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In a freakish snapshot of the GOP's descent into brutal, gonzo nihilism, this week saw the brash Nazi-Oligarch-in-Chief helming an Oval Office presser to hype his political, economic, cultural demolition of democracy "in compliance with the President’s executive orders" - no more health care or feeding hungry kids, lots of Kid Rock - as his four-year-old son wiped boogers on the Resolute desk where an impassive, discomfited Trump sat in the "most powerless image of a President ever." Nothing to see here.
In a record three weeks - Hitler took 53 days - the Musk/Trump regime has created, mostly illegally, a Stasi-like state in the name of "right-sizing the Federal inventory," which in their wee twisted minds means slashing almost every government agency to eliminate, according to their Orwellian mantra, "fraud, waste and abuse" Offering no evidence, and with his usual depth and nuance, Trump says they've already eliminated "billions and billions of dollars" that didn't need to be spent, coincidentally, invariably on behalf of helping vulnerable, marginalized, hungry or sick people. "The whole country looks like it's a fraud. It's fraud, waste and abuse," he exclaimed. "What Elon and his group of geniuses have found is unbelievable." Unbelievably brazenly, he has now called on the heads of all federal agencies to "promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force" with the lofty goal of him and his buddies getting ever more ginormous tax cuts.
Meanwhile, countless innocents are being swept up in the Stalin-esque purges. They range from U.S. civil servants losing their jobs for doing their jobs to law-abiding Venezuelans disappeared to Guantanamo as "high-threat illegal aliens" for their Michael Jordan tattoos to millions of people worldwide, Burma to Ukraine to South Africa, losing vital support from the shuttering of USAID, including over 280 million hungry people in 59 countries. Already thousands of aid workers have lost their jobs; over 475,000 metric tons of U.S.-grown food, enough to feed 36 million people, is at risk of going bad; Uganda has ended Ebola screenings; multiple African countries have closed HIV/AIDS clinics, hospitals in war-torn Syria have shut down; millions of Sudanese refugees are at risk of cholera and malaria; hundreds of millions of girls who lose access to schooling may become victims of trafficking. Says one expert, “People will starve, babies will die, poverty will skyrocket."
At home, where Trump vowed he'd bring down prices "on Day One" and protect basic safety net programs, prices are soaring and the House GOP is poised to decimate those programs. On Thursday they discussed a plan to cut $880 from Medicaid and $230 billion from food stamps over 10 years - cuts MAGA Mike expects to pass "unanimously," though over 80% of voters oppose them, 20 million people could lose their health insurance and it still wouldn't make a dent in the $4.5 trillion tax cuts Trump wants for fat cats. Meanwhile, Musk went into New York City accounts and stole $80 million - or per Kristi Noem, "clawed back" the funds from "deep state activists" - allocated for sheltering migrant families in budget hotels the richest man in the world deemed "luxury." Then he fired four employees who tried to stop him. "If we're going after fraud and abuse," noted one Dem, "maybe go after abuse of power by the two billionaire freaks currently looting the government."
The day before, the freaks put in a "jarring," take-my-presidency appearance in the Oval Office, ostensibly for Trump to sign (another!) executive order to continue the looting and expand the power of Musk's DOGE, never mind the flood of lawsuits and court orders they face for slashing cancer research, kids' education, food for poor people and your Social Security in a flagrantly illegal power grab. In a bizarre spectacle, Trump hunched behind the Resolute desk, mostly silent, hands folded, eyes vague, randomly nodding - often impotently babysitting Musk's fidgety four-year-old son X while ignoring X's whispered entreaty he had to pee and scowling as he picked his nose and wiped what he found on the sacred desk - while the Nazi native son of South Africa and richest guy in the room stood tall in his heedless black t-shirt and cap and offered up to the gaggle of press a load of chutzpah and bullshit to elucidate how American democracy works, or doesn't.
After making broad claims of fraud with no evidence, he babbled about the dangers of a political system run by "unelected bureaucrats," evidently, spectacularly unaware he, too, is unelected. Decisions should be made by "elected representatives, the president, House, Senate," he explained. "If unelected bureaucrats are in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?" he asked. "We don't live in a democracy, we live in a bureaucracy." The solution: "So we close that feedback loop, we fix it." Umm, okay. He admitted he made up the claim the U.S. sent $50 million in condoms to Gaza - it was sent to Mozambique to help control HIV - but dismissed it with, "We will make mistakes - not everything I say will be correct." To concerns of transparency or his billions in conflicts of interest, he disingenuously insisted, "All of our actions are fully public. So if you see anything like, ‘Elon, there may be a conflict there,’ they are going to say it immediately.” Super convincing.
