SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
");background-position:center;background-size:19px 19px;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-color:#222;padding:0;width:var(--form-elem-height);height:var(--form-elem-height);font-size:0;}:is(.js-newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter_bar.newsletter-wrapper) .widget__body:has(.response:not(:empty)) :is(.widget__headline, .widget__subheadline, #mc_embed_signup .mc-field-group, #mc_embed_signup input[type="submit"]){display:none;}:is(.grey_newsblock .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper) #mce-responses:has(.response:not(:empty)){grid-row:1 / -1;grid-column:1 / -1;}.newsletter-wrapper .widget__body > .snark-line:has(.response:not(:empty)){grid-column:1 / -1;}:is(.grey_newsblock .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper) :is(.newsletter-campaign:has(.response:not(:empty)), .newsletter-and-social:has(.response:not(:empty))){width:100%;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;justify-content:center;align-items:center;gap:8px 20px;margin:0 auto;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col .text-element{display:flex;color:var(--shares-color);margin:0 !important;font-weight:400 !important;font-size:16px !important;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col .whitebar_social{display:flex;gap:12px;width:auto;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col a{margin:0;background-color:#0000;padding:0;width:32px;height:32px;}.newsletter-wrapper .social_icon:after{display:none;}.newsletter-wrapper .widget article:before, .newsletter-wrapper .widget article:after{display:none;}#sFollow_Block_0_0_2_0_0_0_1{margin:0;}.tabs__tab-content .row:not(:empty){margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width: 1024px){#sHome_0_0_4_0_0_16_1_0_1{padding-left:30px;}}.donation_banner{position:relative;background:#000;}.donation_banner .posts-custom *, .donation_banner .posts-custom :after, .donation_banner .posts-custom :before{margin:0;}.donation_banner .posts-custom .widget{position:absolute;inset:0;}.donation_banner__wrapper{position:relative;z-index:2;pointer-events:none;}.donation_banner .donate_btn{position:relative;z-index:2;}#sSHARED_-_Support_Block_0_0_9_0_0_3_1_0{color:#fff;}#sSHARED_-_Support_Block_0_0_9_0_0_3_1_1{font-weight:normal;}.newswire_five_post .all-related-sections [href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire"]{display:none;}.sticky-sidebar{margin:auto;}@media (min-width: 980px){.main:has(.sticky-sidebar){overflow:visible;}}@media (min-width: 980px){.row:has(.sticky-sidebar){display:flex;overflow:visible;}}@media (min-width: 980px){.sticky-sidebar{position:-webkit-sticky;position:sticky;top:100px;transition:top .3s ease-in-out, position .3s ease-in-out;}}.custom-field-newsletter-visible-on-sticky-position, .custom-field-newsletter-visible-on-sidebar-position, .custom-field-newsletter-visible-on-fixed-position{display:none;}.cta-close:before, .cta-close:after{width:50%;height:2px;content:"";position:absolute;inset:50% auto auto 50%;border-radius:2px;background-color:#fff;}.cta-close:before{transform:translate(-50%)rotate(45deg);}.cta-close:after{transform:translate(-50%)rotate(-45deg);}.sticky_newsletter_wrapper{width:100%;}.black_newsletter.is_sticky_on{transition:all .3s ease-out;}.black_newsletter.is_sticky_on.cta-hide{transform:translateY(100%);}.black_newsletter .newsletter_bar{height:auto;padding:24px 16px;}.black_newsletter .newsletter_bar.newsletter-wrapper{margin:0;background:none !important;}@media only screen and (min-width: 768px){.black_newsletter .newsletter_bar{padding:20px 16px;justify-content:space-between;}}@media only screen and (min-width: 1320px){.black_newsletter .newsletter_bar.newsletter-wrapper{margin:0 -16px;}}.footer-campaign .posts-custom .widget, .footer-campaign .posts-custom .posts-wrapper:after, .footer-campaign .row:not(:empty), .footer-campaign .row.px10, .footer-campaign .row.px10 > .col, .footer-campaign .sm-mb-1 > *, .footer-campaign .sm-mb-1:not(:empty):after{margin:0;padding:0;}.footer-campaign .sm-mb-1:not(:empty):after{display:none;}.footer-campaign{padding:0;}.footer-campaign .widget:hover .widget__headline .widget__headline-text{color:#fff;}@media only screen and (min-width: 768px){.footer-campaign .sm-mt-1:not(:empty):after{content:"";grid-column:4;grid-row:1 / span 2;}}@media only screen and (min-width: 768px){.footer-campaign .sm-mt-1:not(:empty):before{grid-column:1;grid-row:1 / span 2;}}.grey_newsblock .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper.sidebar{background:linear-gradient(91deg, #005dc7 28%, #1d63b2 65%, #0353ae 85%);}.black_newsletter{background:linear-gradient(91deg, #005dc7 28%, #1d63b2 65%, #0353ae 85%);}.black_newsletter .newsletter_bar.newsletter-wrapper{background:none;}
