originality. Vought’s Sunday CNN performance was pure political theater designed to obscure systematic policy execution of a document designed to foment authoritarianism and Christian nationalist policies.”

The Trump administration and its allies have been working at breakneck speed to implement Project 2025. The administration’s work is serving as a rallying cry for Trump’s White supremacist allies, who see the Project’s successes as a much-welcomed blueprint for authoritarianism and an attractive recruiting tool.

The post Project 2025: Five Months in, Trump’s Shock Doctrine Is Delivering first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Bill Berkowitz.

An “In” on Getting in Small Town Newspapers

Paul Haeder — Sat, 24 May 2025 15:12:43 +0000

Thousand-word Opinion Editorials are a fine thing to pen, and you can cover a lot of ground in this amount of verbiage. Normally, local rags limit letters to the editor to 300 words, and alas, in this sound bite sort of scrolling-on-the-screen culture, going over a 500-words limit is the kiss of death — you lose your reader.

But there is a method and mad dash of hope in this formula of once-a-month tributes to hard work, that is, highlighting the hard work of “heroes” in this hard land of penury and disaster and predatory (retaliatory) capitalism.

Today’s piece in my local rag (5/21) is emblematic of my own proof that we can fight the surge of shallow thinking and even shallower writing.

Here, just heading home from assisting at the 60+ Center (senior adult center), I caught this show, on the radio station where I broadcast my own Wednesday show, Finding Fringe. 6 PM, PST, streaming live on kyaq.org.

Hard work of reporting: Thirsting for Justice: East Orosi’s Struggle for Clean Drinking Water (Encore)

East Orosi hasn’t had safe drinking water in over 20 years. The water is full of nitrates, runoff from industrial agriculture, which is harmful to human health. The community has taken action to find a solution, from lobbying at the state capital to working with neighboring towns.

And they may finally have one. New California laws, passed in the last five years, have opened up funding to build water infrastructure in small towns like East Orosi. But even as laws and funding develop, implementation has been challenging.

We visit East Orosi and talk to Berta Diaz Ochoa about what it’s like living without clean drinking water and the solutions on the horizon in part one of a two part series. — Listen.

Learn More:

So, imagine, a sound bite around the issues of field workers pulling up crops that are destroying healthy water systems, forcing them to have to drink that toxic water or paying for bottled water to survive. Is water a human right? In California is it.

So, take ANY community, not just the fenceline ones, the communities that are in the sights of the perveyors of criminal capitalism because they are poor and probably BIPOC, and then find how infrastructure and services and even bloody retail enterprises like pharmacies or grocery stores are being gutted by Capitalism, pre-Trump/post-Trump.

You have any axes to grind? You live in a flyover state or rural community?

Here,

Stop trying to save Rural America.

Efforts to write it off as “disappearing” are complicated by the 60 million Americans who call a rural community home.

We must recognize that innovation, diversity of ideas and people, and new concepts don’t need to be imported to rural communities – they’re already there. Rural entrepreneurs and community leaders have always, by necessity, been innovative.

Rural communities have faced some harsh realities in the last generation: they’ve seen manufacturing move overseas, farming monopolized by big outfits with only 5% of rural residents working in agriculture, generational migration to bigger cities, school consolidation, and the absence of basic community resources such as health care and broadband, and, more recently, threats to the lifeline that is the U.S. Postal Service. This, and the pandemic.

Every brightly lit corporate store on the edge of town is a monument to a system that does not build community or advance a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem.

And before the super out-of-touch elite from err, New York City call us bumkins, get over it: Don’t Blame Rural Residents for a Broken Political System

While noting the decades of gerrymandering to enhance the power of rural officials, New York magazine author Ed Kilgore concludes, “Underlying it all are real differences in outlook between different parts of the country, made more important by the distinct institutional features of a constitutional system designed to protect the interests of small, largely nonmetropolitan states.”

Sorry, Ed; the values of citizens of rural areas have as much to do with school violence and immigration resistance as do video games. In fact, Kilgore undermines his own argument by citing Ronald Brownstein’s analysis in the Atlantic of the red-blue divide. Alas, the same Ronald Brownstein reported on CNN just one week later that a prosperity gap was the source of the split between Democrats and Republicans. “Observers in both parties agree that the sense of economic displacement in recent years has intensified the long-standing movement toward the GOP among small-town and rural communities initially rooted in unease over cultural and demographic change.” It’s fair to observe that gun-loving nativists did not create the dismal economic prospects that drove them to vote for candidate Trump.

It is true that after years of civic disengagement, rural voters turned out in record numbers to elect the only coastal elitist who showed up in their communities and asked for their votes. So, Trump won and Clinton lost. Beyond that, any generalization about the impact of rural citizens on national politics is just horsepucky. Rural citizens didn’t create the electoral system that permits unlimited campaign donations to state officials who draw Congressional districts to favor entrenched wealth. In fact, rural citizens are the victims of gerrymandering as much as any disenfranchised cohort that ends up in a noncompetitive legislative district.

Alas, here’s the Google Gulag AI response to “all the problems in rural America”:

Rural communities face numerous interconnected challenges that can be described as “broken systems” due to a combination of historical disinvestment, geographic isolation, and economic shifts.

Here’s a breakdown of some key broken systems in rural communities:
1. Healthcare:

Limited Access: Rural areas often have a shortage of healthcare providers, specialists, and hospitals, forcing residents to travel long distances for care.

Hospital Closures: Rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate due to financial difficulties and staffing shortages, further limiting access to care.

Lack of Services: Rural areas may lack crucial services like mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and specialized medical care.

2. Economic Systems:

Job Losses: Rural communities have experienced significant job losses due to the decline of manufacturing and agriculture, leading to higher unemployment and poverty rates.

Limited Opportunities: A lack of diverse industries and businesses can limit economic opportunities for residents, particularly young people.
Brain Drain: Young, educated individuals often leave rural areas for better opportunities in urban centers, further weakening the local economy.

3. Infrastructure:

Poor Broadband Access: Many rural areas lack access to reliable, high-speed internet, hindering economic development, education, and access to telehealth.

Inadequate Transportation: Limited public transportation options can isolate residents and make it difficult to access jobs, healthcare, and other essential services.

Aging Infrastructure: Rural areas may have aging infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and water systems, which require significant investment to repair and upgrade.

4. Education:

School Consolidation: Rural schools have been consolidated, leading to longer commutes for students and the loss of local schools as community anchors.

Funding Challenges: Rural schools often face funding challenges, which can impact the quality of education and available resources.

Teacher Shortages: Rural schools may have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified teachers, impacting student outcomes.

5. Social Systems:

Social Isolation: Geographic isolation and limited social opportunities can contribute to social isolation and mental health challenges for residents.

Lack of Community Resources: Rural areas may lack access to essential community resources such as libraries, childcare facilities, and recreational opportunities.

It’s important to note: These “broken systems” are interconnected and often exacerbate each other. The challenges faced by rural communities vary depending on location, demographics, and economic conditions.
Addressing these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach involving government, businesses, non-profit organizations, and community members.

+–+ Here is May 21st’s piece.

Identify, Diversify, and Harmonize How We Think this May

By Paul Haeder/Lincoln County (Oregon) Leader
One may wonder how the heck did we get all these national and international days of celebration. It is a feature of Homo sapiens to celebrate accomplishments and honor causes and individuals who make the world, well, theoretically a better place.

May is no exception, and of course, the International Workers’ Day is May 1. In this time of rampant hatred of so many professions by Trump and Company, it goes without saying that his shallow but deeply narcissistic persona just will never grasp the value of the worker.

His entire raison d’être is about tearing down and imploding institutions and attacking individuals for which he deems “the enemy.”

