PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL

Pacific island office enabling sanctions-busting ‘shadow fleets’


By AFP
December 1, 2025


The Cook Islands was one of the 'top countries whose flags are used by shadow tankers transporting Russian crude oil', according to a European Parliament briefing from 2024 - Copyright AFP/File Marty Melville

Dozens of oil tankers suspected of smuggling contraband crude for Russia and Iran have been using a beachside office in the tropical South Pacific to cover their tracks, an AFP analysis of sanctions data has revealed.

Nestled next to a pizza shop in the far-flung Cook Islands is the modest headquarters of one of the fastest-growing shipping registries in the world.

Without ever setting foot in the palm-fringed microstate, foreign ship owners can pay Maritime Cook Islands to sail under its star-studded flag.

United States sanctions data identifies 20 tankers registered in the Cook Islands suspected of smuggling Russian and Iranian fuel between 2024 and 2025.

A further 14 Cook Islands-flagged tankers are blacklisted on a separate database of British sanctions covering the same period.

New Zealand, by far the Cook Islands’ closest diplomatic partner, said it was “alarming and infuriating” to see sanctions efforts undermined.

“New Zealand continues to hold serious concerns about how the Cook Islands has been managing its shipping registry, which it has repeatedly expressed to the Cook Islands government over many years,” said a spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters.

“This is a completely unacceptable and untenable foreign policy divergence.”

The self-governing Cook Islands remain in “free association” with former colonial ruler New Zealand, which is still involved in areas such as defence and foreign affairs.

Maritime Cook Islands, which runs the shipping registry, denies failing to conduct proper checks or harbouring sanctioned vessels, saying any such ships are deleted from the registry.



– Shadow fleet –



Western sanctions aim to curb Iran and Russia cashing in on oil sales, limiting funding for Tehran’s nuclear programme or Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“There are countries around the world that sign up to sanctions against Russia that wouldn’t allow these ships to fly their flag,” said Anton Moiseienko, an expert in sanctions and financial crime at Australian National University.

“But there are countries that are a bit more lax about that,” he told AFP.

“This is where the Cook Islands comes in.”

A UAE-based shipping company was in April accused of smuggling “millions of dollars” of fuel on behalf of the Iranian military in the Gulf.

The company owned tankers flagged in Barbados, Gambia, Panama and the Cook Islands, according to US sanctions.

Ships like these are allegedly cogs in a maritime smuggling network known as the “shadow fleet”, skirting sanctions by passing themselves off as cargo vessels on legitimate business.

They cover their tracks by registering in places such as the Cook Islands, where they can enjoy much less stringent oversight.

Often the registries are unaware of the vessel’s true purpose.



– ‘Fastest growing’ –



Shipping journal Lloyd’s List last year crowned Maritime Cook Islands the “fastest growing registry” in the world.

“There are a number of ships flying the Cook Islands flag that have been identified as part of the shadow fleet,” said Moiseienko.

“When it comes to flag states — Cook Islands, Liberia and others — there isn’t really any international mechanism to enforce their obligations.”

A few months later the registry was in the headlines again, when a tanker called the Eagle S damaged five underwater cables in the Baltic Sea.

Finnish investigators would later suggest the Cook Islands-flagged vessel — allegedly part of Russia’s shadow fleet — had sabotaged the cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.



– Flags of convenience –



Shipping registries are also an easy way for revenue-starved Pacific island nations to bolster government coffers.

But these registries, typically operated as private companies, have run into trouble.

North Korean smuggling networks have long exploited shipping registries in South Pacific nations such as Palau, Niue and Tuvalu.

Many, including the Cook Islands, do not publicly list their fees.

But AFP obtained an estimate from Palau that suggested a 30,000 tonne oil tanker could expect to pay around US$10,000 in registration fees.

Shipping registries allowing foreign-owned ships to fly under their banner are known as “flags of convenience”.

