@mbalter — investigations and commentary

#Hantavirus is a #climate story. open.substack.com/pub/michaelbal…

Watchdogs urge Senate to investigate Justice Samuel Alito's oil stock conflicts motherjones.com/politics/2026/…

This used to be a major story. But there is so much destruction and trauma that a story like this gets lost in the forest

At a time of war in the Middle East, the US has no ambassador in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq or Kuwait. At a time of war in Europe, there is no US ambassador in Russia or Ukraine. Altogether some 115 of 195 ambassador posts are vacant. @RobbieGramer wsj.com/politics/polic…

HORRIFIC: An armed Israeli settler, under the protection of the Israeli army, blindfolded, humiliated, and detained a Palestinian man in the village of Bayt Iksa in the West Bank.

Wendy was arrested by local police and detained. She begged officers not to keep Oliver, her 3 year old, separate from her. ICE refused. Her beautiful, kind son is now dead.

This has barely registered but Trump is turning ICE over to a Private Prison executive whose ex-company holds $1 BILLION in ICE contracts. stuff of scandal not long agao thebulwark.com/p/trump-just-h…

NEW: Court-appointed, independent attorney urges Florida judge to dig deeper into Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against his own I.R.S. Attorney recommends judge probe why "DOJ’s approach to litigating this case appears to depart from its approach in similar cases, as well as what steps Defendants are taking to ensure that settlement discussions are conducted at arm’s length and without risk of collusion" HERE: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

The Smithsonian’s most contested exhibition is back on view, mostly intact wapo.st/4dJO5Cp

Netanyahu is threatening to sue the @nytimes for exposing Israel's prison rapes, meanwhile former @AIPAC directors are taking to the pages of the Jerusalem Post to explain just how much of a disaster Netanyahu has been. jpost.com/opinion/articl…

THERE IT IS: Another Truth Social-style court filing by Justice Dept Arguing for Trump Ballroom, feds claim plaintiffs have "Trump Derangement Syndrome" They say ballroom needs "state-of-the-art hospital & medical facilities, Top Secret military installations, bomb shelters"

What Israel is hiding behind the walls of its detention camps | Editorial haaretz.com/opinion/editor…

Large crowds of ultranationalist Jews gathered Thursday at the foot of Jerusalem's Damascus Gate, chanting racist slogans like "Death to Arabs" and "May your villages burn" as they began an annual parade through the Palestinian areas of the Old City. to.pbs.org/4nq2xTm

President Trump was months late in disclosing tens of millions of dollars in stock trading, according to his latest investment filings, pushing the legal limits of a financial practice Americans have largely opposed from their elected officials. wapo.st/4drlT67

With temperatures already reaching 34°C this week, residents of the Gaza Strip are facing extreme heat with no regular access to water. Over two and a half years of genocidal assault, the Israeli military has systematically destroyed more than 84% of the Strip’s water and sanitation infrastructure, leading to the total collapse of basic living systems. Even now, seven months after the “ceasefire” agreement came into effect, Israel continues to block the entry of essential equipment needed for reconstruction. The military is preventing the entry of filtration systems, tanks and construction materials required to operate these systems, thereby preventing any possibility of restoring healthcare and water systems for millions of people. In the displacement camps, the reality is unbearable. Families are forced to live alongside flowing sewage and piles of garbage accumulating between the tents. Due to the severe shortage, displaced people are routinely forced to use contaminated, undrinkable water. Many report having to forgo bathing or cooking to save the little clean water they have for drinking. The deadly combination of heat, pollution and lack of basic hygiene conditions is leading to the spread of severe skin and intestinal diseases. The few remaining water sources become contaminated more quickly in high temperatures, causing dehydration and acute diarrhea, especially among children. Experts estimate that the combined damage to infrastructure led to thousands of indirect deaths already in the first year of the assault. By continuing to block humanitarian aid and deliberately destroy life-sustaining infrastructure, Israel is perpetuating conditions in Gaza that are unfit for human habitation. The genocide in the Gaza Strip continues.

A congressman who viewed Jeffrey Epstein files that are still redacted for the public says the Department of Justice is “covering up for Donald Trump.” thedailybeast.com/i-know-doj-is-…

By wasting U.S. weapons on his counterproductive war of choice with Iran, the clueless Trump has made the U.S military dependent on China, which monopolizes the rare-earths processing needed to build and replace those munitions. trib.al/0xmKwKv

Trump's Border Patrol chief has abruptly resigned after a report that he traveled abroad to solicit sex workers huffpost.com/entry/latest-n…

NEW: New York Times rejects Israeli Prime Minister @netanyahu’s threat of a lawsuit over @NickKristof piece, calling it, “part of a well-worn political playbook that aims to undermine independent reporting and stifle journalism that does not fit a specific  narrative. Any such legal claim would be without merit.”

The fired federal employee was alarmed to see the lengths the prison went to in catering to Maxwell’s needs. thedailybeast.com/disgusting-det…

On 12 May, an Israeli drone strike hit three paramedics as they were attempting to assist an injured person who survived a previous attack. The strike killed two of them on the spot. Medical and rescue personnel in Lebanon need protection now. f.mtr.cool/bhrgyyzpae