Trump's Pardon Of Social Security Thief Puts The Lie To His Claim That He "Protects Social Security"

 

PAUL WALCZAK STOLE FROM EMPLOYEES....

BOUGHT $2 MILLION YACHT....

Glenn Kirschner

1.03M subscribers

Donald Trump's crime, corruption, abuse of power, and abuse office hits us daily like a firehose. It can be hard to grab hold of and focus on any one corrupt act, which is precisely why he floods the zone with corruption. This video takes on a particularly offensive corrupt pardon to a guy who stole social security, medicare and medicaid money. Paul Walczak pleaded guilty to his crimes, was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution. But after Paul's mother, Elizabeth Betsy Fago attended a one million dollar a plate Mara-a-Lago fundraiser, Trump pardoned her son, shortly before he was to report to prison to begin serving his term. Adding insult to injury, the pardon negated the court's order that Walczak pay restitution for the money he stole from Social Security - the money he stole from the American people. This video discusses the ways a singe Trump pardon exposes at least three lies Trump has repeatedly told the American people. If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts and mission, you can becoming a Team Justice patron at:   / glennkirschner   And you can find my audio podcast, Justice Matters, wherever you usually get your podcasts. And my website at: glennkirschner.com Follow me on: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glennkirschn... Instagram:   / glennkirschner2   TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/glennkirschner Substack: glennkirschner.substack.com

Trump Pardons BACKFIRE As Police Scammer’s Release Sparks Outrage MUST WATCH! MASSIVE DEBT WIPED OUT!

 

Rebel HQ

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POLITICO Nightly: Wes Moore versus the cancel culture