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
In honor of Friendship Month and his stupendous speech at the UN, wherein he raved, bloviated and browbeat world leaders that their countries are "going to hell" but he's "really good at this stuff," some patriots have erected a new statue in D.C. of Trump and his "closest friend" Jeffrey Epstein happily twirling and sharing "another wonderful secret." Residents praised the artwork as "glorious," "Amazeballs" and a "sliver of hope," arguing, "This is why we have to protect the arts." Now with updates.
"Angry Old Man Yells At U.N" was a fitting headline for the mad king's appearance at their annual General Assembly in New York City, where, one account dutifully reported, "his total ignorance of world events was on full display." Other reviews: shambolic, bizarre, embarrassing, unhinged, "ranting, raving, rambling," and "one of the most embarrassing speeches of his presidency," which says a lot. Some of the delirium, punctuated by Adderall sniffs, was likely fed by a malfunctioning teleprompter (along with brain) which he repeatedly carped about after complaining he should have gotten a Nobel Peace Prize:: "All I got from the UN was an escalator (that) stopped in the middle and a teleprompter that didn't work. Thank you very much." Later, it turned out an aide was in charge of it, and another had inadvertently halted the escalator.
Wildly winging it for almost an hour, over three times his allotted time, he then launched into his usual flood of wild lies and narcissistic delusions about saving the world and "the renewal of American strength." "Grocery prices are down," he declared. "Inflation has been defeated." NOT. "More than $17 trillion is being invested in the United States - it's pouring in from all parts of the world." Ditto. "In a period of seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars," he claimed, adding one to the usual fiction and, ever gracious, whining he had to do it all by himself: "I never even received a phone call from the UN." Never a fan of the multilateralism the UN represents -in his first few days he pulled the US out of multiple international organizations - he then lit into the august body.
Boasting about his own "bold action" to illegally terrorize, arrest and deport large numbers of innocent brown people, he blasted immigration in Europe as part of a "globalist migration agenda" by unnamed perfidious players. "Your countries are going to hell," he yammered. "It's time to end the failed experiment of open borders...I can tell you, I'm really good at this stuff." (Cue facepalm seen around the world.) In case he hadn't waxed racist enough, he tossed an incendiary slur at London's (Muslim) mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, "a terrible, terrible mayor...Now they want to go to sharia law." (Aghast groans added to facepalm.) Fox News said he "unfurled raw truth." The rest of the world said his "erratic," "reckless" claptrap was "hard to distinguish from reality TV."
Finally, knowingly - his uncle taught at MIT! - he dismissed climate change as "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world," argued "all the predictions were wrong" except if anything they were too optimistic, and trashed windmills, his bird-and-whale-killing nemesis, as "so pathetic and so bad." "The United States is now thriving like never before," he raved. "We're getting rid of the falsely named renewables. They are a joke. They don't work. The wind doesn't blow." Magically, he bundled up the failures of windmills and diplomacy to highlight his own stable genius: "If you don't get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail. And I'm really good at predicting things...I've been right about everything. One foreign diplomat texted, "This man is stark, raving mad."
