NewzIntel.com

Category: Americas

  • MIL-OSI USA: Podcast: Angst Over Additives in Our Food

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The “UConn Health Pulse” podcast brings a variety of expertise on health topics to the general public.

    In light of efforts at the federal level to restrict certain food dyes, it can be challenging to separate fact from myth when it comes to things in our food that aren’t naturally occurring.

    Dr. Rebecca Andrews, UConn Health primary care physician whose roles include director of primary care, associate program director of UConn’s Internal Medicine Residency, and nationally, chair of the American College of Physicians Board of Regents, has been following the science, and joins the “UConn Health Pulse” podcast to help differentiate between the potential risks of food additives and the benefits of natural, whole foods, why we may be paying more attention to this now, and how to navigate the noise to try to make good choices.

    If you make foods more attractive, more tasty, and they make us feel good, we can develop almost food addictions or unhealthy eating. &#8212 Dr. Rebecca Andrews

    Listen now:

    See transcript.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Wilson declares victory after SCOTUS smacks down activist judges’ overreach halting Trump agendaRead More

    Source: US State of South Carolina

    South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson today praised the U.S. Supreme Court for its’ 6-3 ruling in favor of the constitutional balance of power by curbing the ability of local activist judges to block federal laws nationwide. The ruling allows President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order to be enforced nationwide while the issue makes its way through the lower courts. Attorney General Wilson joined an amicus brief in this case supporting the position that SCOTUS adopted. 

    “We thank the Supreme Court for siding with common sense and reaffirming that one judge should not have the power to grind national immigration policy to a halt,” said Attorney General Wilson. “This is a big win for the rule of law, for the integrity of our borders, and for every American who believes in democratic accountability, not judicial activism. Our office will continue fighting to ensure that federal laws are enforced as written, not sabotaged by ideologically driven rulings from the bench.”

    You can read the Court’s full opinion here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Gross Domestic Product by State and Personal Income by State, 1st quarter 2025

    Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis

    Real gross domestic product decreased in 39 states in the first quarter of 2025, with the percent change ranging from 1.7 percent at an annual rate in South Carolina to –6.1 percent in Iowa and Nebraska, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (table 1).

    Current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 47 states and the District of Columbia, with the percent change ranging from 8.7 percent at an annual rate in North Dakota to –2.7 percent in Iowa.

    Personal income, in current dollars, increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the first quarter of 2025, with the percent change ranging from 12.7 percent at an annual rate in North Dakota to 3.2 percent in Washington state (table 3).

    Real GDP

    In the first quarter of 2025, real GDP for the nation decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent. Real GDP decreased in 16 of the 23 industry groups for which BEA prepares quarterly state estimates. Finance and insurance; agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; and wholesale trade were the leading contributors to the decrease in real GDP nationally (table 2).

    • Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting, which decreased in 39 states, was the leading contributor to the decreases in 11 states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, and Kansas.
    • Mining, which decreased in 43 states, was the leading contributor to the decreases in eight states, including Wyoming, the state with the fifth-largest decline in real GDP.
    • Finance and insurance, which decreased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, was the leading contributor to decreases in 18 states.
    • Real estate and rental and leasing, which increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, was the leading contributor to growth in South Carolina, the state with the largest increase in real GDP.

    Personal income

    In the first quarter of 2025, current-dollar personal income increased $407.3 billion, or 6.7 percent at an annual rate (table 3). Nationally, increases in earnings, transfer receipts, and property income (dividends, interest, and rent) contributed to the increase in personal income (chart 1).

    Earnings increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, while growing 5.0 percent nationally (table 4). The percent change in earnings ranged from 13.5 percent in North Dakota to 0.1 percent in Washington state. Earnings increased in 22 of the 24 industries for which BEA prepares quarterly state estimates and was the largest contributor to growth in personal income in 28 states (table 5).

    • Farm earnings was the leading contributor to increases in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Mississippi, the states with the three largest increases in personal income, due in part to government payments from the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program.
    • In South Carolina, the state with the fourth-largest increase in personal income, construction was the leading contributor to the increase in earnings.
    • In Oklahoma, the state with the fifth-largest increase in personal income, mining was the leading contributor to the increase in earnings.

    Transfer receipts increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, while growing 13.6 percent nationally. The percent change in transfer receipts ranged from 21.2 percent in Nevada to 9.1 percent in Florida (table 4). The increase in transfer receipts was due in part to an increase in Affordable Care Act premium tax credits and an annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits.

    Property income increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, while growing 5.6 percent nationally. The percent change ranged from 7.8 percent in Idaho to 3.8 percent in Alaska (table 4).

    Update of state statistics

    Today, BEA also released revised quarterly estimates of personal income by state for the first through fourth quarters of 2024. This update incorporates new and revised source data that are more complete and more detailed than previously available and aligns the states with the national estimates from the National Income and Product Accounts released on June 26, 2025.

    New combined state news release

    On September 26, 2025, BEA will publish quarterly GDP and personal income by state along with annual personal consumption expenditures by state in a single news release. This combined release will provide a fuller picture of the economies of all states and the District of Columbia and will replace the publication of two separate releases issued on different days. BEA will release revised annual state GDP and personal income estimates for 2020 to 2024, along with revised quarterly estimates for the first quarter of 2020 through the first quarter of 2025 and preliminary estimates for the second quarter of 2025. An upcoming article in the Survey of Current Business will describe the results.

    Upcoming changes in the presentation of tables

    BEA’s ongoing modernization and streamlining of news release packages will include changes in the presentation of tables starting with the September 26, 2025 release of GDP, personal income, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) by state.

    Data previously published as tables within the quarterly and annual news releases on GDP, personal income, and PCE by state will continue to be updated and available simultaneously with the release in BEA’s online Interactive Data Tables. However, tables will no longer be included in the body of the news release. This will reduce duplication, increase efficiency, and point data users directly to our most complete and flexible data tables, via links in the release. These customizable tables include full time series and can be downloaded as PDFs, in Excel, or in CSV format.

    For definitions, statistical conventions, BEA regions, uses of these statistics, and more, visit “Additional Information.”

    Next release: September 26, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. EDT
    Gross Domestic Product by State and Personal Income by State, 2nd Quarter 2025 and Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 2024

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Smith, Hoyle, Schatz Introduce New Legislation to Reduce Economic Inequality and Make Wall Street Pay Its Fair Share

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Last week, U.S. Representatives Adam Smith (WA-09), and Val Hoyle (OR-04), and U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced The Wall Street Tax Act (H.R. 4035), which would deliver hundreds of billions of dollars back to the American people by making Wall Street pay its fair share. The bill would create a progressive tax aimed at reducing the risky trading practices that threaten our economic stability while generating revenues that can be reinvested towards services for working people. Once fully implemented, the bill is projected to raise $750 billion over 10 years. 

    “It’s past time for the wealthiest to pay their fair share, which is why I’m proud to support the Wall Street Tax Act, which targets high-risk trades that create high volatility and instability in the markets,” said Rep. Smith. “I’ll continue to fight for a fairer economy that works for everyone and reflects the values of the communities I serve.”

    “While Republicans push another tax break for billionaires that would blow up the deficit, we’re offering a smarter path. The Wall Street Tax Act puts a price on the risky, high-speed trading that benefits Wall Street and leaves working families behind,” said Rep. Hoyle. “This small, targeted tax will raise hundreds of billions from those who can afford it and reinvest it in things that actually help people—like schools, housing, and infrastructure. Working families shouldn’t have to pay for Wall Street’s gambling.”

    “Wall Street routinely cashes in on high-risk trades that add no real value to our economy. It’s long past time we curbed this dangerous trading to reduce market volatility and encourage investment that actually helps our economy grow,” said Senator Schatz. “Republicans are racing to enrich billionaires and corporations by ripping regular people off. We’re doing the opposite: raising new revenue from Wall Street to reinvest in our communities.”

    “Instead of the proposed heartless cuts to services that help vulnerable communities and everyday people—like Medicaid and nutrition assistance—that Congress is currently debating, there is another route that lawmakers can and must pursue: raising taxes on corporations and the super-rich—including Wall Street high rollers,” said Susan Harley, managing director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “The Wall Street Tax Act would generate hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used to expand programs that improve the lives of Americans and it has the simultaneous benefit of reducing harmful high-speed trading that hurts investors and increases risk in our markets.”

    This bill is cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Frost (D-FL), Jayapal (D-CA), McGovern (D-MA), Pingree (D-MN), Schakowsky (D-IL), Tlaib (D-MI), Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

    The Wall Street Tax Act is currently endorsed by 32 organizations, including:Affordable Homeownership Foundation, AFL-CIO, American Family Voices, American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Financial Reform, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), Blue Future, Chicago Political Economy Group, Child Labor Coalition, Citizens for Tax Justice, Coalition on Human Needs, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Consumer Action, Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace USA. Groundwork Collaborative, Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Medical Mission Sisters(Unit North America), National Consumers League, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Our Revolution, Oxfam America, Public Citizen, Public Justice Center, Responsible Wealth, RootsAction, Take on Wall Street, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, United for a Fair Economy, United Church of Christ, and United Steelworkers International Union (USW).

    The Bill

    The Wall Street Tax Act will levy a 0.1% tax – phased in over five years–on the sale of stocks, bonds, and derivatives to discourage risky and unproductive trading practices and gives those profits back to the people. The tax would apply to the fair market value of assets. Initial public offerings (IPOs) and short-term debt would be exempted from the tax. 

    Background

    High frequency trading (HFT) is a type of asset trading that uses supercomputers and specialized algorithms to make large, high-volume trades in a fraction of a second. HFT allows corporations and the ultra-wealthy to benefit from minor fluctuations in stock prices by allowing them to buy and sell in large volumes to make larger profits off of small differences. These practices create undue market volatility, which overwhelmingly hurts everyday investors who are unable to trade as quickly.

    In addition, these speculative, high-volume trading practices add little to no real value to the U.S. economy because the gains from them are centralized within the hands of a wealthy few. However, these high stakes games do have a real impact, as their asset prices react to the trades. The volatility these trades can even lead to a “Flash Crash,” where such volatility prompts mass selloffs across the stock market. This volatility can affect the retirements, pensions, and investments of working people.

    The Wall Street Tax Act is considered a progressive tax, meaning lower income earners pay a lesser percentage of their income in taxes compared to those with higher incomes. 

    The full text of the bill can be found here.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Smith, Meeks, Himes Introduce War Powers Resolution to Cease U.S. Hostilities on Iran

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)

    Washington, D.C. – Representatives Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam Smith, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Jim Himes, Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today introduced a War Powers Resolution to order the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran absent a Congressional authorization, while preserving the ability for U.S. Armed Forces to  defend the U.S. and its partners and allies from imminent attack.

    “President Trump must not be allowed to start a war with Iran, or any country, without Congressional approval. Yet President Trump ordered strikes on Iran this past weekend without meaningful consultation or Congressional authorization.

    “We still don’t know whether these strikes eliminated Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, and the administration has offered no clear strategy. Instead, the President has posted on social media about regime change, undermining any claim that this was a narrowly tailored operation to eliminate a nuclear threat. Without a coherent strategy for preventing Iran’s program from bouncing back, including through diplomacy, we risk further escalation. No thoughtful deliberation nor careful planning occurred here — and serious actions demand serious debate, not presidential impulse.

    “The War Powers Resolution we’ve introduced today orders the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran, while allowing U.S. forces to carry out defensive operations to defend the United States and its partners and allies from imminent attack, including those defending Israel. Again, President Trump must not be allowed to start a war with Iran without Congressional approval.”

    A PDF of the Resolution can be found here.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Hurricane Helene set up future disasters, from landslides to flooding – cascading hazards like these are upending risk models

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University

    The Carter Lodge hangs precariously over the flood-scoured bank of the Broad River in Chimney Rock Village, N.C., on May 13, 2025, eight months after Hurricane Helene. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

    Hurricane Helene lasted only a few days in September 2024, but it altered the landscape of the Southeastern U.S. in profound ways that will affect the hazards local residents face far into the future.

    Mudslides buried roads and reshaped river channels. Uprooted trees left soil on hillslopes exposed to the elements. Sediment that washed into rivers changed how water flows through the landscape, leaving some areas more prone to flooding and erosion.

    Helene was a powerful reminder that natural hazards don’t disappear when the skies clear – they evolve.

    These transformations are part of what scientists call cascading hazards. They occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards. A landslide triggered by a storm might clog a river, leading to downstream flooding months or years later. A wildfire can alter the soil and vegetation, setting the stage for debris flows with the next rainstorm.

    Satellite images before (top) and after Hurricane Helene (bottom) show how the storm altered landscape near Pensacola, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
    Google Earth, CC BY

    I study these disasters as a geomorphologist. In a new paper in the journal Science, I and a team of scientists from 18 universities and the U.S. Geological Survey explain why hazard models – used to help communities prepare for disasters – can’t just rely on the past. Instead, they need to be nimble enough to forecast how hazards evolve in real time.

    The science behind cascading hazards

    Cascading hazards aren’t random. They emerge from physical processes that operate continuously across the landscape – sediment movement, weathering, erosion. Together, the atmosphere, biosphere and the earth are constantly reshaping the conditions that cause natural disasters.

    For instance, earthquakes fracture rock and shake loose soil. Even if landslides don’t occur during the quake itself, the ground may be weakened, leaving it primed for failure during later rainstorms.

    That’s exactly what happened after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which led to a surge in debris flows long after the initial seismic event.

    A strong aftershock after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008 triggered more landslides in central China.
    AP Photo/Andy Wong

    Earth’s surface retains a “memory” of these events. Sediment disturbed in an earthquake, wildfire or severe storm will move downslope over years or even decades, reshaping the landscape as it goes.

    The 1950 Assam earthquake in India is a striking example: It triggered thousands of landslides. The sediment from these landslides gradually moved through the river system, eventually causing flooding and changing river channels in Bangladesh some 20 years later.

    An intensifying threat in a changing world

    These risks present challenges for everything from emergency planning to home insurance. After repeated wildfire-mudslide combinations in California, some insurers pulled out of the state entirely, citing mounting risks and rising costs among the reasons.

    Cascading hazards are not new, but their impact is intensifying.

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall. At the same time, urban development continues to expand into steep, hazard-prone terrain, exposing more people and infrastructure to evolving risks.

    The rising risk of interconnected climate disasters like these is overwhelming systems built for isolated events.

    Yet climate change is only part of the equation. Earth processes – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – also trigger cascading hazards, often with long-lasting effects.

    Mount St. Helens is a powerful example: More than four decades after its eruption in 1980, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to manage ash and sediment from the eruption to keep it from filling river channels in ways that could increase the flood risk in downstream communities.

    Rethinking risk and building resilience

    Traditionally, insurance companies and disaster managers have estimated hazard risk by looking at past events.

    But when the landscape has changed, the past may no longer be a reliable guide to the future. To address this, computer models based on the physics of how these events work are needed to help forecast hazard evolution in real time, much like weather models update with new atmospheric data.

    A March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range wiped out trees in its path.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025
    A drone image of the same March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range shows where it temporarily dammed the river below.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025

    Thanks to advances in Earth observation technology, such as satellite imagery, drone and lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, scientists can now track how hillslopes, rivers and vegetation change after disasters. These observations can feed into geomorphic models that simulate how loosened sediment moves and where hazards are likely to emerge next.

    Researchers are already coupling weather forecasts with post-wildfire debris flow models. Other models simulate how sediment pulses travel through river networks.

    Cascading hazards reveal that Earth’s surface is not a passive backdrop, but an active, evolving system. Each event reshapes the stage for the next.

    Understanding these connections is critical for building resilience so communities can withstand future storms, earthquakes and the problems created by debris flows. Better forecasts can inform building codes, guide infrastructure design and improve how risk is priced and managed. They can help communities anticipate long-term threats and adapt before the next disaster strikes.

    Most importantly, they challenge everyone to think beyond the immediate aftermath of a disaster – and to recognize the slow, quiet transformations that build toward the next.

    Brian J. Yanites receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. Hurricane Helene set up future disasters, from landslides to flooding – cascading hazards like these are upending risk models – https://theconversation.com/hurricane-helene-set-up-future-disasters-from-landslides-to-flooding-cascading-hazards-like-these-are-upending-risk-models-259502

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Checking in on New England’s fishing industry 25 Years after ‘The Perfect Storm’ hit movie theaters

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Stephanie Otts, Director of National Sea Grant Law Center, University of Mississippi

    Filming ‘The Perfect Storm’ in Gloucester Harbor, Mass.
     The Salem News Historic Photograph Collection, Salem State University Archives and Special Collections, CC BY

    Twenty-five years ago, “The Perfect Storm” roared into movie theaters. The disaster flick, starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, was a riveting, fictionalized account of commercial swordfishing in New England and a crew who went down in a violent storm.

    The anniversary of the film’s release, on June 30, 2000, provides an opportunity to reflect on the real-life changes to New England’s commercial fishing industry.

    Fishing was once more open to all

    In the true story behind the movie, six men lost their lives in late October 1991 when the commercial swordfishing vessel Andrea Gail disappeared in a fierce storm in the North Atlantic as it was headed home to Gloucester, Massachusetts.

    At the time, and until very recently, almost all commercial fisheries were open access, meaning there were no restrictions on who could fish.

    There were permit requirements and regulations about where, when and how you could fish, but anyone with the means to purchase a boat and associated permits, gear, bait and fuel could enter the fishery. Eight regional councils established under a 1976 federal law to manage fisheries around the U.S. determined how many fish could be harvested prior to the start of each fishing season.

    Fishing has been an integral part of coastal New England culture since its towns were established. In this 1899 photo, a New England community weighs and packs mackerel.
    Charles Stevenson/Freshwater and Marine Image Bank

    Fishing started when the season opened and continued until the catch limit was reached. In some fisheries, this resulted in a “race to the fish” or a “derby,” where vessels competed aggressively to harvest the available catch in short amounts of time. The limit could be reached in a single day, as happened in the Pacific halibut fishery in the late 1980s.

    By the 1990s, however, open access systems were coming under increased criticism from economists as concerns about overfishing rose.

    The fish catch peaked in New England in 1987 and would remain far above what the fish population could sustain for two more decades. Years of overfishing led to the collapse of fish stocks, including North Atlantic cod in 1992 and Pacific sardine in 2015.

    As populations declined, managers responded by cutting catch limits to allow more fish to survive and reproduce. Fishing seasons were shortened, as it took less time for the fleets to harvest the allowed catch. It became increasingly hard for fishermen to catch enough fish to earn a living.

    Saving fisheries changed the industry

    In the early 2000s, as these economic and environmental challenges grew, fisheries managers started limiting access. Instead of allowing anyone to fish, only vessels or individuals meeting certain eligibility requirements would have the right to fish.

    The most common method of limiting access in the U.S. is through limited entry permits, initially awarded to individuals or vessels based on previous participation or success in the fishery. Another approach is to assign individual harvest quotas or “catch shares” to permit holders, limiting how much each boat can bring in.

    In 2007, Congress amended the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to promote the use of limited access programs in U.S. fisheries.

    Ships in the fleet out of New Bedford, Mass.
    Henry Zbyszynski/Flickr, CC BY

    Today, limited access is common, and there are positive signs that the management change is helping achieve the law’s environmental goal of preventing overfishing. Since 2000, the populations of 50 major fishing stocks have been rebuilt, meaning they have recovered to a level that can once again support fishing.

    I’ve been following the changes as a lawyer focused on ocean and coastal issues, and I see much work still to be done.

    Forty fish stocks are currently being managed under rebuilding plans that limit catch to allow the stock to grow, including Atlantic cod, which has struggled to recover due to a complex combination of factors, including climatic changes.

    The lingering effect on communities today

    While many fish stocks have recovered, the effort came at an economic cost to many individual fishermen. The limited-access Northeast groundfish fishery, which includes Atlantic cod, haddock and flounder, shed nearly 800 crew positions between 2007 and 2015.

    The loss of jobs and revenue from fishing impacts individual family income and relationships, strains other businesses in fishing communities, and affects those communities’ overall identity and resilience, as illustrated by a recent economic snapshot of the Alaska seafood industry.

    When original limited-access permit holders leave the business – for economic, personal or other reasons – their permits are either terminated or sold to other eligible permit holders, leading to fewer active vessels in the fleet. As a result, the number of vessels fishing for groundfish has declined from 719 in 2007 to 194 in 2023, meaning fewer jobs.

    A fisherman unloads a portion of his catch for the day of 300 pounds of groundfish, including flounder, in January 2006 in Gloucester, Mass.
    AP Photo/Lisa Poole

    Because of their scarcity, limited-access permits can cost upward of US$500,000, which is often beyond the financial means of a small businesses or a young person seeking to enter the industry. The high prices may also lead retiring fishermen to sell their permits, as opposed to passing them along with the vessels to the next generation.

    These economic forces have significantly altered the fishing industry, leading to more corporate and investor ownership, rather than the family-owned operations that were more common in the Andrea Gail’s time.

    Similar to the experience of small family farms, fishing captains and crews are being pushed into corporate arrangements that reduce their autonomy and revenues.

    Consolidation can threaten the future of entire fleets, as New Bedford, Massachusetts, saw when Blue Harvest Fisheries, backed by a private equity firm, bought up vessels and other assets and then declared bankruptcy a few years later, leaving a smaller fleet and some local business and fishermen unpaid for their work. A company with local connections bought eight vessels from Blue Harvest along with 48 state and federal permits the company held.

