Seeking 'Better Future,' Kentucky EV Battery Workers File for Election to Join UAW

"We're forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions," said one worker.


Factory workers and UAW union members rallied outside Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant during a strike on October 14, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.
(Photo: Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Jan 08, 2025
COMMON DREAM

Workers at a new electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday requesting an election to join the United Auto Workers, a union that's making a concerted effort to organize in the U.S. South.

The UAW said Wednesday that a supermajority of workers at BlueOval SK (BOSK)—a joint venture of the U.S. car manufacturer Ford and the Korean firm SK On—have backed the organizing effort, citing the need for improved safety protections as well as better pay and benefits. The plant in Glendale, Kentucky is set to begin production this year.

"We're forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions," said Halee Hadfield, a quality operator at BOSK. "The chemicals we're working with can be extremely dangerous. If something goes wrong, a massive explosion can occur. With our union, we can speak up if we see there's a problem and make sure we're keeping ourselves and the whole community safe."

According to the UAW, the Kentucky workers' NLRB petition marks "the first major filing in the South in 2025 and continues the movement of Southern autoworkers organizing with the UAW."

Andrew McLean, a logistics worker in formation at BOSK, said Wednesday that "with a union, we'll be on a level playing field with management."

"That's so important when you're getting a new plant off the ground," McLean added. "The union allows us to give honest feedback without fear of retaliation."

In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, one worker said she will be voting yes on unionization because she wants "a better future for not only myself, but future generations and everyone that works here with me."





The Washington Postnoted that, "if successful, the effort could lead to the first unionized Ford-backed EV battery venture, at a time when EV sales in the United States are picking up."

BOSK has made clear that it will fight the organizing drive. A spokesperson for the joint venture said in a statement to the Post that the union election petition is "premature" and claimed that it "puts at risk the freedom and opportunities of our current and soon-to-be-hired Kentucky team members."

The UAW said Wednesday that BOSK "has responded to the campaign by hiring anti-union consultants who are trying to block the workers from organizing."

Angela Conto, a production operator in formation at BOSK, said that "instead of listening to our safety concerns, management has been ordering people to work without proper protective equipment."

"Now they're trying to stop us from forming our union to win a strong voice for safety," said Conto. "But the strong supermajority of workers who've signed union cards shows we're going to fix what's wrong at BOSK and make it the leading manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries in America."

Amid LA Inferno, Home Insurers Under Fire for Policy Cancellations

One observer said it "really feels like the climate crisis is putting the home insurance industry on a fast track to being almost as reviled as the health insurance industry."

LA LIBERTARIANS WANTED TO REPLACE THE STATE 

WITH AN INSURANCE COMPANY


Firefighters battle winds and flames as multiple beachfront homes burn along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California during the Palisades Fire on January 7, 2025.
(Photo: David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jan 08, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

As deadly wildfire incinerated more than 1,000 homes and other structures in Los Angeles County this week, insurance companies are sparking outrage for having recently canceled homeowners' policies across California—including in some of the areas hit hardest by the current blazes.

More than 1,000 homes, businesses, and other buildings have burned in the Palisades, Hurst, and Eaton fires—the latter of which has killed two people, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. Fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds and extraordinarily dry conditions, all three fires were at 0% containment as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders for more than 80,000 residents. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told reporters Wednesday morning that a "high number of people who didn't evacuate" suffered serious injuries. Hundreds of thousands of area residents are also without power.

CAL FIRE said on Wednesday afternoon that the largest of the three blazes, the Palisades Fire, had burned more than 11,000 acres, while the Eaton Fire had scorched over 10,600 acres and the Hurst Fire topped 500 acres burned. Firefighters battling the Palisades Fire reported hydrants coming up dry.

Amid increased extreme weather events driven by the climate emergency, insurance companies have faced criticism for canceling policies and pulling out of states with elevated wildfire or hurricane risk.


State Farm, one of California's largest insurers, announced last year that it would not renew 30,000 home insurance policies throughout the state—including at least hundreds in areas affected by the current wildfires—explaining that the move was meant to avert a "financial failure" that would "detrimentally impact the entire market."

Other insurance companies have taken similar action, leaving their customers scrambling to find coverage.

Michael DeLong, research and advocacy associate at the Consumer Federation of America, told Common Dreams Wednesday that while climate-driven extreme weather has "made many areas riskier to insure," insurance companies are also canceling policies because "they're trying to take advantage of the situation of rising risks and rising costs to weaken consumer protections."

"They've been waging a campaign against Proposition 103… a ballot initiative that got passed in the late 1980s that, among other things, puts in place a lot of consumer protections about insurance," he added. "This has been a big deal for consumers and it's helped keep rates down. But insurance companies really hate these consumer protections and have been trying to weaken them."

