Eyal Press

Excellent reporting from @charliesavage.bsky.social and @julianbarnes.bsky.social starting with the "plain reality" that there was no warship, and no fighting going on, in the Sept. 2 strike, or any of them:

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

1/2

Opinion | The Virus That Took My Father Could Become a Greater Threat

Re-upping this moving piece by Helen Ouyang in light of the government’s appalling decision to stop recommending the Hepatitis B vaccine, a victory for RFK Jr. that will likely cause untold suffering for countless families and kids. Read it and weep. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/o...

Known Lethal U.S. Attacks on Civilian Vessels in the Caribbean 22 reported attacks. Total reported killed: 87 people Notification Date Number Reported Killed Approximate Location September 2, 2025 11 "in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility" (later revealed as between Sucre, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago) September 15, 2025 3 "in International Waters… in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility"; Colombian president claimed it was a fishing boat in Colombian waters September 19, 2025 3 "in international waters… in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility" near the Dominican Republic October 3, 2025 4 "in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela" October 14, 2025 6 "in International Waters… just off the Coast of Venezuela" October 16, 2025 2; 2 reported survivors "in the Caribbean" October 17, 2025 3 "in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility" October 21, 2025 2 "in the Eastern Pacific" October 22, 2025 3 "in the Eastern Pacific" October 23, 2025 6 "in the Caribbean Sea" October 27, 2025 8 * "in the Eastern Pacific" October 27, 2025 4 * "in the Eastern Pacific" October 27, 2025 3 * "in the Eastern Pacific" October 29, 2025 4 "in the Eastern Pacific" November 1, 2025 3 "in the Caribbean" November 4, 2025 2 "in the eastern Pacific" November 6, 2025 3 "in the Caribbean… in international waters" November 9, 2025 3 "in the eastern Pacific… in international waters" November 9, 2025 3 "in the eastern Pacific… in international waters" November 10, 2025 4 "in the Caribbean… in international waters" November 15, 2025 3 "in the Eastern Pacific… in international waters" December 4, 2025 4 "in the Eastern Pacific" * One individual survived one of these three attacks, but was not recovered and is now included in the death toll.

First boat strike in 19 days, coinciding with a big congressional briefing today. 11 of the past 15 strikes have occurred in the eastern Pacific. Sheer unadulterated horror.

www.wola.org/2025/11/us-m...

How a Man Convicted of Running a Latin American Narco State Landed a Pardon Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s unusual network of Trump allies and MAGA influencers helped deliver an extraordinary pardon to him.

“The people of Honduras” did not push for the pardon of this narco-trafficker, as Trump has claimed. Prominent MAGA figures, most notably Matt Gaetz and Roger Stone, did. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

I swear maybe once a decade in public, and this is the moment. This fucking racist and all the gibbering racists nodding along behind him are the ruination of our country. Our fucking job for the next fucking year is to fucking destroy them in the next election. Fuck them.

Exclusive | Hegseth Asked Top Admiral to Resign After Months of Discord The relationship between the Pentagon chief and Adm. Alvin Holsey had been rocky since Trump’s inauguration.

Wall Street Journal reports that Admiral Alvin Holsey, who was concerned about the legality of the Pentagon’s lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, did not voluntarily retire — Hegseth ousted him. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

ICE Arrested and Separated Chinese Father From 6-Year-Old Son, Advocates Say The father and son were detained at an ICE check-in on Nov. 26, advocates say. The son’s location is currently unknown, while the father is being held at an upstate ICE facility.

A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social

The 10 Best Books of 2025

Absolutely stunned and honored to see THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US on this list.

I'm grateful beyond words to the five families who trusted me with their stories and allowed me to witness their struggle to secure a home.

Opinion | The Virus That Took My Father Could Become a Greater Threat

Moving piece by Helen Ouyang, a physician whose father died of liver cancer that could have been prevented by the hepatitis B vaccine, which RFK Jr. has falsely linked to autism and which the CDC advisory committee may soon prevent vulnerable children from accessing. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/o...

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Meanwhile, Trump is planning to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the U.S. of drug trafficking.

Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder An expert backgrounder on the reported Hegseth "no quarter" order to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.

Three experts conclude that members of the armed forces had a “duty to refuse” Hesgeth’s “no quarter” order to kill shipwrecked survivors. www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...