The billionaire classless cabal sees workers as the enemy. And the goals of the International Workingmen’s Association in 1864 were clear: Shorter work hours; safer work environment; fair wages; elimination of child labor; the ability for the state to regulate labor conditions.

Ironically, I was in Ashland on International Firefighters Day, talking to two captains in the city’s two fire stations. I was told that a few years ago firefighters responded to 1,600 calls annually. Last year, Ashland’s stations went out over six thousand times.

Aging in place and lack of family and support precipitates many of the EMT calls. And a fire engine they are waiting for is still four years out, to the tune of $2 million once it’s completely outfitted.

If you watch the milquetoast mainstream media, you will have recalled the Accused Sexual Predator Trump made a mockery of National Teacher Day by laughing at all the cuts to the hundreds of educational initiatives smart and reasoned individuals over decades had initiated for the betterment of society through the intellectual progress of our youth.

Another group of workers in the bulls eye of Musk, Thiel, Stephen Miller and Vance/Trump is nursing professionals. We see the almost total breakdown of nursing and doctoring in Lincoln County because of the hard reality of a for-profit health care system putting profits over patients. Add to that the lack of affordable housing, and rural counties throughout the land are suffering massive nursing and doctor shortages.

Which then brings us to National Day of Reason, where groups of people see the value in enlightened thinking. You know, valuing the separation of church and state, which for all intents and purposes under this fascist regime has been imploded into a crusade against reasoned thinkers who do not see prayer or faith as central to their lives.

Humanists and Secularists created this National Day in response to the national day of prayer.

Celebrations have taken the form of blood drives, secular events and activities, and in some cases, protests against the National Day of Prayer. Imagine Trump and Company having the wherewithal to wrap their heads around this celebration – the Secular Week of Action when people volunteer to make the world a better place.

Two not necessarily different international recognition days in May include World Day for Cultural Diversity and International Day for Biological Diversity. Did you get the memo yet that Trump-Vance are on the attack against affirmative action and ecological health.

In fact, on the biodiversity front, Trump and Company have “redefined” harm as it is applied to the Endangered Species Act. This pinhead thinking is just the tip of the iceberg of clownish but dangerous moves.

Defenders of Wildlife explains:

“Trump administration is hell-bent on destroying the ESA to further line the pockets of industry. The vast majority of imperiled wildlife listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA are there because of loss of habitat. This latest salvo to redefine ‘harm’ to eliminate protection for wildlife from habitat destruction, if successful, will further imperil threatened and endangered species. We will fight this action and continue to protect the wildlife and wild places we hold dear as a nation.”

Are you seeing the pattern carried out by billionaires such as Miriam Adelson, Larry Fink and Larry Ellison? Given the fact half of American cities are under air advisories, we have International Asthma Day to lend pause to how destructive these executive actions have been and will continue to be decades from now.

‘Harm’ is what unchecked air pollution in many forms continues to do to young and old. Harmful air advisories come in daily, and the fear is that Trump will just ban the notifications as a way to say, “See, I have cleaned up the air since there are no more warnings.”

Maybe we can pray the polluted air away.

The backers of Trump’s ideal America will see our “secular humanist” society based on science and reason destroyed. The Ten Commandments will form the basis of the legal system.

Finally, we have World Press Freedom Day. If you have any deep regard for the so-called Fourth Estate, then shivers should be running up your spine under this anti-journalist regime.

Mickey Huff of Project Censored states press freedom succinctly:

“We have to remember that it’s the independent media that is often the grassroots voice of the people. It is often the independent press that is operating on ethical standards and principles, and it is the independent press that is reporting in the public interest, not the corporate media.”

Diversify your news media diets. Find independent outlets, and for journalists, we need to reform the media and create better avenues for news reporting, including better accuracy and what we call “solutions journalism,” which creates truly constructive dialogue in our communities.

*****

Footnote: And not one mention of the genocide in Gaza, the trillions stolen from Arab nations’ populations, the trillions stolen from citizens of Canada, EU, USA, for the starvation and immolation and rape of a people.

There are no other topics to write about with the same amount of importance that Palestine conveys, from every aspect of War Terror of the Capitalists of both Jewish and Goyim descent.

The post An “In” on Getting in Small Town Newspapers first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Paul Haeder.

Photographer Caroline Tompkins on being delusional (in a good way)

Sheridan Wilbur — Mon, 12 May 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Are there any questions that you’ve been asking yourself lately, or themes you feel drawn to?

“How do you have fun?” That’s a question I’ve been asking. I’ve been in a phase of wanting to be the one orchestrating as opposed to reacting to whatever’s coming to me.

I think of work for money versus the work for myself as two separate worlds. I got an agent a year ago. They’re helping me navigate the commercial world, which is strange compared to editorial. It’s about the client experience, being this product or service. I’ve been thinking, “What’s my product?” and “What’s my service?” and “What makes me different to work with than anyone else?”

With editorial, it’s more transactional. You’re asked, “Hey, do you want to shoot a portrait of some celebrity on Tuesday?” With commercial work, it’s more like you get the opportunity to present your work to them. Once you get that opportunity, you have to really prove that you’re valuable enough to be hired. I get it. There’s bigger budgets, bigger stakes.

When you get an idea, how do you start working with it?

I think about the things I talk about at parties or what I click on on the internet.

Our search history says so much about ourselves.

That’s where the root of personal work should come from. My book Bedfellow was really about gender and relationships, and trying to explore this complicated relationship with men. It was the age of the “men are trash” narrative on the internet. I didn’t believe the “men are trash” thing, but I didn’t feel like it was the opposite either. I wanted to explore that gray area and make pictures of sexual experiences, or see what desire from a female perspective looks like.

After Bedfellow, I went back to the drawing board a bit to figure out what I’m interested in now. I thought maybe… climate change? But I’m not talking about that at parties, I’m talking about why am I still obsessed with the movie American Pie. I’ve realized I’m still interested in the same things: gender, sex, and power. So that’s what I’ve been focused on in pursuing new work.

It’s admirable to pursue ideas you are naturally drawn to versus something you think you should be doing.

I don’t know if this work will help me commercially, but it feeds my soul. I was talking to this guy at this party and he said, “People who work enjoy the party more.” I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It works oppositely too. You have to work to enjoy the party, and you have to go to the party to enjoy the work.

How do you structure your schedule between personal work and commercial jobs?

Some weeks are better than others. I really suffer from work addiction, and I can have really bad work boundaries. I used to do $100 all-in editorial shoots that I would never show anybody, just because it felt good to be asked. It felt good to be thought of. Then when something came up that I was really excited about, I would totally flop because I had already drained the creative bank.

In the last couple of years, my boyfriend, friends, and therapists have really helped me in trying to balance that out. I’ve also been trying to build a team around me to help take some stuff off my plate. Last week, I canceled a bunch of plans because I had all of these unexpected deadlines. I had a mini spiral because I had chosen work over my friends again. It’s always one step forward and two steps back… Saying no used to make me feel guilty, but then I had this epiphany. Maybe it sounds trivial, but saying “no” is saying “yes” to something else.

What role does self-portraiture play in your work? I remember you mentioned in an interview that you included yourself in Bedfellow “to have skin in the game.”

It’s just easier to ask myself to be in the photo. I know what my boundaries are within it, and sometimes I have an idea and I can’t be bothered to ask anybody else. It’s convenient. But I don’t really think of self-portrait as a portrait. I’m just an available model. With Bedfellow, it was an extremely personal narrative, so I felt I should include myself as the narrator. If I’m asking people to participate in this story I want to tell, I want them to feel like it’s an even playing field.

I was really moved by how you reclaimed your own narrative around leaked nude photos with Bedfellow. You actively chose what images to include, versus somebody doing that for you.