In a Wednesday interview with Common Dreams, Jamie Court, president of the Los Angeles-based group Consumer Watchdog, noted that "under Prop 103, we could challenge rate hikes, and we saved $1 billion by challenging rate hikes that were too high last year."

However, advocates say that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's new "sustainable insurance strategy" will make it harder to challenge rates and lacks transparency and public input.

DeLong said Lara is "allowing the net cost of reinsurance to be passed on to consumers."

Reinsurance is an arrangement in which insurance companies transfer risk to another insurer to mitigate damages.


"Until a few weeks ago, California's regulations didn't allow the cost of reinsurance to be passed on to consumers, and now they do," DeLong explained. "So that's probably going to drive up costs for consumers. The commissioner and the department say it's going to make the insurance industry more stable—we're kind of skeptical of that."

"Another reform that he's done is allowing the use of catastrophe models in insurance," DeLong added, referring to a risk management tool that helps insurers assess potential financial impacts of disasters. "Every other state allows insurance companies to use them; California did not until recently. Catastrophe models can be helpful and useful; the problem is that many catastrophe models aren't that good; they're based on inaccurate or incomplete information and they don't have any transparency."

Court also decried the lack of transparency in catastrophe models, which he said "can say anything they want, and then we have to pay the rate." He also criticized Lara's proposal to allow insurers to hike rates in exchange for a purported commitment to cover more properties in wildfire areas.

Lara said last year that "insurance companies will write no less than 85% of their statewide market share in wildfire distressed areas,"


However, Court cautioned that Lara is assuming "that the companies are actually going to increase their footprint in wildfire areas."

"When you look at the details... there are these big loopholes," he said. "Insurance companies have to commit to 85% [wildfire area saturation] within two years—or they can do 5% more than they're doing now. So if they're at 0%, they can go to 5%. This is complete bullshit."


As coverage becomes more difficult to obtain, hundreds of thousands of California homeowners have turned to the state's FAIR Plan, an insurer of last resort, which has more than doubled the number of policies issued since 2020.

"If the FAIR Plan is the only thing you can do, take that," DeLong said. "In the meantime, you can reach out to the Department of Insurance and let them know that you want them to protect consumers and reject excessive rate increases."

"You can also try mitigation measures to reduce risk, like clearing brush around your home, improving your roof so it's a Class A roof, which means it's very difficult to catch on fire, you can take measures to prevent embers from starting fires on your property," he added. "The problem is that all of that costs money, and not everyone may be able to afford that… California has recently started some proposals to provide grants to consumers to undertake these measures, and these should be expanded even more."

"There is some good news," DeLong said. "The California Department of Insurance is working on a public catastrophe model, one that would have opportunities for input from consumers, that would be based on data that's fair and open."

"However, that's going to take at least a couple of years to get off the ground," he added.

Court concurred. "We're a long way away from that, and it's not even going to be something that companies have to use, it's something that would be supplemental," he said of the public model. "I think it's giving lip service, but I think it's the right direction. It just needs to be much more aggressive."

And the Winners of the 2024 Shkreli Awards for Worst Healthcare Profiteering Are...

"All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry in desperate need of transformation," said the head of the think tank behind the awards.


The Lown Institute's "Shkreli Awards"—named after convicted "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli—are given annually to the 10 most flagrant healthcare industry profiteers.
(Image: Lown Institute)

Brett Wilkins
Jan 07, 2025


The "winners" of the annual Shkreli Awards—named after notorious "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli and given to the 10 "worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare"—include a Texas medical school that sold body parts of deceased people without relatives' consent, an alleged multibillion-dollar catheter scam, an oncologist who subjected patients to unnecessary cancer treatments, and a "monster monopoly" insurer.

The Shkreli Awards, now in their eighth year, are given annually by the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts-based think tank "advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health." A panel of 20 expert judges—who include physicians, professors, activists, and others—determine the winners.

This year's awardees are:

10: The University of North Texas Health Science Center "dissected and distributed unclaimed bodies without properly seeking consent from the deceased or their families" and supplied the parts "to medical students as well as major for-profit ventures like Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson," reporting revealed.

9: Baby tongue-tie cutting procedures are "being touted as a cure for everything from breastfeeding difficulties to sleep apnea, scoliosis, and even constipation"—despite any conclusive evidence that the procedure is effective.


8: Zynex Medical is a company facing scrutiny for its billing practices related to nerve stimulation devices used for pain management.

7: Insurance giant Cigna is under fire for billing a family nearly $100,000 for an infant's medevac flight.

6: Seven suppliers allegedly ran a multibillion-dollar urinary catheter billing scam that affected hundreds of thousands of Medicare patients.