It was to honor all his nonetheless remarkable achievements - and Friendship Month, begun by The Grand United Order of Oddfellows Friendly Society (GUOOFS), founded in 1730s England to give "everyone 30 exciting days (to) celebrate everything that is amazing about Friendship!" - that the new art installation appeared Tuesday on the National Mall. The 12-foot, faux-bronze statues of a giddy Trump and Epstein prancing and holding hands is by The Secret Handshake; their earlier creations include a "Dictator Approved" giant thumbs-up crushing Lady Liberty's crown, and turds honoring the Jan. 6 "brave men and women who broke into the U.S. Capitol (to) loot, urinate and defecate throughout these hallowed halls in order to overturn an election.”
The new work, said a spokesperson for the anonymous group, was born of "the widespread, bipartisan interest" in Epstein and their wish to put their friendship "on full display" in tribute to Friendship Month, even though nobody's heard of it. "We wanted to celebrate what is presumably, at least publicly, Donald Trump’s only true friend," said their representative. "Trump has had many business associates, but very few people have gone on the record as being his actual ‘friend.' Jeffrey Epstein, who is the rare exception, stated that he was the President’s 'closest friend.'" Thus does one of three plaques accompanying the statues read, "We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend’ Jeffrey Epstein."
Another plaque quotes Trump's 50th birthday message, shaped like a nude female body, to Epstein. It reads, in part, "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret," followed by the singular Trump signature. Trump, of course, had called Epstein "a terrific guy" who was "a lot of fun to be with," a sentiment others have widely interpreted as, "We are definitely both pedophiles who are friends and do pedophile things together." "These two people had an affinity for each other," noted the group's rep, "and they also seemingly had an affinity for abusing women." On the "uproar" over the release of the Epstein files: "We have nothing to do with that. The information about their bond (says) a lot.”
There were critics of the work, of course; there always are. A White House spokesperson denounced it with, "Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit – but it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep." Another lie: he kicked him out for having "stolen" one of the young women working in Trump's spa, doing God knows what tasks. But The Secret Handshake isn't quibbling; they even said they'd "be happy" to donate the art to Trump's new $200 million. ballroom. Other critics nitpicked: Trump's statue isn't fat enough, his hands should be smaller, his tie should be longer, no way he can stand on one foot, why do both men still have their pants on?
Mostly, onlookers and passersby loved it. They called it "fantastic," "hilarious," "beautiful," "highly appropriate," "Art History in the making," "By far the most realistic depiction of our President that I've seen." They said, "Thank you project mayhem" and, "This is true patriotism." They fake-mourned, "Unfortunately, we cannot take this statue down. That would be erasing our history and heritage." They proposed making mass small duplicates of the art work, for fundraising or Christmas ornaments. Many wondered who'd made it; one sage responded, "Nobody. It's part of the universe manifesting truth." A patriot crooned, "Sometimes I love this country so damn much." "Protect the arts," many urged. And, "This art is the prettiest art of all the art."
Update: But not for long. Though the monument creators had a permit allowing it to stay up till Sunday night, a National Parks crew, aka regime minions, arrived before dawn Wednesday morning to topple, break and haul it away with no prior warning. They told Handshake reps, who'd heard rumors of the raid and turned up, the artwork was "not in compliance" with the permit, allegedly exceeding its allowed size by three feet. Silly artists: Everyone knows you have to obey the law.
More updates: Because the manchild king is not only stark raving mad but exceptionally petty, may have realized he made a complete ass of himself the day before, and is now likely desperately trying to deflect from his own clownfuckery, he is now charging the UN with "triple sabotage" for several minor mishaps during his appearance. Citing a malfunctioning escalator, teleprompter and sound system - all of them reportedly under the supervision of either the White House or U.S. delegation, not the UN - he is now insisting "this wasn't a coincidence" and demanding "an immediate investigation" into those "three very sinister events," which were "A REAL DISGRACE." "The good news," he went on, "is the Speech has gotten fantastic reviews...Very few people could have done what I did." True, that.
Ivanka wears Trump's birthday card to Epstein.Meme from Bluesky
"A thinly-veiled threat to global peace, progress, and survival" was how one climate justice organization described US President Donald Trump's hourlong address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday as the international community took in Trump's attacks on global cooperation, migration, and the consensus among scientists that human activity is causing the climate crisis and a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is needed to avoid the worst impacts.