By Charlie Mahtesian Maryland Gov. Wes Moore takes questions from reporters on the last day of Maryland's legislative session on April 7. | Brian Witte/AP LESSONS NOT LEARNED — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is headlining a dinner and fundraiser for South Carolina Democrats tonight, marking the first real political foray into a key early presidential state by one of the brightest stars in the Democratic Party. But if it was up to some South Carolina Democrats, he wouldn’t be there at all. Moore, as POLITICO’s Brakkton Booker reported this week , was the target of a failed effort to rescind his speaking invitation because of his recent decision to veto a slavery reparations bill in Maryland. Moore’s position is squarely in the political mainstream — roughly seven-in-ten adults say descendants of enslaved people should not be repaid, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center poll . A more recent poll in California found nearly 60 percent opposed to cash reparations . Even so, the first-term governor, widely viewed as a top presidential prospect in either 2028 or beyond, was considered by some party leaders to have forfeited his right to address the party by virtue of staking out this one position. It’s a reminder of how far the Democratic Party still has to go in diagnosing and addressing the weaknesses revealed by the 2024 election results — among them, the perception that Democrats have moved too far to the left, focused too much on identity group politics, spent too much time on language policing and became too dogmatic and intolerant of differing views, even within their own party. Moore’s brush with the party’s cancel culture puts him in the company of a number of other Democratic lawmakers who also have been stung by intra-party demands for ideological conformity. Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton has faced harsh Democratic attacks for departing from party orthodoxy on the issue of transgender athletes . Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democratic centrist in Washington state, has come under frequent fire for a variety of ideological transgressions , with surprisingly little consideration given to the political imperatives of representing a rural, Republican-oriented House district. The same is true of Maine Rep. Jared Golden, another House Democrat precariously perched in Trump Country. The buzz surrounding Original Sin , the recently published account of Joe Biden’s ill-fated decision to run for a second term and the efforts made to hide his diminishment, has renewed attention to the fate of former Rep. Dean Phillips. The Minnesota Democrat was ostracized and essentially exiled from the party for raising questions about Biden’s age and health and then challenging him in the 2024 primary — a debate that, in retrospect, the party desperately needed to have. The Trump-era GOP isn’t exactly a party that brooks internal dissent either. But it hasn’t recently emerged as a competitive impediment — the party is in a period of expansion, not contraction. The Republican brand is not nearly as damaged with voters. There’s an important distinction in how the parties view their apostates. Dissent in the contemporary GOP is seen as disloyalty to Trump, who metes out his own political justice to wayward Republicans. There is no such figurehead in the Democratic Party, where dissenting views are characterized as moral failures, unworthy of public airing and perhaps deserving of exile. When Moore walks into dinner this evening, he’ll almost surely be greeted warmly by the majority of the guests in the room. The effort to cancel his appearance failed, after all. But the mere attempt suggests the party still has a ways to go in understanding where it went off the rails. Moore is a combat veteran, a Black rising star, a dynamic talent and a landslide winner who is aligned with the party on most of its priorities. If his voice can be stifled, then the Democrats have completely missed the lessons of 2024. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmahtesian@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @PoliticoCharlie .   A fresh chapter for Playbook —powered by bold reporting and unrivaled access. Jack Blanchard leads with clear-eyed analysis on Trump’s second term. Dasha Burns brings exclusive White House scoops as one of the most sourced Trump reporters in D.C. Adam Wren writes the must-read political storytelling every weekend. Sign up now to read what Washington’s power players use to drive their day.     What'd I Miss? ***CENSORING FREE SPEECH! MORE WITCH HUNTS TO SILENCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO CONFORM! THE MAGA WAY!**** — State begins rolling out expanded student visa vetting — starting with Harvard: The State Department has told U.S. consulates and embassies to immediately begin reviewing the social media accounts of Harvard’s student visa applicants for antisemitism in what it called a pilot program that could be rolled out for colleges nationwide. The cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, obtained by POLITICO, was sent late Thursday. It says consular officers should “conduct a complete screening of the online presence of any nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose.” The policy, while primarily affecting students, will also include faculty members, researchers, staff members and guest speakers at Harvard. excerpts:  The cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, obtained by POLITICO, was sent late Thursday. It says consular officers should “conduct a complete screening of the online presence of any nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose.” The policy, while primarily affecting students, will also include faculty members, researchers, staff members and guest speakers at Harvard. The document puts into motion a proposal the Trump administration floated earlier this week for expanded social media vetting of all foreign students applying to U.S. colleges, pausing new appointments for student visa applicants in the meantime. Increased social media vetting did already exist, but it was previously primarily intended for returning students who may have participated in protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Notably, State Department leadership wants consular officers to consider “whether the lack of any online presence, or having social media accounts restricted to ‘private’ or with limited visibility, may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant’s credibility.” The cable also instructs consular officers to inform applicants with private social media accounts that they could be viewed as evading vetting and request they make their accounts public while the Fraud Prevention Unit reviews their case. It also adds to the White House’s battle with elite academic institutions over alleged mishandling of cases of antisemitism during campus protests in response to Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip against militant group Hamas. The cable specifically identifies antisemitism and antisemitic viewpoints as the focus for consular officers but does not spell out what specifically