    New challenges and unchanging risks

    While there are signs of recovery for New England’s fisheries, challenges continue.

    Warming water temperatures have shifted the distribution of some species, affecting where and when fish are harvested. For example, lobsters have moved north toward Canada. When vessels need to travel farther to find fish, that increases fuel and supply costs and time away from home.

    Fisheries managers will need to continue to adapt to keep New England’s fisheries healthy and productive.

    One thing that, unfortunately, hasn’t changed is the dangerous nature of the occupation. Between 2000 and 2019, 414 fishermen died in 245 disasters.

    Stephanie Otts receives funding from the NOAA National Sea Grant College Program through the U.S. Department of Commerce. Previous support for fisheries management legal research provided by The Nature Conservancy.

    – ref. Checking in on New England’s fishing industry 25 Years after ‘The Perfect Storm’ hit movie theaters – https://theconversation.com/checking-in-on-new-englands-fishing-industry-25-years-after-the-perfect-storm-hit-movie-theaters-255076

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Hurricane Helene set up future disasters, from landslides to flooding – cascading hazards like these are now upending risk models

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University

    The Carter Lodge hangs precariously over the flood-scoured bank of the Broad River in Chimney Rock Village, N.C., on May 13, 2025, eight months after Hurricane Helene. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

    Hurricane Helene lasted only a few days in September 2024, but it altered the landscape of the Southeastern U.S. in profound ways that will affect the hazards local residents face far into the future.

    Mudslides buried roads and reshaped river channels. Uprooted trees left soil on hillslopes exposed to the elements. Sediment that washed into rivers changed how water flows through the landscape, leaving some areas more prone to flooding and erosion.

    Helene was a powerful reminder that natural hazards don’t disappear when the skies clear – they evolve.

    These transformations are part of what scientists call cascading hazards. They occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards. A landslide triggered by a storm might clog a river, leading to downstream flooding months or years later. A wildfire can alter the soil and vegetation, setting the stage for debris flows with the next rainstorm.

    Satellite images before (top) and after Hurricane Helene (bottom) show how the storm altered landscape near Pensacola, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
    Google Earth, CC BY

    I study these disasters as a geomorphologist. In a new paper in the journal Science, I and a team of scientists from 18 universities and the U.S. Geological Survey explain why hazard models – used to help communities prepare for disasters – can’t just rely on the past. Instead, they need to be nimble enough to forecast how hazards evolve in real time.

    The science behind cascading hazards

    Cascading hazards aren’t random. They emerge from physical processes that operate continuously across the landscape – sediment movement, weathering, erosion. Together, the atmosphere, biosphere and the earth are constantly reshaping the conditions that cause natural disasters.

    For instance, earthquakes fracture rock and shake loose soil. Even if landslides don’t occur during the quake itself, the ground may be weakened, leaving it primed for failure during later rainstorms.

    That’s exactly what happened after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which led to a surge in debris flows long after the initial seismic event.

    A strong aftershock after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008 triggered more landslides in central China.
    AP Photo/Andy Wong

    Earth’s surface retains a “memory” of these events. Sediment disturbed in an earthquake, wildfire or severe storm will move downslope over years or even decades, reshaping the landscape as it goes.

    The 1950 Assam earthquake in India is a striking example: It triggered thousands of landslides. The sediment from these landslides gradually moved through the river system, eventually causing flooding and changing river channels in Bangladesh some 20 years later.

    An intensifying threat in a changing world

    These risks present challenges for everything from emergency planning to home insurance. After repeated wildfire-mudslide combinations in California, some insurers pulled out of the state entirely, citing mounting risks and rising costs among the reasons.

    Cascading hazards are not new, but their impact is intensifying.

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall. At the same time, urban development continues to expand into steep, hazard-prone terrain, exposing more people and infrastructure to evolving risks.

    The rising risk of interconnected climate disasters like these is overwhelming systems built for isolated events.

    Yet climate change is only part of the equation. Earth processes – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – also trigger cascading hazards, often with long-lasting effects.

    Mount St. Helens is a powerful example: More than four decades after its eruption in 1980, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to manage ash and sediment from the eruption to keep it from filling river channels in ways that could increase the flood risk in downstream communities.

    Rethinking risk and building resilience

    Traditionally, insurance companies and disaster managers have estimated hazard risk by looking at past events.

    But when the landscape has changed, the past may no longer be a reliable guide to the future. To address this, computer models based on the physics of how these events work are needed to help forecast hazard evolution in real time, much like weather models update with new atmospheric data.

    A March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range wiped out trees in its path.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025
    A drone image of the same March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range shows where it temporarily dammed the river below.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025

    Thanks to advances in Earth observation technology, such as satellite imagery, drone and lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, scientists can now track how hillslopes, rivers and vegetation change after disasters. These observations can feed into geomorphic models that simulate how loosened sediment moves and where hazards are likely to emerge next.

    Researchers are already coupling weather forecasts with post-wildfire debris flow models. Other models simulate how sediment pulses travel through river networks.

    Cascading hazards reveal that Earth’s surface is not a passive backdrop, but an active, evolving system. Each event reshapes the stage for the next.

    Understanding these connections is critical for building resilience so communities can withstand future storms, earthquakes and the problems created by debris flows. Better forecasts can inform building codes, guide infrastructure design and improve how risk is priced and managed. They can help communities anticipate long-term threats and adapt before the next disaster strikes.

    Most importantly, they challenge everyone to think beyond the immediate aftermath of a disaster – and to recognize the slow, quiet transformations that build toward the next.

    Brian J. Yanites receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. Hurricane Helene set up future disasters, from landslides to flooding – cascading hazards like these are now upending risk models – https://theconversation.com/hurricane-helene-set-up-future-disasters-from-landslides-to-flooding-cascading-hazards-like-these-are-now-upending-risk-models-259502

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla Delivers Remarks at Senator Feinstein Tree Dedication Ceremony

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) hosted a tree dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C. in honor of former California Senator Dianne Feinstein that was attended by members of the Feinstein family, Feinstein’s Senate and House colleagues, and former members of Feinstein’s staff. In addition to Padilla, other speakers included Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y), Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.-11), Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Thomas Austin, the Architect of the Capitol.
    Padilla’s remarks as prepared for delivery are available here:
    Once again, it is my honor to lead this effort to celebrate a towering figure not just in modern California political history, but in the history of our nation.
    As so many of you can attest to, there was a time when it was impossible to imagine a United States Senate without Dianne Feinstein.
    I say that not just as her former staffer, and not just as someone who served alongside her, but as a lifelong Californian.
    I first entered public office in the summer of 1999, when I was elected to serve on the Los Angeles City Council.
    By that time, she had already been in the Senate for over six years — and that was after her historic and barrier breaking time in San Francisco city politics.
    So for me and for so many Californians, when we thought of the model for what it meant to be a leader, we thought of Dianne Feinstein.
    She was relentless about the issues she cared about, from:
    Environmental conservation
    To gun safety laws
    To health care reform
    To national security
    From her days in San Francisco City Hall to the halls of the U.S. Senate, she set the standard for leading with grace and strength in the face of adversity.
    And she committed herself to bipartisan collaboration to get things done for California and for our country.
    I don’t think many of my colleagues in Washington fully appreciate just how much Dianne Feinstein singlehandedly shaped the State of California. And I mean that literally, when you look at her legacy on natural resources: from water, to Lake Tahoe and the Redwoods, to the preservation of millions of acres of the California desert.
    Now, back home in California, we’ve already begun working to enshrine Senator Feinstein’s legacy for generations to come, from renaming a federal building to a post office to a visitor center in Joshua Tree National Park.
    But it’s only right that we also honor her here in Washington — the place where she dedicated so much of her time and effort for her beloved California.
    As I mentioned earlier, today’s dedication is fitting for a number of reasons — from her birthday to this location on the Senate side of the Capitol.
    But it’s also fitting because of the tree we’ve come to dedicate in her name: the willow oak.
    For those who never had the chance to visit during her lifetime, Senator Feinstein’s home away from home here in Washington, D.C. was nicknamed “Willow Oaks.”
    As we memorialize her today with her own permanent willow oak on the Capitol grounds, we take comfort in knowing that the life and legacy of Dianne Feinstein will always be remembered at the United States Capitol.
    Once again, I want to thank you all for being here, and with that, I’d like to hand it back over to Thomas who will conclude this dedication ceremony.
    Following Senator Feinstein’s passing, Senator Padilla and his colleagues unanimously passed a resolution to honor her life and legacy, adjourning the Senate to allow members to travel to her funeral services out of respect. The resolution recognized Senator Feinstein as the longest serving Senator to represent California and the longest serving female Senator in the history of the United States. Padilla’s legislation to name a federal building for Senator Feinstein and dedicate a San Francisco post office in Senator Feinstein’s name became law last year. Padilla also introduced a bill to rename a Joshua Tree Visitor Center after the late Senator, which advanced out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement on the Situation of Human Rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Speech

    UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement on the Situation of Human Rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

    UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders.

    Thank you, Mr Vice President.

    Nearly a year has passed since the July 2024 presidential elections, yet instead of transparency, Venezuelan authorities have deepened repression. An alarming cycle of human rights violations continues to take place.

    Over 900 Venezuelans remain arbitrarily detained, with reports of enforced disappearances targeting opposition members, human rights defenders and the independent media. Many detainees are held incommunicado, denied access to legal counsel and subjected to due process violations. The justice system, far from protecting victims, has become a tool of repression. Civil society has been stifled, worsened by the so-called ‘anti-NGO’ law, which undermines the ability of organisations to operate freely. 

    The UK strongly condemns the continued erosion of human rights and calls for an immediate end to the repression. 

    We commend the OHCHR’s vital work. We remain deeply concerned by the limited return of its office in Venezuela. Now more than ever, its presence in Caracas is essential: to monitor the worsening human rights situation, ensure accountability, and uphold fundamental freedoms.

    We are keen to hear any assessment the OHCHR has made of the impact of arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances on families in Venezuela, especially on women and girls.

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 27 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: It’s Time to Send the One Big Beautiful Bill to President Trump’s Desk

    Source: US State of Idaho

    WASHINGTON—This week, Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson wrote an op-ed in the Washington Reporter regarding his support for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a legislative vehicle to advance President Trump’s full policy agenda.
    “The budget reconciliation package—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—is the legislative vehicle to advance President Trump’s full commonsense policy agenda. To put it simply, this package is truly one big, beautiful bill that reflects the promises President Trump campaigned on and won with.”
    The full op-ed is available here and below.
    It’s Time to Send the One Big Beautiful Bill to President Trump’s Desk 
    By Rep. Mike Simpson
    Opportunities like this don’t come around often. Right now, Congress has the chance to pass legislation that delivers on the American-first agenda that Idahoans and millions of Americans voted for last November. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a substantial opportunity we have in front of us, and it is of the utmost importance we get this passed and to President Trump’s desk.
    The budget reconciliation package—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—is the legislative vehicle to advance President Trump’s full commonsense policy agenda. To put it simply, this package is truly one big, beautiful bill that reflects the promises President Trump campaigned on and won with.
    The mainstream media has made a lot of noise, which we have heard since this reconciliation process began. However, if there is one thing sure, more than 77 million Americans voted for the legislation standing before us in Congress.  
    For Idahoans, two of the biggest concerns in 2024 were getting our economy back on track and securing the southern border. This bill tackles both.
    It includes the largest tax cut in history for working and middle-class families, boosting their take-home pay and wages. If passed, this would deliver up to a $12,200 increase in annual take-home pay for a typical Idaho family of four.
    And let me be clear: failing to extend the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts would stick Americans with the largest tax hike in history – Idahoans would face a 24% tax increase. Rest assured, I’m working alongside my colleagues to prevent that from happening.
    Border security is just as important. We all witnessed what happened to the border during the Biden administration, and the One Big Beautiful Bill works to ensure a crisis like that never happens again.
    I view the One Big Beautiful Bill as a national security investment. The Biden administration’s open-border policies allowed millions of illegal immigrants to flood through the southern border. The result? A catastrophic wave of violent crime that plagued our nation.
    For anyone who argues that the open border did not affect Idaho, every state was a border state under the previous administration. Idahoans felt the consequences. Ask any law enforcement officer about the rates of fentanyl overdoses and the amount of illicit drugs that poured into our state over four years.
    The One Big Beautiful Bill reverses course. It provides funding to help finish President Trump’s border wall and provides our brave Border Patrol and ICE agents with the resources they need to keep our communities safe. These historic investments will strengthen America’s border security for years to come.
    This is more than just a reconciliation package – it’s the only way to get our country back on track.
    Congress has a real opportunity here—a chance to deliver the America-first agenda Idahoans and Americans nationwide voted for in November. We cannot afford to let it slip by. The time to advance President Trump’s policy agenda by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill is now.   

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: 1-Hour Payday Loans with No Credit Check Guaranteed Approval Announced as Key Feature in Honest Loans with Instant Loan for Bad Credit in 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York City, June 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Honest Loans has launched a new solution to support individuals facing urgent financial needs by offering 1-hour payday loans with no credit checks and guaranteed approval. 

    This service links borrowers with certified lenders who deliver rapid funding, even for those with low credit ratings. As financial pressures mount, Honest Loans simplifies and secures access to fast cash when it’s needed most.

    Growing Demand for 1-Hour Payday Loans Without Credit Checks

    This year, more consumers are relying on small, short-term loans to cover surprise costs like inflation-related price hikes, medical emergencies, and last-minute bills. Demand for 1-hour payday loans with no credit check is rising due to their speed and convenience.

    Online payday loans with instant approval are an ideal choice, helping borrowers avoid lengthy applications and credit checks that could lower credit scores. Honest Loans supports this need by matching borrowers with fast-acting lenders, easing stress for many Americans.

    Highlights of Honest Loans’ 1-Hour Payday Loans Without Credit Checks

    Honest Loans’ latest offering includes key benefits that ensure a fast and secure loan experience. The platform links borrowers to licensed lenders for rapid approvals, no credit checks, and customizable loan amounts, ideal for emergency funding needs.

    Instant Approval: The lender network processes approvals in just minutes for quick access to funds.

    No Credit Check: Borrowers are paired with lenders that skip hard credit checks—great for those with bad credit.

    Flexible Loan Options: Multiple loan sizes are available to fit different financial needs.

    Trusted Lenders: Honest Loans partners only with vetted, licensed lenders to ensure a safe borrowing process.

    APPLY FOR 1-HOUR PAYDAY LOANS WITH NO CREDIT CHECK

    How Honest Loans’ 1-Hour Payday Loans with No Credit Check Work

    Honest Loans offers a straightforward, fast, and user-friendly process for individuals seeking quick financial relief. By connecting borrowers with licensed direct lenders through a secure online platform, the service removes delays and eliminates complicated paperwork.

    • Online Application: Borrowers begin by completing a secure online form with essential personal and financial information.
    • Instant Lender Matching: Based on the details provided, Honest Loans instantly matches borrowers with suitable lenders—often within minutes.
    • Loan Offer: Applicants can check and compare loan terms before proceeding, ensuring they understand all conditions before accepting.
    • Electronic Fund Transfer: Once a loan offer is accepted, funds are typically deposited electronically, often within the same business day.

    Technology & Security Behind Honest Loans’ 1-Hour Payday Loans

    Honest Loans prioritizes borrower safety by using advanced encryption technologies and secure servers during the application process. The platform complies with strict data privacy regulations and ensures full transparency when sharing information with lending partners. Its technology-driven approach enables fast, accurate lender matching while protecting sensitive personal data.

    Eligibility Requirements for Payday Loans with No Credit Check

    Before applying for Honest Loans’ 1-hour payday loans with no credit check, borrowers should be aware of the basic eligibility criteria. These requirements help ensure responsible lending and streamline the approval process:

    • Minimum Age: Applicants must be at least 18 years old. Lenders verify age using official documentation to ensure legal compliance.
    • Proof of Income: Borrowers must provide documentation—such as pay stubs, bank statements, or benefits letters—demonstrating their ability to repay the loan.
    • Valid Bank Account: A checking or savings account in the applicant’s name is required for receiving funds and processing repayments.
    • U.S. Residency: Loans are available only to residents of the United States. Applicants must confirm their residency status to comply with federal and state laws.

    Benefits of Honest Loans’ 1-Hour Payday Loans with No Credit Check vs. Traditional Payday Loans

    More borrowers are turning to Honest Loans’ online platform for 1-hour payday loans with no credit check instead of relying on traditional payday lending services. Honest Loans offers guaranteed approval and rapid funding, making short-term borrowing faster, simpler, and more transparent. How digital lending is reshaping the landscape in 2025:

    • Faster Processing: Unlike traditional payday loan storefronts that require paperwork and in-person visits, Honest Loans allows applicants to complete a fast online form and get matched with lenders instantly—often in just minutes.
    • Clearer Loan Terms: Many traditional lenders don’t clearly present the full terms. Honest Loans ensures borrowers can check all loan details—such as repayment schedules and APR—before accepting, empowering them to make informed financial decisions.
    • Easy Access from Anywhere: Honest Loans enables borrowers to apply from any internet-connected device, removing the need for physical visits. It’s a convenient option for those dealing with time-sensitive financial needs or busy schedules.
    • Larger Network of Lenders: Honest Loans partners with a wide range of licensed lenders, improving the likelihood of approval and giving borrowers the ability to compare offers to find the most favorable terms.

    CHECK OUT 1-HOUR PAYDAY LOAN OPTIONS WITH NO CREDIT CHECK

    How Honest Loans Connects Borrowers with Licensed Payday Lenders

    Honest Loans simplifies access to 1-hour payday loans with no credit check by linking borrowers to licensed direct lenders nationwide. The platform ensures fast, secure matches that comply with industry standards and lending regulations.

    • Digital Lender Network: Honest Loans partners with a broad network of licensed lenders offering payday loans with no credit check. This gives borrowers access to multiple loan offers, increasing approval chances and helping them choose the ideal fit.
    • Automated Screening: Advanced matching technology pairs borrowers with the most suitable lenders based on their loan requests, streamlining the process and minimizing errors.
    • Secure Information Sharing: Borrowers’ personal and financial information is encrypted and securely shared with lenders, maintaining high standards of data protection throughout the application.
    • Easy Communication: Honest Loans enables borrowers to interact directly with lenders online, making it simple to review offers, ask questions, and accept loan terms—without needing to visit a physical location.

    Conclusion

    Honest Loans is transforming the payday lending process by providing a fast, transparent, and secure way to access 1-hour payday loans with no credit check. Its digital platform connects borrowers with licensed lenders for quick approvals and easy applications.

    This modern approach removes the need for paperwork and in-person visits, making it ideal for those facing urgent financial needs. Honest Loans prioritizes security and clarity, empowering borrowers to make confident, informed financial decisions.

    By combining smart automation, strong privacy practices, and a vast lender network, Honest Loans delivers a reliable and convenient path to emergency cash. Borrowers can count on a smooth, efficient process to get the funds they need—when they need them most.

    FAQs

    What is the easiest cash loan to get approved for?
    The easiest loans to get approved for are payday or no credit check personal loans. They offer fast approval but typically come with higher interest and fees.

    How to borrow $500 immediately?
    To borrow $500 quickly, consider a payday loan, an online personal loan, or a credit card advance. Many lenders offer same-day approvals, though fees may apply.

    How can I get $1000 today?
    Options include payday loans, pawnshop loans, or credit card cash advances. These can provide quick access but often come with high fees or interest.

    What is a hardship loan?
    A hardship loan is designed for individuals experiencing financial challenges like job loss or medical emergencies. These loans often feature flexible or lower repayment terms.

    Contact Information

    Company: Honest Loans
    Email: support@onlineloannetwork.com
    Phone: 888-718-9134
    Address: Springates Building, Lower Government Road, Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis

    Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure

    This content is intended for informational and commercial purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or professional advice. It does not constitute an endorsement of any specific loan provider.

    While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the information presented, no guarantees are made regarding its completeness, accuracy, or timeliness. Readers are advised to conduct independent research and consult qualified professionals—such as licensed financial advisors or legal experts—prior to making any financial decisions.

    Please note the following:

    • Loan products and services mentioned may not be suitable for everyone.
    • Terms, conditions, and eligibility criteria vary by lender and location.
    • Approval is not guaranteed and may depend on various factors, including income, creditworthiness, residency status, identity verification, and compliance with applicable laws.

    This article may contain affiliate links. If you press on a link and apply for or purchase a product or service, the publisher and its partners may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This compensation does not affect the content’s objectivity or the impartiality of any recommendations. All opinions are general in nature and do not reflect the views of any specific lender unless clearly stated.

    By engaging with this content, you acknowledge that the publisher, its authors, affiliates, and third-party partners are not liable for any errors, omissions, outdated information, or financial outcomes resulting from use of the material. This includes—but is not limited to—loan denials, disputes, or issues arising from contractual agreements with lenders.

    References to companies such as “Honest Loans” are for informational comparison only and do not imply any formal endorsement, partnership, or legal relationship. For questions about specific loan offerings, please contact the respective lender directly using official contact details.

    All trademarks, service marks, and brand names mentioned remain the property of their respective owners.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: President Ramaphosa clarifies Deputy Minister’s removal

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken out following his decision to remove Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Andrew Whitfield, from his position.

    Whitfield’s removal – which was done in terms of section 93 (1) of the Constitution – was announced on Thursday. 