DOGE's new guidelines demand agencies hire just one employee for every four who depart, and agency heads must "consult with a DOGE Team Lead" for approvals, which isn't Big Brother-ish at all. But Musk argued it's justified: "The people voted for major government reform, and that's what people are going to get." Except they didn't: Trump won about 32% of the vote, Harris 31%, and almost 38% voted for neither. Many felt Musk used his son, 1 of his 11 kids, to deflect questions - "La la la I can't hear you" - which seemed creepy, especially after X's mother, musician Grimes, said she's "made it clear" she considers her kids in the public eye "a personal tragedy." To Lawrence O'Donnell, the spectacle of Musk "doing his billionaire thing" behind Trump as he had to awkwardly turn to interact was "a picture of presidential subservience the likes of which we have never seen." Musk, he said, "is doing everything he possibly can to tell the world (that) Donald Trump is not the boss of me."
The same day, the House held their first DOGE Subcommitee meeting, headed by Klan Mom MTG, who used the occasion to say, "Taxes are collected by law at gunpoint!” and “The American people are $36 trillion in debt. Somebody should be fired," and, for fun, “The gentleman’s time is expired." The event's highlight came when California's Dem Rep. Robert Garcia noted the ironic presence of supposed decorum fan MTG, who in the last Congress "literally showed a dick pic, so I thought i'd bring one as well." Then he presented a large photo of Musk, adding, "This, of course, is President Elon Musk." Cue appreciative chortling in the House. Later he was asked by a wide-eyed pundit if "calling Elon Musk a dick is effective messaging." Garcia didn't blink. "Well, he is a dick," he said. "And he's harming the American public in an enormous way. What I think is really important, and what the public wants, is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is a fight for democracy."
It's also a fight, Zack Beauchamp argues, where a combination of institiutional and citizen resistance, most effectively by federal workers, will be needed as a weak president with slim margins of victory continues to depend on "flagrant lawbreaking." For now, too many are being bullied into silence; says one critic, "Profiles in cowardice will be a very thick book." Often, the crimes are thoughts or words - important ones like "diversity" or "inclusion," and really dumb ones, like "Gulf of Mexico." The Associated Press was banned from that Oval Office debacle because it didn't change the term to "Gulf of America" to "align its editorial standards with the President." Also, those who do not say "Gulf of America" will not get a Happy Meal or Fruit Cup. Jesus. Juvenile much? Gulf of Idiocracy. The dream of many: For a reporter, thrown out of a press conference for saying something "the whiny one" has forbidden, to yell back, "Would you people fucking grow up??"
Still, heroes have emerged. While Google, Disney, PBS have folded on DEI - the latter, adding a mealy-mouthed assurance to "continue to adhere (to) reflect all of America" - Comcast, owner of NBC, has refused; it will now be investigated "to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination." Manhattan's Trump-appointed federal prosecutor Danielle Sassoon just resigned rather than obey a DOJ order to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams; she was quickly joined by the next two prosecutors under her. "The Department of Justice (says) it will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct," Sassoon wrote in her resignation. "Dismissal of the indictment...would be all three.” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson blasted Trump's illegal firing of a top federal watchdog for being "disruptive" with, “It’s as if the bull in the china shop looked back over his shoulder and said, ‘What a mess!’”
And Drop Site News, a new investigative site by The Intercept's Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill, has launched to follow the money trailing Musk and his Nerd Reich. They called out a federal procurement announcment that the guy squawking about waste and abuse will make $400 million for purchases of his armoured Tesla Cybertruck, which he claimed was bulletproof though it seems the windows aren't. After Drop Site's story ran, the feds removed the Tesla name, changed the buy to generic "electric armoured vehicles," and said the document naming Tesla was "incorrect." Even as he scrambles to hide his profits, an unhinged Trump is still yammering. He just raved that Marxists, rather than using hydraulics "that go through hurricanes," have been spending "billions and billions of dollars" on magnets - "It's a new theory!" - to "lift up the ships that come into LaGuardia." "Waste, fraud and abuse this country is going through..." he muttered. 'We have to straighten it out."