would rise to the level of inadmissible antisemitism in the eyes of State Department leadership. It says that the Harvard review process “will also serve as a pilot for expanded screening and vetting of visa applicants” and that “this pilot will be expanded over time,” indicating it will likely reach other universities in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. The new guidance comes as the U.S. government continues its showdown with Harvard for alleged failures to address antisemitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The federal government has stripped Harvard of billions in research funding and entered in dueling litigation with the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school. It had also suspended Harvard’s ability to enroll international students by briefly blocking visa applications before that decision was blocked by a federal judge. It also comes as the administration has targeted other academic communities, including Chinese nationals studying at U.S. colleges and universities. Rubio said Wednesday the administration would “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese nationals studying in sensitive fields, the potential implementation of which has flummoxed State Department officials. ***THOU SHALT OBEY! FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS PROVIDED INCOMPETENT BOOBS & SEAN DUFFY (PRONATALIST) WHO SLASHED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS & CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO KEEP PLANES IN THE AIR TOPS THE LIST!**** — Trump allies urge crackdown on Cabinet secretaries meddling in GOP primaries: President Donald Trump’s allies are fuming at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for getting involved in Michigan’s Senate primary, a race that now threatens to divide Republicans. Duffy is headlining a planned June 4 fundraiser for Rep. Bill Huizenga, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO — a move that puts Duffy at odds with the National Republican Senatorial Committee and 2024 Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita. Duffy has also been advising Huizenga, according to a person familiar with the race. Duffy, according to the two people close to Trump, never cleared his political engagement with the White House political shop and has now drawn the ire of Trump’s top political hands. The transportation secretary’s move to fundraise for Huizenga has now prompted threats of a crackdown on Cabinet secretaries’ political activities ahead of the midterms, POLITICO has learned. ****BRAINSTORMING TO DESTROY EDUCATION?**** — White House convenes meeting to brainstorm new Harvard measures: The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against Harvard University — and looking for new ways to bring the storied institution to heel. The White House convened officials from nearly a dozen agencies on Wednesday to brainstorm additional punitive measures , according to one administration official and a second person familiar with the meeting, who were granted anonymity to share details. The administration official said that forthcoming actions are expected from the State, Treasury, Health and Human Services and Justice departments, among others, and could happen as early as next month. ***PETTY LITTLE MAN CAN'T SOLVE THE ECONOMIC DISASTERS HE CREATED: TACO!*** — Trump says he’s fired National Portrait Gallery director amid Washington arts scene takeover: President Donald Trump said he was sacking the longtime director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery , Kim Sajet, today, ending the 12-year tenure of the first woman to serve as the gallery’s director. “Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am herby (sic) terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery. She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post this afternoon. AROUND THE WORLD French President Emmanuel Macron is seen at the Sorbonne University in Paris on May 5, 2025. | Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool via AP WARNING SIGN — French President Emmanuel Macron warned China that NATO could become more deeply involved in Asia if Beijing does not do more to stop North Korea from taking part in Russia’s war on Ukraine. “North Korea in Ukraine is a big question for all of us. If China doesn’t want NATO to be involved in Southeast Asia, it should prevent [North Korea] from being engaged on European soil,” Macron said today during an address at a major defense summit in Singapore. France has long maintained that the transatlantic military alliance shouldn’t expand its reach into Asia and led the campaign to block the opening of a NATO liaison office in Japan in 2023. “I had objected to NATO having a role in Asia because I don’t believe in being enrolled in someone else’s strategic rivalry,” Macron said, hinting that Paris could revisit its stance. NE FUME PAS — France is banning smoking in areas where young people socialize including beaches, parks and sports facilities from July 1 to clamp down on the harmful habit and make it less attractive. The ban, which extends to bus stops, gardens and areas close to schools, is intended to “denormalize tobacco and limit its attractiveness,” the French health ministry said today. The fine for smoking in such areas will reach €135. The move comes as data shows smoking is at a “historically low level” in France and tobacco sales fell more than 11.5 percent last year. Nonetheless, tobacco consumption still kills 75,000 people each year, equivalent to 200 deaths per day in the country. The health costs amount to €150 billion per year.   Policy moves fast—stay ahead with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant . Effortlessly search POLITICO's archive of 1M+ news articles, analysis documents, and legislative text. Track legislation, showcase your impact, and generate custom reports in seconds. Designed for POLITICO Pro subscribers, this tool helps you make faster, smarter decisions. Start exploring now .     Nightly Number Almost 20 percent The amount that imports into the United States dropped by from March to April , as companies adjusted to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff regime, in an early signal of how his global trade war is unfolding in the U.S. economy. RADAR SWEEP IT’S MARGINAL — Large farms dominate America’s landscape, producing the grand majority of the American-made food that we consume. But in some pockets of the country, small farmers continue to subsist, living on increasingly tight margins in communities that are shrinking. One such place is a cattle branding farm in Nebraska that’s the subject of a photo essay from Alyssa Schukar in The New Republic. Schukar goes into the Burdick farm and explains how cattle branding remains an industry in flux, relying on neighbors and high school wrestlers to get the job done. Parting Image On this date in 1968: Members of the Poor People's Campaign gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after a heavy thunderstorm canceled a concert. | Bob Schutz/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on X Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   Follow us

