Soaring US beef prices likely to rise further thanks to trade tensions and disease outbreaks

Trump blunders lead to more expensive burgers

Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee and Charles Martinez

It’s summer grilling season, but for many Americans, surging prices mean beef is no longer what’s for dinner.

The cost of beef, having spiked since early 2025, is coming under even more pressure. The most recent is the screwworm outbreak that hit cattle in Mexico and has now spread to the United States, where the cattle herd has already fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s, due in part to drought.

Meanwhile, potential trade disruptions loom. Just before U.S. and Mexican trade negotiators began meeting on June 16-17, 2026, to discuss the long-standing deal binding North America, Donald Trump warned that Washington may not renew the agreement, which was negotiated during his first term, and instead potentially withdraw from it altogether.

As international trade and livestock economists, we have studied how North American trade has deeply integrated cattle and beef markets, influencing production, prices and the movement of animals and meat products across Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

And because beef is both a top agricultural import and export for the U.S., the industry is especially vulnerable to any disruptions to the existing trade deal. As one example, the cost of ground beef is up by more than 20% just since January 2025.

Current trade uncertainty, reflecting Trump’s more fragmented, bilateral approach to negotiations, couldn’t come at a worse moment for inflation-weary consumers. The growing turmoil in the North American beef market risks further tightening supplies and raising prices.

RI Dems convention split leaves no endorsements for governor, LG and AG

Bad news for McKee and Matos

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Neither Gov. Dan McKee nor challenger Helena Foulkes will get the top spot and asterisk signaling the party endorsement on the September primary ballot after the Rhode Island Democratic Party declined to endorse either at its state committee convention Saturday.

The outcome marks yet another setback for McKee, who will be the first sitting governor in at least recent history not to win the backing of his party, said Joe Fleming, a WPRI 12 political analyst.

“I don’t recall an incumbent governor ever not winning the endorsement, and I’ve been around a long time,” Fleming said in an interview Monday. “This is not a good sign for the governor.”

McKee received 81 votes to Foulkes’ 75, while 11 voting committee members opted not to endorse, according to vote totals shared by the Rhode Island Democratic Party. To secure party backing, candidates need to get 50% of all votes cast plus one — or 84 of the 167 committee members who cast ballots at the Teamsters Local 251 union hall in East Providence Saturday.

They don't want you to know the REAL reason Social Security is in trouble

But I'm going to tell you anyway

Robert Reich

The trustees of the Social Security fund said Tuesday that the fund will be depleted by late 2032, a year earlier than the trustees’ projection last year of 2033. If nothing is done, benefits will automatically be cut six years from now.

The common understanding is that Social Security’s shortfall is due to the huge postwar baby boom, now retiring, and to America’s increasing life expectancy. The usual recommended fix is to reduce Social Security benefits or raise the age of eligibility. As Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, warned Monday, “entitlement programs” like Social Security “have to be adjusted and fixed.” He said Republicans will introduce a plan to do that. Brace yourselves.

I used to be a Social Security trustee, and I call bullsh*t.

The baby boom can’t be blamed for Social Security’s shortfall. The Greenspan Commission, which in 1983 recommended the reforms that Congress then made — raising Social Security payroll taxes and also raising the eligibility age for collecting Social Security benefits — knew all about the baby boom and figured it into its calculations. (Early boomers like me can now start collecting full benefits at age 66; late boomers born after 1960 have to wait until they’re 67 to collect full benefits.)

Americans’ increasing life expectancy isn’t at fault, either. While wealthier Americans are living longer, that’s not the case for lower-income Americans. The Urban Institute estimates that life expectancy in the top 20 percent of income-earners is 91 years for people born in the 1990s, four years more than people born in the 1950s. Yet the life expectancy in the lowest 20 percent of income-earners is fewer than 80 years.

So what’s the real cause of the Social Security shortfall? What did Greenspan’s commission fail to predict? Widening inequality.

Remember, the Social Security payroll tax applies only to earnings up to a certain cap. This year, that cap is $184,500. Earnings at or below this amount are taxed at 12.4 percent. The cap rises every year according to a formula roughly matching inflation.

