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Valerie Jean-Charles
"In last night's debate, Donald Trump made his call to violence crystal clear. Just minutes after he told a terrorist organization to 'stand by,' they started suiting up and preparing to attack America. Donald Trump needs white nationalists at the ready because he needs violence to win the election. He wants white nationalists to invade polling places across the country and prevent voters from voting, to invade our streets and attack people who are protesting, and to prevent ballots from being counted.
"In last night's debate, Donald Trump made his call to violence crystal clear. Just minutes after he told a terrorist organization to 'stand by,' they started suiting up and preparing to attack America. Donald Trump needs white nationalists at the ready because he needs violence to win the election. He wants white nationalists to invade polling places across the country and prevent voters from voting, to invade our streets and attack people who are protesting, and to prevent ballots from being counted. He made clear that his campaign is not about winning votes, it's about holding onto power--no matter the cost.
"And Facebook is helping him do it. The call to arms Donald Trump announced last night is a call he has been promoting on Facebook for years. All while Facebook pretends they don't know what his words mean or the effect they will have--denying the effect those words have on the lives of the Black Americans whom white nationalists target and attack.
"Facebook has allowed a video ad from the Trump campaign to run for over a week that features the President's son calling for an "army" to "enlist" to intimidate and confront voters at the polls. We have demanded that Facebook remove this video for violating its stated policy about violence and voter suppression, and they have flatly refused. Trump's calls for violence are a threat to all Americans--and our election--but only because enablers like Facebook allow him to amplify that message as often and loudly as he wants, ignoring Facebook policies without consequence.
"It's time for Facebook to stop playing dumb, take responsibility for their complicity in white nationalist violence and hold Trump to the same standards they hold everyone else. There are no rules if there is no enforcement."
"Today’s numbers show that the economy spent 2025 treading water while costs surged and families fell further behind."
Revised federal data released Wednesday shows that the US economy under the stewardship of President Donald Trump added hundreds of thousands fewer jobs in 2025 than previously reported, further undercutting the president's claim to have ushered in the "greatest" economy in history.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that US employers added just 181,000 jobs last year, an average of roughly 15,000 per month. That's roughly 69% fewer than the previous estimate of 584,000 jobs created in 2025.
Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive advocacy group, said the updated figures paint "a grim picture" of the job market under Trump, who has repeatedly promised—and taken credit for bringing about—an economic boom.
“Today’s numbers show that the economy spent 2025 treading water while costs surged and families fell further behind," said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork. "Job growth was dramatically weaker than advertised and concentrated nearly entirely in healthcare, leaving the rest of the labor market to stall. Opportunities are drying up outside a handful of sectors, and more and more workers are settling for part-time hours or have stopped looking for work entirely. 2025 was a lost year for American workers."
Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the employment site Glassdoor, told the New York Times in response to the revised numbers that "we’ve been hearing from workers that the job market is not working for them for some time."
“The anecdotes are starting to align with the data," Zhao added.
A separate analysis released Wednesday by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that the US lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs during the first year of Trump's second term in the White House, despite the president's pledge to revive American industry through his tariff regime.
“While President Trump promised us a manufacturing boom, the reality of his first year has been a bust,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the JEC's ranking member. “It is critical for both our national security and our economic future that we grow our manufacturing sector. The president has instead spent his first year burdening manufacturers with reckless tariffs, and this loss of jobs is the result."
"China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference," a Beijing spokesperson said.
As the Trump administration weaponizes its economic privation of the Cuban people in hopes of ousting their socialist government, China on Tuesday reaffirmed its pledge to help alleviate the island's worsening oil shortage.
Emboldened by his recent abduction of socialist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on legally dubious "narco-terrorism" charges, President Donald Trump is ratcheting up pressure on a people already ravaged by 64 years of what many critics call Washington's "economic terrorism" and decades of actual terrorism committed by US-based right-wing Cuban exiles.
Cut off from the Venezuelan petroleum that provided around 75% of Cuba's imported oil just a few years ago, the island is suffering a worsening energy emergency. The Cuban government has responded by strictly rationing fuel and seeking alternate sources of oil such as Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Russia.
"I would like to stress again that China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press conference.
"China stands firmly against the inhumane actions that deprive the Cuban people of their right to subsistence and development," he added. "China will, as always, do our best to provide support and assistance to Cuba."
As is usually the case when Washington tightens the screws on Cuba, everyday Cubans are suffering the most.
“You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,” Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, told CodePink co-founder and frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Medea Benjamin, who traveled to Cuba last week with a group to deliver 2,500 pounds of lentils.
“It’s a vicious, all-encompassing spiral downward," Jiménez continued. "With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years."
"The blockade is suffocating us—especially single mothers,” she added, “and no one is stopping these demons, Trump and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio.”
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly every year but once since 1992 to condemn the US blockade on Cuba. Last October, the UNGA voted 165-7 against the embargo, with 12 abstentions.
"Your Department of Justice initially released this list of 32 survivors' names, with only one name redacted," Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Attorney General Pam Bondi.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday refused to apologize to victims of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a contentious hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
During the hearing, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) grilled Bondi on why her office failed repeatedly to comply with a law passed in 2025 requiring the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to release "all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein."
In particular, Jayapal noted that some of the files released by the DOJ so far have kept victims' names intact, even while redacting the names of several powerful men who are implicated in Epstein's sex trafficking operation.
"Your Department of Justice initially released this list of 32 survivors' names, with only one name redacted," said Jayapal, who then slammed the DOJ for releasing files that not only included victims' names but also their email and residential addresses, and even nude photographs of them.
🚨HISTORIC. Rep. Jayapal asks Epstein survivors to raise their hand if they still haven't been invited to meet with Pam Bondi or the DOJ.
Every single one raises their hand.
Sometimes gestures are more powerful than words. Damn this Administration.
pic.twitter.com/jyYG7Mj6tN
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) February 11, 2026
"Survivors are now telling us that their families are finding out for the first time that they were trafficked by Epstein," Jayapal continued. "In their words, 'This release does not provide closure, it feels like a deliberate attempt to intimidate survivors, punish those who came forward, and reinforce the same culture of secrecy that allowed Epstein's crimes to continue for decades.'"
Jayapal then invited the Epstein survivors who were in attendance at the hearing to stand if they so wished, and asked them to raise their hands if they had still yet to meet with the DOJ to discuss the case.
After several women stood and raised their hands, Jayapal asked Bondi if she would apologize to them failing to redact their names and personal information before releasing the Epstein files.
Bondi responded by trying to deflect blame for past failures onto former Attorney General Merrick Garland. Jayapal interrupted the attorney general and asked her if she would apologize to the survivors for disclosing their information.
Bondi again tried to redirect the conversation to Garland, after which Jayapal again objected.
Finally, Bondi responded, "I'm not going to get in the gutter for [Jayapal's] theatrics."