5: Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico allegedly refused cancer treatment "to patients or demanding upfront payments, even from those with insurance."

4: Dr. Thomas C. Weiner is a Montana oncologist who allegedly "subjected a patient to unnecessary cancer treatments for over a decade," provided "disturbingly high doses of barbiturates to facilitate death in seriously ill patients, when those patients may not have actually been close to death," and "prescribed high doses of opioids to patients that did not need them." Weiner denies any wrongdoing.

3: Pharma giant Amgen was accused of pushing 960-milligram doses of its highly toxic cancer drug Lumakras, when "a lower 240mg dose offers similar efficacy with reduced toxicity"—but costs $180,000 less per patient annually at the lower dose.

2: UnitedHealth allegedly exploited "its vast physician network to maximize profits, often at the expense of patients and clinicians," including by pressuring doctors "to reduce time with patients and to practice aggressive medical coding tactics that make patients seem as sick as possible" in order to earn higher reimbursements from the federal government."

🥁🥁🥁

1: Steward Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre was accused of orchestrating "a dramatic healthcare debacle by prioritizing private equity profits over patient care" amid "debt and sale-leaseback schemes" and a bankruptcy that "left hospitals gutted, employees laid off, and communities underserved" as he reportedly walked away "with more than $250 million over the last four years as hospitals tanked."

"All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry in desperate need of transformation," Lown Institute president Dr. Vikas Saini said during the award ceremony, according toThe Guardian.

"Doing these awards every year shows us that this is nothing new," he added. "We're hoping that these stories illuminate what changes are needed."

The latest Shkreli Awards came just weeks after the brazen assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth subsidiary UnitedHealthcare. Although alleged gunman Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty, his reported manifesto—which rails against insurance industry greed—resonated with people across the country and sparked discussions about the for-profit healthcare system.

Watchdogs Call Out Trump AG Pick Pam Bondi's Corporate Lobbying


One democracy advocate urged senators "to carefully scrutinize Bondi's lobbying record and ask what she will do when the interests of her lobbying clients again clash with the Department of Justice she now wants to lead."


Florida's Former Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 23, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland.
(Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Eloise Goldsmith
Jan 08, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

When President-elect Donald Trump in mid-November decided to tap former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to succeed former Congressman Matt Gaetz as his pick for U.S. attorney general, details about Bondi's career, including her time as a corporate lobbyist, began to surface.

On Wednesday, two watchdog groups released reports that delve into Bondi's time as a lobbyist and say that their findings raise concerns about Bondi's fitness to serve as head of the Department of Justice.

The first report was published by the group Public Citizen and looks at federal lobbying disclosures and Foreign Agents Registration Act reports filed by Bondi and Ballard Partners, the lobbying outlet where Bondi worked as a registered federal lobbyist for the past five years. Ballard Partners also employed Susie Wiles, Trump's pick for White House chief of staff.

The other report, from the group Accountable.US, also looks at Bondi's time at Ballard Partners and reports that at least five of Bondi's major lobbying clients have "faced DOJ fines, investigations, or related scrutiny that could pose serious conflicts if she is confirmed as AG." The Public Citizen report also details DOJ scrutiny on some of these companies.

Jon Golinger, the author of the Public Citizen report, wrote in a statement Wednesday that "the U.S. attorney general should be the American people's lawyer—not a lobbyist for big corporations and foreign governments."

"As they evaluate this nomination, we urge senators to carefully scrutinize Bondi's lobbying record and ask what she will do when the interests of her lobbying clients again clash with the Department of Justice she now wants to lead," he added.

According to Public Citizen's report, Bondi was registered to lobby the federal government on behalf of 30 different clients—a list that included the government of Qatar, large corporations, and government contractors—between 2019 and 2024.

The report details that her corporate clients have included the car service Uber; the large private prison company the Geo Group; the waste management company Republic Services; the e-commerce giant Amazon.com; and others, according to the report.

The watchdog found that lobbying reports filed in 2020 reveal that Bondi's firm was paid $120,000 that year by Uber to lobby federal offices on "issues related to sharing economy, surface transportation measures, foreign regulation of data management, regulatory relief, and legislative measures for Covid-19." Offices lobbied included the White House, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of the Treasury, and the Small Business Administration.

Public Citizen reported that Bondi also retained two clients through 2024: the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Sheriffs Risk Management Fund.

Both reports also detail that many of these companies have come under scrutiny from the agency that Bondi is tapped to lead.

Accountable.US highlights, for example, that in 2023 the DOJ imposed a $25 million civil penalty on Amazon to resolve allegations that its Alexa service illegally retained recordings of children's voices. Another former client, General Motors—who Bondi had as a client in 2020 and 2021—reached a settlement with the DOJ in 2023 to resolve the DOJ's determination that the company imposed a "discriminatory barrier" against lawful permanent residents in its hiring processes.