He could also try balloon animals

Trump refuses to sign bipartisan affordable housing bill

Paddle by the light of the silvery moon, June 28

 

Full Moon Paddle   Sunday, June 28th, 6:30pm - 9:00pm Catch a summer treat - dusk on the Wood River! What wildlife will you encounter? Beavers, Eagles and Great Blue Herons?! Wildlife are very active just before dark. Turn your eyes to the skies for the birds, or down to the water for the dragonflies. Sunset is always a treat. If there is little cloud cover, then the moon rise will reflect beautifully over the water.   Wood River up to Frying Pan Pond is wide and forgiving, the Pond provides great birding opportunities. The Eagle's nest is evident from two viewing locations. The meandering section upriver has some tight corners, but is mostly wide.   Event takes place on Sunday, June 28th. There is no rain date reserved for this event due to moon rise times. Kassi@wpwa.org will send an email Friday or Saturday morning if the weather forecast does not permit a safe paddle trip. Assume the paddle will take place! Presently weather looks great. Event is 6:30-9:00pm, the group will launch at about 6:50 pm and paddle for over an hour and a half. Headlamps are encouraged for on-land activities.   Cost is $30 for WPWA members. Kayaks and gear are included. If you are a WPWA Otter, Osprey, or Eagle Member, the program is free and you will not be asked for payment when you register online. 4 tandem kayaks are also available, great for an adult to share with a child under 11. The registration link will indicate the number available, if any.   You may renew your WPWA Membership here: https://wpwa.org/   For More Information Contact: Kassi Donnelly: kassi@wpwa.org PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Click Here to Register Our Contact Information Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association 203 Arcadia Road Hope Valley, RI 02832 401-539-9017 http://www.wpwa.org

Is this how Donald Trump's ear miraculously healed so quickly and thoroughly?

Stanford scientists regrow lost cartilage and reverse arthritis in major breakthrough

Stanford Medicine

Miraculous healing

Scientists have found a way to regenerate worn-out joint cartilage by blocking an aging-related protein called 15-PGDH. Credit: Shutterstock

A treatment that targets a protein linked to aging has restored lost knee cartilage in older mice and prevented arthritis from developing after serious joint injuries, according to a Stanford Medicine-led study.

Researchers also found encouraging results in human tissue. Samples collected during knee replacement surgeries began producing new, functional cartilage when exposed to the treatment.

The findings raise the possibility that damaged cartilage caused by aging or osteoarthritis could one day be repaired with either a local injection or an oral medication. If successful in people, the approach could reduce the need for knee and hip replacement surgeries.

An oral version of the treatment is already being tested in clinical trials for age-related muscle weakness.

Targeting the Root Cause of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and affects about one in five adults in the United States. The disease gradually breaks down cartilage in the joints, causing pain, stiffness, and swelling. It is estimated to generate roughly $65 billion in direct health care costs each year.

Current treatments focus mainly on pain relief and, in severe cases, joint replacement surgery. No approved medication can slow, stop, or reverse the underlying disease process.

The new treatment works by blocking a protein called 15-PGDH, which researchers describe as a "gerozyme." This class of proteins becomes more abundant with age and contributes to declining tissue function throughout the body.

The same research team first identified gerozymes in 2023. Previous studies showed that 15-PGDH plays a major role in age-related muscle decline in mice. When researchers block the protein, older animals gain muscle mass and endurance. When the protein is artificially increased in young mice, their muscles become weaker and smaller.

Scientists have also linked 15-PGDH to the regeneration of bone, nerve, and blood cells.

In addition to stopping shingles, shingles vaccine may protect against dementia

Shingles is nasty, but researchers find a side benefit to getting vaccinated

Meghan Holohan

Receiving the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV), which prevents herpes zoster (HZ), commonly known as shingles, within a year of entering or leaving a US nursing home dramatically lowers the risk of a dementia diagnosis for up to four years.

The study, published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reinforces past observational research suggesting the same.

While previous research found that the live attenuated HZ vaccine reduced the likelihood of a dementia diagnosis, the researchers in this study wondered if RZV provided the same benefit. The paper found that receiving a dose of RZV was associated with a 5.8-percentage-point lower risk of a dementia diagnosis for up to four years.

