September, 06 2019, 12:00am EDT
Over 450 Climate Strikes Planned in U.S. on September 20th; Global Climate Strikes to Take Place in 117 Countries
Activists of All Ages, Labor Groups, Faith Leaders, Businesses and More Join Youth-Led Climate Strikes in Intergenerational Demand for Climate Action
WASHINGTON
- With two weeks to go until the September 20th climate strikes, there are over 2,500 strikes registered globally and over 450 strikes taking place across the U.S.
- This comes as Greta Thunberg joins New York youth climate strikers for her second strike outside the United Nations today.
- The Youth Climate Strike Coalition in the U.S. issued a set of policy demands calling for a just transition to 100% renewables by 2030, a halt to all leasing and permitting for fossil fuel extraction, protections for frontline communities, indigenous people, and biodiversity through transformative and decisive climate action
- Coordinated by Future Coalition, the U.S. youth-led strikes includes Earth Uprising, Fridays for Future USA, Extinction Rebellion-Youth, Sunrise, Zero Hour, Indigenous Youth Council and Earth Guardians. The Youth Climate Strike Coalition is steering the national campaign, with active support, participation and collaboration from an Adult Climate Strike Coalition, which includes leading national organizations such as 350.org, Greenpeace, SEIU and March On. Youth and adults, institutional and grassroots organizations, climate-focused and social justice groups, are coming together as a unified front to demand transformative action on climate.
- A week of escalated actions are planned the week preceding the global strikes from September 23rd - 27th, with local actions planned in Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the Bay Area. Demonstrating that the fight for climate action is beyond one moment, these actions put a spotlight on key climate justice fights taking place throughout the United States. Actions, vary from fossil fuel project shutdowns to demanding climate own halls to mass actions against fracking and fossil fuel finance.
Xiye Bastida, Fridays For Future NYC said, "September 20th isn't a goal, it's a catalyst for future action. It's a catalyst for the engagement of humanity in the protection of Earth. It's a catalyst for realizing the intersectionality that the climate crisis has with every other issue. It's a catalyst for the culmination of hundreds of climate activists who won't stop fighting until the climate emergency is over."
Vic Barrett, 20-year-old Juliana v. United States plaintiff from White Plains, NY said: "Because of the actions of the United States government and the fossil fuel industry, my generation has never known a world free from the impacts of climate change. Time is running out. This decade is our last chance to stop the destruction of our people and our planet. This is our time to join in solidarity with communities around the world to fight for a just future. This is why we strike."
Along with the global climate strikes, events during the week include the The Peoples' Summit on Climate and the Rights and Human Survival - the first ever global summit on human rights and climate change, that will be hosted by leading civil society groups and the UN Human Rights Office in New York, on 18-19 September.
During Climate Week, escalated actions will happen throughout New York City and across the US during the week of September 23-29. Communities are joining youth-led climate strikes, as well as coming together to protect families, air, and water from toxic fossil fuel projects, including in Minnesota, Seattle, Portland, New Hampshire, and more with hundreds across the country taking on the fossil fuel corporations and financiers.
Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, 350.org North America Director, said "The September 20th Climate Strikes and the following week of action across the United States is an intergenerational and multiracial moment to make our stand for our right to transformative climate action that preserves a sustainable, healthy, and livable future for all. With the leadership of young people backed by grandparents and parents alike, health workers, teachers, cab drivers and more, now is the time for all of us to come together to demand that real climate leaders at the national, state and local levels hold fossil fuel companies accountable for decades of negligence and damage."
The first ever widespread global blackout will also be taking place with many organizations and businesses planning to stop business as usual by shutting down their websites and redirecting them to the global climate strikes website.
In New York City, the strike on September 20th will be led by youth strikers including Greta Thunberg, who arrived in the city to take part in the UNSG summit, kicking-off with a rally in Foley Square before marching to Battery Park for key speakers and performers. The weeklong movement will surround the UN Climate Summit being held on the 23rd of September, which will gather world leaders in an attempt to accelerate real actions to implement the Paris Agreement and meet the climate challenge.
Other notable strike locations are Washington D.C., Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver.
The climate strikes movement inspired by teenager Greta Thunberg has spread rapidly across the world in the last 12 months. Strikers are demanding that governments step up to take urgent action to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown by phasing out fossil fuels, accelerating the urgent transition to a 100% renewable energy powered world with climate justice and equity at its core, and holding fossil fuel billionaires most responsible accountable for their destruction.
For more on U.S. Climate Strikes and Week of Action visit strikewithus.org and explore this media pack
For more on the 9/20 NYC Strike, visit strikewithus.org/nyc and explore this media pack
For more information about global climate strikes, go to globalclimatestrike.net
QUOTE SHEET
Jamie Margolin, founder of Zero Hour said, If adults want youth to be studious and pay attention in school in order to prepare for our futures, then they need to do their jobs to make sure a future actually exists for us. That is why I am striking for the survival of my generation and civilization as we know it. I am striking because it is pointless to study for a future that does not exist.I am striking for complete system change."
Jesus Villalba Gastelum, Age 16, Earth Uprising LA City Coordinator/ Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles Organizer, said: "I live in Los Angeles, a diverse city of many roots, including Indigenous, Mexican, Spanish, American, and Tongva. We are organizing the LA Youth Climate Strike from a place of love, hope, and resolve. We are taking to the streets this September 20th in order to claim the future that is rightfully ours. While this mobilization is youth led, we welcome people of all generations to join us in kicking off LA's week of action. Our march is calling out inaction on the climate crisis, and stands in support of refugee rights, human rights, and dignity for all."