"Pam Bondi's career lobbying for corporate clients that had run-ins with the DOJ now poses potential conflicts of interest and serious questions whether she will put her personal interests ahead of the American people," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk in a statement Wednesday. "People are tired of this same, old insider game."

'The GOP Promised to Make Life Easier for Working Families,' But Here's the Real Agenda

"Mike Johnson is committing to slashing Social Security and Medicare to get the speaker's gavel," said one progressive group.

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the Republican whip, congratulates House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on his reelection to the leadership role on January 3, 2025, the first day of the 119th Congress, at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Jan 03, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

As Republicans took full control of Congress this week and U.S. President-elect prepared to take office later this month, Democratic lawmakers renewed warnings about how the GOP agenda will harm working people and pledged to fight against it.

"Today, the 119th Congress officially begins. Our top priority over the next two years must be fighting for working families and standing up to corporate power and greed," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair emeritus of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on social media Friday.


"While Republicans focus their energy for the next two years on giving tax breaks to the rich and cutting vital public programs, Democrats will continue working to lower costs and raise wages for all," Jayapal promised. "We'll always be fighting for YOU."

In addition to members of Congress being sworn in on Friday, nearly all Republicans in the House of Representatives reelected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as speaker and the chamber debated a rules package that Democrats have criticized since it was released by GOP leadership earlier this week.

"Their governance will be marked by consolidated power, scapegoated communities, and campaigns of punishment."


The package fast-tracks a dozen bills on a range of issues; they include various immigration measures as well as legislation attacking transgender student athletes, sanctioning the International Criminal Court, requiring proof of United States citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, and prohibiting a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for fossil fuels.

"Speaker Johnson has said that the 119th Congress will be consequential. Today, both in Speaker Johnson's address and in the rules package the Republicans have passed, Republicans have shown us what the consequences of their leadership will be," Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.) said in a statement. "In their first order of business, Republicans advanced a legislative package that abuses the power of Congress to persecute trans children athletes, take federal funding away from sanctuary cities like Chicago and Illinois, scapegoat immigrants, erode voting rights, and put new criminal penalties on reproductive care providers."

"For the first time in history, they seek to make the speakership less accountable to the full body of legislators and to limit our ability to consider emergency bills," Ramirez noted. "Overall, they are using the rules to make Congress less transparent, less accountable, and less responsive to the needs of the American people. Their governance will be marked by consolidated power, scapegoated communities, and campaigns of punishment."



Speaking out against the package on the House floor, Jayapal said it "makes very clear what the Republican majority will not do in the 119th Congress," stressing that the 12 bills "do nothing to lower costs or raise wages for the American people."

These bills also won't "take on the biggest corporations and wealthiest individuals who profit from the high prices and junk fees and corporate concentration that's harming Americans across this country," she said. "Because guess what? These corporations and wealthy individuals are the ones that are controlling the Republican Party for their own benefit."

Jayapal highlighted the exorbitant wealth of Trump's Cabinet picks, just a day after the president-elect announced corporate lobbyist and GOP donor Ken Kies as his choice for assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department—which is set to be led by billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, as Republicans in Congress try to pass another round of tax cuts for the rich.

GOP lawmakers are also aiming "to make meaningful spending reforms to eliminate trillions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and end the weaponization of government," Johnson said in a lengthy social media on Friday. "Along with advancing President Trump's America First agenda, I will lead the House Republicans to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, hold the bureaucracy accountable, and move the United States to a more sustainable fiscal trajectory."


In other words, responded the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), "Mike Johnson is committing to slashing Social Security and Medicare to get the speaker's gavel."


Republicans have a slim House majority and Trump-backed Johnson was initially set to fall short of the necessary support to remain speaker, due to opposition from not only Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) but also Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Keith Self (R-Texas). However, after a private conversation, Norman and Self switched their votes.


"Johnson cut a backroom deal with the members that voted against him so they'd flip their votes. So he will get gavel now. I'm sure in time we'll find out what he sold out just so he'd win," Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) said on social media.

"What did Johnson sell out to become speaker? Social Security or Medicare? Or perhaps veterans?" he asked.

Citing a document circulated ahead of the vote by Johnson's right-wing critics that lists "failures" of the 118th Congress, the PCCC said: "Looks like all of the above. But his holdouts put Social Security in their first bullet of grievances."


After the vote, Norman and 10 right-wing colleagues released a letter explaining that, despite sincere reservations, they elected Johnson because of their "steadfast support of President Trump and to ensure the timely certification of his electors."


