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In honor of Pride Month, singular acts of courage and "being brave, strong and gorgeous," cue the glad spectacle of four drag queens dolled up to kill, see Les Misérables, and crash Dear Leader's first visit to a Kennedy Center purportedly scrubbed of wokeness. Yet here they were - buoyant, sparkling, cheered by a crowd that moments before had loudly booed the ugly tyrant and his MAGA cohort. The queens' gist, said Mari Con Carne: "You can’t erase us."
The queens turned up for an evening already bursting with irony if any MAGA goons and losers were capable of it. Amidst a Pride Month he refused to recognize - and fierce pushback to his hate - the Bigot-In-Chief who already decimated a time-honored institution devoted to art and open-mindedness witlessly chose to attend a beloved show about an oppressed people fighting back against tyranny much like his.
Accompanied by the grotesque likes of Vance, Bondi, Loomer, RFK Jr., Kellyanne Conway and a fragile Gym Jordan who visibly cringed when he walked past four people who don't look like him, Trump et al were roundly booed by the modest crowd. There were also shouts of "Felon!" and "Rapist!" - what a time to be alive - along with a muted, incongruous chant of "USA!" on behalf of the cretins who are working so hard to destroy it.
In full, defiant finery, the four drag queens - Tara Hoot, Ricky Rosé, Vagenesis, and Mari Con Carne - were greeted by the audience with joyful whoops, cheers and applause as they sashayed in and took their seats below the presidential box. Their tickets had been donated by season ticket-holders through Qommittee, a national advocacy network of drag artists and allies led by survivors of high-profile hate crimes like the Pulse and Club Q mass shootings.
"It was delightful,” said Hoot, stressing their "message of inclusivity" but adding, "I love musicals. I mean, I’m a drag queen." "Kudos to all bringing art to the world," she said. "Unfortunately, there were some other people there too, but I think we brightened the audience as much as we could." In family story time events, she noted, "I often read books about being brave (and) true to who you are. Showing up (here) with my fellow drag stars allowed me to live those words. Here's to being brave, strong, and gorgeous."
Trump, ever uncouth, left before the lights came up. Still, Mari Con Carne felt it was "crucial" to be there before him. As a drag queen and an immigrant, "I wanted it to be known you can prevent us from performing on your stages, but you can’t erase us...We aren’t going anywhere and we will face you head-on with every ounce of courage we have." When Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables, he was shocked by thesilence of his compatriots before "the negation of all law, equilibrium resting on iniquity." This week's troupe of "delightfully audacious" drag queens might give him hope.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Greenpeace Denmark this week filed a formal complaint against the Denmark-based dairy producer Arla Foods, accusing the firm of creating a "false and misleading picture" of actual emission reductions the company has achieved.
The green group is arguing the company has both misled consumers when it comes to Arla's progress toward achieving climate goals and that its reporting does not meet requirements under the Danish Annual Accounts Act.
Arla is the world's fifth-largest dairy company, according to its website.
Greenpeace Denmark submitted the complaint to the Danish Business Authority, the body in Denmark that controls and supervises compliance with business regulations, on Monday.
Greenpeace Denmark says it is concerned that data from Arla's annual reports appears to show that Arla has "changed its calculation methods and data foundation for Scope 3 emissions per kilogram of milk and whey since the original 2015 baseline year," but the dairy producer has not consistently or transparently adjusted that baseline across all of its reporting.
"The 2015 baseline is built on older, less precise national statistics from 2012, and the subsequent shift to more specific farm-level data and new emission factors—without a clear and consistent baseline adjustment—creates major uncertainty about Arla's real emission reductions since 2015," per the complaint.
The Danish Annual Accounts Act includes requirements to disclose corporate social responsibility information that is true and not misleading. Compliance with this provision, according to the complaint, "is essential because the provision is intended to ensure transparency about a company's environmental and broader sustainability impacts. The rules aim to give investors, partners, and society at large access to essential, credible, and comparable information about corporate sustainability practices, risks, and objectives."
