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One Racist Batshit Christo-Fascist Homeland Under God
In retrospect, Sunday's taxpayer-funded blasphemy fest to "rededicate" America as a Christian nation though it's not and never was looks ever more obscene amidst an unholy regime's mounting crimes and abuses. Its sectarian circus - ICE milled, vendors urged "WIVES SUBMIT," zealots screeched "We welcome Jesus!", speakers attested God is eager for the ballroom - just queasily re-shaped a 250-year-old America into the kind of country it once sought freedom from.
"Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving," a "constitutional abomination wrapped in layers of blasphemy and demagoguery," sought to proclaim America "One Nation Under God," but only a white male evangelical God; Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, commies, Jews, atheists, agnostics, black, brown, queer, Native people and even mainline Protestants need not apply. As such, it attacked what Jefferson deemed an unalienable right of conscience "which lies solely between Man & his God," defied the core constitutional tenet of separation of church and state, and "torpedoe(d) the best of American traditions - inclusivity and diversity" with, essentially, "a Jubilee of Christian Nationalism."
Its state-sponsored, right-wing fever dream marked the successful MAGA hijacking of Congress’ bipartisan, 2016 America250 commission, meant to honor the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and its core values of equality and agency before the law. Instead, Trump concocted his own Christo-fascist Freedom 250 to celebrate a racist, corporate, jingoistic narrative of America, rewriting history to create an imaginary, monolithic, jingoistic, white, male, Christian national identity that celebrates "God’s presence in our national life throughout 250 years of American history," and what is this inequality or oppression of which you speak?
Freedom 250 swiftly collected most of the $150 million appropriated by Congress, along with support from patriotic sponsors like ExxonMobil, Mastercard, Palantir, Amazon, Coinbase. Year-long festivities have included a weekly America Prays initiative; a series of Interior Department events celebrating “the triumph of the American spirit” plastered with flags, logos, Trump National Park passes; a fleet of nationwide “Freedom Trucks,” mobile museums offering right-wing takes on US history created with PragerU; a national Freedom 250 Patriot Games - Hunger Games anyone? - competition for high school athletes; a revamped Great American Farmers Market in DC with a "MAHA Monday."
On social media, meanwhile, DHS has begun declaring itself "One Homeland Under God," complete with image of church and cross and highlighted Bible verse; for April 19, it urged, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." The Washington Monument was transformed into “the world’s tallest birthday candle," with projections celebrating historic achievements by white men like Christopher Columbus and Henry Ford, with no black, Native, female people in sight. To re-enforce the white-centric narrative, organizers have also promised a Summer Surge of thousands more ICE and DHS thugs to make the nation still whiter.
Sunday's Jubilee continued the rebrand of a newly pristine, godly history, with 14 of 15 speakers Christian, arched stained-glass windows and a looming white cross all "glorifying the name of Jesus over our nation’s capital." "Our nation more than any other was shaped by the idea that faith brought freedom," said Marco Rubio in a prerecorded speech. "This is who we are." Virginia pastor Gary Hamrick concurred, but added the imaginary threat of a "spiritual war," perhaps best personified by the scary scattered signs of protesters urging, “Celebrate Democracy, Not Theocracy.” "This is a battle in our day between good and evil," he said. "Our hope is built on Jesus' blood."
Also, Jesus merch. As the faithful braved three-hour lines in the heat and prayed, arms lifted to the sky, vendors handed out "Jesus Saves" bracelets and buttons that said, “WIVES SUBMIT, HUSBANDS LOVE, CHILDREN OBEY.” There were "Thank you Jesus!" signs, a huge "Jesus Make America Godly Again" banner, $47 Freedom 250 baseball caps, t-shirts that read, "God Guns Family Freedom" and "Forever In Our Hearts, Charlie Kirk." "We welcome Jesus into this place!" declared one speaker. Another noted, "It's hard to believe it would take two centuries for the Lord to raise up a great man to bring that ballroom to stand where it needs to stand." (Jesus.)
Pete Hegseth,on video, was typically unshy about praising Jesus. He dubiously zeroed in on The Prayer at Valley Forge, a 1975 painting by Arnold Friberg of George Washington praying in the snow widely deemed a romanticized legend, not fact. Historians argue Washington was a deist and freemason who rarely mentioned God or Jesus, whose favorite Biblical quote - "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid" - symbolizes peace, safety, religious freedom, and who always prayed standing. Still, Hegseth ran with it: Washington "did not lose faith," and "let us pray as he did...without ceasing...on bended knee, for our Lord and savior Jesus Christ."
Trump took an even more sketchy approach: He went golfing and sent in a slurry, pre-taped Bible reading recycled from the last fake Christian event three weeks ago. Then, moments after it aired, the self-described peace president went on a frenzied, genocidal social media spree, posting on his crappy app over 30 times in two hours. He threatened Iran: "The Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them." He posted bizarre, AI, warmongering images: Manning a spacecraft, firing away with massive explosions and mushroom clouds, personally arresting an alien, a real one. Say what? Praise Jesus.