Namrata Chowdhary, head of public engagement at 350.org, said the president's speech offered proof of a warning from UN Secretary-General António Guterres just hours before, in which Guterres had said the world has "entered an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering," with peace and progress "buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference."
Trump drew gasps from the assembled world leaders when he said predictions about the climate emergency by the UN and the global science community "were wrong" and "were made by stupid people."
The BBC reported that some diplomats "could be seen shaking their heads" as the president called climate change "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the comment showed Trump "is representing his fossil fuel billionaire friends, not science."
"Climate change is REAL. It is an existential threat to the planet and future generations. We must transform our energy systems away from fossil fuels," said the senator.
Guterres' warning "was only emphasized by the erratic speech given by Donald Trump: Reckless. Disruptive. Indifferent," said Chowdhary. "And mocking with impunity the relentless suffering around the world, in a speech hard to distinguish from reality TV of the worst kind."
Trump's speech came weeks after hundreds of people were killed in one day by flooding in Pakistan—a disaster fueled by increasingly intense monsoon seasons that scientists have said are caused by fossil fuel emissions and planetary heating.
Earlier this year, a study by British and Italian researchers found that deadly flooding in Texas was also made significantly worse by the impacts of climate change.
"Trump’s remarks, which downplayed the urgency of climate action and pushed for expanded fossil fuel investment, come as the world continues to experience record-breaking heat, fires, and floods," said Chowdhary. "At the upcoming UN climate summit, world leaders face a stark choice: Stand with people and the planet, or with the fossil fuel industry."
Mauro Vieira, the minister of foreign affairs in Brazil, which will host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in November, told CNN that Trump's attacks on policies demanding a shift to renewable energy do not change Brazil's position on the climate.
"We believe in renewables,” said Vieira. “This will save the planet. That’s our position."
JL Andrepont, US senior policy analyst at 350.org, emphasized that a majority of Trump's own constituents know that the climate crisis is being caused by fossil fuels and support a shift away from them.
"This stream of lies is part of the same fossil-fueled billionaire agenda that got tens of thousands into the NYC streets this weekend, calling for climate justice," said Andrepont. "The leader of the world’s top polluting country is trying to tell the people—from our Pacific family members to the climate- and conflict-displaced peoples he’s deporting—that their lived reality is not real. But there are far more of us calling for human rights than there are of him and his cronies."
"We refuse to be pawns in Trump’s unjust quest to pad the pockets of billionaires like him," added Andrepont. "It’s time to draw the line and make billionaires in and out of government pay for the damage they’ve caused and fund the needs of the people.”
With the rising cost of groceries, housing, healthcare, and other essentials a central issue facing communities across the United States due to the Republican agenda, one expert believes that commonly cited economic statistics aren’t capturing the depth of working families' struggles.
Gene Ludwig, former US comptroller of the currency under President Bill Clinton, is arguing that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) no longer delivers an accurate portrait of families' hardships because it does not focus enough on the core costs that impact working people on a daily basis.
As reported by Bloomberg on Monday, Ludwig believes the CPI tracks too many goods that are either luxury purchases or are only bought sporadically. A relevant measure of inflation, he told the outlet, should primarily include goods that are essential to living, such as groceries, housing, healthcare, and energy.
Ludwig and his colleagues at the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity have developed their own measurement called True Living Cost (TLC), which focuses on core household needs and excludes items such as plane tickets and golf carts that are included in the CPI formula.
Prices as measured by the TLC have grown 1.3 times faster than prices as measured by the traditional CPI over the last 24 years, which may explain why US consumer sentiment has remained low even during times when the unemployment rate and the rate of inflation have been falling.
The biggest gap between TLC and CPI has been in measuring the cost of healthcare, as TLC shows that the rise in costs has been much more severe than what has been shown in traditional inflation statistics.
"In the CPI, medical care mostly measures reimbursements to providers made by private insurers and Medicare, in addition to patient payments, but the TLC tracks only households' out-of-pocket expenses and contributions to medical and dental plans," explained Bloomberg. "The CPI shows medical costs have doubled since 2001, whereas the TLC shows they’ve almost tripled, largely from a massive rise in premiums."
