#cnn.com

[blondebrainpowered]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sits for a police mugshot in February 1956 after he was arrested for directing the Montgomery bus boycott. 

[ethiack]

CNN's positive Obama-era ICE segment resurfaces amid negative coverage by network of Trump

A CNN segment covering an Immigration & Customs Enforcement Operation (ICE) during the Obama administration has been uncovered.

The segment, which aired on May 31, 2016, painted the immigration agency and its officers in a positive light.

Social media users who uncovered the segment claimed the network provided fairer coverage of ICE during the Obama era than that of US President Donald Trump's.

The segment, named 'A day with ICE in the 'Sanctuary City' of Chicago', featured reporter Pamela Brown tagging along with agents during an operation in Chicago.

Social media users posted the resurfaced CNN segment, with many noting how the network's tone on ICE changes between the Obama and Trump administrations.

[billyengland]

You CAN NOT HATE the media enough.

CNN’s Jake Tapper labels the J6 pipe bomber suspect Brian Cole a “30 year old WHITE man.”

I mean it's bad enough that Jake Tapper decided to bring race into this story --- of which I don't see the reasoning behind it --- but even then, GOT IT WRONG. Like I said, you can NOT hate the media enough.

[modernviga]

[xtruss]

Children Born Now May Live In A World Where The US Can Only Produce Half As Much of Its Key Food Crops

— By Laura Paddison | June 18, 2025

Storm clouds build above a corn field on August 27, 2024, near Platte City, Missouri. A new study finds US maize yields could plummet as the world warms, even as farmer adapt to climate change. Charlie Riedel/AP

Rising global temperatures are set to devastate food crops across the world, with particularly alarming impacts projected for the United States, where production of key crops could plummet 50% by the end of the century, according to a sweeping new analysis.

Of the many impacts of the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, damage to the global food system is one of the most terrifying. But the overall impact of climate change on crops — and how much it can be offset by farmers’ adaptations — has been hard to establish and hotly debated.

The new analysis, eight years in the making, is “the first attempt to really tackle both of those problems,” said Solomon Hsiang, a study author and professor of global environmental policy at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

The scientists analyzed six crops — maize, soybeans, rice, wheat, cassava and sorghum — in more than 12,000 regions across 54 countries. Together, these crops provide more than two thirds of humanity’s calories.

They also measured how real-world farmers are adapting to climate change, from changing crop varieties to adjusting irrigation, to calculate the overall impact of global warming.

Their findings are stark. Every 1 degree Celsius the world warms above pre-industrial levels will drag down global food production by an average of 120 calories per person per day, according to the study, published Wednesday in Nature.

This will push up prices and make it harder for people to access food, Hsiang said.

“If the climate warms by 3 degrees, that’s basically like everyone on the planet giving up breakfast,” he said. The world is currently on track for around 3 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century.

Wheat, soy and maize — high value crops for a lot of the world — will be especially badly affected, the study found.

If humans keep burning large amounts of fossil fuels, maize production could fall by 40% in the grain belt of the US, eastern China, central Asia, southern Africa and the Middle East; wheat production could fall by 40% in the US, China, Russia and Canada; and soybean yields could fall 50% in the US.

The only staple crop that might be able to avoid substantial losses is rice, which can benefit from warmer nighttime temperatures.

Climate Change Threatens Global Food Supply

Most of the world’s staple food crops are projected to suffer substantial production losses by the end of the century as global temperatures rise, even with farmers’ efforts to adapt to climate change, according to a new study.

Note: Data refects estimates in a high-emissions scenario. Source: Hultgren et al., Nature, 2025. “Impacts of climate change on global agriculture accounting for adaptation.” Graphic: Matt Stiles, CNN

One of the striking findings of the study is that some of the wealthiest countries are likely to be hardest hit.

Poorer parts of the world, where climate conditions are already fairly harsh, tend to be more adapted and better prepared for the impacts of the climate crisis, Hsiang said. Agricultural systems in breadbaskets such as the US and parts of Europe, however, are optimized for the current temperate climate, he said.

Global warming will be particularly devastating for the US, where it’s projected to reduce yields by 40% to 50% for all staple crops except rice, Hsiang said.

