LIVE COVERAGE
Whoosh And They're Gone
Well that was fun. In last week's welcome bit of comic relief, we got the vapid rise and rapid fall - despite requisite blonde hair, faux smile and passing resemblance to Ivanka - of "manifestly unqualified" Barbie News Reader and fake Chinese lawyer Katie Zacharia after a brutal debut. So much for MAGA meritocracy. SAD! Zacharia set a new speed record - half a Mooch - in a job akin to Spinal Tap drummer. But the question remains: When will the incompetent male dolts get fired?
While by far not the most substantive Trump blunder, it was one of the most cringeworthy, exposing (again) the profound ineptitude of his shambolic rule just before voters go to the polls to render judgment on it. In less than a week, Zacharia managed to get plucked from right-wing obscurity, be "shoehorned" into a job far beyond her skillset, humiliate herself before millions, go on Fox and stammeringly fail to redeem herself, and get fired by a capricious, perennial loser who got famous fake-firing people on TV and now daily exposes his own clownish unfitness for his job. One astute observer: "I'm starting to think this Donald guy might not have any idea what he's doing."
Born Kate Sharon Black in 1984, Zacharia grew up in California in the "liberal cesspool” of Cambria; she was the conservative “black sheep” of her family "thanks to the great, late Rush Limbaugh, who raised me as a kid on the radio." Describing a clash with woke patrons of her "cardio kickboxing gym," she said the owner once asked her not to wear her "Trump 2024" hat but "I would never take my Trump hat off to appease the left." A Pizzagate, Qanon and Stop the Steal buff, she was a "huge fan of ICE and Border Patrol" who briefly worked for Kristi Noem and a commentator for right-wing TV before being spotted by Trump, maybe because she scheduled her gigs when she thought he'd be watching. Totally normal.
Officials looking to replace Karoline Leavitt had reportedly narrowed down the list of candidates "only to find that (they'd) said something negative about (Trump)," which of course wouldn't do for the fragile toddler. Thus did uber-obsequious, ringlet-bottle-blonde "lizard person" Zacharia take to the podium, blare "Good morning!!" in a sing-songy screech, and stumble through a smiley, halting, inflection-challenged briefing about Trump's "historic one-day war," "attendance at record highs as enthusiastic hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas," a "booming economy....and a, um, he, great relationship...with Venezuela...um, and...my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one..." Not.
After the one question on Ukraine, and the famous, “I’ll have to get back to you on that,” it was over. 14 minutes, or forever in bimbo time. It got worse. The oft-repeated claims of being a lawyer when she’d failed the bar - weirdly, thanks Hannity - and of working in China on “international transaction law” when she was basically a paid intern. The verdict: "A train wreck," "a joke hire," "talk about a public execution," "between the 3rd-grade level reading and the fake attorney in China thing, brutal." Anti-DEI,.scandal-plagued Rick Santorum's glowing review: She was "not even close to the worst." Trump's lazy excuse: "I told her, 'If I were you, I'd reconsider.'" Fox: She's "transitioning" out of the job she held for 14 minutes.
It was a made-for-the-Internet spectacle. The White House declared, "She’ll be remembered as one of the all-time greats." America proclaimed, "She's gonna be a punchline for a very long time." Democratic strategist Mike Nellis clarified, "She wasn't fired because she lied,” a Trump requisite, but because "she was a bad liar." Another requisite: Michael Steele mused no more "blonde white female pronouncing his noise in a way that makes him feel good.” Some selfishly mourned the loss: "Please let her last long enough to hold a second briefing - I need the joy." Some empathized with SNL writers stuck with Friday night rewrites. Some were shocked: "I can't believe her husband, I mean president, fired her."
Though no press secretary really matters because Trump daily lies, veers, makes things up, some speculated on the next one: Scott Jennings, Katie Miller, Melissa McCarthy doing Sean Spicer. The Borowitz Report announced it's George Santos, who was "thrilled...I will bring to this job my experience not only as a lawyer but as a doctor and astronaut.” Also, he was cutting short his reunion tour "with his fellow Beatles." Some noted Zacharia "was press secretary longer than she was a lawyer." Others asserted they'd had blueberries, bananas, takeout and lettuce in their fridge longer than she had her job. Also that the U.K's Liz Truss lasted longer, as did the head of lettuce that often competed with her.
Some mulled Zacharia's future: "Next: memoir and book tour," "Now she can go back to studying for the bar, or at least its cocktail menu," "She is leaving 'to spend more time with my children, who will teach me how to read.'" A guy met her years ago on a cruise ship: She was telling a friend she'd partied the night before and slept in. They told her she'd missed them crossing the equator that morning. She said, "Oh, what did it look like?" Some waxed lyrical: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives." Some lamented inflation: "I remember when you could get a few months of work out of a press secretary. Now they're like those new batteries - they look like they'll last but whoosh and they're gone."
In honor of her historic reign, Wikipedia’s “List Of Humorous Units Of Measurement” was updated to include the “Zacharia,” a “fractional unit of a Scaramucci,” the previous record for Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days as press secretary in Trump's first term. The change prompted heated debate, pained mathematical equations, admiration: "Nobody thought anything could go faster than the speed of Mooch, but here we are." There were questions - Are Mooches a metric system? Would that be 45 centi-Mooches? - and answers: "They convert at a 5/11 ratio." Talk turned existential: "A Scaramucci was a measure of time. A Zacharia is more ethereal, a measure of being, a disconnect between one’s story and one's purpose...Beautiful really."
And there was anger Zacharia got fired but Trump's still here, that the media and GOP have let him "get away with LYING ABOUT EVERY GODDAMNED THING...from 2015 SPOUTING THAT OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE SHIT AND EVERY OTHER FUCKING LIE HE’S TOLD SINCE." And, in the last few months, that half of eight female officials have resigned or been fired, all replaced by men. That consistently inept, unhinged, corrupt, sick idiots like Hegseth, Patel, Lutnick, Goebbels, Vance etc lie, cheat, rave, royally screw up yet keep their jobs. What the fuck. Meanwhile Zacharia, still sketchy, posts altered photos from the Oval Office and declares the guy who threw her under the bus "kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic and hard-working...No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to." Damn, we hope not.