POLITICO 1000 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

Watch now   MeidasTouch and Jim Acosta Chat LIVE on Breaking News Brett Meiselas, Jim Acosta, MeidasTouch Network, and Ben Meiselas May 30 By Ben Meiselas We had a great conversation with Jim Acosta earlier during our live Meidas Meetup on Substack, and if you missed it, you’re going to want to catch the replay above. Jim is gearing up for a live town hall in Washington, D.C. on June 2nd, featuring a powerhouse lineup including Rosie O’Donnell, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Officer Michael Fanone, and more. It’s shaping up to be a must-see event, so if you’re in the area, be sure to grab your tickets here. As always, Jim didn’t hold back. From Elon Musk’s black eye to the Oval Office’s bizarre press circus, he laid out the internal chaos plaguing Trump's inner circle, and how the American people are paying the price. His words were sharp and clear: “This is what happens when you put two cockfighting chickens in the same potato sack.” We talked about Trump’s “TACO” reputation—Trump Always Chickens Out—and how even Wall Street is now building investment strategies around Trump’s cowardice. Acosta recalled how Trump melts down when asked even basic questions, like the now-viral CNBC reporter did this week. As Jim said, “He puffs his chest out, and then he doesn’t back it up. That’s why nobody—Putin, Wall Street, our allies—trusts a word he says.” Jim also reminded us why independent media matters. When we spoke about the corporate media world, like Paramount reportedly offering Trump $15 million to grovel, Acosta didn’t mince words. “Don’t you dare pay that money,” he said. “That’s a bribe. That’s teaching Trump he can rule the press with an iron fist—and a taco in the other hand.” We dug into the frightening realities facing Americans right now: federal workers on food stamps after being gutted by Musk’s so-called “Doge” restructuring, ICE agents snatching U.S. citizens off the street, student loan borrowers getting crushed, FEMA hollowed out just as hurricane season begins. And Jim dropped a chilling reminder: he was on the plane with Trump when he left office the first time—and he’s not so sure he’ll willingly leave again. At the end of the day, this conversation wasn’t just a recap of the madness—it was a rallying cry. Jim made it clear: we’re in a fight for truth, for press freedom, for democracy itself. And it’s independent media—us, you, this community—that’s leading the way. If you haven’t already, subscribe to Jim Acosta’s Substack. And for those anywhere near D.C., go to thelincolndc.com and grab your tickets for June 2nd. Because the fight isn’t coming—it’s here. And we’re not backing down. Remember to join now as a paid subscriber if you haven’t yet to continue to support the growth of independent media—and help us meet our May goal before the month ends. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Top News | Musk Might Be Gone, But Watchdogs Warn Trump/DOGE Carnage Will Continue

CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TO & SUPPORTING COMMON DREAMS FOR THE IMPRESSIVE REPORTING THAT'S UNPARALLELED! 

