June, 29 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Joe Karp-Sawey, media manager,Tel: +44 (0)7711 875 345,Email:,joe.karpsawey@globaljustice.org.uk
$2,000 Price Tag for Covid-19 Drug Shows Pharma Industry Is 'Out of Touch With Reality'
Reacting to US pharma company Gilead's announcement of its global pricing for its remdesivir drug, Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said:
"Remdesivir is a drug which has been produced with substantial amounts of public money in the US, and which researchers have estimated could be made for $9 per treatment course (1), but here is Big Pharma company Gilead generously only charging over $2,000! While that is reduced to $600 in lower-income countries, these are still vast price tags.
WASHINGTON
Reacting to US pharma company Gilead's announcement of its global pricing for its remdesivir drug, Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said:
"Remdesivir is a drug which has been produced with substantial amounts of public money in the US, and which researchers have estimated could be made for $9 per treatment course (1), but here is Big Pharma company Gilead generously only charging over $2,000! While that is reduced to $600 in lower-income countries, these are still vast price tags.
Gilead claims this is well below would it would otherwise charge, which goes to show how completely out of touch this industry is with reality. They expect to make a whopping $1.3 billion from sales of the drug in 2020 alone (2). If this is Big Pharma at its most generous, we shouldn't wait around until the pandemic is officially over to find out what outrageous charge they will put on the public purse at that time.
Governments have a right to override this ludicrous patent system under international law, and they should take the opportunity to do that now, saving the NHS and patients around the world from the profiteering of these dysfunctional corporations."
Global Justice Now is a democratic social justice organisation working as part of a global movement to challenge the powerful and create a more just and equal world. We mobilise people in the UK for change, and act in solidarity with those fighting injustice, particularly in the global south.
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US Journalist and Activist Detained After Israeli Settler Attack in West Bank
Jasper Nathaniel and Andrey Khrzhanovskiy recently came to the aid of Washington Post reporter Heidi Levine after she was beaten by Israeli settlers, and spoke out about the attack.
Oct 29, 2026
An American journalist and an activist who reportedly suffered a concussion from being beaten by armed Israeli settlers remained in detention Wednesday night, hours after Israeli police arrested them following the attack.
Adele Shoko, a Russian activist, reported that settlers had attacked her, Israeli-Russian activist Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, and US journalist Jasper Nathaniel late Wednesday in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank.
"They beat us, threatened to shoot us, stole Andrey's phone and my glasses, and pepper-sprayed Jasper," Shoko said on the social media platform X.
According to Shoko, Khrzhanovskiy was denied medical treatment after losing consciousness "several times in front of police." He and Nathaniel were taken to a police station, where they remained hours later.
Nathaniel was heard yelling, "I just got beat up!" while being led away by police.
"Andrey was severely beaten and lost consciousness several times in front of police," said Shoko. "Despite this, he was denied hospital treatment. He was put in an ambulance—but instead of being taken to hospital, he was taken to a police station. He is still there, arrested and being denied medical care."
One video appeared to show Khrzhanovskiy losing consciousness.
Drop Site News cited Shoko as she reported that Nathaniel and Khrzhanovskiy eventually were able to speak with a lawyer, but remained at a police station. They were reportedly "physically okay."
"Israeli state terrorism knows no boundaries," said historian Zachary Foster of the footage of the attack.
The assault came less than two weeks after both Nathaniel and Khrzhanovskiy came to the aid of Heidi Levine, a Washington Post journalist, after she was brutally beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers while she was covering an attack by dozens of masked men on Palestinian olive groves in the West Bank.
State-backed settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have ramped up significantly since October 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also began a military campaign against Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in what leading human rights groups have called a genocide, and a United Nations commission said this week that at least 1,080 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the last three years.
Top officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have pushed to further annex the West Bank as the IDF has backed settler raids on villages and attacks on Palestinian communities as well as recent assaults on journalists, US lawmakers, and a group of European diplomats.
Nathaniel, who has spent years covering the Israeli occupation of the West Bank for outlets including Drop Site and Zeteo News, spoke recently to The New Yorker about the attack on Levine, emphasizing that Palestinians had thrown stones at her attackers to allow her colleagues to reach her.
"The IDF soldiers who have been there, who’ve been tear-gassing the Palestinians and providing cover for the settlers, stormed the village," Nathaniel said of the assault on Levine. "Rather than go after the settlers who have just nearly killed a woman, they stormed the village and started firing their weapons, and they shot a Palestinian man in the leg."