"Arla presents itself as a Big Dairy role model on climate and nature, with a concern for animal welfare. But behind the scenes, it is lobbying to repeal laws that ensure the well-being of farm animals. This must stop, and the public needs to know," said Gustav Martner, creative lead and advertising expert at Greenpeace Nordic, in a statement published Wednesday.
This latest complaint comes on the heels of two complaints filed by Greenpeace Sweden against Arla, also alleging "systemic greenwashing," and a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace Aotearoa (New Zealand) last year against the dairy firm Fonterra.
"By coordinating complaints against Arla in both countries it calls home, we aim to set a precedent: Greenwashing and false marketing will not be tolerated, no matter how big you are and where you are based," said Christian Fromberg, campaign lead of agriculture and nature at Greenpeace Denmark, in a statement on Wednesday.
Common Dreams wrote to Arla for comment about the complaints. The company did not respond before press time.
President Donald Trump on Friday signaled broad approval for Japanese steel giant Nippon's bid to purchase U.S. Steel, a reversal of his campaign-trail opposition to the merger that came a day after the United Steelworkers union implored the president to uphold his pledge to scrap the proposed deal.
In a post on his social media platform, Trump announced a "planned partnership" between U.S. Steel and Nippon, prompting confusion about the specific terms of the deal. U.S. Steel's stock jumped over 20% on the news, and both companies applauded the announcement and praised Trump.
The president wrote that U.S. Steel "will REMAIN in America" and keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh.
One unnamed person familiar with the merger negotiations told the Financial Times that the president's post was "considered 'tacit approval'" of the $15 billion takeover deal that was first announced in late 2023. The Biden administration blocked Nippon's proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel earlier this year, and Trump opposed the merger during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Former U.S Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called Trump's reversal "a betrayal of American workers.
United Steelworkers international president David McCall said in response to Trump's announcement that "we cannot speculate" about the details of the arrangement. But he reiterated the union's concerns that "Nippon, a foreign corporation with a long and proven track record of violating our trade laws, will further erode domestic steelmaking capacity and jeopardize thousands of good, union jobs."
Last month, Trump ordered the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to conduct an internal review of "potential national security risks associated with the proposed transaction." Reutersreported that the committee, which submitted its review on Wednesday, was "divided in its recommendation," but "most panel members believe any security risks posed by the deal can be addressed."
McCall on Thursday responded to the panel's recommendation with a scathing statement, warning that "allowing the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon, a serial trade cheater, will be a disaster for American Steelworkers, our national security, and the future of American manufacturing."
"It is simply absurd to think that we could ever entrust the future of one of our most vital industries—essential to both national defense and critical infrastructure—to a company whose unfair trade practices continue to this day," said McCall. "For decades, Nippon has been dumping its products into our markets, costing us thousands of good, community-supporting jobs and undermining our steelmaking capabilities."
"Now, as it continues to make flashy promises about proposed investments, it remains clear Nippon is simply seeking to undercut our domestic industry from the inside," he continued. "President Trump has publicly pledged to block this sale since January 2024. We now urge him to act decisively, shutting the door once and for all on this corporate sellout of American Steelworkers and defending U.S. manufacturing."
A June survey from Public Policy Polling shows New York City mayoral candidate and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani ahead of opponent and former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the city's Democratic primary draws near. Primary day is June 24 and early voting begins June 14.
Cuomo has been the consistent front-runner in the race, though Mamdani, a state assemblymember who is running on an affordability platform, has risen from long-shot candidate to serious contender.
"All gas, no breaks," wrote Mamdani on X on Wednesday of the poll results.
"When you run a disciplined, grassroots campaign relentlessly focused on an agenda to address the crises in working people's lives, these are the results," Andrew Epstein, spokesperson for Mamdani, toldPolitico, which was first to report on the results of the poll on Wednesday.
Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of the outlet Zeteo,wrote on X: "Wow. Just wow."