Still, spineless, smarmy, unholy Mike Johnson was the worst. Having already whined about "naysayers" who view Christian Nationalism as "a derogatory term," he gave a long hollow prayer about his task to "bring us straight to the Lord, whose mighty hand has been upon our (freest and most benevolent) nation since the very beginning." But now "sinister ideologies sow confusion among our people," attacking our history as "one of oppression and hypocrisy and failure." So "grant us the moral clarity to rise above partisan differences," says the guy who keeps shutting down Congress to block Dem policies. Finally, unconscionably, he prayed for “mercy upon our land.”
Mercy. He seeks mercy.
Mercy for the hundreds of people in the Congo and elsewhere dying of an Ebola outbreak after Trump gutted USAID and its dedicated outbreak response team because it helped people who aren't white, thus triggering what could be over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030?
Mercy for those killed at San Diego's biggest mosque amidst a Trump-fuelled rising tide of Islamophobia? Mercy for those ripped off or otherwise betrayed in a rabid mob by a $1.8 billion slush fund, or "pardon on steroids," in the "most brazen act of presidential corruption this century."
Mercy for the estimated 145,000 U.S. citizen brown children who had a parent detained by ICE and are now scattered across the country, or the 22,000 who lost both parents? Mercy for the woman, a domestic violence victim, detained and deported whom ICE is now blaming for the murder of her own child by her ex-partner?
Mercy for the 21-year-old Honduran with no criminal record just arrested and detained by ICE outside a New York immigration court less than 24 hours after a federal judge's ruling such arrests are illegal, because, as one ICE thug responded when shown the ruling, "We don't care"?
Mercy for 18-year-old, Chicago-born, Mexico-raised Kevin González, being treated in Chicago for metastatic stage-four colon cancer when his health began failing? His parents in Mexico sought emergency visas to travel to the US to say their final goodbyes; when DHS denied them, citing “previous unlawful entries into the US," in desperation they tried to cross the border without permission and were detained by ICE in Arizona. Kevin pleaded in vain for their release; ultimately, he checked himself out of the hospital and flew to his grandmother's home in Mexico to be with family at the end. Finally, in Kevin's last hours, a judge in Arizona ordered their release. They arrived at his bedside on the afternoon of May 9. His sobbing mom called him, “Chiquito," "little one”; his father knelt by his son's bed, asking for forgiveness if he ever let him down. Kevin died the next day.
Mercy? Does Mike Johnson want mercy for Kevin and his parents?
Fuck Mike Johnson and all his fucking odious cohort. Fuck their prayers, and their Jesus, and their cruelty, and their fucking despicable hypocrisy, which knows no bounds. What would Jesus do? Not this, any of it.
May 21, 2026
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Fuel Prices Have Spiked More in ‘Energy Independent’ US Than in Nations That Have Moved Away From Oil and Gas
Average gas prices in the United States are quickly climbing toward $5 per gallon this week as US President Donald Trump's war with Iran shows little sign of resolution.
Where average prices were about $2.98 the day before the war's launch, they had shot up to $4.48 as of Tuesday, according to AAA's gas price tracker, as Iran's restriction of ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz has squeezed global oil shipping and the shipping of other fuel sources like liquefied natural gas (LNG), causing global price hikes.
And while Trump has touted America’s supposed “energy independence” as an ace in the hole, achieved by ratcheting up fossil fuel production while canceling solar and wind power projects, data shows that the US has been hit harder by the price shocks than any other major economy in the world, with those that have embraced renewable energy being especially resilient.
Although the US leads the world in oil production by a large margin, data from JP Morgan Commodities research, analyzed Friday by MarketWatch, showed that between February 23 and April 27, the US experienced about a 42% increase in gas prices, the fifth-highest in the world.
"The spike in US gasoline prices over the past two months has outpaced everywhere except Southeast Asia, the region most dependent on oil from the Persian Gulf," explained Yahoo Finance geopolitics reporter Jake Conley.
Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader and managing director at CIBC Private Wealth, explained to MarketWatch last week that while increased fuel production gives the US a "buffer," oil is a global market and "it doesn’t operate in a vacuum." She said, "Global tightness and domestic bottlenecks still show up in gasoline prices."
Meanwhile, some of the countries that have best survived the price hikes include France and Spain, which derive large shares of their power from nuclear energy and renewables, respectively.
Craig Hanson and Jessica Isaacs, a pair of researchers at the World Resources Institute, explained last month that while a mix of factors is at play, countries less reliant on fossil fuels generally "find themselves in a better position to withstand the current crisis."