Helpful Press Secretary conversion table.Image from Bluesky
Trump Rule Change Allows for ‘Unintentional’ Killing of Polar Bears by Fossil Fuel Companies
Oil and gas companies will now be permitted to kill polar bears and Pacific walruses off the northern coast of Alaska so long as such killings are "unintentional," according to a new Trump administration rule.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Friday finalized a rule change that would shield fossil fuel companies from legal liability if they engage in the "incidental, unintentional" killing of the animals "during year-round oil and gas industry activities in the Beaufort Sea... and adjacent northern coast of Alaska."
Under the rule change, which is scheduled to last through 2031, the FWS "will issue letters of authorization" that sign off on the incidental killing of wildlife upon request by oil and gas companies.
As noted by a report in Bloomberg Law, the proposed rule change "drew more than 85,500 public comments, nearly all in opposition," before the FWS ultimately signed off on it.
The rule change was a major priority for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, which represents fossil fuel giants and requested the revision in September 2025.
Allowing for the incidental killing of polar bears isn't the only controversial rollback of environmental regulations made by the Trump administration in recent weeks.
In September, The New York Times reported that FWS had gutted a key provision in the Endangered Species Act by arguing that only the intentional killing or wounding of protected species counts as illegal "harm."
Last week, it was revealed that the US Department of the Interior is moving ahead with a plan to let fossil fuel companies conduct specific wintertime operations at the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska without undergoing reviews mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act.
Even though the Trump administration has prioritized the development of domestic fossil fuel production by gutting environmental standards, these policies have not translated into the promised cheaper oil and gas prices, which have spiked over the last half year thanks to the president's illegal war with Iran.
Inflation Hits Highest Level in Months as Costs From Trump's Illegal War Eat Workers' Paychecks
Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed inflation grew faster than expected in September, driven in large part by costs related to President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran.
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed overall prices in September posted a yearly increase of 3.7%, marking the biggest rise in prices since May.
The main drivers of inflation in September were related to energy, which has surged in cost since Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year in retaliation for Trump's unlawful attack in February.
Energy prices increased by an annual rate of 20% in September, with the price of gasoline growing by an annual rate of 34% and the price of fuel oil growing by an annual rate of 74%.
University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers noted in a Wednesday social media post that average wages are not keeping up with the rate of inflation, meaning workers have seen their purchasing power decrease.
"Real wages are falling," Wolfers wrote, "and have been falling for months."
Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and who served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Joe Biden, said the September data showed that "working families are getting squeezed on both sides (wage, price) of the affordability crunch," as workers' inflation-adjusted earnings are now back to where they were at the start of Trump's second term.
Bernstein's observations were echoed by Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, who pointed out that "inflation has nearly wiped out all wage gains since January 2025."
"This is a very different picture from President Trump's first term when wages were up over 15%, well above about 8% inflation," Long added. "It helps explain the frustration many households feel right now with the economy."
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said that accelerating inflation was yet another sign of Republicans' governing failures.
"Trump and Republicans have no answer for rising inflation caused by soaring gas prices and the war in Iran," Kim wrote. "They're more focused on enriching Trump and his friends and family. This is why we're fighting to take back Congress so we can end the war and bring prices down for you and your family."
Alex Jacquez, senior vice president of policy, advocacy, and research at Groundwork Collaborative, said the CPI report shows why "Americans have lost faith in Trump’s economy."
"The president has repeatedly made promises he can’t keep," Jacquez said, "and despite the band-aid attempts from the White House, there is a gaping hole in our economy just weeks from the midterms. Between the president’s war in Iran and reckless tariffs, his economy is on life support."
Alberta Secession Effort by Trump's Right-Wing Canadian Allies Goes Down in Flames
The leader of the movement that opposed separatists' efforts to achieve independence for the Canadian province of Alberta said Monday night that voters' resounding rejection of the secession push would "send a very strong message to the rest of the world," after Trump administration officials backed the effort.
"Don’t mess with Canada," said Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who led the Forever Canadian campaign.
With more than 1.8 million votes counted Tuesday morning, 75.7% of Alberta voters had supported remaining in Canada with no further referendum. Just over 24% voted in favor of holding a second referendum on separating from the country, which would have been binding.
Separatist leaders, many of whom came to prominence after leading protests against public health precautions during the coronavirus pandemic, were welcomed to meetings at the US State Department in recent months, where they sought advice on their "Let Alberta Decide" campaign from Republican operatives. The meetings, said British Columbia premier David Eby, amounted to "treason."
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed support for the separatist movement, which does not have a central leader but is backed by groups in Alberta including the Alberta Prosperity Project and Stay Free Alberta.
Bessent said in January that the province, which holds the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves, could be “a natural partner for the US."
"I think we should let them come down into the US," Bessent told right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec. "They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people... Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific."
Former Trump administration adviser and Republican megadonor Elon Musk also said on social media this month that Alberta "should separate" from Canada.
The referendum came as President Donald Trump has threatened to take over Canada and make it "the 51st state," accusing the Canadian government of treating the US "very badly." He has imposed 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian imports, setting off a trade war.
Separatists in Alberta, whose views have long been in the minority, have complained that the province "sends $20 billion more to Ottawa every year than it gets back," and fumed over any environmental policies that threaten Alberta’s oil industry, one of the most polluting in the world.
Canceled oil pipelines, a bill banning oil tankers from stopping and unloading at ports on British Columbia's coast, and an emissions cap have been decried as evidence that the federal government has treated Alberta as "a colony," as one separatist told The Associated Press Monday—despite the fact that the emissions cap was dropped for the province's oil and gas sector last year.
“They want to take and take and take from us, and not return anything," Dustin Degenhardt said while voting.
Danielle Smith, the leader of the United Conservative Party and the premier of Alberta, said she supported the province remaining in the country and applauded the vote results.