“[That] translates to about one in 17 dementia cases potentially being prevented through vaccination,” lead author Kaley Hayes, PharmD, PhD, associate director of pharmacoepidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, told CIDRAP News. “We were honestly taken aback by the results. However, they actually are consistent with other studies that have primarily included the older form of the vaccine.” 

Trump Planned to Spend $300 Million in Taxpayer Dollars on Ballroom While Claiming It Was Privately Funded

Surprise shocker (not): he lied from the beginning

Stephen Prager for Common Dreams

Internal documents show that President Donald Trump was lying when he said taxpayers would not be footing the bill for his massive White House ballroom.

Reiterating what he’d already said countless times, the president claimed in March that the project was “taxpayer-free” and entirely funded by private donors, who’d spend $400 million to build it in the now-demolished East Wing of the White House.

But at the time he made these comments, he knew that was untrue.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that a detailed project summary made three weeks earlier showed the total construction cost at $600 million, with more than half of the funds coming from taxpayers.

The Post continued:

By the time Trump made his comments in March, the federal government had already approved more than a dozen payments to the contractor overseeing the work, Clark Construction, totaling tens of millions of dollars in public funds, according to a log of the contractor’s invoices obtained by The Post...

Multiple project summaries provided to the White House by Clark Construction show that internal cost estimates have been significantly higher than administration officials have acknowledged in public comments or court filings. They also show that the work was projected to rely heavily on taxpayer dollars from the moment it was announced.

According to the March 5 estimate reviewed by the Post, $293 million worth of funding is coming from donors—many of whom have received new or extended federal contracts over the past six months.

The rest of the money comes from taxpayer-funded sources: $155 million would come from the Secret Service, $149 million from the White House Military Office, and $3 million from the Executive Residence.

The Age of the Super A*sholes

Trump and Musk dominate our economy and our politics

Robert Reich

Elon Musk has just become the world’s first trillionaire. Donald Trump is America’s first dictator. But they have more in common than their economic and political dominance.

To describe both as selfish narcissists would be a wild understatement. Both are maniacally obsessed with increasing their own personal wealth, power, and control.

Both have been willing to break laws, norms, and other social constraints in pursuit of these goals. Both have manipulated, bribed, conned, robbed, and bullied their ways to dominance.

Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, was impeached twice, found criminally liable for cooking his corporate books, and civilly liable for sexual abuse.

Musk paid a quarter of a billion dollars to get Trump elected president, then ran Trump’s illegal and hugely destructive DOGE. Musk’s SpaceX has all the hallmarks of a gigantic Ponzi scheme in which insiders pocket the winnings and leave latecomers holding the bag.

Both pride themselves on paying little or no taxes. Trump famously said that paying not paying federal income taxes "makes me smart." Musk paid zero taxes in 2018.

While the country suffers,
Trump posts images like this

Both are notoriously lacking in empathy; they view all relationships as transactions. Trump refuses to be a "consoler-in-chief" in national tragedies and openly withholds sympathy for families of political opponents who die. (When Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered, Trump asserted they were killed “due to the anger [Reiner] caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”)

Musk has stated that "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy” — arguing that a society can only afford to practice broad empathy if it operates from a position of systemic strength.

Both regard themselves as omnipotent and invincible. Both lash out verbally or physically at anyone who crosses them, often getting into raging disputes and fights.

And this

To the extent they have any belief beyond their own omnipotence, it’s white male nationalism. “Whites are a rapidly dying minority,” Musk wrote his 240 million followers in a January post on X. In a February post, he declared that “there has been unrelenting hate and poisonous propaganda in the West against anyone White, straight or male over the past decade or more,” adding, “No more guilt trips. ENOUGH.”

Musk has suggested that race plays a detrimental role in hiring. He’s touted the role of white people in eliminating slavery. He’s accused public figures of racism against white and Asian people.

In recent months, Musk has increased his online posts about perceived threats to whiteness, or what he views as calls for a “genocide” against white people. Over the past seven months, he has posted 850 times about race, nearly daily and triple the rate for the previous two years.

