The ‘Silent Killer’: How To Stay Safe in Deadly Heatwaves

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The ‘Silent Killer’: How To Stay Safe in Deadly Heatwaves (Maria)

The author writes, “Heatwaves have grown hotter and stronger as the planet has warmed, making what doctors call a ‘silent killer’ even more dangerous. How worried should we be about heat — and how can we stay safe as the climate changes? Hot weather kills an estimated half a million people each year. … but heat is rarely listed as the cause of death. That’s because extreme temperatures are largely indirect killers that make illnesses such as heart, lung and kidney diseases worse.”

Trump Said No Taxpayer Money Would Be Spent on the Ballroom. A Contractor’s Invoices Show Otherwise (Dana)

The authors write, “Five months after the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, President Donald Trump claimed that the project to construct a massive ballroom and a bunker in its place would cost up to $400 million and that private donors would pay for all of it. ‘This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on March 31, describing the project as including bomb shelters and major medical facilities. But a detailed project summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s comments estimated the total construction cost at $600 million — with more than half coming from taxpayers, according to a copy of the contractor estimate obtained by The Washington Post.”

Israel Asked Facebook to Censor Iran War Content, Internal Documents Show (Sean)

From The Intercept: “Israel’s government asked Meta to censor social media content about its ongoing war against Iran, according to internal documents viewed by The Intercept. Company records show that Israel petitioned Meta to take down Facebook and Instagram posts expressing support for Iran, opposition to Israel, and even depictions of Iranian missile impacts. The government flagged a variety of materials related to the war, including posts mourning the death of Ayatollah Khamenei following his assassination by the U.S. and Israel on the opening day of the conflict, content supportive of Iran’s retaliatory attacks, and Iranian accounts that shared military analysis and propaganda sympathetic to the Iranian regime’s perspective. In some cases, Meta complied with the censorship requests, the records show, though it is unclear on what grounds. Meta maintains that it only removes content as required by law or materials that violate its speech policies.”

Son of Pro-Crypto New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Raises $30 Million To Launch a Derivatives Exchange (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “The 22-year-old son of a crypto-friendly senator plans to launch his own exchange for a type of derivative popularized by digital asset traders. Theodore Gillibrand, whose mother is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), has drummed up $30 million in a fundraise led by the venture firm Lux Capital, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The deal valued Theodore’s startup at $300 million, said the sources, who asked for anonymity to discuss private business dealings. Dubbed American Perpetuals Exchange Corp., or APEC, the trading platform aims to list perpetual futures, or ‘perps,’ a form of futures contracts that allow traders to bet on the price of assets without holding the assets themselves. As opposed to standard futures, these derivatives don’t have a set expiration date.”

World’s Richest 10% Are Costing Earth Trillions, Study Finds (Mili)

The author writes, “We’ve heard that the world’s wealthiest 10 percent are disproportionately responsible for environmental damage. Now, scientists have estimated just how much, in cold hard cash, those damages are worth. It’s difficult to put a price on the environment, and some scientists even argue it’s beside the point: that nature has intrinsic value, beyond the services it provides to us. But in some situations, it helps to try to put it in economic terms: especially when those are the terms the world’s wealthiest are used to dealing in. That’s what environmental scientists Inge Schrijver, Rutger Hoekstra, and Paul Behrens, all from Leiden University in the Netherlands, have done. The world’s top 10 percent of consumers, they calculate, owe society trillions for their environmental impact.”

The Mars Delusion (Laura)

From Noēma Magazine: “Establishing a human colony on Mars is fraught with risk. Why are so many people obsessed with achieving it?”

In One of California’s Trumpiest Counties, the MAGA Backlash Has Begun (Reader Jim)

From the San Francisco Chronicle: “‘People have seen the result of a MAGA-led government, whether it’s on a national level or a local level,’ said Mary Rickert, a lifelong Republican who served two terms on the [Shasta County] Board of Supervisors before losing to a Trump-aligned challenger in 2024. ‘They are seeing the consequences of putting people in positions they are not qualified (for).’ Shasta County, known for its homegrown militias, dueling secessionists, influential megachurch and enduring devotion to Trump-style politics, is having another bellwether moment. … ‘That tide has reversed with this latest election,’ observed Robb Korinke, a veteran political consultant who has been active in Shasta County politics since 2017. But tides come and go. And, as this one recedes, the locals breathing a sigh of relief say they are still assessing the damage left behind.”