Today, Groundwork Collaborative released a new report exposing how corporate consolidation and a lack of basic price transparency in the funeral industry are driving up costs and forcing grieving families into debt at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

The new report, Death, Debt, and Paperwork: How the Business of Dying is Burying American Families by Groundwork’s Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy, Zoe Butler, analyzes Bureau of Labor Statistics data to find funeral costs have skyrocketed in recent decades, rising 310% since 1986 and now exceeding $7,700 on average, with many services topping $10,000. These costs are often due within days of an individual’s passing, even as families’ assets remain tied up in probate for months and are subject to administrative and legal fees. As a result, more families are forced to take on debt just to bury a loved one. The share of grieving family members taking on debt after a loved one’s death rose from 14% in 2024 to 37% in 2025.

At the same time, the industry operates with little transparency or competition. Corporate consolidation has allowed large firms to raise prices while fewer than one in five funeral homes post prices online, leaving families to make urgent financial decisions without clear information or the ability to comparison shop.

Groundwork’s President and CEO, Lindsay Owens, said:

“No one should be forced into debt just to bury a loved one, but as corporations exploit families at their most vulnerable moments, more and more grieving loved ones are being driven to the brink to pay for a dignified death. Funeral companies are raising prices, hiding costs, and taking advantage of a system that gives grieving families no time and no transparency. Policymakers must act to bring down prices, increase accountability, and ensure families can access what is already theirs without delay.”

Just a day after MPs voted against taxing fossil fuel profits in the 2027 budget, TotalEnergies is today reporting obscene profits. Civil society stands united to denounce this handout to oil companies while a large share of French households are struggling to make ends meet. This morning, 350.org, Action Justice Climat Paris, Attac France and Extinction Rebellion – Carnage Total staged a visual action near the National Assembly to say loud and clear that yesterday’s vote does not settle the debate. Taxing fossil fuel profits remains an urgent priority.

Today, TotalEnergies reported a net income of $8.2 billion for the third quarter of 2026 (opens in a new tab), up 124% year on year. Since January, the multinational has raked in $19.5 billion in profits, nearly twice as much as over the same period in 2025, without these windfall gains being subject to any additional tax whatsoever.

350.org has criticised TotalEnergies for using household affordability as leverage against taxation while pursuing a strategy of expanding oil and gas production and increasing shareholder payouts.

Against a backdrop of energy price volatility and escalating climate impacts, the figures raise urgent questions about who benefits from fossil fuel markets and who pays when prices rise. While households face higher costs and governments are left to fund public support, essential services and climate recovery, fossil fuel companies retain considerable control over production decisions and the distribution of their profits.

Joined by feminist organisations, students, trade unions and yellow vest activists, 350.org calls on political leaders to tax profits of fossil fuel companies without delay, in order to free up resources to fund public services, speed up the ecological transition and support households facing the rising cost of living. Yet every amendment to this effect was rejected by MPs yesterday in the vote on the 2027 budget for France.

Fanny Petitbon, France Manager, 350.org

“Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across France this month because they can no longer afford to live. Their anger is rooted in our dependence on fossil fuels. Every time oil and gas prices spike, households pay more at the pump and on their bills. And every time, TotalEnergies cashes in.

“In a year of war, price shocks and social anger, TotalEnergies is making a fortune and doesn’t even pretend to be embarrassed about it. It claims to support households with affordability while threatening to withdraw fuel discounts if it is taxed, expanding fossil fuel production and promising shareholders ever-bigger payouts. When prices rise, ordinary people are told to tighten their belts and governments are expected to pick up the bill.

“Yet the government still refuses to tax TotalEnergies’ soaring profits, and yesterday MPs rejected every amendment that would have done so in the 2027 Finance Bill. That vote was a missed opportunity, not the end of the fight. Political leaders must make polluters pay, so that those profiting from the crisis help protect people and fund a fair transition to affordable, renewable energy.”

Rukiya Khamis, East Africa Programme Manager, 350.org

“TotalEnergies’ years of impunity while driving human rights and climate violations across Africa must end. To add insult to injury, Total continues to announce record profits while frontline communities face an escalating climate and social crisis. France must take a strong stance by taxing Total’s super profits, creating a precedent for every region where the company operates. Big polluters like Total must be held accountable and pay for the harm they inflict on people and the planet.”

Photos from the action are available here (opens in a new tab).

Today, Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Rep. Greg Casar (TX-35) and House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-43) co-led the introduction of a resolution warning of the economic risks posed by an artificial-intelligence-related asset bubble, opposing a bailout of corporations or their business executives impacted by the collapse of an A.I. bubble, and affirming their support for aggressive federal action to protect workers, retirees, and low-income communities who will be harmed by an economic downturn.

They were joined by Representatives Danny Davis (IL-07), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Valerie P. Foushee (NC-04), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Analilia Mejia (NJ-11), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), André Carson (IN-07), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Brad Sherman (CA-32), and Rashida Tlaib (MI-12).

“Big Tech billionaires are making increasingly reckless bets on A.I. They got richer off Trump’s deregulation and Republican tax breaks. Now they expect taxpayers to bail them out if those bets go bad. We won’t let them," said CPC Chair Casar. "A.I. companies that fail should go bankrupt, and executives who commit fraud should be held accountable. Federal help should go to workers and retirees.”

“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 and if it all comes crashing down they should not expect taxpayers to rescue them,” said Ranking Member Waters. “We saw what happened in 2008 when reckless Wall Street practices brought our economy to its knees. The banks got bailed out while millions of hardworking Americans lost their jobs, homes, and retirement savings. We cannot let history repeat itself. The American people should never again be forced to foot the bill for billionaires’ reckless bets.”

In the resolution, the Democratic lawmakers note that “artificial intelligence-related firms hold trillions of dollars in debt, much of which is raised in opaque and unregulated private credit markets,” and “the price-to-earnings ratio of the stock market is currently almost as high as it was at the peak of the 1990s tech bubble.”

The Democratic legislators also point out that “federal regulators have avoided applying robust scrutiny and oversight regarding enormously complicated debt and equity schemes used by artificial intelligence firms” and highlight the Trump White House’s deregulatory focus and conflicts of interest related to A.I.

The resolution’s cosponsors commit to avoiding a federal response similar to what occurred during the financial crisis of 2008, where the financial sector received trillions of dollars in liquidity without accountability for senior executives involved in illegal and fraudulent behaviors. Meanwhile, 10 million homeowners lost their houses and tens of millions of workers went years without adequate employment while too-big-to-fail banks enjoyed a massive bailout.

The resolution urges the Federal Government, including Congress and key Federal agencies to oppose:

• Any measure to rescue insolvent artificial intelligence-related firms or to shield their senior executives from accountability for reckless conduct;
• Special assistance like emergency lending or direct capital infusions to prop up insolvent A.I. companies’ operations or prevent their orderly resolutions through ordinary bankruptcy processes;
• “Golden parachutes” for corporate executives involved in risky or illegal behaviors that lead to their firms’ insolvency, instead requiring them to be held fully accountable under civil and criminal law and be obligated to return ill-gotten gains like mansions, vacation homes, private planes and yachts, and other assets.

The resolution also calls on the Federal Government to support:

• Aggressive, direct federal action to support ordinary Americans through federal spending to create jobs, protect state and local government services, and robust unemployment insurance, nutrition support, and housing assistance;
• The protection of pension and retirement fund holders who may face devastating losses in the event of a collapse of an A.I. bubble;
• Far-reaching reforms to prevent future speculative bubbles, including additional transparency and accountability requirements;
• Automatic economic stabilizers—investments in people that start to flow immediately in the event of an economic downturn—that support workers and consumers when financial crises, asset bubbles and other harms create downturns and recessions.

The resolution was endorsed by American Federation of Teachers, American Economic Liberties Project, Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Responsible Lending, Demand Progress Action, Future of Life Institute, Guardrails Action, Indivisible, Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, Jobs With Justice, P Street, and Social Security Works.

“Americans are already paying for the AI build-out through higher power bills and a stock market propped up by a handful of companies,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy & Advocacy for American Economic Liberties Project. They should not pay a second time with a bailout. When Wall Street’s bets went bad during the financial crisis, the banks got rescued and ordinary people got foreclosure notices. Congressional members are right to reject AI bailouts in advance, and commit to saving real help for those who will be left holding the bag—the American people.”

“Tech billionaires and their Wall Street backers are using dangerous tactics reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis to make trillion dollar bets on AI—and they are putting working people’s money at risk,” said Maya Jenkins, a senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform. “This resolution charts a critically important path for defending people’s economic security from the bubble’s blast radius, opposing billionaire bailouts, and holding corporate executives to account. This is the kind of approach needed to confront mounting financial risks and emerge from the aftermath of the AI bubble with an economy that is fairer and more stable.”

“When the housing market collapsed in 2008, the financial industry was prepared to act to ensure that there was a bailout that benefited them,” said Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “It is important that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is stepping forward to make sure that any bailout from the collapse of the AI bubble is designed to benefit the country as whole, rather than the billionaire AI boys who created the problem in the first place.”

“Chair Casar, Ranking Member Waters, and the Progressive Caucus should be praised for this resolution and recognized as being at the tip of the spear in ensuring that AI policy focuses on working-class impacts and isn’t simply left to the desires of the handful of billionaires and their courtesans in Congress, said Maya Handa, Senior Advisor, Guardrails Action. “The AI industry is trying to buy our elections and write their own regulations while its biggest players line up IPOs at record valuations. If this turns into a bubble, working-class Americans must not be forced to pay the tab for big tech CEOs’ recklessness and greed. Simply put: there can be no bailout for big AI execs or their financial enablers.”

“AI companies and their billionaire executives shouldn’t get to gamble with our economy and democracy, then expect working people to bail them out when their bets on AI go bust,” said Andrew O’Neill, National Advocacy Director of Indivisible. “We learned in 2008 what happens when the government puts impunity for corporate corruption ahead of working families. This resolution draws a clear line: will lawmakers protect AI tech bros or the people they’re supposed to represent?”

Read the resolution here.

Corporate political spending in the 2026 midterm elections has reached approximately $737 million, a 60 percent increase from what was spent on the 2024 presidential election, according to newly filed federal campaign finance data analyzed by Public Citizen. Spending this cycle accounts for 40 percent of the $1.8 billion corporations have spent on federal elections since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision.

Cryptocurrency, online betting, and Big Tech interests — including companies involved in AI and data centers — have collectively contributed $391 million toward the 2026 elections. This accounts for more than half of corporate political spending reported this cycle.

Corporate political spending has grown substantially since Citizens United. Corporations contributed $12.8 million during the 2010 election cycle, $84.9 million in 2012, and $117.9 million in 2016. The current cycle’s $737.3 million total underscores the scale of corporate spending in federal elections.

“Corporations are exploiting Citizens United to drive their political spending to unprecedented levels,” said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen co-president. “These corporations aren’t investing this money because they are civic minded or want to advance a particular viewpoint. They are spending to buy influence, determine outcomes and shape policy. This election cycle shows beyond any doubt that we desperately need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and put the people, not corporations or the super rich, back in charge of elections.”

Most of Planet Earth now knows cruelty is the point of Trump 2. But if anyone implausibly needs more evidence, meet Rev. Edward Nalwamba, a 79-year-old, pro-democracy Ugandan priest who spent over a year in ICE detention. When he went in, he was fit; at his long-delayed release last week, fellow detainees had to carry him to a car because officials wouldn't let him take his wheelchair that far. To ICE, he charged, "You are an animal...They forget they are dealing with human beings."

In the last 18 months, the Trump regime has deported nearly a million people, and killed at least 60, including two U.S citizens in cold blood and broad daylight. The family of one, Renee Good, has filed two federal civil lawsuits over her Jan. 7 murder, alleging wrongful death, "negligent infliction of emotional distress," conspiracy to conceal evidence, and coordinated campaigns of "aggression and abduction" against ethnic communities and "intimidation and violence" against their allies. And of course it has detained, terrorized, traumatized or shattered the lives of untold thousands, the vast majority with no criminal history.

One was the good Rev. Nalwamba, who arrived in the U.S. in 2002 for a religious conference. Having publicly condemned human rights abuses by the Ugandan government, and subsequently heard from colleagues that government agents were pursuing him, he decided to stay in Colorado and apply for asylum. In 2010, after his application was denied, he began living peaceably in Lakewood under a 15-year ICE supervision order, reporting to immigration officials as required, working as a health aide for people with developmental disabilities, and serving as a pastor at nearby Resurrection Anglican Fellowship until he retired two years ago.

In September 2025 he was arrested by ICE; they charged he was under a removal order dating back to 2010, and that he'd failed to "cooperate with efforts to obtain travel documents" before a deadline, aka to help with his own deportation in a timely manner. He was taken to the GEO Group's private ICE detention facility in Aurora, where for over a year DHS repeatedly vowed to deport him and then didn't. On Oct. 20, after his lawyers filed a second habeas corpus petition, Judge Cyrus Chung ruled feds had exceeded a “presumptively reasonable” six months of holding time with "no concrete plan” to return him to Uganda, and ordered his release.

When he was detained, Nalwamba was a fit 77-year-old who regularly walked, exercised and played ping pong. Inside, his health quickly deteriorated. He caught pneumonia which persisted for weeks, lost over 30 pounds and the ability to walk, developed a stubborn cough, chest pain, scratchy throat, headache and fatigue that were never treated - and besides, "You don’t want to go to the hospital - they shackle you like a bull.” "He walked in. He can't walk now," noted Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper. "They want the misery of one person to be known by others. It's a low-rent form of terrorism to make people so scared they'll self-deport."

Along with the barbaric cruelty, observers also blasted the "staggering hypocrisy" of a regime that simultaneously charged Biden et al "targeted" Christians yet in their voter intimidation efforts sent ICE into churches, interrogated church staff, and detained and abused a church elder. Last week, because they hadn't alienated Christians enough by picking a fight with the Pope, they also turned a supposed prayer gathering of Catholic bishops into a sleazy photo op, prompting two angry Archbishops to apologize, charge they'd been "manipulated," and clarify this was "in no way an endorsement of the president, his policies, or his party."

In the final, petty degradation meted out to Rev. Nalwamba, detention officials told his attorneys they would ensure his safe passage on release with a wheelchair and escort, and then reneged on it all. The wheelchair couldn't go out to the gate, they insisted, nor could vehicles approach it. Hickenlooper: "There is no excuse for this cruelty. None.” In the end - no surprise here - it was two young mensches also being released who hooked their arms together - one lawyer: "It was heartbreaking and it was infuriating" - carried the reverend to his waiting car, and went on their way: "They didn't even give me a chance to say thank you.".

After his release, a buoyant Nalwamba said he’s “in another world." He talked to his children, he's well fed, he’s staying with a family who lent him an electric scooter to get around. The next day, he visited a health clinic to get a chest X-ray, blood work, TB testing. He looks forward to physical therapy and reconnecting with his church community: "I am a happy man." Except for the monsters, still here. DHS said they were "forced" by "an activist judge" to release "an illegal alien" who "chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation's laws." Most vitally, "He remains in the country illegally," under a removal order, without legal status.

So much, or not yet for Obama's Michigan citing of "a decency we should expect from our public officials." Attorneys plan to reopen Nalwamba's asylum case; conditions in Uganda have seriously deteriorated with widespread crime, unrest and targeting of political opponents and a U.S. "Do not travel" advisory in effect. At the same time, says attorney Joy Athanasiou, she has never seen "this inhumanity and cruelty" over 20 years of working with detained clients. Before, there were under 1,000 habeas corpus petitions a year; now there are about 90,000, a demand "100 times greater than what we can provide.”

Nalwamba says his thoughts remain with those innocents still inside a callous, corrosive environment worse than any maximum security prison. He loves the America he has lived in for almost 26 years, he says, and has always thought African and other countries should aspire to be like the U.S. But no more, he adds, not without drastic change. Those other countries, he argues, treat their livestock better than he was treated. "It's as if they've gotten used to treating people that way, like they're taking care of goats or cows,” he said. “I have never imagined human beings treated like I saw in this place."

The Rev. Edward Nalwamba Photo by Resurrection Anglican Fellowship

Responding to the large-scale Israeli military operation and mass displacement in Hebron in recent days, Oxfam’s Response Lead in the West Bank, Mustafa Tamaizeh, said:

"This is not only a humanitarian crisis but a deliberate assault on the economic foundations of Palestinian life, as families lose their homes and livelihoods. The destruction of factories, workshops, and business premises is wiping out years of investment and hard work. As movement restrictions tighten under Israel’s illegal occupation, workers cannot reach their jobs, farmers cannot access their land, and businesses are cut off from customers and supply chains.

“These illegal actions amount to collective punishment and are accelerating the forced displacement of Palestinian communities across the West Bank. They come during the olive harvest, one of the most important sources of income for Palestinian farming families. Israeli authorities, however, are creating conditions that make it increasingly difficult for Palestinians to remain on their land, with escalating state-backed settler violence and severe access restrictions preventing many from reaching their groves to harvest the crops that provide for them and their communities.

“The restrictions are also severely affecting humanitarian operations, limiting Oxfam's ability to reach affected communities and assess needs at a time when humanitarian access is most critical. All aspects of life are being impacted. Children and students, for example, cannot reach their places of study, and even those in need of medical care are being prevented from accessing health services.

“The economic damage being inflicted on Hebron is not incidental. It is part of a broader pattern of dispossession and ethnic cleansing that is deepening poverty, increasing dependency on humanitarian aid, and undermining any prospect for a just and dignified future.

“In recent days, high-ranking Israeli officials have openly acknowledged they are considering plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967, with calls for operations in the West Bank to be conducted like those in Gaza. Against this backdrop Oxfam is calling for urgent action by the international community to stop Israel’s campaign of mass forced displacement, demolitions and state-backed settler violence, which amount to a policy of ethnic cleansing.”

These truly-through-the-looking-glass days, it seems the drunk great-uncle you really didn't wanna ask to dinner is somehow getting worse. Scarily and no longer mirthfully, the befuddled "head" of a GOP blitzed on projection daily spirals deeper into phantasmagoria - slurring words, crafting fictions, renaming oceans, rekindling grievances, losing it over trifles and consorting with imaginary friends as the world burns. An Orange-Stain plea from No Kings for the coming election: "Clean Up On Aisle USA" please. Soon.

To be clear, Trump was a lying fabulist from way back. In the glitzy 1980s and 1990s, he regularly posed as a successful businessman, savvy dealmaker and cad-about-town who'd infamously call reporters or publicists as "John Barron" to boast about his money or conquests - a ploy he admitted in later court depositions he learned from his Nazi father. In power, like "a pre-teen with a girlfriend in Canada nobody's met," he's long invented "friends," fans, sources who praise him and his dreadful policies, from cultists invariably with tears in their eyes who "thank me for saving the country" to U.S. CEOs and "one of the great people of China, from the highest echelons" who inexplicably extol his disastrous tariffs.

Lately, though, the GOP is reportedly freaking out, watching the line between fact and fiction increasingly blur in Dear Leader's mashed-potato mind as the economy keeps tumbling and vital mid-terms approach. They want him to celebrate (albeit largely imaginary) tax cuts, trade deals, safe borders, winning fights against drag shows and "transgender for everyone" (sigh). Instead, he raves about livestreamed executions, the hotness of GOP candidates, often in the wrong state - "His ass, shit, it's like a pile of muscle" - his bestie Putin who's been "fine on Ukraine," how "not a single" undocumented immigrant has entered America since he took office, how soaring gas and diesel costs are "a small price to pay," though it's unclear for what.

He garbles words or makes them up - "When we had the hurricane...We call it a watercane" - prompting excited patriots to up their expectations: "OK, cancel the Blue Wave, we want a Blue Watercane." Wearily, he jokes about creating a robot lookalike on the campaign trail- "Nobody would know the difference" - so he can stay home and watch TV, his true, small vocation. Weirdly, he fantasizes about trashing other countries: He boasts about "polling higher than anyone has ever polled in Venezuela," which is why "after I finish with this" he'll to go Venezuela, "learn Spanish quickly, it won't take long, I'm good at languages" and run for president there, and yes we are here for it.

Hopefully, Venezuela won't have pesky reporters asking him questions that drive him to melt down in "dementia anger-flare." Because he lacks both impulse control and any trace of decency, he's also lauded Vivek Ramaswamy's grotesque ad against rape survivor and Dem opponent Amy Acton, wherein her estranged, unhinged mother calls her a liar, charging the Fake News "is trying to convince everyone this Ad is bad because it’s so good!...It's called 'hitting pay dirt.’” He adds that if his "legendary" mother "said anything bad about me, (it) would go down as the Ad of the Decade — Maybe the Century!" Vivek should keep the ad up, he says, so people know Acton is "a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!” Killer pot/kettle.

There are more. The racist fraudsters who got rich on corruption - and turned Minneapolis into Fallujah - want us to rat on our neighbors for...fraud under Trump's stammered "Fraud Whistle...Blower Incentive...Program" whereby "Americans (can) report theft of taxpayer dollars," with DOGE "skunk-works" stragglers helping. Turn in someone with $1 billion, you get 1%: "That's a lot of money.” Except the cap is $30K, you probs won't see it, and it's queasily akin to Nazi bounties on Jews. Stephen Goebbels was even there to smear phantom Somalis who get $30 million for a fake daycare, buy BMWs or mansions, fly their kids "first class all over the world...living the high life." What a sick fuck. Meanwhile, America urges, "Call in fraud at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

Alas, the more loopy he gets, the more openly he flies his violent, racist, crassly unfettered flag. There are more curses and more bellicose AI slop like the video of a macho white guy put in prison with three scary black guys, by one scary black cop, who takes them all down: "Bullies Can’t Break a Strong Man." (So many pots/kettles!) The rallies grow more pugnacious too: In the second assault this month, a South Carolina sheriff's office is investigating an attack on a protester - punched in the head, neck and chest - that Trump cheered on, praising the thugs' "courage." "Who's the guy that threw that punch?" he excitedly asked. "I love that." He also mocked the victim as "a very unattractive guy," for a rare combo sick fuck and pot/kettle.

That was at a rally, in a reported “livestock arena” say what, for Darlene Graham, who’s “gonna have a big win.” If so, no thanks to his shambolic speech, which roamed from renaming the Atlantic Ocean - “I was always high end” - to insisting he doesn’t ramble while rambling - “I got - I know everything I’m doing. I got aptitude they dream about” - to again whining about the prizes he didn’t win: The Pulitzer for writing - “The people that got it shouldn’t have gotten it” - and the usual Nobel, despite being “one person who deserves it more than any yuman being." ”Not that I want it - it’s just ridiculous,“ he babbled. ”How the hell do you not get the Nobel Prize? i settled like 8 wars. The woman that got it, I don’t know where the hell she comes from.“ Losingest loser ever.

Finally, amidst all the lame, foul, daft fails, there are his deeply undignified transfers: The careening burlesque of a walk to his helicopter in Alaska. The ambling approach to his beloved, million-year helipad when he suddenly stops to acknowledge, salute and wave to a crowd of supporters, aka thin air. Eventually, the camera zooms out to show...empty space. A few seconds later, aides walk out from a different direction; other angles - here and here - show the same abyss, for which Fox would've run Biden out of town. Same for last week's event, ostensibly to honor first responders where, amidst a losing war, crumbling economy, burning planet and hungry children, Nero nattered and raved about his house projects. Nothing to see here.

“You're seeing this for the first time. This used to be grass. So if we did this, you couldn't do it. It was unusable. You know, this is built on a wetland. So the grass was always wet. Even if you were in a drought, the grass was soaking wet. And especially women with the high heels, they'd be holding their shoes. They go out and buy beautiful new high heels that go into the White House and they come back and their shoes are destroyed. But we did a job with the same stone that matches the White House stone and hasn't been totally finished. We're going with the black over here, too, because the limestone doesn't hold up well. Never, never did. Never will. But what we've done here is really amazing. We put a brand new coat over the White House, brand new coat. We fixed up the walls. They were all broken, chopped, terrible shape. A lot of the ornamentation, like around the windows, was broken. And many years ago, 30, 40, 50 years ago, probably a lot during Biden three years ago because he had no idea what the hell he was doing. But you'd look at a window and you'd see ornament on the right side. And on the left side, you'd see it was it had fallen off. Some people think that's OK, but I don't think it's OK. So we had molds made of the right side. We put it on the left side. It's all perfect now. So we re-skinned. Basically, it's a re-skinning. And that building is good to go for another 100 years or at least actually. But even this, the you see the the top sections where it was so bad, I didn't even like standing under it. The thing was all cracked and broken all over the place. We put the sign up, solid brass, half inch thick, as opposed to laminate. You ever see these laminate? They they don't want to spend the money on the brass. So they have a piece of brass laminated. It's about a hundredth of an inch thick. And they put it on a piece of wood to save a lot of money. And then in about two years, it decomposes and it's laying all over the floor. We don't do that. But up there is the Rose Garden. And then we, as you know, that wall has sat for 150 years empty. And I said, something has to be on that wall. And I just had the the notion I've often thought of it because I've never seen it before. A presidential walk of fame. So we went from George Washington to Trump. And that will be extended on this wall right up here because somebody said, oh, but you have no room for anybody else. I said, no, it extends this way. And but I'm going to have to leave that because whoever it is, maybe they won't be able to figure that out. And if they don't figure it out, I don't know what they're going to do. You know, but we have we have at least one hundred and twenty five years of extension going this way. So it's fun. But everybody loves the presidential walk of fame. Nobody knows if there is any. And we have a very generic, very good description of every president from Washington all the way down. And we get a little bit more personal as we get closer to my my year. Talk a little bit about in more detail about what we've had to put up with....All I do is write the truth.” - Donald J. Trump

Ladies and gentlemen, the President (sic) of the United StatesGetty Image

Today, Public Citizen released a new set of fact sheets that track the toll of the NAFTA-WTO era and today’s chaotic trade policies on the workers, farmers, local communities in all 50 states in the U.S., covering lost manufacturing jobs and farms, shuttered factories, battered union membership, depressed wages, falling farm exports, and other effects of bad trade policies.

While this story is often associated only with the industrial Midwest, the latest data show significant job, farm, and income loss across the South and Northeast, as well in other areas of the country often left out of the discussion on trade.

The ongoing impacts of these losses still looms large in political battleground areas, and are especially relevant when talking about working-class politics in post-industrial and rural areas.

“For decades, both parties have promised working people that “free trade” deals would bring good jobs and rising wages,” said Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen. “Instead, initiatives like the NAFTA and the WTO led to massive outsourcing, the closure of thousands of factories, the destruction of millions of good-paying jobs, and left rural and working-class communities abandoned nationwide — and current chaotic and corporate-friendly trade policies have only made matters worse.”

Key Revelations:

• ALMOST EVERY STATE GOT HIT HARD – The U.S. has about 4.4 million fewer manufacturing jobs today than in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect. Nationwide, more than 3 million workers were certified by the U.S. government as losing their jobs to trade policy during this period. The share of manufacturing jobs in 43 states dropped by more than 30% in that period and by more than 50% in 12 states.
• BATTLEGROUND STATES PARTICULARLY IMPACTED – One quarter of manufacturing job losses took place in the seven key 2024 battleground states. Overall, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin lost more than 1 million manufacturing jobs combined. Manufacturing’s share of total jobs in these states fell by nearly 40% on average, and union density fell by 46% on average, 10 points higher than the national average.
• THE DECLINE OF THE INDUSTRIAL HEARTLAND – Nearly one third of national manufacturing job losses came from just six states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Combined, these states lost more than 1,400,000 manufacturing jobs.
• HUGE LOSSES IN THE NORTHEAST – The Northeast, New England plus New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, lost more than 40% of its manufacturing jobs – more than any other region. New York and Rhode Island each lost more than half of their manufacturing jobs.
• THE SOUTHERN RUST BELT – In the Southern states, manufacturing’s share of total jobs dropped by more than 45%, 10 points higher than in the Midwest. This shift was most pronounced in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, where the drop was more than 50%. North Carolina lost 365,000 manufacturing jobs—110,000 more jobs lost than Michigan, 54,000 more than Illinois, and 39,000 more than Ohio and Pennsylvania; and manufacturing’s share of total jobs dropped by 63%, worse than any other state.
• UNION MEMBERSHIP WAS DECIMATED – Ten states saw union density declines of more than 50%, five of which are in the South. Union density declined most in South Dakota, followed by Wisconsin and Arkansas, at 72%, 65%, and 63%, respectively. Nationwide, overall union density fell 35%, while only one state, Vermont, saw an increase.
• FARM LOSSES HIT HARDEST IN THE SOUTH – Of the 10 states that saw the largest proportional declines in the number of farm operations, six are in the South. Tennessee and North Carolina lost more than 30% of their farms, the highest percentage losses of any state. The South lost more than 140,000 farms, more than half from just three states: Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
• WORKERS LEFT WITHOUT RELIEF – Since 2022, Congress has left over 100,000 workers who lost their jobs due to our trade policies stranded by failing to reauthorize the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Almost a quarter of those workers are from just two states – Texas and Oregon. Thirty-two states had more than 1,000 workers who were awaiting assistance at the time.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today demanded that a U.S. manufacturer of electroshock weapons stop sending its devices to Israel following an investigative report revealing their systematic use in the torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees.

According to an investigation published by The Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, American company Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International) has continued to supply electroshock Taser weapons and accessories to Israeli security forces despite mounting documentation that these devices are deployed inside detention facilities to inflict severe physical abuse.

Released detainees interviewed in the report detailed horrific accounts of being tightly restrained, doused with water to intensify electric shocks, and repeatedly tortured, leaving lasting physical and psychological scars.

The investigation also highlighted findings from the UN Committee Against Torture regarding a sharp escalation of abuse, sexualized torture, and electrocution inside Israeli detention facilities since October 2023, alongside similar documentation by human rights organizations like Amnesty International.

In a statement, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said:

"It is unconscionable that equipment manufactured by an American corporation is reportedly being used to carry out acts of torture and abuse against detained Palestinians. Axon must immediately halt all current and future contracts, shipments, and servicing of electroshock weapons to Israeli authorities. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Commerce must rigorously enforce export oversight criteria to block the transfer of technologies to governments implicated in systemic human rights violations."

The nation’s largest and most profitable corporations paid an average federal income tax rate of just 10.4 percent in 2025, the lowest rate documented in more than four decades of research by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), according to a new study released today.

The study examines the current federal income taxes of 706 major U.S. corporations that collectively reported $1.88 trillion in domestic profits last year. Despite these enormous earnings, the companies collectively paid less than half the statutory federal corporate income tax rate of 21 percent, and 114 paid no current federal income tax at all.

The findings illustrate the combined effects of two rounds of corporate tax cuts enacted under President Trump: the 2017 tax law, which slashed the statutory corporate income tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, and the 2025 tax law, which expanded and made permanent lucrative corporate tax breaks.

Among the study’s key findings:

• 114 corporations paid no current federal income tax in 2025, including well-known companies such as Tesla, Walt Disney, CVS, Citigroup, United Airlines, and DoorDash.
• 258 corporations paid effective tax rates below 7 percent, or less than one-third of the statutory rate. Together, these companies reported $683 billion in U.S. profits but paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 1.7 percent.
• The 706 corporations studied received $198 billion in federal tax subsidies by paying less than the statutory 21 percent rate. They also benefited from an additional $263 billion in tax savings attributable to the 2017 reduction of the statutory rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
• Just 25 corporations accounted for more than half of the 2025 tax subsidies. Alphabet ($18.9 billion), Microsoft ($18.7 billion), Amazon ($17.4 billion), and Meta ($13.9 billion) were among the largest beneficiaries.

“These findings show just how dramatically the corporate tax system has been tilted in favor of the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful companies,” said Matt Gardner, ITEP Senior Fellow and co-author of the report. “At a time when lawmakers claim the country cannot afford investments in families and communities, some of the most profitable corporations in American history are paying little or nothing in federal income taxes. This is not an accident. It is the predictable outcome of deliberate policy choices that have steadily eroded the corporate tax base.”

The study finds that corporate tax avoidance is particularly pronounced in several industries. Technology companies collectively paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 10 percent, receiving $68.5 billion in federal tax subsidies. Motor vehicle companies paid just 2.7 percent, while telecommunications companies paid 6.7 percent and aerospace companies paid 7.6 percent.

The research also documents how corporate tax breaks enacted or expanded in Trump’s 2025 tax law have helped some of the nation’s largest tech companies dramatically reduce their tax bills. Provisions allowing companies to immediately deduct investments in equipment and research have provided substantial benefits to corporations making massive investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies.

While these subsidies are frequently promoted as necessary to encourage investment, the report raises questions about why highly profitable corporations should receive billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for spending they may have undertaken regardless.

“Congress has repeatedly chosen to expand tax breaks for corporations that are already extraordinarily profitable,” said Steve Wamhoff, ITEP Federal Policy Director and co-author of the report. “Rather than continuing to subsidize corporate investments and reward aggressive tax avoidance, lawmakers should close these loopholes and ensure that large corporations pay a meaningful share of their profits in taxes.”

ITEP’s analysis draws on annual financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by corporations in the Fortune 1000 or S&P 500. The study calculates effective federal income tax rates based on companies’ reported current federal income tax expense relative to their U.S. pretax profits.

The findings continue a series of corporate tax studies conducted by ITEP and Citizens for Tax Justice over more than four decades. The 10.4 percent effective rate in 2025 is even lower than the 11.2 percent rate documented in 1982 following President Reagan’s first round of corporate tax cuts, and the 11.3 percent rate reported in 2018 following Trump’s first tax law.

In nearly two years the Trump administration has protected just three species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and missed dozens of deadlines to make decisions promised in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workplan. No other administration in the more than 50 years since the law was passed has protected so few animals and plants from extinction.

“The Trump administration is just a pure disaster for the natural world and America’s struggling wildlife will pay the price,” said Noah Greewnwald, endangered species codirector at the Center for Biological Diversity. “To benefit polluters and billionaires the administration is taking a wrecking ball to protections not just for wildlife but also our air, water and climate.”

In 2024 the Service published the fifth version of its workplan since 2016, providing a schedule of protection decisions for hundreds of species by fiscal year (Sept. 30 to Oct. 1) over the next five years. In fiscal year 2026 the Service failed to make scheduled findings for 39 species, leaving wildlife like little brown bats, golden-winged warblers, Arizona toads and more in the lurch.

“Even before Trump species waited far too long for protection,” said Greenwald. “Now massive spending and staffing cuts and contempt for environmental protections mean hundreds of plants and animals won’t get badly needed protections anytime soon, pushing them closer to extinction. It’s truly sad.”

Under the Clinton administration 521 species were protected and under the Obama administration 361 species were protected. Only 22 species were protected under the first Trump administration. To date, the second Trump administration has listed just three Florida reptiles: the Florida Keys mole skink, rim rock crowned snake and the Key ringneck snake. All three were listed following court orders.

In July the Trump administration published a new version of the workplan that dropped decisions for 64 species over the next five years, meaning animals including pygmy rabbits and Florida manatees have no prospects for gaining lifesaving protection.

The Trump-Vance administration has abandoned its appeal in National Council of Nonprofits et al. v. McMahon, a case brought by a broad coalition of nonprofit organizations, more than a dozen local governments, and labor unions against the U.S. Department of Education. The case stopped a new rule that would have allowed the Secretary of Education to disqualify government and nonprofit employers that disagree with the administration’s policies from a program intended to support borrowers working in public service jobs.

Earlier this year, a federal court ordered the Trump-Vance administration to stop its unlawful rewriting of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program as a way of silencing nonprofit organizations and local governments that do work that runs counter to the administration’s political agenda. The government had filed an appeal of the ruling, but on Wednesday submitted a joint stipulation of dismissal, which will formally end the matter and ensure the new rule will never take effect.

Plaintiffs in the case include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), City of Albuquerque, City of Boston, City of Chicago, City and County of San Francisco, County of Santa Clara, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Legal Aid DC, National Association of Social Workers, National Council of Nonprofits, Oasis Legal Services, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association. The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward and Protect Borrowers in this matter; the County of Santa Clara and City and County of San Francisco represent themselves.

“The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program was created so public service workers can pursue careers serving their communities without being burdened with debilitating debt,” said AFSCME President Patrick Moran. “Countless essential workers rely on this program, and weaponizing it for political purposes would hurt not just these workers but the communities they serve. We’re glad the administration is now following the law and abandoning this illegal scheme.”

Quotes from additional plaintiffs included in the coalition about the court’s ruling are available here.

The legal team on this case includes Sarah Goetz, Victoria Nugent, Simon Brewer, Jennifer Fountain Connolly, and Robin Thurston from Democracy Forward, Persis Yu and Winston Berkman-Breen from Protect Borrowers, and attorneys from the County of Santa Clara Office of the County Counsel and San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.

Read the opinion that decided the case here and learn more about the case here.

UltraViolet, a leading national women-led gender-justice organization responsible for numerous impactful victories against sexual predators and tech-facilitated sexual violence, issued the following statement in response to Apple updating its developer guidelines to ban AI “nudify” apps on its App Store, calling on Google to make the same changes in its Play Store immediately.

“This victory belongs to the courageous survivors of dangerous ‘nudify’ apps—especially children—and the advocates who demanded accountability. Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, now has an opportunity to usher in a new era of leadership that puts the safety of women and children first,” said Jenna Sherman, Campaign Director at UltraViolet. “Apple's decision is an important step forward, and Google must follow suit immediately. But one policy change is not enough. Big Tech must do more to stop enabling and profiting from the creation and spread of AI-facilitated sexual abuse.”

Apple quietly made the change over the weekend amid public outcry and UltraViolet’s years-long Reclaim the Domain pressure campaign demanding that the company, alongside Google, stop the proliferation of non-consensual sexual content on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively.

In January, Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok fueled a wave of nonconsensual sexual deepfake abuse on X, generating an estimated 3 million sexualized images in just 11 days, including approximately 23,000 depicting children, according to research. In response, UltraViolet delivered a sign-on letter to Apple and Google endorsed by 28 organizations calling on the companies to remove Grok, X, and all “nudify” apps from their respective marketplaces.

After the companies failed to act, UltraViolet escalated its campaign in May, bringing together more than 50 civil society organizations to send an open letter calling on state Attorneys General (AGs) to take direct legal action against Apple and Google for hosting “nudify” apps in their app stores. In June, UltraViolet and child safety organization Heat Initiative took the campaign directly to Apple's doorstep, co-hosting a demonstration at Apple Park during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), calling on new CEO John Ternus to change course from the past inaction on “nudify” apps which defined Tim Cook’s tenure.

“Just as we pressured Apple into making these changes, we’ll continue fighting until Google does the same and our other demands are met,” continued Sherman. “The two companies still refuse to 1) remove Grok and X from their app stores, since Grok is a major source of mass-produced sexual deepfakes targeting women and children, 2) add a sexual violence hotline at the top of searches for ‘deepfake porn,’ while abusive sexualized deepfakes can still be found all over Google search and tutorials on how to make deepfakes with tools available on the Google Play Store and Apple Store remain monetized, and 3) remove all known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from iCloud.”

According to a 2023 report, an estimated 98 percent of deepfake videos found online were sexually explicit, and 99 percent of those targeted in sexual deepfakes were women. UltraViolet believes the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, including hyperscale data centers, is helping fuel this epidemic of digital abuse. That growing threat has mobilized tens of thousands of people to join UltraViolet’s Reclaim the Domain campaign. UltraViolet’s petition calling on Apple and Google to remove “nudify” apps from their app stores garnered more than 55,000 signatures.

“This win is proof that the tides are turning against these Big Tech companies, and against the ‘forced inevitability’ of AI that hurts all American people, particularly women and children. Today we celebrate this win, absolutely, but we see it as the start of a domino chain, built on the bravery of survivors, to bring down the entirety of this abusive ecosystem of sexual deepfake abuse. We are living in the greatest mass sexual abuse crisis of our time, and companies like Apple and Google have been getting rich off of it. Tech companies must for once change their tune and put people over profit—especially Google, which has no excuse to implement the same app store ban as Apple. The physical and mental well-being of every woman and child depends on it,” concluded Sherman.

Apple’s new restrictions mark the latest in a series of tech accountability victories that UltraViolet has helped secure. Recent UltraViolet wins include pressuring Google to block searches for “nudify” apps, downrank websites dedicated to platforming deepfake abuse, and to stop accepting advertising money from these apps; pushing crucial federal legislation like the DEFIANCE Act forward; and helping spur legal action from state lawmakers and AGs against Apple and Google for enabling AI-generated CSAM.

Today, Unrig the Economy and Americans for Tax Fairness released a new analysis (in English and Spanish) showing that cuts to SNAP enacted under Trump and Congressional Republicans’ tax law have disproportionately affected Latinos. Since the law passed, more than 1.5 million Latinos nationwide are estimated to have lost food assistance that helped keep food on the table. Across just seven states, roughly half of all Latinos who have lost SNAP benefits nationwide have lost access to the program since July 2025.

“The Republican Tax Law took food assistance away from more than 1.5 million Latinos to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations,” said Leor Tal, Campaign Director for Unrig Our Economy. “Families are already struggling with the high cost of groceries and gas thanks to the war in Iran and tariffs. SNAP cuts make it even harder for Latino families – who are disproportionately impacted – to put food on the table.”

“The results are in: Trump and his GOP allies in Congress cut critical nutrition assistance that helps millions of Latinos and working people across the country meet their basic needs—all to deliver historic tax giveaways to billionaires and business elites,” said Jodie Rubenstein, Executive Director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “As is so often the case, working families and communities of color bear the brunt of Trump’s economic policies. We cannot allow billionaire wealth to grow unchecked while communities go hungry.”

Read Unrig Our Economy and Americans for Tax Fairness’ new report on Latino food assistance loss in English and Spanish.

Today, the No Kings Coalition sent an open letter to Meta Platforms, Inc. Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding immediate transparency and public answers regarding the sudden suspension of its official Instagram account during the nationwide No Kings: Vote Early day of action on Saturday, October 17.

On Saturday, as millions of Americans assembled across nearly 3,000 events in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., Meta unexpectedly suspended the coalition’s Instagram account at 1:30 p.m. ET, when public engagement and livestreaming were peaking. The page was completely hidden, and administrators were locked out without justification.

While Meta later admitted in an email that it had wrongly taken the account offline and restored public visibility just after 3 p.m. ET, account administrators remained locked out of the account’s backend for over four hours, preventing real-time communications from reaching millions of Americans. Public comments from representatives of Meta citing a "technical glitch" do not sufficiently explain these actions or the significant delay in restoring access. In the open letter, the coalition demands a public response to 9 detailed questions no later than 5:00 p.m. PT on Wednesday, October 21, 2026.

The questions demand transparency regarding specific policy violations, enforcement logs, potential communications between Meta and the Trump administration, internal content moderation directives, hashtag throttling, automated AI moderation protocols, emergency redress human review guarantees, and high-profile account "whitelist" practices.

"This raises serious questions among the public about why these actions were taken and the implications during the election season. Critical voter information or civic participation should not be blocked, throttled, or otherwise interfered with if Meta aspires to be a trusted actor in our democracy," the coalition writes in the letter. "The public deserves answers."

The full text of the open letter sent to Meta leadership is included below and is available online at nokings.org/metacensorship. Additionally, the No Kings Coalition is having a mass virtual call on Wednesday, October 21 at 8 p.m. ET to share updates and discuss what’s next as the coalition transitions into nonpartisan election defense.

To speak with a representative of the No Kings Coalition, email media@nokings.org.

FULL TEXT OF OPEN LETTER TO META PLATFORMS, INC.

October 19, 2026

Mark Zuckerberg
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Meta Platforms, Inc.
Attn: Diana Powell McCormick, Joel Kaplan, Adam Mosseri
1 Meta Way

Menlo Park, CA 94025

Dear Mark Zuckerberg:

The No Kings Coalition writes in alarm at actions taken by Meta that resulted in removal and revocation of account administrator access to the coalition’s Instagram account during the largest single-day early vote activation in American history.

On Saturday, October 17, millions of Americans came together for No Kings: Vote Early. At the height of our national day of action around 1:30pm ET, Meta unexpectedly suspended the No Kings Coalition’s Instagram account. The page was completely hidden, and administrators were locked out for hours without any justification. Meta did not respond to our team for approximately 90 minutes.

At 3:03pm ET, only after intense public backlash, Meta restored the account to viewable status. At this time, Meta admitted in a response email that they had wrongly taken the account offline. However, administrators were still unable to access the account for more than four hours until 5:41pm ET.

Public comments from representatives of Meta do not sufficiently explain these actions or the significant delay in remedying the so-called “technical glitch.” This raises serious questions among the public about why these actions were taken and the implications during the election season. Critical voter information or civic participation should not be blocked, throttled, or otherwise interfered with if Meta aspires to be a trusted actor in our democracy.

The public deserves answers. As such, the No Kings Coalition demands public response to the following questions. Americans are voting, and the election is fast approaching. Time is of the essence. Responses to these questions should be shared publicly no later than 5:00pm Pacific Time on Wednesday, October 21st.

1. What specific actions from the No Kings Coalition account were alleged to have violated Meta’s policies, and which policies were implicated? Will Meta release the enforcement logs related to this incident?
2. What, if any, communication has Meta or its representatives had with the Trump administration about No Kings and other pro-democracy protests? Who were you in contact with, and what topics were discussed?
   1. Did Meta have any communications with the Trump administration related to the October 17th No Kings day of action, either before, during, or after the 17th?
   2. Did any government, political party, outside organization, or advertiser contact Meta about the account or the No Kings events in the 30 days prior to removal? If so, who and what was requested?
   3. Did Meta have any communications with the Trump administration about prior actions from No Kings or other pro-democracy protests?
3. Has Meta had any communications with the Trump administration about voter education and mobilization or anything else related to the 2026 midterm elections?
4. Does Meta have any internal directives or policies for teams managing account access or content moderation related to demonstrations of free speech, pro-democracy protests, or content critical of President Trump or the federal government?
5. Why did #NoKings stop populating content on Instagram’s desktop site for a portion of the afternoon on October 17 while the official No Kings account was down? Was No Kings content, including content from other accounts, subject to any restriction, suppression, reduced distribution, or other limitation on its visibility or reach during any part of October 17?
6. A Meta representative cited “automated systems” as part of the explanation for how this happened. To what extent are AI agents involved in building, monitoring, or administering these automated systems?
7. Will Meta guarantee human review of all automated midterm-related content moderation actions within one hour of initial action between now and when the winners of the election are seated? What emergency redress options will you put in place to ensure voter access efforts that experience similar account disruptions can reach a human being to review their account status?
8. Meta has published information on Meta’s use of various whitelist protocols that prevent automated systems from banning or removing content from certain high profile accounts. How do those systems treat President Trump and his allies? How do those systems treat No Kings or other civil society efforts to encourage voter participation?
9. Will Meta guarantee that its policies and algorithms will not put a thumb on the scale for or against any candidates or parties during the 2026 midterm elections?

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your timely public response.

Sincerely,

The No Kings Coalition

No Kings events are nonpartisan and are designed to increase participation from all eligible voters. A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action and no civil disobedience. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

Well that was fun. In last week's welcome bit of comic relief, we got the vapid rise and rapid fall - despite requisite blonde hair, faux smile and passing resemblance to Ivanka - of "manifestly unqualified" Barbie News Reader and fake Chinese lawyer Katie Zacharia after a brutal debut. So much for MAGA meritocracy. SAD! Zacharia set a new speed record - half a Mooch - in a job akin to Spinal Tap drummer. But the question remains: When will the incompetent male dolts get fired?

While by far not the most substantive Trump blunder, it was one of the most cringeworthy, exposing (again) the profound ineptitude of his shambolic rule just before voters go to the polls to render judgment on it. In less than a week, Zacharia managed to get plucked from right-wing obscurity, be "shoehorned" into a job far beyond her skillset, humiliate herself before millions, go on Fox and stammeringly fail to redeem herself, and get fired by a capricious, perennial loser who got famous fake-firing people on TV and now daily exposes his own clownish unfitness for his job. One astute observer: "I'm starting to think this Donald guy might not have any idea what he's doing."

Born Kate Sharon Black in 1984, Zacharia grew up in California in the "liberal cesspool” of Cambria; she was the conservative “black sheep” of her family "thanks to the great, late Rush Limbaugh, who raised me as a kid on the radio." Describing a clash with woke patrons of her "cardio kickboxing gym," she said the owner once asked her not to wear her "Trump 2024" hat but "I would never take my Trump hat off to appease the left." A Pizzagate, Qanon and Stop the Steal buff, she was a "huge fan of ICE and Border Patrol" who briefly worked for Kristi Noem and a commentator for right-wing TV before being spotted by Trump, maybe because she scheduled her gigs when she thought he'd be watching. Totally normal.

Officials looking to replace Karoline Leavitt had reportedly narrowed down the list of candidates "only to find that (they'd) said something negative about (Trump)," which of course wouldn't do for the fragile toddler. Thus did uber-obsequious, ringlet-bottle-blonde "lizard person" Zacharia take to the podium, blare "Good morning!!" in a sing-songy screech, and stumble through a smiley, halting, inflection-challenged briefing about Trump's "historic one-day war," "attendance at record highs as enthusiastic hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas," a "booming economy....and a, um, he, great relationship...with Venezuela...um, and...my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one..." Not.

After the one question on Ukraine, and the famous, “I’ll have to get back to you on that,” it was over. 14 minutes, or forever in bimbo time. It got worse. The oft-repeated claims of being a lawyer when she’d failed the bar - weirdly, thanks Hannity - and of working in China on “international transaction law” when she was basically a paid intern. The verdict: "A train wreck," "a joke hire," "talk about a public execution," "between the 3rd-grade level reading and the fake attorney in China thing, brutal." Anti-DEI,.scandal-plagued Rick Santorum's glowing review: She was "not even close to the worst." Trump's lazy excuse: "I told her, 'If I were you, I'd reconsider.'" Fox: She's "transitioning" out of the job she held for 14 minutes.

It was a made-for-the-Internet spectacle. The White House declared, "She’ll be remembered as one of the all-time greats." America proclaimed, "She's gonna be a punchline for a very long time." Democratic strategist Mike Nellis clarified, "She wasn't fired because she lied,” a Trump requisite, but because "she was a bad liar." Another requisite: Michael Steele mused no more "blonde white female pronouncing his noise in a way that makes him feel good.” Some selfishly mourned the loss: "Please let her last long enough to hold a second briefing - I need the joy." Some empathized with SNL writers stuck with Friday night rewrites. Some were shocked: "I can't believe her husband, I mean president, fired her."

Though no press secretary really matters because Trump daily lies, veers, makes things up, some speculated on the next one: Scott Jennings, Katie Miller, Melissa McCarthy doing Sean Spicer. The Borowitz Report announced it's George Santos, who was "thrilled...I will bring to this job my experience not only as a lawyer but as a doctor and astronaut.” Also, he was cutting short his reunion tour "with his fellow Beatles." Some noted Zacharia "was press secretary longer than she was a lawyer." Others asserted they'd had blueberries, bananas, takeout and lettuce in their fridge longer than she had her job. Also that the U.K's Liz Truss lasted longer, as did the head of lettuce that often competed with her.

Some mulled Zacharia's future: "Next: memoir and book tour," "Now she can go back to studying for the bar, or at least its cocktail menu," "She is leaving 'to spend more time with my children, who will teach me how to read.'" A guy met her years ago on a cruise ship: She was telling a friend she'd partied the night before and slept in. They told her she'd missed them crossing the equator that morning. She said, "Oh, what did it look like?" Some waxed lyrical: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives." Some lamented inflation: "I remember when you could get a few months of work out of a press secretary. Now they're like those new batteries - they look like they'll last but whoosh and they're gone."

In honor of her historic reign, Wikipedia’s “List Of Humorous Units Of Measurement” was updated to include the “Zacharia,” a “fractional unit of a Scaramucci,” the previous record for Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days as press secretary in Trump's first term. The change prompted heated debate, pained mathematical equations, admiration: "Nobody thought anything could go faster than the speed of Mooch, but here we are." There were questions - Are Mooches a metric system? Would that be 45 centi-Mooches? - and answers: "They convert at a 5/11 ratio." Talk turned existential: "A Scaramucci was a measure of time. A Zacharia is more ethereal, a measure of being, a disconnect between one’s story and one's purpose...Beautiful really."

And there was anger Zacharia got fired but Trump's still here, that the media and GOP have let him "get away with LYING ABOUT EVERY GODDAMNED THING...from 2015 SPOUTING THAT OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE SHIT AND EVERY OTHER FUCKING LIE HE’S TOLD SINCE." And, in the last few months, that half of eight female officials have resigned or been fired, all replaced by men. That consistently inept, unhinged, corrupt, sick idiots like Hegseth, Patel, Lutnick, Goebbels, Vance etc lie, cheat, rave, royally screw up yet keep their jobs. What the fuck. Meanwhile Zacharia, still sketchy, posts altered photos from the Oval Office and declares the guy who threw her under the bus "kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic and hard-working...No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to." Damn, we hope not.

Helpful Press Secretary conversion table.Image from Bluesky

New FEC filings show the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, has become the dominant funder of the Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Republican Senate super PAC. Musk was responsible for 58% of the fund’s third-quarter fundraising, and his latest contributions bring his total giving to the Republican group to $168 million. His contributions to a single party super PAC appear poised to exceed the previous record by approximately $100 million.

In response, Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said:

“Elon Musk is pouring unprecedented sums of money into Republican super PACs, giving him extraordinary financial leverage over the party’s political future, in an attempt to sway the midterm results with his net worth. The current state of our campaign finance system allows one billionaire to supply the overwhelming share of a major party’s political funding. This is undemocratic and flat-out wrong. America should be a nation where the voices of regular people are heard just as loudly as the ultrawealthy. And where the billionaire class is prevented from consolidating political power.”

Musk also has his own pet super PAC, which he has given $126 million according to recent analysis by Public Citizen. In 2026, Musk has contributed a total of $366 million to super PACs and other political groups in an effort to help Republicans win in November.

A Fox News poll has revealed that corruption is a leading issue for voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, with a whopping 88 percent saying they are concerned about corruption, including 60 percent who say they are “extremely concerned” about it.

In response, Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert issued the following statement:

“The public is furious about the corruption they see from the government. Even Fox News polling says as much. If we see a shift in power in the next Congress, the American people will expect the new holders of the gavels to deliver oversight and accountability in a strategic and disciplined way that zeroes in on the real harms that the current regime, in cahoots with corporate power, have carried out at the expense of everyday Americans.”

The devastation goes on apace at the teeny toxic hands of the clowns and hacks in power (maybe not much longer?). Topping the abuses: An assault by Homeland Security (sic) thugs on the home of a duly elected (albeit female, brown, Muslim) member of Congress for imaginary crimes as a child. Also: racist rallies, fake rumors, defying of court orders, calamitous fails on all sides. Their witless leader: "If Republicans get in power, you're going to (have) a depression. These people are incompetent."

In 2022, Cory Doctorow helpfully wrote Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It. At the time, it was an analysis of how the Internet went wrong, a sort of "Big Tech disassembly manual" aimed at curbing powerful people from making transactional, short-term, self-serving policy choices ultimately bad for everyone but themselves. Alas, since the return of Trump 2, many argue the same dismal process of enshittification has oozed and expanded outwards to become "the organizing principle of US statecraft" itself, rendering pretty much everything in the public sphere....shitty.

Trump and his cabal of low-lifes daily ensure we get ample evidence of that dark reality. Their latest target: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), the first Somali-American lawmaker, one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, the most visible refugee in American politics and Trump's worst nightmare who has long endured the most venomous of his abuses, which is going some. After four childhood years spent in a Kenya refugee camp, she came to the U.S. at 12, was reportedly 17 when her late father filed their immigration paperwork, was sworn into Congress at 36, and will now likely see easy re-election in the mid-terms.

For those crimes, she's been relentlessly bullied, threatened and assailed by a racist buffoon who has sneered she's "garbage," "totally crooked" and a "terrible person" who married her brother, came from "a non-country - all they have is crime and squalor," and should be sent back there, a notion his audience of bigots and cretins embraced this weekend at another Nazi rally where they mindlessly screamed, "Deport!" This, after Trump intoned "they are looking at her very carefully" after a judge signed a piece of paper allowing DHS goons to raid her home in the dubious name of unclear charges of vague unproven offenses.

The raid, which defies longtime DOJ policy banning major actions just before an election - "Another hard norm out the window" - was foreshadowed by racist story creator J.D. burbling it "seems like something's fishy there“ as he and Goebbels worked to decide, "How do you go after her (to) get some justice for the American people?” What a crock. A steely Omar responded to their clumsy "fascism in the extreme" by calling it "just the latest escalation" in ten years of Trump's "baseless lies and smear campaigns." “I will not be silenced,” she concluded, which reportedly "translates from Congressional-speak as 'Fuck You.'"

Trump, meanwhile, lumbers on, learning nothing. At a rally in Ohio that drew a paltry few thousand - with empty seats hidden by tarps and flags - he fittingly marked Columbus Day with more racist crap. He celebrated Haitians losing their legal status, insisted "I was right" about Springfield residents eating pets, called Somalis in Minnesota "low-IQ people," attacked Omar, from "the worst country," for claiming constitutional rights. (More "Deport!" chants. Jesus.) He also admired Jon Husted's ass - "I don't do this with men very often" - and urged on fans beating up a protester he called "fat," "paid," and "scum." (Pot/kettle.)

And he still keeps losing in court. Hungry to turn a public, affordable D.C. golf course where he dumped East Wing debris into a private fat cat resort, he tried to pull a fast one - filing a Friday 5 p.m. request, then razing 430 trees the next morning - on a judge who furiously blasted the “inexcusable," "preposterous" action, ripped him a new one - "In what universe did anyone in your office think this was acceptable?" - slapped him with a restraining order, and warned if they violated the order "by two seconds" they'd face contempt charges. "We did our best,” whined regime lawyers. "No," she snapped. "You did your absolute worst.”

So it goes. Another judge again blocked - past Election Day - the ludicrous, $20-million, taxpayer-funded, "educational and unapologetically patriotic" propaganda ads she banned once; in another end run, regime weasels moved them to YouTube. One ad portrays the desperate fragile snowflake as a lion who has to "show the jackals who he is." Another declares, "God made Trump...somebody with arms strong enough to wrestle the deep state and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild...who goes into the den of vipers, cares for the flock (and) won't ever forsake them," especially if they accept his $5,000 bribe.

Implausibly, his lackeys are just as lame and awful. Despite facing a scarcity of agents and funds, FBI head (sic) Kash Patel has been boasting of his supposed crackdown on violent crime, claiming the arrest of over 54,000 violent criminals, or 90% more than in the Biden era. Less than shockingly, his numbers turn out to be wildly inflated by including arrests by state and local police and other federal agencies where an FBI agent may have happened to be present. In fact, actual numbers show FBI arrests are down at least 15% from previous years, though at least they're busy harassing Trump's personal enemies.

There's more macho bullshit from aspiring warrior Pete Kegsbreath, fresh from his Arsenal of Freedom Tour (really). Speaking at an annual Army meeting on a panel of warmongers eager to expand the use of unmanned drones to make death-dealing even easier, Pete was repeatedly interrupted by protesters calling him a "coward" and "Nazi.” "The world fucking hates you. You're a fucking war criminal," yelled one. "We’ll see you at the goddamn Hague." Pete grew increasingly irritated; maybe he'd read reports that, despite their brave boat strikes, record supplies of cocaine still arrive here, "cheaper and purer than they've been in decades."

Other MAGA flops abound. When James Talarico took a week off the campaign with the flu, conspiracy crackpots decided it was a cover for a mental health crisis. Spencer Platt's crude take: “This isn’t a case of the ‘flu’, it's 'one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.” The "silly season" claim fell apart so fast even right-wingers were embarrassed. "This is such shit work, bro," wrote one, wondering if Talarico would sue. There was also the cringey fall of Kimberley 'The best is yet to come!' Guilfoyle, and Trump's brazen distancing - "She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago” - despite the surfacing of damning partying video on Jan. 6.

And the rise of new Press Barbie Katie Zacharia, former Pizzagate and QAnon fan, whose debut - so bad "a Zacharia may replace a Scaramucci as a time measurement" - was summed up by The Atlantic : "Hi, I'm Your New Press Secretary, and It's My First Time Reading Words Out Loud...I swear I have seen a sentence before, and I know where one stops and. Starts. And whether? To speak. With a rising inflection?" Now there are reports the self-described lawyer isn't one; a complaint has been filed with the California Bar for “the Unauthorized Practice of Law," and one account says she took the bar but failed it.

Fail fail fail: Thy name is MAGA. Perhaps we should be grateful; unimaginably, the current clusterfuck could be worse with competence. Take the Defending Main Street Super PAC, "the most effective independent expenditure organization for the GOP," which just spent tens of thousands of dollars to run a million 30-second ads arguing, “Maine can’t afford Troy Jackson and all his taxes" in the wrong Portland - Oregon, not Maine, over 3,000 miles off-base. One Maine operative: "At least now Portland, Oregon, can enjoy some of the crap we’ve been seeing every day.” MAGA's mantra: Make it shitty. Ours: Make it stop.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Today’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report shows prices rose 0.6% in September and are up 3.7% over the past year, the fastest pace since May. Gasoline prices jumped 9.1% in September alone, accounting for over half of the monthly increase in overall prices, and are up 34% from a year ago. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 0.33% in September, the largest monthly increase since April.

Americans are increasingly frustrated with Trump's failure to bring down high prices. Consumers' views of current economic conditions are at an all-time low, and 82% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the cost of living. Instead of working to rein in inflation, Trump is trying to pull a fast one on voters, spewing empty promises to bring prices down and send Americans a $5,000 “Trump dividend” if Republicans hold Congress, despite having never delivered on the DOGE and tariff checks he promised last year.

Today's inflation report is the last before the Federal Reserve's October 28 interest rate decision. The Fed raised interest rates last month for the first time in three years because of inflation concerns, and most officials anticipate another increase by the end of the year. In its latest meeting minutes, the Fed pointed to Trump's tariffs and higher energy costs, as well as the president’s never-ending war with Iran, as drivers of persistent inflation. Trump’s war and tariffs are raising the prices of nearly everything families buy, and now his actions are raising borrowing costs for families, too.

Groundwork’s Senior Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Research Alex Jacquez, released the following statement:

“It’s no wonder Americans have lost faith in Trump’s economy. The president has repeatedly made promises he can’t keep, and despite the band-aid attempts from the White House, there is a gaping hole in our economy just weeks from the midterms. Between the president’s war in Iran and reckless tariffs, his economy is on life support.”