May 18: What really happened last week

Some good news from China, and some brave people to know about

Icon Lounge, Sioux Falls, SD

Hello friends!

I’m a journalist with two decades of experience. Since Trump’s second inauguration I’ve been sending you a weekly, highly curated list of top stories, bright spots, and action steps, helping you navigate the mayhem, focusing on the topics of this newsletter: caregiving, youth, climate change, human rights, mental health. I do NOT cover pseudo-events or speculation, only real events with real impact on real people.

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Here’s my criteria for this news roundup:

• Real events that have real consequences for real people now.

• I’m trying to avoid pseudo-events, purely symbolic gestures, speculation, and things where everyone for some reason needs to have a take. Like the bribe plane.

• I am presenting impacts alongside responses and solutions.

• I want to model healthy, balanced news consumption. I don’t know that I can become the only news you read, but I can at least point the way to a better news habit. I believe this is going to be crucial to our mental health and our ability to show up for others, including our kids, in this accelerating polycrisis.

In This Issue

1. China’s CO2 Emissions Fall Despite Economic Growth

2. More details on the Republican slash-and-grab plan

3. A win for farmers, climate and data

4. Researchers speak out on funding cuts

5. A Few Brave People

~Good news/wild card

1. China’s CO2 Emissions Fall Despite Economic Growth

This is a big. F’n. deal. China, the nation that emits the most greenhouse gases in the world, saw emissions down 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1% in the latest 12 months. Importantly, this happened during a period of economic growth: “Electricity supply from new wind, solar and nuclear capacity was enough to cut coal-power output even as demand surged, whereas previous falls were due to weak growth.”

Moving in the right direction is better than running in the wrong direction.

2. More details on the Republican slash-and-grab plan

The Republicans are currently trying to pass a single huge bill that cuts both spending and taxes on the wealthy.

“Two dozen people were arrested at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for protesting Republicans' plans to cut Medicaid.”

“Tuesday, CBO predicted the GOP Medicaid cuts would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 7.6 million.”

In a cowardly, hostile, and fundamentally dishonest way, the cuts are designed to happen by making it harder for people to access benefits they are entitled to—through work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks.

This is called “administrative burden,” the term for onerous paperwork requirements that make people’s lives harder. And all of it to give tax cuts to the wealthy.

The GOP Medicaid Cuts Are a Big F*cking Deal

The Republican plan also targets the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest clean energy bill in US history. But more than a dozen House Republicans are on the record against cutting these tax credits and other benefits, because the money is going to their districts.

On Friday, some other House Republicans, these ones anti-spending zealots, shot this current bill down in committee for not cutting enough. Stay tuned and call your representatives (Phonebank next week!).