"Every country has homegrown access to at least two clean energy resources—the sun shines, and the wind blows just about everywhere at some point," they said. "The same cannot be said of oil and gas, where production is concentrated in a small number of countries and exposed to geopolitical disruption."
"Renewable resources like wind, solar, and geothermal have zero fuel costs, and the fuel cost of nuclear power is quite low. Again, the same cannot be said of fossil fuels, which have costs set by volatile global markets," they added. "These two advantages are why some of the world’s clean energy frontrunners are faring better than other countries amidst the Iranian energy crisis."
As Reuters reported in late April, the contrast between Europe's biggest gas guzzlers and green energy adopters is particularly stark.
While Albania has kept energy prices in check and even lowered them compared to last year by using its large system of hydroelectric dams, which supply much of its power, countries like Germany and Italy, which still rely heavily on gas, have seen electricity prices spike.
Hanson and Isaacs noted that while clean energy investments have helped soften the blow of global price shocks, the effects are not the same across the board. While price hikes for the electricity used to power factories, homes, and cars have been blunted by the availability of alternative energy sources, others, like heat—which are more reliant on natural gas—have still been affected.
Still, though, they said the crisis has shown that in addition to environmental sustainability, "clean energy systems’ greatest benefits today might actually be price stability and domestic energy resilience."
While Trump has continued his efforts to choke off any federal investment in renewable energy and double down on oil and gas production, other nations have taken the war’s price hikes as a sign to further accelerate their transition away from fossil fuels.
Germany and several other European Union members, for example, have announced expedited timelines to expand offshore wind and solar investments, explicitly citing the volatility in oil markets caused by the war.
Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the energy price shocks showed that "the only real energy independence from the Middle East is renewables."
May 05, 2026
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Landmark Study Finds Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Is Costing Americans Jobs
A landmark study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that President Donald Trump's mass deportation operations are actually costing Americans jobs, contrary to the White House's frequent claims that its anti-immigration agenda is helping US workers.
The NBER study, which was published last month and reported on by The New York Times Tuesday, claims to provide "the first national, causal empirical evidence on the labor market impacts of immigration enforcement in the second Trump administration," and finds that mass deportations have not resulted in more job offers for native-born Americans.
In fact, the study identifies "a negative and significant impact on employment of US-born male workers with at most a high-school education" who are working in industries that employ the most undocumented immigrants, including construction, agriculture, and manufacturing.
The study finds that instead of hiring more US-born workers in the absence of available undocumented workers—who may have been deported, left the country to avoid deportation, or have stayed home out of fear of immigration raids—employers are more likely to simply slow down economic activity altogether, which has a cascading impact on related industries.
"We see no evidence that employers increase wages to attract US-born workers to fill these jobs in the face of immigration enforcement," the researchers explain. "Instead, our results are consistent with employers reducing labor demand overall, including for jobs more often taken by US-born workers."
The NBER researchers also say that undocumented workers are more often than not complements to US workers, as they "are more likely than US-born individuals to work in jobs that are less desirable due to lower pay, on the job hazards, and irregular schedules."
University of Colorado, Boulder economist Chloe East, who co-authored the NBER study, told the New York Times on Tuesday that construction firms "view it as easier to reduce production, reduce the construction of new homes and new buildings in general, rather than try to increase wages for US-born workers."
East said that this would likely hurt efforts to build more housing in the US, telling the Times that "I assume we're going to see... a long-term shock to the construction sector" due to Trump's mass deportations.
Anirban Basu, chief economist at the Associated Builders and Contractors national trade organization, told the Times that he wasn't surprised by the finding that aggressive immigration raids shut down projects rather than open up new work for native-born Americans.
"Given high interest rates, given rising material prices and fewer people available to provide roofing, tiling, carpeting, and other flooring services," Basu said, "it renders fewer projects financially viable."
NPER's study echoes an analysis released last month by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which found that unemployment for US-born workers has increased since the start of Trump's second term, as the federal government has carried out its draconian deportation operations.
"Claims that mass deportations have helped US-born workers are simply inconsistent with the data," EPI wrote. "This is no surprise, given that economic research has repeatedly shown that increased immigration enforcement harms everyone in the labor market, including US-born workers."
May 19, 2026
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100% Tax Proposed to Counter 'Most Corrupt Thing… Ever Seen From an American President'
President Donald Trump's attempt to create a $1.8 billion slush fund for his political allies is coming under bipartisan attack, and congressional Democrats are proposing a 100% tax on any of its future beneficiaries to thwart what's being described as an unprecedented form of corruption in the nation's nearly 250-year history.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) on Tuesday introduced the first bill taxing Trump slush-fund payouts at a 100% rate, and he was followed on Thursday by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who introduced a similar bill in the US Senate.