Ludwig's arguments about traditional inflation measures not capturing the true state of Americans' fiscal stability were backed up by a report from The Washington Post on Sunday, which examined recent trends in housing, healthcare, food, and utility prices, and found that all of them have been rising faster than the top-line rate of inflation as measured by CPI.
The Post cited the most recent CPI data showing that natural gas bills have risen by nearly 14% over the last year, while electricity bills have surged by 6% over the same period. Grocery prices also registered their biggest spike since 2022, thanks in part to US President Donald Trump's tariffs on imported staple foods such as coffee and bananas.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told the Post that these costs are not mere luxuries that people can sacrifice until their financial situation improves.
"It’s not that they have a choice," he said. "We’re talking about things that people must buy. They have to live somewhere... They have to heat their homes. They need lights."
A recent CNN report focused on factors related to the most recent spike in grocery prices and found that Trump's policies were to blame for at least two of them.
Most directly, CNN found that the tariffs on imported foods resulted in higher prices at the grocery store checkout line. Additionally, the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented farm workers has harmed the supply of food that's grown domestically, which has also resulted in price increases.
And finally, CNN reported that droughts exacerbated by human-caused climate change have also hurt supplies of beef and oranges, which have led to further price squeezes.
David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University, told CNN that Trump's current policy agenda "is more likely to increase the price of food" than make it more affordable.
Given the rising cost of staple groceries, many Americans have been turning to cheaper alternatives. According to The New York Times, sales of Hamburger Helper have grown by 14.5% over the last year, which is a sign that shoppers are bypassing more expensive cooking ingredients in favor of low-cost, easy-to-make meals.
Additionally, the Times report found that sales of foods that are "commonly purchased by consumers when financial times get tough—such as rice, canned meats such as tuna, and boxes of macaroni and cheese—have also been strong.
Sally Lyons Wyatt, global consumer packaged goods and food service industry adviser at research firm Circana, told the Times that US shoppers right now seem to be "looking for foods that fill them up for the least amount of money."
A progressive economic advocacy group on Monday launched a scathing ad campaign calling out congressional Republicans "for raising Americans’ healthcare costs and threatening a government shutdown" so that they can give tax breaks to the superrich.
The Unrig Our Economy ads target 14 GOP lawmakers who the group says "repeatedly put the wants of billionaires over the needs of working families by cutting Medicaid, backing cost-raising tariffs, and giving massive tax breaks to the ultrawealthy."
The ad's narrator says: "Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down our government unless they get what they want—ending tax credits for healthcare and raising your insurance premiums. Now they're willing to shut down the government for even higher costs for us, our neighbors, and our entire community."
Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal said in a statement introducing the new ads that “Republicans in Congress are once again putting wealthy donors and billionaires ahead of hardworking families."
"By threatening to shut down the government unless they can allow healthcare tax credits to expire, they are putting millions of Americans at risk of paying even higher costs or losing healthcare entirely," Tal added. "These ads urge Republicans in Congress to reverse course to actually protect Americans’ healthcare and avoid a government shutdown."
As Wednesday's midnight deadline to avert a shutdown fast approaches, healthcare and consumer advocates are warning that millions of Americans would either lose insurance coverage or see their premiums spike. Some critics say that's exactly what GOP lawmakers want.
Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget also directed federal agencies to prepare to fire large numbers of employees if the government shuts down, a move critics claim OMB Director Russell Vought is using as leverage against Senate Democrats who blocked advancement of a short-term spending measure passed in the House.
Democrats, meanwhile, are attempting to negotiate a bipartisan bill containing an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year. The expiration is expected to raise healthcare premiums by an average of 75% for millions of Americans.
US President Donald Trump is set to meet Monday afternoon with the four top congressional leaders at the White House to discuss the looming shutdown.
Local police have launched a criminal investigation after a CBS News Chicago reporter said she was attacked "absolutely unprovoked" by immigration agents outside a detention facility in Broadview.
Television reporter Asal Rezaei was at the Broadview center Sunday morning, where she'd been going for weeks since protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) "Operation Midway Blitz" began in Chicago earlier this month.