But at a recent online forum, Smith outlined the concerns of separatists, saying families face growing affordability struggles and asserting the province has been forced to provide hundreds of thousands of immigrants whom the federal government has resettled there.
A report released in June by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce found that seceding from Canada would shrink Alberta's economy by $62 billion per year.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said after the vote Monday night that the decision by a large majority of voters was "a great result for Canada."
"Albertans have chosen unity," said Carney. "They've chosen to build together. They've chosen to continue to take care of each other, to move forward together."
Podcast host Laura Babcock said Tuesday that "the separatists and Trump lost. Canada won."
'Blatant Hypocrisy': Trump Signs Executive Order on Women’s Health—While Attacking Women's Health
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to promote women's health. But advocates say it's an example of "blatant hypocrisy" after his administration slashed healthcare access and medical research funding.
The initiative, promoted by First Lady Melania Trump, establishes a new Women's Health Division within the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a White House task force to advance research into conditions disproportionately affecting women, like heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and endometriosis.
During a speech on Monday, Trump said the task force "will mobilize the entire federal government to coordinate action focused on improving women's health." He added that it would be led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he said "has been fantastic" even though he’s "a little different."
Critics were quick to point out that the order doesn’t provide any new research funding and that the Trump administration has canceled nearly half a billion dollars in NIH research funding, some of which supported research into the very diseases the order mentions.
Following years of growth in women's health research, a Washington Post analysis found that under Kennedy, the number of competitively funded NIH research projects mentioning women fell by 31% in 2025, amid the administration's crusade against so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
In April, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)—who faces a tough reelection campaign—criticized these cuts, saying that "the administration's emphasis on canceling diversity-related grants has resulted in less research aimed at women's health."
The new order also revokes two Biden-era directives on women's health research, which had helped secure nearly $1 billion in funding. Trump's order provides no additional research funding. It also does not specify what will happen to the existing funds.
"Women’s health has long been ignored as a federal priority, and while we agree that steps must be taken to close disparities in women’s healthcare, it’s hard not to point out the blatant hypocrisy of this unfunded order coming from an administration that is actively decimating healthcare access for women," said Dorianne Mason, senior director of health equity and contraceptive access at the National Women's Law Center (NWLC).
"From the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s cuts to Medicaid and the defunding of Planned Parenthood, to gutting the federal Office of Minority Health and slashing funding for women’s health research, this administration has made it clear that it doesn’t actually care about women’s healthcare needs, despite what this weak executive order attempts to convey," she added.
Last year, Trump signed a GOP budget law that cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid—a program that finances maternity care, reproductive healthcare, as well as routine health services for around 39 million low-income women.
Under Kennedy, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has rescinded federal guidance protecting emergency abortion access and launched a medical review that could restrict access to abortion pills.
“With RFK Jr. at the HHS helm, millions of women are paying more for healthcare and have less access to services they need,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care. “Secretary Kennedy has tried to scrap any research grant or program that dares to fix women’s health disparities—and disproportionately fired women doctors and career scientists en masse. He’s fought tooth and nail to restrict access to abortion medication even when the lives and health of women depend on it, including patients dealing with a horrific ectopic pregnancy."
Polls show that Trump and Republicans are performing dismally among women. According to a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, just 30% of women said they approved of Trump’s job performance, and 61% wanted Democrats to control Congress.
Noting that the midterm elections were just weeks away, Mason said Trump's announcement of a women's health initiative "is an attempt to change the headlines, not women’s lives.”
Israeli Strike Burns Gaza Mother Alive in Front of Toddler, 'Without Generating Any Headlines'
A Palestinian toddler watched, screaming in horror, as her mother was burned alive in an Israeli airstrike on their Gaza City home early Wednesday that left the wounded girl orphaned—and received almost no coverage in US corporate media.
Reem Asaad Awad was killed when an Israeli helicopter attacked her family's apartment in the Rimal neighborhood at approximately 3:48 am local time Wednesday, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported.
Trapped inside the burning apartment was Awad's daughter, Maryam Ahmed Ghanem, whose age has been reported as between 2 and 4 years old. Prominent Palestinian author Mosab Abu Toha said family friends confirmed the child was born in February 2024.
Palestinian journalist Ali al-Jaafrawi witnessed and recorded the immediate aftermath of the strike.
"There are children are screaming alive inside," al-Jaafrawi is heard saying as he approached the building.
"I went up to the apartment. There were flames everywhere," al-Jaafrawi told Al Jazeera. "I went in despite the fire and smoke and heard a little girl screaming inside. I went in, found her, and rescued her immediately. I carried her and handed her to people so they could take her to hospital."
"I went back to rescue others and to document what happened, but I suffocated and lost consciousness because of the thick smoke," he added. "I saw a woman on fire inside the apartment."
Photos and video recordings show Ghanem being treated for injuries, including burns, at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which is struggling to operate after much of the facility was destroyed or damaged by Israeli forces, who besieged and raided the complex multiple times since October 2023.
Abu Toha, who saw Ghanem in the hospital, said the child "kept repeating the same heartbreaking words: 'I want my mum. My body hurts. There was a lot of fire.'"
Ghanem—whose father, Ahmad Ghanem, was reportedly killed by Israeli forces early in their genocidal assault—has joined the ranks of the more than 56,000 Gaza children who have lost at least one of their parents in the war, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.
"Reem and Ahmad had waited four years to conceive Maryam," Abu Toha wrote. "Four years of waiting and hoping to bring a child into this world. Ahmad never lived to see his daughter’s face. Reem lived long enough to watch her little girl grow for two-and-a-half years before she was burned alive in front of her. Now Maryam is an orphan, fighting to survive her horrific burns."
Ghanem's grandfather told Middle East Eye that the child and her mother "did nothing wrong."
"They were sleeping quietly at night," he said. "There was no one in the apartment except the two of them."
Israel said it is investigating the strike, which it claimed—without providing evidence—targeted a member of Hamas.
Dismissing a nominal yearlong ceasefire during which at least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 others wounded by Israeli attacks, the grandfather said that "honestly, there is no security."
