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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 and betrayed by a $1.8 billion slush fund, or "pardon on steroids," from the most corrupt regime in history?
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 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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Evacuation Must Start Now as Climate-Driven Rising Gulf Slowly Drowns New Orleans: Study
A study published Monday warns that New Orleans must immediately begin planning and gradually implementing its permanent evacuation to avert a dangerously rushed exodus later, because it has passed a "point of no return" as climate-driven sea-level rise slowly swallows the storied city.
"With global temperatures poised to exceed the 1.5°C Paris Agreement threshold—a level that triggered substantial ice sheet collapse during the Last Interglacial—low-elevation coastal zones face sea-level commitments far beyond current planning horizons," says the study, which was published by the journal Nature Sustainability.
"With this geological frame of reference, we examine the impact of sea-level rise on what may be the most physically vulnerable coastal zone in the world using prehistoric and contemporary patterns of human mobility," the publication continues. "We highlight the positive aspects of the recently commenced out-migration in this region and argue that the fate of communities landwards of this coastal zone will be decided in the next few decades."
"While climate mitigation should remain the first step to prevent the worst outcomes, coastal Louisiana has evidently already crossed the point of no return,” the paper adds.
That's because rising waters are slowly eroding Louisiana's coast, including New Orleans, which “may well be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century," according to the study's authors.
“Louisiana is a canary in the coal mine. It is one of the rare places where we’re already clearly seeing climate-motivated depopulation combined with other social and economic factors,” said Yale School of the Environment professor and study co-author Brianna Castro.
The authors argued that by acknowledging the inevitability of New Orleans' underwater future, government and residents can avert a fraught rushed retreat by planning and executing a managed multigenerational relocation and set an example for other threatened coastal communities.
According to one widely cited study published a decade ago, around 13 million Americans living in coastal areas could be forced to relocate to higher ground by the end of the century due climate-driven sea-level rise, with the Gulf Coast and Florida expected lose the most livable land. Globally, hundreds of millions of people are expected to be displaced by 2100 due to rising seas.
After Hurricane Katrina—which inundated the city and killed nearly 1,000 people in the New Orleans metro area—billions of dollars were spent fortifying the city's levee system, which failed catastrophically during the 2005 storm. However, experts warn that in the long term, levees won't be able to stop the rising waters any longer.
That's why the study's authors said officials must begin the city's orderly depopulation as soon as possible.
"What kind of retreat do you want?" asked Castro. "Do you want to incentivize it and then people go naturally for jobs, housing, and lifestyle amenities—or do you want people to wait and then have to leave abruptly in crisis?”
May 04, 2026
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'Stuttering Speechlessness' by Jim Cramer Seen as Telling Reaction to Suspicious Trump Stock Trading
One of Wall Street's most recognizable gurus, Jim Cramer, became notably tongue-tied on Monday after President Donald Trump’s recent stock-trading spree entered into a televised conversation with his colleagues on CNBC.
Disclosures published by the US Office of Government Ethics last week revealed that Trump in the first quarter of 2026 carried out over 3,700 stock transactions, including over 30 stock purchases worth $1 million or more.
As noted by The Financial Times, Trump's investments included transactions involving Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Meta, Visa, Citi, Boeing, Qualcomm, and GE Aerospace, whose executives all accompanied the president on his trip to China last week.
When CNBC co-host Carl Quintanilla brought up these trades during Monday's edition of "Squawk on the Street," Cramer spent ten straight seconds mumbling incoherently.
This promoted co-host David Faber to reassure viewers that "we're not having technical difficulties here," even as Cramer appeared to short circuit.
OMFG the CNBC anchors were puffing up the value of chipmaker Intel, they brought up Trump doing personal trades in the stock, and Jim Cramer stuttered for 15 seconds straight and then was quiet.