"To deliver on the historic mandate earned by President Trump for the Republican Party, we must be organized to use reconciliation—and all legislative tools—to deliver on critical border security, spending cuts, pro-growth tax policy, regulatory reform, and the reversal of the damage done by the Biden-Harris administration," they added.


Politicoreported that "House Republicans are hoping to start work on the budget targets for critical committees on Saturday—the first step in kicking off their ambitious legislative agenda involving energy, border, and tax policy."


According to the outlet:

"The Ways and Means Committee is just going to be able to draft tax legislation according to what the budget reconciliation instructions are," said House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who will be leading the charge on extensions of... Trump's tax cuts.

"And so when the conference figures out what they want in those instructions, we'll be able to deliver according to those parameters," said Smith, when asked about the primary goal of a GOP conference meeting tentatively scheduled for Saturday at Fort McNair, an Army post in southwest Washington.

That followed Thursday reporting by The Washington Post that Trump advisers and congressional Republicans "have begun floating proposals to boost federal revenue and slash spending so their plans for major tax cuts and new security spending won't further explode the $36.2 trillion national debt."


As the newspaper detailed, 10 policies that Republicans have considered are tariffs, repealing clean energy programs, unauthorized spending, repealing the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness, shuttering the Education Department, cutting federal food assistance, imposing Medicaid work requirements, blocking Medicare obesity treatment, ending the child tax credit for noncitizen parents, and cutting Internal Revenue Service funding.



"The GOP promised to make life easier for working families," Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the Democratic whip, said on social media in response to the Post's article. "Now, they want to slash your school budget, raise your grocery costs, and hike your energy bills—all to pay for billionaire tax cuts."

"We will not allow Republicans to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy," she added Friday. "No way."

2024: The Year of the Billionaire

At this point, just 813 U.S. billionaires hold a combined $6.7 trillion in wealth while 15 of them each have over $100 billion for a combined wealth over $2.4 trillion.


Chuck Collins
Jan 04, 2025

Common Dreams

Based on an Institute for Policy Studies analysis of data from the ForbesReal-Time billionaire list from December 31, 2024, the last day of market activity, there are 813 billionaires with combined wealth totaling $6.72 trillion.

The total number of billionaires has remained constant at 813 when Forbes published their 38th annual World’s Billionaire List on April 2, 2024. But the combined wealth of U.S. billionaires increased over the last 9 months by $1 trillion, from $5.7 trillion at the beginning of April 2024 rising to $6.72 trillion at the end of 2024.

The top five billionaires and their individual wealth are:Elon Musk of Tesla/X and SpaceX with $428 billion (up from $252.5 billion in September 2024).
Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $235.2 billion.
Larry Ellison of Oracle fame moving into number three spot with $210.5 billion, surpassing Marc Zuckerberg.
Mark Zuckerberg of Meta with $204.4 billion.
Larry Page of Google, with $157.6 billion.

There are now 15 U.S. billionaires with more than $100 billion each and combined wealth totaling $2.4 trillion.

Among the wealthiest dynastic families on the Forbes list, these dynastic families closed 2024 with huge pools of wealth:Walton. Seven members of the Walton Family with combined wealth of $404.3 billion
Mars. Six members of Mars family with combined wealth of $130.4 billion
Koch. Two members of Koch family have a combined wealth of $121.1 billion

Many top billionaires have seen their wealth surge during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 18, 2020, Elon Musk had wealth valued just under $25 billion. By 2024 year’s end, his wealth was $428 billion.

Jeff Bezos saw his wealth rise from $113 billion on March 18, 2020 to $235.2 billion in the Dec 31, 2024 analysis survey.

Three Walton family members—Jim, Alice and Rob—saw their combined assets increase from $161.1 billion on March 18, 2020 to $317 billion in the September 13, 2024 survey.

America's 'demographic cliff' is finally here — and set to wreak havoc on colleges: report

Matthew Chapman
January 8, 2025 

First-generation college students. (Nirat.pix/www.shutterstock.com)

The United States is finally approaching a long-forecast "demographic cliff" with a sharp drop in the number of 18-year-olds — and some of the first institutions to feel it will be colleges and universities, according to the nonprofit Hechinger Report.

"This so-called demographic cliff has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control," reported Jon Marcus. "Demographers say it will finally arrive in the fall of this year. That’s when recruiting offices will begin to confront the long-anticipated drop-off in the number of applicants from among the next class of high school seniors."

One of the effects of this has been that smaller schools in lower-population areas are being forced to close down. That happened in 2023 to Iowa Wesleyan University, which, founded in 1842, was the state's oldest co-educational higher education campus — and had piles of furniture, trophies, books, and other assets loaded off into trucks to be sold off. Doug Moore, who founded a company that was involved in the college's shutdown, reflected, “All the things that are mementos of the best four years of a lot of people’s lives are sold to the highest bidders.”

