News & Articles

Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Harrisburg, Penn. The fall 2025 Nukewatch Quarterly has an article about increasing cancer deaths in counties that have nuclear power plants. 

With all the senseless, destructive things happening in our country it is hard to keep up. Many news stories are being lost in the avalanche of larger authoritarian outrages. Here are some news items that got my inner curmudgeon cranked up.

Shutdown Ironies
Once again our representatives and senators in Congress have failed to do their jobs and pass an annual budget. As a result the federal government has “shut down.” This, of course, is a misnomer as only the agencies that serve people are being closed. The “essential” functions  – the military and police state – are exempt.

Federal civil servants are not being paid, including “essential” employees who are required to continue working. 

But the incompetent parasites who caused the problems are not feeling any pain. Their pay and benefits are protected. Ironically congressional salaries are permanently funded in the mandatory side of the federal budget and are not dependent on annual appropriations like most of the rest of the government.

At the same time many important public services have closed down, the gravy train of federal dollars is still flowing to Israel to support their genocide in Palestine. Military aid and intelligence support for Israel is considered “essential” for our “national security.”

In another outrage the Trump administration is sending $20 billion to Argentina to bail out the right wing dictator who’s economic policies have created a financial crisis. Trump has killed the tiny amount of U.S. foreign aid intended to help people around the world. But he has no problem throwing money at his authoritarian buddy in Argentina.

Trump’s phony peace plan
Speaking of Israel, Trump has proposed a 20 point “peace plan” for ending the the war on Palestinians. Of course the plan is hugely one-sided in favor of Israel.  

Real peace requires honest negotiations, compromise and benefits for both side of a conflict. But Trump’s plan was hatched in Washington and the Palestinians were told this was their “last chance” and that they had “better take the deal.” 

Trump acts more like a mafia boss running a protection racket than a conflict mediator.

Any lasting agreement must have at least a modicum of justice for the Palestinian people. No  justice results in no peace. But Trump has publicly stated his plan is “a great triumph for Israel” and that the United States will stand behind Israel “no matter what.” 

There are already news reports that Israel is violating the cease fire and continuing to delay aid shipments. Under Trump’s phony peace plan the apartheid and occupation of Gaza is continuing. It appears this peace plan is more photo op than reality.

Cancer clusters around 
nuclear power plants 
The fall 2025 Nukewatch Quarterly has an article about increasing cancer deaths in counties that have nuclear power plants. 

A quick summary of the article is that all nuclear power plants “routinely” release radioactive materials (gases and fine particulates) as a result of normal operations. These materials disperse into the surrounding area. Radiation causes cancer. Even though these releases are very small there is no safe level of radiation exposure.

Analysis of public health data from the Center for Disease Control by an experienced, expert epidemiologist reveals that counties with a nuclear power plants have higher rates of cancer deaths than the respective statewide averages. He analyzed data from the 16 oldest nuclear power plants in the country. The number of deaths are increasing over time as older plants continue operating and people have longer exposure times 

The article says In Minnesota the Monticello plant had 328 “excess cancer deaths” between 1999 and 2020. The number for Prairie Island was 351. In Wisconsin the Point Beach reactor had 304. During the last 20 years, the 16 plants studied had 10,585 excess deaths.

People die for many reasons and many factors contribute to cancer deaths. But the numbers indicate living near a nuclear power plant is not good for your health. So why are Wisconsin Republicans, with support from Gov. Evers and some Democrats, passing legislation to promote nuclear as a solution for increasing energy needs?

Worker protection is apparently “woke”
The Trump administration has proposed rewriting or repealing 63 Department of Labor workplace protection rules. An article in the August 19, 2025 Labor World (a Duluth publication, founded in 1896 and the oldest union newspaper in the country) discusses dismantling a variety of laws regulating safety, minimum wages, overtime pay, farm worker housing and pension administration.

Minimum wages and overtime pay for 3.7 million home health care workers has been killed. It will be easier for employers to call workers “independent contractors” and avoid paying payroll taxes that provide workers compensation, unemployment, Social Security and other benefits to workers. They have stripped civil service protection from thousands of federal employees. OSHA workplace safety rules will be enforced with “voluntary” compliance.

Voluntary compliance has never worked. This is why law enforcement agencies like OSHA and the DOL were created. The Economic Policy Institute says employers “steal $15 billion from workers’ paychecks each year” through violations of minimum wage and other employment laws. 
But Trump’s militarized law enforcement thugs won’t be invading any corporation board rooms to stop this crime wave.

Former DOJ lawyers are speaking up 
“DOJ’s mission is to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights. It’s failing on all three fronts.” 

This comes from a statement by 282 Department of Justice employees who have been fired, or quit in protest, “because of actions taken by this administration.” These public servants say the Trump administration is “taking a sledgehammer to...longstanding work the Department has done to protect communities and the rule of law...” (to read the letter search for “Urgent Message from Recent DOJ Alumni Decrying Attacks on Justice Department” October 6, 2025).

Since Trump’s inauguration more than 5,000 dedicated, experienced public servants, who served under multiple presidents, have been fired or left DOJ, “draining the Department of priceless institutional knowledge and expertise, and impairing its historical success in recruiting top talent.” 
These Justice Department alumni have created a website called “Justice Connections” (thejusticeconnection.org). Their “DOJ Tracker” documents the many actions taken to weaken and corrupt DOJ. Trump’s destructive actions and politicizing of the DOJ will have long lasting negative consequences for our country. 

As I have explained in the past, government is essential for a civil, safe, fair, prosperous and decent country. We ignore this fact at our peril.