If enacted, the legislation would negate the entire $1.8 billion venture, which was created as purported restitution for Trump politcal allies who have been convicted of committing crimes on his behalf, and force beneficiaries to return any payments received to the US Department of Treasury.
The bill would slap on an additional 50% penalty "in the case of any willful attempt to avoid or evade the tax."
Wyden described the president's slush fund, which could be used to pay out cash to Trump supporters who violently stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, as "staggeringly corrupt even by Trump’s bottom-dwelling standards."
"Congress must do whatever it takes to prevent Donald Trump from stealing $1.8 billion from the American people to fund right-wing violence and handouts to insurrectionists," said Wyden. "This money doesn’t belong to Donald Trump, it belongs to the taxpayer.”
Thompson, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax, said that the legislation is need to stop Trump's attempt "to line the pockets of January 6th insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement and tried to overturn our democratic election."
"My legislation ensures if a sitting president sues our government while in office," added Thompson, "they get taxed 100% on any money paid through a trial or settlement."
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) took some time on Thursday to provide an overview of the Trump slush fund's creation in a lengthy social media post.
As explained by Levin, the fund came about after Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earlier this year over the 2019 leaking of his tax returns.
Levin noted that "IRS lawyers did their jobs" by writing a memo of legal arguments they believed would defeat Trump's lawsuit in court.
However, before the case could be fully heard in a courtroom, Trump agreed to drop his lawsuit while the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the creation of the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" as a settlement.
Levin also called attention to the structure of the committee, which he said was riddled with conflicts of interest.
"The acting attorney general, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid," he said. "Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out."
Levin concluded by calling the fund "the most corrupt thing I've ever seen from an American president."
While Democrats are taking the lead in the effort to block Trump's slush fund, some Republicans have also indicated their opposition to the initiative.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), one of the most vulnerable GOP members of the House, said on Wednesday that "a nearly $1.8 billion DOJ-controlled fund cannot be created, defined, and distributed in the shadows," and he demanded acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche provide answers about who will be eligible to receive payouts and under what legal authority.
"Taxpayer dollars will not be turned into a discretionary payout fund," Fitzpatrick emphasized. "Transparency is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable."
According to a Thursday report from Punchbowl News, Senate Republicans are preparing to slap restrictions on the $1.8 billion fund that could prevent any payments from going to January 6 rioters who attacked police officers.
In an interview with Punchbowl News, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) expressed incredulity that such guardrails were even necessary.
"Imagine that—a fund that is set up to compensate people who assaulted Capitol Police officers," Tillis said. "How absurd does that sound coming out of my mouth?"
May 21, 2026
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'MAGA's Weird Obsession' Continues as House Passes Bill Forcing Schools to 'Out' Trans Kids
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation that critics warn would force public schools receiving federal funding to "out" transgender students to their parents without or without their consent, a policy that advocates warn could endanger many trans youth.
HR 2016, the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act—but dubbed the "Don't Say Trans" bill by some critics—was introduced by Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah) and passed by a vote of 217-198, with eight Democrats joining every Republican and one Independent present in voting for the legislation.
The bill—which faces an uncertain future in the Senate—requires federally funded elementary and middle schools to obtain parental consent before changing a student's gender markers, pronouns, or preferred names on school forms. It also mandates parental consent for a student's access to sex-based accommodations, such as locker rooms or bathrooms.
The legislation also prohibits federal elementary and secondary education funds from being used to advance concepts of so-called "gender ideology"—an inaccurate term that GLAAD says is "deployed by opponents to undermine and dehumanize transgender and nonbinary people"—in the classroom. The term features prominently in a day-one executive order signed by President Donald Trump in what critics say is an effort to effectively erase trans people from public existence.
"Too many schools are keeping parents in the dark about what’s happening in their own children’s classrooms, even going so far as to withhold critical information about their kids’ well-being and development," Walberg said.
"Families deserve honesty, not secrecy—especially when it comes to issues like gender identity," he continued. "Simply put, parents should never be the last to know—that’s not political, it’s common sense."
"Meanwhile, political and ideological agendas are being pushed through curriculum without parents’ knowledge or consent, sidelining the very people responsible for raising these children," Walberg added.
However, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—whose daughter is transgender—accused Republicans of "targeting trans kids with a bill that would require public schools to forcibly out students who want to use certain pronouns or accommodations, even if it would put them in danger."
"I'm a hell no," Jayapal said of the bill. "Trans kids deserve better."
Other House Democrats echoed Japayal's objections, with Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois warning that the "Republicans’ extreme bill puts trans youth in harm's way and censors content that acknowledges trans people’s existence."
"I will always stand up for student safety, and I am voting NO," Kelly added.
Rep. Christian Menefee of Texas said that "instead of making sure America’s schools have the resources and support they need to ensure every student is given the same shot at success, Republicans are bringing a 'Don't Say Trans' bill to the floor today to forcibly out trans students, even if doing so would put students in immediate physical danger."