Friday, May 30, 2025 ■ Today's Top News  In Dissent, Jackson Warns of 'Devasting' Impacts as Supreme Court OKs Trump Ending Protections for 500K Migrants One immigration lawyer wrote that the order "simply ignores the human costs and blesses the Trump admin's stripping of status of hundreds of thousands of people who entered the country legally." By Eloise Goldsmith The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to end, for now, legal protections for more than 500,000 Haitian, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants with a ruling that liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson blasted in a dissent as deeply harmful. The decision puts on hold a ruling from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who in April issued a stay on the Trump administration's move to end a humanitarian program extended to this group under former U.S. President Joe Biden. The ruling means the immigrants are at risk of being deported under President Donald Trump's mass deportation effort, even as the core legal issues in the case continue to play out in lower courts. The unsigned order from the Supreme Court focuses on the so-called CHNV parole program, which allows certain individuals from those four nations to apply for entry into the U.S. for a temporary stay, so long as they have a U.S.-based sponsor, go through security vetting, and meet other conditions. In some cases, beneficiaries of the program work in the U.S. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive instructing the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to "[t]erminate all categorical parole programs," including CHNV. "The court has plainly botched this assessment today. It requires next to nothing from the government with respect to irreparable harm" wrote Jackson in her dissent, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. "And it undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives of and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending." Friday's ruling is the second time this month that the Supreme Court has permitted the Trump administration to halt a program aimed at protecting immigrants who leave their home countries for humanitarian reasons. Earlier in May, the court issued an unsigned order allowing Trump to cancel Temporary Protected Status protections specifically extended to 350,000 Venezuelans immigrants while the legal case winds its way through lower courts. The court's decision on Friday is a temporary order and litigation is still playing out, but it signals that a majority of the justices think the Trump administration is likely to prevail in the case, according to The New York Times. "Respondents now face two unbearable options," according to Jackson's dissent. Jackson wrote that immigrants in the program could either chose to leave the U.S. and potentially confront dangers in their home countries, and other adverse outcomes, or "risk imminent removal at the hands of government agents, along with its serious attendant consequences." "The court allows the government to do what it wants to do regardless, rendering constraints of law irrelevant and unleashing devastation in the process," she concludes in the dissent. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, wrote: "an incredibly devastating decision which simply ignores the human costs and blesses the Trump admin's stripping of status of hundreds of thousands of people who entered the country legally." Josh Gerstein, a legal reporter at Politico, wrote that the ruling "may spell trouble for Ukrainians/Afghans with similar status." Musk Might Be Gone, But Watchdogs Warn Trump/DOGE Carnage Will Continue "Musk's departure obscures but does not actually change the continuity of DOGE's staff and mission to destroy everything that protects the public from the depredations of the most rapacious oligarchs," said one critic. By Brett Wilkins Critics of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency cautioned Friday against undue elation or complacency over Elon Musk stepping down as de facto DOGE chief, warning that officials at the contentious agency are pressing ahead with U.S. President Donald Trump's mission of eviscerating key agencies and the ability of the federal government to properly function. With Musk's official departure from DOGE this week—returning to the private sector to run his beleaguered business empire—most of the agency's leadership and rank-and-file staff remain in place. As the Revolving Door Project (RDP) noted Friday, key DOGE officials "maintain extensive ties to Musk's corporate empire, with many of them having come to DOGE directly from one of Musk's companies." According to RDP research, "at least 46 former or current DOGE members have substantial and direct ties to Elon Musk." "DOGE isn't going anywhere, according to the Trump administration's own officials," RDP said. The watchdog group warned specifically about Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, who they said "seems to be the new boss in town." The visions of the two men, said RDP, "have been aligned from the start. Musk endorsed Vought's view of the unconstitutionality of the Impoundment Control Act and said that DOGE would work 'closely with [OMB].'" Vought co-authored the policy portion of Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for gutting the government and expanding executive power. "There is no daylight between Elon Musk and Russ Vought on the aim of greenlighting corporate abuse, as anyone can see from their joint destruction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," RDP executive director Jeff Hauser said Friday. "DOGE's Musk-tied staffers have already burrowed