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A Special Kind Of Loathsomeness
Bad Men Behaving Badly Chap. 746: 'Cause it's not awful enough we have to endure the racist crap spewing from our home-grown jackasses, the rest of the world just bore grim witness to it as dunk-tank Christofascist Pete Hegseth chose a D-Day remembrance to flip the script on World War 2, trash European allies for not being fascist enough, and liken (good-guy) Allies landing at Normandy to an "invasion" of brown people "with "dangerous ideologies." Fact: "This is repulsive and confused, unless you're a Nazi."
Speaking of: Last week, under cover of darkness, "shameful" Senate Republicans pushed through a "Secure America Act" (sic) gifting yet more billions to keep out more of the swarthy hordes Pete's so scared of. Without making any of the reforms Dems had demanded, they added to last year's obscene $191 billion gift to DHS another $75 billion for ICE and $65 billion for CBP, 4 to 7 times their previous budgets, with most allocated to expand detentions, deportations, facilities, goons - not, as it could, to fund free childcare for over a million kids, groceries for over 10 million households, a year of SNAP benefits to 31 million people, health care tax credits for a year etc etc ad nauseum. Their wise leader, meanwhile, was throwing tantrums on TV - "Dude is losing his shit" - because a reporter dared ask for evidence of his flood of unhinged claims.
And greasy "Secretary of War (Crimes)" Pete lurches along on his quest to turn America into a white nationalist theocracy. A buffoon of a warmonger though (because?) he never saw combat, he posts klutzy videos of himself working out; in one, he prances in a “This Is War” t-shirt. (No, this is reality TV). Sporting Crusader tattoos - Deus Vult, but whose God? - he stripped 180 unholy faiths from those the military recognizes despite a First Amendment ensuring "the free exercise of religion for everybody" - a religious purge dressed up as paperwork (telling) thousands of service members their beliefs don’t matter to the government they’re risking their lives to protect.” (After outrage, he restored the Mormons.) He cut dozens of female and Black Navy officers from leadership-approved promotions, dissing “historic so-called firsts” that make the military “less lethal.”
And to mark this weekend's 82nd anniversary of the June 6, 1944 D-Day landing of Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy - perhaps the most pivotal moment in a long bloody fight to defend democracy against fascism - he gave a pro-fascism speech, embracing a Great Replacement theory that calls for a return to the racial ideology on which fascism is based. Speaking at the American Cemetery in north-west France where about 9,400 are buried, he'd barely recalled the courage of Allied Forces from multiple countries wading ashore in history's largest amphibious operation to liberate Europe before pivoting to warn "their legacy requires our active vigilance." European leaders may have grown too "comfortable," he said with the chutzpah of the deeply ignorant, and they may have somehow "forgotten that freedom is not free."
"Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies," he intoned. "On beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive....When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not." What a pompous asshole. So: On D-Day, Ugly Americans hawking xenophobia. Equating brown-skinned migrants who want to feed and keep safe their families with "dangerous ideologies." Also: Equating anti-fascism with "dangerous ideologies"? Wait, weren't the Allies the good guys? And wait, so the Nazis were...? Americans were horrified by so much repulsive and confused: "Sewage," "straight-up white nationalism," "a cheap suit full of hate and racism - what an evil shit," "Crystal Meth Rumsfeld strikes again," "We get it, dude. Just come out and say you hate black and brown people."
Especially in Europe, critics did not hold back, and we are here for it. English historian Simon Schama decried Hegseth's "special kind of loathsomeness, a blend of historical deafness, grotesque stupidity and comically ludicrous self-importance...As if the little people’s rage against immigration somehow is superior to the war against the 3rd Reich, and entitles this comic-book nobody to lecture the actual heroes." Others blasted "something profoundly ugly happening" in our right wing..."and on D-Day, D-Day!" and "an obscene desecration" of the memories of those who fell. Like many, French P.M. Sébastien Lecornu rightly paid tribute instead to the "3,000 men, barely 20 years old," who died, offering "the breath of their youth and the sacrifice of their lives."