"I fear for my family," he added. "All people are afraid, not just me. There is still assassination, war, hunger, poverty, and destruction... Nothing has changed."
The horrific footage of the strike's fiery aftermath evoked imagery from earlier in Israel's onslaught, including video of a 7-year-old girl trying to escape an inferno caused by bombing that killed dozens of Palestinians—among them her mother and siblings—and a teenager photographed burning alive after Israeli forces bombed a tent encampment.
Some observers noted the almost complete absence of US media reporting on the story, with the apparent exception of CBS News, which published video of the burning apartment in a Facebook Reel.
"This little girl watched her mother be burned alive in Gaza. If she was Israeli, this image would be front-page news. But Israel can kill Palestinians in the most horrific ways without generating any headlines," US historian, author, and political analyst Assal Rad said on social media.
"Video has been circulating all day; you can hear the little girl cry and see her engulfed in smoke," Rad said in a separate post. "I can’t find headlines in Western media *because* the story is horrific. They want you to forget."
The Washington, DC-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement calling on members of Congress "to condemn Israel for burning a Palestinian mother alive while her daughter watched in Gaza."
“The horrific video of a little girl surrounded by fire as her mother burns to death in their home exemplifies the reality of Israel’s genocide in Gaza," CAIR said. "We cannot comprehend how any political leader with a conscience could continue to fund the sheer cruelty of the Israeli government and the war criminals who carry out its orders."
"Members of Congress must condemn this atrocity and demand an immediate end to all US support for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza," the group added.
The US has provided Israel with tens of billions of dollars in armed aid, as well as diplomatic cover, including repeated vetoes of a series of United Nations Security Council ceasefire resolutions, throughout the three-year annihilation of Gaza, which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead or wounded.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, weighed in on the attack on Bluesky.
"I have reached the limits of my ability to put words to pure evil," he wrote. "Once again, Israel burned another family in Gaza alive. But the image of the... daughter in the family watching the rest of her family die in the flames will haunt me for the rest of my life."
"But," Parsi added, "will it haunt Israel?"
‘This Is Dangerous’: Alarm as Trump FCC Chair Threatens Broadcasters Over Poll Coverage
"We are sliding into a dictatorship," said one critic.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday threatened broadcasters that cover what he described as "fake polls," which he said hurt "voter turnout and enthusiasm."
In a social media post, Carr attacked news outlets for "amplifying or airing these polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics and without informing the public that those polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis."
Carr did not provide a single specific example of a "fake" opinion poll, nor did he name a broadcaster who has promoted one. President Donald Trump, who nominated Carr to head the FCC, has repeatedly decried polls as "fake" as they've shown his approval ratings at record lows.
Later in the post, Carr hinted that the FCC would take direct action against broadcasters for informing their viewers about opinion polls.
"The FCC takes these issues seriously," said Carr. "Broadcasters are prohibited by the terms of their federal licenses from engaging in news distortion or promoting broadcast hoaxes. It is important that broadcasters comply with their public interest obligations."
Carr's post drew a swift rebuke from Democratic FCC commissioner Anna Gomez.
"Pollsters who intentionally mislead the public should answer for it," wrote Gomez, "but broadcasters who report publicly available polling data should never be punished when a poll is wrong. FCC rules on news distortion or hoaxes do not apply to a station that reports this data in good faith."
Steve Herman, former White House bureau chief at Voice of America, wrote in a social media post that Carr's assertions about "news distortion" are "stretching specific regulations far beyond their legal definitions," as "the FCC can't mandate how a broadcaster contextualizes a poll."
"The FCC threatening broadcasters for airing specific political data is a chilling content-based restriction on speech," Herman added, "which federal courts subject to extreme judicial review and the commission would almost certainly lose such cases, according to First Amendment scholars."
Former TV meteorologist Chris Gloninger predicted that Carr's post would have a chilling effect on local news stations.
"Holy shit, this is dangerous," Gloninger wrote. "Two weeks before an election, the FCC chair is threatening broadcaster licenses over polls he calls 'fake.' No GM will risk that, so polls vanish."
Mark Jacob, former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, called Carr "anti-free-speech" for "threatening to punish news outlets that publish polls showing Trump's deep unpopularity."
"We are sliding into a dictatorship," Jacob said, "and it would be helpful if major media would do their duty and warn the public."
Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief at All Rise News, described Carr as the president's "censorship czar" who is warning news outlets against "the dissemination of data disfavored by the state."
Princeton historian Kevin Kruse argued Carr's threats warranted his impeachment and removal from office.
"The president shouting 'fake news' is bad enough," wrote Kruse, "but the FCC commissioner threatening to punish broadcasters for promoting 'fake news' like 'the president is historically unpopular' is so much worse."
Carr's post drew ridicule from Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko, who informed the FCC chair that "it’s not illegal to tell the American people that Trump is a failed president."
Max Steele, senior director of communications at gun safety advocacy organization Everytown, similarly ridiculed Carr.
"It is ILLEGAL to say the brave and smart President Trump is at historic polling lows!!!" he wrote sarcastically.
'Palestinians Face Far Worse Consequences Every Day,' Says Brad Lander After Release From IDF Custody
"These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes," said the US congressional candidate.
Democratic US congressional candidate Brad Lander said Wednesday that he was released by Israeli forces with a "warning" after he and dozens of others were detained while helping Palestinians harvest olives in the illegally occupied West Bank.
"Several dozen rabbis and participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention," Lander, who is Jewish, wrote on social media. "They should all be released immediately. To be clear: Palestinians face far worse consequences every day. These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes."
Prior to his release, Lander posted a video from a bus that he said was "taking us away for processing" after settler security called the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the group harvesting olives.
"Let's be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law," said Lander, who is running to represent New York's 10th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. "Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law."
I’ve been released from IDF custody with a “warning,” apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee).But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention.
[image or embed]
— Brad Lander (@bradlander.bsky.social) 9:34 AM · Oct 21, 2026
Lander was part of a group of around 80 American and Israeli rabbis and activists who were detained by the IDF on Wednesday as they helped Palestinians harvest olives from a grove near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Israeli lawyers told NPR that the incident marked "the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade."