into the government, and having a new boss who has coordinated extensively with Musk isn't likely to change their actual actions much at all." "Musk's departure obscures but does not actually change the continuity of DOGE's staff and mission to destroy everything that protects the public from the depredations of the most rapacious oligarchs," Hauser added. Another watchdog, Accountable.US, noted Friday that Vought "has a nearly 20-year record working on Republican efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare—including overseeing numerous Trump budget proposals." "It's proof that DOGE's extreme agenda, which is causing ordinary families to fall behind, is full steam ahead as Trump and his allies in Congress push forward deep cuts to Americans' essential benefits," the group continued. "Last week, congressional Republicans advanced the largest cuts to Medicaid and [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] in history, which would result in 14 million Americans losing health coverage, 3 million households without food assistance, and an increased burden for millions with higher education and energy costs. All while adding over $4 trillion to the deficit." "Americans deserve real government reforms to cut red tape, eliminate waste, and ensure taxpayers are able to access the services they pay for," Accountable.US added. "That was never DOGE's goal. Instead Trump and Musk tried to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, to line their own pockets and those of their billionaire friends with tax cuts, and the administration is only just getting started." As one staffer at the DOGE-beset National Institutes of Health told Politico, "DOGE is still hungry. We've still got to feed the fucking dog." On Top of All of Israel's Other Bombs in Gaza, Study Reveals a War-Driven Carbon Bomb "What we are facing is severely impacting all life in Gaza, and also threatening human rights in the region, and even globally, due to the aggravation of climate change," said one United Nations special rapporteur. By Eloise Goldsmith A group of researchers has released an updated analysis detailing the devastating impact that Israel's war on Gaza has had in terms of greenhouse gas emissions—in addition to loss of human life. The study, first reported on by The Guardian and posted to SSRN on Friday, found that the projected planet-warming carbon emissions of "direct war activities" over 15 months of Israel’s military assault on Gaza were greater than the individual annual emissions of 36 countries and territories. According to local health officials in Gaza, over 54,000 people have been killed in the enclave following October 7, 2023, when a deadly Hamas attack on Israel spurred a devastating military response. "For over 600 days, Israel has been saying it's targeting Hamas, but it is civilians who have been corralled, bombed, and killed en masse every day," said Bushra Khalidi, policy lead in the Occupied Palestinian Territory for the anti-poverty group Oxfam, on Wednesday. According to the study, 15-months of war, a period from October 2023 to January 2025, resulted in an estimated 1.89 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. According to The Guardian's write up of the study, 99% of that 1.89 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent was generated by Israel's ground invasion and aerial attacks on Gaza. In January 2025, a cease-fire went into effect, but Israel ended the cease-fire in mid-March. The estimated tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent increases to 32.2 million tonnes when the study accounts for "pre-conflict and post-conflict related construction activities." The pre-conflict emissions include the construction of security-related concrete infrastructure in both Israel and Gaza over the past 16 years, including Hamas' network of tunnels and Israel's "iron wall." Post-conflict relates to the future reconstruction needs of Gaza following extensive Israeli attacks. "This updated research evidences the urgency to stop the escalating atrocities, and make sure that Israel and all states comply with international law, including the decisions from the [International Criminal Court] and the [International Court of Justice]," Astrid Puentes Riaño, U.N. special rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, told The Guardian. "Whether or not states agree on calling it a genocide, what we are facing is severely impacting all life in Gaza, and also threatening human rights in the region, and even globally, due to the aggravation of climate change," she added. The study, which according to The Guardian is under peer review by the journal One Earth, follows a study released last year authored by some of the same researchers who tackled this same question of the climate costs of the war on Gaza. "These calculations point to the urgent need for increased visibility and mandatory reporting of military emissions for both war and peacetime through the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change," the more recent study states, referencing a treaty ratified by nearly 200 countries in the 1990s to combat "dangerous" human interference with climate systems. GOP's Latest Pitch for Gutting Medicaid and Food Aid? 