When Rezaei realized there were no protesters at the scene, she began to drive away with the driver's side window down. That's when a masked agent fired a pepper ball at her car from behind the fence, "causing the chemical agents to engulf the inside of her truck," according to CBS News.
"An ICE agent took a direct shot at my car today. Absolutely unprovoked," Rezaei wrote on social media. "My window was open, and chemicals went all over my face. Been puking for two hours."
Rezaei explained that there was "not one protester in sight" and that she was "simply driving by to check the scene out like I have been for weeks, about 50 feet from the entrance."
She posted photos of her car's windshield, which was left covered in specks of white powder.
In a police report filed Sunday, Rezaei said: At this moment, it's not really clear why that officer took a shot at me. My car has been here several times, although I did not identify myself verbally as a member of the press. There were no protests going on. There was actually nobody there except one other person that was a member of a fire department that was there checking in on the buildings around this area."
The Broadview Police Department has announced that it is opening an investigation into the attack. Police Chief Thomas Mills said in a statement that chemical agents were “fired from the direction of the [ICE] detention facility" toward Rezaei's vehicle. Mills said that the police department "expects the full cooperation by the US Department of Homeland Security into our criminal investigation."
A spokesperson for DHS has denied that Rezaei was attacked, saying: "Absolutely not. No member of the media at CBS or any other outlet was ‘attacked.’ For their safety, we remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots."
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson warned on Friday that ICE officials have been “making war” in her community by “deploying chemical arms, such as tear gas, pepper spray, etc. against American citizens, our residents, and our first responders."
Mills himself said he had been verbally attacked by ICE agents during a protest. He said that later, while attempting to gather information about an apparent hit-and-run by an ICE agent on a pedestrian, officers were hit with pepper spray, which altered their vision so badly that they were required to leave the scene.
Video: CBS News
The agency's tactics only grew more brutal over the weekend, which local police say was a direct act of retaliation from the Department of Homeland Security. On Saturday morning, Broadview police said they received a message from ICE agents that it would be "a shit show in Broadview today."
Agents fired tear gas and other chemical irritants at a crowd of about 75 protesters gathered outside the facility on Saturday night. According to the Chicago Tribune, federal officials took 11 people into custody, four of whom now face federal charges.
One of the people arrested and later released was another journalist, Steve Held, the co-founder of the investigative outlet Unraveled Press. Held was released from custody just hours before ICE reportedly fired at Rezaei. Another reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times was also struck by rubber bullets and tear-gassed.
"The pattern of law enforcement violence and targeted attacks persisted yesterday, with agents launching chemical agents and firing munitions at members of the press and people assembled to protest," said the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) of Chicago. "Agents used multiple chemical agents, launched kinetic grenades, and shot rubber bullets, mace, and pepper balls against those assembled. One legal observer was shot directly in the face with a projectile. Agents also menaced people by pointing firearms at them, including handguns and a rifle."
The NLG said federal agents' actions on Saturday "were notably distinct from prior days in that officers went after people who were simply gathered to support the active protesters."
Officers "forcibly removed people sheltering from tear gas in vehicles," "fired weapons at specific protesters in direct response to their First Amendment-protected statements and snatched protesters signs," the group said. They also "confiscated tents used for shade, as well as food, water and first aid supplies, and people's bike helmets and other personal property, putting them in a dumpster in the restricted area."
As people tried to leave the protest, NLG says "agents blocked them and demanded to illegally search people's bodies and vehicles."
“Last night, our Legal Observers witnessed militarized federal agents deploy chemical weapons and fire projectiles at a crowd of people exercising their First Amendment rights," said Amanda Yarusso, a volunteer attorney with NLG Chicago. "The violence was an indiscriminate, unprovoked, and illegal use of force. These unlawful actions by federal agents demonstrate this administration’s complete disregard of constitutional standards.
The Trump administration may strike alleged drug targets inside Venezuela's borders within weeks, sources familiar with the situation told NBC News on Friday.