    In a statement on Friday, President Ramaphosa said although it was not common practice for the President of the Republic of South Africa to provide reasons for either appointment or dismissals; “several unfortunate statements and outright distortions by a number of people” have made it necessary to do so.

    “Mr Whitfield was removed as a Deputy Minister because he undertook an international visit without the permission of the President. His travel to the United States was a clear violation of the rules and established practices governing the conduct of Members of the Executive. 

    “This requirement is known to all Ministers and Deputy Ministers. These rules and established practices were expressly communicated to all members of the Executive during the induction sessions at the commencement of the 7th administration,” he said.

    The President said the rules and practices “were repeated in Cabinet in March this year by me as President”. 

    “All international travel by members of the executive must always be undertaken with the express permission of the President. This practice is rigorously observed and adhered to by all members of the Executive. However, Mr Whitfield deliberately chose to violate this rule and practice,” President Ramaphosa said.

    The President confirmed that prior to Whitfield’s removal, he spoke to Democratic Alliance (DA) and fellow Government of National Unity (GNU) party leader, John Steenhuisen about his removal and “I expect him to present to me for approval a replacement for Mr Whitfield from his party as the DA is entitled to a Deputy Minister as agreed”.

    “In that discussion, Mr Steenhuisen informed me that Mr Whitfield had been expecting that he may be dismissed on the grounds that he had undertaken an international trip without the President’s permission. 

    “This expectation, along with a perfunctory letter of apology that Mr Whitfield wrote to me following his travel to the USA without the required permission, indicated that he was aware that his actions had violated the rules and established practices governing the conduct of Members of the Executive,” he said.

    The President emphasised that previous Presidents had undertaken to remove ministers and deputy ministers before.

    “During my discussion with Mr Steenhuisen, he asked me if there was precedent for the action that I intended to take in relation to Mr Whitfield. I informed him that there was indeed prior precedent.

    “I told him that in 1995, President Nelson Mandela dismissed the late Deputy Minister Madikizela-Mandela and that in 2007 President Thabo Mbeki dismissed then Deputy Minister Nosizwe Madlala-Routledge on the grounds of undertaking international travel without permission. 

    “Given all these circumstances, there is consequently no reasonable grounds for Mr Steenhuisen and the Democratic Alliance to issue ultimatums and threats when the President exercises his constitutional prerogative and responsibility. Nor are there any grounds to try link this with matters that have no bearing on the conduct of the former Deputy Minister,” he said.

    The President emphasised that there is “no basis” to suggest that the former Deputy Minister’s removal is “related to any other reason than his failure to receive permission to travel and adhere to the rules and established practices expected of members of the Executive”.

    “While Mr Steenhuisen asked that he be allowed to brief the Democratic Alliance Federal Executive prior to the removal letter being delivered to Mr Whitfield, this would have had no bearing on my decision. It is the responsibility and the prerogative of the President to determine the timing and manner of the appointment and removal of Members of the Executive.

    “I am amazed at Mr Steenhuisen’s intemperate reaction to the removal of Mr Whitfield. He knows very well that the blatant disregard of the rules and practices that govern the international travel of members of the executive is a serious violation that should not be permitted,” President Ramaphosa said.

    The President reminded that it remains the Constitutional prerogative of the President to appoint or remove Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

    “It is unprecedented in the history of our democracy that the exercise by the President of his constitutional prerogative and responsibility with respect to a clear violation of rules and established practices governing the conduct of Members of the Executive has met with such irresponsible and unjustifiable threats and ultimatums from a member of the executive.

    “Let it be clear that the President shall not yield to threats and ultimatums, especially coming from members of the Executive that he has the prerogative to appoint in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,” President Ramaphosa said. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: SA’s G20 Presidency making progress finalising Leaders’ Declaration

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    South Africa’s Group of 20 (G20) Presidency is making significant progress toward a comprehensive Leaders’ Declaration that emphasises sustainable development and addresses pressing global issues. 

    This statement was made by South Africa’s G20 Sherpa and Chair, Zane Dangor, who spoke to the media on Friday as the three-day Sherpa meeting concluded.

    During a briefing with local and international media, Dangor said the gathering highlighted key developments through a collaborative approach that seeks input from all delegates.

    “The past two and a half days have gone really well. Delegates are happy with the progress we’ve made in our working groups and our task forces, but also in the way we are conducting our Presidency.

    “We’re putting forward our priorities in a very consultative manner, and this will help us to shape our Leaders’ Declaration, which was what we discussed in the last session,” the Sherpa said. 

    However, he noted that the draft declaration remains fluid to accommodate ongoing global dynamics.

    “We gave them a framework of what we think should be in the declaration based on our priorities. They’ve agreed with that, and they’ve also asked for certain other things to be included. So, we’re quite confident that we are on track.” 

    However, Dangor announced that the final declaration is expected to emerge after ongoing working group discussions and will be circulated for further input in the coming weeks.

    “We can’t draft something that changes within three or four months, even two weeks…”

    Meanwhile, Dangor stated that the delegates are satisfied with the consultative process and the inclusion of various priorities, including climate change and artificial intelligence.

    The G20 Leaders’ Declaration captures the shared perspectives, commitments, and agreements made by the leaders of the intergovernmental forum, typically outlining the framework for future international collaboration.

    This week, South Africa hosted the world’s largest economies and organisations, which convened at Sun City Resort in the North West for the third G20 Sherpa meeting. 

    In the G20, the Sherpas are the leaders of each country, who take the discussions and agreements to the final summit with Heads of State and Government.

    African agenda

    On advancing the continent’s agenda, Dangor said the African Union’s permanent membership brings “a perspective of 54 countries to the table”, providing a more robust African representation in global discussions.

    “We can see that they’re getting better prepared at making those inputs. The AU and the EU [European Union] bring a grouping of countries to the table… it does bring the African flavour to the G20 in a way that is much appreciated by others.”

    Dangor, who serves as the Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told journalists that South Africa’s G20 Presidency is particularly focused on continuity, addressing a longstanding challenge, where each G20 Presidency traditionally defines its own themes. 

    “We’ve been keen to focus on the sustainable development agenda,” he explained, highlighting a consistent approach across recent Presidencies.

    Geopolitical tensions

    He stressed that geopolitical tensions remain a critical challenge, with discussions centering on principles of international law and territorial integrity. 

    According to Dangor, South Africa’s G20 Presidency is working to draft language that ensures “no exceptions” to holding nations accountable under international frameworks.

    “We’re hoping to get ceasefires to stay in place. We’re hoping for justice to prevail, and we’re hoping for humanitarian access in Sudan, Gaza, and other places to be championed by the international community. These were the issues that we were discussing.”

    While challenges persist, including the absence of United States representatives, Dangor said the G20 leadership remains optimistic about crafting a meaningful declaration that addresses global South priorities and sustainable development goals.

    He mentioned that a Troika meeting has been organised between Brazil, the United States, and South Africa to update America on the current discussions and plans for the upcoming months.

    “The G20 is continuing. The work continues in the working groups, the Sherpa work continues, and we will then have to factor in, based on levels of participation going forward, what we do with the views of the US, if they may, bring it at a later stage.” – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Grothman Reintroduces Enforce the Caps Act to Rein in Reckless Spending

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah 6th District Wisconsin)

    Congressman Glenn Grothman (WI-06) has reintroduced the Enforce the Caps Act, which extends critical federal spending caps through Fiscal Year (FY) 2029. The legislation builds on the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act, which currently enforces spending caps only through FY 2025. 

    “Americans are fed up with the reckless spending in Washington that continues to fuel our growing debt crisis,” said Grothman. “Congress already reached a bipartisan agreement on commonsense spending caps through FY25, and this legislation simply extends those enforcement tools through FY29, adding essential guardrails to protect taxpayers from runaway deficits. 

    “While the Fiscal Responsibility Act was a step forward, more action is needed to get Washington’s fiscal house in order. The Enforce the Caps Act strengthens our commitment to reducing the deficit and curbing inflation. This is about securing our nation’s economic future for future generations.” 

    “Congress needs automatic enforcement to make spending limits real. Rep. Grothman’s proposal to add sequester backing to appropriations caps for four more years makes good sense. As Congress continues with the unfinished business of ending excessive spending and debt, this legislation deserves members’ support,” said Kurt Couchman, Senior Fellow in Fiscal Policy with Americans for Prosperity.  

    “While the Fiscal Responsibility Act accomplished a $1.5 trillion reduction (CBO) in spending through, primarily, its FY2024 and FY2025 spending caps, President Biden and Senate Democrats would not allow enforceable spending limits in Fiscal Years 2026 through 2029. This leaves the nation’s fiscal stability vulnerable to whoever holds power during these years. Thankfully, Representative Glenn Grothman has introduced the Enforce the Caps Act, which would make these spending caps enforceable through sequestration. This law would decrease planned spending by an additional $553 billion. Rep. Grothman’s bill is a crucial next step towards fiscal sanity, providing a more stable economy for Americans and protecting future taxpayers. ATR urges all lawmakers to support this important legislation,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. 

    “The Enforce the Caps Act is a vital step toward restoring fiscal discipline in Washington. This commonsense legislation would finally hold Congress accountable to the discretionary spending limits it has repeatedly agreed to but consistently ignored. JCN polling finds balancing the budget is one of the biggest priorities of American small businesses, and the Enforce the Caps Act would help rein in the reckless spending that is 100% responsible for America’s deficit crisis. It’s about time that Washington played by the same rules every Main Street entrepreneur does—living within a budget,” said Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of Job Creators Network. 

    “National Taxpayers Union is pleased to once again support the Enforce the Caps Act, which would make discretionary spending limits established in the Fiscal Responsibility Act enforceable through sequestration in future years. Enforcing these limits would promote greater budget discipline and help reduce annual deficit spending,” said Brandon Arnold, Executive Vice President of the National Taxpayers Union. 

    “The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is proud to endorse the Enforce the Caps Act, reintroduced by Rep. Grothman. Following the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which set discretionary spending caps for FY24–FY29, this legislation would reduce federal outlays by $553 billion from FY26 to FY33 by ensuring those caps are enforced through sequestration. TPA strongly supports this measure, which reins in Washington’s reckless spending and safeguards taxpayers’ hard earned dollars,” said David Williams, President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. 

    “Rep. Glenn Grothman’s Enforce the Caps Act takes a much-needed step toward restoring fiscal discipline. With binding spending caps set to expire after FY 2025, Congress should prevent a surge in discretionary spending that could fuel inflation and deepen the U.S. debt crisis. Locking in previously agreed upon spending caps—with a real enforcement mechanism—will help focus taxpayer dollars on core government priorities by forcing tradeoff considerations, and helping Congress do what every family must do: budget within limited means,” said Romina Boccia and Dominik Lett from Cato Institute. 

    “R Street Institute is pleased to support the ‘Enforce the Caps Act.’ Too often, when Congress sets fiscal targets as part of a negotiated deal, critical spending restrictions are postponed for future years and rarely achieved in full. This shortchanges taxpayers and legislators who were promised savings as part of a comprehensive agreement. It also devalues the legislative process by signaling that lawmakers never intended to follow the law, making it harder for legislators to work together in the future and undermining trust in the institution. By enforcing the spending limits in the ‘Fiscal Responsibility Act,’ Congress can at once secure urgently needed savings and boost congressional integrity,” said Nan Swift, Resident Fellow, Governance Project, R Street Institute. 

    “The Enforce the Caps Act would add real teeth to the Fiscal Responsibility Act beyond 2025, codifying significant deficit reduction in the process. We applaud Representative Grothman for his initiative in introducing this important bill. Although the Fiscal Responsibility Act was the largest and most important deficit reduction bill in over a decade, it does not include a mechanism to truly enforce its savings or discretionary targets beyond 2025. The ECA would extend the statutory caps in place for 2024 and 2025, limiting appropriations growth to 1 percent per year through 2029. Members have already voted for these spending levels as targets under the FRA, so it only makes sense to make them real. In doing so, the Enforce the Caps Act would play a significant role in improving America’s fiscal future,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 

    “The Enforce the Caps Act is a step in the right direction. It strengthens the FRA by making the budget caps from FY 26′ to FY 29′ fully enforceable through sequestration. We applaud Congressman Grothman for reintroducing this commonsense measure to rein in out-of-control spending,” said Jill Homan, Deputy Director for Trade and Economic Policy for the America First Policy Institute 

    Background Information 

    The bipartisan Fiscal Responsibly Act of 2023 placed two years of enforceable discretionary spending caps for FY24 and FY25 and four years of non-enforceable caps for FY26 through FY29. The Enforce the Caps Act protects taxpayers by simply extending the enforcement period to apply to FY26 through FY29. 

    The Enforce the Caps Act would simply make the FY 26 through FY 29 caps enacted by the Fiscal Responsibility Act enforceable through sequestration. 

    According to the CBO, full enforcement of these caps would decrease outlays by $553 billion between 2026 and 2033. 

    This bill is endorsed by Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Job Creators Network, National Taxpayers Union, R Street Institute, America First Policy Institute, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and Taxpayers Protection Alliance. 

    This bill has three original cosponsors, including Representatives Andy Barr (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and David Rouzer (R-NC). 

    U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) proudly serves the people of Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Free Psychic Reading Online | Free Psychic Chat – The Psychic Experts Introduce Certified, Accurate Readings for 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York City, NY, June 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The-Psychic-Experts.com is proud to announce the official release of its groundbreaking 2025 platform, designed to bring free psychic reading online and free psychic chat to millions seeking trusted, certified, and accurate readings. With more people than ever turning to spiritual advisors for support in love, relationships, and life direction, this new service makes it easier to access free psychic readings delivered by authentic, thoroughly vetted, and compassionate professionals.

    ⇒ Try Your Free Psychic Reading Online – Trusted and Accurate!

    The newly enhanced platform represents a significant milestone in the growth of no-cost, user-focused spiritual guidance. In 2025, demand for free psychic reading online sessions that offer free psychic love reading, personal insight, and no-credit-card signups has surged. Responding to that growing audience, The Psychic Experts developed an advanced system that empowers users to ask a free psychic question and receive timely, respectful, and deeply personal insight in real-time.

    “Our mission is to remove barriers to spiritual clarity,” said a spokesperson for The Psychic Experts. “We believe that everyone deserves a free psychic reading with no strings attached — whether you want a quick check-in, a deep dive into your birth chart, or a free psychic reading by date of birth and time. This launch in 2025 represents our commitment to accessibility, privacy, and authentic guidance.”

    ⇒ Get Your Free Psychic Reading Online with Trusted Experts!

    What Is a Free Psychic Reading?

    A free psychic reading is a short, no-cost session where you receive guidance and insight from someone using intuitive abilities or spiritual tools. These readings aim to provide answers, direction, and emotional clarity. Many people turn to a free psychic reading to explore love, life decisions, timing, or confusing situations that feel unresolved.

    A reader might use tarot cards, astrology, energy sensing, or other methods to interpret your circumstances. Some rely on impressions and intuition, while others may ask for your birth information to begin. Although the approach varies, the goal is the same: to help you better understand what is happening in your life and what steps may come next.

    ⇒ Start Your Free Psychic Chat with Certified Experts Today!

    Why People Try Free Psychic Readings

    Many people choose a free psychic reading online when they need answers but prefer not to pay before knowing whether the service feels right. These quick sessions often address emotional worries, relationship concerns, or important decisions. For some, it’s a comforting way to feel seen and understood; for others, it helps make sense of recent events or transitions.

    Often, first-time visitors will ask a free psychic question before committing to a longer session. This helps them see how the reader responds and if the insight feels relevant. Sometimes, just one free psychic question can shift the way someone views their situation.

    ⇒ Connect with a Real Psychic for a Free Psychic Reading!

    What to Expect from a Free Session

    Most platforms that offer free psychic readings provide a few complimentary minutes with a reader through chat or by phone. During that window, you can share a personal question or explain a concern. Some people prefer open-ended guidance, while others go straight to direct questions like, “Will I hear from this person again?” or “What is blocking me right now?”

    A free psychic reading might include a free psychic love reading, a quick energy scan, or even an interpretation based on your birth details. In some cases, you may receive a free psychic reading by date of birth and time, which allows the reader to pick up on timing patterns, compatibility, or important life milestones.

    ⇒ Talk to a Trusted Psychic in a Free Psychic Chat Session!

    A Safe and Private Way to Start

    Trying a free psychic reading is a safe way to explore spiritual guidance without having to share payment details. Many platforms now promote free psychic reading online chat no credit card, meaning you can receive guidance quickly, privately, and with no obligation.

    These no-cost sessions allow you to reflect, ask personal questions, and test the reading process without feeling pressured. A trusted free psychic will never rush you or make unreasonable demands. Instead, they will focus on your question and provide calm, respectful, and meaningful support.

    ⇒ Enjoy a Free Trial Psychic Reading with Certified Advisors!

    How Free Psychic Readings Work Online

    A free psychic reading online gives you access to real spiritual support without the need to visit a psychic in person or share payment details upfront. These sessions are fast, personal, and convenient to access by chat or phone, making the entire process risk-free — especially for those who are curious but hesitant to invest in a paid session.

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question and Pay Nothing Today!

    Live Chat Readings: Fast, Private, and Direct

    Most newcomers to free psychic readings start with live chat. These sessions happen in real-time through a simple text-based window. After you choose a reader, you can begin chatting instantly. You send your question, and the psychic responds directly, giving you time to consider their words and focus on your concerns without feeling rushed.

    Live chat is private, discreet, and easy to use. You can connect on your phone, tablet, or computer, fitting seamlessly into your day. A free psychic chat session can last a few minutes or longer, depending on the platform’s offer. It gives you space to ask specific questions or simply receive quick insight.

    ⇒ Meet Real Advisors for a Free Psychic Reading – No Credit Card!

    Phone Readings: A More Personal Touch

    Some users prefer to speak directly with a free psychic by phone. Phone readings offer a more conversational flow and a greater sense of connection. A psychic can hear your tone, sense your energy, and ask clarifying questions as the conversation develops.

    Phone sessions may be scheduled in advance or started on demand. They are especially helpful for those who feel more comfortable talking than typing. Many people find a voice conversation builds stronger trust and feels more emotionally supportive.

    Both phone and chat sessions are available through most free psychic reading services, giving you freedom to choose your ideal format.

    ⇒ Connect with a Trusted Psychic for a Free Trial Session!

    Free Services with No Upfront Payment

    The best free psychic readings offer a trial at no cost. You might receive a short phone call, a five-minute chat, or the opportunity to ask a free psychic question and receive one detailed response. These introductory offers help you explore a reader’s style, see how they answer, and decide if you’d like to continue.

    Many trustworthy platforms feature free psychic reading online chat no credit card, so you never need to share payment information to get started. No hidden charges, no surprise billing — just a comfortable and secure way to connect. This approach builds trust and makes the experience feel relaxed and honest.

    ⇒ Talk to Certified Psychics in a Free Psychic Chat – No Payment Needed!

    Tools to Help You Choose the Right Reader

    Before you begin, most reputable platforms give you a chance to view profiles, read short bios, and check user reviews. You can filter psychics by reading type, specialty, or technique. If you’re focused on love, you might choose a free psychic love reading to explore your romantic situation. If you want to understand timing or life transitions, you might request a free psychic reading by date of birth and time for a more personalized experience.

    Some sites even allow you to type and send a free psychic question before your session starts. This gives you a feel for how the psychic communicates and interprets your concerns before committing to a longer chat.

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question with No Credit Card Required

    Why Free Online Readings Stay Popular

    Trying a free psychic reading online is one of the easiest ways to explore your thoughts, gain clarity, and check in with your emotions. It’s fast, secure, and requires no financial commitment. You remain in control of the session from beginning to end.

    These services have grown steadily in popularity because they are so flexible and accessible. With more platforms offering free psychic readings — and making it possible to connect without providing credit card details — people now have more opportunities than ever to receive honest, empowering spiritual guidance safely and without pressure.

    ⇒ Try a Free Psychic Reading Online with Reliable, Real Psychics!

    Types of Psychic Readings Offered for Free

    When exploring free psychic readings for the first time, many people want to understand the types of sessions available and how each one works. Every reading style offers something unique, depending on the tools used and the focus of the session. Some are best for emotions, while others explore timing, energy, or life direction. Here is a guide to the most common options you can experience through a free psychic reading online, along with what to expect during a short, no-cost session.

    Tarot Card Readings

    Tarot is one of the most popular styles of free psychic reading. In these sessions, the reader pulls cards from a deck and interprets their symbols to gain insight about love, emotions, or decision-making. The layout of the cards forms a pattern that helps reveal what may be influencing your current situation or what could happen next.

    Pros:

    • Fast and detailed
    • Works perfectly in free psychic chat
    • Ideal for emotional or personal questions

    Cons:

    • Some cards can feel vague without more time to explore
    • It may feel too symbolic for those who prefer direct answer

    ⇒ Get Answers Fast in a Free Trial Psychic Reading Session!

    Astrology Readings

    An astrology-based free psychic reading by date of birth and time uses your personal birth chart to identify patterns in your life. This method can reveal strengths, challenges, relationship timing, and emotional cycles. Many astrologers offer free sessions based on sun signs or key placements in your chart.

    Pros:

    • Deep insight from birth details
    • Great for timing, compatibility, or self-awareness
    • Highly personal

    Cons:

    • Requires accurate birth data
    • Hard to cover every detail in a brief session

    Numerology Readings

    Numerology interprets the numbers in your name and birthdate to explain personality traits and life cycles. A free psychic reading with numerology might reveal your life path number, your personal year, or the energy surrounding a specific event.