'Well, We All Are Going to Die' "We're at the point where a U.S. senator is saying healthcare and hunger don't matter because we all die eventually." By Jake Johnson Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst on Friday brushed off her constituents' concerns about the life-threatening consequences of her party's proposed cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance, telling a town hall audience, "Well, we all are going to die." Ernst's remark came after a person in the crowd warned that "people will die" if the safety net cuts proposed in the House-passed budget reconciliation package become law. The Iowa senator began by waving away the crowd's response, saying, "People are not... " After trailing off, Ernst said facetiously that "we all are going to die." "So, for heaven's sakes," she added with a smile. Ernst, echoing Republican leaders, repeatedly denied that the reconciliation bill would cut Medicaid or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, claiming the legislation only targets "overpayments" and those who are currently on the programs' rolls but aren't eligible. Throughout the town hall, people in the audience called Ernst a "liar" and shouted in protest as she attempted to justify the reconciliation bill's safety net cuts. As written, the GOP measure includes roughly $1 trillion in combined cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—the largest-ever spending reductions for the programs—as well as draconian work reporting requirements that analysts say would strip benefits from millions of people across the country. The bill also includes a provision that would require some low-income Americans to pay more for Medicaid benefits—an effective cut. "We're at the point where a U.S. senator is saying healthcare and hunger don't matter because we all die eventually," the progressive media organization More Perfect Union wrote on social media in response to Ernst's comments. "Joni Ernst is worth at least $7 million," added the advocacy group Social Security Works. "She won't die due to lack of healthcare. But she thinks you should." Research published earlier this month found that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has saved tens of thousands of lives since 2010—an indication that the severe Medicaid cuts included in the GOP reconciliation package could have deadly consequences. The Center for American Progress recently estimated that the work requirements Republicans are seeking to impose on many Medicaid recipients "would lead to more than 21,600 avoidable deaths nationally each year." 'A Betrayal': Colorado's Democratic Governor Vetoes Bill Targeting Algorithmic Rent-Setting The veto, said one critic, "sends the devastating message that corporate landlords can keep using secret price-fixing algorithms to take extra rent from people who have the least." By Jake Johnson New Illegal Settlements Show Israel Is 'Blatantly Working to Destroy the Palestinian People' "The international community is enabling Israel's crimes by standing aside while millions of Palestinians are subjected to this racist and brutal regime of the Israeli government," said the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. By Jake Johnson  Israeli government officials confirmed Thursday that they have approved the largest expansion of unlawful settlements in the occupied West Bank in decades, including the construction of new settlements and the "legalization" under Israeli law of existing outposts in the Palestinian territory. The decision, reportedly made during a secret Israeli security cabinet meeting last week, drew sharp backlash from Israeli human rights organizations. A spokesperson for B'Tselem said the latest expansion of settlements—which the International Court of Justice has condemned as part of an illegal annexation campaign—shows that "Israel continues to promote Jewish supremacy through the theft of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank." "The Israeli government is openly and blatantly working to destroy the Palestinian people, and any chances for a normal future for the people living between the Jordan River and the sea," the spokesperson said. "The international community is enabling Israel's crimes by standing aside while millions of Palestinians are subjected to this racist and brutal regime of the Israeli government." Israeli settlements in the West Bank have grown rapidly since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, with the United Nations Human Rights Office estimating that Israel moved ahead with plans to build more than 20,000 housing units in new or existing settlements between November 2023 and October 2024. "This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, toldReuters on Thursday. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that's the government's objective, declaring that settlement expansion "prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel." "The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: The annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal." The new expansion will add nearly two dozen settlements, according to far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement and vocally supports annexation of the Palestinian territory. "This is a great day for settlement and an important day for the state of Israel," Smotrich wrote in a social media post on Thursday. The announcement came amid continued Israeli raids and home demolitions in the West Bank, alongside the Israeli military's devastating assault on the Gaza Strip. Israel's attacks have displaced tens of thousands of people in the West Bank and virtually the entire population of Gaza. It's unclear where the new settlements will be located in the West Bank, given that the expansion decision was made in secret. The Israeli anti-occupation group Peace Now suggested that the secrecy could stem from "concerns about the proceedings in the International Criminal Court, which has begun investigating Israel's settlement construction and development as possible war crimes." The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was considering arrest warrants