Trump also has a well-documented history of white supremacist actions and rhetoric, including the 1973 lawsuit brought against Trump management for allegedly discriminating against Black renters; his full-page ads in 1989 calling for the death penalty for the five Black and Latino teenagers eventually exonerated in the Central Park jogger case; his leading role in the debunked, racially-charged conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States; his 2016 accusation that Mexican immigrants were criminals and “rapists;” his 2017 “Muslim ban;” his “fine people on both sides” of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville; his view of Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “shithole” countries; his determination to erase Black history from America’s classrooms; and his campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Both Musk and Trump have pushed the conspiracy theory that Democrats are seeking to import undocumented immigrants so they can take over the U.S. government forever.

Both have fomented white nationalism abroad. Trump was an enthusiastic ally of Viktor Orbán, who saw Western civilization threatened by Muslim immigration into Europe. Many people in Trump’s circle continue to support and encourage leaders of the European far-right.

Musk, too, encourages white nationalism abroad. During the recent anti-immigrant protests and riots in the United Kingdom—particularly in Belfast and London—Musk posted that “civil war is inevitable” and urged British protesters to “fight back or die” (prompting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to condemn Musk’s comments as “dangerous.”) In response to the recent killing in Belfast, Musk blamed “murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town.” He shared an image of the stabbing suspect, who is Black, alongside the caption declaring “millions must go.” And he reposted messages claiming that Starmer “hates white people.”

Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate report that “Musk’s amplification” of anti-migrant narratives to his hundreds of millions of followers was “instrumental” in provoking the violence in Belfast: “No individual played a bigger role in spreading [hateful] content on X than Musk himself.”

Gotta believe

Help address the lingering problems the Navy left behind at Ninigret Park

 

Ninigret Restoration Advisory Board Forms The inaugural Ninigret Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) will be holding their organizational meeting in the Kimball Pavillion at Ninigret Park Tuesday night (June 23) at 5:30 pm and invites members of the public to attend the event. The purpose of this meeting is to provide details about the RAB’s formation, some details about each board member’s background and experience, and to introduce the RAB to the Charlestown community while facilitating the process of communication regarding the former Charlestown Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (CNALF). The board was formed in 2025 after the community indicated strong support for establishing a type of governance over the former CNALF property that today serves as Ninigret Park and the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. A selection panel chose the inaugural RAB members from individuals living in Charlestown and the surrounding area. The dates and times for future RAB meetings will be posted on the Town of Charlestown website and the CNALF project website. Use the QR code below for more info or to volunteer. Charlestown Residents United | PO Box 412 | Charlestown, RI 02813 US

House District 36 Committee unanimously endorses Rep. Tina Spear for re-election in September 9 Democratic Primary

Her hard work earns support against challenger

By Will Collette

Today, the House District 36 Democratic Committee voted unanimously to officially endorse incumbent Rep. Tina Spears in the upcoming September 9 Democratic Primary. 

The Committee is filing this endorsement in all towns included in the district. House District 36 covers all of Charlestown and Block Island, plus small sections of Westerly and South Kingstown.

The last time Charlestown voters faced a Democratic primary over who will represent House District 36 was twenty years ago. In 2006, longtime State Representative Donna Walsh defeated DINO incumbent Matt McHugh by 685 to 461 in that year's primary.

Donna never faced another primary opponent and served until 2016 when she was defeated by Blake “Flip” Filippi (Republican/Libertarian), an all-round strange guy who in recent years has railed against seals and vaccines but has mostly stuck to raising cattle and his family’s Block Island businesses.

Flip's surprise announcement in 2022 to drop out of Rhode Island politics opened the door for Tina’s election as our Representative where she has been a productive and effective legislator.

From Tina’s website:

Tina has spent the last decade advocating for people with disabilities, and is currently Executive Director of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. Her own experience as the parent of a child with significant health challenges led her to become an ardent advocate for families of children with disabilities. She has been a frequent presence at the State House over the last decade, working to defend Medicaid benefits, increase wages for caregivers and help win paid leave for people who must leave work to care for a new child or an ill family member.

​Opposing Tina in the September 9 Democratic Primary is Leah J. Boisclair who is a self-described “Sex Crimes Defense Attorney in Rhode Island.” On her law practice’s website, she graphically lists what types of crimes she will defend, including child rape, domestic violence, homicide, drug crime, white collar crime and so on.

Don’t take my word for it – go to her website.

