March, 25 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Chad Nicholson
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Pennsylvania Community Organizer
CELDF.org
207-541-3649
Rights of Nature Law Forces Pennsylvania to Revoke Industry Permit
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection enforces local Grant Township law in revoking permit for dangerous frack waste injection well.
WASHINGTON
In an extraordinary reversal, last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit for a frack waste injection well in Grant Township. DEP officials cited Grant Township's Home Rule Charter banning injection wells as grounds for their reversal.
Injection wells are toxic sewers for the fracking industry that cause earthquakes, receive radioactive waste, and threaten drinking water and ecosystems.
Township residents popularly adopted a Home Rule Charter (local constitution) in 2015 that contains a "Community Bill of Rights." The Charter bans injection wells as a violation of the rights of those living in the township and recognizes rights of nature. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted in drafting the Charter.
In 2017, DEP issued a permit to legalize an injection well in Grant, and simultaneously sued the township. The agency claimed that Grant's Home Rule Charter - which protects the local environment - interfered with the DEP's authority to administer state oil and gas policy.
Yet, in a stunning about-face, DEP enforced Grant's law and rescinded the injection well permit, last week. "Grant Township's Home Rule Charter bans the injection of oil and gas waste fluids," the DEP writes. "Therefore, the operation of the Yanity well as an oil and gas waste fluid injection well would violate that applicable law."
Since 2014, Township residents have faced a variety of intimidation tactics, including lawsuits, from the corporation behind the injection well (Pennsylvania General Energy), the oil and gas industry, and their own state government and agencies. They have not backed down, even in the face of potential municipal bankruptcy. They have continued to assert and protect their community's rights.
"We are over the moon that the permit was rescinded," said Grant Township Supervisor Vice-Chair Stacy Long. "However, we know the permit should never have been issued in the first place. We can't forget that DEP sued us for three years, claiming our Charter was invalid. Now they cite that same Charter as a valid reason to deny the industry a permit. It's hypocritical at best. Add this to the pile of reasons Grant Township did not trust the DEP to protect our environment, and why we've had to democratically work at the local level to protect our community."
"This decision does not validate the actions of the DEP, but rather vindicates the resistance that communities like Grant have engaged in to force governmental agencies into doing the right thing," says CELDF Pennsylvania Organizer Chad Nicholson. "DEP has been acting in bad faith. I'm glad they revoked the permit. But it took them too long to do what all governments should be doing: enforcing democratically-enacted local laws that protect public health and safety."
Grant Township is aware that the industry and/or state agencies, such as DEP, may sue them again. As of today, there is no injection well in Grant Township.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is helping build a decolonial movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature to advance democratic, economic, social, and environmental rights-building upward from the grassroots to the state, federal, and international levels.
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'Minnesota 15' Case Reveals Largest US Government Spying on Left Since COINTELPRO
“These are exactly the kind of intelligence activities J. Edgar Hoover adopted to suppress the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the 1960s," said one retired FBI agent.
Oct 28, 2026
The Trump administration is conducting what some experts believe is the largest government surveillance campaign targeting American leftists in over half a century, deploying undercover agents, drones, financial investigators, and digital monitoring against opponents of President Donald Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown, according to reporting published Wednesday.
Wired reporter Ali Winston examined court records regarding the prosecution of the so-called "Minnesota 15," a group of activists facing federal conspiracy charges after organizing and taking part in protests and other resistance to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) deadly Operation Metro Surge crackdown in the Twin Cities.
The Minnesota 15 are members of the groups Direct Action Minnesota and Black Cat Workers, and are accused of impeding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) anti-immigrant crackdown in Minneapolis, where US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were separately killed earlier this year by ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and where Julio César Sosa-Celis survived being shot by an ICE agent.
Winston's investigation centers on Operation Puppet Master and Project Whipple Shield, probes conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of ICE. More than 120 HSI agents were assigned to the Minnesota campaigns, including at least 11 undercover operatives who infiltrated activist meetings, marches, training sessions, and encrypted Signal chats.
Those operations were authorized under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which was signed by Trump following last year’s assassination of Charlie Kirk in an effort to target the left—even though leftists had nothing to do with the racist influencer's murder.
Federal agents also spied on gatherings in other states, photographed vehicles, deployed unarmed Reaper drones, and examined activists' digital records and financial transactions.
Civil liberties advocates and former law enforcement officials said the campaign evokes the Federal Bureau of Investigation's notorious COINTELPRO program, which surveilled, infiltrated, and sought to disrupt Civil Rights, Black liberation, anti-war, American Indian, and other movements during the tenure of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover—including by funding and arming murderous far-right militants to terrorize leftists.
As Winston noted:
According to a 2011 book by former [Central Intelligence Agency] officer Frank Rafalko, the CIA secret investigation into suspected foreign influence on the New Left and anti-Vietnam War movement had 42 officers working the case at its peak. Court records show 119 HSI agents worked on the Minnesota 15 case alone.
“Broad monitoring of social media, communications, and financial transactions are used to link an ever-increasing number of people as potential subjects of investigation and prosecution,” Mike German, a retired FBI agent critical of the post-9/11 surveillance state, told Winston. “These are exactly the kind of intelligence activities J. Edgar Hoover adopted to suppress the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the 1960s.”
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Ahead of Anthropic IPO, Warren Warns AI Giant Could Leave 'Americans Holding the Bag'
"Anthropic is saying that AI models could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity. At the same time, Anthropic is planning the largest IPO in history."
Oct 28, 2026
As the artificial intelligence company Anthropic moves toward a historic initial public offering, the top Democrat on the US Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee sounded the alarm about both public safety and financial concerns in a Tuesday letter to CEO Dario Amodei.
"I write with concern following your company's disclosure that Anthropic's advanced AI models could 'pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity' at the same time that it seeks to register as a public company and sell shares in November," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
"Anthropic disclosed extensive public safety and financial risks to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of its registration process for an initial public offering (IPO)," she noted. "An IPO would provide Anthropic with broader access to the largest capital markets in the world, allowing it to raise more funding from a larger pool of investors to fuel its rapid growth."
"It will also mean that millions of Americans with retirement accounts invested in index funds will quickly become Anthropic shareholders," stressed the former Harvard University bankruptcy professor. "Public pensions are already heavily exposed to Anthropic and have expressed their concerns about Anthropic's societal risks ahead of its IPO."
According to the SEC paperwork, Anthropic plans to list on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol "ANT." Reports have suggested the company—known for its Claude models—could be valued at between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion. As NPR noted: "That would put it in league with Elon Musk's rocketry and AI company SpaceX, which was valued at around $1.8 trillion when it listed in June."
Warren pointed out to Amodei that "this massive influx of public capital is likely to catapult the development and deployment of your technology during a time of intense public debate and concern about the risks of your frontier intelligence models."
The senator argued that "the risks presented by this technology demand greater scrutiny before they become intertwined with the public capital markets, which could further escalate both public safety and systemic financial risks."
The "growing public safety concerns" section of Warren's letter cites details from the Form S-1 that Anthropic submitted to the SEC, as well as the CEO's public statements "calling for the need to slow down the development of frontier AI models."
"You warned that 'we still only understand a tiny fraction of what goes on inside these models' and highlighted the 'risk of losing control of AI systems, misuse of AI for cyberattacks and bioterrorism, and serious economic disruption,'" she reminded Amodei. "You further warned that a 'race to the bottom, spurred by commercial incentives, can make these risks more acute.'"
"It is also difficult to trust existing safety tests and evaluations of model test environments in the wake of recent incidents in which models built by frontier AI companies, including Anthropic, have broken through security controls and hacked external systems autonomously," the senator emphasized.
Such incidents have intensified AI experts' warnings and spurred calls for government action, leading to a range of legislative proposals, including in the US Congress—the future control of which will be decided in next week's midterm elections.
Warren highlighted that "in addition to the potentially catastrophic safety risks posed by Anthropic's technology, the company's launch into the public markets could inject extreme volatility and risk into the financial system, which threatens to undermine Americans' economic security."
"Anthropic is projected to be the largest IPO in history," she wrote. "Given its unprecedented size, swings in Anthropic's share price have the potential to roil the broader markets on day one, particularly for companies in the technology sector, and even more acutely for megacap companies with direct financial entanglement with Anthropic."
"Beyond the threats to the financial system that Anthropic's IPO may pose, the company's registration statement disclosures include astronomical projections supported by aggressive assumptions that require further review and due diligence," she added, digging into the company's disclosures.
Warren also sent Amodei a detailed list of questions she wants answered by November 3—before the company goes public.
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Trove of Documents Exposes Secret Palantir Role in Medicare's AI Pilot Program
"I know how much these companies prefer to keep behind closed doors," said a former insurance industry executive. "Now we're learning that Palantir has been operating behind those doors, too."
Oct 28, 2026
The software firm Palantir has drawn scrutiny and recent public ire over its role in President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, the illegal US war in Iran, and Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza.
But a trove of documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reveals that the notorious tech company's tentacles have reached into the American healthcare system—including a widely criticized Medicare pilot program that uses AI models to review requests for medical services.
The documents include an application from Zyter, a healthcare technology company that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) chose to participate in the Medicare pilot program, formally known as the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model. Zyter's application mentions that Palantir "provides mission critical software infrastructure for CMS" and other government agencies, as well as "multiple" insurance companies. Zyter uses Palantir's software infrastructure, EFF noted.
Another document states that Palantir provides "AI-driven decision-making solutions" for "federal government entities and major payer customers such as Humana, Cigna, and Blue Shield of California."
The Center for Health and Democracy Education Fund, a nonprofit group founded by former health insurance executive turned whistleblower Wendell Potter, released a report Tuesday analyzing the documents unveiled by EFF, homing in on the "previously undisclosed claims of integration of Palantir Technologies’ products by major health insurers."
"As health insurers utilize AI more frequently, they are partnering with some of the nation’s largest technology corporations. Yet many of these relationships, including the technologies being used and the purposes they serve, remain largely unknown to the public," the report observed. "Given that these partnerships already exist, health insurers should immediately release to the public all vendor agreements involving the use of patient data."
The WISeR pilot debuted this year and has so far been rolled out in New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington state. News reports and internal documents show that the program was hastily implemented and has resulted in confusion and care delays for seniors. Vendors chosen to participate in the experiment earn a percentage of the estimated value of a denied claim, which critics say creates a perverse incentive to reject insurance claims.
The Center for Health and Democracy Education Fund demanded in its new report that insurance companies "immediately release to the public all vendor agreement involving the use of patient data." Without such information, the group warned, the public will not know key information such as the extent of AI involvement in coverage decisions.
"Patients should not have to wonder whether an undisclosed algorithm influenced their coverage determination, whether their medical information was shared with an outside technology company, or whether an automated system was evaluated for accuracy before affecting their care," the report concluded. "As AI becomes increasingly integrated into health insurance, it should not be allowed to make care-altering decisions, especially when it was designed by a company driven by profit rather than patient health."
Potter, a former Cigna executive who is now a vocal critic of the private insurance industry and supporter of Medicare for All, wrote in a series of social media posts on Tuesday that "I know how much these companies prefer to keep behind closed doors."
"Now we're learning that Palantir has been operating behind those doors, too," Potter wrote. "Is Palantir's technology helping insurers decide what medical care gets approved or denied? And why are we only learning about these relationships now?"
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Are Israeli Opposition Parties 'Brave Enough' to Join Forces and End 'Blood-Soaked' Netanyahu Government?
"We have no future here if we don’t stop being afraid," said Yair Golan, the leader of the left-wing Democrats party. "We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes."
Oct 28, 2026
Israel’s opposition parties appeared to have secured enough Knesset seats in Tuesday’s elections to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power and end a four-year reign marked by genocidal war in Gaza and escalating terror and dispossession against Palestinians in the West Bank.
But will they?
With about 86% of ballots counted as of Wednesday morning, Netanyahu's far-right religious bloc is projected to have lost about 11 seats, putting them at 53, eight shy of an outright majority.
The Jewish opposition bloc, led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, is projected to win 48 seats, putting it in a position to take control. But it would likely have to cooperate with the parties representing Israel’s Arab minority, which together won a record 19 seats on Tuesday thanks to unprecedented turnout among Arab voters who braved racist incitement from the Netanyahu camp and widespread suppression tactics at the ballot box.
Graphic by The Petek
Ameer Fakhoury, an analyst at Israel’s Van Leer Jerusalem Institute think tank, described the mobilization of Palestinian citizens in the elections as a “truly historic development.”
"They went to the polls in extraordinary numbers to confront a political leadership responsible for what they regard as the gravest crimes against their people: devastation in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and years of persecution and intimidation at home," he told Middle East Eye.
"History has placed Palestinian citizens of Israel in an extraordinary position. Having mobilized first and foremost to protect their own people, they may now also help rescue Jewish Israelis from their country's destructive trajectory," he said.
"Bibi or Tibi"
With a limited window for the parties to negotiate a new government before another election is triggered, the Arab parties now hold leverage to press their demands.
Mansour Abbas, the leader of the smaller of the two Arab factions, Ra’am, signaled his willingness to compromise on Tuesday evening as the results emerged, saying his priority was to “bring down Benjamin Netanyahu, [Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich], and [National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir] in this election.”
Ra’am has featured in further-right governments before, previously helping to cobble together the majority that briefly allowed former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett—also part of the Eisenkot coalition—to form one in 2021. But with the current parliamentary math, Abbas’ seven seats alone would not be enough to form a majority.
The larger Arab coalition, the left-wing Joint List, has also offered to back Eisenkot’s government. Its parliamentary leader, Ahmad Tibi, has been vocal about his demands for concessions, including commitments to fight crime in Arab communities, end the demolition of unauthorized homes often built due to permit discrimination, halt racist incitement against Arab citizens, and offer a potential “political horizon” for Palestinian self-determination.
He said the choice was between "either Bibi or Tibi."
Eisenkot has likewise described “Netanyahu’s retirement from political life” as a central goal. But in an effort to court Jewish Netanyahu voters hostile to Arabs and hold together his own bloc, he ruled out working with Arab parties unless they recognize Israel as a Jewish state, accept conscription of Palestinian citizens of Israel into the Israeli military, and denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Amjad Shbita, the general secretary of Hadash, the socialist party that is the biggest faction in the Joint List, has expressed hostility to the idea that Eisenkot would get to dictate terms.
“Laying down conditions won’t work with the Joint List,” Shbita said. “We will negotiate as equals because we need each other.”
Tibi said the opposition could form a coalition “if it wants to, if it is brave enough to.”
Making things more complex is pressure from within Eisenkot's bloc. Bennett and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman have rejected forming a government dependent on Arab parties’ support or abstention.
Liberman has urged members of Netanyahu’s Likud party to defect and join the opposition to form a “true” right-wing government. One potential opening would be to peel away Likud hawks opposed to Netanyahu’s concessions to ultra-Orthodox parties, most notably draft exemptions for yeshiva students.“Anyone who tries to erase the voices of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel."
On the other side of the opposition, Yair Golan, the leader of the left-wing Democrats party, has urged Eisenkot to cooperate with the Arab parties and form a coalition that would decisively push Netanyahu out of power.
“Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. Sixty-five is more than 55. That’s how Israeli democracy works. Period,” Golan wrote Wednesday on social media. “The reality must teach us one resounding lesson: We have no future here if we don’t stop being afraid. And if we don’t stop with the racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.”
"Anyone who tries to erase the voices of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel," he said.
Another possibility on the table is a “national unity government” that would involve a power-sharing agreement between the Netanyahu and Eisenkot factions, likely boxing out the Arabs entirely.
Eitan Tzelgov, an expert on Israeli populism and democratic backsliding at the UK's University of East Anglia, presented the choice for Eisenkot's bloc as a binary one: "govern with the Arab parties, or with Netanyahu."
"Israel is a tribal society, with cohesive right-wing tribes and a shrinking liberal tribe that will need to make a decision," he said in an email to Common Dreams. "Over the years, Netanyahu and the far right have built an ideological firewall around the Arab parties by presenting any Jewish-Arab collaboration as support for terrorism."
"The leaders of the change bloc, representing Israel’s liberal camp, now must decide if they are willing to break it," he continued. "That is the only way to bring about a U-turn from the current government’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank."
He was not optimistic about their stomach for it: “A more likely outcome at the moment,” he said, “is a split within the change bloc and collaboration of some of its components with Netanyahu, a result [US President Donald Trump] reportedly supports.”
Joint List Chair Yousef Jabareen put the stakes in plain terms: “Anyone who wants to offer a substantive and genuine alternative to Netanyahu’s blood-soaked government will have to talk to us,” he said. “It’s either the continuation of racism, the continuation of exclusion, and the continuation of supremacy, or a genuine Jewish-Arab partnership.”
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Led by Elon Musk, 515 Superrich People Have Donated $4.2 Billion to Super PACs for 2026 Elections
"Until something is done, like overturning the Citizens United US Supreme Court decision, the wealthy’s stranglehold on our political system will continue to tighten."
Oct 28, 2026
The "almost cartoon-villain level of political spending" by SpaceX CEO and former Trump administration adviser Elon Musk has reached a fever pitch ahead of the midterm elections, with the right-wing billionaire's donations of $445 million to super political action committees accounting for 10% of the $4.2 billion the PACs have brought in.
As an analysis released Tuesday by the government watchdog Public Citizen found, Musk has led the way in contributing huge sums to super PACs. The PACs can raise unlimited amounts of money on behalf of candidates and causes and have increasingly influenced elections following the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which said the government cannot restrict political spending by corporations.
But excluding Musk, just 514 donors have contributed about $3.8 billion to super PACs this election cycle, as Republicans attempt to hold onto control of the US Senate and House of Representatives despite President Donald Trump's plummeting approval rating and his record of raising the prices of gas and other essentials with his illegal war on Iran and his tariff policy.
Altogether, the donations from the 515 contributors account for 73% of all super PAC funding from individuals, corporations, and nonprofits this election cycle, according to Public Citizen.
"The figures add to a growing body of evidence that unlimited political spending has concentrated influence over elections among a tiny number of wealthy individuals and corporations," said the organization, noting that Musk's contributions come two years after he poured nearly $300 million into the 2024 elections, boosting Trump and other Republicans and spending close to $120 million more than the next closest donor.
The report follows an earlier Public Citizen analysis that found more than 100 super PACs that have raised at least $1 million received the majority of the funding from just a single donor, collectively gathering more than $1 billion to boost the candidates of their choice.
The Senate Leadership Fund has the most donors contributing at least $1 million each, with 61 people contributing $496 million.
“When 500 donors account for more than 70% of super PAC contributions, we should be asking whose voices our political system is prioritizing.”
MAGA Inc., the super PAC affiliated with Trump, has taken $405 million from 102 contributors ahead of the crucial midterms, while the Senate Majority PAC has received $244 million from 44 people or groups.
Fifty-three donors have sent $231 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, while 31 donors have contributed $183 million to the House Majority PAC.
“Super PACs have helped create a political system where a small number of wealthy interests can spend unlimited amounts to influence elections and shape the choices voters face,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. “When 500 donors account for more than 70% of super PAC contributions, we should be asking whose voices our political system is prioritizing.”
After Musk, GOP megadonors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein have been the second-largest contributors to super PACs this year. The Uihleins own the packing company Uline, and have pushed for years for government deregulation and against labor unions.
Other top contributors include multiple dark money groups, right-wing megadonor Jeffrey Yass—a longtime funder of anti-LGBTQ+, anti-choice, and anti-public school campaigns—and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who said earlier this year that he would prefer to use artificial intelligence in his business rather than hire human workers.
As The Washington Sun reported Tuesday, dark money groups, which don't have to reveal the source of their contributions, have poured more than $392 million into the four congressional leadership PACs this year.
The Public Citizen report stresses that the hundreds of top donors to super PACs this year gave amounts of money that "most Americans could not fathom donating to a political cause."
More than 85% of the money raised by super PACs ahead of the midterms came from donors who gave at least $20,000—"nearly a quarter of the median household income," said Public Citizen.
"Until something is done, like overturning the Citizens United US Supreme Court decision," said the group, "the wealthy’s stranglehold on our political system will continue to tighten."
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Amid Growing Hunger Crisis, Trump Tells Voters They Couldn’t Even Afford a Burger at His Private Club
"Making fun of the decor at Cheesecake Factory was elitist. Bragging that the crowd wouldn't be able to afford the food at his private club is, what exactly?"
Oct 28, 2026
US President Donald Trump, whose policies have significantly driven up food costs during his second term, said at a Texas campaign rally on Tuesday that voters likely wouldn't even be able to afford "a hamburger and a small dessert" at his private Mar-a-Lago resort, remarks that came amid a worsening national hunger crisis fueled by Republican cuts to federal nutrition aid.
Trump made the comment in the context of his farcical pledge to send every American adult a $5,000 check if Republicans retain control of the US Congress in next month's midterm elections. "The problem," Trump said, "is that for $5,000 the most you'll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert. I'm not even sure you could buy that."
"No, don't go there," the billionaire president said of Mar-a-Lago, where he frequently hosts rich allies and donors. "That's not a good place if you're price-conscious."
Watch:
"Working people are struggling to make rent and pay for groceries, and President Trump wants to sell you a $5,000 hamburger at his private golf club. (Fries and a drink extra.)," the AFL-CIO wrote in response to the president's remarks, which drew laughter from the audience gathered in Corpus Christi.
Progressive activist Jordan Uhl noted that Trump's comments came just days after former President Barack Obama sparked right-wing furor by mocking Trump's gaudy White House renovations.
"Making fun of the decor at Cheesecake Factory was elitist," Uhl wrote on social media. "Bragging that the crowd wouldn't be able to afford the food at his private club is, what exactly?"
Trump's remarks came amid what one analyst described as a "hunger disaster unrolling before our eyes" as millions of Americans—including many children—lose federal nutrition assistance due to the Republican budget package that the president signed into law last year.
"About 2 million kids have lost SNAP since deep cuts were enacted last year," Katie Bergh, an expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, observed last week. "The ripple effects: Kids losing SNAP also lose automatic enrollment for free meals at school."
According to a recent analysis by Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) office, grocery prices have risen 2.6% since Trump signed the Republican budget legislation, and "costs of several everyday staples are rising at a faster annual pace than wages (up 3% in September 2026), including apples (7.5%), coffee (7.1%), fish (6.9%), tomatoes (6.8%), ground beef (5.4%), rice (4.3%), peanut butter (3.8%), and bread (3.3%)."
"President Trump’s policies are a key driver of these price increases," the senator's analysis observed. "His chaotic and unlawful tariffs have raised the cost of food... And President Trump’s reckless and illegal war with Iran is pushing those costs higher still, as rising transportation and fertilizer costs put additional pressure on food prices and supply."
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Official Price Tag of Iran War Jumps to $47 Billion as Trump Says It Will End 'Whenever I Want It To'
The president's comments and the official cost estimate came amid reports that the US military is preparing for a new onslaught against Iran after the midterm elections.
Oct 28, 2026
US President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters on Tuesday that his illegal war of choice in Iran will end "whenever I want it to" as the conflict's official price tag reportedly jumped to $47 billion—a figure that independent analysts believe to be a dramatic underestimate.
"It can be over whenever I want it to be over," Trump said of the historically unpopular war during a rally in Texas, a week before the midterm elections. "But we have to have it end properly, with... a total statement [that] they will never have a nuclear weapon." (Iran has already said repeatedly that it would never develop nuclear weapons, including in the opening pages of the Obama-era agreement that Trump shredded during his first White House term.)
Trump's remarks came as The Hill reported that the federal government's official estimate of the Iran war's cost has jumped $3 billion since last month, rising to $47 billion.
"The biggest chunk of the cost is munition replacement at $29 billion," The Hill reported, citing a US Central Command estimate that the outlet obtained on Tuesday. "Nearly $12 billion is obligated for incremental costs of military action and another $6.1 billion to replace equipment losses, according to the estimate. Air Force’s support for deployed personnel, airlift, base, communication support, and transportation in theater costs $7.6 billion. The estimate does not include the cost to damaged US military bases in the Middle East."
When such damage—which has been far more extensive than the Pentagon has acknowledged publicly—and other factors are included, the price tag balloons. Stephen Semler, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, estimated in July that the US spent more than $103 billion in the first four months of the war, which has killed thousands of people and sent gas prices soaring.
In the US, consumers have spent an extra $146 billion on gasoline and diesel since the war's beginning in February, according to a running tracker maintained by the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
Trump said Tuesday that the unauthorized war's end would come "very quick," despite evidence that his administration is preparing for yet another round of heavy bombings in Iran after the midterm elections.
"The US has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the US midterm elections," The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday, citing unnamed people briefed on the conversations. "The communications through diplomatic and military channels are among a growing number of indications that the US and Israel are readying to launch a new round of heavy combat operations against Iran, risking a major escalation in hopes of degrading Tehran’s strength and pushing it toward negotiations."
"US forces in the region have been restocking their munitions, and bomber aircraft and jet fighters are preparing for strikes," the Journal added. "An additional aircraft carrier strike group and Marine expeditionary unit are also poised to join an armada of roughly 20 other warships operating in the Middle East next month, although some ships could rotate out."
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‘Rats Run Away’: Facing Criminal Probe, Flávio Bolsonaro Flees Brazil to US After Loss to Lula
"This reveals the DNA of Bolsonarism," said one critic. "Bolsonarism is made of cowardice."
Oct 27, 2026
Just one day after vowing he would remain in Brazil to disprove allegations of money laundering, corruption, and other crimes, far-right Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro followed in his disgraced father's footsteps by fleeing to the United States after losing a presidential election.
Bolsonaro, his wife Fernanda Bolsonaro, and their two daughters, ages 14 and 12, left Brazil for an unknown location in the United States, according to initial reporting by Isadora Teixeira at the Brasília-based news site Metrópoles, which was subsequently confirmed by other Brazilian and international media.
The Argentinian site Infobae reported that Bolsonaro and his family may have crossed into Argentina—which is run by his ally, far-right President Javier Milei—and then traveled to the US in a private jet. It is not known where the family went in the US.
Bolsonaro's brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, lives in Texas while facing criminal punishment in Brazil after trying to use the Trump administration to pressure Brazilian authorities over the prosecution of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who last year was convicted of conspiring to violently remain in power following leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's 2022 election win.
Flávio Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old senator representing Rio de Janeiro, was defeated by Lula in Sunday's second-round election, but refused to accept the results and groundlessly demanded an annulment. The following day, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the seizure of Bolsonaro's passport. He was supposed to have turned in the document Tuesday, but he didn't.
US President Donald Trump also cast doubt on the election's outcome, saying the contest appeared to be "rigged."
Jair Bolsonaro also fled to the United States while refusing to acknowledge his own 2022 defeat, which occurred during the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro incited a violent insurrection in his nation's capital following his loss.
Unlike Trump, Bolsonaro was held accountable for his crimes, and, in addition to a 27-year prison sentence—now being served under house arrest—is banned from running for any political office for the rest of the decade.
Now, with Trump back in the White House and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge at Foggy Bottom, Bolsonaro and his relatives are set to be issued US visas, a senior State Department official told The Associated Press.
The younger Bolsonaro's flight—which may have been aided by his obtaining an Italian passport in 2023—contradicts his pledge on Monday, when he said, "I have never thought about leaving the country" and "I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty."
He was referring to de Morães' order to surrender his passport amid accusations of corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, and foreign currency violations.
Bolsonaro is also the subject of an inquiry pertaining to the millions of dollars he raised from a disgraced banker implicated in a massive corrupt plot to finance a biopic of Jair Bolsonaro.
The senator has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
Bolsonaro's flight stands in stark contrast to Lula, who spent 580 days in prison after being convicted in corruption cases stemming from the sprawling Operation Car Wash investigation.
In 2021, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court annulled Lula’s convictions on procedural grounds, ruling that the court in Curitiba lacked jurisdiction over the cases and separately finding that former judge Sergio Moro had acted with bias in one of them. The decisions restored Lula’s political rights and eligibility to run for office, paving the way for his 2022 presidential victory over Bolsonaro.
Lula responded to the senator's departure by saying, "Unfortunately, the Bolsonaro family is like that."
"Brazil is his second homeland," the president continued, accusing Bolsonaro of "bootlicking in the United States."
Secretary-General of the Brazilian Presidency Guilherme Castro Boulos ripped Bolsonaro, saying: "Leaders face things head-on! Rats run away!”
"It is a shameful thing, which should make Brazilian society as a whole reflect, especially those who supported and voted for Flávio Bolsonaro," Boulos asserted. "He slapped his supporters in the face and left them on the side of the road."
"Almost 60 million Brazilians trusted him as political leadership to run the country, and 24 hours later, he flees," he continued. "And it's no use coming up with this talk of persecution, of dictatorship. He ran away because he must."
"This reveals the DNA of Bolsonarism," Boulos added. "Bolsonarism is made of cowardice."
Erika Hilton, a member of the Chamber of Deputies—the lower house of Brazil's Legislature—representing São Paulo for the Socialism and Liberty Party, weighed in on social media, calling Bolsonaro "a traitor to the homeland."
In the United States, Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said on X that "losing an election is not grounds for asylum."
"Yet the Trump administration is giving Flávio Bolsonaro safe haven in the United States," he continued. "The Trump administration owes Congress answers on its role helping Bolsonaro flee Brazil in contravention of Brazilian law."
Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR), told Common Dreams:
Trump is now the most corrupt president in US history, raking in billions from his presidency. It's no surprise when the most powerful corrupt authoritarian government in the hemisphere uses international law designed to protect the persecuted to shield another corrupt authoritarian government from criminal prosecution. Perhaps this is what is meant by the Trump-led 'Shield of the Americas.'
Francesca Emanuele, senior international policy associate at CEPR, noted that "the United States has long served as a destination for numerous right-wing Latin American political figures who fled their home countries while facing corruption allegations, criminal investigations, or accusations of grave human rights violations, including crimes against humanity."
"The list is extensive," she added, "ranging from former presidents such as Panama’s Ricardo Martinelli and Bolivia’s Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to dictators such as Nicaragua’s Anastasio Somoza."
Emanuele also contrasted the actions of the Bolsonaros and Lula, arguing that the latter's decision to remain in Brazil "reflected a commitment to the Brazilian people and a determination to defend his rights through the country’s own institutions, even when those institutions failed to uphold them."
"Rather than leaving Brazil," she told Common Dreams, "Lula stayed, fought to clear his name, and continued his political struggle alongside the people he sought to represent."
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'We Want Our Son's Killers Brought to Justice,' Says Mother of Alex Pretti Months After CBP Slaying
The father of the late nurse, killed during a Trump administration crackdown on immigrants in Minnesota, urged leaders at the US Department of Justice to "do your job and stop shielding Alex's killers."
Oct 27, 2026
"I'm Michael Pretti, Alex's father. Our son Alex was shot and killed by the government—federal immigration agents—on January 24, 2026."
After thanking those gathered, that's how Michael Pretti began his remarks at a Tuesday press conference in Minneapolis, just over nine months after US Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez fatally shot the 37-year-old intensive care nurse in the Minnesota city during President Donald Trump's "Operation Metro Surge."
Michael Pretti recalled his son's upbringing in the Midwest, and conversations about "cars, hiking, biking, or anything that came to our mind." His wife, Susan Pretti, who also spoke at the press conference, called their first-born child "exceptionally kind and caring," adding that he "did not tolerate bullies," "loved working with the veterans" he served as a nurse, and "had a deep sense of justice."
"We are not political activists," Susan Pretti stressed. Her husband pointed out that their son was observing the immigration crackdown: "He was peaceful... He was not protesting."
Federal immigration agents "executed" Alex Pretti, his father said. The family learned about his death from the media, and "that video haunts our family... I think it haunts many Americans."
After the agents "murdered our son," Susan Pretti said, "the federal government went on TV and lied about Alex. They tried to slander his memory to cover up their crime."
Members of the Trump administration have repeatedly tried to smear Pretti and others killed during the president's mass detention and deportation initiatives as "domestic terrorists" endangering agents on the ground, even as video footage has contradicted their claims.
Michael Pretti highlighted that "no one from the federal government has called us since" his son's killing. He also said that "even in our grief, we understand that investigations need to be done carefully and thoroughly. We know that the wheels of justice move slowly—but even then, there is cooperation and communication."
Instead of justice, the Pretti family has been subjected to "cruelty," he argued. "Do your job and stop shielding Alex's killers," he urged Dan Rosen, who serves as the US attorney for the District of Minnesota, and US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who leads the Department of Justice.
The parents, who live in Colorado, are "begging for the Department of Justice to do what is right," according to Susan Pretti. "We want to clear our son's name. We want the world to understand who Alex really was. We want our son's killers brought to justice once and for all."
In March, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, and state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans sued the Trump administration over its refusal to cooperate with state investigators probing federal immigration agents' killings of Pretti and Renee Good, both US citizens, as well as their shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan who was wounded but survived.
"The Trump administration has suggested that state prosecutors don't have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers, while Minnesota officials have said they don’t trust the federal government to investigate itself," The Associated Press noted Tuesday. "The state is still seeking the cellphones of the officers involved... and recordings of key interviews."
As The New York Times reported:
Steven L. Schleicher, a lawyer representing Mr. Pretti's parents, said the Justice Department's refusal to share basic information with the family amounted to a violation of the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act. He expressed similar sentiments in a letter he sent to Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.
Hoang Bui, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Minnesota, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While the Prettis haven't yet sued over their son's homicide, their press conference comes after families of other victims launched cases in recent weeks. On October 1, Good's relatives filed a pair of lawsuits against the federal government and immigration officials over her killing and an alleged conspiracy to interfere with civil rights in Minnesota's Twin Cities.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Good—the 37-year-old writer, poet, and mother—in her vehicle while she and her partner were observing ICE operations on January 7 in Minneapolis.
"What happened to her on January 7th and what has happened to far too many people in the last year is not what America is about," said her brother, Brent Ganger. "We can and must do better, and the Constitution must be the roadmap back to decency and the rule of law."
A week after those suits were filed, groups representing the family of Silverio Villegas González filed a legal claim against the Trump administration over an immigration agent's "execution-style killing" of the 38-year-old Mexican man in Illinois on September 12, 2025.
"We are united by the same pain that every family who has been impacted by this inhumane immigration system faces," his relatives said. "A year has not erased or diminished the ache we feel in his absence. Our family demands justice for Silverio, and we hope that those responsible for his death are held accountable."
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House Dems Press Trump USDA Over Aid Cuts as Seniors 'Struggle to Put Food on the Table'
"No senior should have to choose between putting food on the table, paying rent, or affording lifesaving medication."
Oct 27, 2026
A group of almost 20 Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday pressed US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to explain the adverse effects of President Donald Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act on older Americans, including the administration's plan to eliminate a program serving nearly 700,000 low-income seniors and expanded food stamp work requirements.
"At a time when Americans continue to face elevated grocery costs, Washington Republicans enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates will reduce federal [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] spending by approximately $187 billion through 2034," 18 House Democrats led by Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) wrote in a letter to Rollins.
"The law expanded SNAP’s three-month time limit and associated work requirements to certain adults ages 55 through 64, restricted states’ ability to obtain geographic waivers from those requirements, and made additional changes to state cost-sharing requirements expected to reduce SNAP participation and benefits," the letter continues.
"These cuts come as the same law provides substantial tax benefits that will help disproportionately benefit the rich, with CBO finding that the law will decrease resources available to households towards the bottom of the income distribution while increasing resources for households toward the top," the lawmakers noted.
The letter decries Trump's stated goal of eliminating the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which the lawmakers described as "the most extensive hunger-relief federal program for seniors and services to nearly 700,000 low-income seniors across the nation."
"The administration justified the elimination of this crucial program by focusing 'on supporting seniors through the SNAP program' as they passed a law to make SNAP more inaccessible for seniors," the letter laments. "Congress has been responsible for keeping the CSFP fully funded and maintained while the administration continues to threaten this critical federal food assistance program."
"Even so, as Americans—particularly seniors—struggle to put food on the table, you have failed to meet the urgency of this affordability crisis, even as the department you lead reports that food prices have climbed another 3% in the past year," the Democrats added.
The letter requests state-by-state figures showing how many adults ages 55 to 64 have lost or suffered reductions in SNAP benefits because of expanded work requirements, as well as how many have received exemptions. The lawmakers are also seeking data regarding the health and financial consequences of eliminating the CSFP and how the administration would ensure seniors retain access to nutritious food. The legislators requested a written response from Rollins' office by November 6.
"You have failed to meet the urgency of this affordability crisis."
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), approximately 5.5 million people, including roughly 2 million children, have lost SNAP assistance since Trump signed the OBBBA in July 2025. This, despite more than 47 million Americans—including 1 in 5 children—living in food-insecure households.
Seniors are experiencing their own unique set of hardships, given that many of them have limited resources.
"Many seniors rely heavily on fixed or limited incomes from Social Security, retirement savings, and pensions, leaving them particularly vulnerable as the cost of living continues to rise," the letter states, adding that "rather than protect older and low-income Americans from rising costs, you and the Trump administration continue to pursue policies that threaten to make it harder for them to afford basic necessities."
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