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It May Be Too Late to Stop Sea Level Rise, Scientists Warn - The Wednesday AM Quickie 5/21/25

By Corey Pein —

RIP George Wendt, better known as Norm from Cheers, who reportedly used to joke that when people saw him buying six-packs at the grocery store, he would tell them he needed to rehearse. - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

Latest Climate Study Suggests Coastal Cities Will Need to Move Inland 

The return of the Trump regime pretty much spells doom for the prospect of cutting US greenhouse gas emissions before the worst consequences of climate change begin to manifest. As if that weren't bad enough, a study published this week in the journal Communications Earth and Environment warns that the current level of human-caused global warming may already be high enough to melt the polar ice sheets, causing a major rise in sea levels and devastating coastal communities across the globe. The Washington Post reports:

"'Every fraction of a degree matters,' said Andrea Dutton, a research professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who was a co-author of the study. 'We can't just adapt to this type of sea-level rise. We can’t just engineer our way out of this.'
"Around 230 million people live within about three feet of sea level, the researchers noted. Over the coming centuries, if the Earth stays at the same temperature, the sea could rise several meters, displacing entire cities and even states.'"

Places closer to the equator will suffer the worst, with some inhabited Pacific islands going underwater "in a few centuries." The Guardian, which also covered the study, quotes the researchers warning that it could take thousands of years for the ice sheets to recover even if humanity gets its carbon pollution problem under control, leaving the land lost to sea level rise lost "perhaps until the Earth enters the next ice age." Something to look forward to, then!

Trumpocalypse: GOP's Big Bogus Bill Will Still Cut Medicaid, Rob the Poor to Give to the Rich

  • His Master's Voice: After Phone Chat with Putin, Trump Gives Up on Seeking Ceasefire in Ukraine Meanwhile, the regime plans to use $250 million in foreign aid funds to deport Ukranian and Haitian migrants back to their war-torn home countries, with $1,000 stipends offered to those who voluntarily "self-deport." via the New York Times, NBC News and the Washington Post.
  • In Rerun of Reagan Era 'Star Wars' Boondoggle, Trump Wants to Spend Half a Trillion Dollars Building a 'Golden Dome' Over the US The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rhode Island Rep. Jack Reed, calls the money dedicated to the nebulous defense project "essentially a slush fund." via the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
  • RFK Jr.'s FDA Will Limit Access to Covid Vaccines for People Under 65 The USDA, meanwhile, has for the first time allowed a state, Nebraska, to ban the purchase of soft drinks using food stamps. via the Washington Post and the New York Times.
  • Justice Department Opens Criminal Probe of Former Democratic Gov. and NYC Mayoral Candidate Andrew Cuomo The US Attorney's office in Washington, DC, which opened the investigation, is now run by Jeanine Pirro, who as a Fox News host yelled at Cuomo for what she described as negligent homicide during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying at the time, "You cannot escape the consequences of your intentional and reckless acts!" via the New York Times and NBC News.
  • Judge Orders Regime to Keep Custody of Migrants Deported to South Sudan to Ensure They Can Be Returned to the US Homeland Security Secretary Kirsti Noem, meanwhile, revealed during a Congressional hearing that she doesn't know what the Constitutional right to habeas corpus means. via NBC News, the New York Times, and Reuters.
  • Proud Boys Associate Joe Kent Is Busy Rewriting Intel Reports to Cover Up Lies By His Boss Tulsi Gabbard and Trump Kent, who Trump has nominated to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, has "raised internal alarms" with his brazen politicizing of intelligence analysis. via the New York Times.
  • Eric to Break Ground on Trump Hanoi Golf Club Today with Vietnamese Communist Party Officials Asked by small children visiting the White House yesterday which of his five adult kids Donald likes best, regime spokesperson Karoline Leavitt lied that "he loves all of his children very much, and they’re all great kids." via Reuters and the AP.
  • Pouty Oligarch Elon Musk Says He's Stepping Back from Politics Now That He's Made His Own Name Toxic Meanwhile at the White House, Trump plans to bring up the dramatically overblown plight of white South African farmers and condemn Black politicians who "promote genocidal rhetoric" when President Cyril Ramaphosa visits today. via the AP, NBC News, and the Washington Post.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Rep. Gerry Connolly, Who Beat AOC in Leadership Race, Dies The longtime Virginia Democratic Congressman succumbed to cancer this morning at age 75. via CNBC.
  • European Allies Abandon Israel as It Kills 85 More Palestinians in Gaza with Airstrikes "'A sane country doesn't engage in fighting against civilians, doesn't kill babies as a hobby and doesn't set for itself the goals of expelling a population,' Yair Golan, a retired general and leader of the opposition Democrats party, told Reshet Bet radio." via the AP, the Washington Post, and the Guardian.
  • Does 'Nihilistic Extremist' California Fertility Clinic Bomber Represent a Violent New Movement? Guy Bartkus, 25, who blew himself up and inured four others at the American Reproductive Centers building in Palm Springs, had a YouTube channel documenting his experiments with explosives. via the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.
  • Two Top Aides to Mexico City Mayor Assassinated in the Street By Gunmen on Motorbike There have "been 50 political murders in the country in the first three months of the year alone, though political killings are relatively rare in the capital." via Reuters and Al Jazeera.
  • Progressive Philly DA Larry Krasner Wins Third Term Meanwhile in Pittsburg, a centrist Democrat who received Republican campaign donations, Corey O’Connor, defeated the incumbent progressive Mayor Ed Gainey. via the AP and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

