ERASING LIBERAL IDEAS

'Graywashing the values out of America': Quantico mural goes viral as symbol for Trump

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Matthew Chapman
January 31, 2025

 RAW STORY

FBI logo. (Photo credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock)

As President Donald Trump's administration moves to terminate FBI officials who were involved in criminal investigations against him, a picture began to go viral of a redecorating project taking place at the FBI's training academy at Quantico, which many viewed as symbolic of what is to come for federal law enforcement under Trump's leadership.

The image showed an official covering a wall with gray paint, which had previously been a mural of words espousing values FBI agents are meant to embody, like "Fairness," "Diversity," "Integrity," "Respect," and "Compassion."

The FBI told The Washington Post in a statement that all visual and informational materials promoting diversity as a core value were being removed.

“The FBI is fully complying with the executive order regarding DEI programs,” the statement said. “While diversity is no longer an organizational core value for our employees, the FBI continues its work to serve and protect all Americans.”

Commenters on social media exploded over the image.

"FBI academy, Quantico, VA, 2025," wrote Trump University prosecutor Tristan Snell. "Donald Trump, literally graywashing the values out of America."

"This photograph was taken two days ago at the FBI Academy in Quantico and submitted to the NYT under the condition of anonymity," wrote Texas pastor Zach W. Lambert. "If a picture is usually worth a thousand words, this one is worth millions."

"Literally white washing the FBI," wrote reporter Jennifer Schulze. "Out: integrity, stability, respect, leadership, fairness, diversity; In: revenge, enemies lists, prosecuting the prosecutors, lawlessness, chaos."

"Overheard from LGBT servicemember: 'If only it had occurred to us to paint diversity, equity, inclusion word clouds onto the sides of our rusting warships in December, this administration might actually be accomplishing something useful right now,'" wrote Duffel Blog writer and satirist "Dark Laughter."

"Assuming we make it through the next couple of decades, this will be an incredible image for future historians/students of the Trump era," wrote historian Nicholas Guyatt.

'Not normal': Trump admin trashed as government websites expected to go dark

Sarah K. Burris
January 31, 2025 


Most federal government websites will go dark at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News reported. The information was confirmed to her about 10 minutes before the sites went offline.

Ryan Broderick, a former BuzzFeed tech reporter who now runs The Garbage Day newsletter, posted on Bluesky that a source sent him a copy of the anti-gender ideology memo that was being shared around federal government agencies on Friday.

"This was sent to the Department of Health and Human Services. They have a 5 PM deadline to take down 'all outward facing media... that inculcate or promote gender ideology,'" he said.

Jacobs said a reporter asked if the websites were going dark to remove any DEI-related content.

"If they want to scrub the websites, that's OK with me," Trump told reporters.

Politico reported from an internal email that Department of Agriculture staff was ordered to delete pages on climate change.

Reuters said that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as other federal health agencies, were ordered to remove webpages, forms, and programs that had anything to do with what Republicans call "gender ideology extremism."

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that data about HIV/AIDS was being removed from U.S. health sites as well.


As of publication, some websites were still live, but the former 2016 Clinton Campaign press secretary noticed that the Census Bureau was offline.

"It is not normal for a democracy to go dark," the anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project wrote in response.

"HOW ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO GET RESOURCES? Americans use these websites every day to access basic government services!" exclaimed Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens (D).

Open government advocate Alexander B. Howerd noted: "There are several federal websites that are mandated by Congress, like http://FOIA.gov & @usdatagov & @usaspending, but most are not, along with the data on them. Not seeing widespread takedowns yet, but would welcome any and all tips."

Lori Lodes, the executive director of Climate Power, noted on X that when she worked for Barack Obama's administration, she oversaw the websites for HealthCare.gov and Medicare.gov.

"Government websites do more than provide critical information to help people — they connect people to life-saving services. Families and kids will pay a steep price for Trump dismantling the government," she said.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Sophia A. Nelson reminded Americans, "This is not normal!"

Investigative reporter Steven Monacelli from the Texas Tribune posted on X, "It appears that the destruction of information, and the consequent confusion that destruction creates, is a feature of this administration's strategy."

Parkland school shooting victim father Fred Guttenberg was not as kind. "F--K THIS MAFIA DON IN THE WHITE HOUSE. As for his elected enablers, the next two years are about you. Election season has begun."