New York Democratic state Sen. Jabari Brisport reacted to reporting on the poll by writing that "everyone who is serious about defeating Andrew Cuomo needs to endorse Zohran Mamdani immediately."
The poll was conducted for the campaign of candidate for city comptroller Justin Brannan, a Democrat, and surveyed 573 likely Democratic primary voters between June 6-7. On June 9, Mamdani posted a video asking New Yorkers to donate to Brannan's campaign.
The relevant question in the poll lists eight Democratic candidates running in the race and asks respondents who they would vote for among them.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said Mamdani, while 31% said they would support Cuomo. The other candidate options listed did not break above 10%, and 11% of respondents said they were not sure.
The poll, however, does not include how the candidates would fare in a ranked-choice voting simulation. New York City uses ranked-choice voting for certain elections, including primary and special elections for mayor. The system allows voters to rank multiple candidates on their ballots.
"As you know, we have had a poll in the field at the same time and our poll showed a race with us maintaining what has now been a consistent double digit lead for more than three months—which is rare for any NYC mayoral race in recent memory," Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told Politico. The poll Azzopardi was speaking of is from Expedition Strategies and showed Cuomo leading Mamdani by 12 points after eight rounds of voting.
In response to reporting on the latest survey that shows Mamdani ahead, some observers cast doubt on the quality of Public Policy Polling's polls.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared to take a step toward circumventing federal laws that bar the military from taking part in domestic law enforcement in a letter she sent to the Department of Defense Sunday as the National Guard was deployed to Los Angeles amid mass protests over immigration raids.
In a letter obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle, Noem wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the Pentagon should direct military forces "to either detain, just as they would at any federal facility guarded by military, lawbreakers under Title 18 until they can be arrested and processed by federal law enforcement, or arrest them."
The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the military from taking part in domestic law enforcement without the authorization of Congress.
Noem called on the DOD to "support to our law enforcement officers and agents across Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Federal Protective Services (FPS), as they defend against invasive, violent, insurrectionist mobs that seek to protect invaders and military aged males belonging to identified foreign terrorist organizations, and who seek to prevent the deportation of criminal aliens."
Noem did not specify the so-called "identified foreign terrorist organizations" that she claimed are involved in the protests that have erupted in Los Angeles in recent days in response to raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in which 118 immigrants were arrested last week.
President Donald Trump has referred to the protests against his mass deportation operation as "riots," and has claimed those attending the demonstrations are "insurrectionists," but the protests were reported to be "largely peaceful" before Trump ordered more than 2,000 members of the California National Guard to Los Angeles on Saturday.
On Monday, 700 Marines were also deployed.
Syracuse University law professor William Banks told the Chronicle that Noem's request for members of the military to arrest protesters whom she labeled "lawbreakers" could be a step toward "the invocation of the Insurrection Act."
The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992 when Los Angeles residents erupted in fury over the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been filmed savagely beating Rodney King, a black man who they had pulled over after a high-speed chase.
The 1792 law authorizes the president to deploy military forces domestically to suppress rebellions or unrest, when local or state law enforcement is unable to control the situation.
But Stephen Dycus, a professor emeritus at Vermont Law and Graduate School and an expert in national security law, emphasized that local authorities did not appear to lose control of the protests over the weekend.
Noem's requests for military arrests, along with Trump's federalization of the National Guard and deployment of the Marines, "can be seen as using the military, or at a minimum using that threat, to instill fear in the American people and discourage the kinds of protests that are going on in Los Angeles," Dycus told the Chronicle. "So this could be viewed as a preparation for invoking the Insurrection Act, or it could be viewed as part of a larger effort to frighten people who otherwise would exercise their First Amendment guarantee of free speech and protest."
Banks called Noem's push for military detentions of Los Angeles residents "a grave escalation."