    Pros:

    • Simple to calculate
    • Useful for timing, identity, and clarity
    • Often included in brief sessions

    Cons:

    • Limited depth in a short reading
    • May feel too technical for emotionally focused questions

    ⇒ Connect Instantly with a Certified Psychic – Free Reading Today!

    Love and Relationship Readings

    A free psychic love reading is one of the most requested types of sessions. These readings explore relationships, breakups, or new connections. Psychics may use tarot, intuition, or emotional energy to sense feelings, intentions, and compatibility.

    Pros:

    • Focused on real emotions
    • Supportive for healing or making decisions
    • Easily offered through free psychic chat

    Cons:

    • Answers can feel emotional or unclear in a fast reading
    • May require follow-up questions

    ⇒ Start Your Most Accurate Free Psychic Love Reading with No Cost!

    Mediumship and Spirit Contact

    Mediumship connects you with loved ones who have passed away. During a free psychic reading, the medium may describe a departed loved one or share a message they wish to deliver. These sessions are often sensitive and personal.

    Pros:

    • Can bring peace and closure
    • A unique, comforting experience

    Cons:

    • Hard to validate in a short timeframe
    • Not all readers offer this for free

    Aura and Energy Readings

    Aura readers examine your energy field to sense stress, blocks, or areas that need healing. These readings can help you understand what might be affecting your mood or emotional state. Many free psychic readings include a brief aura scan.

    Pros:

    • Non-intrusive and calming
    • Supports emotional wellness

    Cons:

    • Feedback may seem general
    • May not address specific questions

    ⇒ Get Trusted, Accurate Answers in a Free Psychic Reading!

    Angel or Oracle Card Readings

    Some psychics use angel cards or oracle decks to deliver positive, supportive messages. These are perfect for encouragement or a sense of hope. A brief free psychic reading online might include one or two cards and a short explanation.

    Pros:

    • Uplifting and gentle
    • Works well in quick sessions
    • Good for reassurance

    Cons:

    • Can feel vague if you want detailed information
    • Less focused on timing or decisions

    Pendulum Readings

    A pendulum is sometimes used for yes or no answers. The direction of its movement provides a simple, straightforward response to a specific question.

    Pros:

    • Very fast
    • Great for one free psychic question

    Cons:

    • Only answers yes/no
    • Not suitable for complex topics

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question in a Risk-Free, No-Cost Session!

    Choosing What Fits Your Needs

    Each reading method offers a unique way to explore your situation. Some styles are more detailed, while others provide quick impressions. Fortunately, many platforms let you choose your reading style before you start. Whether you prefer symbols, energy readings, or direct answers, you can safely explore it through a free psychic reading.

    With so many services now offering free psychic reading online chat no credit card, it is easier than ever to try different reading methods, ask what matters most, and get meaningful answers from a real free psychic.

    ⇒ Discover Reliable Insights with a Free Psychic Reading Online!

    Benefits of Free Psychic Readings in 2025

    As people look for emotional clarity and personal direction, free psychic readings have become a trusted way to gain insight without financial risk. These sessions are easy to access, require no commitment, and provide support to anyone facing stress, confusion, or life changes. In 2025, their value continues to grow as more people seek new ways to connect with their thoughts and relationships.

    Emotional Support Without Payment Pressure

    A free psychic reading gives you a safe space to talk about your worries, receive intuitive guidance, and feel heard. If you’re going through a breakup, facing job uncertainty, or dealing with personal doubts, hearing from a spiritual advisor can be incredibly reassuring. These sessions cost nothing to begin, which makes them ideal for people who want support without financial risk.

    With no upfront fees, a free psychic reading online allows you to focus on your question without being distracted by payment worries or obligations.

    ⇒ Start a Free Psychic Love Reading with Trusted Advisors!

    Easy Access on Any Device

    Most modern platforms work smoothly on both mobile and desktop devices, so you can try free psychic readings anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re relaxing at home or on the move, it only takes a few taps to connect with a free psychic.

    Live free psychic chat sessions are especially popular because they let you stay anonymous, think carefully about your questions, and even reread the advice later. For quick concerns or emotional check-ins, chat is one of the most convenient ways to connect.

    A Risk-Free Way to Test a Reader

    Trying a free psychic reading is a smart way to see how well a psychic connects with you before paying for a longer session. Many platforms let you ask a free psychic question or enjoy a few free minutes to see how the reader works. If the answers feel honest and relevant, you can choose to continue.

    Whether you prefer a free psychic love reading or a deeper free psychic reading by date of birth and time, this approach puts you in control and builds trust from the very beginning.

    ⇒ Connect with Reliable Readers for a Free Psychic Reading!

    Private, Anonymous, and Safe

    Online sessions protect your privacy. Trusted platforms offering free psychic reading online chat no credit card let you get insights without ever sharing payment details. You stay in full control of what you reveal and can end the session at any time.

    This setup is perfect for those who are new to psychic guidance or feel nervous about trying it for the first time. You can stay anonymous while still exploring personal questions, knowing that your confidentiality is respected.

    Growing Trust in Spiritual Tools

    By 2025, more people see spiritual services as part of their emotional wellness routine. What once felt unusual is now a common way to find peace and clarity. From love guidance to career timing, free psychic readings are helping individuals better understand themselves and their life choices.

    Trying a free psychic reading online is no longer out of the ordinary. These services have become practical tools for staying grounded, making decisions, and reconnecting with what matters most.

    ⇒ Meet Real, Certified Psychics for a Free Psychic Reading Online!

    Recognizing Real Psychics vs. Scams

    As free psychic reading online services grow, it becomes easier to connect with genuine intuitive advisors. However, it also brings the risk of running into fake psychics who use scripted messages or high-pressure tactics. To get the most from a free psychic reading, it’s important to spot a real connection and avoid misleading offers.

    What Real Psychics Do in a Free Session

    A genuine free psychic will focus directly on your question and build the session around your personal energy and details. Whether they use tarot, birth data, or energy reading, the session should feel specific and relevant. Real psychics will not force topics or dodge your question. If you request a free psychic love reading, they will stay focused on that subject and provide clear, compassionate insights.

    Authentic readers might ask for your name or birth details, especially if they are providing a free psychic reading by date of birth and time. They will also check if you have a topic you wish to explore, showing their commitment to making the session meaningful.

    Importantly, trustworthy psychics will never try to scare you or push you into buying more time. A free psychic reading should be about clarity, not fear.

    ⇒ Talk to a Trusted Psychic in a Free Psychic Chat Session!

    Red Flags That Signal a Scam

    Some clues can help you spot fake psychics. Watch for vague answers that could apply to anyone, repetitive or scripted messages, and strong pressure to pay for more time. If a psychic uses fear-based language — like “I sense a curse” or “Only I can fix this” — it’s time to leave.

    Another major warning sign is if a site asks for payment or credit card details before letting you ask a free psychic question. Legitimate platforms offering free psychic reading online chat no credit card will never demand billing details to begin.

    ⇒ Get Your Most Accurate Free Psychic Reading Today!

    How The Psychic Experts Selects Real Readers

    The-Psychic-Experts.com scan free psychic readings services through a careful quality process. Their team tests platforms anonymously, asks focused questions, and looks for clear, honest answers. They review each psychic’s accuracy, style, and willingness to give genuine insight during a short free session.

    Only readers who meet these strict trust standards and provide honest, caring guidance are recommended in the annual 2025 rankings.

    The Importance of Transparency

    Whenever you select a psychic, check their profile carefully. A reputable service will display the advisor’s name, bio, experience, reading style, and spiritual tools. If someone offers a free psychic reading, you should know their approach before you start.

    Reading real user reviews is another smart step. Testimonials can reveal how well the psychic responds and whether they truly focus on your questions.

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question Now with No Credit Card Required

    Confirming a Real Connection

    You don’t need a long session to know if the connection feels authentic. During a free psychic reading, pay attention to how the psychic speaks to you. Are they direct and clear? Do they focus on your topic? Do you feel heard?

    If the answer is yes, you may have found a reader to support you in the future. Many people who start with a free psychic reading online eventually schedule deeper, paid readings once they trust their advisor.

    If the answer is no, there’s nothing wrong with ending the chat. A real free psychic will respect your choice.

    Stay Open — and Smart

    A free psychic reading can provide peace, clarity, and confidence. By choosing platforms with free psychic reading online chat no credit card, reading verified bios, and trusting your instincts, you can enjoy the benefits of psychic guidance without falling into a scam.

    ⇒ Connect Instantly for a Free Psychic Reading Online!

    Top Features to Look For in Free Psychic Services

    Not every free psychic reading platform is created equally. Some deliver quick, insightful sessions with trusted advisors, while others may fall short. Before you start a free psychic reading online, it helps to know what to look for.

    No Credit Card Required to Start
     The best sites allow free psychic reading online chat no credit card, protecting your privacy and putting you in control. If a service demands credit card details before any free guidance, that’s a red flag.

    A Clear Reading Process
     A reliable service explains exactly how the session will work — whether it’s a free psychic chat or a phone call — including what to expect and what details the psychic may need.

    One Free Question or a Few Minutes Free
     The most trusted services offer at least one free psychic question or a first few minutes free so you can get a sense of the reader’s style.

    Flexible Scheduling
     Strong platforms let you start instantly or schedule a session later, giving you freedom to choose what fits your day.

    ⇒ Meet Certified Love Experts for a Free Psychic Love Reading!

    Why 2025 Rankings from The Psychic Experts Matter

    Interest in spiritual guidance continues to rise in 2025. Whether your questions relate to love, career, timing, or stress, free psychic readings help many people feel more supported and empowered. Rankings published by The-Psychic-Experts.com point to platforms that are transparent, safe, and truly helpful.

    These rankings are built by testing each platform, evaluating how easy it is to ask a free psychic question, and measuring the quality of responses. Top-rated sites make the process smooth and comfortable, so you can focus on your personal insight rather than worrying about costs or hidden conditions.

    ⇒ Start a Free Psychic Reading with Real Certified Advisors!

    Final Thoughts:

    A free psychic reading is one of the simplest ways to gain personal clarity without financial commitment. Many trusted services now offer free psychic reading online chat no credit card, so you can connect safely and anonymously.

    These sessions can help you explore love, handle emotional stress, consider timing questions, or simply get reassurance. Whether you choose a quick free psychic love reading or a deeper free psychic reading by date of birth and time, you can begin with confidence and curiosity.

    If you’re feeling stuck, confused, or just want fresh perspective, trying a free psychic reading online could be exactly what you need to move forward with peace of mind.

    FAQs

    What is a free psychic reading, and how does it work?

    A free psychic reading lets you speak with a free psychic at no cost. You can connect by chat or phone and ask about love, career, or emotional concerns. Many sites offer a few free minutes or let you ask a free psychic question before committing. These sessions help you explore your thoughts and get guidance without pressure.

    Can I ask a free psychic question without paying anything?

    Yes. Some platforms let you ask one question for free or start with a short trial session. This helps you see how the psychic works and decide if you want to continue. It’s a helpful way to get insight without paying upfront.

    Is a free psychic reading accurate?

    Accuracy depends on the reader and the question. A skilled free psychic can offer helpful and specific answers, even in a short session. The-Psychic-Experts.com reviews readers based on clarity and value during these trial sessions.

    What types of readings can I get for free?

    Common free psychic readings include tarot, numerology, astrology, and energy readings. Some users choose a free psychic love reading to understand a relationship, while others try a free psychic reading by date of birth and time to explore timing and personality. Many services offer options so you can pick what fits your situation.

    Do I need a credit card to try a free psychic reading online?

    No. Trusted platforms often allow free psychic reading online chat – no credit card, so you can stay private. This gives you access to the reading without sharing payment information.

    How does a psychic reading by date of birth and time work?

    A free psychic reading by date of birth and time uses astrology to map key life details. Your chart is based on birth date, time, and place. Readers use this to explain your strengths, patterns, and future potential.

    Is a chat reading better than a phone reading?

    Free psychic chat gives you privacy and a written record. Phone readings feel more personal and may move faster. Both are useful. Choose what makes you feel comfortable when trying a free psychic reading.

    Where can I find the best free psychic reading in 2025?

    Visit The-Psychic-Experts.com for the latest rankings. They test and list trusted platforms for free psychic readings, including options for free psychic chat, astrology, and free psychic love reading. Their reviews help you find a service that feels right for you.

    Media Contact
    Company: The Psychic Experts
    Contact Person: Anthony C. Bedoya
    Email: support@the-psychic-experts.com
    Address: 1 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101, USA
    URL: https://the-psychic-experts.com/
    Phone: +1 414-203-2598
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    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Free Psychic Reading Online | Free Psychic Chat – The Psychic Experts Introduce Certified, Accurate Readings for 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York City, NY, June 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The-Psychic-Experts.com is proud to announce the official release of its groundbreaking 2025 platform, designed to bring free psychic reading online and free psychic chat to millions seeking trusted, certified, and accurate readings. With more people than ever turning to spiritual advisors for support in love, relationships, and life direction, this new service makes it easier to access free psychic readings delivered by authentic, thoroughly vetted, and compassionate professionals.

    ⇒ Try Your Free Psychic Reading Online – Trusted and Accurate!

    The newly enhanced platform represents a significant milestone in the growth of no-cost, user-focused spiritual guidance. In 2025, demand for free psychic reading online sessions that offer free psychic love reading, personal insight, and no-credit-card signups has surged. Responding to that growing audience, The Psychic Experts developed an advanced system that empowers users to ask a free psychic question and receive timely, respectful, and deeply personal insight in real-time.

    “Our mission is to remove barriers to spiritual clarity,” said a spokesperson for The Psychic Experts. “We believe that everyone deserves a free psychic reading with no strings attached — whether you want a quick check-in, a deep dive into your birth chart, or a free psychic reading by date of birth and time. This launch in 2025 represents our commitment to accessibility, privacy, and authentic guidance.”

    ⇒ Get Your Free Psychic Reading Online with Trusted Experts!

    What Is a Free Psychic Reading?

    A free psychic reading is a short, no-cost session where you receive guidance and insight from someone using intuitive abilities or spiritual tools. These readings aim to provide answers, direction, and emotional clarity. Many people turn to a free psychic reading to explore love, life decisions, timing, or confusing situations that feel unresolved.

    A reader might use tarot cards, astrology, energy sensing, or other methods to interpret your circumstances. Some rely on impressions and intuition, while others may ask for your birth information to begin. Although the approach varies, the goal is the same: to help you better understand what is happening in your life and what steps may come next.

    ⇒ Start Your Free Psychic Chat with Certified Experts Today!

    Why People Try Free Psychic Readings

    Many people choose a free psychic reading online when they need answers but prefer not to pay before knowing whether the service feels right. These quick sessions often address emotional worries, relationship concerns, or important decisions. For some, it’s a comforting way to feel seen and understood; for others, it helps make sense of recent events or transitions.

    Often, first-time visitors will ask a free psychic question before committing to a longer session. This helps them see how the reader responds and if the insight feels relevant. Sometimes, just one free psychic question can shift the way someone views their situation.

    ⇒ Connect with a Real Psychic for a Free Psychic Reading!

    What to Expect from a Free Session

    Most platforms that offer free psychic readings provide a few complimentary minutes with a reader through chat or by phone. During that window, you can share a personal question or explain a concern. Some people prefer open-ended guidance, while others go straight to direct questions like, “Will I hear from this person again?” or “What is blocking me right now?”

    A free psychic reading might include a free psychic love reading, a quick energy scan, or even an interpretation based on your birth details. In some cases, you may receive a free psychic reading by date of birth and time, which allows the reader to pick up on timing patterns, compatibility, or important life milestones.

    ⇒ Talk to a Trusted Psychic in a Free Psychic Chat Session!

    A Safe and Private Way to Start

    Trying a free psychic reading is a safe way to explore spiritual guidance without having to share payment details. Many platforms now promote free psychic reading online chat no credit card, meaning you can receive guidance quickly, privately, and with no obligation.

    These no-cost sessions allow you to reflect, ask personal questions, and test the reading process without feeling pressured. A trusted free psychic will never rush you or make unreasonable demands. Instead, they will focus on your question and provide calm, respectful, and meaningful support.

    ⇒ Enjoy a Free Trial Psychic Reading with Certified Advisors!

    How Free Psychic Readings Work Online

    A free psychic reading online gives you access to real spiritual support without the need to visit a psychic in person or share payment details upfront. These sessions are fast, personal, and convenient to access by chat or phone, making the entire process risk-free — especially for those who are curious but hesitant to invest in a paid session.

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question and Pay Nothing Today!

    Live Chat Readings: Fast, Private, and Direct

    Most newcomers to free psychic readings start with live chat. These sessions happen in real-time through a simple text-based window. After you choose a reader, you can begin chatting instantly. You send your question, and the psychic responds directly, giving you time to consider their words and focus on your concerns without feeling rushed.

    Live chat is private, discreet, and easy to use. You can connect on your phone, tablet, or computer, fitting seamlessly into your day. A free psychic chat session can last a few minutes or longer, depending on the platform’s offer. It gives you space to ask specific questions or simply receive quick insight.

    ⇒ Meet Real Advisors for a Free Psychic Reading – No Credit Card!

    Phone Readings: A More Personal Touch

    Some users prefer to speak directly with a free psychic by phone. Phone readings offer a more conversational flow and a greater sense of connection. A psychic can hear your tone, sense your energy, and ask clarifying questions as the conversation develops.

    Phone sessions may be scheduled in advance or started on demand. They are especially helpful for those who feel more comfortable talking than typing. Many people find a voice conversation builds stronger trust and feels more emotionally supportive.

    Both phone and chat sessions are available through most free psychic reading services, giving you freedom to choose your ideal format.

    ⇒ Connect with a Trusted Psychic for a Free Trial Session!

    Free Services with No Upfront Payment

    The best free psychic readings offer a trial at no cost. You might receive a short phone call, a five-minute chat, or the opportunity to ask a free psychic question and receive one detailed response. These introductory offers help you explore a reader’s style, see how they answer, and decide if you’d like to continue.

    Many trustworthy platforms feature free psychic reading online chat no credit card, so you never need to share payment information to get started. No hidden charges, no surprise billing — just a comfortable and secure way to connect. This approach builds trust and makes the experience feel relaxed and honest.

    ⇒ Talk to Certified Psychics in a Free Psychic Chat – No Payment Needed!

    Tools to Help You Choose the Right Reader

    Before you begin, most reputable platforms give you a chance to view profiles, read short bios, and check user reviews. You can filter psychics by reading type, specialty, or technique. If you’re focused on love, you might choose a free psychic love reading to explore your romantic situation. If you want to understand timing or life transitions, you might request a free psychic reading by date of birth and time for a more personalized experience.

    Some sites even allow you to type and send a free psychic question before your session starts. This gives you a feel for how the psychic communicates and interprets your concerns before committing to a longer chat.

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question with No Credit Card Required

    Why Free Online Readings Stay Popular

    Trying a free psychic reading online is one of the easiest ways to explore your thoughts, gain clarity, and check in with your emotions. It’s fast, secure, and requires no financial commitment. You remain in control of the session from beginning to end.

    These services have grown steadily in popularity because they are so flexible and accessible. With more platforms offering free psychic readings — and making it possible to connect without providing credit card details — people now have more opportunities than ever to receive honest, empowering spiritual guidance safely and without pressure.

    ⇒ Try a Free Psychic Reading Online with Reliable, Real Psychics!

    Types of Psychic Readings Offered for Free

    When exploring free psychic readings for the first time, many people want to understand the types of sessions available and how each one works. Every reading style offers something unique, depending on the tools used and the focus of the session. Some are best for emotions, while others explore timing, energy, or life direction. Here is a guide to the most common options you can experience through a free psychic reading online, along with what to expect during a short, no-cost session.

    Tarot Card Readings

    Tarot is one of the most popular styles of free psychic reading. In these sessions, the reader pulls cards from a deck and interprets their symbols to gain insight about love, emotions, or decision-making. The layout of the cards forms a pattern that helps reveal what may be influencing your current situation or what could happen next.

    Pros:

    • Fast and detailed
    • Works perfectly in free psychic chat
    • Ideal for emotional or personal questions

    Cons:

    • Some cards can feel vague without more time to explore
    • It may feel too symbolic for those who prefer direct answer

    ⇒ Get Answers Fast in a Free Trial Psychic Reading Session!

    Astrology Readings

    An astrology-based free psychic reading by date of birth and time uses your personal birth chart to identify patterns in your life. This method can reveal strengths, challenges, relationship timing, and emotional cycles. Many astrologers offer free sessions based on sun signs or key placements in your chart.

    Pros:

    • Deep insight from birth details
    • Great for timing, compatibility, or self-awareness
    • Highly personal

    Cons:

    • Requires accurate birth data
    • Hard to cover every detail in a brief session

    Numerology Readings

    Numerology interprets the numbers in your name and birthdate to explain personality traits and life cycles. A free psychic reading with numerology might reveal your life path number, your personal year, or the energy surrounding a specific event.

    Pros:

    • Simple to calculate
    • Useful for timing, identity, and clarity
    • Often included in brief sessions

    Cons:

    • Limited depth in a short reading
    • May feel too technical for emotionally focused questions

    ⇒ Connect Instantly with a Certified Psychic – Free Reading Today!

    Love and Relationship Readings

    A free psychic love reading is one of the most requested types of sessions. These readings explore relationships, breakups, or new connections. Psychics may use tarot, intuition, or emotional energy to sense feelings, intentions, and compatibility.