On Substack this week, Khrzhanovskiy wrote that "all the Palestinian villages in the West Bank are under siege," and that Netanyahu's government aimed to use a recent strike against Israeli soldiers "to start a war in the West Bank."
"The only way to stop this is pressure from all directions. We know it works," said Khrzhanovskiy. "Call your representative, hold a demonstration, organize direct action against the occupation’s assets abroad. Keep attention on the West Bank."
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Billionaire Trump Cabinet Secretary Spends $43,000 on New Furniture While Gutting Education Department
"It is unjustifiable to buy new furniture while students lose access to education services you are illegally dismantling and suffer from painful funding cuts."
Oct 29, 2026
Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's billionaire education secretary, faced backlash on Wednesday over her plans to spend more than $43,000 of taxpayer money on new furniture for her government office as she works to illegally dismantle the department she leads, harming students across the country.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) wrote in a letter to McMahon that "it is unjustifiable to buy new furniture while students lose access to education services you are illegally dismantling and suffer from painful funding cuts that were not authorized by Congress."
A senior official at the Education Department, whose staff has been gutted during Trump's second term, told The New York Times that the roughly $43,000 in costs "included a new desk, conference table, chairs and other items." The department informed lawmakers that existing furniture can't be "aesthetically integrated into the agency’s new office space"—a privately owned building that housed the US Agency for International Development before the Trump administration shut it down.
Murray and Baldwin wrote in their letter to McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive whose net worth is estimated to be around $3 billion, that "you have asked students, families, and teachers across the country to endure extraordinarily painful cuts in the name of 'fiscal responsibility,' and you have pushed out nearly half of the staff at the department in a chaotic, illegal campaign to fire employees tasked with protecting students with disabilities in the classroom and going after predatory student lenders."
"This year, you have asked Congress to slash funding for important K-12 programs and to cut funding for higher education programs by nearly $5 billion—including by destroying programs like TRIO and Federal Work Study," the senators added. "But it is clear that you do not think that you should have to abide by the same rules you want to apply to others."
The senators noted that as McMahon moves to spend taxpayer dollars on new furniture for her office, other department employees are working in spaces that have been deemed "unsafe and in disrepair, with water leaking from ceilings, mold in kitchens, extreme temperatures from a failing HVAC system, insect traps filled with dead bugs, and live insects in lactation rooms and work areas."
"The American people are sick of the corruption, sick of the waste, and sick of the hypocrisy coming out of all corners of this administration," Murray and Baldwin wrote. "They deserve a full accounting of how and why their tax dollars are being used to buy new office furniture for a secretary whose stated mission is to put themselves out of a job."
McMahon's office makeover plans were revealed days after reports indicated that she planned to remove the Federal Student Aid office from the Department of Education—without congressional approval—and create a new independent agency to manage roughly $1.6 trillion in debt owed by more than 40 million borrowers. The planned move marks the latest step in McMahon's push to effectively abolish the Education Department, fulfilling a Trump campaign promise.
Mike Pierce, executive director of the advocacy group Protect Borrowers, said in response that "changing the name on the agency letterhead will do nothing to lower costs for working-class families squeezed by rising student loan bills and surging college tuition."
"More than 3 million student loan borrowers defaulted on a loan last year, and more than 3 million more are on track to do the same this year," said Pierce. "Due to the Trump administration’s reckless actions, millions have seen their credit scores ruined. As a result, a generation of Americans will be locked out of the mortgage market, denied a typical car loan, and pay far more for a credit card because Linda McMahon cannot be bothered to fix the broken student loan system."
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MAGA 'Ratfucker' James O'Keefe Charged After Trying to Prove Voter Fraud by Allegedly Committing It
"By going undercover to prove how easy it is to commit voter fraud," said one observer, O'Keefe "ends up proving how hard it is to commit voter fraud, and then catches charges for unlawful voting."
Oct 28, 2026
In a right-wing political stunt gone ironically awry, MAGA provocateur James O’Keefe and an associate were criminally charged Wednesday in Minneapolis with unlawful voting and identity theft after allegedly impersonating registered voters in a Minnesota election while attempting to demonstrate how "easy" it is to commit voter fraud.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office (HCAO) announced that O'Keefe, 42, and Cam Higby, 26—both with the Citizen Justice League—are facing felony charges "for their conduct during the Minnesota primary election on August 11."