"Parents across the country want their children to learn in safe, affirming environments, without worrying about their kids being outed for their gender identity," he added. "I won’t vote to put those kids in danger."
Rep. Laura Friedman of California lamented: "This week, congressional Republicans could have spent their time working with us to help Americans afford groceries and pay their rent. Instead, they spent their time advancing a bill meant to demean trans youth."
"I voted no and urge them to focus on the real needs of Americans," Friedman added.
The eight Democrats who voted for the bill are: Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Cleo Fields of Louisiana, Laura Gillen of New York, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Eugene Vindman of Virginia.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) called HR 2616 part of "MAGA’s weird obsession with trans people."
"When the going gets tough for Republicans in Congress—when they have no answers to soaring gas prices from Trump’s illegal war with Iran, rampant corruption, or spiking health premiums—they can’t help but fall back on their favorite strategy: fearmongering," HRC's Jennifer Pike Bailey wrote on Tuesday. "And unfortunately, the transgender community is still the scapegoat du jour."
"Policies that denigrate trans youth don’t succeed in erasing these students, they just make their lives immeasurably harder," she continued. "It’s the job of schools to keep youth safe. And as we’ve seen, LGBTQ+ students are in physical danger when harmful policies are implemented. Recent FBI data shows that in states that have passed these types of laws, anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in schools have quadrupled."
"Opponents of LGBTQ+ equality are creating a lot of noise, and the only way to stop them is to be louder," Pike Bailey stressed. "We need phone calls, emails, letters to every member of Congress telling them to stop these attacks. And then we need to show up at the ballot box."
BREAKING: The House of Representatives just voted to require teachers to forcibly out transgender youth against their will.Censoring "gender ideology" does nothing to advance the basic promise that every child deserves the same opportunity to thrive, and that includes transgender students.
— ACLU (@aclu.org) May 20, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Tyler Hack, executive director of the trans political advocacy group Christopher Street Project, said in a statement that “HR 2616 is yet another escalation in Republicans’ sick obsession with criminalizing queer people and trans youth."
"This ‘Don’t Say Trans’ bill does not protect kids—it is government-mandated forced outing," Hack added. "Mandating that teachers act as agents of the state and out their own students is not protection; it’s cruelty."
According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, "an independent research organization tracking bills that impact trans and gender-diverse people across the United States," there are currently 778 state-level and 126 national bills under consideration "that would negatively impact" targeted people.
One of the most recently approved bills, signed into law Friday by Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, forces trans and nonbinary students who need to use public school restrooms to go outside to porta-potties. LGBTQ Nation's Greg Owen slammed the law as a "latter-day 'separate but equal' attack on trans rights."
The Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) said that “this bill will do nothing to make our schools safer."
"Rather," CSE added, "it will make using the bathroom a difficult and even dangerous experience for trans and nonbinary youth, who are extremely likely to be bullied and harassed when using the bathroom."
May 20, 2026
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With Straight Face, Rubio Tells People of Cuba That US Oil Blockade Is Not Cause of Their Energy Crisis
A five-minute address to the people of Cuba by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime advocate of regime change in the communist country, was called "Orwellian" by one former Obama administration staffer as the diplomat claimed the "unimaginable hardships" Cubans now face are the fault of their own government—not the US blockade on oil that began nearly four months ago.
On the country's 124th Independence Day, Rubio—the son of Cuban immigrants who left the island for the US several years before Fidel Castro took power—said he wanted to "share with you the truth about the reason for your suffering. And I want to tell you what we, in the US, are offering to help you not only alleviate the current crisis, but also to build a better future."
Rolling blackouts have been a frequent occurrence since the Trump administration cut off Cuba's main oil supply after it invaded Venezuela in January, followed by a threat to impose tariffs on any country that supplied Cuba with energy. Rubio insisted that the blackouts are "not due to an oil 'blockade' by the US" and said that Cubans know "better than anyone" that the island has suffered from energy shortages "for years."
The secretary of state didn't mention the embargo the US has imposed on Cuba for more than six decades, exacerbating the country's struggles with its power infrastructure.
🇺🇸🇨🇺 pic.twitter.com/nwEePVJ1lX
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 20, 2026
"The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people," said Rubio—echoing comments he made in April about Iran's government, which he said has spent "billions of dollars, supporting terrorists or weapons," instead of "helping the people of Iran."
At the time, Rubio's accusations were ridiculed by progressives who noted the Trump administration had already spent billions of dollars on the Iran War as Americans struggled with rising grocery, healthcare, and gas prices.
On Wednesday, the Republican Party appeared to have adopted Rubio's recycled talking point as tensions with Cuba grew following the US government's indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro. On Fox News, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Cuban officials "take all their money and they give it to the military and the police and themselves, and to hell with the good people."