Europeans also called bullshit on the faux drama and utter hypocrisy of Hegseth's angry claim that, after a united D-Day era when "each nation bled," Europe is not "standing with" a U.S. now run by a lying, racist, narcissistic, war-mongering toddler who does nothing but abuse them. "America will lead and we must, but capable allies must be Right. There. With Us...In the Breach. When It Matters," he bloviated. "The men who fought and died here restored freedom to Europe,. Now freedom must be maintained by this generation of leaders and war-fighters...We stand by our allies, and we expect our allies to stand beside us." "So much nonsense," retorted Swedish economist Anders Åslund. "'We stand by our allies!’ No you don’t. You just attacked them. Immigration policies are internal matters... Doesn’t Hegseth know the most unreliable ‘ally’ by far is the US?”
And now, in the name of their mythical, bigoted, white, male, Christian Republic, the US - Hegseth, Trump, Vance et al - have the audacity to be hectoring their European “allies” to “up their white supremacy game” to stop an “invasion” of what Trump has called the brown and black “vermin” who once flocked to our “shining city on a hill,” now a beacon of hate. Hamlet's ghost: “O, what a falling-off was there.” Last weekend, in France, Hegseth didn’t even stay for the international ceremony at the cemetery where so many are buried - per Trump, all those suckers and losers. Pete likely didn’t know the denizens of a nearby village had weeks earlier asked that his visit be cancelled. "It seems to us," they said in their request, "that this man does not share our democratic values." We feel your pain.
Jun 08, 2026
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‘Profits Over Safety’: Chemical Disasters Under Trump Pile Up as More Safety Cuts Loom
Two recent high-profile chemical plant disasters are putting a spotlight on the Trump administration's aggressive deregulation of the industry, with even more cuts to chemical safety regulations expected in the coming months.
The disasters—one at a paper mill in Washington state that killed 11 people and the other in an aerospace plastics facility in California that forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes—came after months of warnings from experts and labor unions about the impact of the administration's deregulatory agenda.
In late March, for instance, members of United Steelworkers (USW) rallied in Washington, DC to protest against a US Environmental Protection Agency plan to scrap regulations enacted under former President Joe Biden, which included "new safeguards such as identifying safer technologies and chemical alternatives, requiring implementation of safeguard measures in certain cases, more thorough incident investigations, and third-party auditing."
USW Local 13-228 process safety specialist Phil Stagg at the time warned that scrapping the rule would put "profits over safety" by prioritizing cost cutting over worker safety.
Following last week's twin disasters, the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters also pointed to plans to weaken Biden-era safety regulations as a grave mistake that will put American workers at greater risk.
"The fatal and shocking incidents communities have faced in recent days demonstrate the urgent need to implement and build on existing regulatory safeguards so communities near chemical facilities are protected from chemical disasters," the group said. "But, instead of protecting workers and families from death, injury, and illness, Trump’s EPA is putting communities at greater risk of harm by weakening the nation’s primary defense against chemical facility incidents."
The administration has also been targeting the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), an independent federal watchdog charged with investigating the root causes of industrial chemical accidents.
As The New York Times reported last month, Trump's proposed budget all but eliminates the CSB by cutting its funding down to $0 while arguing that the watchdog merely duplicates work already done by the EPA.
Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) said in a Sunday social media post that the CSB did essential work in preventing future accidents, and she vowed to fight the administration's plans to zero out its budget.
"I’ll be making it my priority ensuring [CSB] has the resources they need for a through, unbiased investigation," Perez said. "They also have three vacancies currently on that board of directors, and my hope is that we're able to work with the administration to ensure that people with real trades experience are appointed to that board."
The horrifying loss of life in Longview last week demands a thorough impartial investigation conducted by the independent watchdog Chemical Safety Board.
Unfortunately the presidents proposed budget has zeroed out the CSB budget.
Next week, I’ll be making it my priority to… pic.twitter.com/3SqbDSASWJ
— Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (@RepMGP) May 31, 2026
Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), explained in an interview published by Mountain State Spotlight last week that CSB produces invaluable work about chemical disasters' root causes, whereas the EPA's work focuses on whether disasters were caused by violating federal regulations.