One individual, Alexander McCoy, posted on X, "Please I just need to make my VA appointments."

The VA was still live at publication.

'Great concern': Musk aides reportedly lock career civil servants out of computer

 systems

Sarah K. Burris
January 31, 2025

RAW STORY


The aides Elon Musk brought to help him purge the federal workforce have locked staffers of a U.S. government human resources agency out of the computer systems with millions of employees' personal information.

Reuters cited two agency officials revealing that Musk, who has not been hired, appointed, or confirmed to any government position, is at work trying to cut $2 trillion from the annual U.S. budget. Musk would still need to find over $1.3 trillion in additional cuts if every federal employee was cut. The cost of the entire federal workforce in 2022 was approximately $271 billion, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

The New York Times reported this week that billionaire Musk brought in his computer engineers to handle his ongoing demands.

As Musk brings his staff to the Office of Personnel Management, senior officials' access to data systems is being revoked.

"We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the officials said. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."

One key database, the officials cited, is Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which has "all of the birthdates, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and lengths of service of government workers."

Reuters spoke with University of Michigan Professor Don Moynihan, at the Ford School of Public Policy, who warned that there doesn't seem to be any congressional oversight over Trump and Musk.

"This makes it much harder for anyone outside Musk's inner circle at OPM to know what's going on," Moynihan said.

The officials said they still have the power to log on and access their emails but there's no access to the massive datasets they managed.

Musk demands that his team work overnight and 80-hour weeks to find all of the necessary cuts, violating federal labor laws unless a worker is paid overtime. However, it's unclear whether Musk or American taxpayers are paying those workers.

Musk had sofa beds brought into the OPM office on Jan. 20, the day Trump took office, to ensure his personal team could work non-stop. The area can only be accessed with a special security badge or a security escort, an OPM employee said.


Read the full report here.

HISTORICAL REVISIONISM

'Absolutely furious': Pioneering female astronomer’s legacy rewritten amid diversity purge

Lisa Song, ProPublica
January 31, 2025 

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. 

During his first presidential term, Donald Trump signed a congressional act naming a federally funded observatory after the late astronomer Vera Rubin. The act celebrated her landmark research on dark matter — the invisible, mysterious substance that makes up much of the universe — and noted that she was an outspoken advocate for the equal treatment and representation of women in science.

“Vera herself offers an excellent example of what can happen when more minds participate in science,” the observatory’s website said of Rubin — up until recently.

By Monday morning, a section of her online biography titled, “She advocated for women in science,” was gone. It reappeared in a stripped-down form later that day amid a chaotic federal government response to Trump’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

While there are far more seismic changes afoot in America than the revision of three paragraphs on a website, the page’s edit trail provides an opportunity to peer into how institutions and agencies are navigating the new administration’s intolerance of anything perceived as “woke” and illuminates a calculation officials must make in answering a wide-open question:

How far is too far when it comes to acknowledging inequality and advocating against it?

“Vera Rubin, whose career began in the 1960s, faced a lot of barriers simply because she was a woman,” the altered section of the bio began. “She persisted in studying science when her male advisors told her she shouldn't,” and she balanced her career with raising children, a rarity at the time. “Her strength in overcoming these challenges is admirable on its own, but Vera worked even harder to help other women navigate what was, during her career, a very male-dominated field.”

That first paragraph disappeared temporarily, then reappeared, untouched, midday Monday.

That was not the case for the paragraph that followed: “Science is still a male-dominated field, but Rubin Observatory is working to increase participation from women and other people who have historically been excluded from science. Rubin Observatory welcomes everyone who wants to contribute to science, and takes steps to lower or eliminate barriers that exclude those with less privilege.”

That paragraph was gone as of Thursday afternoon, as was the assertion that Rubin shows what can happen when “more minds” participate in science. The word “more” was replaced with “many,” shifting the meaning.

“I’m sure Vera would be absolutely furious,” said Jacqueline Mitton, an astronomer and author who co-wrote a biography of Rubin’s life. Mitton said the phrase “more minds” implies that “you want minds from people from every different background,” an idea that follows naturally from the now-deleted text on systemic barriers.

She said Rubin, who died in 2016, would want the observatory named after her to continue her work advocating for women and other groups who have long been underrepresented in science.