I was especially surprised at the way she depicted how she would defend against sex crimes. Here’s a screenshot from her website:

Now, if you switch to Boisclair’s campaign website, you’ll see a very different tone as well as content. She mimics Tina’s priority issues of education, environment, affordable housing and health care. There is no record of Boisclair having actually done anything on these issues, but hey, if you want to run as a Democrat, you must at least pretend.

Boisclair glosses over the sordid details of her law practice saying only:

I went through our local schools, earned a political science degree at URI, and graduated cum laude from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2019. I’m licensed in multiple states and federal courts. Before opening my own firm, I worked on criminal and union cases — and then built The Law Office of Leah J. Boisclair, LLC from the ground up…. As an attorney, I stand up for people who need someone in their corner. [Emphasis added].

Make of that what you will. But remember that attorneys, especially those in private practice, CHOOSE who represent.

And those of us who are registered Democratic voters living in House District 36 also CHOOSE who we want to represent us. So, on September 9, please support Rep. Tina Spears in the Democratic Primary.

DISCLOSURE: For years, I have been a member of the House District 36 Democratic Committee and proudly voted today to support Tina Spears in her campaign for re-election.  – Will Collette

Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine gets thumbs up from federal vaccine panel

Goes AGAINST Bobby Junior's war against mRNA vaccines

Chris Dall, MA

As a rule, vaccines only work if you
take them.

A federal vaccine advisory panel today gave its stamp of approval to Moderna’s mRNA influenza vaccine (mRNA-1010) for older adults.

By a unanimous vote, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted to recommend approval of the investigational vaccine, which will be marketed under the brand name mFlusiva, for the prevention of flu in adults age 50 to 64. 

They also voted in support of accelerated approval in adults aged 65 and older. Moderna will be required to conduct a phase 4, post-marketing study to demonstrate effectiveness in the older group.

The recommendation comes after several months of regulatory uncertainty over the vaccine. After initially agreeing to review Moderna’s application for approval of the vaccine, the FDA changed course in February, saying that the phase 3 trial for mRNA-1010 was not “adequate and well-controlled” because it used a standard-dose seasonal flu vaccine as the comparator vaccine. 

Moderna said that while the FDA had expressed a preference to use a high-dose flu vaccine as a comparator, agency officials had agreed that a standard-dose flu vaccine was an acceptable comparator.

The move raised concerns about shifting regulatory standards under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been openly critical of mRNA vaccines. In August 2025, Kennedy canceled $500 million in funding for 22 mRNA vaccine projects.

But a week later, the FDA reversed itself again after Moderna proposed a revised regulatory approach. The agency agreed to review the application for full approval in adults age 50 to 64 and accelerated approval for adults aged 65 and older, with an agreement to conduct a post-marketing study in the 65 and older group.

Rhode Island joins blue state boycott of Trump event in DC

Rhode Island skips out on the Great American State Fair, joining growing list

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Add Rhode Island to the list of states that will not participate in Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair when it kicks off in Washington D.C. June 25.

Faith Chybowski, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s office and RI250 Commission, said officials turned down the invitation to take part in the upcoming 16-day summer exhibition on the National Mall due to “financial and staffing limitations.”

“Rhode Island’s semiquincentennial commemoration is taking place in Providence on July 4, and staff are also supporting many other 250-related events across the state at the same time as the State Fair,” she told Rhode Island Current in an email Friday.

Officials from Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, North Carolina and Connecticut have also backed out, citing high costs, CNN reported Thursday. Maine has also backed out, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The fair organized by Freedom 250, the Trump-aligned nonprofit behind several semiquincentennial events across the nation, is billed as a “world-class exposition and modern-day World’s Fair” with exhibits from all 56 states and territories showcasing “the very best of America.”

But those displays, and who will staff them, fall entirely on state delegations, Chybowski said. The RI250 Commission, formed in 2021 to promote semiquincentennial-themed programming across the state, was given a little more than $324,000 from the General Assembly last year to show off the state’s revolutionary role.

Most funds were used for marketing, commemorative highway signs and holiday ornaments, banners for the Revolution and Rhode Island exhibit at the State House.  A little more than a third of the state’s funding were toward the commission’s one full-time staffer, Chybowski noted.

“It was a huge ask with not a lot of resources,” she said.