All of this is coming at a time when colleges and universities are already under increased scrutiny and pressure for decades of unsustainably rising tuition rates that trapped millions of people in mountains of student debt.

That trend has finally begun to reverse, with College Board data showing an inflation-adjusted decrease of 4 percent in overall public college tuition rates in the last decade, a 40 percent decrease in real annual public college costs, and a decrease in the share of students graduating with debt.

However, Marcus noted, the implications go far beyond colleges and universities.

"It’s a looming crisis for the economy, with fewer graduates eventually coming through the pipeline to fill jobs that require college educations, even as international rivals increase the proportions of their populations with degrees," he said.

'Democracy won', says Lula two years after Brasilia riots

Agence France-Presse
January 8, 2025 

Security forces arrest supporters of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro who invaded Planalto Presidential Palace and other federal buildings on January 8, 2023 (Ton MOLINA/AFP)

by Juan Sebastian SERRANO / Ramon SAHMKOW

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday hailed the triumph of democracy as he oversaw the return of restored artworks two years after they were damaged during an assault on the national seats of power by his predecessor's supporters.

The 79-year-old made his first notable appearance since undergoing emergency head surgery last month, donning a fedora for the ceremony held on the anniversary of the mob attack by backers of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro.


"If these works of art are back here, restored with care by men and women who dedicated more than 1,760 hours of their lives to them, it is because democracy won. Otherwise, they would be destroyed forever," said Lula.

"Today is the day to say loud and clear, we are still here," he said, in a nod to Brazilian Oscar hopeful "I'm Still Here", a true story about the country's military dictatorship which on Sunday earned lead actress Fernanda Torres a Golden Globe.

"We are here to say loud and clear, dictatorship never again, democracy always," said Lula.


The 2023 attack on the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court came a week after Lula was inaugurated, with Bolsonaro supporters calling for the military to oust him and claiming the election was stolen.

The Brasilia riots stunned the world with striking echoes of the US Capitol insurrection two years earlier by supporters of Donald Trump.

A total of 21 damaged artworks have been restored and returned to the seats of power in Brazil.


Among the most iconic items restored is the modernist painting "As Mulatas," by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, which had been slashed with knives.

A 17th-century clock crafted by Balthazar Martinot, watchmaker to the French king Louis XIV, was also returned to the presidential collection after being repaired in Switzerland.

Security was tight around Three Powers Plaza, where a man blew himself up in November in front of the Supreme Court in an incident police deemed to be a terrorist act.

- 'An aberration' -

January 8, 2023 "was an extremely sad day for Brazilians," said Shirley Altoe, a teacher and Lula supporter attending the ceremony.

"It was an aberration, something unimaginable. It really hurt my heart. We are here to defend democracy. This must not happen again," she added.


To date, 371 people have been convicted of their involvement in the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasilia, whether as direct participants, financiers, or instigators.

Bolsonaro, who was in the United States that day, is under investigation for his role as an instigator of the riots.

Prosecutors are also weighing whether to charge him for his alleged involvement in a coup plot to prevent Lula from taking office.


Police further alleged that Bolsonaro was "fully aware" of a plot to assassinate Lula.

Bolsonaro has denied the coup allegation and says he is the victim of "persecution."

Bolsonaro's allies have pushed in Congress for an amnesty for those involved in the Brasilia riots.


"No one was or will be unjustly imprisoned. All will pay for the crimes they committed," said Lula, including those who planned his assassination.

Lula returned to the presidential palace this week after his recovery from emergency surgery in December following a brain hemorrhage linked to a fall he had at home in October.

© Agence France-Presse

FASCIST YOUTH

YouTube patriots? The men backing South Korea's impeached president

Agence France-Presse
January 9, 2025 

A growing contingent of younger, conservative men are joining the elderly supporters of impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol (Anthony WALLACE/AFP)

Fears of North Korea, online conspiracies and unproven claims of electoral fraud -- conservative South Korean men told AFP why they had descended on impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's residence to protect him from arrest.

Those rallying outside his Seoul residence have mainly been elderly, right-leaning voters -- but AFP reporters identified a growing number of younger, men in attendance.

AFP spoke to them to find out why:

- Martial law 'necessary' -

Outside Yoon's hilltop residence in the affluent Hannam-dong neighbourhood, Lee Dong-cheol, 38, told AFP he believed Yoon's declaration of martial law was justified.