Katie Eder, executive director of Future Coalition said, "On September 20th the voices of thousands of young people from more than 400 locations across America will be heard as we strike for our future. Our message will be clear -- we must act now to avoid the worst effects of climate change because all of our lives depend upon it. We are the new face of the climate revolution and we demand just and equitable climate action."
Daphne Frias, founder of Box the Ballot, a member of Future Coalition said, "I'm striking this September to secure my future. When I take to the streets on the 20th and 27th, I take with me the resilience of my Latino and Disabled communities. People who are so disproportionately affected by climate change. Most importantly, I strike to show that you don't have to stand to take a stand; our voices are our most powerful tool and I will use mind to protect this planet we call home."
"A livable climate tomorrow requires halting public-lands fossil fuel expansion today. We're proud to stand with Colorado's youth calling for climate solutions that match the scale of the crisis," said Taylor McKinnon, senior public lands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, participating in escalated actions in Colorado.
"We're making a stand that we're still here. The Gitche Gami is really important to the people of Minnesota, and we want to honor that through a peaceful prayer action on September 28th. Our goal is to teach people that treaties are a two-party agreement -- Native people are not the only ones responsible for maintaining the treaties, but that we're all responsible and we need to move in solidarity. We all need the water, and we all need to do this together," said Nancy, MN 350, Minnesota Chippewa / Leech Lake, participating in a rally and gathering to stop Line 3 in Minnesota.
"While PSNH would like people to think that they are undertaking this renovation in good faith, the reality is that they are propping up this old plant to protect their own assets at the great expense of ratepayers, public health and the environment. PSNH has embarked on a massive and costly effort to keep Merrimack Station online for decades to come and New Hampshire ratepayers will be forced to throw more and more of their good money after bad if this project moves forward," said Melissa Hoffer, vice president and director of the CLF's Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice program in New Hampshire, where there will be a major action to shut down the coal plant in Bow, NH.
"The climate crisis is a human issue - affecting all of us. We are inspired by the youth activists who have led a global movement, and Patagonia is calling for urgent and decisive action for people and our home planet. On Friday, September 20th, we will be walking out of our stores, striking with the youth activists and calling for our government to take action. There is no room in governments for climate deniers and their inaction is killing us. We invite the business community and all those concerned about the fate of our planet and humankind to answer with actions and join us," Rose Marcario, President & CEO, Patagonia.
"As people of faith, we say that we believe in love, in compassion, in justice - then it follows that we must join this strike as surely as dawn follows the deepest darkness. Our children are calling to us. We must respond," Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith.
"Climate breakdown is one of the greatest human rights issues we face. Fighting climate breakdown is about much more than emissions and scientific metrics it's about fighting for a just and sustainable world that works for all of us. We need to start by phasing out fossil fuels, building real and long lasting solutions and prioritizing the communities at the frontline of the climate crisis," May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
Trump DOJ Brings 'Tired, Desperate' Attempt to Find Noncitizen Voting to Washington State
"The timing of this request—one week before the general election—is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," said Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.
Oct 27, 2026
As a federal appeals court on Monday refused to order California officials to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots that the Trump administration claimed were cast by noncitizens, the US Department of Justice was already pushing a similar effort in Washington state—the latest of what one advocate called "tired, desperate attempts by a cornered and losing side" to cast doubt on the validity of the November 3 midterm elections.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs received a letter Monday from acting US Attorney Charles Neil Floyd, who demanded that the state set aside any ballots cast by 405 people whom the DOJ claims are illegally registered to vote despite not being US citizens.
Floyd said the voters have cast 1,500 ballots in past elections, and complained that the Democratic-led state's refusal to turn over unredacted voter rolls to the DOJ earlier this year made his search for noncitizen voters more time-consuming.
The Trump administration has filed lawsuits against more than 20 states for refusing to hand over voter data on millions of people, and the DOJ has resorted to using commercially available information and comparing it with federal records in an effort to track down people it says have voted illegally despite being noncitizens.
The right-wing Heritage Foundation was able to uncover just 23 instances of noncitizen voting between 2003-22, and election officials in found that in 42 jurisdictions, .0001% of 23.5 million votes were cast by suspected noncitizens in 2016.
Those statistics are in line with the results of the DOJ's efforts thus far. In California, federal officials announced they had identified 28 immigrants who were suspected of voting before they became naturalized citizens. The group represented about .0001% of registered voters in California.
In Nevada in September, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed authorities had found 16,000 noncitizens on the state's voter rolls. DHS ultimately sent the state a list of just 185 people who it said were illegally registered to vote, but state officials found that all 185 voters were citizens.
Despite the administration's track record, Floyd insisted that this time would be different, asserting in a news conference that the 405 people identified by the DOJ in Washington were "only the tip of the iceberg."
“Because of limitations the state has placed on our investigation, we’ve only been able to uncover a fraction of the total number,” he said. "We will continue to investigate and identify those who are committing crimes by voting illegally.”
A spokesperson for Hobbs' office told NBC News that the secretary of state is reviewing the list, but Hobbs stressed that he "will only respond to requests that follow due process."