Between rants, acting on a longtime grudge, he's taken petty revenge on the uppity Kennedy Center - "We didn't like what they were showing and various other things" - by firing its top officials and Biden-affiliated board members, replacing them with clueless lackeys including his former caddy, and announcing they'd "unanimously" "elected" "an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” to launch a "GOLDEN (white) AGE of American Arts and Culture" and "it's not going to be 'woke.'" Presumably, it will instead be Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, WWE wrestling, Lara Trump, The Village People, and Bible salesman Lee Greenwood croaking out God Bless the USA. So it's true! Just like shrieky Kimberley Guilfoyle once famously hollered, "THE BEST...IS YET...TO COME!!" Macro carnage, micro carnage, dystopia on all sides, the creeping dread of Cabaret's final scene. Orwell: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Climate and public health advocates were outraged on Wednesday after a trio of U.S. Senate Democrats
voted with Republicans to confirm President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin.
Critics have warned that Zeldin—like other Cabinet nominees—will serve billionaire polluters, not the American people and the planet, since Trump named him in November. They renewed those warnings after Democratic Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) voted with Republicans to confirm him as EPA administrator.
After Zeldin's confirmation, the youth-led Sunrise Movement called him "a disaster for our planet and a win for Big Oil."
Climate Action Campaign director Margie Alt said in a statement that "Lee Zeldin's confirmation as EPA administrator is a catastrophic blow to the health of Americans, the climate, and the economy. Under Zeldin's leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency will no longer protect the American people and our communities—it will protect polluters."
Pointing to the new administrator's record and public statements, Alt said that "this dangerous agenda that Zeldin will oversee will roll back vital pollution limits that protect us, abandon clean energy investments, and lock the country into reliance on dirty, expensive fossil fuels that cost families at the gas pump."
"Americans didn't vote for dirtier air, more asthma attacks, or rising healthcare costs, yet that is exactly what Zeldin's EPA will deliver. Vulnerable communities, especially children, and seniors will bear the brunt of these policies, while a few fossil fuel executives rake in profits," she continued. "Zeldin's confirmation is a tragic failure for all Americans."
Marc Yaggi, CEO of Waterkeeper Alliance, declared that "this is a make-or-break moment for clean water, and the American people deserve leadership that puts their needs above the influence of corporate polluters."
While praising Zeldin's past rejection of offshore oil drilling and support for "sensible policies" on "forever chemicals," Yaggi said that "his history of voting against critical infrastructure and environmental funding and opposing clean water and air protections raises serious concerns about his commitment to effectively leading the Environmental Protection Agency."
Moms Clean Air Force suggested a rebrand for the EPA under Zeldin and Trump: Extreme Pollution Agency.
Since returning to the White House just 10 days ago, Trump has already
taken various executive actions to attack the planet.
"The EPA's stated mission is to protect human health and the environment," Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce said. "In the wake of Donald Trump's dangerous executive orders and illegal push to freeze all federal funding, the new EPA administrator will face a decision of whether to carry out the necessary duties of the role, or fold to Trump's deadly fossil fuel-backed agenda and broken promises."
"The American people want to breathe clean air and drink clean water," she stressed. "They want a healthy environment for their families today and the future generations of tomorrow. And they want to know that their government is doing everything in its power to protect them from the destructive impacts of the climate crisis that we sadly witness more and more of each day. That is now Lee Zeldin's charge, and we will do everything in our power to hold him accountable to the American people."
U.S. President Donald Trump signed three executive orders on Saturday following through on his promise to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on goods from China, a measure that targets the nation's three largest trading partners.
The tariffs are set to go into effect on Tuesday, according toThe Associated Press. The orders contained no language allowing for the negotiation of exceptions; however, Canadian energy products including oil and gas will only face a tariff of 10%.
"Tariffs are an important strategic economic tool, but Trump's desire for a trade war with Canada and Mexico won't protect jobs, keep Americans safe, or bring down costs for families," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on social media in response to the news.
"Instead of using tariffs to protect U.S. jobs, Trump is on an ego trip and is using tariffs to pursue petty fights with other nations while raising prices on Americans."
A White House Fact Sheet announcing the tariffs said that the crossing of undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs—including fentanyl—over the Mexican and Canadian borders "constitutes a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act."
"President Trump is taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other illegal drugs from flowing into our country," the fact sheet said.
However, it is unclear exactly what actions the targeted countries could take to lift the tariffs.
U.S. voters' frustration with inflation has been cited as an important reason why Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Yet broad tariffs are expected to raise the prices of a variety of goods including Mexican produce, Canadian lumber, and car-making supplies that often cross both borders several times in the construction of a vehicle, according toNBC News. Companies that import goods or supplies will have to decide whether to swallow the costs or pass them on to consumers.