against Smotrich and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for their roles in expanding West Bank settlements. "The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: The annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal," Peace Now said in a statement Thursday. "The cabinet's decision to establish 22 new settlements—the most extensive move of its kind since the Oslo Accords, under which Israel committed not to establish new settlements—will dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further." "At a time when both the Israeli public and the entire world is demanding an immediate end to the war, the government is making clear—again and without restraint—that it prefers deepening the occupation and advancing de facto annexation over pursuing peace," the group added. JOIN THE MOVEMENT As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. JOIN WITH US TODAY ■ More News As Subvariant Spreads, CDC Maintains Child Vaccine Guidance Despite RFK Announcement Trump Taps 'Comically Unfit' Election Denier to Head Key Legal Ethics Office U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated a far-right former podcast host with white supremacist views who called for martial law to keep Trump in power after his 2020 election loss to lead a key legal ethics office. Trump tapped 30-year-old Paul Ingrassia—who is currently serving as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security—to head the Office of Special Counsel, an independent investigative and prosecutorial agency tasked with enforcing ethics laws and protecting federal whistleblowers. "Paul is a highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar, who has done a tremendous job serving as my White House Liaison for Homeland Security," Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social network. "Paul holds degrees from both Cornell Law School and Fordham University, where he majored in Mathematics and Economics, graduating near the top of his class." Critics, however, had a different assessment of Ingrassia's qualifications. Hampton Dellinger, the previous OSC chief, was initially fired by Trump in February but was temporarily reinstated via court order before being fired again after he began investigating the administration's mass layoffs of federal workers under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Dellinger dropped his legal challenge in March and announced that "my time as special counsel... is now over." The OSC enforces the Hatch Act, which restricts the political activity of civilian executive branch employees. In 2021, the agency found that 13 senior Trump aides violated the law by campaigning for the president's failed 2020 reelection bid. At that time, Ingrassia and his sister Olivia Ingrassia were hosting the "Right on Point" podcast. As Trump stoked the conspiracy theory that Democrats stole the election, Ingrassia amplified the president's "Big Lie" and called for authoritarian measures to keep him in the White House. On December 12, 2020, the podcast's handle on its Twitter page was renamed "Stop the Steal HQ." The account reposted a tweet from prolific white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes with the added message, "Time for @realDonaldTrump to declare martial law and secure his re-election!" Ingrassia has expressed his own white supremacist views, including the assertion that "exceptional white men are not only the builders of Western civilization, but are the ones most capable of appreciating the fruits of our heritage." He also replied to a call for slavery reparations by demanding that the descendants of slaves "pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners" and advocated replacing the "treasonous" Ukrainian flag with the Confederate battle flag under penalty of "serious fines." During the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, Trump boosted a false birther smear by Ingrassia that Nikki Haley—the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador during the first Trump administration—was ineligible to run for president because her parents were not American citizens when she was born. Ingrassia posted several racist aspersions of Haley's Americanness, which have been archived by freelance journalist Jason Hart. In March, Daily Dot's Amanda Moore revealed that Ingrassia misrepresented himself as an attorney for more than a year prior to his admission to the bar. During this time, he represented former professional kickboxer, self-described misogynist, and alleged rapist, sex trafficker, and money launderer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate in a civil suit. The Tates deny the charges. Critics Warn 'Office of Remigration' Is Just Right-Wing Code for Trump's Office of Ethnic Cleansing Mahmoud Khalil Team Files FOIA Request to Expose Trump Collusion With Anti-Palestinian 'Agents of Repression' VIEW ALL NEWS ■ Opinion Neoliberalism Cannot Be Rehabilitated Deregulation. Privatization. Tax cuts. Free trade. Stagnant pay for most. A soaring stock market for the top. That’s the legacy of neoliberalism. It also brought us Trump. We cannot go back to that place. There's a better path. By Robert Reich Defunding Truth: Trump’s Attack on NPR and the War on Independent Media The attack on NPR is not incidental. It is part of a broader, systematic effort to hollow out the institutions that sustain a shared civic life. By Matt Watkins The Palestine Exception, Right-Wing Elite Capture, and New Student Visa Rules Trump’s aim is a campaign of terror and intimidation against universities and colleges designed to suppress free speech and critical thinking. By Michael R. 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