It’s unclear who ordered the specific alterations of Rubin’s biography. The White House, the observatory and the federal agencies that fund it, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, did not respond to questions from ProPublica.

The observatory’s page on diversity, equity and inclusion was also missing Thursday afternoon. An archived version from Dec. 19 shows that it described the institution’s efforts “to ensure fair and unbiased execution” of the hiring process, including training hiring committee members “on unconscious bias.” The DEI program also included educational and public outreach efforts, such as “meeting web accessibility standards” and plans to build partnerships with “organizations serving audiences traditionally under-represented” in science and technology.

Similar revisions are taking shape across the country as companies have reversed their DEI policies and the Trump administration has placed employees working on DEI initiatives on leave.

If the changes to Rubin’s biography are any indication of what remains acceptable under Trump’s vision for the federal government, then certain facts about historical disparities are safe for now. But any recognition that these biases persist appears to be in the crosshairs.

The U.S. Air Force even pulled training videos about Black airmen and civilian women pilots who served in World War II. (The Air Force later said it would continue to show the videos in training, but certain material related to diversity would be suspended for review.)

One of Rubin’s favorite sayings was, “Half of all brains are in women,” Mitton said. Her book recounts how Rubin challenged sexist language in science publications, advocated for women to take leadership roles in professional organizations and declined to speak at an event in 1972 held at a club where women were only allowed to enter through a back door.

Jacqueline Hewitt, who was a graduate student when she met Rubin at conferences, said she was inspired by Rubin’s research and how she never hid the fact that she had kids. “It was really important to see someone who could succeed,” said Hewitt, the Julius A. Stratton professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It felt like you could succeed also.”

Rubin was awarded the National Medal of Science by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993. The observatory, located in a part of Chile where conditions are ideal for observational astronomy, was named after her in 2019 and includes a powerful telescope; it will “soon witness the explosions of millions of dying stars” and “capture the cosmos in exquisite detail,” according to its website.

Mitton said the observatory is a memorial that continues Rubin’s mission to include not just many people in astronomy, but more of those who haven’t historically gotten a chance to make their mark.

“It’s very sad that’s being undermined,” she said, “because the job isn’t done.”

Overwhelmed? DC crash puts spotlight on US air traffic agency

By AFP
January 31, 2025


The control tower pictured at Reagan National Airport after an American Airlines plane crashed on its approach to the runway

 - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Andrew Harnik

John BIERS

Prior to this week’s fatal airplane crash in Washington, the US air traffic control (ATC) system was regarded as an understaffed operation beset with old and sometimes obsolete equipment.

While the investigation into the collision between a regional passenger jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter remains at an early phase, the tragic end to the United States’ 16-year streak of no fatal commercial air crashes promises to keep the ATC’s issues in focus.

A government auditor warned last year the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) troubling record on technology upgrades risked leaving it overwhelmed amid rising demand.

Turning things around “will be the work of many years and billions of dollars,” Kevin Walsh of the Government Accountability Office told a Senate panel.

Longstanding troubles have led to periodic efforts to privatize US air traffic control — something conservatives were positioning for ahead of the second Trump administration.

In December, the libertarian Cato Institute described the ATC system as “antiquated, mismanaged and… headed for a crisis,” arguing the ATC was ideal for privatization under White House advisor and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s push to slim down government.

But Michael McCormick, a former FAA control tower manager, noted that privatization campaigns have previously failed because of opposition from established aviation interests.

“This tragic accident is definitely going to put a spotlight on the national air traffic system and may finally result in a proper funding level so the system can be upgraded and maintained,” he said in an interview.

McCormick credited newer technology with enabling the ATC system to shift from ground- to satellite-based infrastructure, facilitating the ability of controllers to transmit messages directly to planes without using a phone

– Staffing crunch –

The agency’s staffing shortfall is a longstanding problem, McCormick added, due partly to the mandatory retirement age and periodic government shutdowns that have hit recruitment.

These problems worsened during the pandemic, which temporarily halted training.

A shortage of air traffic controllers became a major gripe when airlines began ramping up service amid a surge in travel demand from consumers eager to see the world after Covid-19 lockdowns.

Busy hubs like New York City and Miami now have two-thirds or fewer of the number of needed air traffic controllers.