In particular, Barab noted that CSB can "look at other problems, other causes that aren’t necessarily covered by regulations or standards," and added that "a lot of the ways the industry has modernized to improve safety are based on recommendations that came out of the CSB."
Jun 01, 2026
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Inflation Jumps to 3-Year High as Critics Say Trump Economic Promises Have Turned to Dust
A key federal inflation measure released Thursday shows that US prices jumped to a three-year high last month as President Donald Trump's illegal Iran war and tariffs continued to push up consumer costs at gas pumps and grocery stores across the country.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, closely watched by the Federal Reserve, rose at an annualized clip of 3.8% in April, the fastest pace since May 2023. Even when food and energy prices were stripped out of the measurement, the index rose 3.3% last month compared to a year ago—the highest level since November 2023.
"Today’s numbers tell the story: Families are paying more for gas, food, and housing and utilities," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). "Donald Trump promised to lower costs ‘on day one,' but instead inflation is running ahead of wages as his failed economic agenda hollows out Americans’ paychecks."
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) also found that Americans' personal savings rate fell to its lowest level since June 2022, plummeting to 2.6% as higher prices force households to spend more on basic necessities.
"This is stunning," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote on social media, noting that the personal savings rate was 5.5% in April of last year. "That's a sharp plunge. It underscores how squeezed Americans are right now with higher prices and incomes not keeping up."
Consumer spending grew by $111.1 billion last month, according to BEA data, with "gasoline and other energy goods" making up the largest portion of the increase. Trump administration officials have attempted to spin rising consumer spending as evidence of broad optimism about the US economy, even with consumer sentiment at an all-time low.
"Prices remain stubbornly high because President Trump refuses to bring down the cost of living for working families," said Breyon Williams, chief economist at the Groundwork Collaborative. "Trump is making Americans pay more, first via his tariffs and now because of his war in Iran, causing prices at the pump to skyrocket. At the same time, he remains fixated on his lavish billion-dollar ballroom that the taxpayers will fund and a $1.8 billion slush fund for his supporters.”
"Unless you can cut a check for his ballroom, Donald Trump clearly couldn’t care less about you."
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, similarly ripped Trump for focusing on securing private and taxpayer funding for his White House ballroom project as families struggle with unnecessarily high costs throughout the economy.
“If an economic policy will make life harder for American families, you can count on President Trump to try it," Boyle said in a statement following the PCE data. "His tariff taxes were bad enough, but now his disastrous Iran war has sent prices at the pump skyrocketing. By driving up fertilizer and transportation costs, Trump’s Iran war is also making Americans pay even more at the grocery store."
"Americans are struggling, but Trump and Republicans in Washington can’t be bothered to help," he added. "Unless you can cut a check for his ballroom, Donald Trump clearly couldn’t care less about you."
May 28, 2026
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'Unsettling' Accounts of HHS Leadership Fuel Calls for RFK Jr. to Resign
While public health advocates have sounded the alarm about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. since senators confirmed President Donald Trump's "profoundly unqualified" nominee to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services over a year ago, The New York Times' Sunday reporting on his job performance at HHS sparked fresh calls for his resignation.
HHS "affects the health of 340 million Americans and provides healthcare to 40% of the population through Medicare and Medicaid," explained the Times, which interviewed a dozen people who have had contact with Kennedy as secretary and other department employees. His nearly 16-month tenure has already featured a measles outbreak that killed two children in Texas last year, the recent hantavirus cases among cruise passengers, and the ongoing Ebola crisis in Africa.
As the newspaper detailed:
Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues. Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.
Deeply mistrustful of career civil officials, the secretary has surrounded himself with a close circle of handpicked advisers and stacked agencies with political appointees aligned with his views. While major posts have sat vacant and a wave of veteran health experts and scientists have departed, Mr. Kennedy has remained isolated from much of the department's top staff.
