What Ships Are For

A couple million civilians died in the Vietnam War, and many more were maimed. Much of this carnage was caused by American bombs. Some of those bombs were filled with an incendiary gelling agent called napalm designed to set things, and people, on fire. On June 8, 1972, Phan Thị Kim Phúc was one such victim of a napalm bombing. The photo of her running naked down the road, her body terribly burned, won a Pulitzer Prize.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: June 8, 1972--

Nine-year-old Kim Phúc lived in the South Vietnamese town of Trảng Bàng, which the North Vietnamese Army had attacked and occupied. She was fleeing the town with her family and several South Vietnamese soldiers when a South Vietnamese pilot, thinking the group was the enemy, dropped napalm on them. It may not have been an American pilot, but it was American weaponry dropped by an American ally.

Her clothes were on fire and she tore them from her body, which is the only reason she survived. Two of her cousins did not. She suffered third degree burns. She later recalled that when the photo was taken, she was screaming “Too hot! Too hot!”

The New York Times was at first hesitant to publish the photo because of the nudity, but eventually decided to put it on the front page the following day. Immediately after snapping the image the photographer, Nick Ut, took Kim Phúc and the other injured children to a hospital in Saigon. Due to the extent of her burns it was believed she would not survive. She spent 14 months in hospital and underwent 17 skin graft surgeries. A full decade later she had a surgery at a specialized clinic in West Germany that gave her full movement again.

The infamous “Nixon tapes” reveal the president’s doubting the veracity of the photo, saying to his chief of staff, “I’m wondering if that was fixed.” What a piece of shit. Not as bad as president baby hands, but still really fucking bad.

Anyway, Phúc moved to Cuba in 1986 to study medicine, and there she married in 1992. The couple travelled to the romantic paradise of Moscow for their honeymoon. On the return trip, when the plane stopped in Gander, Newfoundland to refuel, the couple asked the Canadian government for political asylum, and it was granted.

Now a grandmother, Kim Phúc lives a life far beyond the nickname “Napalm Girl” that was given to her. She became a Canadian citizen in 1997 and works to help child victims of war via the Kim Foundation International. She and the man who snapped the iconic photo remain close friends. Ut, who was born in Vietnam and now lives in the U.S., appropriately named his photograph “The Terror of War.”

NOTE: This piece was researched and written by a human, not some bullshit "ai" plagiarism software.

President Donald Trump and prominent voices in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have voiced their fury with California's elections after Spencer Pratt dropped into third place in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

The slow vote-counting process in California has been under scrutiny since primaries were held last week, in which right-leaning candidates held leads over left-leaning rivals in the initial count in the mayor and governor elections.

In recent days, Pratt—a registered Republican with a nod of approval from Trump—has seen his lead over Nithya Raman, a Democratic City Council member, fall away, as they compete to join incumbent Karen Bass, also a Democrat, in a run-off election in November.

Conservatives pretending to care about LA reminds me of conservatives pretending to care about women's sports

NEWSFLASH: SOMEWHAT INTELLIGENT. LMAO!

Hannity to Koppel: "Do you think we're bad for America?"

Koppel: "Yeah."

Hannity tried to gaslight him. Koppel wasn't having it. Hannity's desperate pivot: "We have to give the American people some credit that they're somewhat intelligent…"

Koppel stares, bottom lip drops. You could see every Fox lie from the last 12 years flashing behind his eyes—his face screaming, "They absolutely do not know the difference."

Let's give Sean the benefit of the doubt: his viewers are somewhat intelligent—his words, not mine.

On this day, 8 June 1967, Israeli forces attacked the US Navy research ship, USS Liberty, killing 34 and injuring 171 people.

The Liberty was off the coast of El Arish, Egypt, operated by the National Security Agency. It was tasked with monitoring communications during the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab states including Syria, Egypt, and Jordan.

First, the ship was attacked by air, then by torpedoes and artillery. Badly damaged, the crew launched three lifeboats but these were also attacked, which is considered a war crime under international law.

While official investigations by the US and Israel concluded that the attack was accidental, as Israeli forces believed the ship to be Egyptian, others disagree. Journalist James Bamford in his book Body of Secrets argued that the Liberty’s ability to intercept Israel’s communications could have been the motivation for the attack, in order to cover up war crimes such as the massacre of unarmed Egyptian prisoners in El Arish.

NSA Deputy Director, Louis Tordella, described the preliminary inquiry by the Israeli military as “a nice whitewash”, and US Secretary of State Dean Rusk stated: "I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation… I didn’t believe them then, and I don’t believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous.”

The US inquiry into the incident was held in secret, and survivors were issued gag orders banning them from ever speaking about what occurred. Despite the gag orders, survivors of the attack, who set up the Liberty Veterans Association continue to demand a transparent investigation into the incident.

The president of the organisation told The Intercept: “We now know that the Navy Court of Inquiry was merely for show, as the officers were told to come to the conclusion the Liberty did [its] job and the attack was accidental.” Some survivors of the attack were accused of antisemitism for talking about their experiences.

At the time of writing (2024), the NSA still keeps its files on the attack secret.

More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/12777/israel-attacks-uss-liberty

World Cup: 17 Detained By ICE

Farmers see through Trump's damage control drop-by

What you should know

Mamdani administration has secured more than $8.5M in restitution since taking office 

[Note: To be clear, that's just between January 2026 and March 2026.]

...over YouTube Live while eating a Crunchwrap Supreme, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced the filing of an enforcement petition against QSR Management LLC, a Dunkin’ franchisee that operates locations in Staten Island, seeking monetary relief for workers and civil penalties. The petition alleges that QSR Management LLC and managing corporate officer Ronny Nader violated the rights of approximately 1,000 workers under the Fair Workweek Law and Protected Time Off Law. The Mamdani Administration also announced settlements with two companies that will provide more than 830 workers with more than $1.8 million to resolve violations of the Fair Workweek Law. In addition to restitution, Dunkin’ & Taco Bell franchisee Salz Management LLC and premium fashion retailer Theory will pay more than $176,000 in civil penalties and costs... “Today’s settlements are about more than financial compensation for working New Yorkers —though that relief matters. At their core, these actions are about restoring dignity on the job. Every worker deserves a predictable schedule — something stable enough to plan a life around, to care for family, to show up for the people who depend on them,” said Mayor Mamdani. “This city will not tolerate any corporation or franchisee that violates our Fair Workweek laws, or any of the labor protections that workers fought for and won. We will keep enforcing those laws, so that every New Yorker knows their rights and can count on this city to defend them.” ... The Mamdani Administration is urging all workers who believe their rights have been violated to file a complaint by visiting nyc.gov/workers or by calling 311. Since Jan. 1, 2026, the Administration has secured more than $8.5 million in restitution for New York City workers, including more than $500,000 for freelancers ripped off by production company Splashlight and nearly $5 million for Uber Eats, Fantuan and HungryPanda delivery workers.

-via The Official Website of the City of New York, March 24, 2026

--

Your rights in Mamdani's New York City under the cut