“Many shadow fleet vessels use flags of convenience from countries that are either less inclined or unable to enforce Western sanctions,” notes a European Parliament briefing from 2024.

The Cook Islands was one of the “top countries whose flags are used by shadow tankers transporting Russian crude oil”, according to the briefing.

The Royal United Services Institute, a leading UK think tank, said Iran and North Korea had been exploiting small shipping registries for years.

But shadow fleet activity had “expanded dramatically” after Russia was hit with crippling sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine, the institute said in September.



– Diplomatic headaches –



Maritime Cook Islands operates the shipping registry as a private company “under a delegation of authority” from the government, and is overseen by the nation’s transport regulator.

Government revenue from shipping fees climbed more than 400 percent in the past five years, Cook Islands budget papers show, and were on track to total US$175,000 over the past financial year.

Maritime Cook Islands said any vessels accused of dodging sanctions were swiftly deleted from its shipping registry.

Sometimes suspicious vessels were deleted before they were named in sanctions, it said.

“The Cook Islands register has never harboured sanctioned vessels.

“Any sanctioned vessels are deleted.”

And the registry denied that it failed to conduct appropriate checks before signing up dubious vessels.

“The Cook Islands Registry has platforms that enable effective monitoring and detection of illicit activity.

It said it was “not aware” of concerns about sanctions-busting or of any instances of abuse.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Prada completes acquisition of flashy rival Versace


By AFP
December 2, 2025


Now owned by Prada - Copyright AFP/File Ed JONES

Italian fashion group Prada announced on Tuesday it had completed its acquisition of smaller rival Versace, announced earlier this year for 1.25 billion euros (now $1.45 billion).

Prada Group said in a statement that the deal with Capri Holdings, the US group which owned Versace, had “received all required regulatory clearances”.

Lorenzo Bertelli — the son of designer Miuccia Prada and chief marketing officer — will become executive chairman of Versace following the takeover.

Versace’s lustre had been waning in recent years, unlike that of the Prada Group, which is in robust health, fuelled by strong sales of its younger Miu Miu Line.

Prada Chief Executive Andrea Guerra told journalists during a factory visit that Versace was “extraordinarily different from our other brands in the portfolio”.

The flashy label “invented fashion as we know it today”, bringing it closer to popular culture, and as such “strikes a different aesthetic and appeals to a different consumer”, he added.

German economy in ‘deepest crisis’ of post-war era: industry group

By AFP
December 2, 2025


The German economy is in 'free fall', an industry group warned

 - Copyright AFP/File Ed JONES

Sam Reeves

Germany’s economy is suffering its “deepest crisis” since the aftermath of World War II, an industry group warned Tuesday, calling on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to take urgent action to spark a revival.

Europe’s biggest economy “is in free fall, but the federal government is not responding decisively enough,” said Peter Leibinger, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

Germany is facing a perfect storm: high energy costs burdening manufacturers, weak demand for its exports in key markets, the emergence of China as an industrial rival and the US tariff onslaught.

It has suffered two years of recession and is forecast to eke out just meagre growth in 2025.

The conservative Merz, who took power in May, has pledged to revive the eurozone’s traditional powerhouse, including through a public spending blitz on defence and infrastructure.

But industry leaders are increasingly voicing frustration that the efforts are moving too slowly and are insufficient to tackle a host of deep-rooted problems, from chronic labour shortages to heavy bureaucratic burdens.

“The economy is experiencing its deepest crisis since the founding of the federal republic, yet the federal government is not responding with sufficient determination,” said Leibinger.

“Germany now needs an economic policy turnaround with clear priorities for competitiveness and growth,” he added, warning that “decisive structural reforms” were urgently needed to arrest the decline.



– ‘Not a speedboat’ –



In its latest report released Tuesday, the BDI — an umbrella association for many industry federations — forecast that German factory output will fall two percent in 2025, which would mark its fourth consecutive year of contraction.

Heavy industry, from car-making to producing factory equipment and steel, remains crucial to the German economy. The country is home to more than 100,000 manufacturing firms of varying sizes, employing over eight million people, according to the BDI.

The group’s criticism chimed with concerns expressed elsewhere.

Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Merz’s planned spending bonanza alone won’t be enough to guarantee a sustained revival of the economy, and called for the government to enact “pro-growth” reforms as well.

There is some light on the horizon, however. The economy is expected to start picking up speed next year with the government forecasting 1.3 percent growth.

Merz last week defended his government’s actions, pleading for more time to get the economy back on track.

“Germany is not a speedboat, Germany is a large ship,” he told an event hosted by the BDA employers’ association.

“A tanker of this size cannot be turned around in a matter of days, like a speedboat turning 180 degrees in the other direction. It takes time.”

Free Buses Can Be a Reality — Just Look at Maryland


Zohran Mamdani’s plan for free buses is not a pipe dream. Montgomery County, Maryland, made its buses free this year.

By Alexis Goldstein , 

Truthout

December 1, 2025

A bus that is part of Baltimore's free bus service, the Charm City Circulator, is seen in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 28, 2015.Jeffrey Greenberg / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

During the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic downturn, many people couldn’t pay their transportation costs, and often didn’t. In New York City in 2021, some 21 percent of bus riders did not pay the fare, a figure that grew to 48 percent in 2024. Some local governments, including New York City, responded with reduced or free fare programs. From 2023 to 2024, New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) ran a zero-fare bus pilot that served around 43,000 riders. The pilot, championed by then-assembly member Zohran Mamdani, offered free trips on one bus in each borough.

To expand this small pilot to universal zero-fare buses throughout New York City is a tall task, with a total 2024 bus ridership of 409 million and 6,300 buses. As mayor-elect Mamdani and his administration look to grow zero-fare buses in New York, they have a stellar example just a few hours south of New York, in Maryland.

The largest free bus program in Maryland by ridership is in Montgomery County, a suburb north of Washington, D.C.

Montgomery County first made its “Ride On” buses free to all riders under 18 in 2019. Then on June 29, 2025, it made all of its buses fare-free for all passengers. The system has a fleet of nearly 400 buses, 80 routes, and provided 19.2 million rides in the 2025 fiscal year. In the three months since free fares were instituted, ridership has increased by 5.4 percent. Phil McLaughlin, General Manager of Transit Services for Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT), said an estimated 1 percent to 2 percent of that ridership increase came from instituting zero fares.

One reason Montgomery Country’s City Council adopted the zero-fare program was financial. Montgomery County reduced fares during the pandemic from $2 to $1 and saw lower fare revenues (dropping from $10 million to roughly $1.6 million) overall. When faced with the need to upgrade its fare collection systems to tap-to-pay in order to align its fare boxes with Washington D.C.’s Metro system, it became clear that replacing the fare boxes would cost more than they would recoup: The cost was estimated at $22 million and would take approximately eight years to begin turning a profit. In addition, it cost the county $557,000 annually to collect fares. Montgomery County was faced with either paying police to enforce fares or going fare-free. County Executive Marc Elrich proposed a fully fare-free bus system in his 2026 fiscal year proposed operating budget, and the county council adopted it soon after.

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By Jesse Hagopian , Truthout  November 10, 2025

Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass, chair of the Council’s Transportation & Environment Committee, told Truthout that fare-free buses are “bringing real impacts for Montgomery County residents” and the increased ridership shows that “cost barriers make a real difference. In a county with a median income of $115,000, compared to $35,000 for the average bus rider, fare-free transit is fundamentally about equity.”

The oldest free bus program in Maryland is likely Baltimore’s Charm City Circulator (CCC), first established in 2010 by then-mayor Sheila Dixon and funded through state transportation department grants. In 2024, the CCC provided 1.43 million rides, according to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. The CCC has over 100 stops along five routes, with buses arriving every 13-20 minutes, and operates on an $8 million budget. Its impact has been overwhelmingly positive: a 2022 rider survey showed that over 40 percent of people who use the CCC would have used single-occupancy vehicles to make their trips, if not for this free service, thus reducing overall traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.

These programs, while crucial, still need to be built upon. Previously, local residents have pointed out that the bus service has a history of disproportionately serving majority-white neighborhoods and tourist mainstays, and has connected primarily to the city’s largest predominantly white institutions such as Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, while not offering the same level of service to majority-Black neighborhoods or Baltimore’s historically Black colleges and universities, such as Morgan State University or Coppin State. More public investment in the city-wide transit programs can help bridge the gap. In one promising improvement, Baltimore mayor Brendan Scott recently announced an expansion of the CCC to three East Baltimore neighborhoods beginning on December 7. The Baltimore City Department of Transportation told Truthout that the expansion is aimed at “improving equity of city services” and that it will add fast, free transit options to “communities that have relatively low vehicle ownership.”

Dr. Lawrence Brown, a research scientist in the Center for Urban Health Equity at Morgan State University, told Truthout that while “there is still work to be done,” the changes to the CCC since 2020 — including the Cherry Hill line addition in 2024 (which serves a neighborhood that is 90 percent Black and historically redlined) — “represents a change in the right direction.” Dr. Brown elaborated that “The Green line changes are definitely an improvement from an equity perspective as it extends into historically redlined central East Baltimore,” but “the Brooklyn/Curtis Bay community is still being left out although it also has tremendous transit needs.”

In an interview, Minister Glenn Isaac Smith, co-founder and president of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, told Truthout, “We had long advocated for the extension of the circulator” including its expansion into Cherry Hill, and called the November changes “a welcome addition.” He continued, “The East Baltimore extension will service people who need transportation and a lot of times cannot afford it, especially if they are on a fixed income and need to travel to doctor’s appointments, or need to travel to buy groceries since it’s a food desert.”

West of Baltimore, the more rural but quickly-growing Frederick County made all of its mass transit free at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and never went back. Transit Services of Frederick County, which includes buses and a paratransit service called Transit Plus, served a little shy of 1 million riders in fiscal year 2025 [928,650 riders], a record ridership for the county (up from over 540,000 trips in FY2022). It operates on a $9.3 million budget and has six lines and a fleet of 48 buses, four of which are all-electric and powered by a solar array at the Frederick County landfill, according to an emailed statement from Mary Dennis, Communications Manager for Transit Services of Frederick County. Its buses also serve many of the local food banks in Frederick, a fact advertised on Frederick Transit’s homepage.

Frederick resident and Transit Plus rider Jose Gabriel Coronado Flores, who uses a wheelchair, told Truthout that “I’m glad price is no longer a concern.” Coronado Flores pointed out that Transit Plus’ scheduled hours interfere with civic participation for the elderly and disabled people who rely on it, as many Frederick County government meetings happen later in the evening, when Transit Plus no longer schedules trips. This “keeps out many disabled people from participating in the processes which have to do with them,” Coronado Flores said.

Christian Benford, a candidate for Frederick County Council, told Truthout, “It is fantastic to have a program that provides alternative travel, reduces carbon emissions, and is at no-cost to residents.” Benford also pointed out improvements could be made to accessibility in the county overall, adding, “Frederick, as a whole, is not very walkable. So, while there are stops at key locations, it still requires crossing dangerous intersections or moving on uneven or poorly maintained public infrastructure.”

Like New York, Maryland faced reduced fare collections on buses in the state during the pandemic. Rather than increasing enforcement, Montgomery County and Frederick County, implemented temporary reduced or zero-fare measures. Seeing the financial and public benefits, both counties went fully zero-fare permanently. Zero-fare buses address a key equity gap noted in a 2024 report by Montgomery County called “Ride On Reimagined,” which found that 27 percent of Montgomery County residents in Maryland make less than $20,000 a year, showing the need for free public transit to connect residents to jobs and education. Maryland’s zero-fare bus programs provide an important model to the incoming Mamdani administration and others who want increased equity in their cities.