"Small business owners like me are working hard to keep up with high costs, provide for our families, and keep the economy running," Alex Bronson, who owns a construction business in Mount Clemens, Michigan, said in a statement shared by Unrig Our Economy. "But after promising to lower our costs, Republicans seem set to deliver the opposite. Because of these tariffs, we'll be paying higher costs for construction among just about everything else just to help Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump gift bigger and bigger tax breaks to their billionaire friends and big corporations. It leaves us all wondering: Who are our leaders in Washington really working for?"
Warren also warned that the tariffs could give unscrupulous actors the chance to engage in greedflation.
"I'm concerned that Trump will give cover to giant corporations to use his tariffs as an excuse to raise prices on working families—while doling out waivers to his buddies," she wrote. "We will hold him accountable."
Other Democratic lawmakers also spoke out against the tariffs and the way they were imposed.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) pointed to a new study finding the tariffs would cut into disposable income by approximately $1,250 per household.
"Trump's tariffs are a clear overreach of executive power, misusing authorities never intended for this," Beyer wrote. "The Constitution delegates trade authority to Congress. Trump's abuses of trade powers make it clear that Congress must act to restore the constitutional balance of power."
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said, "Instead of developing a comprehensive worker-centered trade policy that will bring jobs back to the U.S., President Trump is using the threat of across-the-board tariffs not on behalf of American workers and consumers but to advance his own extremist policy agenda."
The Peterson Institute for International Economics found in a recent analysis that tariffs would harm the economies of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and China, but would be "catastrophic" for Mexico and could ironically increase the number of people who would want to cross the border into the U.S.
"Instead of using tariffs to protect U.S. jobs, Trump is on an ego trip and is using tariffs to pursue petty fights with other nations while raising prices on Americans," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in a statement.
"Everything Trump has done these last few days—from trying to shut down Medicaid to blanket tariffs and sanctions—has all been about helping himself and his billionaire friends. House Republicans will own increased prices for Americans, increased migration driven by sanctions, and an overdose crisis made worse by taking away the addiction treatment and healthcare people need," he said.
Labor and public welfare groups also criticized the tariffs.
"It's 'tariff-ying' and nauseating to watch President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress celebrate as they impose tariffs that will raise costs for the rest of us," Unrig Our Economy spokesperson Kobie Christian said. "Every time Americans pay more when they buy clothes, electronics, or shop at the grocery store, they should remember they're paying for the cost of tax breaks that Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump plan to give to billionaires and corporations. It turns out 'America First' means America's Billionaires First."
President of the United Steelworkers (USU) David McCall said in a statement, "The USW has long called for systemic reform of our broken trade system, but lashing out at key allies like Canada is not the way forward," adding, "These tariffs don't just hurt Canada. They threaten the stability of industries on both sides of the border."
Mexico and Canada have both threatened to retaliate in the case of Trump-imposed tariffs. The executive orders signed by Trump included a provision to respond in the case of retaliation. However, if the countries do retaliate, this could also impact U.S. businesses that sell products in the two countries, such as vehicles; electronics; and agricultural, energy, and industrial products, as NBC explained.
"No one—on either side of the border—wants to see American tariffs on Canadian goods," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media on Friday. "I met with our Canada-U.S. Council today. We're working hard to prevent these tariffs, but if the United States moves ahead, Canada's ready with a forceful and immediate response."
On Saturday, Trudeau added that he had met with his cabinet and the premiers of Canadian provinces once the tariffs were announced and would speak with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and address the nation later in the day.
Speaking on Friday from Mexico's National Palace, Sheinbaum said her government had a "plan A, a plan B, a plan C, for whatever the United States government decides."
Once the tariffs were announced on Saturday, she wrote on social media: "I instruct the secretary of economy to implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico's interests. Nothing by force; everything by reason and right."
Unelected shadow government leader Elon Musk ramped up his attack on the U.S. judiciary on Thursday by expressing support for a Republican impeachment effort targeting one of the federal judges who blocked the Trump administration's destructive funding freeze.
"Yes," Musk wrote on his social media platform in response to a post from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who announced Wednesday that he is drafting articles of impeachment against Judge John McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Musk, the world's richest man and the leader of a commission that President Donald Trump has granted sweeping power to assail federal agencies, has repeatedly lashed out at U.S. judges in recent days as they've issued orders hindering his cronies' access to key government payment systems and data.
"Impeach this activist posing as a judge!" Musk wrote on Wednesday, referring to McConnell. "Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system."
Earlier this week, McConnell demanded that the Trump administration comply with his earlier order to halt the federal funding freeze amid mounting evidence that administration officials are ignoring the judge's instructions.