In light of the shortage, the Federal Aviation Administration has waived minimum flight requirements at New York airports, allowing carriers to fly fewer flights while still retaining their takeoff and landing slots.

The FAA has renewed this waiver — first granted in 2023 — through October 2025 in a sign the agency does not expect the air traffic controller labor crunch to ease this summer.

Industry officials point to a FAA report which cited a staff shortage of about 3,000 controllers.

There were around 10,800 air traffic controllers at the end of 2024. The agency hired more than 1,800 last year and has a goal of hiring 2,000 this year, the Department of Transportation said in December.

Airlines for America, which represents major US carriers, has worked with the FAA and universities to expand controller training at more schools, expanding capacity beyond the FAA’s training center in Oklahoma City.

Louisiana Tech University was recently approved by the agency to offer curricula. It will begin offering basic instruction this spring under its four-year undergraduate program.

The FAA “really want us to get in the program,” said Matthew Montgomery, head of professional aviation at Louisiana Tech University. “They want more people in there to relieve the stresses.”

'Excuse me': Trump gets snippy with reporter as he doubles down on DEI claim

Sarah K. Burris
January 31, 2025 

RAW STORY

President Donald Trump got snippy with reporters Friday afternoon who questioned his claims that diversity programs contributed to a mid-air collision this week that killed 67 people in Washington, D.C.

Speaking to reporters while signing another executive order that will usher in 25% trade tariffs on all imports coming in from Mexico and Canada, Trump doubled down on his claim.

"I was right on all of it," he said, "but they'll still do an investigation just to check it o

ALSO READ: Tears turn to anger at Capitol as Trump blames DEI for American Airlines crash

"This was all caused by bad rules, regulations and other things by [President Joe] Biden," Trump repeated. "The Biden administration — and when you look at the way they ran things, in fact, if you look, we hired — one of the first things I told them to do, I said, get talented people in those, in those beautiful towers overlooking runways. You better get them in there fast, because we don't have people there that are qualified."

Trump made large staff cuts at federal agencies responsible for aviation oversight. One was removing the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, but he also eliminated all the members of a key aviation security advisory group.

The Federal Aviation Administration was another place where Trump ushered in his shake-up. Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk has feuded with the top FAA team for issuing fines to his SpaceX for violating airspace regulations. Those top two employees quit on Jan. 20, leaving the department without leadership.

"You knew that because planes were landing very, very late. They were circling all over the place. We had people that didn't know what the hell they were doing," claimed Trump.

The reporter attempted to fact-check his statements from the government agencies conflicting with his account and Trump appeared to become agitated.

"And if you look, excuse me, and there are other — excuse me, excuse me," Trump snipped. "They, uh, we have to have the best people, the smartest people, the sharpest people as control tower experts. And that's what they have to be. They have to be experts, and they have to be very smart. And we didn't have our best. And if you read the quote that I read yesterday at the news conference, it talked about people that were psychologically injured, were okay, and people that had lots of problems were — okay? I'd read it again if you'd like me to, but I don't think I have to waste your time."

See the video below or at the link here.

FAA workers pushed to find ‘higher productivity jobs’ 24 hours after deadly crash: report

Erik De La Garza
January 31, 2025 
RAW STORY

A view of the air traffic control tower at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., January 31, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

Just 24 hours after the worst U.S. aviation disaster in decades, employees at the Federal Aviation Administration received a mass email encouraging them to search for more productive jobs outside of government.

That’s according to a new report in The New York Times, which added that the email sent by the Office of Personnel Management just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday urged FAA employees – including air traffic controllers – to act on an offer to resign sent across federal agencies earlier in the week.

“We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so,” according to the email, which the Times reviewed. “The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.”

The email also suggested that federal employees could seek out a second job or even travel to a “dream destination” of their choice while still remaining on the government payroll for months before their permanent departure, the Times reported.

But details about that offer remain murky as it has been relayed to employees throughout the years that taking a second job while employed by the federal government is not legal.

Employees throughout federal agencies, including Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Justice Department, reportedly also received the email.

But, as the Times noted, “its tone and timing hit hard at the F.A.A., current and former employees said, given its proximity to the fatal air crash that may have stemmed in part from reduced staffing.”