Was Cramer shocked by the corruption or mad Trump was picking better stocks? pic.twitter.com/oCl3ypNids
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) May 18, 2026
Journalist Ryan Grim said that Cramer's reaction to mention of Trump's trades was understandable given that some of the companies whose stocks he traded have been direct beneficiaries of the president's illegal war with Iran and other policies.
"Cramer here is having what should be the normal reaction to Trump actively insider trading on his own decisions," remarked Grim. "Just sputtering speechlessness."
Journalist Judd Legum on Monday published an analysis of the Trump stock trades in which he identified multiple instances where the president purchased stocks of companies shortly before—or in some cases, on the exact same day—that he publicly singled them out for praise.
Specifically, Legum found that Trump bought tens of thousands of dollars' worth of shares in biotech firm Thermo Fisher Scientific on the same day he took a tour of one of its manufacturing facilities, and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of shares in Apple on the same day he delivered a speech calling it "a great company," while saying then-CEO Tim Cook has "done a good job."
Trump also bought up shares in Micron Technology and then described it as "one of the hottest companies" during an interview with Fox News just one day later.
And nine days after buying millions of dollars' worth of shares in Dell, Trump delivered a speech in Georgia where he told his audience to "go out and buy a Dell computer."
In analyzing the trades, Legum explained how Trump has destroyed any remaining guardrails preventing US presidents from using their office to personally enrich themsleves.
"If Trump wanted to legally remove himself from investment decisions he could do so by creating a qualified blind trust," Legum wrote. "Instead, before returning to the White House, Trump transferred his assets in a trust that is managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr. There are no legal or practical barriers preventing Trump from being involved in the management of his assets."
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) warned Trump that details of his assorted stock trades would eventually come to light.
"This smells like blatant and criminal insider trading," Goldman wrote in a social media post. "Even worse, Trump is personally profiting off of his illegal deportation dragnet. Since we know congressional Republicans will pretend like they never saw this and won’t do a thing, anyone involved in these trades should preserve their records for my investigation in January 2027."
May 18, 2026
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'We're Making Progress!' Says Bernie Sanders as Union Leader Bob Brooks Wins PA Primary
Bob Brooks, president of the largest firefighters' union in Pennsylvania and a champion of working-class politics, came out victorious in the Democratic primary race for the state's 7th district on Tuesday as he vowed to unify voters during the general election and flip a seat currently held by first-term Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.
"This November, we're going to unite our party and welcome working people who are ready to come home," Brooks told a crowd of supporters, many holding union signs back the candidate, at a victory rally in Bethlehem, the historic steel town in the state's western Lehigh Valley.
Brooks, backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and a long list of national and regional unions but also endorsed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, overcame a crowded field—that included Lamont McClure, Ryan Crosswell, and Carol Obando-Derstine—to win the contest with nearly 48% of the total vote.
As Common Dreams reported, Republican forces launched a mysterious spending effort to thwart Brooks' campaign in the final weeks before the primary, with an outside group called Left PAC launching a $1 million ad campaign against him.
I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for PA-07.
On to November. pic.twitter.com/wsYngHqPrk
— Bob Brooks (@VoteBobBrooks) May 20, 2026
"Bob Brooks just showed what can happen when Democrats run unapologetically as working-class economic populists," said the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution in response to the win. "A firefighter and union voice running in tough political terrain by directly taking on corruption, concentrated wealth, and a system failing ordinary people."
Democratic strategist Lis Smith echoed many who said the fight to flip the 7th District from red to blue will be key in the effort to take the House away from Republicans in the fall.
"We need Bob Brooks and more Bob Brooks’s in Congress," said Smith. "This is one of Dems’ best flip opportunities."
And Sanders also weighed in, placing Brooks in the context of other progressives who won primaries this season and look to change the makeup of Congress come next year.
"Congratulations to Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter and union leader, on winning the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District," said Sanders. "His win follows the recent progressive victories of iron worker and union leader Brian Poindexter in Ohio, and union organizer Analilia Mejía in New Jersey. We’re making progress!"
Also in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, democratic socialist candidate Chris Rabb won his primary race in Pennsylvania's 3rd District, which represents large portions of Philadelphia.
The Working Families Party noted that the Brooks and Rabb victories, taken together, point Democrats toward a very important lesson.
“These are two candidates who centered working-class issues," Nicholas Gavio, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Working Families Party, which backed both candidates, told Politico. "They’re obviously from different districts and demographics. But the message of populism—in Philadelphia and in the Lehigh Valley—sells and works."
May 20, 2026
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Israel's Smotrich Responds to ICC Arrest Warrant by Announcing More War Crimes
Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Tuesday that the International Criminal Court prosecutor had requested an arrest warrant against him, reportedly in response to his illegal forced expulsion of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank.
He said he planned to "fight back" by issuing an order to forcibly evict hundreds more Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank.
During a news conference, Smotrich said he'd been informed Monday evening that the ICC prosecutor had secretly requested a warrant for his arrest in April. A formal warrant has not been announced by the court, and the official charges have not yet been publicized.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the prosecutor had been considering seeking an arrest warrant against Smotrich for his role in expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in July 2024 was a violation of the Geneva Conventions because it entailed the forced removal of residents in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The ICC prosecutor was also preparing to issue an arrest warrant against fellow far-right settler politician, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, though there is not yet any reporting to suggest that this warrant has been issued.
Already, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
In response to the reported warrant request for what the ICC considers a war crime, Smotrich celebrated the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank. He boasted of creating “over 100 new settlements” in the occupied territory and “160 farming outposts,” which he said helped Israel to control 247,000 acres of land in the territory.
The United Nations reported in March that over the previous year, more than 36,000 Palestinians in the West Bank had been forcibly displaced by settlement expansion and by violence committed by Israeli settlers.
Smotrich said the court's issuing of arrest warrants against him and other Israeli leaders was a "declaration of war" and said that "we will respond with war."
"From today, every economic or other target within my authority to strike—whether as Finance Minister or as a minister in the Defense Ministry—will be attacked. Not with words or gimmicks, but with actions," he said.
"I announce here and now the first target that will be attacked: immediately after my remarks, we will sign an order for the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar," he added.
He was referring to a Palestinian Bedouin village of about 200 people on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, which has fought a yearslong legal battle against the Israeli government following orders by Ben-Gvir for it to be demolished to make room for a settlement.
The territory is especially significant because it would link two major settlements in East Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley as part of Israel's ongoing E1 settlement project, which is aimed at constructing settlements so that they cut the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank in two.
Smotrich, who has led the E1 project, declared last year that the proposal “buries the idea of a Palestinian state because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize."
On Tuesday, Smotrich said his order for Palestinians to leave Khan al-Ahmar would be "only the beginning" of his response to the reported warrant request.
Jasper Nathaniel, an American journalist who reports from the West Bank, explained that "Smotrich just announced the official ethnic cleansing of a Palestinian village in response to the ICC warrant for his arrest."
Observers pointed out the brazenness of Smotrich's declaration in the face of an international tribunal.
Adil Haque, a professor of law at Rutgers University and the executive editor of Just Security, noted the remarkable irony: "The ICC office of the prosecutor reportedly requested an arrest warrant for his war crimes, so he announces a new one."
Along with Ben-Gvir, Smotrich was sanctioned last year by five countries—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom—which subjected them to travel bans and asset freezes.
Ori Goldberg, an Israeli expert on Middle Eastern studies, said international punishments against Smotrich needed to be even stronger after he announced "as stark a violation of international law as possible."
"Make the warrants public. Sanction this man and everybody else who foots the bill. EU Leadership—stop making fools of yourselves as the world is torn asunder," he said. "Show Israelis... the jig is up."
May 19, 2026
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Citing 'Callous Disregard' of Hegseth, Top House Dem Does Not 'Trust' Pentagon Answers on Iran School Massacre
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee delivered a scathing rebuke to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership on Tuesday while asking questions about a February US military strike on an Iranian primary school in the city of Minab.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the mommittee, confronted Adm. Brad Cooper about the fact that the US still hasn't taken responsibility for the attack on the school, which killed more than 100 children, even though "it's really pretty clear what happened there."
"Eighty days on, we have not taken responsibility for that attack," Smith said. "The endless stalling—'It's being investigated, it's being investigated, it's being investigated.' In the past, when we've had these type of mistakes, they've been quickly acknowledged, even if a further investigation is necessary to figure out prevention methods. So can you, at this moment, acknowledge that that mistake was made?"
Cooper responded by emphasizing that the US "does not deliberately target civilians," while stating that the Iranian people are not "our enemy."
The first day of the Iran war saw the devastating bombing of an elementary school in Minab, killing 156 including 120 young children. The U.S. has not taken responsibility, even though an ongoing investigation implicated the U.S. months ago. This horrific crime cannot be swept… pic.twitter.com/OVEyNmNTzb
— NIAC (@NIACouncil) May 19, 2026
Smith was not satisfied with this, however, and pressed Cooper to answer whether the US takes responsibility for the attack on the school.
"The investigation is ongoing," Cooper said. "As soon as it's complete, I'm happy to..."
"So that's a no," Smith interjected. "We will not take responsibility for something we very obviously did."
"It's a complex investigation," Cooper replied. "The school itself is located on an active [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] cruise missile base. It's more complex than the average strike. As soon as we're complete, I'm fully committed to transparency."
Smith did not buy this explanation.
"I have an enormous amount of respect for you and an enormous amount of respect for the Pentagon," said Smith. "I do not trust that answer. What we've seen from this secretary of defense and his callous disregard for any sort of rules of engagement or protecting of civilian life, they make us suspicious."
Smith's grilling of Cooper earned praise from the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which said the bombing of the school "cannot be swept under the rug" by Hegseth and the Pentagon brass.
Hegseth during his tenure leading the US Department of Defense has repeatedly attacked rule of engagement as "stupid," while also authorizing a series of military strikes on purported drug-smuggling boats in international waters that many legal experts consider acts of murder.
During President Donald Trump's first term, when Hegseth was a Fox News host, he successfully lobbied the president to pardon members of the US armed forces accused or convicted of killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.
May 19, 2026
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‘Open, Shameless Grift’: Right Before FDA Ruling on Vapes, Big Tobacco Company Gave $5 Million to a Trump Super PAC
"In the Trump administration, money beats MAHA every time."
May 21, 2026
It was already known that President Donald Trump pressured top health officials to allow flavored vapes to hit the market after being leaned on by Big Tobacco executives earlier this month.
But The New York Times has revealed that the decision came just over a week after a massive super political action committee (PAC) donation from one of the cigarette companies looking to have the regulations lifted.
Kenneth Vogel and Christina Jewett reported for the Times that on April 30, a subsidiary of the tobacco company Reynolds Americans—which owns Camel and Lucky Strike cigarettes—donated $5 million to the Trump-backed super PAC MAGA Inc., according to a financial report filed on Wednesday. It brought the total amount donated to the PAC up to $8 million.
The donation came just two days before tobacco industry executives held their sit-down with Trump at his golf club in Jupiter, Florida, where they told the president they were displeased with the FDA's ban on flavored vapes, which was enacted in light of evidence that they were driving an epidemic of youth vaping.
According to a youth survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the vast majority of middle- and high school-aged e-cigarette users prefer fruit and candy-flavored vapes.
The Times reported earlier this month that immediately after receiving an earful from executives at Reynolds and Philip Morris owner Altria, Trump rang Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Mehmet Oz to complain about the FDA's ban on e-cigarettes.
In the days that followed the meeting, Trump reportedly berated then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who hesitated to reverse the policy due to the potential impact on children. Makary ultimately resigned less than a week later, along with RFK Jr.'s chief spokesperson, Rich Danker, citing disagreement about the e-cigarette policy change as the ultimate reason.
Within a week of the meeting with executives, the FDA announced it was dropping the ban on fruit-flavored vapes and authorizing the sale of mango and blueberry flavors by the Los Angeles-based company Glas Inc., which could pave the way for major cigarette makers to launch their own products on store shelves. It also allowed companies to add greater amounts of nicotine to pouches, which smokers often use in order to quit the habit.
Kush Desai, a spokesperson for the White House, told the Times that Reynolds' $5 million donation to the MAGA Inc. PAC had nothing to do with the administration's sudden shift in policy surrounding flavored vapes. He said "the only guiding factor behind the Trump administration’s health policymaking is gold standard science," as well as "recent evidence that has found [vapes] can help adults quit smoking.”
A spokesperson for MAGA Inc. said his organization “is pleased to accept legal contributions from those who agree with President Trump’s America First agenda and his goal to make America great again.”
The $5 million donation is far from the only contribution Big Tobacco has made to Trump. As Common Dreams reported earlier this month:
Trump, who ran in 2024 on a pledge to “save vaping” as part of an effort to appeal to young voters, has raked in huge sums of money from the tobacco industry. According to data from OpenSecrets, his inaugural committee took over $3 million from vaping special interests, including $1.25 million from the Vapor Technology Association, and $1 million apiece from Altria and Breeze Smoke.
Altria, which owns Marlboro maker Philip Morris, and Reynolds American, which owns Lucky Strike and Camel, have also offered donations to Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. Reynolds, the biggest producer of menthol cigarettes, also gave $10 million to the super PAC backing Trump in 2024.
The Times also reported on Wednesday that a Reynolds executive was invited to a dinner hosted by Trump at the White House in October for donors who gave $2.5 million or more.
The open, shameless grift.www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/u...
[image or embed]
— Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 1:21 AM
Critics described the $5 million donation as effectively a legal "bribe" to Trump and the latest example of the White House's "open, shameless grift."
It comes amid what seem to be endless reports of blatant self-dealing by Trump allies, most recently exemplified by the Trump-controlled Department of Justice's settlement of a lawsuit from Trump against the Internal Revenue Service, which handed the president $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds that he plans to disperse to his allies as part of a so-called “weaponization fund,” which critics have dubbed a “slush fund.”
It's also the latest example of Trump appearing to take actions in direct service of rich corporate donors—particularly in the fossil fuel, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency industries—or members of his family or personal inner circle.
Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) also described the FDA's policy change on vaping as a betrayal by the administration's overseer, Kennedy. Though the HHS secretary has built his brand on pledges to "Make America Healthy Again" by decoupling corporate interests from health policy, he has been accused of bending to industry pressure on everything from food regulation to cancer-causing pesticides.
"In the Trump administration," Magaziner said, "money beats MAHA every time."
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With Straight Face, Rubio Tells People of Cuba That US Oil Blockade Is Not Cause of Their Energy Crisis
"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 Rep. Delia Ramirez.
May 21, 2026
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."
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Trump's 'Board of Peace' Has Only Brought More Death and Suffering to Gaza, Says Rights Group
“The plan was supposed to bring relief. Instead, Palestinians in Gaza are still hungry, still cannot reach medical care, and civilians are still being killed."
May 20, 2026
Six months in, US President Donald Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" has failed to deliver on its promise of a "secure and prosperous future" for Palestinians in Gaza, who are still being killed, maimed, and deprived of food and other crucial supplies by Israel's ongoing genocide.
"The humanitarian infrastructure sustaining life in Gaza remains in peril over six months after the ceasefire agreement in October 2025," Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
"As the Board of Peace prepares to brief the United Nations Security Council on May 21 on its newly-issued six-month progress report, Israeli authorities are undermining humanitarian lifelines," HRW continued.
"Continuing Israeli attacks have killed at least 856 Palestinians and wounded 2,463 others, according to Gaza Health Ministry," the group said.
"Aid volumes remain far below required levels and critical humanitarian access routes have been repeatedly obstructed, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)," HRW noted.
HRW continued:
In its May 15 report, the Board of Peace said that aid distributed by UN agencies and partners increased by over 70% during the reporting period compared to pre-ceasefire levels, and that "basic food needs have been stabilized for the first time since 2023." The Board's headline figures leave out that aid volumes have fallen since early 2026, have not recovered to where they were before the US and Israel-Iran war began in late February, and have never reached the minimum the UN says is needed. Four UN agencies warned in December 2025 that famine, pushed back only weeks earlier through the ceasefire, could rapidly return without sustained access and supplies.
“The plan was supposed to bring relief. Instead, Palestinians in Gaza are still hungry, still cannot reach medical care, and civilians are still being killed,” HRW Middle East deputy director Adam Coogle said in a statement. “Whatever the Board of Peace tells the Security Council, that is what life looks like six months in.”
HRW said that while "commercial trucks have started entering Gaza again in larger numbers," total aid deliveries—which were dramatically curtailed following the launch of the illegal US-Israeli war of choice on Iran—are "far short of what Gaza’s population needs."
Furthermore, "none of Gaza’s 37 hospitals were fully operational, and only 19 were even partially functioning, according to OCHA."
"Over 43,000 people have suffered life-changing injuries, 1 in 4 of them children, and more than 50,000 need long-term rehabilitation care, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates," HRW said. "No rehabilitation facility is fully running. Israeli delays in approving specialized surgical equipment are limiting complex care, and at least 46% of essential medicines are out of stock, according to WHO."
"According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 1,400 patients have died waiting for medical evacuation since the Rafah crossing was seized in May 2024, and over 18,500 patients, including 4,000 children, still await evacuation," the publication reported.
"Israeli restrictions on bringing in generators, engine oil, and spare parts are causing breakdowns across healthcare, sanitation, debris removal, and humanitarian work," HRW said.
"Rodents and insects are spreading across displacement camps, and skin infections and other diseases are on the rise, OCHA reported," the publication noted. "UN agencies and aid groups working on water and sanitation warn that severe shortages of lubricant oil and spare parts are causing generators to fail."
Israeli forces are still killing and wounding humanitarian workers in Gaza.
"As of late April, OCHA had recorded the killing of at least 593 aid workers in Gaza since October 2023, including 8 since the ceasefire," HRW said.
Funding pledges have also fallen far short of what's needed.
"At the Board of Peace’s inaugural meeting in February, 10 Board member states and observers pledged a total of $17 billion for reconstruction against UN estimates of $70 billion needed," HRW said. "As of April, the Board had received less than $1 billion of the pledged amount, with only three contributors having delivered funds, according to Reuters."
“When the Board of Peace briefs the Security Council, members should weigh what they hear against what UN agencies are reporting from the ground,” Coogle said. “No spin can hide the fact that aid is not entering at the needed scale, patients do not have access to adequate medical care, and crossings to Gaza remain limited.”
The HRW report came a day after the UN Human Rights Office urged Israel to prevent further "acts of genocide" in Gaza, while raising concerns about escalating "ethnic cleansing" in the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine.
A panel of UN human rights experts found last year that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice that's now backed by nearly 20 nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and forced starvation. The ICC is also reportedly seeking to arrest Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over the illegal settler colonization and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.
More than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023. Nearly all of the coastal strip's approximately 2.1 million people have also been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened during that period. Through it all, the Biden and Trump administrations have provided Israel with more than $20 billion in armed aid and diplomatic cover, including vetoes of several UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions.
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