SOME NUMBER

24

That's how many air traffic controllers are currently overseeing air traffic over Newark Liberty International Airport, 14 fewer than the Federal Aviation Administration believes are necessary, the New York Times reports. Just in time for the holiday travel rush, the FAA is capping the number of arrivals and departures at the airport through late October in a rather desperate effort to maintain safety standards.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

5/21: It’s Hump Day! Today’s guests are Guardian investigative reporter George Joseph, who will share his new reporting on United HealthCare and its dealings with the nursing home industry; and Singrid Steinmetz, an ICU nurse at Long Beach Medical Center who is on the bargaining team for Nurses United, which is set to go on strike tomorrow for patient safety and a better contract. 

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Jon Stewart Shreds Jake Tapper's Biden Book Promotion

Biden's people say his last prostate cancer screening was in 2014, for what it's worth.

Tim Pool Gets Ruined By Adam Conover

Good to have him on record saying free speech doesn't apply to foreigners.

PARTING WORDS

"The criminal charge against Congresswoman LaMonica McIver is extreme, morally bankrupt and lacks any basis in law or fact.
"Members of Congress have a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive branch wherever and whenever it is needed. We are lawfully permitted to show up at any federal facility unannounced to conduct an inspection on behalf of the American people. By visiting the detention center in Newark, Rep. McIver and two other Members of Congress were upholding their oath of office. They didn't assault anyone, but were themselves aggressively mistreated by illegally masked individuals.
"Shortly after the alleged altercation took place, administration officials escorted Congressmembers LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez on a tour of the detention center that lasted approximately an hour. There is no credible evidence that Rep. McIver engaged in any criminal activity, and she would not have been permitted to tour the facility had she done anything wrong.
"The proceeding initiated by the so-called U.S. Attorney in New Jersey is a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress and interfere with our ability to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. House Democrats will not be intimidated by the Trump administration. Not today. Not ever. 
"Everyone responsible for this illegitimate abuse of power is going to be held accountable for their actions. An attack on one of us is an attack on the American people."

-- House Democratic leadership, in a joint statement yesterday addressing the criminal charges filed against New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver for visiting an ICE detention center, Delaney Hall, with other elected officials including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on May 9. McIver calls the charges "purely political"; Donald Trump confirmed as much yesterday when he praised the charges against her, saying "the days of woke are over."

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