    Pros:

    • Focused on real emotions
    • Supportive for healing or making decisions
    • Easily offered through free psychic chat

    Cons:

    • Answers can feel emotional or unclear in a fast reading
    • May require follow-up questions

    ⇒ Start Your Most Accurate Free Psychic Love Reading with No Cost!

    Mediumship and Spirit Contact

    Mediumship connects you with loved ones who have passed away. During a free psychic reading, the medium may describe a departed loved one or share a message they wish to deliver. These sessions are often sensitive and personal.

    Pros:

    • Can bring peace and closure
    • A unique, comforting experience

    Cons:

    • Hard to validate in a short timeframe
    • Not all readers offer this for free

    Aura and Energy Readings

    Aura readers examine your energy field to sense stress, blocks, or areas that need healing. These readings can help you understand what might be affecting your mood or emotional state. Many free psychic readings include a brief aura scan.

    Pros:

    • Non-intrusive and calming
    • Supports emotional wellness

    Cons:

    • Feedback may seem general
    • May not address specific questions

    ⇒ Get Trusted, Accurate Answers in a Free Psychic Reading!

    Angel or Oracle Card Readings

    Some psychics use angel cards or oracle decks to deliver positive, supportive messages. These are perfect for encouragement or a sense of hope. A brief free psychic reading online might include one or two cards and a short explanation.

    Pros:

    • Uplifting and gentle
    • Works well in quick sessions
    • Good for reassurance

    Cons:

    • Can feel vague if you want detailed information
    • Less focused on timing or decisions

    Pendulum Readings

    A pendulum is sometimes used for yes or no answers. The direction of its movement provides a simple, straightforward response to a specific question.

    Pros:

    • Very fast
    • Great for one free psychic question

    Cons:

    • Only answers yes/no
    • Not suitable for complex topics

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question in a Risk-Free, No-Cost Session!

    Choosing What Fits Your Needs

    Each reading method offers a unique way to explore your situation. Some styles are more detailed, while others provide quick impressions. Fortunately, many platforms let you choose your reading style before you start. Whether you prefer symbols, energy readings, or direct answers, you can safely explore it through a free psychic reading.

    With so many services now offering free psychic reading online chat no credit card, it is easier than ever to try different reading methods, ask what matters most, and get meaningful answers from a real free psychic.

    ⇒ Discover Reliable Insights with a Free Psychic Reading Online!

    Benefits of Free Psychic Readings in 2025

    As people look for emotional clarity and personal direction, free psychic readings have become a trusted way to gain insight without financial risk. These sessions are easy to access, require no commitment, and provide support to anyone facing stress, confusion, or life changes. In 2025, their value continues to grow as more people seek new ways to connect with their thoughts and relationships.

    Emotional Support Without Payment Pressure

    A free psychic reading gives you a safe space to talk about your worries, receive intuitive guidance, and feel heard. If you’re going through a breakup, facing job uncertainty, or dealing with personal doubts, hearing from a spiritual advisor can be incredibly reassuring. These sessions cost nothing to begin, which makes them ideal for people who want support without financial risk.

    With no upfront fees, a free psychic reading online allows you to focus on your question without being distracted by payment worries or obligations.

    ⇒ Start a Free Psychic Love Reading with Trusted Advisors!

    Easy Access on Any Device

    Most modern platforms work smoothly on both mobile and desktop devices, so you can try free psychic readings anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re relaxing at home or on the move, it only takes a few taps to connect with a free psychic.

    Live free psychic chat sessions are especially popular because they let you stay anonymous, think carefully about your questions, and even reread the advice later. For quick concerns or emotional check-ins, chat is one of the most convenient ways to connect.

    A Risk-Free Way to Test a Reader

    Trying a free psychic reading is a smart way to see how well a psychic connects with you before paying for a longer session. Many platforms let you ask a free psychic question or enjoy a few free minutes to see how the reader works. If the answers feel honest and relevant, you can choose to continue.

    Whether you prefer a free psychic love reading or a deeper free psychic reading by date of birth and time, this approach puts you in control and builds trust from the very beginning.

    ⇒ Connect with Reliable Readers for a Free Psychic Reading!

    Private, Anonymous, and Safe

    Online sessions protect your privacy. Trusted platforms offering free psychic reading online chat no credit card let you get insights without ever sharing payment details. You stay in full control of what you reveal and can end the session at any time.

    This setup is perfect for those who are new to psychic guidance or feel nervous about trying it for the first time. You can stay anonymous while still exploring personal questions, knowing that your confidentiality is respected.

    Growing Trust in Spiritual Tools

    By 2025, more people see spiritual services as part of their emotional wellness routine. What once felt unusual is now a common way to find peace and clarity. From love guidance to career timing, free psychic readings are helping individuals better understand themselves and their life choices.

    Trying a free psychic reading online is no longer out of the ordinary. These services have become practical tools for staying grounded, making decisions, and reconnecting with what matters most.

    ⇒ Meet Real, Certified Psychics for a Free Psychic Reading Online!

    Recognizing Real Psychics vs. Scams

    As free psychic reading online services grow, it becomes easier to connect with genuine intuitive advisors. However, it also brings the risk of running into fake psychics who use scripted messages or high-pressure tactics. To get the most from a free psychic reading, it’s important to spot a real connection and avoid misleading offers.

    What Real Psychics Do in a Free Session

    A genuine free psychic will focus directly on your question and build the session around your personal energy and details. Whether they use tarot, birth data, or energy reading, the session should feel specific and relevant. Real psychics will not force topics or dodge your question. If you request a free psychic love reading, they will stay focused on that subject and provide clear, compassionate insights.

    Authentic readers might ask for your name or birth details, especially if they are providing a free psychic reading by date of birth and time. They will also check if you have a topic you wish to explore, showing their commitment to making the session meaningful.

    Importantly, trustworthy psychics will never try to scare you or push you into buying more time. A free psychic reading should be about clarity, not fear.

    ⇒ Talk to a Trusted Psychic in a Free Psychic Chat Session!

    Red Flags That Signal a Scam

    Some clues can help you spot fake psychics. Watch for vague answers that could apply to anyone, repetitive or scripted messages, and strong pressure to pay for more time. If a psychic uses fear-based language — like “I sense a curse” or “Only I can fix this” — it’s time to leave.

    Another major warning sign is if a site asks for payment or credit card details before letting you ask a free psychic question. Legitimate platforms offering free psychic reading online chat no credit card will never demand billing details to begin.

    ⇒ Get Your Most Accurate Free Psychic Reading Today!

    How The Psychic Experts Selects Real Readers

    The-Psychic-Experts.com scan free psychic readings services through a careful quality process. Their team tests platforms anonymously, asks focused questions, and looks for clear, honest answers. They review each psychic’s accuracy, style, and willingness to give genuine insight during a short free session.

    Only readers who meet these strict trust standards and provide honest, caring guidance are recommended in the annual 2025 rankings.

    The Importance of Transparency

    Whenever you select a psychic, check their profile carefully. A reputable service will display the advisor’s name, bio, experience, reading style, and spiritual tools. If someone offers a free psychic reading, you should know their approach before you start.

    Reading real user reviews is another smart step. Testimonials can reveal how well the psychic responds and whether they truly focus on your questions.

    ⇒ Ask a Free Psychic Question Now with No Credit Card Required

    Confirming a Real Connection

    You don’t need a long session to know if the connection feels authentic. During a free psychic reading, pay attention to how the psychic speaks to you. Are they direct and clear? Do they focus on your topic? Do you feel heard?

    If the answer is yes, you may have found a reader to support you in the future. Many people who start with a free psychic reading online eventually schedule deeper, paid readings once they trust their advisor.

    If the answer is no, there’s nothing wrong with ending the chat. A real free psychic will respect your choice.

    Stay Open — and Smart

    A free psychic reading can provide peace, clarity, and confidence. By choosing platforms with free psychic reading online chat no credit card, reading verified bios, and trusting your instincts, you can enjoy the benefits of psychic guidance without falling into a scam.

    ⇒ Connect Instantly for a Free Psychic Reading Online!

    Top Features to Look For in Free Psychic Services

    Not every free psychic reading platform is created equally. Some deliver quick, insightful sessions with trusted advisors, while others may fall short. Before you start a free psychic reading online, it helps to know what to look for.

    No Credit Card Required to Start
     The best sites allow free psychic reading online chat no credit card, protecting your privacy and putting you in control. If a service demands credit card details before any free guidance, that’s a red flag.

    A Clear Reading Process
     A reliable service explains exactly how the session will work — whether it’s a free psychic chat or a phone call — including what to expect and what details the psychic may need.

    One Free Question or a Few Minutes Free
     The most trusted services offer at least one free psychic question or a first few minutes free so you can get a sense of the reader’s style.

    Flexible Scheduling
     Strong platforms let you start instantly or schedule a session later, giving you freedom to choose what fits your day.

    ⇒ Meet Certified Love Experts for a Free Psychic Love Reading!

    Why 2025 Rankings from The Psychic Experts Matter

    Interest in spiritual guidance continues to rise in 2025. Whether your questions relate to love, career, timing, or stress, free psychic readings help many people feel more supported and empowered. Rankings published by The-Psychic-Experts.com point to platforms that are transparent, safe, and truly helpful.

    These rankings are built by testing each platform, evaluating how easy it is to ask a free psychic question, and measuring the quality of responses. Top-rated sites make the process smooth and comfortable, so you can focus on your personal insight rather than worrying about costs or hidden conditions.

    ⇒ Start a Free Psychic Reading with Real Certified Advisors!

    Final Thoughts:

    A free psychic reading is one of the simplest ways to gain personal clarity without financial commitment. Many trusted services now offer free psychic reading online chat no credit card, so you can connect safely and anonymously.

    These sessions can help you explore love, handle emotional stress, consider timing questions, or simply get reassurance. Whether you choose a quick free psychic love reading or a deeper free psychic reading by date of birth and time, you can begin with confidence and curiosity.

    If you’re feeling stuck, confused, or just want fresh perspective, trying a free psychic reading online could be exactly what you need to move forward with peace of mind.

    FAQs

    What is a free psychic reading, and how does it work?

    A free psychic reading lets you speak with a free psychic at no cost. You can connect by chat or phone and ask about love, career, or emotional concerns. Many sites offer a few free minutes or let you ask a free psychic question before committing. These sessions help you explore your thoughts and get guidance without pressure.

    Can I ask a free psychic question without paying anything?

    Yes. Some platforms let you ask one question for free or start with a short trial session. This helps you see how the psychic works and decide if you want to continue. It’s a helpful way to get insight without paying upfront.

    Is a free psychic reading accurate?

    Accuracy depends on the reader and the question. A skilled free psychic can offer helpful and specific answers, even in a short session. The-Psychic-Experts.com reviews readers based on clarity and value during these trial sessions.

    What types of readings can I get for free?

    Common free psychic readings include tarot, numerology, astrology, and energy readings. Some users choose a free psychic love reading to understand a relationship, while others try a free psychic reading by date of birth and time to explore timing and personality. Many services offer options so you can pick what fits your situation.

    Do I need a credit card to try a free psychic reading online?

    No. Trusted platforms often allow free psychic reading online chat – no credit card, so you can stay private. This gives you access to the reading without sharing payment information.

    How does a psychic reading by date of birth and time work?

    A free psychic reading by date of birth and time uses astrology to map key life details. Your chart is based on birth date, time, and place. Readers use this to explain your strengths, patterns, and future potential.

    Is a chat reading better than a phone reading?

    Free psychic chat gives you privacy and a written record. Phone readings feel more personal and may move faster. Both are useful. Choose what makes you feel comfortable when trying a free psychic reading.

    Where can I find the best free psychic reading in 2025?

    Visit The-Psychic-Experts.com for the latest rankings. They test and list trusted platforms for free psychic readings, including options for free psychic chat, astrology, and free psychic love reading. Their reviews help you find a service that feels right for you.

    Media Contact
    Company: The Psychic Experts
    Contact Person: Anthony C. Bedoya
    Email: support@the-psychic-experts.com
    Address: 1 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101, USA
    URL: https://the-psychic-experts.com/
    Phone: +1 414-203-2598
    Content Accuracy Disclaimer
    Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in this article. However, due to the dynamic nature of product formulations, promotions, and availability, details may change without notice. The publisher makes no warranties or representations as to the current completeness or accuracy of any content, including product claims, pricing, or ingredient lists.
    It is the responsibility of the reader to verify product information directly through the official website or manufacturer prior to making a purchasing decision. Any reliance placed on the information in this article is done strictly at your own risk.
    Affiliate Disclosure
    This article may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service through these links, the publisher may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions help support the creation of in-depth reviews and educational wellness content.
    The publisher only promotes products that have been independently evaluated and deemed potentially beneficial to readers. However, this compensation may influence the content, topics, or products discussed in this article. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliate partner or product provider.
    All product reviews and descriptions reflect the author’s honest opinion based on available public data, user feedback, and scientific references at the time of writing. The inclusion of affiliate links does not influence the objectivity or integrity of the content. However, readers are encouraged to independently verify product information and consult with healthcare professionals prior to purchase or use.
    No warranties, either expressed or implied, are made about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or suitability of the content provided. The publisher and all affiliated parties expressly disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of any information contained herein.
    Product and Trademark Rights
    All product names, logos, and brands mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names does not imply endorsement unless explicitly stated. The-Psychic-Exerts.com®.com® are the trademarks of its respective brand owner.

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  • MIL-OSI: US Bad Credit and Loan with Guaranteed Approval Announced as Key Feature in Honest Loans with Instant Loan for up to $5,000 in 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York City, NY, June 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Facing a financial emergency with bad credit can be overwhelming—but there’s good news. We’ve rounded up the ideal U.S. payday loan providers offering guaranteed approval for loans up to $5,000, even if your credit history is less than perfect.

    These lenders don’t require a credit check, making their services accessible to virtually anyone—whether you’re unemployed, have poor credit, or no credit history at all.

    Designed to bridge the gap between urgent expenses and limited funds, these loans provide a fast, reliable way to get the help you need when it matters most.

    Ideal Pick: Bad Credit Personal Loans with Guaranteed Approval up to $5,000

    Honest Loans – Flexible Personal Loan Lenders

    Press the link above to learn more about the ideal lender that fits your personal loan needs, offering guaranteed approval. In most cases, loan approval is granted within 1–2 hours after completing the application.

    Want to explore more options before deciding? Keep reading for a detailed comparison:

    Honest Loans: Known for their flexibility in offering personal loans tailored to various financial situations.

    If you’re facing a financial crunch and need quick access to funds, Honest Loans is a reliable option worth considering. With loan amounts of up to $5,000, Honest Loans offers a fast and flexible solution—even if you have a bad credit history.

    Why Honest Loans stands out for personal loan needs:

    • Secure and user-friendly website
    • Fast approval decisions
    • Quick funding—often within hours
    • No need for in-person visits or waiting in lines
    • Simple and hassle-free application process

    Thanks to its intuitive platform and commitment to speed, Honest Loans is a ideal choice for bad credit personal loans, offering guaranteed approvals up to $5,000 at competitive rates.

    Apply for Payday Loans with No Credit Check – Get Approved in 1 Hour

    What Is a Payday Loan?

    A payday loan is a short-term borrowing solution designed to provide quick access to cash when you need it most. Typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, payday loans are intended to be repaid by your next paycheck—hence the name.

    This type of loan is particularly helpful for individuals who may not qualify for traditional credit options, such as bank loans, due to poor credit history, low income, or unemployment. The application process is straightforward and usually requires proof of income, a valid ID, and an active bank account, among other basic requirements.

    How Do Payday Loans Work?

    Payday loans operate similarly to standard loan services but with significantly less complexity. You start by submitting an online application. If your information meets the eligibility criteria, your loan is quickly approved and the funds are deposited directly into your bank account—often within the same day.

    Unlike traditional bank loans, payday loans don’t require extensive paperwork or in-person visits. The entire process—from application to approval and disbursement—is fully digital and often automated, making it fast and hassle-free.

    Once your loan is approved, you’ll receive the full terms of the agreement. You can then check the repayment conditions and decide whether to accept or decline the offer based on your financial situation.

    Qualifications for Payday Personal Loans

    Just like conventional loans, payday personal loans have specific qualifications that borrowers must meet. These typically include:

    • Being a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
    • Being at least 18 years old
    • Having a verifiable source of income
    • Possessing an active bank account
    • Providing a valid phone number or email for communication

    These basic requirements make payday loans highly accessible, contributing to their high approval rates.

    Do Credit Scores Matter for Payday Loans?

    Your credit score reflects your creditworthiness based on your financial history. However, for payday loans, credit scores are usually not a critical factor.

    Most payday lenders perform only a soft credit check, which doesn’t affect your score. These checks are primarily used to verify identity and assess general risk, making the process easier for those with bad or no credit.

    While credit scores may not be required, your payday loan activity can still impact your credit. Repaying your loan on time can help improve your credit history. In fact, payday loans can serve as a starting point for building a credit profile if you have none.

    How Payday Loans Differ from Conventional Loans

    Payday loans differ from traditional loans in several important ways:

    • Loan Amounts: Payday loans are typically for smaller sums—often a few hundred to a few thousand dollars—whereas conventional loans can range into the tens or hundreds of thousands.
    • Repayment Terms: Payday loans are usually due on your next payday, making them short-term. Conventional loans, by contrast, offer longer repayment periods ranging from several months to many years.
    • Interest Rates: Payday loans have significantly higher interest rates and fees due to their short-term nature and higher lending risk. Conventional loans tend to have much lower rates, especially for borrowers with good credit.
    • Credit Checks: While payday lenders often skip hard credit checks, traditional lenders require thorough checks and sometimes collateral, especially for larger amounts.
    • Approval Time: Payday loans are typically approved and funded within a few hours, making them ideal for urgent needs. Traditional loans can take days or weeks to process.
    • Eligibility Requirements: Payday loans are designed to accommodate individuals with poor credit, limited income, or no credit history. Traditional loans are generally reserved for those with stronger financial profiles.
    • Use of Funds: Payday loans are mostly used to cover emergency expenses or unexpected bills. Conventional loans are used for significant financial commitments, like purchasing a car, home, or paying for education.

    Find 1-Hour Payday Loans with No Credit Check Today

    Regulation of Payday Loans

    Due to concerns about high interest rates and borrower risk, payday loans are subject to strict regulations in many states. Some states limit the maximum loan amount, fees, or the number of loans a borrower can take at once. Others have banned payday loans entirely.

    It’s important to check your state’s specific laws before applying to ensure eligibility and understand the terms.

    Pros and Cons of Payday Loans

    ✅ Benefits:

    • Fast Approval: Loans are often approved and funded on the same day.
    • No Credit Check Required: Ideal for individuals with bad credit or no credit history.
    • Flexible Eligibility: Basic requirements make them accessible to most borrowers.
    • Small Loan Amounts: Great for covering short-term, urgent expenses.
    • Convenience: Entire process can be completed online without visiting a physical location.

    ❌ Drawbacks:

    • Risk of Debt Cycle: Short repayment terms and high fees can lead to repeated borrowing.
    • High Interest Rates: Often significantly higher than conventional loans, with APRs ranging from 300% to 400% or more.

    FAQs

    What happens if I default on a payday loan?

    If you fail to repay a payday loan on time, you may incur late fees, increased interest charges, and potentially damage your credit score. This can negatively affect your credit history, making it harder to borrow from other lenders in the future. In some cases, lenders may attempt to recover the loan through alternative collection methods, including direct withdrawals or third-party debt collection services.

    Can I get a payday loan with bad credit?

    Yes, many payday lenders approve loans for borrowers with poor or no credit history. Most do not require a traditional credit check, meaning your credit score may not significantly impact your eligibility. Approval is often based on your income and ability to repay rather than your credit profile.

    How fast can I receive a payday loan?

    Payday loans are designed for speed and convenience. Most lenders offer same-day or next-day funding, especially for online applications. After submitting your application, you can receive a decision within minutes or a few hours. If approved, the funds are typically deposited into your bank account the same day or by the next business day.

    Contact Information

    Company Name: Honest Loans
    Email: support@onlineloannetwork.com
    Phone: 888-718-9134
    Mailing Address: Springates Building, Lower Government Road, Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis

    Disclaimer & Affiliate Disclosure

    This content is provided for informational and commercial purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, legal, or professional advice. It does not constitute an endorsement of any specific lender or financial product.

    While we strive to ensure the accuracy, relevance, and timeliness of the information shared, we cannot guarantee its completeness or reliability. We strongly encourage readers to conduct their own due diligence and seek personalized guidance from licensed financial advisors, legal professionals, or other qualified experts before making financial decisions.

    Please be advised:

    • Loan products and services referenced may not be suitable for all individuals.
    • Terms, conditions, and eligibility requirements vary by lender, state regulations, and applicant profile.
    • Loan approval is not guaranteed and may depend on several factors, including but not limited to income, creditworthiness, residency status, and identity verification.

    This article may include affiliate links. If you press on one of these links and choose to apply for or purchase a product or service, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. This compensation does not influence the content’s integrity, and all opinions expressed remain unbiased and general in nature.

    By using or relying on this content, you agree that the publisher, authors, affiliates, and third-party partners shall not be held liable for any inaccuracies, omissions, or financial consequences arising from your use of the information presented. This includes—but is not limited to—loan denials, contractual disputes, or outcomes related to lender agreements.