NBC Newsreported earlier this week that "a senior official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency instructed subordinates to freeze funding for a wide array of grant programs Monday, just hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration—for the second time—to stop such pauses."
Musk has made clear that he's not singling out McConnell. "There needs to be an immediate wave of judicial impeachments," the mega-billionaire wrote Wednesday.
"The judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, just like Congress and the presidency. When Musk and his cronies do illegal things, it's their JOB to step in and block them."
Other Trump administration officials, and Trump himself, have similarly decried recent interventions by federal courts.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lamented during a briefing Wednesday that the Trump administration has been hit with "at least 12 injunctions" over the past two weeks as rights groups and Democratic attorneys general have mobilized against the president's blatantly lawless executive orders.
Reutersnoted that Musk's call for a "wave of judicial impeachments" came "a day after federal courts forced U.S. agencies to restore health-related websites taken down in response to one of Trump's executive orders and declined to lift a judge's order barring the administration from freezing federal funding."
"Those and other legal setbacks have prompted Trump, key members of his administration, and Musk to attack judges who have blocked major pieces of his agenda, in some cases arguing judges have no power to intrude on the president's authority," the outlet added.
In a social media post earlier this week, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) slammed Musk's "thuggery toward judges," adding that such attacks are unacceptable in "rule-of-law countries."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) added that "Musk may get to be a dictator at Tesla," but "he doesn't get to be one in Washington."
"The judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, just like Congress and the presidency," Van Hollen wrote. "When Musk and his cronies do illegal things, it's their JOB to step in and block them."
A federal court late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants to Guantánamo Bay, where the U.S. president is planning to jail tens of thousands of people in new detention facilities that critics have likened to concentration camps.
The decision from Judge Kenneth Gonzales of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico came in response to a request for a temporary restraining order filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and other advocacy organizations on behalf of three Venezuelan men currently being held in U.S. immigration detention in New Mexico.
"I fear being taken to Guantánamo because the news is painting it as a black hole," said Abrahan Barrios Morales, one of the petitioners. "I also see that human rights are constantly violated at Guantánamo, so I fear what could happen to me if I get taken there."
Baher Azmy, CCR's legal director, called the judge's decision Sunday a "small but important win for clients otherwise bound to the latest iteration of the legal black hole."
"Will the judge allow the executive branch to smuggle away individuals who have a pending case to a military prison on a remote island where there is no guarantee their rights will be respected or that they will even be able to make a phone call to their lawyers or their loved ones?"
The Trump administration has already moved dozens of people it characterized as Venezuelan gang members from El Paso, Texas to Guantánamo, the site of a notorious U.S. military prison that Amnesty International has described as "a symbol of torture, rendition, and indefinite detention without charge or trial."
The New York Timesnoted over the weekend that the administration "has not released any of their identities, though they are believed to all be men, nor has it said how long they might be held at the island outpost."
"So far, none of the first arrivals have been taken to an emerging tent city that has been set up for migrants," the Times reported. "Instead, they have been housed in the military prison."
According to CCR, its clients "came to the United States seeking asylum, and each passed an initial Credible Fear Interview with U.S. asylum officers by establishing a credible fear of persecution or torture in their home country" of Venezuela.
Jessica Vosburgh, a senior staff attorney at CCR, said in a statement Sunday that "our clients refuse to be used as pawns in this twisted game of punishment theater."
"The question before the court is simple," said Vosburgh. "Will the judge allow the executive branch to smuggle away individuals who have a pending case to a military prison on a remote island where there is no guarantee their rights will be respected or that they will even be able to make a phone call to their lawyers or their loved ones? The answer must be a resounding no."
Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico, warned that "transferring immigrants from Otero County to Guantánamo is a blatant attempt to obstruct their legal rights by placing them thousands of miles from their families and attorneys."
"We're outraged that New Mexico and El Paso, against the backdrop of the horrific cruelty of family separation in the first Trump administration, are once again being used as a testing ground for dehumanizing and dangerous immigration policies," Sheff added.
The leading Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem was among those voicing outrage Monday in response to an Israeli police raid on a pair of renowned Palestinian-owned bookstores in illegally occupied East Jerusalem over the weekend.
Haaretzreported that after confiscating books they claimed were "inciteful," Israeli officers on Sunday arrested the owners of the two branches of the Educational Bookshop.
"The Educational Bookshop chain is the most well-known bookstore chain in East Jerusalem, with three locations on Salah al-Din Street and in the American Colony Hotel complex," the Israeli newspaper noted. "The stores specialize in Arabic and English books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the history of Jerusalem, and they are well-known to researchers, diplomats, journalists, and tourists."
Mourad Muna, the brother of Mahmoud Muna—one of the shop owners who was detained—said Israeli police "used Google Translate" to determine which books to seize. Among the books confiscated was one titled, "From the River to the Sea: A Colouring Book."
"They even found a Haaretz newspaper with a picture of the hostages and asked what it was, saying it was incitement," said Mourad Muna. "They took every book with a Palestinian flag on it."
The owners were arrested on suspicion of "violating public order."
B'Tselem said in response to the raid that "Israel is continuing its war on the entire Palestinian people."
"The attempt to crush the Palestinian people includes harassment and arrest of intellectuals," the group said. "Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna, well-known figures in the Jerusalem cultural scene, run the Educational Bookshop—a meeting point for cultural and political discussion. Israel must immediately release them from detention and stop persecuting Palestinian intellectuals."
In the wake of the raid and arrests of the Educational Bookshop owners, Haaretz reported that "protesters gathered outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court" in a show of opposition ahead of a hearing on the detention of Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna.
"Diplomatic representatives from the Netherlands, the U.K., Belgium, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, and the E.U. all visited the courthouse in Jerusalem where the hearing is due to take place, to show support for the bookshop owners," the Israeli newspaper added.
"No senator should have voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr.," said one consumer advocate.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to confirm vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the nation's health policy, a move that one advocate said puts "our entire healthcare system and countless patient lives in jeopardy."
"This is a shameful day for the U.S. Senate, an institution that likes to laud itself for its careful deliberation and seriousness of purpose," said Robert Weissman, co-president of government watchdog Public Citizen. "No senator should have voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Every single senator knows he's not just profoundly unqualified to head the nation's health agency but a threat to public health in the nation."
Every Democratic senator voted against Kennedy's confirmation to lead President Donald Trump's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), while Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was the only Republican to oppose Kennedy. McConnell survived polio as a child and said Kennedy's "record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories" about vaccines influenced his decision.
The confirmation followed Senate hearings in which Kennedy had nothing negative to say about the country's for-profit health insurance system, which has made insurers increasingly wealthy as patients' healthcare treatments are denied and delayed.
He insisted that Americans "would prefer to be on private insurance" and displayed a lack of knowledge about Medicaid and Medicare, appearing to confuse the two. He also denied being anti-vaccine while refusing to reject the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, a failure that Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is a physician, claimed to be troubled by—but Cassidy went ahead with his vote for Kennedy nonetheless.
"Senators who rubber stamp this dangerous nomination in fear of an angry tweet from President Trump cannot later feign concern and surprise when Kennedy's actions end up harming everyday Americans. They, too, will own the consequences."
"Any vote to confirm Kennedy to lead HHS is a vote to put our public health at risk, and senators know it," said Tony Carrk, executive director of government watchdog Accountable.US. "The war Kennedy is itching to wage against vaccines and scientific research will undoubtedly cost lives and could lead to the resurgence of diseases once thought dormant."
"Among the last people who should be overseeing our public health is Kennedy, with his non-existent health policy credentials, embrace of ludicrous conspiracies, and judgment so lacking that he potentially committed felony voter fraud despite courts warning him not to," Carrk added, referring to Accountable's accusation that Kennedy cast a ballot last year from an address that wasn't his. "Senators who rubber stamp this dangerous nomination in fear of an angry tweet from President Trump cannot later feign concern and surprise when Kennedy's actions end up harming everyday Americans. They, too, will own the consequences."
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy angered officials in Samoa, where he spread anti-vaccine conspiracy theories just before 83 people died of measles in a 2019 outbreak. Samoa's director-general of health, Alec Ekeroma, accused Kennedy of "a total fabrication" when he told senators many of the people who died didn't have measles.
Before the Senate voted on Thursday, Ekeroma said Kennedy's confirmation to lead U.S. health agencies, which control funding for international health and vaccine initiatives as well as domestic policy, would be "a danger to us, a danger to everyone."
Weissman credited many Democratic senators for their "truly heroic efforts... to rally opposition against this dangerous nominee," and warned that "it will fall on the American people to confront his lies and policies and to defend basic public health principles and institutions."
"We should expect Robert F. Kennedy to continue spreading his conspiracies, anti-vaccine propaganda, and anti-science crusade," said Weissman. "We should expect him to deliver on his promises to sabotage our public health institutions. And we should expect him to enable and facilitate the effort to slash health care coverage for lower-income people, privatize Medicare, and undermine the subsidies and consumer protections on the Affordable Care Act exchanges."
Advocacy group Patients for Affordable Drugs noted that despite Kennedy's claim that he has "often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions," he provided little information in his confirmation hearings about how he would challenge Big Pharma by lowering drug prices and defending the Medicare negotiations introduced by former President Joe Biden.
"Secretary Kennedy has a critical opportunity—and responsibility—to build on existing measures to rein in Big Pharma's price-gouging and lower drug costs for patients," said Merith Basey, the group's executive director. "We are ready to work with him to ensure Medicare drug price negotiations continue, out-of-pocket costs are reduced, and competition in the marketplace is increased through reforms to end abusive pharmaceutical monopolies that harm patients."
"But make no mistake," added Basey. "Patients fought hard to secure the 2022 prescription drug law, and we will fiercely oppose any efforts to weaken it."
"It is vitally important that we in the American Jewish community add our voices to all those refusing to entertain this insidious plan," one rabbi said of Trump's proposal.
Over 350 rabbis and dozens of Jewish public figures on Thursday placed a full-page advertisement in The New York Times protesting President Donald Trump's proposal to force all Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and take over the coastal enclave recently decimated by U.S.-armed Israeli forces.
"Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza," the ad states. "Jewish people say NO to ethnic cleansing!"
The ad then lists the hundreds of people who signed on, including V (formerly Eve Ensler), Peter Beinart, Judith Butler, Molly Crabapple, Ben Cohen, Ilana Glazer, Tavi Gevinson, Nan Goldin, Naomi Klein, and Joaquin, Rain, and Summer Phoenix.
"Donald Trump—like Pharaoh in the Bible—seems to believe he is God with authority to rule, own, and dominate our country and the world," said Rabbi Yosef Berman of New Synagogue Project in Washington, D.C., a signatory to the Times ad.
"Jewish teaching is clear: Trump is not God and cannot take away Palestinians inherent dignity or steal their land for a real estate deal," Berman continued. "Trump's desire to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza is morally abhorrent. Jewish leaders reject Trump's attempts to wring profit from displacement and suffering and must act to stop this heinous crime."
Glazer, a comedian and actor, similarly stressed that "we, Jews, and all of us who care about basic human rights, must speak up and stand up to ensure Palestinians remain on their land, so they can rebuild their homes and lives in Gaza after the genocidal destruction they have endured. All of our safety is intertwined."
Today's NY Times. We, too, #SayNoToEthnicCleansing! So proud of our ED, R' @mhughesrob.bsky.social (+ board member Rabbi Andrea London), among the hundreds of Jewish clergy, professionals, lay leaders who signed on. Add your support at www.saynotoethniccleansing.org - click "sign on" in URH corner.
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— Partners for Progressive Israel (@partners4israel.bsky.social) February 13, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its 15-month military response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. The Israeli assault killed more than 61,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to estimates by local officials. A fragile cease-fire took effect last month.
After Hamas threatened to suspend the release of additional hostages over Israeli violations of the deal—which prompted Israel to threaten more violence, seemingly backed by Trump—the group said Thursday it would free three captives this weekend.
The ad in the Times on Thursday is just part of the growing opposition to Trump's proposal to kick Palestinians out of Gaza and turn the territory into what he claimed could be the "Riviera of the Middle East." Polling published Wednesday by Data for Progress shows that a majority of Americans are against the United States seizing control of Gaza, and nearly 7 in 10 oppose sending U.S. troops for the takeover.
A coalition of over 100 groups led by A New Policy—founded by Biden administration officials who resigned in protest—and the Quaker organization Friends Committee on National Legislation said Monday that they "decry and oppose any effort or initiative, and any calls for, the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and support the joint statement of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League that similarly rejected any such steps."
The Guardianreported Thursday that Cody Edgerly, director of the In Our Name Campaign and one of the organizers of the Times ad, pointed to Trump's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that it came at "a critical time as political redlines that were once thought immovable are rapidly shifting as the Trump-Netanyahu alliance takes hold again."
It has been "heartening to witness such a rapid outpouring of support from across the denominational and political spectrum," added Edgerly. "Our message to Palestinians is that you are not alone, our attention has not wavered, and we are committed to fighting with every breath we have to stop ethnic cleansing in Gaza."
Every day, more and more Jewish leaders break from decades of silence to reject ethnic cleansing. Thank you to these 350 rabbis using your voices in this moment to oppose Trump’s plans in Gaza and #SayNoToEthnicCleansing. #GazaIsNotForSale
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— Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (@jfrejnyc.bsky.social) February 13, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, said in a statement that "as someone who loves the American Jewish community, and lives my life in the American Jewish community, and could not imagine another way of living. It is utterly horrifying to see the degree to which people who enjoy great legitimacy and respect in our community are willing to support something that would be considered one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century."