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said late Thursday that President Donald Trump and Rubio "are pulling straight from the imperialists' playbook to justify another unauthorized and unlawful military invasion–just as they did in Venezuela and Iran."
"The administration will continue to claim that their actions serve the freedom of Cubans, but history has shown us that peace and democracy has never been realized through US imperialism or unilateral military intervention," said Ramirez.
As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, Rubio also took aim at Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), a company founded by Castro which controls an estimated 40-70% of Cuba's economy.
"President Trump is offering a new relationship between the US and Cuba. But it must be directly with you, the Cuban people, not with GAESA," said Rubio, adding that the administration is offering $100 million in food and medicine with the stipulation that it be distributed by the Catholic Church "or other trusted charitable groups."
"In the US we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries," said Rubio. "And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country."
Ben Rhodes, who served as deputy national security adviser under former President Barack Obama, noted that the secretary of state "works for a guy who has looted far more billions of dollars for himself and his cronies than even the most corrupt Cuban officials," and condemned his claim that the US oil blockade is not behind Cuba's energy crisis, which has caused a healthcare crisis as hospitals have struggled to provide services.
Democrats on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee noted that as a senator, Rubio worked to "make every effort" to block Obama's push to normalize relations with Cuba—only to claim that he wants to forge a new path with the country after strangling its energy supply.
"Sen. Rubio made it his mission to block every serious effort to build a new relationship with the Cuban people," said the Democrats. "Now, as secretary of state, he's peddling disingenuous rhetoric of a ‘new relationship' while the administration's Cuba policies exacerbate the humanitarian crisis there."
May 21, 2026
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'Everything That's Wrong With the Democratic Establishment': Wasserman Schultz Slammed for Florida District Move
"She is no different than the Jim Crow Republicans that are eviscerating Black Representation across the South," said another District 20 candidate.
May 22, 2026
Less than three weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a congressional map rigged for his fellow Republicans into law, Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz came under fire on Friday for switching districts.
First elected to Congress in 2004, Wasserman Schultz currently serves the 25th District, a target of Florida Republicans' recently redistricting—which is part of President Donald Trump's national push to retain control of the House of Representatives.
DeSantis split up the Democrat's District 25 "into five different districts in his newly approved maps, leaving her with complicated options as Black Democratic leaders and candidates fight to keep her out of at least one of those districts," the Miami Herald reported earlier this month.
Despite that opposition, Wasserman Schultz announced in a Friday video featuring various local figures that she is indeed running there—in District 20.
"I've fought for the people of Broward County my whole adult life, and you've always been able to count on me to deliver results for our community," she said. "And I've waged these battles when our values were on the line, all while still raising a family, beating cancer, and answering President Barack Obama's call to lead our national party."
Wasserman Schultz chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2011 until her 2016 resignation—after WikiLeaks published her emails showing bias in that year's presidential primary. She didn't acknowledge her scandalous departure from DNC leadership in the video, but she did speak in front of an Obama poster and an American flag.
"I'm announcing my candidacy for reelection in Congressional District 20, because we cannot let Trump destroy Broward County's power. And we know Republicans couldn't care less about lowering your healthcare, gas, or grocery bills," she continued. "But I'll use all my seniority and influence in Washington to continue to make our lives more affordable, and make Broward a safer, less expensive place to live, raise a family, and retire. This district deserves a representative who won't be learning on the job and has a proven record of results."
As the Herald detailed last week:
Only two of the five districts her voters were split into favor a Democratic candidate—and both of those districts were created in 1992 under the Voting Rights Act to ensure Black voters could elect a candidate of their choice.
Rep. Frederica Wilson's district, the 24th Congressional District, was drawn to pack an even larger Black majority into the district in the new maps. But DeSantis' office intentionally broke up Black neighborhoods in District 20 as a justification for redrawing surrounding districts in a way that favors Republicans.
Black candidates and party leaders in that district say a well-funded, white Democrat jumping into the race would work to further weaken Black political power.
Elijah Manley, one of the Black Democrats who was already running in District 20, criticized Wasserman Schultz's potential run to the newspaper earlier this month, and again on Friday, after she confirmed her decision, calling her "Jim Crow Debbie."
"Debbie Wasserman Schultz is carpetbagging to FL-20, a Black opportunity district, instead of running in her own," Manley said on social media. "DWS is everything that's wrong with the Democratic establishment. From insider trading to payday lenders."
"She is no different than the Jim Crow Republicans that are eviscerating Black Representation across the South," he added in a statement. "I look forward to retiring her from public office permanently."