    Mentions of companies such as “Honest Loans” are for comparison and informational purposes only and do not imply any legal partnership, endorsement, or affiliation. For questions related to specific loan products, please contact the lender directly using official channels.

    All brand names, trademarks, and service marks remain the intellectual property of their respective owners.

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  • MIL-OSI Economics: ICC and World Bank Group join forces to empower SMEs in emerging markets

    Source: International Chamber of Commerce

    Headline: ICC and World Bank Group join forces to empower SMEs in emerging markets

    Formalised today at ICC Global Headquarters in Paris, the non-binding partnership sets out key areas to enable SMEs by harnessing ICC’s global network of over 45 million companies and chambers and the development expertise and reach of the World Bank Group institutions – including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). 

    World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said:

    “Over the past year, we’ve put jobs at the centre of our global mission to end poverty. Small and medium enterprises account for nearly three quarters of employment in emerging markets. This partnership will help drive the creation of jobs by combining the power of ICC’s 45 million SMEs in 170 countries with the World Bank Group’s global knowledge, financial capacity, and public and private sector networks.” 

    ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO said: 

    “ICC is uniquely positioned not only to identify the systemic barriers facing SMEs around the world, but also to deliver ways to remove them. Today we are marking a bold step forward in equipping SMEs to meet today’s economic challenges by converting the combined expertise and networks of ICC and World Bank Group into impact at scale.”

    An estimated 1.2 billion young people are expected to enter the workforce in emerging markets and developing economies in coming years, yet projections suggest that only just over 400 million jobs will be created. Strengthening SMEs is vital given that they represent 95% of all firms and account for 70% of employment in these economies.

    The ICC-World Bank Group agreement underscores a mutual commitment to promoting inclusive economic opportunity, enhancing the resilience of small businesses and accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Initial activities will focus on trade facilitation, upskilling, digitalisation and improved access to finance with a group of pilot countries – Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya and Nigeria.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University

    The Carter Lodge hangs precariously over the flood-scoured bank of the Broad River in Chimney Rock Village, N.C., on May 13, 2025, eight months after Hurricane Helene. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

    Hurricane Helene lasted only a few days in September 2024, but it altered the landscape of the Southeastern U.S. in profound ways that will affect the hazards local residents face far into the future.

    Mudslides buried roads and reshaped river channels. Uprooted trees left soil on hillslopes exposed to the elements. Sediment that washed into rivers changed how water flows through the landscape, leaving some areas more prone to flooding and erosion.

    Helene was a powerful reminder that natural hazards don’t disappear when the skies clear – they evolve.

    These transformations are part of what scientists call cascading hazards. They occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards. A landslide triggered by a storm might clog a river, leading to downstream flooding months or years later. A wildfire can alter the soil and vegetation, setting the stage for debris flows with the next rainstorm.

    Satellite images before (top) and after Hurricane Helene (bottom) show how the storm altered landscape near Pensacola, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
    Google Earth, CC BY

    I study these disasters as a geomorphologist. In a new paper in the journal Science, I and a team of scientists from 18 universities and the U.S. Geological Survey explain why hazard models – used to help communities prepare for disasters – can’t just rely on the past. Instead, they need to be nimble enough to forecast how hazards evolve in real time.

    The science behind cascading hazards

    Cascading hazards aren’t random. They emerge from physical processes that operate continuously across the landscape – sediment movement, weathering, erosion. Together, the atmosphere, biosphere and the earth are constantly reshaping the conditions that cause natural disasters.

    For instance, earthquakes fracture rock and shake loose soil. Even if landslides don’t occur during the quake itself, the ground may be weakened, leaving it primed for failure during later rainstorms.

    That’s exactly what happened after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which led to a surge in debris flows long after the initial seismic event.

    A strong aftershock after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008 triggered more landslides in central China.
    AP Photo/Andy Wong

    Earth’s surface retains a “memory” of these events. Sediment disturbed in an earthquake, wildfire or severe storm will move downslope over years or even decades, reshaping the landscape as it goes.

    The 1950 Assam earthquake in India is a striking example: It triggered thousands of landslides. The sediment from these landslides gradually moved through the river system, eventually causing flooding and changing river channels in Bangladesh some 20 years later.

    An intensifying threat in a changing world

    These risks present challenges for everything from emergency planning to home insurance. After repeated wildfire-mudslide combinations in California, some insurers pulled out of the state entirely, citing mounting risks and rising costs among the reasons.

    Cascading hazards are not new, but their impact is intensifying.

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall. At the same time, urban development continues to expand into steep, hazard-prone terrain, exposing more people and infrastructure to evolving risks.

    The rising risk of interconnected climate disasters like these is overwhelming systems built for isolated events.

    Yet climate change is only part of the equation. Earth processes – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – also trigger cascading hazards, often with long-lasting effects.

    Mount St. Helens is a powerful example: More than four decades after its eruption in 1980, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to manage ash and sediment from the eruption to keep it from filling river channels in ways that could increase the flood risk in downstream communities.

    Rethinking risk and building resilience

    Traditionally, insurance companies and disaster managers have estimated hazard risk by looking at past events.

    But when the landscape has changed, the past may no longer be a reliable guide to the future. To address this, computer models based on the physics of how these events work are needed to help forecast hazard evolution in real time, much like weather models update with new atmospheric data.

    A March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range wiped out trees in its path.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025
    A drone image of the same March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range shows where it temporarily dammed the river below.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025

    Thanks to advances in Earth observation technology, such as satellite imagery, drone and lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, scientists can now track how hillslopes, rivers and vegetation change after disasters. These observations can feed into geomorphic models that simulate how loosened sediment moves and where hazards are likely to emerge next.

    Researchers are already coupling weather forecasts with post-wildfire debris flow models. Other models simulate how sediment pulses travel through river networks.

    Cascading hazards reveal that Earth’s surface is not a passive backdrop, but an active, evolving system. Each event reshapes the stage for the next.

    Understanding these connections is critical for building resilience so communities can withstand future storms, earthquakes and the problems created by debris flows. Better forecasts can inform building codes, guide infrastructure design and improve how risk is priced and managed. They can help communities anticipate long-term threats and adapt before the next disaster strikes.

    Most importantly, they challenge everyone to think beyond the immediate aftermath of a disaster – and to recognize the slow, quiet transformations that build toward the next.

    Brian J. Yanites receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve – https://theconversation.com/natural-disasters-dont-disappear-when-the-storm-ends-or-the-earthquake-stops-they-evolve-259502

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University

    The Carter Lodge hangs precariously over the flood-scoured bank of the Broad River in Chimney Rock Village, N.C., on May 13, 2025, eight months after Hurricane Helene. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

    Hurricane Helene lasted only a few days in September 2024, but it altered the landscape of the Southeastern U.S. in profound ways that will affect the hazards local residents face far into the future.

    Mudslides buried roads and reshaped river channels. Uprooted trees left soil on hillslopes exposed to the elements. Sediment that washed into rivers changed how water flows through the landscape, leaving some areas more prone to flooding and erosion.

    Helene was a powerful reminder that natural hazards don’t disappear when the skies clear – they evolve.

    These transformations are part of what scientists call cascading hazards. They occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards. A landslide triggered by a storm might clog a river, leading to downstream flooding months or years later. A wildfire can alter the soil and vegetation, setting the stage for debris flows with the next rainstorm.

    Satellite images before (top) and after Hurricane Helene (bottom) show how the storm altered landscape near Pensacola, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
    Google Earth, CC BY

    I study these disasters as a geomorphologist. In a new paper in the journal Science, I and a team of scientists from 18 universities and the U.S. Geological Survey explain why hazard models – used to help communities prepare for disasters – can’t just rely on the past. Instead, they need to be nimble enough to forecast how hazards evolve in real time.

    The science behind cascading hazards

    Cascading hazards aren’t random. They emerge from physical processes that operate continuously across the landscape – sediment movement, weathering, erosion. Together, the atmosphere, biosphere and the earth are constantly reshaping the conditions that cause natural disasters.

    For instance, earthquakes fracture rock and shake loose soil. Even if landslides don’t occur during the quake itself, the ground may be weakened, leaving it primed for failure during later rainstorms.

    That’s exactly what happened after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which led to a surge in debris flows long after the initial seismic event.

    A strong aftershock after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008 triggered more landslides in central China.
    AP Photo/Andy Wong

    Earth’s surface retains a “memory” of these events. Sediment disturbed in an earthquake, wildfire or severe storm will move downslope over years or even decades, reshaping the landscape as it goes.

    The 1950 Assam earthquake in India is a striking example: It triggered thousands of landslides. The sediment from these landslides gradually moved through the river system, eventually causing flooding and changing river channels in Bangladesh some 20 years later.

    An intensifying threat in a changing world

    These risks present challenges for everything from emergency planning to home insurance. After repeated wildfire-mudslide combinations in California, some insurers pulled out of the state entirely, citing mounting risks and rising costs among the reasons.

    Cascading hazards are not new, but their impact is intensifying.

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall. At the same time, urban development continues to expand into steep, hazard-prone terrain, exposing more people and infrastructure to evolving risks.

    The rising risk of interconnected climate disasters like these is overwhelming systems built for isolated events.

    Yet climate change is only part of the equation. Earth processes – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – also trigger cascading hazards, often with long-lasting effects.

    Mount St. Helens is a powerful example: More than four decades after its eruption in 1980, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to manage ash and sediment from the eruption to keep it from filling river channels in ways that could increase the flood risk in downstream communities.

    Rethinking risk and building resilience

    Traditionally, insurance companies and disaster managers have estimated hazard risk by looking at past events.

    But when the landscape has changed, the past may no longer be a reliable guide to the future. To address this, computer models based on the physics of how these events work are needed to help forecast hazard evolution in real time, much like weather models update with new atmospheric data.

    A March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range wiped out trees in its path.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025
    A drone image of the same March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range shows where it temporarily dammed the river below.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025

    Thanks to advances in Earth observation technology, such as satellite imagery, drone and lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, scientists can now track how hillslopes, rivers and vegetation change after disasters. These observations can feed into geomorphic models that simulate how loosened sediment moves and where hazards are likely to emerge next.

    Researchers are already coupling weather forecasts with post-wildfire debris flow models. Other models simulate how sediment pulses travel through river networks.

    Cascading hazards reveal that Earth’s surface is not a passive backdrop, but an active, evolving system. Each event reshapes the stage for the next.

    Understanding these connections is critical for building resilience so communities can withstand future storms, earthquakes and the problems created by debris flows. Better forecasts can inform building codes, guide infrastructure design and improve how risk is priced and managed. They can help communities anticipate long-term threats and adapt before the next disaster strikes.

    Most importantly, they challenge everyone to think beyond the immediate aftermath of a disaster – and to recognize the slow, quiet transformations that build toward the next.

    Brian J. Yanites receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve – https://theconversation.com/natural-disasters-dont-disappear-when-the-storm-ends-or-the-earthquake-stops-they-evolve-259502

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University

    The Carter Lodge hangs precariously over the flood-scoured bank of the Broad River in Chimney Rock Village, N.C., on May 13, 2025, eight months after Hurricane Helene. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

    Hurricane Helene lasted only a few days in September 2024, but it altered the landscape of the Southeastern U.S. in profound ways that will affect the hazards local residents face far into the future.

    Mudslides buried roads and reshaped river channels. Uprooted trees left soil on hillslopes exposed to the elements. Sediment that washed into rivers changed how water flows through the landscape, leaving some areas more prone to flooding and erosion.

    Helene was a powerful reminder that natural hazards don’t disappear when the skies clear – they evolve.

    These transformations are part of what scientists call cascading hazards. They occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards. A landslide triggered by a storm might clog a river, leading to downstream flooding months or years later. A wildfire can alter the soil and vegetation, setting the stage for debris flows with the next rainstorm.

    Satellite images before (top) and after Hurricane Helene (bottom) show how the storm altered landscape near Pensacola, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
    Google Earth, CC BY

    I study these disasters as a geomorphologist. In a new paper in the journal Science, I and a team of scientists from 18 universities and the U.S. Geological Survey explain why hazard models – used to help communities prepare for disasters – can’t just rely on the past. Instead, they need to be nimble enough to forecast how hazards evolve in real time.

    The science behind cascading hazards

    Cascading hazards aren’t random. They emerge from physical processes that operate continuously across the landscape – sediment movement, weathering, erosion. Together, the atmosphere, biosphere and the earth are constantly reshaping the conditions that cause natural disasters.

    For instance, earthquakes fracture rock and shake loose soil. Even if landslides don’t occur during the quake itself, the ground may be weakened, leaving it primed for failure during later rainstorms.

    That’s exactly what happened after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which led to a surge in debris flows long after the initial seismic event.

    A strong aftershock after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008 triggered more landslides in central China.
    AP Photo/Andy Wong

    Earth’s surface retains a “memory” of these events. Sediment disturbed in an earthquake, wildfire or severe storm will move downslope over years or even decades, reshaping the landscape as it goes.

    The 1950 Assam earthquake in India is a striking example: It triggered thousands of landslides. The sediment from these landslides gradually moved through the river system, eventually causing flooding and changing river channels in Bangladesh some 20 years later.

    An intensifying threat in a changing world

    These risks present challenges for everything from emergency planning to home insurance. After repeated wildfire-mudslide combinations in California, some insurers pulled out of the state entirely, citing mounting risks and rising costs among the reasons.

    Cascading hazards are not new, but their impact is intensifying.

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall. At the same time, urban development continues to expand into steep, hazard-prone terrain, exposing more people and infrastructure to evolving risks.

    The rising risk of interconnected climate disasters like these is overwhelming systems built for isolated events.

    Yet climate change is only part of the equation. Earth processes – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – also trigger cascading hazards, often with long-lasting effects.

    Mount St. Helens is a powerful example: More than four decades after its eruption in 1980, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to manage ash and sediment from the eruption to keep it from filling river channels in ways that could increase the flood risk in downstream communities.

    Rethinking risk and building resilience

    Traditionally, insurance companies and disaster managers have estimated hazard risk by looking at past events.

    But when the landscape has changed, the past may no longer be a reliable guide to the future. To address this, computer models based on the physics of how these events work are needed to help forecast hazard evolution in real time, much like weather models update with new atmospheric data.

    A March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range wiped out trees in its path.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025
    A drone image of the same March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range shows where it temporarily dammed the river below.
    Brian Yanites, June 2025

    Thanks to advances in Earth observation technology, such as satellite imagery, drone and lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, scientists can now track how hillslopes, rivers and vegetation change after disasters. These observations can feed into geomorphic models that simulate how loosened sediment moves and where hazards are likely to emerge next.

    Researchers are already coupling weather forecasts with post-wildfire debris flow models. Other models simulate how sediment pulses travel through river networks.

    Cascading hazards reveal that Earth’s surface is not a passive backdrop, but an active, evolving system. Each event reshapes the stage for the next.

    Understanding these connections is critical for building resilience so communities can withstand future storms, earthquakes and the problems created by debris flows. Better forecasts can inform building codes, guide infrastructure design and improve how risk is priced and managed. They can help communities anticipate long-term threats and adapt before the next disaster strikes.

    Most importantly, they challenge everyone to think beyond the immediate aftermath of a disaster – and to recognize the slow, quiet transformations that build toward the next.

    Brian J. Yanites receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve – https://theconversation.com/natural-disasters-dont-disappear-when-the-storm-ends-or-the-earthquake-stops-they-evolve-259502

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Michelin Guide scrutiny could boost Philly tourism, but will it stifle chefs’ freedom to experiment and innovate?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jonathan Deutsch, Professor of Food and Hospitality Management, Drexel University

    Chef Phila Lorn prepares a bowl of noodle soup at Mawn restaurant in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

    The Philadelphia restaurant scene is abuzz with the news that the famed Michelin Guide is coming to town.

    As a research chef and educator at Drexel University in Philadelphia, I am following the Michelin developments closely.

    Having eaten in Michelin restaurants in other cities, I am confident that Philly has at least a few star-worthy restaurants. Our innovative dining scene was named one of the top 10 in the U.S. by Food & Wine in 2025.

    Researchers have convincingly shown that Michelin ratings can boost tourism, so Philly gaining some starred restaurants could bring more revenue for the city.

    But as the lead author of the textbook “Culinary Improvisation,” which teaches creativity, I also worry the Michelin scrutiny could make chefs more focused on delivering a consistent experience than continuing along the innovative trajectory that attracts Michelin in the first place.

    Ingredients for culinary innovation

    In “Culinary Improvisation” we discuss three elements needed to foster innovation in the kitchen.

    The first is mastery of culinary technique, both classical and modern. Simply stated, this refers to good cooking.

    The second is access to a diverse range of ingredients and flavors. The more colors the artist has on their palette, the more directions the creation can take.

    And the third, which is key to my concerns, is a collaborative and supportive environment where chefs can take risks and make mistakes. Research shows a close link between risk-taking workplaces and innovation.

    According to the Michelin Guide, stars are awarded to outstanding restaurants based on: “quality of ingredients, mastery of cooking techniques and flavors, the personality of the chef as expressed in the cuisine, value for money, and consistency of the dining experience both across the menu and over time.”

    The criteria do not mention innovation.

    It’s possible the high-stakes lure of a Michelin star, which awards consistent excellence, could lead Philly’s most vibrant and creative chefs and restaurateurs to pull back on the risks that led to the city’s culinary excellence in the first place.

    Local food writers believe Vernick Fish is a top contender for a Michelin star.
    Photo courtesy of Vernick Fish

    The obvious contenders

    Philadelphia’s preeminent restaurant critic Craig LaBan and journalist and former restaurateur Kiki Aranita discussed local contenders for Michelin stars in a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

    The 19 restaurants LaBan and Aranita discuss as possible star contenders average just over a one-mile walk from the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

    Together they have received 78 James Beard nominations or awards, which are considered the “Oscars” of the food industry. That’s an average of over four per restaurant.

    And when I tried to book a table for two on a Wednesday and Saturday before 9 p.m., about half were already fully booked for dinner two weeks out, in July, which is the slow season for dining in Philadelphia.

    If LaBan’s and Aranita’s predictions are right, Michelin will be an added recognition for restaurants that are already successful and centrally located.

    Black Dragon Takeout fuses Black American cuisine with the aesthetics of classic Chinese American takeout.
    Jeff Fusco/The Conversation, CC BY-SA

    Off the beaten path

    When the Michelin Guide started in France at the turn of the 19th century, it encouraged diners to take the road less traveled to their next gastronomic experience.

    It has since evolved into recommendations for a road well traveled: safe, lauded and already hard-to-get-into restaurants. In Philly these could be restaurants such as Vetri Cucina, Zahav, Vernick Fish, Provenance, Royal Sushi and Izakaya, Ogawa and Friday Saturday Sunday, to name a few on LaBan and Aranita’s list.

    And yet Philadelphia has over 6,000 restaurants spread across 135 square miles of the city. Philadelphia is known as a city of neighborhoods, and these neighborhoods are rich with food diversity and innovation.

    Consider Jacob Trinh’s Vietnamese-tinged seafood tasting menu at Little Fish in Queen Village; Kurt Evans’ gumbo lo mein at Black Dragon Takeout in West Philly; the beef cheek confit with avocado mousse at Temir Satybaldiev’s Ginger in the Northeast; and the West African XO sauce at Honeysuckle, owned by Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate, on North Broad Street.

    I hope the Michelin inspectors will venture far beyond the obvious candidates to experience more of what Philadelphia has to offer.

    The Michelin Guide announced it will include Philadelphia and Boston in its next Northeast Cities edition.
    Matthieu Delaty/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

    Raising the bar

    In the frenzy surrounding the Michelin scrutiny, chef friends have invited me to dine at their restaurants and share my feedback as they refine their menus in anticipation of visits from anonymous Michelin inspectors.

    Restaurateurs have been asking my colleagues and me for talent suggestions to replace well-liked and capable cooks, servers and managers whom owners perceive to be just not Michelin-star level.

    And managers are texting us names of suspected reviewers, triggered by some tell-tale signs – a solo diner with a weeknight tasting menu reservation, no dietary restrictions or special requests, and a conspicuously light internet presence.

    In all, I am excited about Philadelphians being excited about Michelin. Any opportunity to spotlight the city’s restaurant community and tighten its food and service quality raises the bar among local chefs and restaurateurs and makes the experience better for diners. And the prospect of business travelers and culinary tourists enjoying lunches and early-week dinners can help restaurants, their workers and the city earn more revenue.

    But in the din of the press events and hype, let’s not forget that Philadelphians don’t need an outside arbiter to tell us what we already know: Philly is a great place to eat and drink.

    _Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

    Jonathan Deutsch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Michelin Guide scrutiny could boost Philly tourism, but will it stifle chefs’ freedom to experiment and innovate? – https://theconversation.com/michelin-guide-scrutiny-could-boost-philly-tourism-but-will-it-stifle-chefs-freedom-to-experiment-and-innovate-256752

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Scandinavia has its own dark history of assimilating Indigenous people, and churches played a role – but are apologizing

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Thomas A. DuBois, Professor of Scandinavian Studies, Folklore, and Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

    A church in Kiruna, Sweden, designed by architect Gustaf Wickman to resemble a Sami hut. Apolline Guillerot-Malick/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

    In May 2025, Tapio Luoma, archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, delivered an apology to the Sámi, the only recognized Indigenous people in the European Union.

    Speaking on behalf of the church to which more than 6 in 10 of the Finnish populace belong, including most Sámi, Luoma acknowledged its role in past activities that stigmatized Sámi language and culture.

