Police name 10-year-old boy killed in Somerset school coach crash
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump administration is reportedly looking to cut language services at the IRS
Reports suggest the Trump administration is considering eliminating language services at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This potential move follows Donald Trump 's executive order declaring English the official language of the United States. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo directing federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, to plan for phasing out 'unnecessary multilingual offerings.' The IRS currently provides extensive language support, such as translated forms, free phone and in-person translation, and multilingual digital platforms. The proposed changes could significantly impede non-English speaking individuals from fulfilling their tax obligations, particularly amidst concerns about IRS cooperation with immigration enforcement.
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
'South Park' co-creator jokes he's 'terribly sorry' over premiere that drew White House anger
'South Park' co-creator Trey Parker had the briefest of responses Thursday to anger from the White House over the season premiere of the animated institution, which showed a naked President Donald Trump in bed with Satan. 'We're terribly sorry,' Parker said, followed by a long, deadpan-comic stare. Parker was asked for his reaction to the fracas as he sat on the stage at San Diego's Comic-Con International at the beginning of a Comedy Central animation panel that also included his 'South Park' partner Matt Stone, 'Beavis and Butt-Head' creator Mike Judge, and actor Andy Samberg, who co-created the animated 'Digman!' Earlier in the day, the White House issued a statement on the 27th season premiere, which aired Wednesday night. 'This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention,' White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in the statement. 'President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country's history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak.' Later in the panel, Parker said they did get a note from their producers on Tuesday night's episode. 'They said, 'OK, but we're gonna blur the penis,' and I said, 'No you're not gonna blur the penis,'' Parker said. The premiere also took aim at Paramount and its $16 million recent settlement with Trump just hours after Parker and Stone signed a five-year deal with the company for 50 new episodes and streaming rights to previous seasons. The Los Angeles Times and other outlets report the deal was worth $1.5 billion. In the episode, Trump sues the town of South Park when its residents challenge the presence of Jesus Christ – the actual person – in its elementary school. Jesus tells them they ought to settle. 'You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,' Jesus says. 'Do you really want to end up like Colbert?' CBS and parent Paramount Global canceled Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' last week, days after Colbert sharply criticized Paramount's settlement of Trump's lawsuit over a '60 Minutes' interview. CBS and Paramount executives said it was a financial decision to axe 'The Late Show.' The efficiency of 'South Park' production, and the brinksmanship of its creators, allow it to stay incredibly current for an animated series. 'I don't know what next week's episode is going to be,' Parker said at Comic-Con. 'Even just three days ago, we were like, 'I don't know if people are going to like this.''
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Trump effort to ditch greenhouse gas finding ignores ‘clearcut' science, expert says
One of the architects of a landmark 16-year-old finding on pollution's impact on health that the Trump administration now wants to eliminate says that doing so would ignore 'clearcut' science that has only become clearer today because of extreme weather. The Trump administration plans would sweep away the US government's legal authority to limit greenhouse gases in order to address the climate crisis. A proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would rescind the so-called 'endangerment finding', the federal government's 2009 conclusion that carbon dioxide, along with five other greenhouse gases, harm the health of Americans. The finding has underpinned the US government's legal authority to deal with the climate crisis under the Clean Air Act and its removal would effectively dismantle limits on the pollution coming from cars, trucks and power plants that is dangerously heating the world. Several sources confirmed the draft plan, which was first reported on by the New York Times. A former EPA official who oversaw the crafting of the endangerment finding said there was little doubt among government scientists about the harm caused by greenhouse gases, with their findings borne out by escalating temperatures and disasters since 2009. 'The science and the impacts were clear then and are only more clear today,' said Jason Burnett, who was associate deputy administrator of the EPA during George W Bush's administration. 'The science is clearcut, the impacts are clearcut and the law is clearcut. The challenge should be how we reduce emissions rather than debate whether there's a problem.' Donald Trump, who as president has moved to squash pollution rules, stymie clean energy and boost fossil fuel production, had ordered a review of the endangerment finding. Lee Zeldin, Trump's EPA administrator, said in March of the review that the administration 'will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas'. The endangerment finding followed a key 2007 supreme court ruling that greenhouse gases are pollutants that the EPA is obligated to regulate. A subsequent 210-page assessment by the EPA documented the growing evidence of harm caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases through heatwaves, stronger storms, strained water resources and impacts upon agricultural yields. Burnett said: 'When I was working on this 17 years ago, it was a question of future impacts but today we are seeing and feeling those impacts as devastating events. People are having their lives upturned by floods in Texas or fires in California or hurricanes in Florida and all of these things are made worse by climate change. What is most tragic to me is that this administration won't have any answer for those people.' An avalanche of scientific research since 2009 has underscored the multitude of harm caused by the climate crisis, with researchers repeatedly reaffirming the strengthening case of the endangerment finding during this period. Since the EPA's finding, eight of the 10 hottest years in recorded US history have occurred, along with more frequent extreme weather events that have helped spur 255 disasters that have each cost $1bn or more in damages. The US government's latest climate assessment in 2023, a report since yanked offline by the Trump administration, states that the 'effects of human-caused climate change are already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States'. It adds that 'without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, the risks of accelerating sea level rise, intensifying extreme weather and other harmful climate impacts will continue to grow'. A repeal of the finding, however, would not only eliminate current limits to the pollution worsening this situation but also hamstring any future administration that sought to resurrect the US's effort to curb global heating. 'For the EPA to repeal the 2009 finding borders on criminal negligence,' said Robert Howarth, an environmental scientist at Cornell University. 'The science was clear in 2009 and has become much stronger and clearer since,' he added. 'Climate disruption is a large and growing problem, it is caused primarily from our use of fossil fuels and the resultant emissions of carbon dioxide and methane; and it is a deadly problem.' The EPA plan isn't expected to directly deny the overwhelming evidence of damage caused by planet-heating emissions, but rather claim that the agency doesn't have the legal authority under the Clean Air Act to make such a wide determination upon a group of different pollutants. The plan will also set in motion the reversal of regulations placed upon cars by Joe Biden's administration that were intended to slash emissions from transportation, the largest sectoral source of carbon pollution in the US. Currently, the rollbacks are listed as being under review by the White House. 'The proposal will be published for public notice and comment once it has completed interagency review and been signed by the administrator,' an EPA spokesperson said. The plan, once finalized, will almost certainly be legally challenged by environmental groups that will point to the 2007 supreme court ruling as compelling the endangerment finding. 'My view is the administration is very unlikely able to win this in litigation given they are operating on theories that are inconsistent with the way the EPA has dealt with matters for the past 50 years,' said Richard Revesz, an expert in environmental policy at the New York University School of Law. 'The legal grounds are very flimsy. But this will all take a lot of time and bring a lot of uncertainty to the landscape.' Should the finding be repealed, though, Revesz said the impact would be 'devastating' and compound other actions by the administration to eviscerate the EPA of scientists and reverse the agency's oversight of pollution. 'They are attacking all of the elements necessary to protect the health and safety of the American people, their actions will literally lead to tens of thousands of premature deaths every year,' he said. 'This is orders of magnitude more extreme than Donald Trump's first term.' Even if the scrapping of the endangerment rule is ultimately overturned by the courts, environmental groups warned that the reversal would have lingering impacts. 'The American people know that climate change is a threat to public health and welfare – not just because the science has been clear for decades, but because they can see it with their own eyes,' said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action, who called the EPA plan 'cruel and absurd'. 'This move won't hold up in court, but in the months or years it takes to work through the legal process, corporate polluters will be able to inflict irreversible damage that the rest of us will be paying for years to come,' she added.