Two US officials and two other sources with knowledge of the conversations that had taken place said that the US military was considering plans that could include drone strikes against members and leaders of drug trafficking groups as well as drug laboratories. If approved, the strikes would be a further escalation following three Trump administration attacks on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean that have killed at least 17 people, even though the administration has provided no evidence that those killed were actually smuggling drugs.
"More mass murder on the cards?" the news outlet Venezeulanaysis wrote in response. “NBC reports that the Trump administration is weighing strikes against 'drug targets' (emphasis on the air quotes) inside Venezuelan territory. Lots of speculation and anonymous sources, but it shows that no war crimes are off limits."
US President Donald Trump has already come under heavy criticism for authorizing boat strikes that many decry as illegal. Democratic lawmakers have moved to bar the president from authorizing further attacks, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for the United Nations to take criminal proceedings against the US president in a speech on Tuesday.
"This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent."
Now, observers are responding with alarm to the news that the administration might go even further.
El Pais correspondent Juan Diego Quesada wrote on social media that strikes within Venezuelan territory "would escalate the conflict to a level whose consequences I dare not measure."
"How would this not be considered an act of war?" asked poster Cindy Gossett. "Trump can't just claim Venezuelan citizens are drug lords therefore he's going to fly a drone over and destroy them. If Venezuela did the same in our country it wouldn't be accepted."
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said that the US had an “illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads."
Pinto also cast doubt on the notion that the Trump administration's true aim was to combat the drug trade.
He accused the US of trying to permit “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth" and said that the administration was using “vulgar and perverse lies” to “justify an atrocious, extravagant, and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat."
Trump has yet to authorize any particular plan, according to NBC. The Pentagon declined to comment on their report, and the White House referred the outlet to a previous statement from Trump: "We’ll see what happens. Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers, and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied that his administration has not done enough to prevent drug trafficking through the South American country, as Trump has accused.
Maduro sent a letter to the White House on September 6 calling for peace and dialogue and defending his record, noting that, according to a UN report, only 5% of the drugs that leave Colombia do so via Venezuela.
He wrote of the trafficking claims, "This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent."
Toward the end of the letter, he appealed to Trump to work with him to reduce tensions.
"President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful," Maduro wrote.
The synthetic performer, says SAG-AFTRA, is "a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation."
Screen actors and their union are among those who on Tuesday condemned a computer-generated "actress" created by a newly launched artificial intelligence studio as "not a replacement for a human being," while urging talent agencies to eschew signing synthetic performers.
Billed as Hollywood's first artificial intelligence actor, "Tilly Norwood" was introduced by Particle 6 founder and CEO Eline Van der Velden, who has launjched a new venture called Xicoia, the "world's first AI talent studio."
One of over 40 digital personalities Xicoia says it aims to develop, Norwood has attracted the attention of real-life talent agents—a development that has drawn condemnation from the powerful Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union, which represents more than 160,000 performers in film, television, voice acting, video games, and other media.
“SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered," the union said in a statement Tuesday, adding that it is "opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics."
The union continued:
To be clear, "Tilly Norwood" is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion, and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn’t solve any “problem”—it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.
"Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used," SAG-AFTRA added.
Individual actors also slammed Norwood's rollout, with Melissa Barrera—who has starred in films including Scream and In the Heights—taking aim at any agent who might be tempted to represent the AI character.
“Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$," Barrera said. "How gross, read the room."
Natasha Lyonne, star of Russian Doll and director of Uncanny Valley, said: "Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds. Deeply misguided and totally disturbed. Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use.”
Veteran television actor Chris McKenna addressed those who think Norwood "will only replace actors," writing on social media that the AI creation "needs no hairstylist, makeup, wardrobe, lighting, direction, transportation, rest, or lunch... the trickledown will be devastating."
Van der Velden defended her creation in a Sunday Instagram post, writing, “To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work—a piece of art."
“Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity," she added.
SAG-AFTRA has long opposed the use of AI performers, making the issue a key part of its 2023 strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and last year's video game strike. The union has also backed legislation at the federal and state level to regulate AI.
The 2023 strike, which lasted 118 days, ended with SAG-AFTRA winning concessions including explicit consent, notification, and bargaining for the use of AI replicas of performers and safeguards against digitally generated characters replacing human actors.