    The church “has not respected the rights to self-determination of the Sámi people,” his address began. “Before God and all of you here assembled, we express our regret and ask forgiveness of the Sámi people.”

    Luoma’s words were the latest in a series of apologies through which the former state churches in Scandinavia have sought to reset their relations with the Indigenous population of Sápmi, the natural and cultural area of Sámi people. Today, the region is divided between Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia.

    As a scholar of Sámi culture, and as a researcher of Nordic folklore and religion, I have studied the difficult, often painful, relations between Sámi and the various Nordic state churches.

    Church’s power

    For thousands of years, the Sámi population lived by hunting, fishing and reindeer husbandry along the northern edges of Scandinavia. The Sámi possessed their own languages and maintained distinctive spiritual traditions and healing practices, drawing on traditional ecological knowledge that they had accrued over countless generations. In times of crisis or uncertainty, for example, communities used ceremonial drums to communicate with the spirit world and divine the future.

    Conflicts emerged by the 13th century, however, as Christian realms expanded north. Christian clerics condemned Sámi spiritual traditions as “heathen devilry.”

    An 18th-century carving of a Sámi shaman with his drum.
    Beskrivelse over Finnmarkens Lapper, deres Tungemaal, Levemaade og forrige Afgudsdyrkelse/O. H. von Lode/Wikimedia Commons

    During the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, Scandinavian rulers shifted from Catholicism to Lutheranism. In addition to tending to the souls of their flocks, ministers were tasked with keeping track of the comings and goings of congregation members, collecting taxes, and administering justice for lesser crimes.

    They aimed to stamp out the spiritual practices that many Sámi continued to practice alongside Christianity. Church authorities arrested, fined and sometimes even executed practitioners, while confiscating sacred drums to be destroyed or sent to distant museums.

    The church’s ritual of confirmation, which marks the passage from adolescence into adulthood, also acquired legal status. Being confirmed required the ability to read and interpret the Bible and Martin Luther’s Catechism, a summary of the Lutheran Church’s beliefs. As the church became part of the state, people who had not received confirmation could not represent themselves in court, own land or even marry.

    Lake Pielpajarvi Wilderness Church, the oldest Sami church still in use, in Inari Municipality, Lapland, Finland.
    VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    And where Luther had called for religious instruction to occur in one’s native language, most Nordic clergy provided catechesis only in the majority language, considering Sámi language and traditions impediments to true conversion.

    Assimilation efforts

    During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the new “nation states” of Finland, Norway and Sweden emerged on the world stage. In each country, political leaders conflated what the ancient Greeks called the “demos” – members of a political nation – with an “ethnos,” a cultural group. In order to belong to the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish political nations, political and cultural leaders of these new states asserted that it was necessary to belong to the majority linguistic and cultural community.

    Finland’s 1919 constitution made provision for Swedish, which is still used by about 5% of the population, as a national language alongside Finnish. However, the government accorded no such status to Sámi.

    Both state-run residential boarding schools and schools run by churches included Lutheranism as a subject and strove relentlessly to assimilate Sámi into the majority culture, language and worldview, teaching children to see their culture as backward and shameful. Some church and school authorities cooperated with pseudoscientific racial researchers measuring students’ heads and excavating Sámi graves.

    A ‘nomad school’ for Sami children in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in 1956.
    John Firth/BIPs/Getty Images

    As a result, many students ceased to identify as Sámi and adopted the majority language as their primary mode of communication. Today, only about half the people who identify as Sámi have any facility in Sámi languages, which are considered endangered.

    After World War II, church attendance in all the Nordic countries began to plummet. Where 98% of the Finnish population belonged to the state church in 1900, by 2024 that percentage had dropped to 62%. The bulk of defections consisted of people who registered as having no religious affiliation. Membership in the national church shifted from compulsory to voluntary.

    Yet as anthropologist David Koester shows, some elements of Lutheran tradition remain extremely popular in all the Nordic countries, particularly Confirmation. The ritual remains a key rite of passage for most Sámi today, yet many of them wrestle with whether they should remain faithful to a church that had worked to suppress their community’s language and culture.

    Reconciliation today

    Searching for a path forward, contemporary Sámi artist and Lutheran catechist Lars Levi Sunna began to produce church art that incorporated and celebrated pre-Christian Sámi symbols – some of the very traditions that had been demonized by clergy of the past.

    For example, in a church in the northern Swedish town of Jukkasjärvi, an image of the sun as it appeared on Sámi ceremonial drums now faces the altar, providing a vivid reminder of the spiritual history and past worldview of the church’s Sámi congregation. The symbol now encloses an image of a communion wafer carved of reindeer antler.

    In 2005, Sunna created a traveling art exhibit that portrayed Sámi Christianization as an act of cultural violence. The exhibit, designed for temporary installation in church sanctuaries, aimed to provoke discussion and encourage open dialogue about the past.

    Similarly, in 2008, Norwegian Sámi filmmaker Nils Gaup produced “Kautokeino Rebellion,” a film recounting clergy’s role in suppressing religious activism among followers of a Swedish Sámi minister, Lars Levi Laestadius. The so-called uprising in 1852 led to the imprisonment of several dozen Sámi and the execution of two men – whose skulls were deposited in a research institute and did not receive proper burial until 1997.

    Descended from one of the punished families, Gaup reminded his audience of past injustice shrouded in shame and silence.

    Since church attendance is infrequent in Nordic countries, art and film serve as important vehicles for raising awareness of the church’s past. In November 2021, the archbishop of Sweden, Antje Jackelén, issued a formal apology to the Sámi. Sámi artist and activist Anders Sunna was invited to temporarily redecorate the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Uppsala for the occasion. His decorations included reminders of past Sámi sacrificial traditions that took place both outdoors and around hearth fires. In place of a grand altar, Sunna erected a simple table, surrounded by an octagon of benches where the bishop and members of the Sámi community would sit face to face with a sense of equality and respect.

    As Sámi theologian Tore Johnsen notes, formal apologies are necessary first steps in a process of reconciliation. But only once they are followed by concrete acts of “restoration” can real reconciliation occur.

    When the Finnish archbishop apologized in May 2025, Sámi in attendance at the Turku Cathedral were appreciative, but they were eager to see what actions might follow, according to reporters at the ceremony. The same wait-and-see attitude characterizes Sámi responses to state-run Truth and Reconciliation processes, which occurred in Norway in 2023 and are currently ongoing in Sweden and Finland.

    The process of healing a society injured by colonialism is difficult and slow, requiring extensive discussion – much of it uncomfortable. With Luoma’s words of apology and the arrival of Sámi to listen and witness, an important step in that process occurred.

    Thomas A. DuBois does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Scandinavia has its own dark history of assimilating Indigenous people, and churches played a role – but are apologizing – https://theconversation.com/scandinavia-has-its-own-dark-history-of-assimilating-indigenous-people-and-churches-played-a-role-but-are-apologizing-255827

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Jews were barred from Spain’s New World colonies − but that didn’t stop Jewish and converso writers from describing the Americas

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Flora Cassen, Senior Faculty, Hartman Institute and Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

    An auto-da-fé − a public punishment for heretics − in San Bartolome Otzolotepec, in present-day Mexico. Museo Nacional de Arte via Wikimedia Commons

    Every few years, a story about Columbus resurfaces: Was the Genoese navigator who claimed the Americas for Spain secretly Jewish, from a Spanish family fleeing the Inquisition?

    This tale became widespread around the late 19th century, when large numbers of Jews came from Russia and Eastern Europe to the United States. For these immigrants, 1492 held double significance: the year of Jews’ expulsion from Spain, as well as Columbus’ voyage of discovery. At a time when many Americans viewed the explorer as a hero, the idea that he might have been one of their own offered Jewish immigrants a link to the beginnings of their new country and the American story of freedom from Old World tyranny.

    The problem with the Columbus-was-a-Jew theory isn’t just that it’s based on flimsy evidence. It also distracts from the far more complex and true story of Spanish Jews in the Americas.

    In the 15th century, the kingdom’s Jews faced a wrenching choice: convert to Christianity or leave the land their families had called home for generations. Portugal’s Jews faced similar persecution. Whether they sought a new place to settle or stayed and hoped to be accepted as members of Christian society, both groups were searching for belonging.

    Jewish religious items at the Museo Metropolitano in Monterrey, Mexico.
    Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    We are scholars of Jewish history and have been working on the first English translations of two texts from the 16th century. “The Book of New India,” by Joseph Ha-Kohen, and the spiritual writings of Luis de Carvajal are two of the earliest Jewish texts about the Americas.

    The story of the New World is not complete without the voices of Jewish communities that engaged with it from the very beginning.

    Double consciousness

    The first Jews in the Americas were, in fact, not Jews but “conversos,” meaning “converts,” and their descendants.

    After a millennium of relatively peaceful and prosperous life on Iberian soil, the Jews of Spain were attacked by a wave of mob violence in the summer of 1391. Afterward, thousands of Jews were forcibly converted.

    Synagogue of El Tránsito, a 14th-century Jewish congregation in Toledo, Spain.
    Selbymay/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    While conversos were officially members of the Catholic Church, neighbors looked at them with suspicion. Some of these converts were “crypto-Jews,” who secretly held on to their ancestral faith. Spanish authorities formed the Inquisition to root out anyone the church considered heretics, especially people who had converted from Judaism and Islam.

    In 1492, after conquering the last Muslim stronghold in Spain, monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella gave the remaining Spanish Jews the choice of conversion or exile. Eventually, people who converted from Islam would be expelled as well.

    Among Jews who converted, some sought new lives within the rapidly expanding Spanish empire. As the historian Jonathan Israel wrote, Jews and conversos were both “agents and victims of empire.” Their familiarity with Iberian language and culture, combined with the dispersion of their community, positioned them to participate in the new global economy: trade in sugar, textiles, spices – and the trade in human lives, Atlantic slavery.

    Yet conversos were also far more vulnerable than their compatriots: They could lose it all, even end up burned alive at the stake, because of their beliefs. This double consciousness – being part of the culture, yet apart from it – is what makes conversos vital to understanding the complexities of colonial Latin America.

    By the 17th century, once the Dutch and the English conquered parts of the Americas, Jews would be able to live there. Often, these were families whose ancestors had been expelled from the Iberian peninsula. In the first Spanish and Portuguese colonies, however, Jews were not allowed to openly practice their faith.

    Secret spirituality

    One of these conversos was Luis de Carvajal. His uncle, the similarly named Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, was a merchant, slave trader and conquistador. As a reward for his exploits he was named governor of the New Kingdom of León, in the northeast of modern-day Mexico. In 1579 he brought over a large group of relatives to help him settle and administer the rugged territory, which was made up of swamps, deserts and silver mines.

    A statue in Monterrey, Mexico, of Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva.
    Ricardo DelaG/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    The uncle was a devout Catholic who attempted to shed his converso past, integrating himself into the landed gentry of Spain’s New World empire. Luis the younger, however, his potential heir, was a passionate crypto-Jew who spent his free time composing prayers to the God of Israel and secretly following the commandments of the Torah.

    When Luis and his family were arrested by the Inquisition in 1595, his book of spiritual writings was discovered and used as evidence of his secret Jewish life. Luis, his mother and sister were burned at the stake, but the small, leather-bound diary survived.

    A 19th-century depiction of the execution of Luis de Carvajal the Younger’s sister.
    ‘El Libro Rojo, 1520-1867’ via Wikimedia Commons

    Luis’ religious thought drew on a wide range of early modern Spanish culture. He used a Latin Bible and drew inspiration from the inwardly focused spirituality of Catholic thinkers such as Fray Luis de Granada, a Dominican theologian. He met with the hermit and mystic Gregorio López. He discovered passages from Maimonides and other rabbis quoted in the works of Catholic theologians whom he read at the famed monastery of Santiago de Tlatelolco, in Mexico City, where he worked as an assistant to the rector.

    His spiritual writings are deeply American: The wide deserts and furious hurricanes of Mexico were the setting of his spiritual awakenings, and his encounters with the people and cultures of the emerging Atlantic world shaped his religious vision. This little book is a unique example of the brilliant, creative culture that developed in the crossing from Old World to New, born out of the exchange and conflict between diverse cultures, languages and faiths.

    A glimpse of Luis de Carvajal’s spiritual writings, photographed in New York City.
    Ronnie Perelis

    More than translation

    Spanish Jews who refused to convert in 1492, meanwhile, had been forced into exile and barred from the kingdom’s colonies.

    The journey of Joseph Ha-Kohen’s family illustrates the hardships. After the expulsion, his parents moved to Avignon, the papal city in southern France, where Joseph was born in 1496. From there, they made their way to Genoa, the Italian merchant city, hoping to establish themselves. But it was not to be. The family was repeatedly expelled, permitted to return, and then expelled again.

    Despite these upheavals, Ha-Kohen became a doctor and a merchant, a leader in the Jewish community – earning the respect of the Christian community, too. Toward the end of his life, he settled in a small mountain town beyond the city’s borders and turned to writing.

    After a book on wars between Christianity and Islam, and another one on the history of the Jews, he began a new project. Ha-Kohen adapted “Historia General de las Indias,” an account of the Americas’ colonization by Spanish historian Francisco López de Gómara, reshaping the text for a Jewish audience.

    A 1733 edition of ‘Divrei Ha-Yamim,’ Ha-Kohen’s book about wars between Christian and Muslim cultures.
    John Carter Brown Library via Wikimedia Commons

    Ha-Kohen’s work was the first Hebrew-language book about the Americas. The text was hundreds of pages long – and he copied his entire manuscript nine times by hand. He had never seen the Americas, but his own life of repeated uprooting may have led him to wonder whether Jews would one day seek refuge there.

    Ha-Kohen wanted his readers to have access to the text’s geographical, botanical and anthropological information, but not to Spain’s triumphalist narrative. So he created an adapted, hybrid translation. The differences between versions reveal the complexities of being a European Jew in the age of exploration.

    Ha-Kohen omitted references to the Americas as Spanish territory and criticized the conquistadors for their brutality toward Indigenous peoples. At times, he compared Native Americans with the ancient Israelites of the Bible, feeling a kinship with them as fellow victims of oppression. Yet at other moments he expressed estrangement and even revulsion at Indigenous customs and described their religious practices as “darkness.”

    Translating these men’s writing is not just a matter of bringing a text from one language into another. It is also a deep reflection on the complex position of Jews and conversos in those years. Their unique vantage point offers a window into the intertwined histories of Europe, the Americas and the in-betweenness that marked the Jewish experience in the early modern world.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Jews were barred from Spain’s New World colonies − but that didn’t stop Jewish and converso writers from describing the Americas – https://theconversation.com/jews-were-barred-from-spains-new-world-colonies-but-that-didnt-stop-jewish-and-converso-writers-from-describing-the-americas-258278

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Jews were barred from Spain’s New World colonies − but that didn’t stop Jewish and converso writers from describing the Americas

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Flora Cassen, Senior Faculty, Hartman Institute and Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

    An auto-da-fé − a public punishment for heretics − in San Bartolome Otzolotepec, in present-day Mexico. Museo Nacional de Arte via Wikimedia Commons

    Every few years, a story about Columbus resurfaces: Was the Genoese navigator who claimed the Americas for Spain secretly Jewish, from a Spanish family fleeing the Inquisition?

    This tale became widespread around the late 19th century, when large numbers of Jews came from Russia and Eastern Europe to the United States. For these immigrants, 1492 held double significance: the year of Jews’ expulsion from Spain, as well as Columbus’ voyage of discovery. At a time when many Americans viewed the explorer as a hero, the idea that he might have been one of their own offered Jewish immigrants a link to the beginnings of their new country and the American story of freedom from Old World tyranny.

    The problem with the Columbus-was-a-Jew theory isn’t just that it’s based on flimsy evidence. It also distracts from the far more complex and true story of Spanish Jews in the Americas.

    In the 15th century, the kingdom’s Jews faced a wrenching choice: convert to Christianity or leave the land their families had called home for generations. Portugal’s Jews faced similar persecution. Whether they sought a new place to settle or stayed and hoped to be accepted as members of Christian society, both groups were searching for belonging.

    Jewish religious items at the Museo Metropolitano in Monterrey, Mexico.
    Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    We are scholars of Jewish history and have been working on the first English translations of two texts from the 16th century. “The Book of New India,” by Joseph Ha-Kohen, and the spiritual writings of Luis de Carvajal are two of the earliest Jewish texts about the Americas.

    The story of the New World is not complete without the voices of Jewish communities that engaged with it from the very beginning.

    Double consciousness

    The first Jews in the Americas were, in fact, not Jews but “conversos,” meaning “converts,” and their descendants.

    After a millennium of relatively peaceful and prosperous life on Iberian soil, the Jews of Spain were attacked by a wave of mob violence in the summer of 1391. Afterward, thousands of Jews were forcibly converted.

    Synagogue of El Tránsito, a 14th-century Jewish congregation in Toledo, Spain.
    Selbymay/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    While conversos were officially members of the Catholic Church, neighbors looked at them with suspicion. Some of these converts were “crypto-Jews,” who secretly held on to their ancestral faith. Spanish authorities formed the Inquisition to root out anyone the church considered heretics, especially people who had converted from Judaism and Islam.

    In 1492, after conquering the last Muslim stronghold in Spain, monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella gave the remaining Spanish Jews the choice of conversion or exile. Eventually, people who converted from Islam would be expelled as well.

    Among Jews who converted, some sought new lives within the rapidly expanding Spanish empire. As the historian Jonathan Israel wrote, Jews and conversos were both “agents and victims of empire.” Their familiarity with Iberian language and culture, combined with the dispersion of their community, positioned them to participate in the new global economy: trade in sugar, textiles, spices – and the trade in human lives, Atlantic slavery.

    Yet conversos were also far more vulnerable than their compatriots: They could lose it all, even end up burned alive at the stake, because of their beliefs. This double consciousness – being part of the culture, yet apart from it – is what makes conversos vital to understanding the complexities of colonial Latin America.

    By the 17th century, once the Dutch and the English conquered parts of the Americas, Jews would be able to live there. Often, these were families whose ancestors had been expelled from the Iberian peninsula. In the first Spanish and Portuguese colonies, however, Jews were not allowed to openly practice their faith.

    Secret spirituality

    One of these conversos was Luis de Carvajal. His uncle, the similarly named Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, was a merchant, slave trader and conquistador. As a reward for his exploits he was named governor of the New Kingdom of León, in the northeast of modern-day Mexico. In 1579 he brought over a large group of relatives to help him settle and administer the rugged territory, which was made up of swamps, deserts and silver mines.

    A statue in Monterrey, Mexico, of Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva.
    Ricardo DelaG/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    The uncle was a devout Catholic who attempted to shed his converso past, integrating himself into the landed gentry of Spain’s New World empire. Luis the younger, however, his potential heir, was a passionate crypto-Jew who spent his free time composing prayers to the God of Israel and secretly following the commandments of the Torah.

    When Luis and his family were arrested by the Inquisition in 1595, his book of spiritual writings was discovered and used as evidence of his secret Jewish life. Luis, his mother and sister were burned at the stake, but the small, leather-bound diary survived.

    A 19th-century depiction of the execution of Luis de Carvajal the Younger’s sister.
    ‘El Libro Rojo, 1520-1867’ via Wikimedia Commons

    Luis’ religious thought drew on a wide range of early modern Spanish culture. He used a Latin Bible and drew inspiration from the inwardly focused spirituality of Catholic thinkers such as Fray Luis de Granada, a Dominican theologian. He met with the hermit and mystic Gregorio López. He discovered passages from Maimonides and other rabbis quoted in the works of Catholic theologians whom he read at the famed monastery of Santiago de Tlatelolco, in Mexico City, where he worked as an assistant to the rector.

    His spiritual writings are deeply American: The wide deserts and furious hurricanes of Mexico were the setting of his spiritual awakenings, and his encounters with the people and cultures of the emerging Atlantic world shaped his religious vision. This little book is a unique example of the brilliant, creative culture that developed in the crossing from Old World to New, born out of the exchange and conflict between diverse cultures, languages and faiths.

    A glimpse of Luis de Carvajal’s spiritual writings, photographed in New York City.
    Ronnie Perelis

    More than translation

    Spanish Jews who refused to convert in 1492, meanwhile, had been forced into exile and barred from the kingdom’s colonies.

    The journey of Joseph Ha-Kohen’s family illustrates the hardships. After the expulsion, his parents moved to Avignon, the papal city in southern France, where Joseph was born in 1496. From there, they made their way to Genoa, the Italian merchant city, hoping to establish themselves. But it was not to be. The family was repeatedly expelled, permitted to return, and then expelled again.

    Despite these upheavals, Ha-Kohen became a doctor and a merchant, a leader in the Jewish community – earning the respect of the Christian community, too. Toward the end of his life, he settled in a small mountain town beyond the city’s borders and turned to writing.

    After a book on wars between Christianity and Islam, and another one on the history of the Jews, he began a new project. Ha-Kohen adapted “Historia General de las Indias,” an account of the Americas’ colonization by Spanish historian Francisco López de Gómara, reshaping the text for a Jewish audience.

    A 1733 edition of ‘Divrei Ha-Yamim,’ Ha-Kohen’s book about wars between Christian and Muslim cultures.
    John Carter Brown Library via Wikimedia Commons

    Ha-Kohen’s work was the first Hebrew-language book about the Americas. The text was hundreds of pages long – and he copied his entire manuscript nine times by hand. He had never seen the Americas, but his own life of repeated uprooting may have led him to wonder whether Jews would one day seek refuge there.