The paper highlighted the National Institutes of Health posts held by acting directors as well as the lack of a surgeon general (Trump's picks keep stalling in the GOP-controlled Senate), Food and Drug Administration commissioner (Marty Makary resigned in May, reportedly over a controversial vape policy sought by Big Tobacco), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief (Kennedy fired CDC's Susan Monarez in August after they clashed on vaccine policy, which led other officials to step down). Courtney Spencer, the secretary's newly appointed top spokesperson, claimed that the department is "aggressively recruiting top talent to fill every remaining vacancy."
As for Kennedy's schedule when he's in Washington, DC, "he spends much of his day in closed-door meetings, according to those who work with him, and has little direct engagement with his staff," the Times reported. Sources pointed to his history of skipping gatherings with the leaders of the department's 13 operating divisions, and some described him as "checked out."
Alt headline: Kennedy's single-minded focus on undermining vaccines puts other HHS efforts in jeopardy.The piece is quite good but this NYT headline sure dances around the fact that Kennedy is a anti-vaccine quack who is not doing his job. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/u...
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— @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) (@newsjennifer.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 11:07 AM
White House spokesperson Kush Desai signaled support for the Trump appointee's performance so far, telling the Times that the department's "rapid and comprehensive response" to the Ebola outbreak proved that "under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS continues to safeguard the health and wellness of the American people."
However, Kayla Hancock, director of Protect Our Care's Public Health Project, said in a statement that "accounts from within the Trump HHS paint an unsettling picture of RFK Jr.'s absentee leadership amid public health crises both present and looming."
"Trump's health secretary hasn't stepped foot inside the CDC in nearly a year despite historic measles outbreaks inflamed by his own anti-vax propaganda," she stressed, summarizing the reporting. "When Kennedy does show up to the HHS office—typically for just six hours a day, which must be nice—he isolates himself from top staff and ignores lawmaker requests for months on end."
Hancock noted that "while Kennedy can't be bothered to involve himself in spiraling health threats like Ebola, he finds plenty of time to do a shirtless photo spread with Kid Rock, babble for hours on... his taxpayer-funded vanity podcast on topics like teen sperm, and orchestrate a wasteful department-wide fishing expedition for any data he can use to breathe life into his debunked anti-vax agenda."
"Worse, while RFK Jr. is unwilling to do his job, he's perpetuated a dangerous HHS leadership void for months, refusing to fill vital roles with actual competent, qualified people who would pick up his slack," she added. "Every day that goes by without Secretary Kennedy’s long overdue resignation is a day American lives are put further in harm's way."
#RFKJr is among the most unqualified, incompetent, ineffective and dangerous cabinet members in U.S. history... www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/u...
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— Andy Ostroy (@andyostroy.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 8:45 AM
The reporting builds on warnings from experts since Kennedy took over HHS. Last September, nearly every living former director or acting director of CDC jointly argued in the Times that RFK Jr. "is endangering every American's health." The following month, six previous US surgeons general collectively wrote in The Washington Post that they had a duty to alert Americans that Kennedy is a danger to public health. In February, The Lancet, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals, marked his "one year of failure" with an editorial cataloging his broken promises and "destruction that... might take generations to repair."
Journalist Seth Abramson responded to the Times article with a new warning: "Do not doubt that if a major pandemic hits, millions of Americans will die because of this grotesque man. *Millions*. And not a single person in America better say that we didn't know it was coming. The alarm bells have been ringing nonstop that this sick buffoon is going to kill innocent people."
Jun 07, 2026
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Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Holding Billions in Food Aid Funds 'Hostage to Its Political Agenda'
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked an attempt by the US Department of Agriculture to force state governments to comply with President Donald Trump's positions on gender and immigration or lose out on billions of dollars in funding, including for food assistance.
The attorneys general of the District of Columbia and 20 Democrat-led states sued the department and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in March, arguing that "USDA has now thrown unconstitutional and unlawful roadblocks between the programs created by Congress and the states that rely on them, threatening critical nutrition support, vital agricultural research, and the safety of our national food chain and communities."