The email came as a follow-up to a proposal the federal workforce began receiving Tuesday offering them resignation buyouts, though some federal employees reported being skeptical of the offer, which some say created chaos.

AMERIKA

Crisis averted after all air traffic controllers resign at 'hugely important' airport

Carl Gibson,

 AlterNet
January 31, 2025 

A plane flies next to an air traffic control near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Update: The resignations were rescinded at the last minute following tense contract negotiations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Original: One California airport is now without any air traffic controllers, and it's unclear when the airport will be able to replace them.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that beginning this weekend, the San Carlos Airport, which lies along the final approach to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), will no longer have anyone manning its control tower. The resignations came after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reassigned controllers' contracts to a firm that pays less.

Airport manager Gretchen Kelly said "understandably, all current controllers have declined [the firm's new] offers." The proposed compensation packages for air traffic controllers reportedly did not account for the Bay Area having the highest cost of living in the nation, which is roughly 18% higher than the national average. The region has had the highest cost of living in the U.S. for six consecutive years, with the San Jose and Napa areas close behind.

San Carlos Flight Center owner Alessandro Franco said air traffic control at the airport is "hugely important" due to its proximity to SFO and its typically busy airspace. Aircraft approaching the San Carlos Airport alternates between communicating with air traffic controllers at San Carlos and those at SFO. Now, he's worried the resignation of controllers will mean there is "another layer of safety that’s not going to be present."

"We’re a mile or two off the final approaches to SFO — it’s a complex space," Franco told the Chronicle. "This is a situation that puts us in limbo next to these busy airports."

Kelly has asked the FAA for additional staffing help for the San Carlos control tower, but her request was refused. Other airports in California are dealing with chronic shortages of air traffic controllers, which has become a worsening problem over the years. The Chico Airport, which the Chronicle noted was a "hub" for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now has just one controller.

The resignation of the San Carlos air traffic controllers comes on the heels of a deadly crash at the Washington D.C. National Airport involving an American Airlines regional jet and a Black Hawk U.S. Army helicopter, with 67 presumed dead from the incident. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who used to pilot Black Hawk helicopters as a combat veteran in Iraq, said that letters President Donald Trump's administration sent to federal workers this week asking them to quit their jobs could be partially to blame for the crash.

Click here to read the Chronicle's report

US newspaper popularized by ‘The Sopranos’ to cease printing


By AFP
January 31, 2025


The newspaper, unfolded by mob boss Tony Soprano in the iconic New Jersey mafia series, won the coveted Pulitzer Prize in 2005 - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Andrew Burton

Andréa BAMBINO

Two longstanding US city newspapers, including one immortalized in “The Sopranos,” will vanish from newsstands leaving Jersey City without printed news as the media struggles against headwinds nationwide.

Across the river from New York, the rapid demise of New Jersey’s Star-Ledger — read by fictional mob boss Tony Soprano — and The Jersey Journal has left locals without a physical paper and some journalists, paperboys and printers without jobs.

“I’m heartbroken,” said Margaret Doman, at the foot of a cluster of mushrooming buildings in Jersey City, within eyesight of Manhattan.

“I use The Jersey Journal for a lot of things — not just to read the news, but to post information, and to get in tune with what’s going on around the town,” said the long-time resident and community activist.

“The Jersey Journal ceasing publication is like losing an old friend,” said one letter to the editor.

In the thick of Journal Square, named for the daily founded in 1867, “Jersey Journal” in giant red letters adorns the building that once housed the newsroom, long since displaced.

With 17 employees and fewer than 15,000 copies sold daily, the Jersey Journal could not withstand the body blow that was the closure of the printworks it shared with The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest daily, which goes all-digital this weekend.

The Star-Ledger’s president Wes Turner pointed to an op-ed on NJ.com that stated the closure was forced by “rising costs, decreasing circulation and reduced demand for print.”

The newspaper, which featured in the iconic New Jersey mafia TV series, won the coveted Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for a series of articles on the political upheavals of then-governor Jim McGreevey.

But the scoops did not save the daily, as sales plummeted and the title went through several rounds of painful buyouts.

With the switch to all-digital, even its editorial board will be abolished, announced one of its members, Tom Moran.



– ‘Tangible consequences’ –



The decline of the local press has been a slow, painful death across the United States.