As Politico reported Friday:
The district Wasserman Schultz is seeking to represent was previously held by Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned from her seat in April following ethics and legal deliberations over allegations she denies that she stole federal emergency funds and routed them to her campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick is running again. The seat was held by a Black lawmaker for more than 30 years—a fact often raised by existing CD-20 Democratic candidates, all of whom are Black, as Wasserman Schultz was weighing whether to run for the seat...
The other candidates in the race include Manley, Luther Campbell, a former 2 Live Crew member who won a landmark free-speech Supreme Court case, physician Rudolph Moise, and former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness. Several of the candidates have accused Wasserman Schultz of counting on the county’s African American and Caribbean American voters splitting their allegiances, drawing an advantage to her candidacy despite the 20th District having been historically drawn to help with Black representation.
The Florida Legislative Black Caucus said in a lengthy statement that Wasserman Schultz's "decision to pursue reelection in this historically Black district, despite explicit requests from the Black community to seek candidacy in a neighboring district, is disheartening," and stressed that "this is more than a political issue; it is a pressing voting rights and civil rights issue."
"The residents of District 20 deserve transparency, engagement, and genuine commitment to listening," the caucus continued. "Building trust with Black leaders and constituents should be paramount for anyone seeking to represent a majority-Black district. Unfortunately, the actions taken by Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz suggest a failure to prioritize these essential values, perpetuating a narrative of performative allyship rather than meaningful connection."
Wasserman Schultz also faced criticism for her move beyond Florida. Nina Turner, a former Democratic Ohio state senator and congressional candidate, declared: "Time to retire her. Where are you DNC? Her run illustrates her clear disregard and disrespect for the Black community, especially in this moment. This is just as bad as what the GOP is doing across the country."
Mason Pressler, a national committeeman for Young Democrats of Michigan, said that "as progressives field Black candidates for majority-Black seats (PA-03, MO-01, MI-13, etc.), establishment Democrats like DWS are showing their true colors when it comes to protecting black representation. They don't care, and voters must reject this at the primary ballot box."
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Israel Denounced for 'Killing Spree' of Rescue Workers in Lebanon
"Israel’s wanton killing of rescue workers and targeting of medical infrastructure in Lebanon has been one of this war’s most brazen features," Drop Site News noted.
May 22, 2026
Israeli attacks killed at least seven rescue workers in southern Lebanon on Thursday and Friday in violation of a US-brokered ceasefire, part of what critics say is a pattern of deliberate targeted murders of first responders that mirror the genocidal massacres committed in Gaza.
On Friday, paramedics from the al-Risala Association rushed to the site of an Israeli strike in Deir Qanun al-Nah, Tyre district, that reportedly killed a young girl and the village barber, identified by L'Orient Today as Ali Allameh. As they arrived on the scene, the paramedics were hit by a so-called "double-tap" strike—a follow-up bombing meant to eliminate survivors and first responders—that killed would-be rescuers Ali Abboud, Hussein Kassir, and Ahmad Hariri.
Hariri was also a well-known photojournalist who earlier this week documented an Israeli massacre of 14 people—including four children and 11 members of one family—in Deir Qanun al-Nah.
L'Orient Today reported that Israeli forces bombed two Islamic Health Committee centers in Hanouiyeh overnight Thursday, killing four rescue workers and wounding two others. Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike near the Tebnine Hospital reportedly killed two people and injured another while damaging all three floors of the facility.
Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said more than 3,100 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since March 2, in addition to the more than 4,000 people, including nearly 800 women and over 300 children, slain in Israel’s 2023-25 attacks on its northern neighbor, where the militant resistance group Hezbollah is based. The dead from the current round of Israeli attacks include nearly 300 women, more than 210 children, and 123 medical and healthcare workers.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says 15 media professionals have also been killed in Lebanon since October 2023. One of them, Al-Akhbar correspondent Amal Khalil, was wounded last month by an Israeli strike while reporting on a previous bombing. Khalil was trapped under rubble, and as Red Cross workers attempted to extricate her, Israeli forces dropped a stun grenade on them as a warning to disperse. They were unable to rescue Khalil, who later died.
As in Gaza—where Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 250,000 Palestinians since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023—attacks by Israel have devastated Lebanon's healthcare infrastructure.
Israel's continued slaughter of Lebanese first responders comes as World Health Organization (WHO) member states gathered this week in Geneva, where they overwhelmingly backed a declaration of alarm over “the impact of the ongoing war on the Lebanese health systems, including attacks on health facilities and health workers, and the closure of dozens of primary healthcare centers and hospitals."
The measure, which also called on the WHO to "scale up" support for Lebanon's health system, passed by a vote of 95-2—with Israel and Honduras against—and 18 abstentions.
"Israeli military action has had unacceptable impacts on civilians and medical care," the United Kingdom said in an explanation of its vote in favor of the declaration. "The conflict has led to the displacement of over 1 million people and the closure of several hospitals and health facilities. The WHO has reported over 150 verified attacks against healthcare, with over 100 healthcare workers killed."
As Drop Site News reported Friday:
Israel’s wanton killing of rescue workers and targeting of medical infrastructure in Lebanon has been one of this war’s most brazen features. For the past five weeks, the relentless Israeli aerial and ground assault has continued despite a nominal ceasefire being announced by President Donald Trump on April 16. Last week, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 45-day extension of the “ceasefire” after holding their third round of direct talks in Washington, of which Hezbollah is not a part. The declaration of a ceasefire has not stopped the Israeli military from continuing its bombardment of Lebanon, mostly in the south and the eastern Bekka Valley.
Rescue teams describe a pattern of repeated Israeli attacks directly targeting their members, often in double—or triple-tap strikes—where after a site is struck, it is struck a second or even third time as emergency crews arrive on the scene.
“We try to be careful and take safety precautions before interventions, like waiting 10 minutes to avoid the double taps,” Abdullah Halal, who leads a Civil Defense rescue team in Nabatiyeh, told Drop Site News.
"But," the outlet noted, "even those precautions have not always been enough. Last week, Halal lost two of his two colleagues in a double-tap strike."
Ali Saad, who is with the Lebanese Red Cross, told UN News on Wednesday that his colleagues share coordinates with Israeli forces and other belligerents, but rescue workers are still being targeted.
“This is why the Red Cross volunteers hug each other and say goodbye before every mission,” he said.
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El-Sayed Announces 'We Can Do Better' Tour Across Michigan to Hear From Biden-to-Trump Voters
"Democrats can’t win back voters they refuse to hear," the candidate said. "So we’re coming to listen."
May 22, 2026
Progressive US Senate hopeful Dr. Abdul El-Sayed announced plans to barnstorm his state of Michigan next month as part of an effort to win back voters Democrats lost to President Donald Trump in 2024.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris won about 67,500 fewer votes in the Wolverine State in 2024 than former President Joe Biden did in his victory over Trump in 2020. Trump, by comparison, won more than 166,000 additional voters in 2024 than four years earlier.
El-Sayed, who recent polls show leading in the Democratic primary for the state's open Senate seat, will attempt to reach out to these "Biden-Trump" voters with the simple message: "We can do better."
Beginning on June 12, the former Detroit health director plans to travel to the cities of Allen Park, Dearborn Heights, and Clinton Township, and the counties of Muskegon, Saginaw, and Genesee—each of which saw particularly large swings from Biden to Trump during the last election.
El-Sayed's campaign noted that while each of these shares the commonality of heavy shifts toward Trump, "they represent different perspectives, demographics, and communities."
Muskegon, Saginaw, and Genesee are all lower-income counties where the high inflation and cost of living during the Biden administration played a major role in their rightward swings. Dearborn Heights, meanwhile, has one of the nation's largest Arab-American communities, and Harris saw tremendous losses there due to her support for Israel as it committed genocide in Gaza.
But with Trump's agenda only exacerbating inflation and removing economic lifelines for the working class, while ramping up foreign wars and support to Israel, Democrats have an opportunity to win back these voters.
They might need every last one of them: Current polls show November's general election is virtually tied, regardless of whether El-Sayed or one of his opponents—Rep. Haley Stevens or state Sen. Mallory McMorrow—emerge victorious in the August primary.
"It shouldn’t be this hard,” said El-Sayed in a statement promoting the tour on Friday. “People are paying too much for gas, groceries, rent, and healthcare. Instead of asking why people are fed up, too many politicians on both sides of the aisle are hell-bent on protecting a broken system, rather than taking on the corporations and special interests that have made life so hard."
El-Sayed has thus far found success as the sole candidate in his primary to champion Medicare For All—especially salient as hundreds of thousands of Michiganders are slated to lose Medicaid coverage in the coming years from GOP budget cuts.
In one of America's largest manufacturing hubs, he's tapped into the state's history of labor organizing—calling for stronger union protections and checks on job-killing artificial intelligence. And he's positioned himself as a leading crusader against "oligarchy" by swearing off super PAC donations and promoting taxes on billionaires' capital gains.
He's denounced the US government's "blank-check" funding of foreign militaries, including Israel, but also other authoritarian regimes like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.
The campaign said the communities where El-Sayed plans to travel are those "where frustration with the status quo translated into lost Democratic support in the 2024 election."
Unlike the traditional town hall format, where voters ask candidates questions, El-Sayed is planning to "open the floor to voters in swing communities to voice their frustrations, needs, and concerns."
"I’m interested in hearing and learning from the folks the establishment has left behind," El-Sayed said. "We can and must do better.”
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RootsAction Blasts Official DNC Autopsy; ‘Disgrace’ Would Be ‘Understatement’
May 21 2026 · 01:19pm EDT