I felt ashamed of it for a long time, but talking about it set me free in a way. I felt like I had this opportunity to speak about this objectively bad thing—having explicit photos of yourself on the internet without your consent—and create nuance around it, maybe even make someone laugh. If I’m going to be a “victim,” at least I can be funny about it.

When did you know you wanted to pursue photography?

When I was 13, I really wanted to be in punk bands in Ohio. I tried, but I just don’t have that skill for music. So I started taking photos of bands. I needed them to need me. I still use photography in the same way: to get access to people, communities, and lifestyles. Photography is the only thing I can’t scratch the itch with. The more I learn, the less I know. My YouTube searches and Reddit pages are still only about photography and lighting. I’m terrified I won’t be obsessed someday, but in my free time, photography is still the thing I choose.

What steps did you take to grow your career and find the right people to surround yourself with?

I went to school for photography at the School of Visual Arts, and I got really lucky with my friends there: Molly Matalon, Corey Olsen, Tim Schutsky, Bobby Doherty, and David Brandon Geeting. Then we’ve added some SVA honorary members like Chris Maggio, Ryan Lowry, and Tim McConnell. I got really lucky with a community from the start, which I think a lot of other photographers can really struggle to find. They’re my actual best friends and also happen to be photographers.

After school, I worked as a photo editor to pay off loans and learn about the industry. I didn’t have the luxury of uncertainty after school. I got this great opportunity to be employed and learn about the inner workings of the industry. How do you send an email? What is the client looking for? What do you say when a shoot doesn’t go well? How do you ask for more money? It was so helpful for me to get to work with so many different photographers and see what their process was like.

I don’t have any family financial support, so I always felt like, “I’m gonna fight to the death to make sure I survive.”

Do you ever feel competitive with your photographer friends?

We do different enough things with different niches. There were periods when Molly Matalon and I would get emails for the same job, and they’d forget to erase one of our names. So the email to me would say, “Hey Molly, we’ve got a great project for you.” I’ve been in triple bids against my best friends. It’s not something I let myself think about. Going on Instagram is a daily deluge of thousands of people you’re in competition with. I’m already dealing with the constant wave of, “You might make a ton of money tomorrow or you might not work for six months.”

How do you hold on to hope and excitement about an opportunity while also knowing that it might not actually happen?

That’s honestly one of my biggest struggles right now. I did a silent meditation retreat once. They kept repeating, “Desire is the first step in misery.” You can’t feel happy when you get the job and you can’t feel sad when you don’t get the job. You just have to realize your purpose on earth is to love others.

I think being delusional is helpful. I don’t have another path. I don’t believe that I could do anything else… I wake up every day, and despite knowing there’s thousands of talented photographers in the world, I’m delusional enough to think I’m going to succeed.

There’s delusion in conviction. Then looking back, it’s not so delusional to see all you’ve done.

I don’t feel like I’ve done anything. I taught a class that SVA called “How to Make It as a Working Photographer.” I didn’t choose that name. I was like, “Have I made it?”

What do you like to do outside of photography?

I love swimming and skiing. It’s a bit woo woo, but swimming feels spiritual to me. I grew up competitively swimming and got super burned out. I was sick of looking at that black line. Now, it feels like reclaiming something that felt like a chore… I like going out and dancing. I’ve made new friend groups out of that. I was truly only friends with photographers. Now I have a friend that’s a lawyer.

I think it makes life feel more expansive when you connect with people doing different things and have different interests.

I didn’t realize how much time I spent talking about photography and work with my friends. When someone’s new boyfriend or girlfriend would come into the group, they’d be like, “Wow, that’s really all you guys talk about.” My boyfriend will interrupt us now and say, “Okay guys, we don’t need to talk about treatments right now.”

What are the rewards of photography?

I worked in an office for five years as a photo editor. Going into an office every day crushed my soul a bit. I was meal prepping, working out at Equinox, and thinking about the clothes I could wear to the office and to hang with friends after. I wasn’t put on this earth to make a week’s worth of chickpeas for my office lunches. Now my life is so varied. I get access into places that no one else gets to go to. I have a lot of gratitude. Just in the last year, I’ve skied in Patagonia and swam in many oceans for work. I still can’t believe I get to do this.

Caroline Tompkins recommends:

Walking and Talking by Nicole Holofcener

Coming and Going by Jim Goldberg

Bread and Puppet Theater

Gifting someone you love a talisman

CCL mixes

This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Sheridan Wilbur.

100 days in, does Trump still ‘dig’ coal?

Katie Myers — Thu, 01 May 2025 08:45:00 +0000

This story is part of a Grist package examining how President Trump’s first 100 days in office have reshaped climate and environmental policy in the U.S.

Jeffrey Willig doesn’t mine coal anymore. For nine years he worked underground, most recently for a company called Blackjewel, which laid off around 1,700 workers in June of 2019 without paying them. Robbed of their final paycheck, Willig and the others set up camp and blocked the company’s last trainload of “black gold” from leaving Harlan County, Kentucky, beginning what would be months of protest. They called on Democrats and Republicans alike for support, and received some, but ultimately were left disillusioned, spending years in court fighting for what they were owed.

Their plight came during a wave of layoffs that has rocked coal country for more than a decade. When Willig heard Democrats discuss mine closures and extoll the growth of clean energy jobs, it frustrated him. “Say they want to do solar panels. That’s great,” Willig said. “But why don’t [they] put those type of jobs in our area? They don’t do that. That’s the problem.”

Democratic party leaders and renewable energy advocates didn’t always seem to understand, he felt, how good a job mining could be. Willig earned $75,000 a year without a college degree, in a county with an annual per capita income not even one-third that. What’s more, it was fulfilling — hard work, and dangerous, but it came with unmatched camaraderie and pride in helping fuel the world. When those jobs were gone, he felt Democrats didn’t provide a clear answer to what would come after.

“They didn’t replace those jobs,” Willig said. “I had guys that I worked with who were good people, and loved their family and everything, and they lost homes.” One friend took his own life, unable to see a way forward to provide for his family.

Harlan County still has many active mines, but, like all of coal country, it has seen layoffs and bankruptcies cut the number of jobs by more than half since 2012. The reasons are complex, but, during his first 100 days in office, President Trump — who has promised to “unleash American energy” and “restore energy dominance” — has reprised a notion he first raised in 2016: Those jobs will come back if environmental and labor regulators simply get out of the way.

Last month, the president appeared with more than two dozen men wearing reflective stripes and hard hats to sign an executive order titled Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry. “We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” Trump said. “With us today are some of the amazing workers who will benefit from these policies.”

If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because the president’s 2016 run made a star of the Appalachian coalfields. He made regular appearances there, promising to end the “war on coal” by reopening closed plants and reinvigorating the industry. The campaign, which preceded a swirl of national soul-searching that positioned the region, many argued too broadly, as “Trump Country,” featured rallies in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where the candidate, met by signs declaring “Trump Digs Coal,” donned a hard hat and once pantomimed digging coal.

“You’re real people,” Trump said at one event. “You made this country.”

" data-credit="Andrew Thomas / Middle East Images via AFP / Getty Images"/>

President Trump surrounded himself with coal miners when he signed an executive order on April 8 declaring coal a critical mineral and calling for revitalization of an industry in decline.
Andrew Thomas / Middle East Images via AFP / Getty Images

Then, as now, the president was following an example set by politicians before him, said Lou Martin, a labor historian at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Candidates on both sides of the aisle, from FDR and Carter to Nixon and Trump, have dressed the part to campaign in Appalachia, where, despite its dangers, mining coal provided a middle-class living to generations of families.

“The coal miner has always been viewed as the epitome of hard work, a hardworking person who is noble and honest,” Martin said. Appalachia is a popular political backdrop because it is often seen as an epicenter of white rural poverty and “a recognizable world of suffering” for some voters. “Appalachia is seen as white in the national imagination,” he said, despite being home to a people from a diverse set of backgrounds for hundreds of years.

At the same time, Martin said, the Eastern coalfields have often been stereotyped as both out of step with modernity and left behind by progress. “When somebody pays homage to coal miners it’s like saying, ‘I see you and I care about you.’”

The order Trump signed on April 8 declares coal a “critical mineral,” a designation that requires a host of federal agencies, including the energy, treasury, and interior departments, to take steps to support the industry and eliminate regulations that hinder domestic production. Many of those gathered around Trump applauded the move, which comes even as the administration has taken steps to undermine mine safety and protection from black lung disease.

But little about the ceremony was representative of the working-class miners Trump’s campaigns have venerated, said Erin Bates, communications officer for the United Mine Workers of America. “Not a single one of those were union miners and most of them were management,” she said, men more likely wear sharp button-downs than hard hats and go to bed without having to shower first.

Bates wants to see mines remain open and miners remain at work, but she doubts the Trump administration can overcome the trends driving the sector’s downfall. Industry experts predicted in 2017 that the market forces sidelining coal were too strong and the its resurgence is unlikely, and so far they’ve been correct. The number of people working the nation’s coal mines has steadily declined from 89,000 or so in 2012 to about 41,300 today. Production fell 31 percent during Trump’s first term, and has continued that slide.

“He hasn’t spoken about coal miners quite as much as he did in 2016,” Bates said of the president. “And I think that’s because he wasn’t able to follow through on a lot of things.”

The reason for that is simple: Demand has slowed as renewable energy and, to a larger extent, natural gas have grown cheaper, making coal an increasingly expensive proposition — even as the cost of maintaining the power plants that use has climbed. Such facilities provide 88 percent of the electricity in West Virginia, and the longer they run, the more residents will pay for energy, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported. That’s got some ratepayers turning against the fossil fuel.

Utilities like Appalachian Power have continued to raise rates to keep up with repair costs. Others, like the Tennessee Valley Authority, are decommissioning aging and expensive coal-fired plants and turning to natural gas. Coal-powered electricity generation steadily declined during the first Trump administration, and continues apace. A recent report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis argued very few idled coal plants could be cheaply re-started, given high maintenance costs and the decreasing viability of coal power.

Given the domestic decline in consumption, many U.S. producers rely upon exports to countries like China — 14 percent of the nation’s coal went abroad in 2022 — but the trade war stemming from Trump’s tariffs threatens that lifeline.

Jeffrey Willig has long since left the coalfields for a manufacturing job. But he watches with a combination of frustration and hope as Democrats and Republicans alike promise to restore the fortunes of those who still work the mines. Scott Olson / Getty Images

Trump still enjoys broad support throughout eastern coalfields. “I think that he meant every word, he wanted to make the country more energy efficient. The guys that I worked with had high hopes,” Willig said, adding that he felt four years wasn’t enough time to enact real change.

Cathy Davis Estep, a retired teacher and the daughter of a coal miner who lives in Harlan County, remains hopeful that Trump will revitalize the industry. She takes note, however, that the administration has targeted at least 33 Mine Safety and Health Administration offices, including the Harlan County location, for closure. This comes after years of staff reductions and budget cuts to the agency had already wrung it of much of its power. Miners and their advocates fear the closures will diminish an agency that’s improved safety over the past 50 years or so despite its shortcomings and could play a vital role protecting them as the Trump administration promotes coal and the nation scrambles to produce lithium and other metals.

Vonda Robinson is vice president of the Black Lung Association and feels she has a handle on what miners need. Her husband dug coal until he contracted the disease, which is caused by chronic exposure to silica dust, in his 40s. Now 58, he is awaiting a double lung transplant. Many others are awaiting diagnosis and treatment, but Trump administration policies have stymied them. “We’re gonna have coal, we’re gonna dig baby dig, but what upsets me is there’s not one thing about safety,” she said. “If we do not take care of our coal miners, we’re not gonna have a coal industry.”

Miners’ health programs are shuttering, with immediate impacts, said Scott Laney, a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NiOSH, epidemiologist. His staff was put on leave last month and expects to be fired in June. His research laid the groundwork for the federal silica rule, which limits exposure to the toxic dust. The rule was adopted last year, but has been placed on hold pending a legal challenge by the National Sand, Gravel, and Stone Association, and NiOSH cuts have held up enforcement regardless.

Laney’s research also supported the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program, which provided free black lung screenings throughout Appalachia. “We currently are unable to accept X-rays from clinics for these miners, we’re unable to go out in the field,” he said. Nor can the program provide the documentation essential to allowing workers diagnosed with the disease to transfer to roles with less exposure to silica, as required by law.

“As we potentially increase coal production in the United States, we’re in the midst of the worst outbreak of black lung that we’ve seen in the last 50 years and we’re shutting down the health and safety programs to protect these miners who may be entering the industry for for the first time,” Laney said. “The protections that were granted to their fathers and their fathers’ fathers will not be afforded to them.”

Even as Trump promises to revitalize an industry facing inevitable decline, its future remains uncertain. But Willig won’t be a part of it. He’s long since left the coalfields for a manufacturing job in Louisville, Kentucky. But he watches with a combination of frustration and hope as Democrats and Republicans alike promise to restore the fortunes of those who, like him, once enjoyed the middle class life that working underground once provided.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline 100 days in, does Trump still ‘dig’ coal? on May 1, 2025.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Katie Myers.

“In His First 100 Days, Trump Did All He Could to Engineer a Recession,” says Groundwork’s Owens

Newswire Editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 17:40:10 +0000

The first months of President Donald Trump’s second term have been marked by chaotic policymaking and instability, which continues to bear out in the economic data. Today, consumer confidence data from the Conference Board showed a fifth straight month of decline, the worst since the COVID-19 pandemic, with consumer expectations at a 13-year low.

Additionally, the Expectations Index dropped to 54.4, the lowest level since October 2011, and well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession. Expectations of inflation over the next year have climbed to 7.0%, the highest since November 2022.

Groundwork Executive Director Lindsay Owens released the following statement:

“Today’s numbers are sobering and signal that we are plunging headfirst into a recession. If this is the level of pain the president is willing to inflict on Americans in just a few short months, it’s no wonder that consumers and businesses are bracing themselves for a long, dark road ahead.
“This is a man-made crisis. In his first 100 days, Trump did all he could to engineer a recession.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with a Groundwork expert about Trump’s economic mismanagement.

BACKGROUND

Consumer confidence fell by 7.9 points in April to 86.0, reaching its lowest point in 13 years. Meanwhile, the Expectations Index for the future dropped 12.5 points to 54.4, its lowest level since October 2011, and meets the threshold that typically signals an upcoming recession. Expectations about inflation over the next year have climbed to 7.0%, the highest since November 2022.
- Final consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan survey last week showed that economic expectations have fallen 32% since January, the steepest three-month percentage decline seen since the 1990 recession.
President Trump’s approval rating on the economy has plunged to new lows since he took office, while economic indicators continue to show he is pushing the economy toward a recession.
- A Gallup poll last week showed that for the first time in at least 25 years, a majority of Americans (53%) said their personal financial situation was getting worse. This is higher than the Great Recession, the pandemic, and when inflation peaked in the summer of 2022.