"We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously," said Hobbs. "We saw what happened in California and don’t want Washingtonians to be harassed. The timing of this request—one week before the general election—is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.”
The search for illegally registered voters in Washington comes days after the DOJ filed a lawsuit in Alaska seeking to block the certification of the state's US Senate election results if Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) narrowly loses to his Democratic challenger, former Rep. Mary Peltola.
The DOJ argued that voters may be confused by their ballots, on which Sullivan and Peltola are listed along with other candidates—one of whom is a retired teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. Critics have noted that the sitting senator is clearly marked as the incumbent.
The latest polling average in the key race, which could determine control of the Senate, shows Peltola leading Sullivan by about two points.
On Sunday in an interview with CNN, Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the DOJ's push to stop the automatic certification of the Alaska election results, saying that President Donald Trump "is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape, or form" and becoming angry when anchor Dana Bash asked whether the refusal to accept the election results could lay the groundwork for violence, as in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Last week Blanche told reporters that the DOJ could become involved in the election certification process in a "doomsday" scenario.
"Trump’s DOJ has been trying to figure out how to rob Americans of their votes in the midterms since February," said journalist Pedro L. Gonzalez Tuesday. "I hope states are ready to fight and resist the administration. These freaks aren’t just going to let Americans vote their way out of this if they think they can do something about it."
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'A Crime of Extreme Inequality': Richest 0.1% Generate More Carbon Pollution Than Half of Humanity
“The ultra-rich are setting the planet on fire and then charging the rest of us for the extinguishers."
Oct 27, 2026
The richest 0.1% of humanity generates more planet-heating carbon pollution than nearly half of the global population combined, according to an Oxfam analysis released late Monday as world leaders prepared to gather in Türkiye next month for the United Nations climate summit.
The new analysis provides an updated look at global elites' outsized contribution to a climate crisis that disproportionately impacts the poorest segments of the global population through increasingly devastating heatwaves, droughts, flooding, and other extreme weather, causing death, destruction, and mass displacement worldwide.
Oxfam estimates that a person in the richest 0.1% "has contributed nearly 400 times more to today’s extreme heatwaves than someone in the poorest 50%." The 8 million richest people in the world combined produce "over three times more carbon pollution than the entire population of Sub-Saharan Africa"—around 1.3 billion people.
"The climate crisis is often described as a shared human challenge. It is not," said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International's executive director. "Those who have done the least to cause it are losing their homes, their harvests and, increasingly, their lives. Meanwhile, the super-rich can buy their way out of danger—by retreating to high-tech underground survival bunkers, hiring private firefighting crews, and securing private insurance—and are actively profiting from the consequences of their pollution. This is not a tragedy of shared fate; it is a crime of extreme inequality."
Oxfam's report notes that the same investors and firms profiting massively from the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis are also benefiting from disaster preparedness and recovery. The analysis places those investors in what it calls a "Destroy and Rebuild" index.
"Six major asset managers (including Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street) make up more than one-quarter of all the Destroy and Rebuild corporations," the report states. "BlackRock and Vanguard are invested in 92% of the corporations in the index: The pair’s total investments in these corporations are more than $1 trillion."
“The ultra-rich are setting the planet on fire and then charging the rest of us for the extinguishers," said Behar. "They profit from the pollution. They profit from the disaster. And they profit again from the clean-up.”
"While ordinary people are forced to grapple with the consequences of emergencies they bear little responsibility in fueling, billionaires are busy outrunning the reality they and their private jets created."
In the United States—where the country's billionaire president has taken a sledgehammer to domestic and international efforts to combat the climate crisis—a person in the richest 0.1% emits 48 times as much carbon dioxide as the average American.
"The country’s richest 0.1% (333,271 people) emit 108 times more CO2 per person than the poorest half of the population (166.6 million people)," Oxfam's analysis shows. "In just under four months (118.3 days), someone in the richest 0.1% emits more CO2 than someone in the poorest half of the U.S. has emitted over the last 30 years."
Rachel Carle, senior advisor on climate justice at Oxfam America, said in a statement that the global climate emergency is "an inequality crisis at its core."
"While ordinary people are forced to grapple with the consequences of emergencies they bear little responsibility in fueling, billionaires are busy outrunning the reality they and their private jets created," said Carle. "Mark Zuckerberg can hunker down in his Hawaiian bunker at the first sign of chaos, but the rest of us don’t have that luxury. Addressing this glaring inequality is the first step to mitigating climate disaster, and that starts with making ultra-rich polluters pay their fair share."
In view of its findings, Oxfam urged governments to use the upcoming COP31 summit in Türkiye to:
- Make rich polluters pay to significantly and rapidly curb their carbon emissions, including through permanent wealth and income taxes, a permanent tax on fossil fuel corporations, and punitive taxes on high-emitting luxury items like private jets;
- Substantially increase climate finance for the Global South, prioritizing public, grant-based finance rather than loans that deepen debt. The amount for adaptation should be tripled by 2035;
- Radically reduce inequality within and between countries, including through climate-resilient public infrastructure and public services; and
- End profiteering from climate disasters. Governments need to curb corporate power in emergency response, reconstruction, and food systems during disasters.