According to HCAO, O'Keefe and Higby "filmed themselves and posted the videos to social media to try to sow doubt about Minnesota’s secure voting systems."
The pair "visited multiple precincts in Hennepin County and misrepresented their identities by giving election judges names of registered voters in the precinct without those voters’ knowledge or permission," according to the prosecutor's statement.
Under Minnesota law, "no individual shall intentionally misrepresent the individual’s identity in applying for a ballot, depositing a ballot in a ballot box, or attempting to vote by means of a voting machine or electronic voting system."
Neither man is accused of actually casting a ballot—their alleged offense, according to prosecutors, was misrepresenting their identities while applying for ballots.
Announcing the charges in Minneapolis, Democratic Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said: "Elections are the bedrock of democracy and their protection is one of our highest priorities. Individuals engaging in unlawful conduct related to our elections will be held accountable."
Minnesota Public Radio reported:
Videos posted by O'Keefe’s operation show them wearing burkas outside precincts during the primary. Moriarty said the voter names they used included some residents who were dead and at least one who voted.
In the videos, O’Keefe, using an accent, asks workers at polling places if he can vouch for other voters. The election workers explain the law around vouching as one of his team members films, and then his team walks out.
“Polling places are the heart of our democracy and should be places of safety and peace," Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, also a Democrat, said on Wednesday. "Any attempt to disrupt or deceive our election workers will not be tolerated."
While the story practically writes its own punchline, plenty of observers weighed in with their own takes on the pair's predicament.
so priceless that prolific ratfucker James O'Keefe, by going undercover to prove how easy it is to commit voter fraud....ends up proving how hard it is to commit voter fraud, and then catches charges for unlawful votingchef's kiss, stellar work all around www.startribune.com/conservative...
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— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias.bsky.social) October 28, 2026 at 10:27 AM
"James O'Keefe is a generational dumbass," Marisa Kabas, who publishes the progressive newsletter The Handbasket, said on Bluesky.
The irony is particularly rich given the years that conservative activists—with O'Keefe featuring prominently among them—have spent stridently claiming US elections are plagued by fraud, almost always without producing evidence to support their assertions.
Higby denied any wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of waging "lawfare" against him. O'Keefe had not yet commented on the charges as of Wednesday evening.
O'Keefe first rose to national prominence in 2009 with undercover videos targeting ACORN, a community organizing network serving low-income people. Posing as a pimp alongside collaborator Hannah Giles, who played a prostitute, O’Keefe published dubiously edited video footage of ACORN employees discussing what he claimed was illegal activity. O'Keefe later agreed to pay former ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera $100,000 to settle a lawsuit over the recording.
Later, O'Keefe founded Project Veritas, which targeted Planned Parenthood, labor unions, journalists, Democrats, and other groups and people he opposed through hidden camera stings riddled with selective editing, deceptive tactics, and misleading narratives—all under the guise of investigative journalism.
Project Veritas was also involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement, which claimed Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election from President Donald Trump, while attempting to subvert the contest's results. Movement leaders, and Trump, were leading inciters of the deadly January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.
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'We Cannot Let History Repeat Itself': Progressive US Lawmakers Oppose AI Bailouts
"The House Progressive Caucus is ready for the collapse of the AI bubble. The rest of us should be also," said one economist.
Oct 28, 2026
As a progressive US senator warned Wednesday that Anthropic going public could leave "Americans holding the bag" if the artificial intelligence bubble bursts, The American Prospect revealed that key Democrats in the House of Representatives have crafted a resolution opposing federal bailouts for AI giants like the ones "too-big-to-fail banks" got nearly two decades ago.
The seven-page resolution obtained by Prospect executive editor David Dayen frames the 2008 global financial crisis as a result of "profit-driven financial risk-taking, fueled by Wall Street's speculative fervor and unleashed by years of zealous deregulation," as well as an example of what not to do when it comes to the booming AI sector.
"The economic harm of a multitrillion-dollar housing bubble caused by predatory lending, reckless financialization and securitization, and off-balance-sheet lending led to a massive surge in layoffs, with the unemployment rate hitting almost 10% at the trough of the Great Recession in 2009," the seven-page measure recalls. "The weak labor market persisted for nearly a decade."
