Jake Godin

Interior Order Chokes Off Permits for Solar and Wind on Federal Lands The department creates a seemingly impossible new permitting criteria for renewable energy.

HUGE: The Trump administration will no longer permit any solar or wind projects on federal lands unless they produce more energy-per-acre than coal, gas or nuclear power plants.

Solar and wind literally produce less energy per acre, so simply this may just kill off any project on federal lands.

‘Alligator Alcatraz' detainees on hunger strike for 10th day, protesting conditions One of the detainees, Pedro Hernández, was hospitalized during the strike but continued to refuse food, he said on Thursday.

A hunger strike at a South Florida immigration detention center state officials have named “Alligator Alcatraz” enters its tenth day, as detainees protest what they call inhumane and dangerous living conditions.

I honestly have no idea. It’s not to cover up evidence — these graves are for people who died mostly in WW1.

The only thing I could think is that — given the berms — some sort of defensive position was being created? That doesn’t make much sense to me either tho.

Planet Labs SkySat imagery from July 31 2025 shows the Gaza War Cemetery in eastern Gaza City. There's a large amount of damage in and around the cemetery and IDF vehicles are visible nearby. A large corner of the cemetery has been bulldozed an dirt berms have been created. There is more destruction among the buildings surrounding the cemetery and large trees on the border of the cemetery have now been destroyed.

A June 2024 image from Middle East Eye showing the large amount of destruction from the IDF at the Gaza War Cemetery. A large area of hundreds of gravestones visible in the foreground of the photo has now been completely destroyed by the IDF.

While July 31 @planet.com imagery shows some more minor damage — it at least shows the dirt berm area was not expanded. That space included hundreds of now-bulldozed gravestones.

A June image from Middle East Eye shows the same corner that's now been destroyed: www.middleeasteye.net/sites/defaul...

Sadly new SkySat imagery from @planet.com shows that even more graves at the Commonwealth Gaza War Cemetery ran by @cwgc.bsky.social have been destroyed by the IDF. Parts of Sections A, B, XXV, XVII, XVIII and XXVI appear to have been completely bulldozed with the creation of dirt berms on July 27.

I was born and raised in Venezuela, where a series of governments dismantled the pillars of democratic governance (as flawed as it was) and drove the country to naked authoritarianism.

The democratic backsliding that took years to unfold in Venezuela seems to be happening faster under Trump.

olmypus makes some really great point-and-shoots. some of my favorite photos have been with my little olympus xa2.

An aerial view of Gaza City taken from a Jordanian military aircraft by photojournalist Heidi Levine in July 2025. Massive destruction is visible, as are IDP tents.

An aerial photo taken from a drone photographer in 2019 showing Gaza City's Old Town facing east, providing a view similar to the aerial photo taken in July 2025.

For another comparison, there's also an aerial view from a similar perspective, though at lower altitude since it's from a drone photographer, here on Facebook from 2019: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

The drone photo is closer to 31.5057, 34.4619 whereas the plane photo is closer to the coast.

An aerial view of Gaza City taken from a Jordanian military aircraft by photojournalist Heidi Levine in July 2025. Massive destruction is visible, as are IDP tents. An area in the background has been annotated.

A July 27 2025 SkySat satellite image from Planet Labs showing Gaza City's eastern Shejaiya and Tuffah neighborhoods. There's a large amount of destruction visible, with thousands of homes that have been visible reduced to rubble. A large area is annotated showing the rough area that is visible in the background of the aerial photo.

An October 15 2023 SkySat satellite image from Planet Labs showing Gaza City's eastern Shejaiya and Tuffah neighborhoods. Some destruction is visible from airstrikes conducted at the start of the war but other than that thousands of buildings are visible with orchards and farmland on the periphery of the neighborhoods. A large area is annotated showing the rough area that is visible in the background of the July 2025 aerial photo.