According to the latest report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, more than one-third of newspapers — 3,300 in all — have gone out of print since 2005.

They have been victims of declining readership and the consolidation of titles into a handful of corporate masters.

“When a newspaper disappears, there’s a number of tangible consequences,” said the report’s director, Zach Metzger.

“Voter participation tends to decline. Split-ticket voting tends to decline. Incumbents are reelected more often. Rates of corruption can increase. Rates of police misconduct can increase.”

Fewer local papers and the domination of major national issues in the news cycle are also often given as reasons for the rampant polarization of American society between left and right.

Steve Alessi, president of NJ Advance Media — which owns The Jersey Journal and The Star-Ledger — wrote on NJ.com that the termination of print “represents the next step into the digital future of journalism in New Jersey” and promised new investment for the website, which claims over 15 million unique monthly visitors.

He touted several flagship investigative projects on political extremism, as well as mismanagement in the region’s private schools, the production of podcasts, and newsletters to attract new readers.

“There is still a digital divide across the country… My concern is for people who are not digitally acclimated, they still go to their public libraries or a newsstand to see a physical copy of the paper,” said Kenneth Burns, president of New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists.

“There are not a whole lot of outlets keeping tabs on local affairs already,” he said, calling The Star-Ledger an “institution.”

Trio of rare tiger cubs spotted in Thai national park


By AFP
January 31, 2025


Bengal tigers are endangered but there have been recent conservation successes in Nepal and India - Copyright AFP/File

 ALFREDO ESTRELLA

A national park in Thailand has not one but three reasons to celebrate after confirming a rare Bengal tiger is raising a trio of cubs in the protected area.

Park rangers first spotted a single cub with its mother on a camera trap last year in Kaeng Krachan National Park, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of Bangkok.

But further footage, retrieved only this week from cameras damaged by heavy rain last year, confirmed that the litter is three-strong.

“This is the first time we have recorded a tiger raising three cubs in the national park,” Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Mongkol Chaipakdee said in a statement sent to AFP on Friday.

“We were only able to recover the footage this week because our camera was damaged due to rain last year.”

The camera trap footage shows the three cubs scampering in leaf litter while their mother prowls around.

The video of the feline family captured in July was published by the national park on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

“Based on the timeline, we estimate the cubs are now about six months old,” Mongkol said.

Six adult Bengal tigers currently live in Kaeng Krachan National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage site spread over densely forested mountains along the border with Myanmar — two males, two females and two whose sex is unknown.

Bengal tiger sightings are rare.

However, park officials spotted another Bengal tiger in Kui Buri National park, south of the capital Bangkok, earlier this year.

It was the first sighting of the animal in that park in more than a decade, according to Thai authorities.

Thailand has one of the few remaining breeding populations of Bengal tigers, which roam just a handful of countries, including India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan.

Bengal tigers are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species due to hunting and wildlife trafficking.

Today, only around 4,500 are estimated to remain, according to the IUCN.

Conservation successes have increased the Bengal tiger populations in India and Nepal in recent years.

Istanbul opposition mayor slams ‘judicial harassment’


By AFP
January 31, 2025


Istanbul's popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu denounced the lawsuits against him as 'judicial harassment' - Copyright Rapid Support Forces (RSF)/AFP/File -

Fulya OZERKAN

Istanbul’s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, condemned on Friday what he described as “judicial harassment” targeting him, as thousands of supporters demanded justice outside the court.

Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, spoke after giving a statement in connection with two investigations opened against him earlier this month.

He is also fighting several other legal cases.

“We are experiencing the highest level of judicial harassment in Istanbul,” he told the crowds, standing on the roof of a bus after leaving Istanbul’s Caglayan court.

Imamoglu, who belongs to the main opposition CHP party and was re-elected mayor last year, vowed not to give up.

“We will keep on fighting against injustice,” he said.

His statement on Friday was in connection with two investigations into remarks he made about Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor and about a court-appointed expert witness involved in cases against CHP-run local councils.

He is accused of threatening, insulting and targeting an official and attempting to influence fair trial.

In his statement to the prosecutor, a copy of which was seen by AFP, Imamoglu denied all the allegations, saying he was simply exercising his right to free speech.

“There was no threat or targeting in my words. What I said was freedom of expression,” he said.