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the US-based advocacy group J Street, said in response to the detentions that "when the government of Israel and its military and law enforcement are arresting rabbis and volunteers who have journeyed 6000 miles to protect Palestinian farmers harvesting olives and not the violent terrorists harassing and attacking the farmers—it tells you all you need to know about this government's moral compass."
"This illegal and immoral occupation must end," he added.
The mass detention came after several recent instances of horrific Israeli settler violence against Palestinian olive harvesters, European diplomats, and an American journalist.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement earlier this week that "Israel’s apartheid system is turning the olive harvest into a season of horror for Palestinian families across the occupied West Bank."
“States must recognize that settler attacks are not isolated acts, but a central policy of the Israeli state," said Morayef, calling on nations to "take concrete measures to respect their obligations under international law and to avoid complicity in Israeli violations and crimes against Palestinians by halting all trade, investment, and cooperation that contribute to maintaining the unlawful occupation, apartheid, and the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing."
"Hiding behind empty rhetoric is not only cowardly, it is enabling further abuses," she added. "For Palestinians, it continues to be deadly.”
1.5 Million Latinos Lost Food Aid Since Trump Passed Tax Giveaway for the Rich: Analysis
“As is so often the case, working families and communities of color bear the brunt of Trump’s economic policies."
An analysis published Tuesday estimates that 1.5 million US Latinos have lost access to federal food assistance since the passage of President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the latest of numerous indicators of how the law's evisceration of the social safety net is hitting working-class families while delivering enormous benefits to the wealthy.
The analysis by Unrig Our Economy and Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that in seven states alone—Texas, Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nebraska, and Iowa—771,687 Latinos have lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits since July 2025, when Trump signed the sweeping budget reconciliation package into law. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) contains the biggest cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in those programs' histories.
According to the analysis, Texas alone accounts for more than half of those losses, with an estimated 396,164 Latino residents losing food assistance, while Arizona has lost another 200,124 and New York has lost 92,816.
“The Republican tax law took food assistance away from more than 1.5 million Latinos to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations,” Leor Tal, campaign director for Unrig Our Economy, said in a statement. “Families are already struggling with the high cost of groceries and gas thanks to the war in Iran and tariffs. SNAP cuts make it even harder for Latino families—who are disproportionately impacted—to put food on the table.”
More broadly, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated earlier this year that SNAP enrollment fell by more than 5 million people between July 2025 and June 2026, while more than 1.5 million children lost assistance.
The OBBBA contains new SNAP qualification requirements for people experiencing homelessness, veterans, former foster youth, and older adults. The Trump administration says the new rules are meant to ensure that only the truly needy receive benefits. However, the more stringent requirements are harming some of the most vulnerable people, as compliance procedures have proved to be an exclusionary barrier to qualified aid applicants.
The SNAP cuts have fueled what the New York Federal Reserve Bank in May called a “remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among lower-educated and lower-income households and households with young children.”
“The results are in: Trump and his GOP allies in Congress cut critical nutrition assistance that helps millions of Latinos and working people across the country meet their basic needs—all to deliver historic tax giveaways to billionaires and business elites,” said Jodie Rubenstein, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness.
“As is so often the case, working families and communities of color bear the brunt of Trump’s economic policies," Rubenstein added. "We cannot allow billionaire wealth to grow unchecked while communities go hungry.”
'Go Vote': Poll Shows 70% of US Voters Doubt Trump Will Accept GOP Walloping in Midterms
"Too many Americans fought and died for democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism will not prevail," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "We WILL win this election whether Trump likes it or not."
Seven in 10 Americans doubt President Donald Trump would accept the results of next month's midterm elections if Republicans suffer major losses, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Tuesday that spurred one progressive senator to implore people to get out and vote.
The poll, conducted October 9-13 among 2,545 US adults, found that just 28% were very or somewhat confident that Trump would accept the election results if Republicans lose, while 70% were not confident. Half of respondents said they were "not at all" confident he would accept a decisive GOP defeat.
While an overwhelming majority of Democratic respondents— 94%—and 77% of independents doubted Trump would accept a Republican midterm loss, 36% of Republicans also expressed doubts. Among Republicans, 63% said they were confident Trump would accept the results, although only a quarter were very confident.
Sixty-one percent of respondents also said they believe Trump is not committed to ensuring free and fair elections, up from 56% last year.
Still, the new polling suggests that confidence in Trump's willingness to respect electoral outcomes is substantially weaker than confidence in the voting process itself, as about 6 in 10 respondents said they were confident the midterms would be conducted fairly and accurately, while 65% said they believed that votes would be correctly counted.
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) responded to the poll in a social media post urging Americans to vote in order to thwart Trump's attacks on democracy.
"Too many Americans fought and died for democracy," Sanders asserted. "Trump’s authoritarianism will not prevail. Go vote. We WILL win this election whether Trump likes it or not."
The poll's findings come as Democrats seek to regain control of Congress, and Trump continues to promote baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, which his own administration's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called “the most secure in American history.”
According to the poll, Democrats are leading Republicans by eight percentage points among likely voters in congressional races, 52% to 44%. Trump has continued campaigning for Republican candidates as his approval ratings have tanked amid dissatisfaction over the economy and the illegal US-Israeli war of choice against Iran.
Trump campaigned on promises to tackle the affordability crisis and not wage new wars. As of last month, the benchmark consumer price index has soared by nearly 30% since Biden's administration, while Trump has ordered military attacks against 10 countries during his two terms—more than any president in modern history.
'Just a Flat-Out Lie': Collins Says She Couldn't Have Known Kavanaugh Would Vote to Overturn Roe v. Wade
"This is just another flimsy attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions," said a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes Maine.
As she faces a tough reelection fight in Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins is twisting the facts about her role in laying the groundwork for the US Supreme Court's overturning of abortion rights.
Throughout the campaign, Collins has been dogged by questions about her fateful decision in 2018 to cast a key vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the court. In 2022, he joined the court's conservative majority to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent, allowing states to impose severe new bans and restrictions on abortion.
