Today
SAILORS ON THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN ARE TRYING TO JUMP OVERBOARD — 260 DAYS AT SEA, SHORTAGES OF FOOD AND SOAP, AND THE PENTAGON SAYS THE REPORTS ARE “MISREPRESENTED,” A DECLASSIFIED REPORT SAYS THE U.S. KILLED 153 CIVILIANS IN YEMEN, AND JUSTICE ALITO EARNED $2.9 MILLION FROM FOSSIL FUEL INTERESTS

Sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln are trying to jump overboard. At least six have attempted it. One went over the side on August 3 and was pulled from the water wearing a life vest. The Navy called it a “mental health episode.” The ship has been at sea for more than 260 straight days.

CNN confirmed the August 3 incident with three U.S. officials. Stars and Stripes and Navy Times reported that multiple sailors have tried to go overboard in recent weeks. A wife told Stars and Stripes that her husband texted her: “He hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.” A parent said their son reported that “he and his shipmates constantly think about jumping off the ship just for relief.”

The Lincoln left the U.S. in November. It was rerouted from the Pacific to the Middle East when the Iran war started. It has 5,000 crew members. Families say there are shortages of food, toothpaste, and soap. They report water contamination, plumbing failures, and shifts so long that sailors cannot sleep. More than 200 families met with the acting Navy secretary last week to beg for help.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called earlier reports of bad conditions “fake news” in April. This week, he said the reports were “completely misrepresented.” Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to Hegseth on Wednesday demanding answers about “shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, and deck safety concerns.”

The machine sends 5,000 people to sea for nine months with no end date, runs out of soap, and calls the reports fake. When the sailors try to jump off the ship, the machine calls it a mental health episode. It is not an episode. It is a system.

260 DAYS AT SEA. 6 ATTEMPTS TO JUMP. SHORTAGES OF FOOD AND SOAP. HEGSETH CALLED IT “FAKE NEWS.”

BREAKING

A Declassified Pentagon Report Says the U.S. Killed 153 Civilians and Wounded 243 in Yemen Last Year — the First Time This Administration Has Admitted It

A 12-page Pentagon report sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday found that U.S. strikes in Yemen last year killed 153 civilians and wounded 243. The Washington Post obtained the report. The Hill confirmed it. It is the first time the Trump administration has publicly admitted that the military caused mass civilian harm in any conflict since taking office.

The report says three operations “more likely than not” caused civilian deaths. Trump ordered the Yemen strikes in March 2025 under “Operation Rough Rider” after Houthi fighters attacked ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis said their attacks were in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Pentagon had already dismantled its civilian harm prevention team earlier in 2025. Senior JAG officers… the military lawyers who advise on laws of war… were fired. The team built to prevent exactly this kind of harm was taken apart before the harm happened. Then the report that confirmed it was sent quietly to a Senate committee on a Monday in August.

The sailors on the Lincoln are running out of soap. The civilians in Yemen are running out of time. And the people who gave both orders are calling the first “fake news” and burying the second in a committee filing.

EXPOSED

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Earned Up to $2.9 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests — While Ruling on Climate and Energy Cases

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito earned up to $2.9 million from financial interests tied to the fossil fuel industry, according to reporting that surfaced this week. Alito has voted on multiple cases involving energy regulation, climate policy, and environmental law… while holding investments in the companies affected by those rulings.

Supreme Court justices are not bound by the same ethics rules that apply to every other federal judge. There is no binding code of conduct. There is no independent enforcement body. The court polices itself. And this week, the public learned that one of its most powerful members earned millions from the same industry that stands before him in court.

This is the same justice who failed to recuse himself from cases involving parties connected to his wife’s political activities. The same court that overturned Roe v. Wade. The same court that gutted the EPA’s power to regulate carbon emissions. And the same justice who voted to give the fossil fuel industry more room to operate… while collecting income from that industry.

The machine puts the regulators on the bench and the regulated in their portfolio. That is not a conflict of interest. It is the business model.

“He hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.”

— Text from a sailor on the USS Abraham Lincoln to his wife, as reported by Stars and Stripes

DEVELOPING

The CIA Had “Low Confidence” in Israel’s Claim That Iran Was Trying to Shoot Down Air Force One — the Claim That Justified Using the President’s Staff as Decoys

This week, the Washington Post revealed that Trump hid in a catering truck at a NATO summit in Turkey and was flown out on a secret plane… while his staff and reporters sat on Air Force One as a decoy. The reason: Israel told the U.S. that Iran was trying to shoot down the plane. Now Democracy Now reports that the CIA assessed the Israeli claim with “low confidence.”

“Low confidence” is the intelligence community’s way of saying: we looked at the evidence and we are not sure this is true. It does not mean it was false. But it means the claim that put reporters and White House staff on a decoy plane was based on intelligence the CIA was not willing to stand behind.

The tip came from Israel. The president had just ordered strikes on Iran the night before. And the decision to use the presidential staff as human shields was made on the basis of a claim the CIA rated at its lowest level of trust.

The machine hid the president in a food truck. It put the staff on the target. And the intelligence that justified the whole operation was graded “low confidence” by the agency built to assess exactly that.

 Connecting the Dots 

▸ The Bigger Picture

Four stories from one week. Sailors on a carrier are trying to jump overboard after 260 days at sea with no soap, no end date, and a defense secretary who calls the reports fake. The Pentagon’s own report says U.S. strikes killed 153 civilians in Yemen… and it was sent to a committee on a quiet Monday after the team built to prevent those deaths was already fired. A Supreme Court justice earned $2.9 million from fossil fuel interests while ruling on energy cases. And the intelligence that justified turning Air Force One into a decoy was rated “low confidence” by the CIA.

The press covers each on its own page. A “Navy story.” A “civilian harm report.” A “financial disclosure.” An “intelligence assessment.” But the thread is the same in every one.

The machine uses people and discards the evidence. It sends 5,000 sailors to sea for nine months and calls their suffering fake. It kills 153 civilians and buries the report in a filing. It puts a justice on the bench who earns millions from the companies he rules on. And it uses an Israeli tip the CIA did not trust to justify putting its own staff on a plane it believed could be shot down. The machine does not explain itself. It files the report, dismisses the complaint, deposits the check, and moves on.

When the sailors are jumping, the civilians are dead, the justice is paid, and the intelligence is “low confidence”… the machine is not failing. It is functioning. That’s the Seventh Floor.

They rely on the shadows.
It’s time to turn on the lights.