Can just barely see it but the massive destruction in Gaza City's eastern neighborhoods such as Shejaiya and Tuffah is visible in the background of the photo. When compared with a satellite image taken a week after the war started, can see thousands of homes have been razed.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Okay you can officially get ready for an attempt to cook the books.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations following the passage of a federal rescissions package and the release of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill, which excludes funding for CPB for the first time in more than five decades. For nearly 60 years, CPB has carried out its Congressional mission to build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country. Through partnerships with local stations and producers, CPB has supported educational content, locally relevant journalism, emergency communications, cultural programming, and essential services for Americans in every community. “Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down operations after loss of federal funding:

This investigation involves what may be the most extreme geolocation I've ever done.

Don't think I've seen these dollar figures for cancelled programming reported elsewhere:

This smacks of McCarthyism. VOA journalists have no access to classified information. If hundreds of them are "missing," then release the list of names. For months, hundreds have been silenced on "paid administrative leave,"forbidden from working, their email accounts and phones deactivated.

Soldiers plead with reporters on IDF press tour of Gaza to publicize that they’re burnt out * * *

“Two officers could be heard giving an order to troops over the radio to open fire so that the videographers could have some footage of ‘fighting.’…When asked whether the shooting was a show for the media, the officers leading the tour had a hard time containing their smiles.”

Man who shut down the largest collective effort by America to help the most vulnerable people in the world, condemning millions to death, suggests that his businesses will save them donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-death-...

The videos were filmed by Ibrahim al-Sallout, see on his Instagram here:
www.instagram.com/p/DMkmVvNo6n...

The satellite image of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks and the videos filmed from the ground made it on A1 of today's paper

A World of Misery, From 200 Miles Up

On one of the most unbelievable satellite images I've ever seen, showing hundreds of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks north of Rafah.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/w...

Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released ...

NEW: We interviewed nine Venezuelan men who were sent to CECOT by the Trump administration.

Some said their feelings about what happened were still raw.

All of the men said they were abused physically and mentally during their imprisonment.

"A World of Misery, From 200 Miles Up" — short write-up on this image and video from Ibrahim Alsallout by @aric.bsky.social at the NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/w...

I made this video of fog flowing through the Golden Gate from sunrise to sunset, July 27, 2025, to show why #sanfrancisco is so chilly in the summer. Warm air rising over the Central Valley sucks cold marine air from the ocean into the SF bay.

#dataviz #cartography #weather

Umm Al-Khair mourns activist slain by Israeli settler Contrary to the settler’s account, eyewitness testimony and analysis of video footage shows that Awdah Hathaleen was gunned down in cold blood.

‘The most peaceful person’: Umm Al-Khair mourns activist slain by Israeli settler

Contrary to the settler’s account, eyewitness testimony and video footage shows that Awdah Hathaleen was gunned down in cold blood.

By Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, and Oren Ziv.

www.972mag.com/awdah-hathal...

Tony Aguilar—combat veteran of Iraq, Afg, and Syria who retired as a lieutenant colonel—describing what he calls the “barbaric use of force against an unarmed population,” including (starting at 21min) an IDF lieutenant colonel ordering IDF snipers to fire at children for crowd-control purposes.

You can watch this Green Beret describe this experience in his own words to @vanhollen.senate.gov, and for us, and I cried. I’m not sure how you could watch this veteran tell this child’s story and not feel all of the emotions at once.

We geolocated the view out of the window as Jeremy Bowen's team filmed packages falling from a plane over Gaza yesterday. They were dropped into a "dangerous combat zone", which Palestinians are warned not to enter because it would put their lives at risk. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

Thanks for sharing Dominic. Really important updates in that video from Fadel. There's been even more damage to the Byzantine church site since the early 2025 photo was taken: bsky.app/profile/godi...

And this is destruction of a 5th - 7th C CE Byzantine basilica and chapel.

Right hand picture was taken in early 2025.

youtu.be/alb0mGJNJ9o?...

Latest status of some cultural heritage sites in Gaza was presented by @gmandreou.bsky.social during an Everyday Orientalism webinar in Feb 2025.

youtu.be/alb0mGJNJ9o?...

This is @gmandreou.bsky.social speaking in 2024 about the Honor Frost Foundation funded #GAZAMAP archaeology capacity building initiative active between 2022 - 2023 youtu.be/PkrZefr1xqo?...

Along side urbicide, cultural heritage, including museums, have now been destroyed.

@godin.bsky.social