"Another future remains possible," Oxfam's report concludes. "Creating a more equal world would enable emissions to fall rapidly, food systems to become fairer and more resilient, and the creation of public systems to protect people from crisis and adapt to the effects of climate change. Achieving that future will require bold political choices to curb excessive wealth and corporate power while investing in the resilience, rights, and livelihoods of the majority. Climate justice and equality must now become the foundation of climate action."
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Former Top GOP Strategist Says It's 'Unimaginable' That US Won't Have Medicare for All Within 20 Years
"This is just a matter of how long are we going to delay this?”
Oct 26, 2026
A prominent former Republican political strategist said Monday that he believes it's just a matter of time before the United States adopts a Medicare for All universal healthcare system, citing the popularity of the program for older Americans across the political spectrum.
"Close your eyes and think about what will America be like in 20 years," Stuart Stevens—a senior strategist for Mitt Romney's failed 2012 presidential campaign—said during an MS NOW panel discussion hosted by Katy Tur. "It is unimaginable we will not have a national health plan."
"We're already the only Western country that doesn't," Stevens noted. "And this is just a matter of how long are we going to delay this?"
" Medicare is wildly popular," he said. "So you can see what the appeal of Medicare for All is."
"Why shouldn't everybody have Medicare?" Stevens asked. "I mean, it's the wealthiest country in the history of the world."
Stevens noted that the prospect of universal healthcare is "getting a tremendous response," even "from people who aren't exactly on the far left."
"So I think this is an issue that's changing," he added.
Responding to Stevens comments, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Common Dreams that Medicare for All will ultimately happen in the United States "because it is not just a moral imperative but makes economic sense," as study after study have shown.
"It's what will truly reduce the cost of our system," Khanna said.
A KFF survey released earlier this month found that 66% of Americans favor Medicare for All, the highest level of support since the organization began tracking the proposal. Support included 84% of Democrats, 72% of independents, and 34% of Republicans—up from just 21% of Republicans in 2020.
A separate Axios-Ipsos poll, also published this month, found that 43% of Americans supported the proposal, compared with just 24% opposed, while 21% of Republicans backed it.
Multiple studies have shown that Medicare for All would save lives—and money. Most recently, researchers at Yale University estimated that implementing such a system would save over 114,000 lives annually while reducing healthcare expenditures by more than $1 billion per year.
Stevens' comments came as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)—a possible 2028 presidential candidate—said his party needs to pursue Medicare for All if it succeeds in winning control of the Senate next week.
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Trump DOJ Charges Ex-FBI Chief James Comey a Third Time
"It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice—one that we cannot become numb to," said James Comey.
Oct 26, 2026
President Donald Trump's administration has charged former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey a third time, according to documents unsealed on Monday—the same day a US judge ruled that the administration unlawfully fired Comey's prosecutor daughter, who worked on the sex crimes case against the president's dead ex-friend Jeffrey Epstein.
Comey, a former Republican fired during Trump's first term, and various critics have condemned all of the cases against him and others who publicly call out the administration as weaponization of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) against the president's political enemies. The latest case relates to a New York Times article from over a decade ago, when he was still FBI chief.
The case, in which he's accused of unlawfully disclosing classified information, "has played out under seal since October 5. Comey's defense attorneys filed a motion 10 days ago to dismiss the charges against him. He has not been indicted in the case," NBC News reported. "The charges that were filed are a criminal information—essentially a charge filed by prosecutors—and not a grand jury indictment."
Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and CNN's senior legal analyst, was among the experts who highlighted that "this is a bizarre, and likely improper, use of a criminal 'information' to end-run the statute of limitations."
"Typically an information must be agreed to by a defendant—and Comey did not consent here," Honig explained. "It therefore likely cannot extend the statute of limitations, which would have expired on October 5, 2026."
The DOJ Rapid Response account on X said that "the department filed a waiverless criminal information to toll the statute of limitations as it relates to allegations concerning former FBI Director Comey. Filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court and has been approved by multiple circuit courts of appeals. This is an ongoing criminal investigation, and we will not comment further."
Comey's attorney, Pat Fitzgerald, said that he "steadfastly maintains his innocence" and noted some details from all cases: "In September 2025, the Department of Justice used a person who was not actually a United States attorney to seek an indictment that was not actually shown to the grand jury. And it charged Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit. That case was promptly and properly dismissed. In April 2026, the Department of Justice filed charges in the Eastern District of North Carolina concerning Mr. Comey's posting of a photograph of seashells spelling '8647.' We will not comment beyond our filings in that case."
"This most recent case involves an October 5, 2016 New York Times article that two different teams of prosecutors investigated during the first Trump administration," Fitzgerald continued. "Both times the government determined that no charges should be brought against anyone. Now, 10 years after the article was published, the government filed an 'information' against Mr. Comey that was not approved by a judge nor issued by a grand jury. It purports to charge Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit. We are gratified that United States District Judge Trevor McFadden has ordered this matter unsealed. Mr. Comey will fight these charges vigorously and in the open."
Comey also directly declared his innocence and vowed to fight back in a video he posted on Substack, saying that "it would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice—one that we cannot become numb to."
Yet another case in DC by James Comey
Read on SubstackThe documents were unsealed shortly after US District Judge Jesse M. Furman—appointed to the Southern District of New York by former President Barack Obama—sided with Maurene Comey, concluding that the DOJ "violated the separation of powers, federal administrative law and Ms. Comey’s due process rights when it fired her in July 2025," as the Times detailed Monday.
A spokesperson for the DOJ—which is now led by Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as the president's personal lawyer—said that "the department disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course."
Sharing news of that ruling on X, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) predicted, "This will drive 'Ranting Man' Trump even crazier!!"
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175 House Democrats Decry Omar Raid as Dangerous 'Attempt to Influence an Election'
"This weaponization of law enforcement to harass a sitting member of Congress 22 days before an election is unprecedented and unacceptable."
Oct 26, 2026
While Congresswoman Ilhan Omar calls out the "fascist" Trump administration's recent raid on her home in fundraising emails as she seeks reelection in a solidly Democratic Minnesota district, over three-quarters of the progressive's fellow Democrats in the US House of Representatives came together on Monday to condemn the "weaponization of federal law enforcement against her."
As part of what the White House and US Department of Justice (DOJ) have confirmed is an ongoing criminal investigation, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents executed a search warrant on Omar's Washington, DC home on October 12, and "were seen carrying out boxes of documents from the home, and reportedly obtained her DNA, personal phone, and passport," notes House Democrats' letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
President Donald Trump has a long history of attacking the Somali-American lawmaker with "baseless lies and smear campaigns," and during this probe, Mullin, Vice President JD Vance, and White House adviser Stephen Miller and his wife, Katie Miller, have piled on. The letter calls the warrant "a dramatic escalation of an almost decade-long campaign of attacks on Congresswoman Omar."
The persecution of @repilhan.bsky.social just days before an election is vile and politically-motivated.I'm leading 175 House Democrats in denouncing this. When we retake power, we have to seriously look at how we can stop these abuses of power — starting with the power of the purse.
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— Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (@jayapal.house.gov) October 26, 2026 at 4:12 PM
"This weaponization of law enforcement to harass a sitting member of Congress 22 days before an election is unprecedented and unacceptable," argued the Democrats, led by Reps. Greg Casar (Texas), Yvette Clarke (NY), Robert Garcia (Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), and Bennie Thompson (Miss.), who are all congressional committee ranking members or caucus chiefs.
The four-term congresswoman is running again in Minnesota's 5th District, which earlier this year was targeted in Trump's Operation Metro Surge. That was part of his mass detention and deportation agenda, which has involved sending armed immigration agents into various communities, where they have killed, injured, and violated the rights of US citizens and noncitizens alike.
Early voting began in Minnesota just days after the raid. The members of Congress wrote that "news of the search warrant, whether properly predicated or not, could affect voters' decisions, which is exactly why federal law enforcement should not engage in such conduct when voters are casting their ballots. This type of interference strips Minnesotans of their right to a free and fair election guaranteed to them under the Constitution."
"Your actions are clearly driven by a pre-determined political outcome rather than an objective pursuit of justice," the lawmakers told Blanche and Mullin. "Your probe into the congresswoman reportedly concerns her late father's filing of immigration paperwork after she fled Somalia's civil war at age 8, making her a US citizen at age 17. This does not justify a pre-dawn raid on her home for paperwork her father filed when she was a minor."
Citing previous cases in which Trump's second administration "has prioritized retribution over its responsibility to apply the laws without fear or favor," the lawmakers added that "your unprecedented attempt to influence an election through federal law enforcement will also fail but the attempt itself is incompatible with our democracy."
We stand with @repilhan.bsky.social against Trump's baseless attacks and the continuing weaponization of the federal government.
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— The Progressive Caucus (@usprogressives.bsky.social) October 26, 2026 at 3:16 PM
"Political disagreements never justify intimidation, and no president should use the power of the federal government to threaten, silence, or intimidate political opponents," the Democrat stressed. "You have already disgraced the offices you hold, and we demand you refrain from taking any further actions that could affect the outcome of the upcoming election."
Democrats are aiming to reclaim majorities in both chambers of Congress in the November 3 elections—and if they do, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who could become the next speaker, made clear last month that party members "are preparing a vast oversight agenda" and "we haven't ruled anything out," including impeachment.
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UN Report Details Israeli Crimes Against Humanity in Palestine, Including Extermination, Rape, and Torture
The UN-mandated commission of inquiry found that Israel's genocidal acts are ultimately aimed at "blocking any viable attempts to realize Palestinians’ right to self-determination."
Oct 26, 2026
A United Nations-mandated commission of inquiry on Monday issued a report detailing Israeli crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territories, while also affirming that Israel's genocide continues in Gaza, despite a nominal yearlong ceasefire.
"Israel has committed war crimes and the crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, intentionally targeting Palestinian civilians as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza," the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a summary of the 19-page report.
"In Gaza... Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit genocidal acts even after the so-called ceasefire agreement, with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part," OHCHR saids of the report, which was authored by the UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
"Israeli forces have also deliberately killed and inflicted serious bodily and mental harm against children in the West Bank—as they have in Gaza—committing age-based persecution against Palestinian children," the report found. More than 21,500 Palestinian children, including over 1,000 infants, have been killed in Gaza over the past three years.
The commission documented cases of rape and sexual assault of Palestinians, including at the notorious Sde Teiman prison in Israel, where, according to the report, a prisoner "was raped with a stick and forced to insert it into his mouth until he vomited."
Previous reporting, including by The New York Times, detailed sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners, including one man who died after allegedly being sodomized by an electric baton.
The commission's report also affirmed that Israeli forces sexually abused Global Sumud Flotilla activists who were seized upon the high seas and abducted to Israel, including one male activist who was raped with a metal detector.
The report comes as Israeli forces intensify a military lockdown and ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank, including expulsions and home demolitions in Hebron, following the killing of two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers by Palestinians resisting the nearly half-century occupation, and ahead of Tuesday's Israeli elections.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza—is trying to shore up support for his far-right coalition ahead of the elections. Netanyahu and other senior officials, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have vowed to annex parts or all of the West Bank and to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
Netanyahu and members of his Cabinet have also said that Israel is planning to launch the biggest military operation in the West Bank since it was captured and occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War. Both the occupation and colonization of the West Bank are illegal under international law.
More than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023. Roughly 1.9 million others have been forcibly displaced, often multiple times. Israel's conduct in Gaza is the subject of a genocide case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. A ruling is not expected until at least 2029.
The new report shows how the scale of deadly violence has increased dramatically in the West Bank. Six Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes there between 2008 and October 6, 2023, compared with 254 killed in aerial bombardments between October 7, 2023 and September 30, 2026.
OCHCR has documented 1,143 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and October 9, 2026. At least 250 of those killed were children.
“The intentional killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians and destruction of homes in the West Bank combined with Israel’s persistent denial of responsibility form part of a broader strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians and impose conditions of life that are unliveable,” Srinivasan Muralidhar, who chairs the commission of inquiry, said in a statement. “Meanwhile, Israel’s expansion of territorial control in Gaza continues to result in the killing and harming of Palestinian civilians."
The commission also faulted the Palestinian Authority for targeting Palestinians for voicing dissent to its policies and actions and for its failure "to conduct effective and impartial investigations into incidents of killings and to ensure effective remedy, including financial compensation to victims and their family members."
The report found that Israel's actions ultimately are designed to thwart any possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
“Seizing maximum land while minimizing the Palestinian population in relation to size, autonomy, and viability stems from Israel’s colonizing policies and is rooted in historical practices and patterns of action, resulting in the excessive and discriminatory application of lethal force, displacing, injuring, and killing Palestinians over generations,” said Muralidhar.
“Attempting to equate Palestinian statehood with a threat to the existence of Israel is blocking any viable attempts to realize Palestinians’ right to self-determination," he added.
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Israel Bars International Delegation From West Bank Amid Attacks on Palestinian Olive Harvesters
"It is clear that Israel is trying to erase Palestinian life in the West Bank and Gaza with minimum fuss and attention—cutting off support and solidarity from the outside world."
Oct 26, 2026
Amid international outcry over escalating settler terrorism against Palestinian farmers, the Israeli government on Monday blocked a group of European legislators seeking to observe the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank.
The group denied entry to the West Bank from Jordan included British Labour Member of Parliament Clive Lewis, Scottish National Party MP Lara Bird, Scottish Green lawmaker Kate Nevens, former Labour MP Sam Tarry, and Spanish Sen. Josu Estarrona Elizondo of EH Bildu, along with other international activists.
The lawmakers were set to join Palestinian olive harvesters on October 31 at the Qamar al-Balad Farm in the village of Farkha in the central West Bank. Earlier this month, Israeli settlers attacked the farm and attempted to burn its poultry shed before being repelled by local residents.
“I came to stand alongside Palestinians being attacked for harvesting olives on their own land. Instead, we were turned away at the border with no reason given,” Bird said. “More than ever, Palestinians are being subject to terror and violence by the [Israel Defense Forces] and illegal settlers. Increased blockades, demolitions, and unthinkable violence have become the norm for Palestinians in the West Bank.”
The United Nations has documented at least 272 attacks since September 1, eclipsing the full-season totals for 2024 and 2025, including assaults by armed Israeli settlers against farmers, journalists, and European diplomats. Last week, Israeli authorities detained around 80 volunteers accompanying Palestinian farmers, including US House candidate Brad Lander, a Jewish New York Democrat.
“For more than eight hours, we were held, interrogated, and made to feel as though we had done something wrong simply by attempting to enter,” Lewis said. “The simple truth is we had done nothing wrong. We went to show our support for the Palestinian people and highlight the terrible injustice and violence being perpetrated against them. We want to ensure that people back home do not look away from the reality of what is happening.”
The Israeli government has promised to crack down on violence by settlers, but the military has often aided them. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz has pursued removal orders against activists seeking to protect Palestinian olive harvesters.
“We are dismayed that Israel has barred our entry to Palestine,” said Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, which participated in the delegation. “But this is clearly part of a much wider campaign in which Israel is increasingly stopping politicians, observers, and even aid workers from entering the West Bank to witness or provide support to Palestinians.”
In retaliation for a UK policy cutting off trade with the settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, Israel placed 11 members of the UK Parliament on a “ban” list—including Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP Diane Abbott, and Green MP Carla Denyer.
American activists who’ve traveled to Israel and the occupied territories to provide support for Palestinians at risk of settler attacks have also had their legal status revoked, including several Jewish Americans—even though Jewish Americans are generally encouraged to migrate to Israel.
The exclusion of international observers comes just before a highly visible national election on Tuesday, in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at risk of having his government toppled.
Netanyahu has ramped up military assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank in recent days, particularly after an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers Friday in Hebron. In what has been decried by the United Nations human rights office as "collective punishment," nearly 4,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes while houses and businesses have been raided and demolished by the military.
While the surge in settler violence has drawn global condemnation and heightened Israel's pariah status, Netanyahu has praised Israel's "heroic settlers" in the final days of his campaign and vowed to expand settlements.
"It is clear that Israel is trying to erase Palestinian life in the West Bank and Gaza with minimum fuss and attention—cutting off support and solidarity from the outside world," Dearden said. "In this context, it is more essential than ever that the UK and other governments act with extreme urgency and courage to deter Israel’s attacks on Palestinians. This can’t wait.”
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Former Biden Official With AIPAC Ties Tapped for Trump's 'Corrupt, Anti-Palestinian' Board of Peace
"Democrats should firmly oppose it regardless of how many former AIPAC employees the Trump administration sends up to the Hill to sell it," said one policy expert of the Board of Peace.
Oct 26, 2026
As President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, the organization that is tasked with overseeing a peace plan in Gaza, looks to boost its bipartisan appeal ahead of the midterm elections, in which Democrats could take control of one if not both chambers of Congress, the board announced Monday that it had appointed a former Biden administration official to help smooth the effort.
Shelley Greenspan, who served in the State Department and then as the White House liaison to the Jewish community for two years under President Joe Biden, was selected to lead external affairs, including outreach to members of Congress and think tanks in Washington, DC.
Greenspan has previously worked for Amazon in global innovation policy, for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in 2016, and as a legislative manager for the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Her appointment comes just before the US elections, but also legislative elections in Israel, which have held up the peace process as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to take steps on the peace plan before the country goes to the polls Tuesday.
Recent polling has projected that a bloc of opposition parties could win more seats than Netanyahu's far-right nationalist alliance.
Greenspan has promoted Trump's 20-point peace plan as one that could bring "practical results" to Palestinians in Gaza.
In a statement to Axios on Monday, she said that in her last federal government role at the State Department, "I saw how the president's 20-Point Plan can tangibly deliver for the peoples of Gaza and Israel. I look forward to continuing that work with the Board."
But rights groups have warned the Board of Peace has failed to deliver safety to Palestinians. In May, five months after the board was established at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—where Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, presented a vision for a "new Gaza" complete with data centers and luxury high-rises—Human Rights Watch found that 865 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces since the October 2025 ceasefire and humanitarian aid was still "far below required levels."
The Board of Peace was given a mandate by the United Nations Security Council to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, with Trump serving as "chairman for life." Last month, it unveiled a $2.45 billion recovery plan, including 66 projects.
But as Eric Reidy wrote at The New Humanitarian last week, the board "has put forward grand visions for redevelopment that are entirely disconnected from Gaza’s past and present as well as preliminary plans for stabilization that lack any viable path for implementation."
Meanwhile, Israel has continued to wage deadly attacks on Palestinians and daily life in the exclave has been "suspended in an intolerable state of limbo," he wrote.
"Trump’s 20-point peace plan says that Israel 'will not occupy or annex Gaza,' but it makes no mention of the West Bank," Reidy added. "The question of Palestinian self-determination is kicked indefinitely down the line to some point in the future when 'the conditions may finally be in place.' There is no mention of Palestinian rights or of justice and restitution, let alone recognition of Israeli crimes. Can there really be a path forward in Gaza that would benefit its people without addressing, or even acknowledging, the underlying causes of their suffering, namely Israel’s colonization and subjugation of Palestinians?"
Meanwhile, allegations of corruption have emerged, with Trump pledging $10 billion in taxpayer funds to the Board of Peace.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, urged Democrats in Congress to oppose to board despite its attempt to cast itself as a bipartisan operation by appointing Greenspan.
"There's no 'fixing' the Board of Peace, and it's doing exactly what the world expects of it: serving as a Trump slush fund while validating continued Israeli control of Gaza, at the expense of Palestinian lives and rights," said Duss. "That is its purpose. No one should pretend otherwise."
Greenspan's appointment, said Akbar Shahid Ahmed of The Washington Sun, "underscores continuity in Biden-Trump policy for ongoing Palestinian suffering," and the "reluctance to pressure Israel even for stated US goals" such as an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The Board of Peace, said progressive organizer Melissa Byrne, "is war and subjugation by another name."
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Over a Million Seniors Sent Scrambling as Medicare Advantage Giants Slash Plans Under Trump
Medicare Advantage giants are seeking to boost their profits by cutting benefits and exiting counties across the US—despite receiving a big payment boost from the Trump administration.
Oct 26, 2026
Seniors across the United States are scrambling to find alternative health coverage as Humana, UnitedHealthcare, and other private insurance giants slash Medicare Advantage benefits and cancel some plans entirely—despite receiving a major payment increase from the Trump administration for the coming fiscal year.
Humana and UnitedHealthcare's plan cancellations are expected to impact more than 1 million seniors nationwide, forcing people to find new plans in the current open enrollment period that runs until December 7. Both companies have signaled that they are trying to boost their bottom lines by exiting unprofitable Medicare Advantage markets and cutting benefits such as routine dental coverage, which is not offered by traditional Medicare.
"My biggest challenge for picking a plan next year is the cost of dental plans and vision are going up," one Medicare Advantage enrollee told PBS last week.
The health policy nonprofit KFF noted in an analysis earlier this month Humana and UnitedHealthcare are withdrawing their Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans from more US counties than they are entering in 2027. UnitedHealthcare is exiting 228 counties and entering nine new ones, while Humana is leaving 62 counties and entering four new ones, KFF found.
Blue Cross Blue Shield is also eliminating some of its Medicare Advantage plans, which are funded by the federal government—at a massive cost to US taxpayers—and run by private companies. The Boston Globe reported on Monday that "about 20,000 seniors in Massachusetts will be forced to find new health insurance plans" due to the Blue Cross Blue Shield cuts.
In Minnesota, an analysis by the Star Tribune found that around two-thirds of state residents enrolled in Medicare Advantage—around 340,000 people—will have to find new coverage for the coming year due to private insurers' cuts.
"Fifteen counties are losing their remaining Medicare Advantage options next year. In 12 of those counties, though, insurers will sell a different kind of privatized Medicare coverage called a Cost plan," the Star Tribune reported last week. "Cost plans sell at typically higher monthly premiums than Medicare Advantage plans."
Nationwide, more than half of the Medicare-eligible population is enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, which are notorious for overbilling the federal government and denying coverage for necessary care—increasingly using artificial intelligence technology.
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimated in a report published earlier this year that the federal government will pay roughly $76 billion more to cover seniors on Medicare Advantage plans than it would have if those same people were on traditional Medicare. Over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Medicare Advantage overpayments could cost the federal government around $1 trillion.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration gave the Medicare Advantage industry a significant boost by hiking federal payments to private insurers by roughly 2.5%—a sizeable increase compared to the 0.9% raise that the administration previously floated. Reuters reported in April that the industry will also receive a "2.5% benefit from a change to risk assessment payments related to health status, for a total increase of about 5%."
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which announced the payment boost, is currently headed by Mehmet Oz, who once proposed a healthcare plan dubbed "Medicare Advantage for All."
The advocacy group Families USA called the 2027 payment increase for Medicare Advantage insurers "a big giveaway" that could have gone toward "bolstering benefits in Medicare for all seniors and people with disabilities."
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Van Hollen Says Medicare for All Is What's Needed If Democrats Take Back the Senate
“The reality is people are facing huge increases in premiums and copays… So we need a Medicare-for-All-type solution,” Van Hollen said. “This is the kind of debate we need to have.”
Oct 26, 2026
Another possible Democratic presidential contender says the party needs to pursue “Medicare for All” as a solution to America’s healthcare crisis should the US Senate flip blue in November.
“The reality is people are facing huge increases in premiums and copays. So we need a Medicare-for-All-type solution,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a Monday report from Politico. “This is the kind of debate we need to have.”
Van Hollen joins a list of potential 2028 hopefuls who have endorsed the idea of a single-payer healthcare system—including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who have championed the policy for years, following the lead of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also declared that he believes in “universal healthcare” and “Medicare for All” but has not yet released a concrete proposal for what his version of the policy would look like.
Van Hollen, who previously backed a public health insurance option to compete with private insurance, supported Sanders' Medicare for All bill in December as premiums were set to skyrocket after Republicans allowed enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies to expire.
He declared that Congress "must stop tinkering around the edges of a broken healthcare system," pointing to the massive administrative costs and poor health outcomes under the for-profit status quo.
Medicare for All could also face a more favorable climate in the Senate than it did during the Biden presidency.
If Democrats retake the chamber this November—buoyed by promises to tackle the high costs of everything from healthcare to energy to food—Sanders is expected to once again be appointed chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
Sanders led the committee from 2023-25, a time when Medicare for All lacked any chance of passing out of a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
While a new Medicare for All bill would likely be routed through the Senate Finance Committee, chairing HELP would give the Vermont socialist the power to frame the debate on healthcare by holding hearings that could address problems with private insurance and launching investigations into industry practices, while making the case for a single-payer system.
In an April 2026 letter, co-signed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sanders called for a series of high-profile Senate hearings grilling insurance CEOs over rising premiums, coverage denials, executive compensation, and industry consolidation.
“The American public deserves to know why the big insurance executives... continue to get richer and richer, while over one-third of people with health insurance have been forced to skip or delay getting the care they need because of the outrageous cost,” Sanders and Wyden wrote. “It is time for our committees to hold the chief executives of the major health insurance companies accountable for their greed and to address the healthcare crisis in America."
A strong showing for Democrats in November's midterms could bring a new crop of Medicare for All supporters to Congress, such as former Detroit public health official Abdul El-Sayed and labor leader Troy Jackson, who are leading their Senate races in Michigan and Maine.
As private insurance premiums spike and millions of Americans lose coverage after the Trump administration imposed the largest federal healthcare spending cut in the nation's history, Medicare for All also has more public support than it has had in years.
A September survey by KFF found that 66% of adults said they’d favor “a national health plan in which everyone gets insurance from a single government plan.” Support came from 84% of Democrats, who’ve long backed it, as well as nearly three-quarters of independents and even just over a third of Republicans.
“If I have anything to say about it… the agenda of the Democratic Party is going to be extremely bold. It is going to take on high costs,” Sanders told Politico. “The super [political action committees] are not going to run the agenda anymore. We’re going to do what the American people want.”
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