Specifically, the Trump administration imposed "a vague set of funding conditions relating to USDA's purported anti-discrimination 'policies,' 'gender ideology,' 'fair athletic opportunities' for women and girls, and immigration," without specifying the policies or even confirming "that certification is limited to currently existing policies," says the complaint, filed in the District of Massachusetts.
The March filing also makes the case that "even if USDA went back and cured its vagueness problem and conducted a reasoned analysis before taking final agency action, the challenged conditions would still be unlawful."
While US District Judge Myong Joun has not explicitly agreed, the appointee of former President Joe Biden granted a preliminary injunction sought by the AGs and said he would issue a memorandum explaining his decision at a later date.
Welcoming the judge's unexplained decision on social media, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield highlighted that the move safeguards funding for school lunches, emergency aid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
"This protects every Oregon family who depends on these programs to put food on the table," Rayfield said. "The court rejected the Trump administration's attempt to hold school lunches, WIC, and SNAP hostage to its political agenda. These are lifelines for 86,000 Oregon kids, working families, seniors, and rural communities—and they will remain protected."
New York Attorney General Letitia James also celebrated that "we won a court order protecting billions of dollars in USDA funding as our lawsuit continues," and pledged that "my office will keep fighting to protect New Yorkers and stop the federal government from punishing our state for refusing to bend."
NEW: When Trump tried to gut billions in USDA funding for states refusing to comply with his anti-immigrant agenda, we sued.The court just ruled in our favor, blocking his cuts while our case continues.These grants are a lifeline - I'll always fight to protect food assistance for families.
— AG Andrea Joy Campbell (@massago.bsky.social) June 5, 2026 at 4:58 PM
The other states involved in the case are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Collectively, according to the complaint, "'plaintiff states receive over $74 billion annually in funding from USDA."
The judge's decision came on the heels of four Democrats in the US House of Representatives voting with Republicans to approve legislation that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has estimated would strip modest fruit and vegetable benefits from "nearly 5.4 million toddlers, preschoolers, and pregnant and postpartum WIC participants."
Already, since congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, at least hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost federal food assistance. Last month, Trump's USDA chief suggested that some of them were receiving SNAP benefits fraudulently—without offering evidence—while others are "moving into the American dream and off of welfare."
Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at CBPP, responded that "unless the Trump administration has redefined 'the American dream' to mean 'losing the help your family needs to afford groceries because of federal cuts,' I have some bad news for Secretary Rollins."
Jun 06, 2026
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'Classic Deterrence Contest': Iran Fires Missiles at Israel Over Attack on Lebanon
After Israeli forces attacked a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Iran delivered its promised retaliation late Sunday, firing missiles at Israel for the first time since a ceasefire agreement took effect in April and prompting US President Donald Trump to renew his push for a negotiated end to a conflict he helped inflame.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed their Sunday strikes were in response to rocket fire from the Lebanese group Hezbollah—though Israel has been widely accused of trying to sabotage peace talks. Iran retaliated with at least 20 missiles from four different bases, which the Israeli military said it intercepted.
The barrage of missiles was a response to "the widespread killing and displacement of the oppressed people of the Tyre and Nabatieh regions" in southern Lebanon, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement. "Tonight's operation was a warning, and if the aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader and will encompass all American-Zionist targets in the region."
Following the Iranian missile attack, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir declared that "the IDF will strike the enemy with force the moment the green light is given."
Whether that permission is granted remains to be seen. Trump—who tore up the Obama administration's nuclear deal with the Iranian government during his first term and then, this past February, partnered with Netanyahu to launch an illegal assault on Iran, despite his "no new wars" promise—signaled to multiple journalists on Sunday that he was still pushing for a negotiated agreement.
Fox News' Trey Yingst said on air that during a phone call, Trump told him that he was "not happy about" the IDF's strikes allegedly targeting Hezbollah, and Iran's retaliation "certainly" won't help negotiations.
According to Yingst, Trump's message to Iran is, "You've shot your missiles, that's enough, get back to the table and make a deal."
Trump also told Axios' Barak Ravid that he planned to send Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a similar message: "I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one."
The Times of Israel reported that after a call with Trump, Netanyahu was "holding a discussion with top security officials."
Summarizing Sunday's events on social media, Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, noted that "last week, we got reports that Trump yelled at Netanyahu to back off plans to attack Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh after Iran warned that such a strike could trigger Iranian attacks on northern Israel. Today, Israel struck Dahieh anyway, killing civilians. This looks like a test: probing Iran's red lines and willingness to enforce them amid fluid deterrence dynamics."
"Israel's strike on Beirut put Iran in a difficult position," Toossi explained after Iran's response. "After publicly warning that such an attack would trigger retaliation, failing to respond would have undermined the credibility of that threat and likely invited further US/Israeli escalation. Iran's missile attack on northern Israel should be viewed in that context."
"What we're witnessing is a classic deterrence contest, with each side trying to establish which actions will trigger retaliation and impose costs sufficient to deter their repetition," he wrote. "The key question now is whether a deterrence equilibrium emerges around the Beirut-northern Israel equation, or whether both sides continue probing each other's thresholds and credibility, whether through more Israeli attacks in Lebanon/Beirut, direct Israeli strikes on Iran, or both, pushing this already fragile 'ceasefire' toward total collapse."
Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, highlighted in a blog post that "this is the first time Iran has struck Israel after Israel struck another country's territory (that is, not Iran). This means that the battle lines have been moved. Iran's deterrence had already been restored in the sense that Israel knew that any strike on it would be responded to. But now, Iran has proven that it will also respond to Israeli strikes on Lebanon."
"From a US perspective, supporting Israel at this point recommits the US to its decades-long policy of seeking to sustain a balance in the region that allows for near-complete Israeli dominance," he asserted. "That policy has been extremely costly to US interests, has destabilized the region, and enabled the Israelis to get increasingly aggressive and reckless (since they face no consequences for it)."
Parsi added that "however problematic it has been, it will become far more challenging and destabilizing going forward since sustaining Israel’s dominance will necessitate continued war with Iran. This clearly contradicts US interests. If US interests were at the center of US policy, getting out of the Middle East and its regional rivalries would be a no-brainer."
Arab Center Washington DC fellow Assal Rad said on social media Sunday that "Trump wants a deal, Iran wants a deal, the region wants a deal, Americans want a deal, basically everyone wants to bring an end to wars, except Israel. That's why they keep attacking. Israel will not stop, it must be stopped."
Jun 07, 2026
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'Shameful': Global Fury at Racist Trump After Somali Referee Bound for World Cup Refused Entry by US
"I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup."
Jun 09, 2026
The Trump administration is facing international outrage after Somali referee Omar Artan, who was selected by FIFA to work at the 2026 World Cup, was barred from entering the US.
As ESPN reported on Monday, FIFA confirmed that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had denied Artan entry into the country after he arrived in Miami on Saturday on a flight from Istanbul.
CBP said that it had denied Artan entry after subjecting him to "additional inspection" and determining him "to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns."
FIFA released a statement after Artan's denial of entry in which it didn't criticize the US for barring one of its own referees, merely saying that "FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications."
Artan reacted with disappointment to being denied the opportunity to referee the World Cup, but said he is "in a positive mood" and "focused on the next challenges in my refereeing career."
"I would like to thank FIFA and [the African federation] for all their support and I promise to keep my refereeing levels up as I concentrate on the future," Artan added. "I want to thank the football family for their messages and wish my colleagues all the best success during the World Cup and I look forward to joining them again in future competitions."
In an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, Artan said that he was interviewed by CBP at the Miami airport for 11 hours and then detained for several more before being told he was being sent home.
"I am very, very disappointed," Artan told the Times. "I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup."
"I had the right papers and everything," Artan added. "I had the right visa."
As noted in a Monday report from Agence France-Presse, Artan is a highly respected official, having been "named by the Confederation of African Football as men's referee of the year."
President Donald Trump has a long history of making racist attacks against Somalis, referring to them collectively as "garbage" last year, and accusing them last month of being "all crooks." Last June, Trump issued a proclamation designed to "fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals" from Somalia and other nations.
Given Trump's well documented bigotry, critics were quick to link the president's racism with the poor treatment Artan received upon arriving in the US.
"What an absolute disgrace," commented Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the UK Labour Party. "A FIFA-certified referee being denied entry to the United States purely because he is Somali. The World Cup is meant to bring people together. This is racism, plain and simple. Shameful."
Meral Hussein-Ece, a Liberal Democrat and member of the UK House of Lords, accused the Trump administration of completely spoiling the entire purpose of the World Cup, which is to bring people together in friendly global competition.
"A Somali referee makes history—first ever from his country to officiate a World Cup match," wrote Hussein-Ece. "The US: 'Not allowed in.' So much for 'sport brings the world together.' Unless you’re from the 'wrong' country. Shameful. The ‘World Cup’ belongs to everyone—not just those the US approves of."
Christina Unkel, president and general manager of the Tampa Bay Sun Football Club, said what happened to Artan is "heartbreaking on so many levels," as "he worked so hard, proved himself on so many levels, and [was] selected as the best of the best."
Journalist Helen Kennedy said that countries around the world need to send Trump a strong message that the treatment of Artan is unacceptable.
"The world should boycott these games," she wrote. "How much does it take to show that?"
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GOP Blasted for 'Handout to the Superwealthy' Private Jet Owners Slipped Into Air Safety Bill
"Oh look—Republicans helping private-jet billionaires avoid paying taxes," said one Senate Democrat. "If only they worked that hard for consumers."
Jun 08, 2026
Nearly a year after congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump made private jets tax-deductible in last summer's budget package, they're again trying to push through legislation that would benefit people rich enough to own personal planes.
Members of Congress have been working on an air safety bill since a military helicopter collided with a passenger plane over the Potomac River last year, killing dozens of people. Early Monday, Politico reported on "a little-noticed" provision on private jets that was slipped into legislation passed by the House of Representatives in April, but not included in the Senate version.
The debated provision stems from the Federal Aviation Administration's 2020 requirement that aircraft adopt a satellite-based tracking technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out.
"Private aircraft owners go to great lengths to hide their aircraft from us," Jeff Prang, the assessor for California's Los Angeles County, told Politico. "This data helps us to identify where those aircraft are located."
Prang said that since the beginning of the year, the data has helped his office find an additional 1,000 aircraft in the county, with a total assessed value of $3.5 billion. Private jets in California are subject to sales tax and a 1% annual property tax, so "that's $35 million in local property taxes that aircraft owners had been avoiding," he explained.
The House provision states that the data "may not be used by any person, government agency, or other entity to identify aircraft for the purpose of obtaining revenue from the owner or operator of such aircraft" without permission.
If passed, billionaires will "get to fly private and pay NO taxes," Americans for Tax Fairness Americans warned on social media Monday. "This is a handout to the superwealthy—and we're going to pay for it."
Also responding to reporting, John Loftus, editor at large of the right-wing Daily Caller, suggested the policy could harm Republicans who are at risk of losing control of one or both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections.
"It's annoying and wrong that private jet owners dodge taxes. This is a great political issue for Democrats because they like to portray those with money as responsible for all ills in American society—$35 million in tax revenue for California is a drop in the ocean (and would likely get wasted anyway)," Loftus wrote. "Republican lawmakers trying to carve out this loophole in a midterm election makes them look sneaky and unconcerned with the issue on 99% of the population's mind: inflation."
Although Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is not up for reelection this cycle, he, too, noted the reporting: "Oh look—Republicans helping private-jet billionaires avoid paying taxes. If only they worked that hard for consumers."
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Trump Admin Waives Environmental Laws for Border Barrier Construction in National Park
“These horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend,” said one conservationist. “Politicians who’ve never set foot here are signing a death warrant for this wild and beautiful place.”
Jun 08, 2026
The Trump administration's revised waiver of dozens of environmental laws to expedite the construction of border roads and barriers through Big Bend National Park in southern Texas is set to take effect Tuesday, over the objection of Indigenous, migrant rights, and environmental groups.
Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially published its determination that waivers from laws—including the National Park Service Organic Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act—are needed "to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in the state of Texas."
However, DHS said the project area description in its original notice of determination was "incorrect" and issued a revised notice with the correct geographical information, set to be published on Tuesday.
“The absolute disdain this administration has for our national parks is disgraceful, and now they’re targeting Texas’ most beloved national park,” Center for Biological Diversity national public lands advocate Laiken Jordahl said in a statement Monday.
“The only people benefiting from this destruction are the billionaire contractors set to pad their pockets while paving over our natural heritage and permanently locking a great American river behind hideous steel barriers," Jordahl added. "We won’t stop fighting for this crown-jewel national park and the Rio Grande.”
As CBD noted, DHS in May awarded $1.7 billion in contracts that include work on a "border wall through Big Bend.” Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem personally approved two contracts for SLSCO Ltd., a Texas-based company also under contract for the infamous Alligator Alcatraz camp for immigrants in Florida. The company is a major Republican donor and is accused in court of trafficking people and weapons across the border.
Last week, DHS awarded another $2.6 billion contract—the biggest border deal to date—for the Lower Canyons stretch of the portion of the Rio Grande that has "Wild and Scenic River" protections, and is downstream from the national park.
While running for president in 2016 and during his first term, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for the wall, for which US taxpayers and private donors have footed the bill. Only a small fraction of the wall has been completed.
While much of the border barrier consists of a 30-foot reinforced steel-bollard wall, the 118-mile portion of the Rio Grande running through Big Bend National Park currently has mostly natural barriers like the rivers, deep riparian canyons, mountains, other steep terrain, and the unforgiving Chihuahuan Desert.
Planning documents and maps from earlier this year suggested substantial border wall construction in the broader Big Bend region. Amid public outcry and opposition from politicians from across the political spectrum, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a map showing no planned 30-foot wall inside Big Bend National Park. However, the map shows miles of planned barriers meant to stop vehicles but not people on foot, new patrol roads cut through the park, and more surveillance technology.
"The move marks the first time in American history that the federal government has cast aside a broad slate of environmental laws... in a national park," CBD said Monday.
Considerable ambiguity remains over the precise nature of the border barrier through Big Bend National Park. In April, CBD filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act "to obtain public records about construction plans in the area."
Indigenous peoples and their advocates have also opposed expanding the border barrier and have criticized DHS for waiving laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act, to enable the administration's plans.
David Keller, a noted archaeologist in the region, warned in a February interview with Big Bend Reporter that what he called “the military industrialization of one of the last, great, unspoiled places remaining in the United States of America" threatens millennia of Indigenous history stored in the soil and etched on rock faces.
The Trump administration's work on other portions of the border wall has blasted and bulldozed sacred Indigenous sites.
Late last month, seven former Big Bend National Park superintendents wrote to DHS Secretary Marywayne Mullin, urging him to reject the waiver of federal laws. CBD and over 130 advocacy groups and business2es have also called on Congress to block federal funding for any further border wall construction in the region, including Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park.
"If a border wall—or other unnecessary and highly destructive border infrastructure—is built inside Big Bend National Park, it would be the most egregious assault on the integrity of the entire National Park System since the construction of a dam in the Hetchy Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park more than a century ago," the former superintendents asserted.
Texas Public Radio reported Sunday that construction on the border wall in the Big Bend area is set to begin "within weeks."
"Shipments of what appear to be steel bollards have begun arriving in the region, and at least one 'man camp' housing facility for workers is being developed," the outlet said.
As the No Big Bend Wall Coalition notes, while CBP's Big Bend Sector represents 26.5% of the US-Mexico border, only about 1.3% of all border apprehensions happened there last year, belying Trump administration claims of "high illegal activity" in the area.
"Historically, the Big Bend Sector is the quietest part of the entire US border," the coalition said. "While federal rhetoric has described a 'national emergency' to justify waiving environmental protections and seizing private land, their own CBP data tells a different story."
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