Businesses are similarly experiencing rising uncertainty under Trump. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index dropped 3.3 points to 97.4 in March 2025, marking its lowest level since October 2024, and falling below market expectations, which had forecasted a reading of 101.3.
- The term “recession” was mentioned on 44% of earnings calls in the first quarter of this year. Only 3% of earnings calls mentioned “recession” in the last quarter of 2024.
- Additionally, Trump’s promised manufacturing boom hasn’t just failed to materialize – the sector as a whole is weakening.
Economic growth is also projected to take a significant hit due to Trump’s policies. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s gold-adjusted GDPNow tracker projects that the economy will shrink by 1.5% in the first quarter of this year.
- New IMF Growth Projections have the United States at 1.8%, down from 2.8% in 2024.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

Amnesty International opens Hong Kong section ‘in exile’

RFA Staff — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 17:15:33 +0000

Human rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday it is opening a new Hong Kong section overseas, three years after closing its office in the territory because of a Chinese crackdown on civil society.

Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas (AIHKO), will be led by Hong Kong diaspora activists operating from key international hubs including Australia, Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States, Amnesty said in a statement.

“The gutting of Hong Kong’s civil society has been a tragedy for the city with more than 100 non-profits and media outlets shut down or forced to flee,” the statement said. “We are now ready to intensify our efforts by building new communities of support driven by the Hong Kong diaspora.”

Amnesty said that since pro-democracy protests in 2019, more than 10,000 people, many of them students, have been arrested for protest-related activities. Over 300 people have been arrested for alleged acts of “endangering national security.”

It said that AIHKO is Amnesty International’s first-ever section founded and operated entirely “in exile.”

“Being overseas provides us with a degree of protection, allowing us to speak more freely and engage in advocacy work. We have a responsibility to do more to support those who remain in Hong Kong and continue their vital efforts,” Fernando Cheung, AIHKO board member and former Hong Kong legislator, was quoted as saying.

The U.K.-based human rights group was founded in 1961 with particular focus on the plight of political prisoners. Amnesty International’s local office in Hong Kong ceased operations on Oct. 31, 2021.

AIHKO, which is officially registered in Switzerland, will focus on advocating for human rights of Hong Kongers, within Hong Kong and abroad, the statement said.

Hong Kong was once a bastion of free media and expression in Asia, qualities that helped make it an international financial center and a regional hub for journalism and civil society groups.

But demonstrations in 2019 against Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s freedoms led to the passage of a national security law in 2020 that stifled dissent, making life increasingly precarious for independent groups that criticized China.

Radio Free Asia closed in its Hong Kong bureau in March 2024, saying the city’s recently amended national security law, also known as “Article 23,” had raised safety concerns for its reporters and staff members.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

Police are violently attack protesters in Türkiye

Amnesty International — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:33:10 +0000

This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

Cleveland Rocks (In Some Ways Trump Should But Doesn’t)

Thomas Knapp — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 05:35:17 +0000

I might have missed Grover Cleveland’s 188th birthday on March 18 if Paul Jacob hadn’t pointed it out in his own column on the man who (as Jacob mentions) many libertarians consider “the last great president of these United States.” I don’t consider the presidency a venue for greatness, but as presidents go “Big Steve” was arguably one of the least bad.

Cleveland, of course, has been noticed lately for some of his similarities with Trump. He was the first, and until Trump the only, president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Like Trump, he was a New York Democrat. And, like, Trump he won his first presidential election despite a sex scandal — although unlike Trump he openly admitted his past conduct (he’d fathered a child out of wedlock, something more scandalous then than now).

The differences between the two, however, are more interesting.

On foreign policy, Cleveland was an anti-imperialist who opposed the US annexation of Hawaii. He never seems to have considered adding, say, Greenland or Canada to the constellation of American states. Trump’s an imperialist in practice who occasionally talks a not very convincing non-interventionist game while somehow managing to escalate every conflict he inherits and who couldn’t be bothered to complete his negotiated withdrawal from Afghanistan before leaving office the first time.

On tax policy, Trump calls himself “Tariff Man” and seems determined to wreck the US economy with his capricious demand-then-back-down approach to foreign trade. Cleveland worked to lower tariffs, and laid out the irrefutable case against them to American workers who thought such taxes “protected” their jobs:

“Those who buy imports pay the duty charged thereon into the public Treasury, but the great majority of our citizens, who buy domestic articles of the same class, pay a sum at least approximately equal to this duty to the home manufacturer. … with slight reflection they will not overlook the fact that they are consumers with the rest …”

Perhaps the biggest differences, both of which informed Cleveland’s opposition to high tariffs and Trump’s support for them:

First, in Cleveland’s time, the federal government enjoyed an increasing budget surplus rather than continuing deficits, while Trump inherited a government $20 trillion in debt and left office the first time with that debt at more than $28 trillion.

Second, Cleveland opposed the “spoils” system under which the party in power rewarded its supporters with government jobs and contracts. He wanted a “civil service” based on competence rather than partisan loyalty, and considered the tariff-fueled budget surplus a problem because it made so much money available to pay for those “spoils.”

Trump, on the other hand, clearly sees government employment as “spoils” candy to be handed out on the basis of personal loyalty. And since his biggest supporters are among the American wealth elite, he gets a “two-fer” by taxing your purchases of foreign goods to their advantage (revenue) while rewarding less well-heeled loyalists with those government jobs (spending).

We could use a man like Grover Cleveland again. Too bad we got another Herbert Hoover.

The post Cleveland Rocks (In Some Ways Trump Should But Doesn’t) appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Thomas Knapp.

20 weeks in, Kaiser’s mental healthcare workers’ strike prompts Gov. Newsom to intervene

Mel Buer — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 22:42:28 +0000

A strike by Southern California healthcare workers at Kaiser organized under the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has now carried on for 20 weeks, prompting the intervention of California Governor Gavin Newsom. After months of deadlock, Kaiser refused to yield to workers’ demands for pensions and adequate time to attend to patient care duties. Over a month after Newsom’s office offered to bring both sides into mediation, Kaiser finally agreed to sit down with the Governor’s mediators, with sessions beginning on March 10. Mental health patients in particular have been left in the lurch by Kaiser’s intransigence, and the crisis is only worsening as the aftermath of the recent Los Angeles wildfires takes its toll on the area’s residents. Working People co-host Mel Buer investigates the ongoing strike in this interview with Kaiser workers Jessica Rentz and Adriana Webb.

Editor’s note: this episode was recorded on February 25, 2025, before Kaiser agreed to mediation on March 3, 2025.

Additional links/info:

Previous coverage of the strike from The Real News:
- ‘What they’re offering is stabilization, not care’: Kaiser Strands Patients in Limbo as Strike Approaches Fourth Month
- Kaiser workers’ strike enters second week in Southern California
ABC7, February 7: “Kaiser Permanente mental health workers strike can end with help of a mediator, Gov. Newsom suggests”

Links to support the strike:

Permanent links below…

Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music…

Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song

Studio Production:
Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Transcript

The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Mel Buer.

Global protests in support of Ukraine

Amnesty International — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 17:37:56 +0000

This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

Global protests in support of Ukraine

Amnesty International — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 17:37:56 +0000

This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

Russia Closing In, Volunteers Rush To Get Children Out | Ukraine Front Line Update

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 09:44:44 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

‘In my early days, I was reckless,’ says Pultizer winner Manny Mogato

Pacific Media Watch — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 02:23:32 +0000

By Ria de Borja in Manila

For 30 years, Filipino journalist Manny “Bok” Mogato covered the police and defence rounds, and everything from politics to foreign relations, sports, and entertainment, eventually bagging one of journalism’s top prizes — the Pulitzer in 2018, for his reporting on Duterte’s drug war along with two other Reuters correspondents, Andrew Marshall and Clare Baldwin.

For Mogato it was time for him to “write it all down,” and so he did, launching the autobiography It’s Me, Bok! Journeys in Journalism in October 2024.

Mogato told Rappler, he wanted to “write it all down before I forget and impart my knowledge to the youth, young journalists, so they won’t make the same mistakes that I did”.

READ MORE: Killing as policy: Duterte’s bloody drug war that Marcos will inherit
PHOTOESSAY: Buried in debt only to have their loved ones get a burial — Pacific Journalism Review
Other Duterte war on drugs reports

His career has spanned many organisations, including the Journal group, The Manila Chronicle, The Manila Times, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, and Rappler. Outside of journalism, he also serves as a consultant for Cignal TV.

Recently, we sat down with Mogato to talk about his career — a preview of what you might be able to read in his book — and pick out a few lessons for today’s journalists, as well as his views on the country today.

You’ve covered so many beats. Which beat did you enjoy covering most?

Manny Mogato: The military. Technically, I was assigned to the military defence beat for only a few years, from 1987 to 1992. In early 1990, FVR (Fidel V. Ramos) was running for president, and I was made to cover his campaign.

When he won, I was assigned to cover the military, and I went back to the defence beat because I had so many friends there.

‘We faced several coups’
I really enjoyed it and still enjoy it because you go to places, to military camps. And then I also covered the defence beat at the most crucial and turbulent period in our history — when we faced several coups.

Rappler: You have mellowed through the years as a reporter. You chronicled in your book that when you were younger, you were learning the first two years about the police beat and then transferred to another publication.

How did your reporting style mellow, or did it grow? Did you become more curious or did you become less curious? Over the years as a reporter, did you become more or less interested in what was happening around you?

How would you describe your process then?

“It’s me, Bok!”: Journeys in Journalism cover. Image: The Flame

MM: Curiosity is the word I would use. So, from the start until now, I am still curious about things happening around me. Exciting things, interesting things.

But if you read the book, you’ll see I’ve mellowed a lot because I was very reckless during my younger days.

I would go on assignments without asking permission from my office. For instance, there was this hostage-taking incident in Zamboanga, where a policeman held hostages of several officers, including a general and a colonel.

So when I learned that, I volunteered to go without asking permission from my office. I only had 100 pesos (NZ$3) in my pocket. And so what I did, I saw the soldiers loading bullets into the boxes and I picked up one box and carried it.

Hostage crisis with one tee
So when the aircraft was already airborne, they found out I was there, and so I just sat somewhere, and I covered the hostage crisis for three to four days with only one T-shirt.

Reporters in Zamboanga were kind enough to lend me T-shirts. They also bought me underpants. I slept in the headquarters crisis. And then later, restaurants. Alavar is a very popular seafood restaurant in Zamboanga. I slept there. So when the crisis was over, I came back. At that time, the Chronicle and ABS-CBN were sister companies.

When I returned to Manila, my editor gave me a commendation — but looking back . . . I just had to get a story.

Rappler: So that is what drives you?

MM: Yes, I have to get the story. I will do this on my own. I have to be ahead of the others. In 1987, when a PAL flight to Baguio City crashed, killing all 50 people on board, including the crew and the passengers, I was sent by my office to Baguio to cover the incident.

But the crash site was in Benguet, in the mountains. So I went there to the mountains. And then the Igorots were in that area, living in that area.

I was with other reporters and mountaineering clubs. We decided to go back because we were surrounded by the Igorots [who made it difficult for us to do our jobs]. Luckily, the Lopezes had a helicopter and [we] were the first to take photos.

‘I saw the bad side of police’
Rappler: Why are military and defense your favourite beats to cover?

MM: I started my career in 1983/1984, as a police reporter. So I know my way around the police. And I have many good friends in the police. I saw the bad side of the police, the dark side, corruption, and everything.

I also saw the military in the most turbulent period of our history when I was assigned to the military. So I saw good guys, I saw terrible guys. I saw everything in the military, and I made friends with them. It’s exciting to cover the military, the insurgency, the NPAs (New People’s Army rebels), and the secessionist movement.

You have to gain the trust of the soldiers of your sources. And if you don’t have trust, writing a story is impossible; it becomes a motherhood statement. But if you go deeper, dig deeper, you make friends, they trust you, you get more stories, you get the inside story, you get the background story, you get the top secret stories.

Because I made good friends with senior officers during my time, they can show me confidential memorandums and confidential reports, and I write about them.

I have made friends with so many of these police and military men. It started when they were lieutenants, then majors, and then generals. We’d go out together, have dinner or some drinks somewhere, and discuss everything, and they will tell you some secrets.

Before, you’d get paid 50 pesos (NZ$1.50) as a journalist every week by the police. Eventually, I had to say no and avoid groups of people engaging in this corruption. Reuters wouldn’t have hired me if I’d continued.

Rappler: With everything that you have seen in your career, what do you think is the actual state of humanity? Because you’ve seen hideous things, I’m sure. And very corrupt things. What do you think of people?

‘The Filipinos are selfish’
MM: Well, I can speak of the Filipino people. The Filipinos are selfish. They are only after their own welfare. There is no humanity in the Filipino mentality. They’re pulling each other down all the time.

I went on a trip with my family to Japan in 2018. My son left his sling bag on the Shinkansen. So we returned to the train station and said my son had left his bag there. The people at the train station told us that we could get the bag in Tokyo.

So we went to Tokyo and recovered the bag. Everything was intact, including my money, the password, everything.

So, there are crises, disasters, and ayuda (aid) in other places. And the people only get what they need, no? In the Philippines, that isn’t the case. So that’s humanity [here]. It isn’t very pleasant for us Filipinos.

Rappler: Is there anything good?

MM: Everyone was sharing during the EDSA Revolution, sharing stories, and sharing everything. They forgot themselves. And they acted as a community known against Marcos in 1986. That is very telling and redeeming. But after that… [I can’t think of anything else that is good.]

Rappler: What is the one story you are particularly fond of that you did or something you like or are proud of?

War on drugs, and typhoon Yolanda
MM: On drugs, my contribution to the Reuters series, and my police stories. Also, typhoon Yolanda in 2013. We left Manila on November 9, a day after the typhoon. We brought much equipment — generator sets, big cameras, food supply, everything.

But the thing is, you have to travel light. There are relief goods for the victims and other needs. When we arrived at the airport, we were shocked. Everything was destroyed. So we had to stay in the airport for the night and sleep.

We slept under the rain the entire time for the next three days. Upon arrival at the airport, we interviewed the police regional commander. Our report, I think, moved the international community to respond to the extended damage and casualties. My report that 10,000 people had died was nominated for the Society Publishers in Asia in Hong Kong.

Every day, we had to walk from the airport eight to 10 kilometers away, and along the way, we saw the people who were living outside their homes. And there was looting all over.

Rappler: There is a part in your book where you mentioned the corruption of journalists, right? And reporters. What do you mean by corruption?

MM: Simple tokens are okay to accept. When I was with Reuters, its gift policy was that you could only accept gifts as much as $50. Anything more than $50 is already a bribe. There are things that you can buy on your own, things you can afford. Other publications, like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Associated Press [nes agency], have a $0 gift policy. We have this gift-giving culture in our culture. It’s Oriental.

If you can pay your own way, you should do it.

Rappler: Tell us more about winning the Pulitzer Prize.

Most winners are American, American issues
MM: I did not expect to win this American-centric award. Most of the winners are Americans and American stories, American issues. But it so happened this was international reporting. There were so many other stories that were worth the win.

The story is about the Philippines and the drug war. And we didn’t expect a lot of interest in that kind of story. So perhaps we were just lucky that we were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In the Society of Publishers in Asia, in Hong Kong, the same stories were also nominated for investigative journalism. So we were not expecting that Pulitzer would pay attention.

The idea of the drug war was not the work of only three people: Andrew Marshal, Clare Baldwin and me. No, it was a team effort.

Rappler: What was your specific contribution?

MM: Andrew and Clare were immersed in different communities in Manila, Tondo, and Navotas City, interviewing victims and families and everybody, everyone else. On the other hand, my role was on the police.

I got the police comments and official police comments and also talked to police sources who would give us the inside story — the inside story of the drug war. So I have a good friend, a retired police general who was from the intelligence service, and he knew all about this drug war — mechanics, plan, reward system, and everything that they were doing. So, he reported about the drug war.

The actual drug war was what the late General Rodolfo Mendoza said was a ruse because Duterte was protecting his own drug cartel.

Bishops wanted to find out
He had a report made for Catholic bishops. There was a plenary in January 2017, and the bishops wanted to find out. So he made the report. His report was based on 17 active police officers who are still in active service. So when he gave me this report, I showed it to my editors.

My editor said: “Oh, this is good. This is a good guide for our story.” He got this information from the police sources — subordinates, those who were formerly working for him, gave him the information.

So it was hearsay, you know. So my editor said: “Why can’t you convince him to introduce us to the real people involved in the drug war?”

So, the general and I had several interviews. Usually, our interviews lasted until early morning. Father [Romeo] Intengan facilitated the interview. He was there to help us. At the same time, he was the one serving us coffee and biscuits all throughout the night.

So finally, after, I think, two or three meetings, he agreed that he would introduce us to police officers. So we interviewed the police captain who was really involved in the killings, and in the operation, and in the drug war.

So we got a lot of information from him. The info went not only to one story but several other stories.

He was saying it was also the police who were doing it.

Rappler: Wrapping up — what do you think of the Philippines?

‘Duterte was the worst’
MM: The Philippines under former President Duterte was the worst I’ve seen. Worse than under former President Ferdinand Marcos. People were saying Marcos was the worst president because of martial law. He closed down the media, abolished Congress, and ruled by decree.

I think more than 3000 people died, and 10,000 were tortured and jailed.

But in three to six years under Duterte, more than 30,000 people died. No, he didn’t impose martial law, but there was a de facto martial law. The anti-terrorism law was very harsh, and he closed down ABS-CBN television.

It had a chilling effect on all media organisations. So, the effect was the same as what Marcos did in 1972.

We thought that Marcos Jr would become another Duterte because they were allies. And we felt that he would follow the policies of President Duterte, but it turned out he’s much better.

Well, everything after Duterte is good. Because he set the bar so low.

Everything is rosy — even if Marcos is not doing enough because the economy is terrible. Inflation is high, unemployment is high, foreign direct investments are down, and the peso is almost 60 to a dollar.

Praised over West Philippine Sea
However, the people still praise Marcos for his actions in the West Philippine Sea. I think the people love him for that. And the number of killings in the drug war has gone down.

There are still killings, but the number has really gone so low, I would say about 300 in the first two years.

Rappler: Why did you write your book, It’s Me, Bok! Journeys in Journalism?

MM: I have been writing snippets of my experiences on Facebook. Many friends were saying, ‘Why don’t you write a book?’ including Secretary [of National Defense] Gilberto Teodoro, who was fond of reading my snippets.

In my early days, I was reckless as a reporter. I don’t want the younger reporters to do that. And no story is worth writing if you are risking your life.

I want to leave behind a legacy, and I know that my memory will fail me sooner rather than later. It took me only three months to write the book.

It’s very raw. There will be a second printing. I want to polish the book and expand some of the events.

Republished with permission from Rappler.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

One Year Later, Campuses Ban Pro-Palestine Protests ‘In All But Name’

Nell Srinath — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:21:09 +0000

Quietly rolled out over the summer, college and university policies target the student movement for Palestine.

This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Nell Srinath.

Is Southeast Asia ready for the abrupt changes Trump could usher in?

David Hutt — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 15:57:58 +0000

There’s an old Republican saying: “A government strong enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take away everything you have.”

Donald Trump, now set to become the 47th U.S. president in January, may have won over small-government voters with a good deal of flummery, but his vision is in fact draconian.

And that vision is likely to apply to foreign relations, showing allies like Ukraine and Taiwan that a United States strong enough to give other countries what they want is strong enough to take away all they need.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines could become another casualty of Trumpian uninterest and selfishness.

As one of the least trade-dependent states in Asia, the Philippines might not be as panicked as others by Trump’s proposal of a blanket 10-20% tariff on imports from all countries.

However, as a U.S. treaty ally that depends on American support in its increasingly tense confrontation with Beijing over the South China Sea, Manila is all too aware that it may now have to go it alone.

A Chinese coast Guard ship, left, collides with the Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua near the Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea, Aug. 31, 2024.

Until January rolls around, one has to work on speculation about what Trump might do.

The conventional wisdom is that he will be a far more effective executive this time around, with more knowledge of how to navigate the corridors of power and unshackled from the “adults in the room” who tempered his basest instincts during his first term.

US election: Trump II to affect trade, security in SE Asia, experts say

Asian media focus on economic impact of Trump’s comeback

This should mean that he will get his way on economic promises, which reflect the fact that, as one veteran commentator put it this week, “Trump has no real economic agenda beyond clawing back jobs from Asia.”

Weakening economic growth

His proposed tariffs would certainly weaken economic growth in Southeast Asia, a region where the average trade-to-gross domestic product ratio is 90 percent, double the global average, according to the Hinrich Foundation.

Oxford Economics reckons “non-China Asia” could see exports fall by 3%.

On the other hand, there are people in the region who assume that because China would be Trump’s main target, the rest of Asia may benefit from Beijing’s troubles.

Even then, some countries, particularly Vietnam, have gotten away with allowing Chinese goods to be re-routed through its markets to be re-exported to the U.S. allowing Chinese exporters to bypass tariffs.

This is one reason for the massive trade surplus Vietnam has with the U.S. In 2019, Trump branded Vietnam the “worst abuser” of U.S. trade – at a time when its trade surplus with America stood at $55 million. It rose to $104 million last year.

BYD electric cars for export wait to be loaded onto a ship at a port in Yantai, in China's Shandong province, April 18, 2024.

The apparent benefit of hedging between the U.S. and China is that it allows neutral Southeast Asian states space to react to changing events elsewhere.

This is, presumably, one of those moments.

However, the logic behind hedging is that both the United States and China are equally vying for influence. What happens if one actively tries to retreat?

Perhaps the mistake was to think that the first Trump presidency, not the Biden presidency, was the aberration of American statecraft in the 21st century.

Groveling and flattery

Still, we cannot pretend that American foreign policy showed any great success under the Biden administration. It will be best remembered for failing to deter not only U.S. rivals – Russia, China and Iran – but also its friend in Israel.

In Southeast Asia, Washington’s no-policy-at-all stance on Myanmar has allowed the civil war to escalate and China to become the only foreign actor with any real influence.

It allowed relations with Malaysia to sour over Gaza and let Hanoi dictate the trajectory of U.S.-Vietnam relations.

The U.S. failed to even show up to regional events in the latter years of Biden, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework offered to compete with China was a dud.

Arguably, the biggest achievement was a more productive relationship with the Philippines and clarity over defense in the South China Sea – but that was only because Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won the Philippine presidency in 2022, reset relations and gifted Washington a diplomatic victory.

Yet no Southeast Asian leader will look forward to having to grovel before Trump, hoping to win his attention through flattery and backslapping.

A man stands in a bomb crater at a camp for internally displaced people after junta airstrikes near Pekon township in Myanmar's south Shan state on Sept. 6, 2024.

Malaysia and Indonesia will now have to expect a response from Washington when they accuse it of collaborating with alleged genocide in the Middle East.

Vietnam can no longer expect there to be sensible people in the State Department who understand why it adopts “bamboo diplomacy” of balancing ties with the U.S., China and Russia.

Singapore, the trusted interlocutor between the East and the West, will have a much more difficult time explaining local sensitivities to Trump’s cabinet.

Failure to prepare

One shouldn’t underestimate the disruption that Trump might wreck on Southeast Asia. But that ought not excuse governments in the region for failing to prepare.

Asia might have been a little more resilient against a second Trump presidency if Japan and South Korea weren’t facing their own political crises; if Beijing ran its economy with more agility; if Thailand wasn’t in a constant state of political turmoil; or if ASEAN aspired to a little more than just reaching joint statements.

Indeed, things would be less dire if there was a little more of the selflessness and internationalism that others rightly condemn Trump for lacking.

Japan’s idea of an “Asian NATO” is sensible but won’t happen because of “dichotomies and divergence in country interests,” as the Philippines’ defense chief Gilberto Teodoro put it recently.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, right, and China's Premier Li Qiang hug as they pose for photos during a meeting in Hanoi on Oct. 13, 2024.

Why won’t Vietnam, for instance, call out Beijing when it threatens its neighbors' interests?

Most epochs are defined by at least one existential anxiety.

In Southeast Asia, at least since the early 2010s, it has been defined by two: the rise of China’s power and the decline of America’s. Trump’s victory will accelerate the latter but, possibly, may also impede the former.

If there is a saving grace for countries imperiled by the threat of invasion or attack by Beijing, it is that Trump’s proposed 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports could so weaken China’s economy that war becomes less likely.

David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. He writes the Watching Europe In Southeast Asia newsletter. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by David Hutt.

Yunus-led interim Bangladesh govt sworn in; diverse members include 2 student leaders

By Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Sudeepto Salam for BenarNews — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 00:03:51 +0000

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in Thursday to lead Bangladesh’s interim government following a three-day power vacuum that resulted from Sheikh Hasina quitting as prime minister and fleeing the country.

The 84-year-old microcredit pioneer faces a massive task of restoring law and order, steadying a limping economy and setting the stage for free and fair elections. No mention was made at the ceremony of how long the interim government will be in power.

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, whose role is largely symbolic, administered the oath to Yunus and the others at the presidential palace in Dhaka.

“I will uphold, support and protect the constitution and will perform my duties sincerely,” Yunus said as part of his oath.

Yunus now has the title of chief advisor and leads a body of 16 who comprise the rest of the interim administration.

Taking the oath alongside Yunus were more than a dozen individuals from diverse fields, including two university students who became familiar faces to Bangladeshis in recent days.

The Dhaka University students, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, were key figures in student protests that turned deadly and became a mass movement demanding Hasina step down.

The interim government also includes human rights activists, legal experts, two ex-diplomats, a doctor and a former governor of Bangladesh’s central bank. A BenarNews reporter at the scene did not see anyone from Hasina’s Awami League party.

The swearing-in ceremony, which began around 8 p.m. was attended by judges, NGO leaders, chiefs of the three branches of the military, the country’s new police chief, foreign diplomats and leaders of political parties.

Yunus won the Nobel for lifting millions out of poverty by lending them small amounts of cash – microloans – to open small businesses. His microlending model has been replicated in more than 100 countries – though he was reviled by Hasina and, according to supporters, subjected to judicial harassment during her administration.

A student in Dhaka, Salma Akhter, of Tejgaon College, was excited at the prospect of Yunus heading the new government.

“He is a reputed person. What we need is a visionary leader who will not amass wealth through corrupt practices. And will not involve him in corrupt practices,” she told BenarNews.

“We hope the government will carry out institutional reforms and restore democratic institutions before holding national elections.”

Asif Mahmud (left) and Nahid Islam, university students and key figures in the anti-quota protests that turned into a nationwide movement against the Sheikh Hasina government, being sworn in as members of the interim Bangladesh government at the Presidential House in Dhaka, Aug. 8, 2024. [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

Yunus had been in Paris when it was announced that he had been selected to lead the interim administration and arrived back home just hours before the oath-taking ceremony, on Thursday afternoon.

He was welcomed at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by the Army chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, some student leaders and civil society representatives.

Upon landing, he alluded to the fact that Hasina had bent state institutions to her will, including security agencies. But he urged people not to take the law into their own hands.

“Restoring the law and order situation is our first job. We cannot take further steps until the law and order situation returns to normalcy,” Yunus said.

More than 108 people have been killed in new violence since Hasina decamped on Monday, after weeks of civil unrest in which some 300 died.

Bangladeshis needed to regain faith in independent state institutions – faith they had lost during the 15 years of Hasina’s continuous rule, Yunus said Wednesday.

“It is critical that trust in government be restored quickly,” Yunus said in a statement, according to U.K.’s Financial Times.

“We need calm, we need a road map to new elections, and we need to get to work to prepare for new leadership in order to fulfill the extraordinary potential of Bangladesh.”

Greeting those who had come to receive him, Yunus was visibly emotional when students approached to shake his hand. With tears in his eyes, he ignored their outstretched hands and embraced them instead.

Bangladesh has an opportunity to start afresh thanks to the country’s university students, he said at the airport on Thursday.

“Today is a glorious day for us . . . they [the students] protected and gave this country a rebirth,” Yunus said after he landed.

“We have to protect it,” he added.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus (second from left) hugs a supporter upon his arrival at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport ahead of his swearing in as head of Bangladesh’s interim government after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled, Aug. 8, 2024. (Luis Tato/AFP)

Following Hasina’s resignation, the Students Movement Against Discrimination group proposed that Yunus lead the interim government, a choice South Asia observers viewed approvingly because the Nobel laureate is respected at home and abroad.

The group’s students led the initial protests that turned deadly when security forces and Awami League supporters joined the fray in an attempt to disperse them. The violence angered people nationwide and the agitation became a mass movement demanding Hasina’s resignation.

BenarNews spoke to some newly appointed interim government members about what they believe should be the administration’s first priority.

Among the issues mentioned by Saleh Uddin Ahmed, a former governor of the country’s central bank, was the economy.

“The first step will be bringing back law and order, reactivating the slow economy, working for the people’s welfare, and resuming the academic environment,” he told BenarNews.

Referring to the lives lost in recent weeks, human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan said there needed to be accountability.

“We took this responsibility by standing in blood. We need to ensure justice, we need to bring public traitors to justice,” he said.

15 years

Asif Mahmud, one of the two students named advisor on Thursday, said the interim government would “reform” state institutions, hold a free and fair general election and hand over power to an elected government.

“But that will not be possible without reforms to institutions such as the Election Commission,” he told journalists after the oath-taking ceremony outside the presidential palace.

Holding fair elections “will not be possible without its reform,” Asif said.

A man looks at graffiti on a wall of Dhaka University, which calls for the formation of a government that rebuilds Bangladesh, Aug. 8, 2024. [Md. Hasan/BenarNews]

According to the country’s constitution, an election must be held within 90 days of parliament being dissolved. That happened on Tuesday, Aug. 6, which means the interim government’s term ought to end early November

But one retired United States diplomat told BenarNews this week that may be unrealistic – that is, too short.

Hasina and her Awami League party had caused too much damage over her 15 consecutive years in power, said Jon Danilowicz, who has served three assignments in Bangladesh.

“I don’t think we can say at this point how long the country will take to be ready for an election. Considering the degree to which the Awami League politicized the administration, security forces and judiciary, the task of unraveling all that will be very difficult and take very long,” he said.

“But without doing that, it will not be possible to hold free, fair and credible elections.”

Shailaja Neelakantan in Washington contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Sudeepto Salam for BenarNews.

Yunus-led interim Bangladesh govt sworn in; diverse members include 2 student leaders

By Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Sudeepto Salam for BenarNews — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 00:03:00 +0000

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in Thursday to lead Bangladesh's interim government following a three-day power vacuum that resulted from Sheikh Hasina quitting as prime minister and fleeing the country.