"The United States Government protests most emphatically against this inhuman form of warfare practiced by Japanese forces in brutally attacking helpless survivors of a torpedoed vessel and demands effective assurances from the Japanese Government that such criminal acts, which are contrary to all standards of civilized conduct, will not be repeated in the future. It is expected that the Japanese Government will at the same time punish those persons who with premeditation and full knowledge of their actions have so flagrantly violated the primary humanitarian concept of maritime warfare.” Request Swiss Minister Tokyo51 to telegraph date of delivery to Japanese Government

Worth remembering now

Protest by the United States Against Attacks by Japanese Naval Forces on Survivors of Torpedoed American Merchant Vessels June 1944

"The United States Government protests most emphatically against this inhuman form of warfare ..."

Brian Goldstone appears on a PBS News Weekend, speaking from a room lined with bookshelves. A lower-third caption reads: “BRIAN GOLDSTONE — Journalist and Author, ‘There Is No Place for Us.’”

"Homelessness today isn't just the person sleeping outside a Walmart. It's often the cashier or worker stocking the shelves inside."

I joined @pbsnews.org to talk about There Is No Place for Us and the staggering rise of the "working homeless":
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

U.S. to Press Europe and Other Allies on ‘Mass Migration,’ Document Says

It's not just that the United States has stopped trying to promote liberal democratic ideas internationally. It's that the United States is actively trying to promote the contrary. It's trying to turn more countries into Hungary.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...

A Thanksgiving Thank You for Those Working on the Holiday - Confined Space Not everykone gets to celebrate Thanksgiving. A lot of people are required to work over holidays. And they pay a price for it. Honor them.

A Thanksgiving Thank You for Those Working on the Holiday jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

Route 14, Vermont - 1937
https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3104292

Abortion And DEI Policies Now Considered Violations Of Human Rights, U.S. Says The Trump administration has overhauled how the State Department conducts its annual Human Rights Report.

This notion of human rights violations is very consistent with the idea that nooses and swastikas are fine. www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...

Some news: tomorrow at 9am, Ted Koppel + CBS Sunday Morning will air a two-part story on the devastating surge of full-time workers being pushed into homelessness.

I'll be interviewed along with two families from There Is No Place for Us. It would mean a lot if you'd watch and help spread the word.

Trump Administration to Drastically Cut Housing Grants

This is far worse than anyone expected.

Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.

All as mass internment camps are being built.

This was BEFORE he caved... Hard to win elections when you voters despise your leader.

NYT headline: How the Trump Administration Is Giving Even More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service are issuing rules that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief to big companies and the ultrarich.

Our grotesque split-screen:
starving the poor / gorging the ultrarich

"With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to giant private-equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real-estate investors, and a variety of multinational corporations."

In MAGA stronghold, fury over SNAP but little blame for Trump in shutdown People who use SNAP in Mike Johnson’s congressional district wonder why his power hasn’t protected them, but many lay the blame on Washington’s dysfunction.

“Loyalty to Trump has helped the president elude political consequences for felony convictions…Now many of his supporters have extended similar grace during a government shutdown that is emptying the pantries and refrigerators of the most vulnerable Americans.” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

Every article about Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar pay package should highlight his other major accomplishment this year — destroying USAID, which has led to 600,000 deaths thus far, more than half of them children. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

#BREAKING: Senate Republicans nixed an attempt by Democrats to fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits after those monies dried up over the weekend amid the government shutdown.

Hold on let me prepare a frivolous $1 billion lawsuit

Behind the Dismantling of the C.D.C.: Reform or ‘Humiliation’?

“All I see right now is wreckage and short-term gain at the expense of long-term health.”

The destruction of CDC.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/h...

Gotta log off for a while after this one. Just too much.

When the Government Stops Defending Civil Rights The Department of Education’s abandonment of traditional civil-rights litigation has effectively transported parents back in time, to the era before the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

A good, heartbreaking piece from @epress.bsky.social on the human cost of Trump's gutting of civil rights enforcement at the Department of Education: www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

When the Government Stops Defending Civil Rights The Department of Education’s abandonment of traditional civil-rights litigation has effectively transported parents back in time, to the era before the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The administration’s fixation on DEI programs has been exhaustively covered. Its abandonment of civil rights law enforcement — which has effectively transported parents and students back in time, to the era before the 1964 Civil Rights Act — has not been. My piece: www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...