“Freedom of expression is a constitutional right.. (which) includes the right to criticise judicial authorities and the way they function,” he said.

-‘Conspiracy’-



Addressing the huge crowd, Imamoglu said there was a “conspiracy” against him.

Ankara’s opposition mayor Mansur Yavas, who was there to support him, accused the government of turning Turkey into an “open prison”.

Turkish authorities regularly target journalists, lawyers and elected political representatives, especially since the failed 2016 coup.

An Istanbul court on Thursday ordered the arrest of an opposition TV journalist for broadcasting an interview the authorities allege was conducted without the consent of the interviewee — none other than the court-appointed expert Imamoglu had criticised.

Among the crowd, some supporters wore Imamoglu face masks while others waved banners. There was a significant police presence.

“The government is trying to limit the space for opponents, including journalists, and intimidate them with unfair accusations,” said Fethi Kocaer, 71, holding a banner reading: “We will fight together.”

“Mayor Imamoglu’s courage and strong stance will help unite us. We will not give up but will step up the fight against injustice,” he told AFP.

Fevziye Yalcin, 57, said the cases against Imamoglu were meaningless.

“It just makes us even stronger in our desire to fight them. We will hold the government to account at the ballot box,” she said defiantly.

“Imamoglu will never walk alone.”

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/istanbul-opposition-mayor-slams-judicial-harassment/article#ixzz8z14807J0

Grim search for plane crash bodies as Trump doubles down


By AFP
January 31, 2025


A police boat gathers wreckage along the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a US Army helicopter 

- Copyright AFP PEDRO UGARTE

Sebastian Smith

US investigators insisted Friday they will not bow to outside pressure as they search for bodies and the remaining black box after the fatal Washington air collision, as President Donald Trump doubled down on political point scoring.

Twenty six bodies remain lost in the icy Potomac river where a regional passenger jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter fell after colliding in a fireball on Wednesday night.

Rescuers have scoured the murky waters day and night, and have now recovered 41 bodies.

They were also looking for the helicopter’s black box after retrieving the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier airliner operated by an American Airlines subsidiary.

The gruesome physical search is running parallel with a complex technical analysis of what went wrong.

The airliner was coming in to land at Reagan National Airport — just a few miles from the White House — when it collided with an Army helicopter on a training mission.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman said a preliminary report should be compiled in 30 days but “the overall investigation will probably take a year.”

“It has to be accurate,” he told CNN. “We’re not going to put something out quick just so we can end some speculation.”

Inman’s caution was in pointed contrast to Trump’s loud and politicized commentary ever since the first moments after the plane — on a routine flight from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people aboard — slammed into the Black Hawk, carrying three.



– ‘Not really too complicated’ –



Trump was at it again Friday, posting on his Truth Social platform: “The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”

This followed a torrent of posts and a press conference on Thursday where the Republican pinned the blame for the crash on his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama, claiming without evidence they had hired the wrong people due to anti-racism and other non-discrimination initiatives known as DEI.

“They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent,” Trump said.

Online discussions buzzed with conspiracy theories fed by Trump’s anti-DEI crusade.

Aviation experts, meanwhile, homed in on whether the helicopter crew were able to see through military night-vision goggles and whether the Reagan National control tower was understaffed.

According to a New York Times report, one controller, rather than the usual two, was handling both plane and helicopter traffic at the time.

Just 24 hours before the collision, another plane coming in to land at the airport had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path, The Washington Post and CNN reported, citing an audio recording from air traffic control.



– ‘Speculation’ –



Inman said the investigation would resist political pressure.

“Yes, absolutely,” he told CNN. “There’s a lot of people that have speculation and want to be heard in that regard. We understand that, but our job is to find, ultimately, what caused this and prevent it in the future.”

The head of the Air Line Pilots Association likewise pleaded for official investigators to be allowed to do their work.

“A lot of details and speculation will come out in response to this tragedy, but we must remember to let the investigation run its course,” Captain Jason Ambrosi said in a statement.

The collision was the first major crash in the United States since 2009.

Among those on the airliner were several US skaters and coaches, US Figure Skating said. Officials in Moscow also confirmed the presence of Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the 1994 world pairs title.

Two Chinese citizens were also among the victims of the crash, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the Chinese embassy.

A Filipino police officer was also on board, Philippine police said.