    Ha-Kohen wanted his readers to have access to the text’s geographical, botanical and anthropological information, but not to Spain’s triumphalist narrative. So he created an adapted, hybrid translation. The differences between versions reveal the complexities of being a European Jew in the age of exploration.

    Ha-Kohen omitted references to the Americas as Spanish territory and criticized the conquistadors for their brutality toward Indigenous peoples. At times, he compared Native Americans with the ancient Israelites of the Bible, feeling a kinship with them as fellow victims of oppression. Yet at other moments he expressed estrangement and even revulsion at Indigenous customs and described their religious practices as “darkness.”

    Translating these men’s writing is not just a matter of bringing a text from one language into another. It is also a deep reflection on the complex position of Jews and conversos in those years. Their unique vantage point offers a window into the intertwined histories of Europe, the Americas and the in-betweenness that marked the Jewish experience in the early modern world.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Jews were barred from Spain’s New World colonies − but that didn’t stop Jewish and converso writers from describing the Americas – https://theconversation.com/jews-were-barred-from-spains-new-world-colonies-but-that-didnt-stop-jewish-and-converso-writers-from-describing-the-americas-258278

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: A History of Self-Representation and How H.H. Holmes Represented Himself in His Criminal Trial

    Source: US Global Legal Monitor

    The following is a guest post by Emily Tejada, a former intern with the Digital Resources Division of the Law Library of Congress. She is a recent graduate from Southern New Hampshire University.

    One interesting aspect of the United States’ judicial law is defendants’ right to represent themselves in court. Many may ask, “Why would someone choose to represent themselves in court?” This mainly concerns defendants wanting to manage their own court proceedings as they see fit and the belief that exercising the right to self-represent offers them the best chance of achieving their goals. Self-representation in court proceedings is a constitutional right continuously protected under the United States’ judicial law. The right to represent oneself in court has resulted in a plethora of criminal cases in which defendants chose to waive the right to an attorney and conduct their own defense. One fascinating self-representation case pertains to America’s first serial killer, H.H. Holmes. Following Holmes’ court case, three major cases solidified the legal precedent for a defendant’s right to represent themself in a criminal case and the regulations that dictate these types of court proceedings.

    Self-Representation is also known as proceeding pro se, which is Latin for “for oneself, on one’s own behalf.” This term refers to a defendant’s right to advocate on their own behalf before a court by waiving their right to attorney representation. This judicial right has been strongly protected since the United States’ founding under the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the national judicial court system and was signed into law by President George Washington himself. Section 35 of the Judiciary Act, which can be found in Statutes at Large Volume One, set forth into law the right for parties to manage their own court cases. Section 35 states “[a]nd be it further enacted, that in all the courts of the United States, the parties may plead and manage their own causes personally or by the assistance of such counsel or attorneys at law as by the rules of the said courts respectively shall be permitted to manage and causes therewithin. …”

    U.S. Statutes at Large, Volume 1 (1789-1799), 1st through 5th Congress. Law Library of Congress. https://lccn.loc.gov/mm80001287.

    The right of defendants to represent themselves in court is further protected under the Sixth Amendment, as it guarantees the rights of defendants, which include the right to a lawyer. Under this amendment, there is a basis that a defendant may acquire counsel representation by their own choice. The Judiciary Act of 1789 and the Sixth Amendment protect a defendant’s right to represent themselves in court.

    One fascinating case of self-representation in criminal court deals with America’s first serial killer, H.H. Holmes. H.H. Holmes was born in 1861 as Herman Webster Mudgett in New Hampshire. Holmes developed a gruesome fascination with death – this included stealing corpses from graves and morgues during his college years at the University of Michigan, where Holmes would either sell these corpses to medical schools or burn and disfigure them to commit insurance fraud. Holmes would take out life insurance policies on these bodies before staging accidents to collect the money. He moved to Chicago in 1884 under the alias Dr. Henry H. Holmes, where he constructed a three-story hotel that would later become known as the “Murder Castle.” Holmes insisted that his guests, employees, and romantic partners were required to have life insurance policies and to list him as the beneficiary. He took advantage of the 1893 Chicago World Fair to target and lure guests to his hotel, many of whom disappeared. Once the fair ended, he and his accomplice, Benjamin Pitezel, traveled the United States, where a trail of homicides and disappearances followed Holmes, including the murder of Pitzel.

    The Ogden Standard. [volume] July 4, 1914. Library of Congress Chronicling America. https://lccn.loc.gov/sn85058396.

    Holmes was arrested in Boston in 1894 as he was suspected of committing fraud. However, through a thorough investigation, the police soon connected Holmes to the murder of Benjamin Pitzel and his three children. Holmes eventually confessed to murdering 28 people; however, it is believed he could be responsible for up to 200 murders. Holmes was only formally charged with the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, and he requested to represent himself in court. Holmes’s choice to represent himself was quite unprecedented since no accused murderer had ever done so. Holmes refused to accept the services of attorneys Everett A. Schofield and Joseph R. Fahy, who were appointed to his case by the court of Philadelphia. According to court records, Holmes was nasty to the prosecutor, asked for scientific analysis on all evidence, claimed Benjamin Pitzel had committed suicide, and often deflected questions. He made a grave error when he requested a lunch break after a detailed and grotesque description of Pitzel’s corpse, and he continuously failed to support his claims of innocence. He eventually requested the assistance of his defense attorneys but was ultimately convicted of Pitzel’s murder and was subsequently hanged for his crimes on May 7, 1896. H.H. Holmes represents America’s first recorded serial killer and the first murderer to utilize his constitutional right to represent himself.

    The Evening Times. [volume] Oct. 28, 1895. Library of Congress Chronicling America. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024441/1895-10-28/ed-1/seq-1/

    The three major court cases that have set Constitutional standards for self-representation are Faretta v. California (1975), McKaskle v. Wiggins (1982 – 1984), and Indiana v. Edwards (2008). Anthony Faretta was charged with grand theft and requested to represent himself in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Faretta stated that he was literate, had previously represented himself in criminal court, and did not wish to accept a public defender. While the presiding judge originally accepted his request, he soon determined Faretta was unable to adequately represent himself after questioning him on California state law and appointed a public defender. While the California court of appeals affirmed the judge’s ruling, stating that Faretta had no constitutional right to represent himself, the Supreme Court held that under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, defendants in state criminal trials have a constitutional right to represent themselves when they “voluntarily and intellectually” elect to do so and that the California State courts denied Faretta that right. This 1975 decision set forth that the Sixth Amendment implies a constitutional right to represent oneself in the United States’ courts, and pro se proceedings are based on this decision.

    In the case of McKaskle v. Wiggins, Carl Edwin Wiggins was charged with robbing a Piggly Wiggly in San Antonio, Texas, and chose to waive his right to counsel. The court, however, chose to appoint Wiggins a standby counsel to assist him in understanding the basic rules of the courtroom. Wiggins frequently contested the role of his standby counsel and, after his conviction, argued for a new trial because his standby counsel interfered with his defense and deprived him of his constitutional right to represent himself, which was guaranteed under Faretta v. California. While the court of appeals held that Wiggins’ sixth amendment right to represent himself was violated by unsolicited participation of the standby counsel, the Supreme Court held that Wiggins’ constitutional right was not violated due to his ability to conduct his own defense as he saw fit and that the unsolicited intervention of the standby counsel was within reasonable limits. This case set the basic foundation for standby counsel to be allowed to participate in self-representation cases.

    In Indiana v. Edwards, Ahmad Edwards was charged with attempted murder after shooting an FBI agent, a security guard, and a bystander after stealing a pair of shoes. Edwards’s mental competency to stand trial was called into question, but after five years of psychiatric evaluation, he was deemed competent enough to stand trial. Edwards requested to represent himself in court; however, his medical records stated that he suffered from schizophrenia, and his requests were systematically denied. The

    Subscribe to In Custodia Legis – it is free! – to receive interesting posts drawn from the Law Library of Congress’s vast collections and our staff’s expertise in U.S., foreign, and international law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: $200M Boost for Critical Water Infrastructure

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Environmental Facilities Corporation Board of Directors approved nearly $200 million in financial assistance for water infrastructure improvement projects across New York State. The Board’s approval authorizes municipal access to low-cost financing and grants to get shovels in the ground for critical water and sewer infrastructure projects, from treatment processes to remove emerging contaminants from drinking water, to replacing lead service lines and modernizing aging systems. These investments protect public health and make projects more affordable, reducing the need for higher rate increases to fund improvements, while also creating good-paying jobs.

    “Clean water is a fundamental right, and New York is leading the way in making sure communities have the resources they need to protect it,” Governor Hochul said. “This funding will help New York City and communities across the state make critical upgrades to aging infrastructure, reduce pollution, and deliver safe, reliable water, while protecting the pockets of New Yorkers.”

    The Board approved a major $50 million investment in New York City, including a $25 million grant from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding. The grant will be used by New York City exclusively for affordability programs that provide financial assistance to low-income water and sewer customers. The $25 million in interest-free financing will support a stormwater and resiliency project that is a key component of the larger Gowanus Canal Superfund Site cleanup. Construction of underground tanks and a network of improvements will fortify the City’s sewers and reduce combined sewage and stormwater overflows that have polluted the canal for a century.

    Today’s announcement builds on a longstanding State-City partnership that has advanced transformative water and sewer improvements. EFC’s financial assistance over the past 15 years has saved City ratepayers more than $2.7 billion on water infrastructure projects, including more than $400 million in direct grants. Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, the State continues to deliver critical financial resources to complete essential projects, ease the burden on local ratepayers, and build stronger, more resilient neighborhoods for generations to come.

    EFC’s Board approved grants and financings to local governments from the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds – a mix of federal and state dollars dedicated to financing community water infrastructure projects. State Revolving Fund interest rates are below market rate, and with long repayment periods, communities may save significantly on debt service compared to traditional financing. IIJA funding bolstered the State Revolving Funds and accelerated progress on essential clean water and drinking water projects.

    The Board also approved executing previously awarded State grants from the Water Infrastructure Improvement and Lead Infrastructure Forgiveness and Transformation programs. EFC Board approval is a critical step in the funding process and will allow communities to access these funds for project implementation. Leveraging federal funding with state investments maximizes the impact of each dollar spent, empowering local communities to make critical system improvements they need to keep their residents safe and ensuring cost is not a barrier for project implementation.

    Environmental Facilities Corporation President & CEO Maureen A. Coleman said, “Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, we are making historic investments that help communities take on complex, long-needed infrastructure projects without overburdening local ratepayers. Today’s announcement underscores the State’s unwavering commitment to affordable drinking water and wastewater service in New York City and communities statewide. We’re not just financing construction—we’re helping to deliver a cleaner, greener, more resilient future that New Yorkers deserve.”

    New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “Investing in local water infrastructure and ensuring all communities have access to clean water is a top priority for New York. Across the state, municipalities large and small are challenged by aging water mains, crumbling wastewater treatment facilities, and outdated sewer systems. Governor Hochul continues to make generational investments that will help communities address critical infrastructure needs and protect water quality, water quantity, and our environment while keeping costs down for cash-strapped municipalities and New Yorkers.”

    New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, “Governor Hochul has made it clear that access to safe, clean drinking water is a top priority. This latest round of funding helps ensure those critical projects—like removing emerging contaminants—are both an affordable and achievable reality for communities across New York State. The State Health Department will continue to work with local municipalities and our state partners to make sure the water coming from the tap is safe and healthy for all New Yorkers.”

    New York State Secretary of State Walter T. Mosley said, “Governor Hochul recognizes that clean water infrastructure is vital to public health, economic development and community quality of life. The Governor’s visionary commitment of $200 million in low-cost financing and grants provides local governments with the support they need to become more resilient, sustainable and prosperous well into the future.”

    Senator Charles Schumer said, “Everyone deserves access to clean drinking water. These major federal investments will ensure families from Chautauqua to Port Washington have safe drinking water and our beautiful waterways stay clean, all while creating new good-paying jobs, jobs, jobs. I am proud to deliver millions in federal funding and will fight to preserve funding to modernize drinking water and water-sewer systems in the upcoming budget. I am grateful for Governor Hochul’s partnership in the fight to turn the tide on our state’s aging water infrastructure to keep our communities safe and healthy.”

    Representative Grace Meng said, “From combating flooding to ensuring clean drinking water, upgrading our water infrastructure is a crucial investment in our state’s future, and I’m always proud to fight for funding that makes these types of projects possible. I thank Governor Hochul for her leadership and helping to make needed improvements happen across New York.”

    Representative Joe Morelle said, “Everyone deserves to have confidence that the water from their kitchen faucet is clean and safe to use. In Washington, I’m always fighting for projects that support our community’s health and wellbeing. I’m grateful to Governor Hochul for her continued leadership and partnership in building a healthier New York for all.”

    Representative Tom Suozzi said, “The Governor and the state are effectively delivering essential funds to New York’s local water providers from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which I helped negotiate as a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus. The Port Washington project is a crucial investment that will enhance and protect our water infrastructure for future generations while reducing the financial burden on our local taxpayers. I will continue to work with the state to try and bring vital federal resources back to New York.”

    Representative Pat Ryan said, “The freedom to drink clean water is fundamentally American. Our community has been pushing hard to ensure that every Hudson Valley family – especially our kids – has access to clean, safe drinking water. We’ve made real progress, including in Poughkeepsie. Last year, I was proud to work with the Governor to secure critical funds for lead pipe removal in Poughkeepsie. This funding is another step towards ensuring clean water for all, and I thank the Governor and all our partners for their advocacy and commitment to Hudson Valley public health.”

    State Senator Pete Harckham said, “This major investment from the state ensures public health standards while supporting local municipalities. Maintaining safe, accessible drinking water sources and supply systems is integral to future growth and prosperity, and I thank Governor Hochul, my colleagues in the State Legislature and the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation for making the financial commitment to see this through.”

    Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick said, “Communities across New York are facing mounting challenges when it comes to water infrastructure—whether it’s combating contaminants like PFAS, repairing aging water and sewer systems, or replacing lead service lines. This critical funding provides much-needed support to local governments working to protect public health and ensure clean, safe water. I’m especially grateful that $50 million has been directed to support infrastructure improvements in New York City, and I thank Governor Hochul for her continued leadership in prioritizing these essential investments.”

    New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala said, “New York City is home to nearly half of the State’s population and will make full and beneficial use of this grant and financing, which will help the people of Gowanus as well as low-income water customers across the five boroughs. This commitment from the State represents a new and positive development in the collaboration between EFC and DEP and I’m grateful for this partnership.”

    Funding was approved for projects in the following regions:

    Finger Lakes

    • Town of Leroy – $5 million grant for the formation of Water District No. 12, including installation of approximately 173,000 linear feet of water mains and appurtenances including hydrants, valves, and service meters.
    • Town of Milo – $366,000 grant for the installation of 4,600 linear feet of water main, gate valves, hydrants, meters, and additional appurtenances along NYS Route 54 to form Water District No. 4.
    • City of Rochester – $24 million for the replacement of 3,269 lead service lines, approximately 14% of the total lead and galvanized services lines in the water system. Rochester is one of 12 municipalities to receive a State grant as well as federal IIJA grants and interest-free financing for lead service line replacement. The State grant will reimburse costs that were not fully covered by IIJA grants, so upon completion of this project, the City won’t have to pay back the financing.

    Long Island

    • Village of Farmingdale – $4.6 million grant for the installation of an advanced oxidation process treatment system for the removal of 1,4-dioxane and a granular activated carbon treatment system for removal of PFOA and PFOS at the Ridge Road Well Site Plant No. 2.
    • Port Washington Water District – $5 million in grants for the construction of a granular activated carbon treatment system for the removal of PFOA and PFOS from Hewlett Well No. 4.
    • Suffolk County Water Authority – $1.5 million grant for the installation of approximately 7,500 linear feet of water main, gate valves, hydrants, meters, and additional appurtenances to provide public water to homes with contaminated private wells along Old Country Road.

    Mid-Hudson

    • City of Poughkeepsie – $6.7 million grant and low-cost financing package for the rehabilitation of the Fallkill Trunk portion of the sanitary sewer collection system.

    North Country

    • Village of Port Leyden – $8 million grant and interest-free financing package for the replacement of approximately 18,000 linear feet of water main and associated appurtenances, replacement of water meters, and water treatment plant upgrades.

    New York City

    • New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority – $50 million grant and interest-free financing package for the planning, design, and construction of the Gowanus Canal combined sewer overflow abatement facilities.

    Western New York

    • Village of Andover – $1.4 million grant for the development of a new groundwater well to provide needed source redundancy and replace an existing noncompliant spring source. The Board previously approved an interest-free financing in addition to the grant to support this project.
    • Town of Chautauqua – $7.7 million grant and interest-free financing package for the development of two new groundwater wells and a new treatment plant to replace the existing water source and treatment plant, and installation of approximately 14,000 linear feet of transmission and distribution water mains to extend the water district and serve 345 new residences that are currently dependent on private wells.
    • Town of Clymer – $10.5 million grant and interest-free financing package for the development and installation of a new ground water well to provide additional source capacity, replacement of approximately 26,000 linear feet of watermains, valves, hydrants, and appurtenances and a new 200,000-gallon water storage tank to replace a deteriorated tank.
    • Town of Ellicott – $6.4 million in grants for the design and construction of a sewer district extension.
    • Town of Randolph – $4.5 million grant and low-cost financing package for the planning, design, and construction of wastewater treatment plant improvements.
    • Town of Westfield – $9.5 million grant and interest-free financing for the design and construction of wastewater treatment plant and collection system improvements.

    Refinancing Completed Projects Will Achieve Long-Term Debt Service Savings
    The Board also took action to help ensure continued, long-term affordability of existing projects. EFC provides short-term financing for design and construction of projects. Once project construction is completed, the short-term financing is typically refinanced to long-term financing for up to 30 years. Based on current market conditions, these long-term interest-free financings are projected to save local ratepayers an estimated $51 million in interest payments over the life of the financings.

    The Board approved long-term financing for projects undertaken by communities in the following regions:

    Mohawk Valley

    • Village of Middleburgh – $2.5 million long-term interest-free financing for the planning, design, and construction of upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant.

    New York City

    • New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority – $42 million long-term interest-free financing for the design and construction of new engine generators to utilize digester gas and natural gas to cogenerate power and heat for on-site use at the North River Water Resource Recovery Facility.

    North Country

    • Village of Lowville – $9.3 million long-term interest-free financing for the planning, design, and construction of wastewater treatment plant improvements.

    New York’s Commitment to Water Quality
    New York State continues to increase its nation-leading investments in water infrastructure, including more than $2.2 billion in financial assistance from EFC for local water infrastructure projects in State Fiscal Year 2024 alone. The next round of EFC’s Water Infrastructure Improvement and Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grants is now open at www.efc.ny.gov. Governor Hochul has announced $325 million for this round.

    With $500 million allocated for clean water infrastructure in the FY26 Enacted Budget announced by Governor Hochul, New York will have invested a total of $6 billion in water infrastructure between 2017 and this year. Any community needing assistance with water infrastructure projects is encouraged to contact EFC. New Yorkers can track projects benefiting from EFC’s investments using the interactive project impact dashboard.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Honoring Former Representative Carolyn McCarthy

    Source: US State of New York

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    June 26, 2025

    Albany, NY

    Flags To Be Flown at Half-Staff Across New York State on Friday, June 27

    Governor Kathy Hochul today directed flags on all State government buildings to be flown at half-staff in honor of former Representative Carolyn McCarthy, who passed away on June 26. Representative McCarthy was a leading gun control advocate during her time in Congress. Flags will be at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Friday, June 27.

    “Representative Carolyn McCarthy was a strong advocate for gun control and an even more fierce leader,” Governor Hochul said. “From her days as a Congresswoman to advocacy, Carolyn McCarthy touched the lives of many through her work in public service, and I join her family, loved ones and Long Islanders in mourning this loss.”

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  • MIL-OSI USA: LEBANON COUNTY – Governor Shapiro and Major General Pippy to Open New Lickdale Veterans’ Outreach Center outside Fort Indiantown Gap

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    June 27, 2025 – Jonestown, PA

    ADVISORY – LEBANON COUNTY – Governor Shapiro and Major General Pippy to Open New Lickdale Veterans’ Outreach Center outside Fort Indiantown Gap

    Governor Josh Shapiro and Major General John Pippy, Pennsylvania’s Adjutant General and head of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new Lickdale Veterans’ Outreach Center.

    The Lickdale Veterans’ Outreach Center provides veterans and their families with convenient, in-person access to accredited veteran service officers who can assist them in discussing and applying for military benefits. The Center also includes training facilities and meeting space for larger veterans’ advocacy groups and service organizations. The Center is open to the public for walk-in service Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
    Pennsylvania is home to nearly 700,000 veterans – the fifth-largest veteran population in the country.

    WHO:
    Governor Josh Shapiro
    Major General John Pippy

    WHERE:
    Lickdale Veterans’ Outreach Center
    40 Fisher Avenue
    Jonestown, PA 17038

    WHEN:
    Friday, June 27, 2025, at 11:00 AM

    LIVE STREAM:
    pacast.com/live/gov
    governor.pa.gov/live/

    RSVP:
    Press who are interested in attending must RSVP with the names and phone numbers for each member of their team to ra-gvgovpress@pa.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –