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Sunrise on J.D. Vance: Big Oil Sell-Out
In response to Donald Trump announcing J.D. Vance as his Vice Presidential running mate, Sunrise Movement Communications Director, Stevie O’Hanlon, released the following statement:
“Like Donald Trump, J.D. Vance has proven that he will make it a top priority to roll back climate protections while answering to the demands of oil and gas CEOs. Vance is one of Congress’s biggest recipients of donations from oil companies.
J.D. Vance not only flip-flopped on supporting Trump, he flip-flopped on climate. He went from expressing concern about climate change before running for the Senate, to voting to gut EPA protections and denying that there even is a climate change crisis.
J.D. Vance will sell out to the highest bidder, whether that’s Trump or the fossil fuel industry. That makes him dangerous. Donald Trump was the worst president for climate in U.S. history. J.D. Vance will empower Donald Trump to enact even worse damage on our planet in a second Trump administration.”
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
LATEST NEWS
In Viral Video, Journalist Ronan Farrow Explains How Private Equity Is Destroying Hospitals
"These deals produce harm reliably enough that researchers can now count it."
Jul 08, 2026
Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow on Tuesday published a video on social media where he examines how private equity firms have been buying up hospitals throughout the US and saddling them with enormous debt burdens.
At the start of the video, Farrow notes that private equity firms such as The Carlyle Group, Cerberus, and Pinta have acquired hundreds of hospitals and nursing homes over the last 20 years.
"The pitch is generally: Infuse capital, cut inefficiency, and exit in five to seven years," Farrow explains. "And the deals work like this: A private equity firm puts some of its own money and borrows the rest. Typically, it'll borrow more than 70% of the purchase price."
"The twist is that debt doesn't sit on the firm's books," Farrow continues. "It gets placed on the facility itself, so the hospital or nursing home now carries the debt and the interest on it."
Studies now present a striking picture of what happens when private equity firms acquire hospitals and nursing homes: predictable increases in harm and deaths. One landmark study shows: patient deaths up about 11% after such acquisitions. pic.twitter.com/N6yfXJQIwW
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) July 7, 2026
Farrow then cites research published by The Review of Financial Studies in 2023, which found healthcare facilities saw their interest payments more than triple after being acquired by private equity firms.
"In many cases," Farrow says, "private equity firms sold the nursing home's building shortly after acquiring it, returning the proceeds to investors, and then charging the facility rent on the building it used to own."
In addition to added debt burdens placed on hospitals and nursing homes, Farrow adds, the 2023 study found that private equity firms also cut staff hours after acquiring facilities, which has hurt patient care.
"The authors... found that private equity ownership can increase patient mortality by up to 11%," he says. "Over the study period, that translated to more than 20,000 lives lost."
Farrow then points to a 2025 study that found salaries of emergency room workers fall by an average of 18% in hospitals acquired by private equity firms, while hospital-acquired infections and complications rose by 25%.
Farrow concedes that not all private-equity deals turn out poorly and that some of the facilities are already in distress before being acquired.
However, he warns that "these deals produce harm reliably enough that researchers can now count it," adding that "so far, the industry has moved faster than the rules."
Research published Monday by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) warned that private equity firms have been increasingly relying on nonprofit joint ventures to expand their reach throughout the US healthcare industry and "siphon profits from health systems and critical healthcare infrastructure."
"Private equity's healthcare playbook is evolving,” said Jim Baker, executive director of PESP. “Our research documents how private equity has increasingly relied on joint ventures with nonprofits to expand its presence in healthcare. These arrangements have received far less attention than traditional private equity buyouts, even as they become more common across hospitals and other healthcare sectors."
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'I Don't Want to Deal With Them': Trump Declares Iran Truce Over as US Resumes Bombing
The US president, who launched the illegal and costly war earlier this year, attacked Iranian leaders as "scum" and "sick people."
Jul 08, 2026
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the interim ceasefire agreement designed to provide space for a lasting peace agreement with Iran was "over," remarks that came just hours after the American military launched a new wave of airstrikes against Iran.
Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Ankara, Türkiye, Trump attacked Iranian leaders as "scum" and "sick people" and dismissed the idea of returning to negotiations as "a waste of time."
"To me, I think it's over," said the US president, referring to the temporary ceasefire established under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last month. "I don't want to deal with them."
Trump's comments, which sent oil prices surging and intensified fears of a resumption of deadly all-out war in the Middle East, came after the US Central Command launched what it characterized as "powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping" in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Trump administration revoked a waiver allowing Iran to export its oil—a key component of the faltering MOU, which Iran and the US signed less than a month ago. Iran's Foreign Ministry decried the Trump administration's move as a violation of the MOU and "yet another indication of the US administration’s bad faith, inconsistency, and unreliability," according to a statement published by Iran's Fars News Agency.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that it hit more than 80 US military targets in the Middle East in response to the Trump administration's latest strikes.
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, warned in a statement late Tuesday that "it is critical that Iran and the US recommit to the terms of the MOU and get negotiations back on track before it is too late."
"The US has consistently pushed the boundaries of the agreement and put it on uncertain footing, from the failure to rein in Israel’s actions in Lebanon to the establishment of the ‘alternative corridor’ in the Strait outside of Iranian purview," said Abdi. "Iran believes this is an attempt to relitigate the MOU that it says recognized Iran’s authority to manage the waterway. So long as Iran perceives the US as seeking to weaken its position and eventually return to war, negotiations are likely to take a back seat to more fighting."
"As disastrous as this war has been for American interests thus far, President Trump appeared to have found an off-ramp before it triggered uncontrollable economic fallout or escalated to a ground war that could become a generational quagmire," Abdi added. "Now, after having narrowly avoided a worst-case scenario, the president risks being pulled back in and returning us to an unwinnable war."
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Texas Rights Group, Officials Demand Independent Probe After ICE Fatally Shoots Immigrant
"After ICE raids in Minnesota when immigration enforcement officers shot and killed two people, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, DHS repeatedly gave false statements about self-defense in an attempt to justify the murders, eroding community trust."
Jul 07, 2026
The Texas Civil Rights Project demanded an independent investigation after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement fatally shot a Mexican immigrant in Houston on Tuesday morning.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes the agency, said on social media that just before 7:00 am CT, "ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop as part of a targeted enforcement operation to arrest an illegal alien. The driver of the vehicle, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo—an illegal alien from Mexico—attempted to evade arrest."
"From information we are receiving, he rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense," DHS said. "The driver was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. The driver was transported to the hospital, where he passed away from his injuries," the department added.
The Houston Fire Department said that Araujo suffered a gunshot wound to his stomach area and CPR was performed while he was transported to Ben Taub Hospital, where he was declared dead , according to a local NBC affiliate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now leading the probe.
"We condemn this violent use of force and hold deep concern for the victim and his family," Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) president Rochelle Garza said in a statement. "Immigration enforcement should never lead to violence in our neighborhoods or harm our community members. This raises urgent questions about how enforcement operations are being conducted, what safeguards exist to prevent harm, and how to ensure accountability when people are killed."
"After ICE raids in Minnesota when immigration enforcement officers shot and killed two people, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, DHS repeatedly gave false statements about self-defense in an attempt to justify the murders, eroding community trust," she highlighted. "And in March 2026, only through a public information request did we learn of Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old US citizen that was killed by ICE in South Padre Island, Texas."
Garza added that "we demand full transparency, an independent investigation into the shooting and any use of racial profiling that led to it, and accountability for the use of deadly force. Our neighborhoods are not battlegrounds. TCRP will continue seeking justice and standing alongside all of our neighbors across Texas."
The shooting—far from the first by the agency during President Donald Trump's mass detention and deportation campaign—occurred in the district of Democratic Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, who similarly said that "ICE has released an initial account, but the facts must be independently and thoroughly investigated, including the circumstances that led to the use of deadly force."
"All available footage, communications, and other evidence should be preserved and reviewed as part of a full and impartial investigation," Garcia continued. "The victim's family, my constituents, and the entire community deserve a complete and transparent accounting of what happened."
Alejandra Salinas, a member of the Houston City Council, called the shooting "deeply concerning" and said that "the use of deadly force demands full scrutiny and transparency."
"I am calling for a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting, including the prompt release of all available video and investigative findings," Salinas said. "The public deserves a timely account of what happened, clear answers, and accountability. My office has reached out to the appropriate city departments to determine what additional information is available and whether any city personnel or resources were involved in the incident."
Another homicide by Trump's secret police. Keep in mind they are training always to claim that they were struck by another car. So far this claims have proven uniformly false. An ICE agent shot and killed a Mexican citizen in Houston Tuesday morning after he allegedly drove into an ICE vehicle, an
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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) July 7, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Jason Chavez, who represents Minneapolis' 9th Ward on the City Council, said on social media: "Rest in peace, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican resident murdered by ICE in Houston, Texas this morning. Unfortunately, the federal government is using the same talking points they used against Renee Good in this case. It's disgusting."
"Lorenzo deserves answers and justice. Renee still deserves answers and justice. Every family torn apart by this agency deserves justice," Chavez declared. "Abolish ICE!!!"
The deadly ICE encounter in Texas came less than a week after a federal agent fired at a vehicle in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania after unsuccessfully trying to arrest the driver, identified by the agency as Clemente Lara-Hernandez of Mexico.
In Pennsylvania, ICE similarly said the driver had "weaponized his car and rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle," then "dangerously drove on the wrong direction on a one-way street."
Meahwhile, Justin Douglas, one of the commissioners in Dauphin County, which includes Harrisburg, called for a "thorough, independent, and transparent investigation," noting that ICE actions caught on camera appeared to run afoul of the US Department of Justice's policy for using deadly force.
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