Now, AI firms "hold trillions of dollars in debt, much of which is raised in opaque and unregulated private credit markets," the resolution continues. Financing terms of many "data centers as well as the costs and revenues of major artificial intelligence firms are not publicly available and... corporate borrowing to fund data center investments are multiples higher than projected revenues."
AI-related stock prices "have inflated even more than the tech giants of the 1990s," the measure notes, warning that "a collapse of an artificial intelligence bubble could have serious consequences for the economy, similar if not more significant than the end of the 1990s tech bubble or the 2008 global financial crisis."
Thus, it argues, "Congress must refuse to provide any additional funds or exceptional regulatory support to companies or financial institutions facing insolvency or financial collapse due to exposures to acute stress within the artificial intelligence market and must provide support to all harmed Americans instead."
While politicians from both parties have been ripped for their ties to Big Tech and AI specifically, the resolution explicitly calls out related failures under Republican President Donald Trump, who recently gathered industry leaders at the White House to sign a "self-policing" accord that critics said was "as dangerous as it is absurd."
House progressives' measure points out that "federal regulators have avoided applying robust scrutiny and oversight regarding enormously complicated debt and equity schemes used by artificial intelligence firms or the circular financing mechanisms involved" in the AI data center build-out.
Additionally, "the White House's artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar was personally invested in at least 449
companies" tied to AI "while pushing to eliminate government obstacles," the resolution says, "reflecting the administration's broad deregulatory focus and conflicts of interest" when it comes to this industry.
The House Progressive Caucus is ready for the collapse of the AI bubble. The rest of us should be also. No bailouts for the AI billionaires prospect.org/2026/10/28/h...
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— Dean Baker (@deanbaker13.bsky.social) October 28, 2026 at 7:53 AM
Though the resolution has not yet been introduced, Dayen reported on it less than a week before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's second term. It's spearheaded by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) and House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
"Big Tech and Wall Street are taking enormous risks with billions in borrowed money to fuel the AI boom, despite growing warning signs of a dangerous bubble," Waters told him. "We cannot let history repeat itself. The American people should never again be forced to foot the bill for billionaires' reckless bets."
Casar, a 37-year-old former labor organizer, highlighted that "many of us, myself included, came into political life watching as many people who caused the crisis in 2008 or cheered it on weren't held accountable."
"We know that the American people were appalled at these Wall Street executives nearly two decades ago, and they're even more pissed off at these tech oligarchs today. We shouldn't be trying to make them whole," said the congressman, who also leads the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Polling released this past summer by Data for Progress found that among the "bad actors" Americans blame for the country’s concerning conditions, billionaires rank No. 1, but AI companies and social media giants are in the top 10.
The progressives' proposal "is a nonbinding 'sense of the House' measure," Dayen explained. "But it sets a marker that no bailout funds should be made available to AI companies. Casar wants the measure to be voted on early in the next Congress if Democrats take power, if not sooner, to get everyone on the record about an AI bailout."
Welcoming the resolution on social media, economist Leslie Ehrlich called it "both correct and good politics," adding, "Let the Republicans vote against it and be pro-bailouts."
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'Simply Disgusting': Netanyahu's Likud Baselessly Claims Arab Parties Stole Israeli Election
"If they don't want to let us vote, they should say so," said the mayor of one Bedouin town.
Oct 28, 2026
With Israel’s governing coalition projected to lose its majority in the Knesset following Tuesday’s vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party made the unsubstantiated claim Wednesday that Arab parties “stole” the election.
“The elections in the state of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters,” the party said in a statement that was shared by Netanyahu on social media.
Without going into detail, the party said it was handing “hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence regarding election theft in many Arab polling stations" to investigators, including what it claimed were “thousands of envelopes” containing cash and ballot slips for Ra’am, one of two Arab factions that saw surging support Tuesday.
Three Ra’am activists were arrested before polls opened Tuesday in connection with an alleged vote-buying scheme; around 24,000 shekels were recovered in envelopes containing ballot papers. Netanyahu has claimed without evidence that the men were “senior officials” in the party. It remains unclear whether investigators have found any evidence that votes were changed as a result.
Likud also said Wednesday that it had provided the police and Shin Bet with evidence of “threats and violence against polling station members” in predominantly Arab communities, as well as “multiple voting behind the curtain, voting with double identities, discrepancies between the number of envelopes and the number of voters, the use of prohibited mobilization software, and more.” The post did not include specific evidence of the claims.
"Law enforcement agencies must act with an iron fist and in an immediate manner," the party said.
Israel’s Central Elections Committee said Tuesday that it had seen no indications of systematic tampering with ballot papers and was addressing individual complaints as they arose.
Talal al-Krenawi, the mayor of the Bedouin town of Rahat, rejected Likud’s fraud allegations Wednesday, calling them “disgusting… lies and falsehoods” and accusing Netanyahu of “incitement against the Bedouins.”
"We voted properly, with the ballot papers and identity cards," he said. "I have never seen elections as clean as these. It is a disgrace and a shame."
Voters wait to cast their ballots at a polling station in the predominantly Arab city of Tayibe during Israel’s legislative election on October 27, 2026. (Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)
Alongside the far-right Jewish Power party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Likud tried to ban the two main Arab factions from participating in the elections, but the Supreme Court ultimately reversed that move earlier this month.
"Now that we have exercised our democratic right, we have stolen the elections? If they don't want to let us vote, they should say so," al-Krenawi said. "What they are doing is ugly. They are portraying us as thieves and cheats. It is simply disgusting."
Before voting even began, Israeli outlets reported that Likud had planned to declare the result fraudulent if Netanyahu did not emerge victorious. Likud dispatched thousands of right-wing activists to monitor polling places and undertook a program to surveil Arab voters. Haaretz reported that the party "may use the footage as false evidence for a conspiracy theory that the election was rigged."
The Yashar party, led by Gadi Eisenkot, warned Tuesday that Netanyahu was “panicking and has begun making up stories and claiming that the election is being stolen.”
Arab voters turned out in unprecedented numbers Tuesday despite reports of delays and intimidation at polling sites. Ra’am Leader Mansour Abbas accused Netanyahu of “lying and inciting against” his voters, using strong Arab turnout as a “scare tactic” to mobilize his own anti-Arab voters.
The two Arab-majority factions, Ra’am and the Joint List, were projected to win 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset on Tuesday, potentially giving them leverage in determining whether the Jewish anti-Netanyahu opposition can form a coalition government to oust him from power.
Netanyahu’s allegations bear an eerie resemblance to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and to right-wing Brazilian candidate Flávio Bolsonaro’s attempt earlier this week to claim that the reelection of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the result of fraud.
“What a disgusting terrorist and war criminal this close Trump family friend is,” remarked author and political analyst Seth Abramson, who has noted how other right-wing populists have copied the US president’s election denial strategy.
"You have to know nothing about complex government investigations to think... the Netanyahu regime—which hates all Arabs and wants them erased—was magically able to get credible evidence of a historic nationwide criminal conspiracy in hours," he wrote on social media.
"I hear those who say Netanyahu's replacements aren't much better," he said, "but at least—unlike Netanyahu—they're not facing years in prison on corruption charges... in most cases haven't (yet) ordered genocidal attacks, and aren't (yet) proven sociopaths."
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Ahead of COP31, 146 Scientists Urge UN to Declare Climate Change a Global Health Emergency
"The health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world's response to them, and in many cases even accelerating."
Oct 28, 2026
With less than two weeks to go until the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP31, brings world leaders to Antalya, Türkiye to discuss the need to transition away from fossil fuels, nearly 150 international experts warned that climate change brought on by greenhouse gas emissions constitutes a "global health emergency" whose harms are accelerating.
The "2026 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change," written by researchers at University College London and the World Health Organization (WHO) and published in The Lancet, tracks dozens of indicators that link climate change to public health, including drought, extreme hurricanes and flooding, and economic losses.
But one top indicator that planetary heating has caused a worsening public health crisis is the extreme heat that was blamed for more than 50,000 deaths across Europe this summer, and which could lead to 450,000 excess deaths in the coming months as the climate emergency is compounded by this year's "Super El Niño."
According to the report, annual average heat-related deaths have surged by nearly 36% since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, securing pledges from governments to draw down fossil fuel emissions, compared to the decade preceding the deal.
More than 70% of the 710,000 heat-related deaths recorded in 2023 were found to be attributed to climate change, and between 2016-23, 68% of the world's 540,800 heat-related deaths were linked to the warming planet. The previous decade, 55% of deaths caused by extreme heat were blamed on the climate emergency.
"These numbers point to a clear emergency," said climate health researcher Marina Romanello, the executive director of the Lancet Countdown. "The risks become even more profound when you consider how different hazards interact and compound. At the same time, drought is spreading, and the world is swinging to water extremes, some drying out, while others are flooding."
"Progress has been too slow, too small, and isn't reaching those who need it most."
The report was published less than two months after a glacial collapse killed at least 1,000 people in Nepal and Tibet as it sent sudden extreme flooding down a mountain into a number of towns.
Türkiye, where COP31 is set to begin on November 9, was one place where massive wildfires spread rapidly this summer, while hundreds of thousands of people in Spain and France were also displaced by fast-moving blazes.
And in August, more than 5,000 square miles of forest burned in the Northwest Territories in Canada, sparking public health concerns when smoke drifted thousands of miles south to the continental United States.
"A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: The health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world's response to them, and in many cases even accelerating," said Romanello.
Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, head of the climate change and health unit at WHO, said the report "demonstrates that climate action is a health intervention. Cleaner energy, stronger health systems and early warning systems are saving lives today. As countries prepare for COP31, placing health at the center of climate policies can help protect communities, strengthen resilience, and deliver immediate benefits for people’s health and wellbeing."
The 146 scientists who authored the report noted that strides have been made in some countries in expanding clean energy infrastructure, passing health protection regulations, and preparing health systems for climate-related crises and conditions.
But in the US, the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, the Trump administration has blocked renewable energy projects and rolled back regulations meant to reduce people's exposure to harmful emissions.
"Progress has been too slow, too small, and isn't reaching those who need it most," said Romanello. "That is why we are calling for climate change to be formally recognized as a global health emergency, with health placed at the center of every climate decision."
The report was released a week after the UN Environment Program warned that achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures is no longer possible, and that world leaders must now focus efforts on ensuring the overshoot is as short-lived as possible.
In the Lancet Countdown, the researchers called on the UN to declare that climate change is a public health emergency of international concern, which could require an international response.
"Priorities," said WHO, "include accelerating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, increasing support for adaptation, and expanding investments that strengthen health system resilience."
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Latest Ted Cruz Attack on Abdul El-Sayed Denounced as 'Straight-Up Incitement'
"This is the most nakedly bigoted American political campaign of this century," said one observer.
Oct 28, 2026
Sen. Ted Cruz claimed Wednesday that Americans could die if Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, wins next week's midterm election, prompting a fresh round of denunciation of Republicans' Islamophobic bigotry.
“If Abdul El-Sayed becomes the senator for Michigan, there is absolutely nothing to stop Chuck Schumer from placing Abdul El-Sayed on the Senate Intelligence Committee,” Cruz (R-Texas) said, envisioning a scenario in which Republicans lose control of the upper chamber of Congress and Schumer (D-NY), currently the top Democrat, becomes majority leader.
“And if I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result," Cruz added.
Cruz wasn't done—he also called El-Sayed a "jihadist leprechaun," an apparent swipe at the doctor's physical stature.
The Texas senator, whose comments came while campaigning for Republican Michigan US Senate candidate Mike Rogers, was excoriated for his remarks, and not just by Democrats.
"There really is nothing Ted Cruz won't say if he thinks there is political benefit to be had," American Conservative senior editor Luke Nicastro said on social media.
Matt Duss, a former top aide to US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the current executive vice president at the Center for International Policy think tank, took aim at not only Cruz but also C-SPAN, which aired a clip of the comments.
"This is straight-up incitement, and it’s fucking disgusting that C-SPAN is clipping and promoting it," Duss wrote on X.
The increasingly ugly Michigan Senate campaign has seen President Donald Trump repeatedly target El-Sayed’s name, religion, and alleged political affiliations, as well as his wife. The president has called El-Sayed a “jihadist” and claimed without providing evidence that he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, while mocking his Arabic name.
Rogers has also questioned El-Sayed’s loyalties, asking whether he is “for America, or... for these terrorist groups overseas?”
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also drew condemnation after making sweeping, demonstrably false claims about Arabs and Muslims during a Monday campaign event for Rogers in Grand Rapids.
"This," opined More Perfect Union's Paul Blest following Kennedy's remarks, "is the most nakedly bigoted American political campaign of this century."
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Siding With DNC a Week Before Midterms, Judge Blocks Trump's Taxpayer-Funded 'Propaganda Campaign'
The administration had allocated $20 million in public funds to pay for ads celebrating Trump weeks before the midterms.
Oct 28, 2026
Less than a week before Election Day, another federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from using taxpayer funds to run ads promoting the president.
US district judge Loren AliKhan froze the White House Office of Management and Budget’s $20 million allocation to run the ads, saying the administration likely “used public dollars to unlawfully finance a national media campaign in the final weeks before the November 2026 elections.”
The ruling follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which accused President Donald Trump of using funds to “finance a national propaganda campaign.”
The ads, which stated that they were “paid for by the US government,” attacked Trump’s enemies as “Marxists,” celebrated his military operations in Iran and Venezuela, and promoted his personal declaration that his presidency marked the beginning of a “golden age of America.” Another ad that was reportedly prepared but never aired declared that “God made Trump.”
Following public outcry over the ads, Trump promised that future ads would be paid for with money he raised for his super political action committee MAGA Inc.
“That promise went unfulfilled,” wrote AliKhan, an appointee of former President Joe Biden. “The ads continued to air with the ‘Paid for by the US government’ disclosure for at least another week.”
The US Department of Justice has also acknowledged that the ads continued to run hundreds of times after a court order issued on October 11 requiring them to be canceled.
Federal law prohibits using federal appropriations for “publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress.”
The DNC argued that the administration's use of public funds illegally “deprives the DNC of a fair electoral process by adding public funds to the resources available to support Republican candidates.”
AliKhan agreed that there was "little doubt that defendants’ unlawful use of public funds makes it more difficult for the DNC to achieve its mission of ‘electing Democratic candidates in federal, state, and local elections across the country.’”
“The court just delivered a victory for the rule of law and for American taxpayers," DNC chair Ken Martin said following the ruling on Wednesday. "Trump and his administration can no longer misuse Americans’ hard-earned dollars to run political ads while working families can’t even afford to pay for their gas and groceries."
Martin added that “Trump’s illegal and desperate attempt to save his cratering approval ratings ahead of the midterm elections only underscores how out of touch he is with the American people, who will hold him and Republicans accountable for their destructive agenda at the ballot box next week.”
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National Groups Endorse Impeachment Push as Hegseth Reportedly Eyes US Senate Seat in Tennessee
"In the case of Pete Hegseth, lawmakers now face a choice: Will they side with gross incompetence, rampant murder, and an illegal war, or will they finally side with the Constitution?"
Oct 28, 2026
A trio of national advocacy organizations and a constitutional scholar on Wednesday endorsed articles of impeachment that Republican US Rep. Thomas Massie filed last month against Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is reportedly eyeing a soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat as a way to evade his possible removal from office if Democrats retake Congress in next week's midterms.
Free Speech for People, the Removal Coalition, FLARE USA, and Bruce Fein—a constitutional scholar and former associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan—announced their support for Massie's (R-Ky.) impeachment articles days after Puck reported that "there’s chatter" on Capitol Hill that Hegseth "has been angling for Sen. Marsha Blackburn to appoint him to her Senate seat, which she would vacate after winning her gubernatorial election."
According to Puck, some Republicans are privately hoping that Trump fires Hegseth before any impeachment effort gains real momentum. The Pentagon denied Puck's reporting, calling it "nothing more than beltway gossip."
Massie's articles accuse Hegseth of unconstitutionally waging war on Iran, "ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties," "extrajudicial killings" in international waters, and the kidnapping former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without legal authority, among other charges.
“Pete Hegseth has repeatedly demonstrated his contempt for the Constitution, the rule of law, and the fundamental rights of the American people,” John Bonifaz, president of Free Speech for People, said in a statement to Common Dreams. “No secretary of defense is above the law, and no president can authorize a Cabinet official to disregard the Constitution. Rep. Massie’s articles of impeachment present a clear opportunity for Congress to hold Hegseth accountable for his dangerous abuses of power.”
Jessica Denson, founder of the Removal Coalition, said that "it is past time for the corrupt and dangerous members of this lawless administration to face impeachment and removal."
"In the case of Pete Hegseth, lawmakers now face a choice," said Denson. "Will they side with gross incompetence, rampant murder, and an illegal war, or will they finally side with the Constitution?"
Hegseth's impeachment is backed by nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters and 20% of Republicans, according to polling released earlier this month.
"Free Speech for People is urging lawmakers to support Massie’s articles regardless of party," the group said Wednesday. "Hegseth has committed multiple abuses of power and must be impeached and removed from public office."
Massie introduced his impeachment articles months after Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), one of two Iranian Americans in Congress, separately unveiled articles that also cited the Iran war and US military atrocities as reasons Hegseth should be removed from office.
While just 16 House Democrats have cosponsored Ansari's impeachment resolution, Semafor reported earlier this month that "as the Iran war squeezes Republicans ahead of the midterms, Democrats are aligning to call for the defense secretary’s ouster or resignation."
“I 100% believe Pete Hegseth needs to be impeached and removed from office, because not only is he the worst secretary of defense in American history, he is a dangerous war criminal,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) told Semafor.
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Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers Co-Founder and 'Giant' of Labor Movement, Dies at 96
"Through courage and determination, she helped change what the world saw as possible, who the world saw as deserving of rights and dignity."
Oct 28, 2026
Labor advocates and Democratic lawmakers called on Americans to honor the legacy of the legendary union organizer Dolores Huerta, who died Wednesday at age 96, by "continuing to fight for her dream" of justice for all.
A spokesperson for Huerta's family said she died of cancer, and her family members said they would share plans "to recognize and celebrate her incredible life and legacy" at a later date.
"We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning," said her family, including her 13 children who survive her.
Huerta became a hero to workers across the world in the 1960s when she joined Cesar Chavez to establish the National Farm Workers Association, which became known as the United Farm Workers in 1972.
She helped lead a strike by Filipino workers in the grape-growing industry in Southern California, as well as boycotts of companies that paid migrant workers low wages, while exposing them to toxic chemicals and providing no job security.
Huerta faced violence by strikebreakers and police, 22 arrests for her nonviolent protests, and surveillance by the FBI, which suspected her and Chavez of Communist ties—but nevertheless organized one of the most successful produce boycotts in US history in 1968, garnering support from 17 million households and thousands of grocery stores that pledged not to purchase California table grapes due to growers' abuse of workers.
The strike led by Huerta and Chavez also gained the backing of the United Auto Workers and Democratic Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and the grape growers were forced to provide benefits to the workers the industry depended on.
"Through courage and determination, she helped change what the world saw as possible, who the world saw as deserving of rights and dignity. Every worker owes her a debt of gratitude," said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants. "It’s a debt that we must pay forward by continuing to fight for her dream of a world where no human is exploited and no injustice is written off as someone else’s problem."
Along with Huerta's historic boots-on-the-ground victory for farmworkers, she pushed for the passage of one of the country's first major farm-labor laws, the Agricultural Labor Relations Act in California, which was passed in 1975. The law gave the state's farmworkers the right to organize unions and made them eligible for health insurance, pensions, and other benefits.
She also pushed lawmakers to pass immigration reform in the 1980s and backed campaigns for voting rights, environmental justice, and LGBTQ+ rights. Her last arrest was in 2019, when she was rallying for fair pay for home health aides.
"Dolores Huerta gave us all of the empathy, care, and encouragement of a mother for workers everywhere, with a fierce love for people that fueled her principled, relentless, strategic action for results that lifted millions of workers and our families," said Nelson. "She never gave up, she never gave in, and she fought for a better world to her last breath."
Chavez was often viewed as the leader of the movement they led together, with Huerta serving as vice president of the United Farm Workers for nearly forty years.
But earlier this year, Huerta and other women in the movement revealed to The New York Times in a bombshell report that Chavez had sexually abused women and children as young as 12 for years.
Huerta accused Chavez of raping her at least twice in encounters that led to pregnancies. She said she did not report the assaults to police because they were hostile to their labor organizing, and said she had not been aware of his alleged abuse of minors.
“Unfortunately, he used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children,” Huerta told the Times. “I never talked about it to anybody, and the reason I didn’t is because I just didn’t want to hurt the movement.”
Huerta remained with the United Farm Workers until 1999. Three years later she established the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which leads grassroots organizing efforts to promote education equity, LGBTQ+ equality, and other causes.
She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 by President Barack Obama, who acknowledged at the ceremony that the rallying cry he adopted in 2008, "Sí se puede" ("Yes we can"), had originated with Huerta.
"¡Sí, se puede! is more than a chant," said Melat Kiros, a progressive Democratic US House candidate in Colorado. "It's a promise we must keep in her honor: that the people united can change the world."
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