In June, Collins—who has described herself as pro-choice—said she did "not regret" her vote to confirm Kavanaugh, falsely claiming that Roe was overturned by a 6-3 margin and was therefore doomed regardless of her vote. In fact, the precedent was overturned by a 5-4 margin, meaning Kavanaugh's vote proved decisive.
Now in a dead heat race with Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, who has repeatedly hammered her on abortion rights, Collins has continued to defend her confirmation vote. She's also kept fudging the truth.
“I’m very disappointed in his vote to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Collins said of Kavanaugh during an interview published Monday by Maine ABC affiliate WMTW. “There was no way for me to anticipate that.”
Collins had, in fact, been warned that Kavanaugh might overturn Roe v. Wade. In her October 5, 2018, speech supporting his confirmation, she explicitly acknowledged “the concern that Judge Kavanaugh would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade” and noted that President Donald Trump had pledged to nominate judges who would do so.
Reproductive freedom advocates cautioned her that Kavanaugh was not being truthful when he said he considered Roe to be settled precedent, citing his history of ruling against abortion access and praising former Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s dissent in Roe.
But Collins dismissed these advocates' warnings, arguing that Republican-appointed Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, and Anthony Kennedy had voted to reaffirm Roe despite opposition to some of their nominations from abortion rights groups. “Suffice it to say, prominent advocacy organizations have been wrong,” Collins said.
In this case, they were not. Lisa Margulies, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes in Maine, said it was dishonest of Collins to plead innocence.
"It’s just a flat-out lie that Susan Collins had ‘no way’ of knowing Brett Kavanaugh would overturn our federal right to abortion," she said. "Mainers drove down to DC and begged her not to confirm him. They knew he was a direct threat to abortion, and so did Susan Collins."
"This is just another flimsy attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions," Margulies said. "Enough is enough. Mainers deserve better than a senator who will throw their rights under the bus and then refuse to acknowledge the harm done."
'Consumers Are Feeling Spooked': Trump's Failed Economic Policies Send Price of Halloween Candy Soaring
"Trick-or-treaters will have to make due with miniature candy bars this year to accommodate Trump’s king-size price hikes."
President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran and his global tariffs have tag-teamed to jack up the price of Halloween candy, according to a report published Tuesday.
The new analysis by Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation finds that the price of popular Halloween candy has increased by more than 15% during the last year, which is several times the overall rate of inflation over the same period.
The biggest jump in price came from candy maker Mondelez, whose sour gummy candy variety pack saw its price shoot up by more than 39% in the last year.
Other notable price hikes included the Hershey variety pack, which increased by nearly 20%; the Ferrero chocolate pack, which increased by 19%; the Mars chocolate variety pack, which increased by over 13%; and Tootsie seasonal lollipops, which increased by over 7%.
The report notes that Trump's illegal Iran War and his aluminum tariffs have had an impact on candy prices by driving up packaging costs for sweets.
However, the report also points the finger at the candy companies, which have continued to raise prices even after receiving a tariff exemption for cocoa and getting refunds for illegal tariffs Trump charged them last year.
"Hershey’s profit margin jumped 50% year over year, helped by pocketing a $9 million tariff refund that never made its way back to shoppers," the report notes, "while Mondelez saw a similar 30% bump in margins."
Kyle K. Moore, chief economist at The Century Foundation, said that Trump's policies had helped turn "a fun family tradition into another terrifying bill."
"With debt and high prices eating into families’ Halloween budgets," said Moore, "it's no wonder consumers are feeling spooked."
Elizabeth Pancotti, vice president of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, pointed out that consumer sentiment recently hit record lows, as Americans are also struggling with the rising costs of gasoline and groceries.
"Trick-or-treaters will have to make due with miniature candy bars this year to accommodate Trump’s king-size price hikes," Pancotti said.
A Sunday report in The Cleveland Plain Dealer highlighted an additional reason for the high price of Halloween candy: The price of sugar, which has been affected by "poor weather and weaker production forecasts in several major sugar-producing regions."
A survey released earlier this month by Lending Tree found that Americans expect to spend significantly less on Halloween overall this year, with 23% saying they plan to buy fewer overall Halloween items compared to a year ago, while 24% said they expected to go into debt while celebrating the holiday.
Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics last week showed inflation in September rising to its fastest level in six months, driven in large part by costs related to the Iran War.
'Pathetic Excuse for a Man': Ramaswamy Slammed Over Ad Featuring Acton’s Estranged Mother in Ohio
Acton's brother said the ad was a "despicable low," noting that their mother stood by their stepfather after he was charged with raping Acton at the age of 12.
With just two weeks left until Election Day, Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is drawing criticism from across the political spectrum over a vicious attack video featuring his Democratic opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother, whom she has accused of abandoning her after she was sexually abused as a child.
The 60-second video, which surfaced on social media Monday and was amplified by conservative accounts, features Donna Arthur, Acton’s biological mother, urging Ohioans to vote against Acton and accusing her of lying about experiencing homelessness and living in a tent during her childhood.
"I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar," Arthur said. "She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She's lied her entire life."
After the ad went viral on social media, Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, accused Ramaswamy of sinking to "a despicable low." In a statement Tuesday, he noted that "after he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died."
Stearns called the ad an "attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point."
It remains unclear who produced the ad, which contains no sponsorship disclosure indicating whether Ramaswamy's campaign or a supporting political action committee was behind it. Acton's campaign, however, has blamed her opponent.
Ramaswamy's political allies have previously attacked Acton over therapy she received following the abuse. Ramaswamy himself drew criticism in April after claiming that his opponent had no vision for Ohio "other than to complain about what someone else did to her."
“This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core,” Stearns said, describing him as “a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”
Though President Donald Trump won Ohio by double digits in 2024, several recent polls show Acton with a substantial lead over Ramaswamy, a staunch ally of the president.
In a statement to HuffPost, the Ramaswamy campaign did not take credit for the ad, but defended its substance.