Another signatory to the ad, Rabbi Toba Spitzer of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts, said that "it is vitally important that we in the American Jewish community add our voices to all those refusing to entertain this insidious plan."
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's "dream of making Germany 'Judenrein,' 'cleansed of Jews,' led to the slaughter of our people," Spitzer added. "We know as well as anyone the violence that these kinds of fantasies can lead to. It is time to make the cease-fire permanent, bring all of the hostages home, and join in efforts to rebuild Gaza for the sake of and with the people who live there."
"Today, the oligarchs and the billionaire class are getting richer and richer and have more and more power," the senator said. "This country belongs to all of us, not just the few. We must fight back."
As Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration scour the federal public services infrastructure looking for cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and consumer protections that could offset the $4.6 trillion deficit hole the GOP is intent on creating by extending tax cuts for the rich, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing for a "National Tour to Fight Oligarchy."
With Americans inundated with news about Trump's billionaire megadonor, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, ransacking federal agencies through the Department of Government Efficiency—and little to no news about President Donald Trump's supposed plans to reduce the cost of living—Sanders (I-Vt.) is intent on speaking directly to voters during his nationwide town hall tour, titled, "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here."
The senator, who garnered support from working-class Americans and young voters during his Democratic presidential runs in 2016 and 2020, will kick off the tour with stops in Omaha, Nebraska on February 21 and Iowa City, Iowa on February 22.
The first stop lies in the House district represented by Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who this week expressed some hesitation about voting for a GOP budget proposal that could include steep spending cuts, including potentially to Medicaid. Bacon's district was carried by former President Joe Biden in 2020 and former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
A Sanders aide toldPolitico that the senator aims to influence the Republicans' fight over the budget, which has reportedly made some GOP members of the House, where the party holds a slim majority, uneasy about backlash from voters in upcoming elections in 2026 and 2028.
As Common Dreamsreported on Tuesday, a recent poll by progressive think tank Data for Progress showed voters from across the political spectrum don't want lawmakers to make cuts to federal student loans, Medicare, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or renewable energy programs—all of which the GOP has eyed as it aims to do the bidding of wealthy donors and extend the 2017 tax cuts which primarily benefited the country's top earners.
In a statement, Sanders on Wednesday said his town hall tour will help Americans make sense of how they "can fight back against President Trump and Elon Musk," who are "quickly moving the country toward authoritarianism, oligarchy, and kleptocracy."
"Today, the oligarchs and the billionaire class are getting richer and richer and have more and more power," Sanders said. "Meanwhile, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and most of our people are struggling to pay for healthcare, childcare, and housing. This country belongs to all of us, not just the few. We must fight back."
Allies of the progressive senator said his direct engagement with voters is also likely a response to Democratic leaders' approach to the first weeks of Trump's second term in office. While Democratic lawmakers have spoken out against Musk's attempted takeover of federal agencies and some have pushed for strategic opposition to the Trump agenda, leaders in the party complained in a closed-door meeting this week about progressive advocacy groups that have urged the Democrats to act as a genuine, cohesive opposition party.
In a press conference this week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) appeared perplexed by the idea that Democrats should try to counter Trump's agenda, saying Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the party is "not going to go after every single issue" as it fights the president.
Last week, Jeffries garnered scorn for meeting with more than 150 donors in Silicon Valley in an effort to "mend fences" as numerous high-profile tech executives have aligned themselves with Trump.
The House leader also appeared unmoved by "The Weekly Show" host Jon Stewart's suggestion in an interview this week that the Democrats have "gotten away from New Deal values" and should focus on pushing for policies that help the working class rather than simply improving "messaging."
Anna Bahr, a spokesperson for Sanders, told Politico that "it may be hard to believe, but at least one person in Washington is more interested in talking with working-class people than running for office or fundraising."
"Sen. Sanders is doing what he has always done: meeting people all over the country to discuss our failed healthcare system, housing crisis, and the wealth and income inequality that is only intensifying," said Bahr.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who co-chaired the senator's 2020 presidential campaign, told the outlet that the Democratic Party needs Sanders "in strategic states making the case to define the future of our party for the next 20 years."
"Sen. Sanders has been a prophet for where the Democratic Party needs to go in standing up for working-class Americans," said Khanna, "and opposing the unholy alliance of wealth and power."