The opposition Democratic Party using its majority in parliament to neuter Yoon's presidency after a landslide win in April's legislative election is one of the key reasons analysts think he made the bungled declaration.
"In a situation where the Democratic Party is abusing impeachment and monopolising the legislation, I think declaring martial law was inevitable and absolutely necessary," he said.

"I won't be able to stand the situation where the president is impeached, leading to pro-North Korea left-wing Lee Jae-myung ruining the country," he added, repeating unproven claims the country's progressive opposition was in bed with the nuclear-armed neighbour.

- Economic woes -

Yoon supporter Kim Kyung-jin, 25, came out in sub-zero conditions to rally for the suspended president because of economic considerations, including rising living costs and youth unemployment.


"I believe the conservative party is more competent on the economic front," he told AFP.

"What I really hope for is that the economy gets revived, improving the working environment and addressing issues like unemployment," he said.

- YouTube patriots -


YouTube has played a key role in energizing Yoon's base, with his more extreme supporters, including popular right-wing YouTube personalities and Evangelical pastors, livestreaming the protests online.

Yoon himself has told protesters he is watching them online, and has sent messages of support, urging them to fight.

YouTube streamers "provide more detailed information about things that the media do not show, so it feels more relatable," said Shin Jong-ho, 34.


"The press just focus on putting big, negative headlines about us," he said, claiming mainstream media did not deliver a substantive analysis of the situation.

"I think that's why people prefer to watch YouTube, because they present information more accurately. And it seems to be forging a stronger sense of unity among the conservatives."

- North Korea plot? -


Kim Seung-bin, 38, also agreed that YouTube was what pushed him to hit the streets in support of Yoon.

"A lot of individual YouTubers are doing live broadcasts, and I thought, 'I should also go out,' after watching them," he said.For Kim, the livestreams helped him realize that the protests were "at the core, it's a battle between patriotic forces and anti-state forces," he added.

Repeating a widely debunked conspiracy theory that the opposition party was in cahoots with Pyongyang and Beijing, he said: "I think pro-China and pro-North Korea forces are controlling the country from behind."

He also repeated the impeached president's unproven claim that the election commission has refused access to inspections of its servers.

"I believe the key to healing the divisions in our society lies in uncovering whether election fraud took place," he said.

Yoon has cited purported concerns about the integrity of the country's electoral systems as a factor in his decision to declare martial law.

The election commission told AFP no evidence of fraud was found in the 2020 parliamentary election nor has any emerged after last year's parliamentary vote.

- Media distrust -

Hundreds of Yoon's supporters have rallied against his arrest, gathering near his hilltop residence in the Seoul's affluent Hannam-dong neighborhood"The Democratic Party had basically established legislative dictatorship," he said, because of its majority in parliament.

"Despite all of this, the media has been so biased and has portrayed the president as the evil force, so I thought the people should take action, which is why I came out."


© Agence France-Presse

SPACE / COSMOS

Japan startup hopeful ahead of second moon launch


By AFP
January 8, 2025


ispace wants to win its own place in space exploration history 

- Copyright AFP Philip FONG

Kyoko HASEGAWA

Japanese startup ispace vowed its upcoming second unmanned Moon mission will be a success, saying Thursday that it learned from its failed attempt nearly two years ago.

In April 2023, the firm’s first spacecraft made an unsalvageable “hard landing”, dashing its ambitions to be the first private company to touch down on the Moon.

The Houston-based Intuitive Machines accomplished that feat last year with an uncrewed craft that landed at the wrong angle but was able to complete tests and send photos.

With another mission scheduled to launch next week, ispace wants to win its place in space history at a booming time for missions to the Moon from both governments and private companies.

“We at ispace were disappointed in the failure of Mission 1,” ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters.

“But that’s why we hope to send a message to people across Japan that it’s important to challenge ourselves again, after enduring the failure and learning from it.”

“We will make this Mission 2 a success,” he said.

Its new lander, called Resilience, will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15, along with another lunar lander built by US company Firefly Aerospace.

If Resilience lands successfully, it will deploy a micro rover and five other payloads from corporate partners.

These include an experiment by Takasago Thermal Engineering, which wants to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas with a view to using hydrogen as satellite and spacecraft fuel.



– Rideshare –



Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will arrive at the Moon after travelling 45 days, followed by ispace’s Resilience, which the Japanese company hopes will land on the Earth’s satellite at the end of May, or in June.

For the programme, officially named Hakuto-R Mission 2, ispace chose to cut down on costs by arranging the first private-sector rocket rideshare, Hakamada said.

Only five nations have soft-landed spacecraft on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and, most recently, Japan.

Many companies are vying to offer cheaper and more frequent space exploration opportunities than governments.

Space One, another Japanese startup, is trying to become Japan’s first company to put a satellite into orbit — with some difficulty so far.