"We don't know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor," said Connie Luck, a spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign.
She added: “Everyone who knows [Acton] best—her former boss, her former state colleagues, her fellow physicians, and now her own mother—are clearly warning Ohioans not to vote for her. Ohioans deserve to know that.”
Acton has spoken on the campaign trail about the hardships she experienced as a child and has made them central to her pledge to make life more affordable for struggling Ohio families.
"I know what it feels like to go hungry, to not have enough," Acton said during an interview in August. "My brother and I actually were in a tent in the middle of winter growing up, so these problems are real to me."
She spoke about these experiences long before she ran for governor. In a 2019 profile by The Youngstown Vindicator, Acton—then serving as the director of Ohio's health department under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine—recounted a childhood marked by poverty, neglect, and abuse.
By age 12, she said, she and her brother, Stearns, had lived in roughly 18 different homes. She said her stepfather had already faced molestation allegations when her mother married him—a claim confirmed by newspaper reports and court records from the time. She said her family was living in a tent at a campground outside Youngstown in the winter when her stepfather raped her.
After charges were filed, Acton and her brother went to live with their biological father and his relatives, who had been granted custody. She recalled trying to kiss her mother goodbye at the courthouse, only for her mother to turn her cheek away.
"That was the last time I ever saw her," Acton said. According to the profile, her mother and stepfather subsequently fled town while he was out of jail on bond.
The attack on Acton has drawn bipartisan outrage.
Ohio state Rep. Allison Russo (D-7), who is running for secretary of state, described the ad as "among the most vile political attacks I’ve ever seen."
"Millions of adults from all walks of life are estranged from a parent, often because of childhood abuse and trauma that are far too common in our society," she said. "Exploiting that deeply personal pain for political gain is cruel, shameful, and deserving of unequivocal condemnation."
US Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) agreed that it was “one of the most despicable things I’ve ever seen in politics.”
"He’s arguably the most unlikable person in the history of people… because of stuff like this," he said of Ramaswamy. "By the end of the day, Ohioans will learn what happened to Amy as a 12-year-old girl, how her mother lost custody of Amy as a result, and what a disgrace Vivek is for pulling this."
Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.), who previously prosecuted child sexual assault cases, said that Arthur’s defense of her late husband despite her daughter’s assault allegation is something he has witnessed “too frequently.”
"A child victim discloses the abuse by a stepdad or mom’s boyfriend, and mom takes the abuser’s side because she can’t bear to think that she had exposed her own child to a monster," he said. "Mom is protecting mom—not the child."
He added that "Ramaswamy has embraced the Trumpian role of taking the side of the predator."
While right-wing influencers, including Donald Trump Jr., amplified the ad and treated it as a “bombshell” October surprise that could upend Acton’s campaign, some conservatives also expressed dismay.
GOP strategist Liz Mair called the ad "terrible" and said it is "going to remind people of that one family member who hates them for no rational reason at all and make them feel sympathetic towards Acton."
“In brief, it pushed me towards Acton, not away from her,” Mair continued. “And this is genuinely the only thing I’ve seen or read about Acton to make me think anything positive of her."
"It seems crazy to me [that] one would assume this would work and not backfire," said conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham. "An estranged mom from a rough childhood going straight to camera to trash her daughter as a trustworthy messenger?"
Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney predicted bluntly that "This ad could sink Vivek."
ADL, Creator of Infamous ‘Mamdani Monitor,’ Won't Even Say Trump's Name After Antisemitic Slur
The statement exposed the ADL as "a deeply unserious organization that has drifted far away from its stated mission, and one that has lost all credibility," said one critic.
A brief statement from the Anti-Defamation League sharing the history of the antisemitic term "shylock," made a day after President Donald Trump used the slur at a campaign rally, illustrated "two paths for American Jews," according to Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg.
"Throw in to fight for multiracial pluralistic democracy or seek junior partner status in the MAGA coalition," said Greenberg, who is Jewish. "This is where the latter path leads."
The ADL was founded in 1913 to protect Jewish people from antisemitic attacks, but has focused heavily on promoting the United States' support of Israel and conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel's violent treatment of Palestinians.
Considering the ADL's roots, Greenberg was among several observers who noticed that the group's response to Trump's recent comment on US Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) failed to mention the president by name.
Trump used the term to defend Marshall, a doctor, from criticism over his suing of more than 700 patients for their unpaid medical bills.
Marshall's opponents had portrayed him as “some kind of a Shylock-type guy,” said the president, who has used the term before. The word comes from the name of a Jewish moneylender in the William Shakespeare play "The Merchant of Venice," and has been used as an anti-Jewish slur indicating greediness and unfair lending practices.
In response to Trump's comments, the ADL wrote on social media that the term "is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype. Regardless of intent, its use can reinforce harmful tropes about Jews and normalize language that has long been used to target the Jewish community."
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy (CIP), called the ADL's response "meek and endangering response" that contrasted sharply with the ADL's treatment of progressive lawmakers who condemn Israel.
The ADL's focus on anti-Israel criticism has become especially pronounced in recent years, as Americans' sympathies have turned toward Palestinians and away from Israel's US-backed government and military, which has waged war on the entire population of Gaza since October 2023 and is pushing to violently force Palestinians out of the illegally occupied West Bank.
The group, led by CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, has been incensed by student-led protests demanding an end to US military support for Israel by the electoral victories and campaigns of numerous Palestinian rights supporters, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Last year, the ADL saw fit to launch a "Mamdani Monitor" aimed at tracking the popular progressive mayor's supposedly "antisemitic" policies. The monitor has highlighted Mamdani's revocation of New York City's recognition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, which has been rejected by dozens of Jewish historians and Holocaust experts who say it conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel.
If a Democrat used the term Trump did, said Matt Duss, executive vice president at CIP, "Jonathan Greenblatt would be knocking people over to get in front of a camera to condemn them by name, but it was Trump so it’s just a general public service announcement."
The statement exposed the ADL as "a deeply unserious organization that has drifted far away from its stated mission, and one that has lost all credibility," said Adam Carlson of Zenith Polls.
The group has previously come to the defense of Republican megadonor and Trump adviser Elon Musk, a vehement supporter of Israel, when he made what appeared to be a "Sieg Heil" Nazi salute at a Trump inaugural event. Greenblatt said the apparent salute was simply an "awkward gesture."
"The ADL is apparently too busy chasing down college students with 'Free Palestine' stickers," said Tariq Kenney-Shawa of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, "to worry about the president of the United States casually dropping some medieval-age antisemitism at a campaign rally."
Rights Group Says Polling Places Should Be 'No ICE' Zones During Midterm Elections
"Voters should not have to fear being caught in an ICE dragnet when they head to the polls.”
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for the establishment of “No ICE” zones around polling places, early voting locations, and ballot drop boxes ahead of next month's midterm elections, warning that the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could deter eligible Americans from exercising their right to vote.
“ICE officers’ abuses have already seriously affected US citizens who have been stopped, beaten, detained, deported, and even killed,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Philippe Bolopion said in a statement. “Voters should not have to fear being caught in an ICE dragnet when they head to the polls.”
As HRW noted:
Federal law generally prohibits federal officials from sending “troops or armed men” to voting sites. Several state laws prohibit any armed officers, including police, from engaging in acts that could interfere with the elections or intimidate voters by their presence near polling places. Some states bar law enforcement officers, including police, from being in close proximity to polling places at all unless they are responding to a specific incident.
Despite these robust prohibitions, neither President Donald Trump nor the heads of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been willing to rule out the possibility that federal agents, including ICE, may be at places where people vote.
While Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, have indicated there are no plans to deploy ICE agents to polling stations, many voters—especially nonwhite ones—are nonetheless wary amid mixed signals and an often violent, and sometimes deadly, anti-immigrant crackdown that's harmed both immigrants and citizens.
In a survey released last month by the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections at the University of California, San Diego School of Social Sciences, 40% of respondents said they expected some kind of ICE presence at polling places, with nonwhite respondents even more likely to anticipate seeing immigration enforcers where they vote.
Critics point to Trump's efforts to cast doubt on the integrity of US voting, as well as the push by some of the president's allies for a martial law declaration, as cause for alarm. Trump has repeatedly promoted unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud and noncitizen voting—even after his own administration's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.”
The president's "Big Lie" that Democrats stole that election fueled the deadly January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, while sowing doubt in the minds of right-wing voters, 82% of whom believe that the biggest problem in the nation’s elections is “ineligible people casting votes,” according to a Public Religion Research Institute survey released Tuesday.
HRW noted that three lawsuits are pending in federal courts to prevent ICE from conducting operations at polling places, with an additional case seeking to compel the federal government to disclose any plans for such deployments. Additionally, the Washington, DC Board of Elections recently asked the National Guard to limit troops' presence near midterm drop box locations after Guard members were spotted near one such box in Foggy Bottom.
“ICE agents should be publicly ordered to stay away from the polls, and anywhere ballots are being cast,” Bolopion said.
Private Medicaid Contractors Set to Cash In as Trump-GOP Cuts Take Care From Millions
"It’s plain wrong for these companies to boost their profits by kicking people off their healthcare."
As millions of Americans lose Medicaid coverage due to the unparalleled cuts that President Donald Trump signed into law last year, large private contractors are poised to make a financial killing as states move to implement draconian new work reporting requirements that are already wreaking havoc in several states.
A report published Tuesday by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee warns that "a small handful of companies—some whose technology has a history of grievous errors—will be in charge of implementing historically harsh Medicaid work reporting requirements that never should have been enacted in the first place." The report spotlights five firms that hold contracts with states for Medicaid eligibility and enrollment work: Maximus, Gainwell, General Dynamics Information Technology, Conduent, and Deloitte.
"This investigation began by asking contractors a series of questions to determine whether they are up to the task of implementing Medicaid work reporting requirements on behalf of states, and the committee’s interim findings show that we cannot conclude they are," the report states. "The companies who stand to profit from new Medicaid work reporting requirements evaded hard questions about past performance, current process, and the potential for errors that cause widespread harm."
The Democrats' report comes as states are rushing to implement the new Medicaid work reporting requirements ahead of the January 1, 2027 deadline. The mandates require certain Medicaid recipients to document at least 80 hours per month of work or other qualifying activities—or lose coverage.
As KFF Health News reported earlier this year, state governments rely on private firms to "design and operate computer systems that assess whether low-income people qualify for Medicaid."
"Those state systems have a history of errors that can cut off benefits to eligible people," the outlet added, pointing to its 2024 investigation of Deloitte, which holds Medicaid-related contracts in at least 25 states.
States are paying Deloitte and other for-profit firms millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to help their governments comply with the new federal Medicaid rules, which could strip coverage from more than 10 million people by 2028.
None of the five vendors that Senate Democrats are investigating agreed to provide data on how many people their systems have reported to state Medicaid offices as potentially ineligible for coverage—though all of them denied having contract provisions that incentivize kicking people off the program. The companies also declined to disclose the compensation of their CEOs.
Nebraska, Montana, and Arkansas are so far the only US states that have begun implementing work requirements included in the Trump-GOP budget law. Preliminary data out of Nebraska indicates that red tape stemming from the work reporting mandates accounts for most of the coverage loss and denials so far.
Across the country, around 4 million people have lost Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program coverage since Trump signed the Republican budget package into law last July.
"The nation is just weeks away from Republicans rolling out the red tape on unsuspecting Americans who have life-or-death healthcare needs. This rushed rollout is going to be a disaster," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday. "It is essential to hold these contractors to a higher standard and implement commonsense accountability measures that make fast, simple, and durable enrollment in healthcare coverage the bar for earning taxpayer dollars."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) added that "as President Trump and Republicans gut healthcare for millions of Americans, big corporations are cashing in by running systems that snarl Americans in red tape and strip them of their Medicaid coverage."
"It’s plain wrong for these companies to boost their profits by kicking people off their healthcare," the senator added, "and I’ll keep fighting to end this corporate greed."