The secretary indicated in her letter to Hegseth that she would send a formal request in the coming days. She also called for "the transportation of munitions" from Fort Benning and Wyoming, but did not say what the weapons would be used for.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-11) said Trump's use of the military to suppress protests—which began when ICE agents searched the garment district of Los Angeles for undocumented workers—proves his mass deportation campaign "has nothing to do with deporting criminals and everything to do with creating a militarized terror police state."
"This isn't what happens in a democracy," Wiener told the Chronicle, "this is what happens in a dictatorship."
This is a developing news story... Please check back for possible updates...
Iran on Friday reportedly fired hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Israel, and smoke was seen rising from the city of Tel Aviv as Tehran began its retaliation for the large-scale attack that Israel's military committed just hours earlier.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on social media that "all of Israel is under fire." Minutes later, the IDF said that the "Iranian attack is ongoing," noting that "dozens of additional missiles were launched toward Israel."
The Israeli military instructed residents across the country to "remain close to protected spaces" and minimize "movement in public areas" until an all-clear is given. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Unnamed U.S. officials told the Associated Press that American military assets were being used to help the Israelis intercept incoming missiles from Iran, though the sources, according to the AP, "did not say how the U.S. provided assistance."
Video footage posted to social media appeared to show Iranian missiles hitting Tel Aviv as Israel's military worked to intercept the attack:
Another angle: pic.twitter.com/JRgp0f0qjU
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) June 13, 2025
The missile barrage came after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Israel to expect "harsh punishment" for its early Friday assault, which hit Iranian nuclear infrastructure and killed a top nuclear negotiator—an indication, according to expert observers and Iranian officials, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is bent on sabotaging any progress toward a U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who withdrew from a previous Iran nuclear accord during his first term in the White House, said Friday that Israel hit Iran "about as hard as you're going to get hit," adding: "There's more to come. A lot more."
The red line the government has failed to set.
Hundreds of thousands of people dressed in red marched through the streets of The Hague on Sunday to demand more action against the "genocide" in Gaza.
NGOs such as Amnesty International, Save the Children, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and Oxfam organized the demonstration, which ran through the city to the International Court of Justice. The protesters were all dressed in red, creating a "red line".
Organisers described it as the country's largest demonstration in two decades. Many waving Palestinian flags and some chanting "Stop the Genocide", the demonstrators turned a central park in the city into a sea of red on a sunny afternoon.
“The Dutch cabinet still refuses to draw a red line. That is why we do it, for as long as necessary,” Marjon Rozema of Amnesty International Netherlands said in a statement.
Protesters walked a 5-kilometer loop around the city center of The Hague to symbolically create the red line that the government has failed to set.
The turnout has exceeded expectations.
Millions of people took to the streets Saturday to reject authoritarian overreach, defend democracy, and stand up for their communities. The turnout has exceeded expectations in over 2,100 cities and towns across the United States and worldwide. Demonstrators gathered in parks and plazas to protest against President Donald Trump.
“No Kings is really about standing up for democracy, standing up for people’s rights and liberties in this country and against the gross abuse of power that we’ve seen consistently from the Trump administration,” ACLU’s chief political and advocacy officer Deirdre Schifeling said.
Here is a small sample of some of the massive crowds that turned out Saturday:
Tens of thousands rally outside the Minnesota State Capitol building during a "No Kings" protest on June 14, 2025, in St Paul, Minnesota. Protesters defied pleas from the police to stay home after the Minnesota shootings earlier in the day..Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
A 20-foot-tall balloon of US President Donald Trump in a diaper is seen among people taking part in a "No Kings" protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 14, 2025Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP
Protesters march during a nationwide "No Kings" rally in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on June 14, 2025.Photo by LEANDRO LOZADA / AFP
People take part in a "No Kings" protest in New York on June 14, 2025.Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
People, holding banners and placards, gather to protest against President Donald Trump's administration, chanting "No Kings," during a demonstration in Miami, Florida, United States on June 14, 2025.Photo by Jesus Olarte/Anadolu via Getty Images
Protesters gather at Daley Plaza holding placards and chanting slogans during a "No Kings" demonstration in Chicago, Illinois, on June 14, 2025.Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
Demonstrators holding signs and American flags as they protest the Trump administration during the "No Kings" rally near US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in West Palm Beach, Florida, on June 14, 2025.Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP
People take part in a "No Kings" protest at Liberty Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 14, 2025.Photo by Elijah Nouvelage / AFP
Thousands participate in the "No Kings" Day demonstration in front of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, June 14, 2025.(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
"If we take half the money budgeted for the Pentagon and invested in the things people need and want," said Ben Cohen, "the American Dream can become a reality again."
Joined by retired military officers and national security experts, Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen on Thursday launched a campaign targeting the nearly $900 billion Pentagon budget and the $100 billion spent on nuclear weapons and "to get our country to start funding the American Dream instead of the death of millions of people."
Standing near Union Station in Washington, D.C. beside a towering sculpture showing what $100 billion looks like, supporters of the Up in Arms campaign—a planned four-year public education and advocacy project "to bring common sense to the Department of Defense and the country's budgetary bottom line"—chanted, "Money for the poor, not nuclear war!"
"There will be no peace, there will be no security, until we start using our resources to provide for the needs of our people at home and around the world," Cohen said at the event. "And we have the money to do it, at no additional taxpayer expense. If we take half the money budgeted for the Pentagon and invested in the things people need and want, the American Dream can become a reality again."
The peace group Ploughshares, which moderated a press conference for the launch of Up in Arms, said that the faux-$100 billion installation could be the tallest protest structure ever erected in Washington, D.C.
"This is a structure that represents the $100 billion that our country spends each year on nuclear weapons," Cohen said while standing in front of the tower and embracing Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of the peace group CodePink. "Fifty percent of that is for a whole new generation of nuclear weapons."
"Ice cream not bombs!" Benjamin said next. "Ice cream not nuclear weapons!"
The $100 billion figure includes spending on modernizing the nuclear arsenal, supporting its infrastructure, and addressing legacy issues like nuclear waste.
"Congress could make it easier for Americans to buy homes and save on gas or they could tackle the opioid epidemic–but those are clearly NOT their priorities," Up in Arms says on its website. "We have all the money we need to create a good life for all Americans. For half the money we spend on nuclear bombs, we could stop poisoning kids with lead, provide funding for public schools, and make childcare affordable."
Former U.S. military officers-turned-peace defenders Dennis Laich, Lawrence Wilkerson, Ann Wright, Karen Kwiatkowski, William Astore, and Dennis Fritz, as well as FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley and former CIA officer Ray McGovern, are taking part in the Up in Arms campaign.
"We're here today to say we don't want our money spent this way, we want our money spent… on things that keep people alive, not on things that kill people," said Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel and current member of the Eisenhower Media Network and Veterans Against Genocide.
"We're up in arms and down on these damn nuclear weapons," she added, "and We the People have to be able to go to each one of these congresspeople and say, 'We don't care how much money you're getting from all of these companies that make a killing out if killing with these nuclear weapons.'"
Laich, a former U.S. Army general also with the Eisenhower Media Network, noted that the U.S. military budget "is larger than the next 10 countries combined, and what do we get for it?"
"Since World War II, we tied in Korea, we lost in Vietnam, we won the first Gulf War, we lost in Iraq, and we lost in Afghanistan," he said. "They always say we have the greatest military on earth; I don't buy it."
President Donald Trump is proposing a record $1 trillion Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2026 while backing legislation that would dramatically slash spending on vital social programs in order to fund a massive tax break that would overwhelmingly benefit the rich and corporations.
On Friday, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons—which earned the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for spearheading the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons—published an analysis showing the world's nine nuclear powers spent a combined baseline $100 billion on their arsenals last year, an 11% increase from 2023. The United States alone accounted for well over half of that amount.
Cohen is a longtime anti-war activist. Last month, he was arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing, shouting, "Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the U.S." as he was hauled off by police.