Last month, Space One’s solid-fuel Kairos rocket blasted off from a private launchpad in western Japan but was later seen spiralling downwards in the distance.

That was the second launch attempt by Space One after an initial try in March last year ended in a mid-air explosion.

Meanwhile Toyota, the world’s top-selling carmaker, announced this week it would invest seven billion yen ($44 million) in Japanese rocket startup Interstellar Technologies.

“The global demand for small satellite launches has surged nearly 20-fold, from 141 launches in 2016 to 2,860 in 2023,” driven by private space businesses, national security concerns and technological development, Interstellar said.

U.S. astronauts upbeat seven months into eight-day mission

THANKS TO BOEING

Agence France-Presse
January 9, 2025 

Astronauts Butch Wilmore (far left) and Suni Williams (right), accompanied by astronauts Nick Hague and Don Pettit, on the International Space Station (ISS), January 8, 2025 (Handout)


Two U.S. astronauts who have been stuck for months on the International Space Station (ISS) said Wednesday they have plenty of food, are not facing a laundry crisis, and don't yet feel like castaways.


Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, and were due to spend only eight days on the orbiting laboratory.

But problems with the Starliner's propulsion system prompted NASA to change plans, with a return flight now scheduled for late March at the earliest.


Williams said spirits were still high despite the unexpectedly long stay in space.

"It's just been a joy to be working up here," he said during a call with NASA officials.

"It doesn't feel like we're cast away," he added. "Eventually we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago but we have a lot to do while we're up here."


Wilmore chuckled while offering reassurance about food supply.

"We are well fed," he said.

Laundry requirements are also not comparable to Earth, he explained.


"Clothes fit loosely up here. It's not like on Earth where you sweat and it gets bad. I mean, they fit loosely. So you can wear things honestly, for weeks at a time, and it doesn't bother you at all," he said.

After the propulsion problems developed, NASA ultimately decided to return the spacecraft to Earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home with the members of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

Crew-9's two astronauts arrived at the ISS aboard a Dragon spacecraft in late September, with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan was for all four to return home in February 2025.


But the return was postponed last month when NASA announced that Crew-10, which would relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no earlier than March 2025, and both teams would remain on board for a "handover period."

According to those timelines, Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to spend more than nine months in space.

"When we get home, we'll have lots of stories to tell," Williams said.


cha-bs/des

© Agence France-Presse

Yakuza leader pleads guilty in U.S. court to conspiring to sell nuclear material

Agence France-Presse
January 9, 2025 


Takeshi Ebisawa boasted to an undercover officer he had access to large quantities of nuclear materials that he sought to sell (Philip FONG/AFP)

A member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld pleaded guilty to handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal, US authorities said Wednesday.

Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offenses, and both were remanded.

He was then additionally charged in February 2024 with conspiring to sell weapons-grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Myanmar, and to purchase military weaponry on behalf of an armed insurgent group, prosecutors said.


The military weaponry to be part of the arms deal included surface-to-air missiles, the indictment alleged.

"As he admitted in federal court today, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma," said Acting US attorney Edward Kim, using another name for Myanmar.

"At the same time, he worked to send massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy-duty weaponry such as surface-to-air missiles to be used on battlefields in Burma."


Prosecutors alleged that Ebisawa, 60, "brazenly" moved material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, alongside drugs, from Myanmar.

From 2020, Ebisawa boasted to an undercover officer he had access to large quantities of nuclear materials that he sought to sell, providing photographs of materials alongside Geiger counters registering radiation.

During a sting operation including undercover agents, Thai authorities assisted US investigators in seizing two powdery yellow substances that the defendant described as "yellowcake."

"The (US) laboratory determined that the isotope composition of the plutonium found in the Nuclear Samples is weapons-grade, meaning that the plutonium, if produced in sufficient quantities, would be suitable for use in a nuclear weapon," the Justice Department said in its statement at the time.

One of Ebisawa's co-conspirators claimed they "had available more than 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of Thorium-232 and more than 100 kilograms of uranium in the compound U3O8 -- referring to a compound of uranium commonly found in the uranium concentrate powder known as 'yellowcake'."

The indictment claimed Ebisawa had suggested using the proceeds of the sale of nuclear material to fund weapons purchases on behalf of an unnamed ethnic insurgent group in Myanmar.

Ebisawa faces up to 20 years imprisonment for the trafficking of nuclear materials internationally.

Prosecutors describe Ebisawa as a "leader of the Yakuza organized crime syndicate, a highly organized, transnational Japanese criminal network that operates around the world (and whose) criminal activities have included large-scale narcotics and weapons trafficking."

Sentencing will be determined by the judge in the case at a later date, prosecutors said.


© Agence France-Presse