The shoving incident marked at least the second physical altercation involving an ICE official at the US federal court in New York in the last week.
A photojournalist at the US Federal Court in New York on Tuesday had to be taken to a hospital on a stretcher on Tuesday after an immigration enforcement official shoved another person into him, causing him to fall and hit his head on the floor at a US federal courthouse in New York City.
Gothamist reports that photojournalist Vural Elibol of the Turkish-based Anadolu Agency had to be hospitalized on Tuesday morning after a confrontation involving multiple masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
Video of the incident posted on social media by photographer Stephanie Keith showed several people in the courthouse, along with at least three masked ICE agents, attempting to enter an elevator.
When an unidentified man attempted to get in the elevator with the ICE agents, one of them grabbed him and shoved him outside. At the same time, another ICE agent shoved a woman, identified by the New York Daily News as freelance photographer Olga Fedorova, away from the elevator, where she fell into Elibol and knocked him over.
Elibol was then seen writhing in pain on the ground while grabbing his head. Medical professionals subsequently showed up on the scene, placed him in a neck brace, put him on a stretcher, and took him to Downtown Hospital, according to the New York Daily News.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) so far has not responded to multiple publications' requests for comment.
The shoving incident marked at least the second physical altercation involving an ICE official at the US federal court in New York in the last week. This past Friday, an ICE agent was caught on camera throwing an Ecuadorian asylum-seeker, Monica Moreta-Galarza, to the ground after she tearfully demanded the return of her husband, who had just been dragged away from her by masked agents.
Although DHS suspended the ICE officer in the immediate wake of the incident, CBS News reported on Monday that he had already been reinstated after a "preliminary review" of his actions.
"We are not sailing simply to deliver our cargo, but to pressure our countries to stop arming and funding Israel," said one flotilla passenger.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of dozens of ships heading toward Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, has entered the final stretch of its journey in which it could soon face strikes from the Israeli military.
As described by Middle East Eye, the flotilla on Tuesday ventured into the "danger zone" where organizers are likely to be intercepted by the Israeli military.
Middle East Eye also cited reporting from Reuters that "flight tracking websites showed multiple drones originating from Turkey's Corlu airbase circling over the flotilla" as it entered the zone.
As the flotilla approached its final destination, many organizers reflected on the journey that they've made and the goals they are trying to achieve.
David Adler, the co-general coordinator of Progressive International, linked his Jewish faith to the flotilla's mission to help end mass starvation in Gaza.
"I believe it is a blessing that we are approaching interception at the onset of Yom Kippur—our annual day of atonement—which calls on us to reflect on our sins, and what can be done to repair them in the spirit of tikkun olam," he wrote. "How can we atone for what has been committed in our name? How can we seek forgiveness for sins that multiply by the hour, as bombs and bullets rain on Gaza?"
Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela who is a passenger on the flotilla, told Democracy Now that he wanted to show Palestinians the same international solidarity that activists once displayed for his country when his grandfather was working to free it from apartheid.
"Those that rallied behind our cause and stood side by side in supporting the anti-apartheid movement ensured that we attained our freedom in our lifetime,” he explained. “This is why today we utilize our voice to support the oppressed and most vulnerable nations across the globe.”
Another flotilla passenger, Irish writer Naoise Dolan, wrote an editorial for The Guardian in which she acknowledged that her ship was unlikely to reach Gaza while emphasizing the importance of showing solidarity in the face of atrocities being committed against the Palestinians.
"We are not sailing simply to deliver our cargo, but to pressure our countries to stop arming and funding Israel," she argued. "All of our governments—French, Danish, Irish—participate in the genocide through maintaining ties with its perpetrator. We’re not even protesting inaction, but the active sabotage of Palestinian self-determination."
The flotilla set sail one month ago with the goal of breaking through the Israeli military blockade that has for months prevented aid from reaching Gaza, which has caused a famine in the exclave, and starving to death at least 440 people, including 147 children, so far.
In addition to Adler, Mandela, and Dolan, other passengers on the flotilla include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, American actress Susan Sarandon, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, Portuguese politician Mariana Mortágua, and former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau.