❧ Israeli forces abducted Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists delivering food to Gaza. On June 1, activists set sail aboard the Madleen to deliver baby formula and food directly to civilians to Gaza and draw attention to Israel’s illegal blockade. Israel has blockaded Gaza for 18 years and has largely forbidden food from entering Gaza for the past 11 weeks, resulting in acute hunger and famine. But last night, the Israeli military attacked and boarded the Madleenin international waters, detaining the activists and journalists onboard. We have limited information about the captives’ treatment because Israeli forces made them throw their phones overboard. But IDF officials report that the activists—including Rima Hassan, a sitting member of the European parliament—have been detained, forced to watch videos of the October 7th attacks, and some are now being deported. Others are awaiting judicial proceedings in Israeli custody. (Associated Press)
❧ Kabul is running out of water. The capital city of Afghanistan may run out of clean drinking water within five years, according to a report by the nonprofit Mercy Corps. The vast majority of local groundwater is unsafe due to high levels of sewage, arsenic, and other pollutants, and half of all boreholes, the main source of drinking water, have gone dry. Of course, the main reason Afghanistan’s water infrastructure is in such bad shape is the U.S. invasion and occupation, which devastated every aspect of the country’s civil society. But this projected water shortage would be a catastrophic disaster for the 7 million people who call Kabul home. Earlier this year, the UN stated that it had received less than 4 percent of the funds needed for planned water sanitation projects in Afghanistan. Three billion dollars of water-related aid has been withheld from the country since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. (Mercy Corps)
❧ British journalists face violence and hate for doing their jobs. A new study by the Reuters Institute found that many journalists in the UK have been harassed, assaulted, and threatened in the course of their work. The recently-released report, which is based on a 2023 survey, found that 35 percent of journalists had been threatened, 25 percent had been the victim of hacking attempts, 20 percent had been surveilled, and 17 percent had been sued within the past five years. Four percent of journalists reported being physically assaulted over that period. Whether it be in Palestine (where Israel has killed at least 232 journalists), the U.S. (where police are pelting reporters with rubber bullets while covering protests), or elsewhere, journalists face brutal punishment for speaking truth to power. (Index on Censorship)
AROUND THE STATES
❧ The University of Michigan hired undercover investigators to surveil its own students. The Guardian has reported that investigators are tailing students and eavesdropping on their conversations, seemingly in an effort to undermine protests on campus. UM had already made a name for itself in silencing students by recruiting the state’s attorney general to prosecute students and coordinating an FBI raid of three student organizers’ homes, but a public university spying on its own students is a new low. One student said of the intimidation: “It sometimes feels comedic because it’s so insane that they have spent millions of dollars to hire some goons to follow campus activists around… It’s just such a waste of money and time.” The school has paid more than $800,000 to private investigators, and what have they gotten for their money? In a series of distressing and Nathan Fielder-esque videos, one investigator faked a disability and accused a student of trying to rob him when the student accused him of spying. (The Guardian)
❧ The Trump Administration finally brought Kilmar Abrego Garcia home, only to immediately arrest him. Since March, government lawyers had argued that it was impossible for them to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. after they deported him by mistake. That was a lie, as evidenced by the fact that the Department of Justice has now secured his release from a Salvadoran supermax prison without even consulting Trump. But Stephen Miller and Co. didn’t bring him back out of the goodness of their hearts (or to comply with the many court orders requiring Abrego Garcia’s release). Instead, he was brought back to face a new indictment for human smuggling.
The charges stem from a 2019 incident where Abrego Garcia was pulled over by Tennessee state police. At the time, he told police that he was driving his nine passengers home to Maryland after working for two weeks at a construction project in St. Louis. Attorney General Pam Bondi now claims, without evidence, that he was actually ferrying gang members through the U.S. on behalf of the MS-13 gang. At the time, police took no action against Abrego Garcia except warning him about his expired driver’s license, and a federal prosecutor recently resigned over the newfound efforts to charge Abrego Garcia.
This is not, as some gullible commentators suggest, a “win” for the justice system. Trump, Miller, and Bondi previously used extralegal means to destroy Abrego Garcia’s life. The fact that their harassment now takes the familiar form of the American legal system does not make it any less Kafkaesque. It is good that Abrego Garcia now has better access to lawyers and his family. But the Trump administration still plans to deport him to El Salvador after his trial. Let’s hope that this time, they are restrained by the rule of law.
❧ A Montana city subverted the state’s ban on Pride flags by making the flag an official government symbol. In May, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law restricting what flags can be flown at schools and government buildings. H.B. 819 states that in the interest of “neutrality and inclusivity,” no flag can be flown unless it’s an official government flag, and especially not if it represents a “political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or political ideology.” (Exceptions are built into the law for the non-ideological “Thin Blue Line” and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.) But Missoula, a liberal city in western Montana, undermined the law by making the Pride flag and flags representing portions of the Pride flag official city flags, thus making them eligible to be flown anywhere in the state. Gianforte is not pleased. (The Daily Montanan)
Nobody can stop you from waving this flag around! (Image: Open Clip Art)
❧ Prominent D.C. Democrats are boycotting union-busting restaurants. 64 congressional Democrats have signed on to a boycott of six elite D.C. establishments. Unite Here Local 25, which represents more than 7,000 hospitality workers in the DC area, have convinced lawmakers including Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez to avoid dining at six restaurants owned by Knightsbridge Restaurant Group and Stephen Starr is a major Democratic donor; his most famous restaurant, le Diplomat, is (or was) a major hub of Democratic campaign fundraising. (Washington Examiner)
CROOKS vs. SICKOS (or, “What’s going on with our politicians and oligarchs?”)
❧ Centrist Fest took place this week, to moderate fanfare. Officially known as “WelcomeFest,” the Center-left’s big hullabaloo was held in Washington, D.C. because where else would it be? Everyone knows the Democratic Party needs a rebirth, and centrists know the people to fix Democrats’ issues should be the people who gave us those problems in the first place: themselves.
Speakers included politicians and bloggers such as Richie Torres, Josh Barro, and Matt Yglesias. And the theme of the conference was bashing the left wing of the party. Because what else would it be? Commentators spent most of the day throwing “potshots” at leftist activist groups, most notably Barro, who has written that “Abundance Will Require Fighting Labor Unions.” And when protestors against the genocide in Gaza interrupted remarks by moderate Democrat Richie Torres (who supports the genocide), they were dragged offstage while producers played the song “You’re So Vain.”
The Center-Left has been particularly galvanized by the publication of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book Abundance. (Thompson was a speaker at the conference.) The core argument, or at least, the core argument according to centrist Dems, is that Democrats have hamstrung their governments by conceding to environmentalists, unions, and other pieces of their coalition. If, in theory, the DNC ignored further left elements of the party and built housing, energy infrastructure, and pursued other “common-sense” goals, Dems would have both better policy outcomes and a more receptive electorate.
Despite many requests, Current Affairs has not yet published a review of Abundance (an act of tweenage rebellion, perhaps—the magazine is turning ten years old soon). But one of the most notable things about the book is that its few concrete policy proposals are just watered-down versions of longstanding leftist goals. For example, Klein and Thompson support direct federal funding on high speed rail, decarbonizing the economy, and expanding state capacity to build affordable homes. In fact, in response to criticism, Klein has written that addressing corporate consolidation and opposing fossil fuel interests are a core part of the “Abundance Agenda.” But like other attendees, the man who showed up wearing a Joe Manchin jersey is less interested in disempowering Exxon than disempowering the left. The same is true of the billionaires that funded the event.
❧ Amid countless national crises, Trump has launched an investigation into the most pressing of all: Autopen. The autopen is a tool that drags a pen along paper to create an artificial signature, like a wet-ink DocuSign. Trump is claiming, seemingly without evidence, that Biden used an autopen to sign executive orders, and that his use of autopen invalidates those orders. As a legal matter, Trump is incorrect. The tool has been used as far back as the Johnson administration with no issue, and according to Politico, even Trump used it in his previous term. (NPR)
❧ Children of divorce be warned: America’s First Family is splitting up. Over the past week, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have had a public breakup worse than any since Bennifer’s first implosion. After leaving DOGE last week, Musk set off the new dispute by criticizing Trump’s tax bill moving through Congress. Over time the attacks “turned personal” according to NBC, with Trump sounding “like a spurned lover,” per the BBC. While we at Current Affairs don’t believe the breakup is your fault, maybe if you weren’t born they would have had more time to truly appreciate each other.
Prescient art by J. Longo from Current Affairs Magazine, Issue 54, May-June 2025
BIRD FACT OF THE WEEK
This duck makes a wonderful noise.
The common eider is a species of duck found across the northern hemisphere. It is a beautiful creature, but most important to us is its mating call, which you can listen to in the video below. Wow. Just wow.
That alone is wonderful, but this animal fact is twofold! Not only does the eider duck make a glorious sound, free of the burdens of capitalism, it is also the sound your friends will make when you recommend they subscribe to the Current Affairs News Briefing! WhooOOOoo indeed.
Writing and research by Stephen Prager and Grady Martin. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Alex Skopic. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.
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