“Places in the Midwest that are really well suited for present day corn and soybean production just get hammered under a high warming future,” said study author Andrew Hultgren, an assistant professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “You do start to wonder if the Corn Belt is going to be the Corn Belt in the future.”

Lower-income countries won’t escape effects, however. Yields of the subsistence crop cassava will fall in sub-Saharan Africa as the world heats up, a substantial threat to nutrition for some of the world’s poorest people, the study found. “One reason people grow cassava is because it’s pretty robust to droughts, but we see that it is actually still very adversely affected by extreme heat conditions,” Hsiang said.

Cattle rancher Brad Randel walks through his drought-stricken cornfield on September 12, 2022 in McCook, Nebraska. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Shelby McClelland, a researcher specializing in climate change and agriculture at New York University who was not involved in the research, said the study reveals the importance of adaptation but also its limits. “The authors show that current adaptation decision-making is insufficient to ensure future food security,” she told CNN.

Erin Coughlan de Perez, an associate professor at Tufts University who specializes in climate risk management, said one of the study’s limitations is that it does not take into account two major climate adaptations: crop switching or changes to planting dates. In the US, for example, corn and soybean crops have moved northward. These changes could offset more climate impacts, she told CNN.

Ultimately, the findings add to a long list of alarming research about the global food system, said Tim Lang, professor emeritus of food policy at City St George’s, University of London.

“The data pile up. The politicians turn a blind eye… Land use is not altering fast or radically enough. Some pioneers do their best. But the net effect is that the global wriggle room diminishes,” he told CNN.

Hsiang hopes the study will provide more evidence for the urgent need to transform the energy system and the high costs of failing to doing so.

“This is a major problem. It’s incredibly expensive. As a species, we have never confronted anything like this.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

CNN launches a digital paywall, charging some users to read articles for the first time | CNN Business

CNN, one of the most popular news websites in the world, is starting to ask some of its visitors to pay $3.99 a month for access.

Brian Stelter at CNN:

CNN, one of the most popular news websites in the world, is starting to ask some of its visitors to pay $3.99 a month for access. On Tuesday, the news organization is laying the first bricks in a so-called paywall that should, over time, help foot the bill for CNN’s journalism around the world. “Starting today, we are asking users in the United States to pay a small recurring fee for unlimited access to CNN.com’s world-class articles,” Alex MacCallum, CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services, wrote in an internal memo outlining the plan. The average visitor to CNN’s website, who may only read a few articles a month, will not be prompted to pay at this time. “Only after users consume a certain number of free articles will they be prompted to subscribe,” MacCallum explained. “In addition to unlimited access to CNN.com’s articles, subscribers will receive benefits like exclusive election features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism, and fewer digital ads.”

[...] That paid offering is what’s launching on Tuesday – in a preliminary form that will expand in the months ahead. “Over time, we will invest in ways to better meet our users’ needs and expand our aperture to engage and serve new audiences,” MacCallum wrote Tuesday, hinting at “new products and businesses” in the future. For brands like CNN that make most of their money from cable television, the challenge is clear: to develop new digital revenue streams that can offset declines in legacy TV. Under previous management, CNN developed a streaming video product called CNN+ in 2022 to create direct-to-consumer relationships with fans of the network. That product, launching just days before a new corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, took control and looked for cost savings, was doomed, however. CNN+ was cancelled within a matter of weeks. CNN now intends to generate subscriptions with its core offerings. Some content, though, will remain fully accessible without a subscription, including the CNN homepage; breaking news live stories; standalone video pages; and sponsored articles.

CNN has begun its paywall launch, another disastrous trend of walling off high-quality reporting.

[3-art]

Was I wrong? And if so how.

[doubtspirit]

Sichuan spicy wonton or chao shou Photo: Adobe Stock

The spicy Sichuan wonton, or chao shou, comes to the table drenched in a spicy chili oil flavored with Sichuan peppercorn and a black vinegar sauce. The chao shou is boiled and the very best specimens are so slippery they're nearly impossible to pick up with chopsticks. The combination of savory meat, smooth wonton skin and tongue-numbing sauce, makes for the most pleasant runny nose you've ever had.