More can and should be done in Maryland, as these advancements in buses are coming amid a $2.1 billion statewide shortfall in public transit funding, leading to the elimination of many new road and transit projects. In Baltimore, a light rail extension called the Red Line was cancelled in 2015, and “set transportation in Baltimore back ten years,” said Smith. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has made getting the Red Line built one of his platform promises, and Smith said, “We look forward to further expansions into the east-west corridor” of Baltimore.

Like in New York, there is much coordination that needs to take place between state, city, and county governing bodies to make public transit deliver better for all its residents. But Benford, at least, sees opportunity in what’s left to be done: “This is a great instance to foster better partnership between the county and city councils to engage with constituents. We may have different governing bodies but should always look for meaningful ways to work together.”


This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

Alexis Goldstein
Alexis Goldstein is a former Wall Street professional who now works on financial policy. She is a proud rank-and-file member of the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 335.

WORKING CLASS ANTI-WAR SAINT

Catholic Worker Dorothy Day’s grandchildren reflect on a legacy that still challenges the church

(RNS) — Kate Hennessy, the Catholic Worker co-founder’s granddaughter, said Day is a model for her fellow believers ‘to grasp faith and trust with all we have, even if it is by our bleeding fingertips.’

Dorothy Day sits in protest as police stand by. 

(Photo by Bob Fitch, courtesy of Journey Films)

Fiona Murphy
December 1, 2025

RNS

(RNS) — It is rare for the close relatives of a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church to be alive, much less able to observe the process. Yet at a Vatican symposium, “A Pilgrim of Hope: An Academic Symposium on the Legacy of Dorothy Day,” on Wednesday (Nov. 26), the grandchildren of Dorothy Day were able to hear how others think about her work as a founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and introduce many to the woman they knew.

“What I really want to do is to share her with others, share her with you,” said Martha Hennessy, Day’s granddaughter, who is a Catholic Worker herself and peace activist who runs farms in Vermont. “She did belong to the world, but she also belonged to her family. So, I just want to share some stories about family life.”

Day currently holds the title “Servant of God,” the first formal stage in the canonization process. Her local diocese has completed its investigation into her life and submitted evidence and testimony to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints. If approved, the pope would declare her “Venerable,” recognizing that she lived a life of heroic virtue. From there, beatification and canonization typically require two miracles attributed to her intercession.

The process has moved slowly in Rome, with the Vatican taking its time. Among the advocates for her cause, sustaining public engagement and promoting reflection on her life are crucial as the church shows little urgency.

So, while the audience heard from Kevin Ahern, a leading advocate for her sainthood and a member of Manhattan University’s Dorothy Day Guild, which works to preserve and promote Day’s legacy of charity, pacifism and spirituality, the symposium emphasized recollections from those who knew her.

Dorothy Day’s grandchildren Martha Hennessy, left, and Kate Hennessy, right, participate in the Vatican-hosted symposium titled “A Pilgrim of Hope: An Academic Symposium on the Legacy of Dorothy Day,” on Nov. 26, 2025, in Rome. (Video screen grab)

One such person is Robert Ellsberg, the religious publisher and author who dropped out of Harvard in 1975 at age 19 to join the Catholic Worker movement in New York City. Day asked him to become the managing editor of its newspaper, the Catholic Worker, and he worked closely with Day until her death in 1980, and would go on to publish Day’s letters and diaries, most notably in “The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day,” in 2008.

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of my encounter with Dorothy Day,” Ellsberg said. “I decided to take a little time off from college, which turned into five years, and quite soon I got hooked there (at the New York Catholic Worker). Kind of lost track of time.”

Some believe that Day’s cause for sainthood has been slowed because her life, which unfolded largely in New York, challenges the church’s comfort and conscience. In the Catholic Worker and elsewhere, she wrote relentlessly about workers’ rights and the lives of the marginalized. She also purchased buildings to house people living in poverty and chose to live among them, and was jailed for protesting war and nuclear weapons. She routinely refused to pay income taxes as an act of conscience.

Dorothy Day in 1968. (Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Journal/Marquette University Archives)

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, who recently commissioned a large mural that includes a portrait of Day in the city’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, appeared via a prerecorded video, saying the archdiocese is “really proud of her.” He called the symposium meeting “appropriate.”

“She belongs to the world; she belongs to the church universal,” Dolan said. “We look for the day when the church universal can recognize that by edifying her on the first step towards canonization. Thanks for doing it, everybody.”

Martha Hennessy, who was accompanied by her sister Kate Hennessy, anchored Day’s spiritual power very intimately in her grandmother’s physical presence.“When I was 3 years old, I remember sitting on Dorothy’s lap,” Martha said. “I do believe that that experience of having my ear on her chest, hearing the resonation of her voice and hearing her heartbeat, that, for me, was an incarnational experience of God.”

With her works, the houses of hospitality, Martha said, her grandmother showed her how to integrate faith into one’s daily life, and the daily lives of others.

“I would describe life and work at Maryhouse as the agony and the ecstasy,” Martha said, referring to the movement’s New York outpost. “The skills that we need at Maryhouse are, can you cook a lot of food, can you be nice when you serve the food, and can you help clean up on a regular basis?”

Kate, a writer and artist living in Ireland who published the book “Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty, An Intimate Portrait of My Grandmother” in 2017, framed Day’s legacy as an enduring moral challenge.

Hennessy talked about the institutional, economic, political and personal ways Day continues to challenge both Catholics and society at large.

Martha Hennessy, right, Dorothy Day’s granddaughter and a member of New York’s Maryhouse Catholic Worker community, reads an excerpt from her grandmother’s book “On Pilgrimage” in the courtyard of the Vineapple Cafe in New York, Dec. 8, 2021.

 (RNS photo/Renée Roden)

“I think it would be an utter tragedy if those of us who lived privileged and protective lives choose to see Dorothy the saint, as a way to comfort ourselves,” she said. “I have seen over the years many attempts to tame her, conform her, or when that is impossible, to dismiss or ignore her. Dorothy asks us to see the world suffering and to not turn away and say, I can do nothing.”

She noted that Day often taught the power of small acts, likening them to a pebble whose ripples extend far beyond what we can see. In an emotional tone, Kate said her grandmother believed there is always something humanity can offer, which is Christ-like love, even in the face of vast suffering.

“I suggest that we all be terrified of what she is asking of us to gaze clearly on,” Kate said. “In the here and now, to grasp faith and trust with all we have, even if it is by our bleeding fingertips.”

A legacy, she warned, should never be sanitized or turned to for personal comfort. Kate prefaced her remarks by acknowledging the emotional weight of her grandmother’s life and canonization cause. “This topic is so emotional for me, I’m going to cry through it,” she said.

Nearly 50 years after Day’s death, her legacy lives on not only in the church’s canonization deliberations in Rome, but in the grief and love her grandchildren continue to carry forward.

“We will all feel grief in our love as we open our hearts, for we will now know what we have and what we are in danger of losing,” Kate said. “What a gift, what a task we all have before us.”

Trump loyalists 'declare war on the Catholic church'

CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS ARE ANTI-PAPIST PROTESTANTS

Donald Trump outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. 

 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead/Flickr)

Lesley Abravanel

December 01, 2025  

ALTERNET

Despite Pope Leo XIV to calling on his Catholic leadership to issue a forceful statement condemning President Donald Trump's "villification of immigrants," Trump loyalists, writes John Kenneth White in The Hill, have responded by declaring war on the Catholic church.

By a nearly unanimous vote, the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops issued their first special message in 12 years, saying they were “saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants,” and “concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”

They added that "we are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”

The bishops then put out a video denouncing the “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence” against those confronted by ICE — over 1.4 million have watched it so far, according to White.

But as clergy members continue to denounce the Trump administration's policies, MAGA has doubled down against the church.

“Boarder czar” Tom Homan condemned the bishops’ letter and the church as “wrong," adding “I’m saying it as not only border czar, I’ll say it as a Catholic. I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church, in my opinion.”

White notes that Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) "accused the Catholic Church of using government grants to profit from services rendered to refugees. Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft charged that the bishops squandered more than $2.3 billion dollars received from the government, and praised Trump for terminating them."

Laura Loomer, Trump loyalist and so-called MAGA whisperer who called Pope Leo a "woke Marxist Pope," posted on X, "Are all of the Jew haters going to be calling out the Catholic bishops and the Marxist American Pope for condemning deportations?”

Matt Walsh, another Trump defender, White explains, "attacked the bishops, saying they didn’t make a video criticizing the Biden administration 'for supporting, funding, and facilitating the mass slaughter of children in the womb,' or 'its support for the castration and sexual mutilation of children.'"

White says that these attacks are the antithesis of the church's teachings.

"Those attacking the bishops and making reference to the sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church over the past decades does not diminish the bishops’ call for humane treatment of immigrants and adherence to the Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ," he writes.

"Trump casts himself as pro-Catholic and calls himself 'the most pro-life president ever.' But that does not mean that the maltreatment of those living outside the womb is no less a sin," he adds.

Actual Catholics, White says, are not happy with Trump.

"Catholics are swing voters and often determine election outcomes. Joe Biden won their votes in 2020; Donald Trump had a 12-point advantage in 2024. Today, a majority of Catholics disapprove of Trump," he writes.

"The Catholic Church is more than 2,000 years old. Declaring war on it is hardly civilized or politically smart. Trump has three years left in office. The Catholic Church will survive condemnation by those in power; it’s hardly the first time this has occurred in its long and storied history," he concludes.

David Sacks’ Financial Conflicts Mean He Can No Longer Credibly Serve as White House AI Advisor. He Should Resign.




Monday December, 01 2025
Public Citizen

WASHINGTON - A damning investigation by the New York Times has found that top White House A.I. and Tech Advisor David Sacks has “positioned himself to personally benefit” from his official government role – which he has only been allowed to hold because of his designation by President Trump as a “Special Government Employee” exempted from key financial disclosure requirements and anti-corruption laws.

The Times investigation found that Sacks – despite claims that he had sold most of his A.I. assets – has retained at least 449 stakes in companies with ties to A.I. that could be aided directly or indirectly by his policies.
The Times investigation also found that Sacks has recommended A.I. policies that have sometimes run counter to national security recommendations and has dramatically raised the profile of his weekly podcast, “All-In,” through his government role, expanding its business and sharing profits in areas such as event tickets and liquor sales, with a new $1,200 “All-In”-branded tequila.

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

“These revelations explain so much about why the Trump Administration’s A.I. policies have looked like a big juicy government giveaway to tech billionaires – because they’ve been written by one of them. Mr. Sacks should resign from his government role and Congress should step up and investigate whether he has improperly benefited himself.”

In April, a Public Citizen report titled “Isn’t That Special?” named Sacks as one of a dozen other high-level Trump Administration officials who, like Elon Musk, had been designated “Special Government Employees” but were likely to have disqualifying conflicts-of-interest that should prevent them from serving in those sensitive roles.

The author of that report, Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger, said: “The Trump Administration’s wild abuse of the Special Government Employee law has enabled people to enrich themselves from their government jobs at the expense of the American people. The SGE law should be either radically reformed or eliminated entirely so that it can never be abused like this again.

‘We Are Being Held to Ransom’: Trump-Starmer Deal Would Force NHS to Pay More for Medicines

One British lawmaker condemned the agreement as “a Trump shakedown of the NHS.”

National Health Service pharmacy on Wapping Lane on December, 2 2024 in London, United Kingdom.
(Photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Dec 01, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

The government of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced swift backlash on Monday after the Trump administration announced a deal under which the United Kingdom’s prized National Health Service would pay higher prices for new medicines in exchange for tariff exemptions.

The agreement in principle, outlined in a statement by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, was seen by UK lawmakers and advocacy groups as a gross capitulation to US President Donald Trump and the pharmaceutical industry that would harm the NHS and British patients for years to come.

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“Giving in to Big Pharma’s demands to hike the price of medicines spells disaster for our NHS, and for the lives of ordinary people,” said Global Justice Now, a UK-based group. “We are being held to ransom. Our government must stand up to Big Pharma and for our NHS by reversing course.”

Under the three-year deal, the NHS would boost the net price it pays for new pharmaceutical drugs, many of which emerge from the US, by 25%—a change that’s expected to cost British taxpayers roughly £3 billion. In return, Trump has agreed not to impose tariffs on UK pharmaceuticals.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, denounced the new agreement as “a Trump shakedown of the NHS.” As evidence, she pointed to US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s celebration of the bilateral deal.

“It cannot go ahead,” said Morgan. “RFK Jr. has put it in black and white: Trump demanded these pay rises to put Americans first, and our government rolled over. Patients stuck on crammed hospital corridors, or unable to get an ambulance, won’t forget it.”

“The British people didn’t vote for this,” Morgan added. “The government must put this agreement to a vote in parliament.”

Andrew Hill, a visiting health economics researcher at the University of Liverpool, similarly criticized the deal.

“The UK hasn’t benefited from this at all, but we’re having to pay all this extra money,” said Hill. “More money spent on drugs means less money spent on ambulances, doctors, nurses, simple health interventions.”

In addition to facing the threat of Trump tariffs, the UK government was under pressure from the powerful pharmaceutical industry to jack up NHS drug spending. The Guardian reported in September that “big pharmaceutical companies have ditched or paused nearly £2 billion in planned UK investments so far this year” as the firms “accused the government of not spending enough on new medicines.”

Survey data released just ahead of Monday’s deal announcement shows that 64% of the British public is opposed to the NHS paying higher prices for medicines.

“This is a betrayal of NHS patients,” said Diarmaid McDonald, executive director of the advocacy group Just Treatment. “Big Pharma have got what they want. Donald Trump has got what he wants. In the face of their coordinated threats, the government has folded and thousands of patients will pay for this with their lives, as precious funds get stripped from other parts of the health service to line the pockets of rich pharmaceutical execs.”

“MPs need to urgently hold the government to account,” McDonald added, “and demand they publish the evidence showing the impact of this catastrophic move.”

“This outrageous giveaway to Big Pharma does nothing to lower prices in the United States. It only hurts UK patients.”

Asked at a Monday press briefing if the deal would actually benefit US patients and consumers, as the Trump administration has claimed, or if the alleged revenue generated by the agreement would just be “sucked up” by the drug companies, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not have an immediate answer.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Ed,” Leavitt told the reporter: “I’ll get you an answer to that question after the briefing.”

Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines director, argued in a statement that the agreement wouldn’t help Americans or Britons.

“ Drug prices are far too high everywhere, including in the UK, backed by patent monopolies and contributing to rationing and preventable suffering,” said Maybarduk. “This outrageous giveaway to Big Pharma does nothing to lower prices in the United States. It only hurts UK patients while distracting from the serious action needed at home to hold Pharma accountable and make medicine affordable and available for all.”

 ‘Truly Barbaric’: Number of People Killed or Maimed by Landmines Hits Five-Year High

“Even when fighting stops, these hidden killers remain active for decades, continuing to destroy lives long after the combat has stopped,” said one campaigner.



Hoshyar Ali, who lost both legs and several family members to explosions, sits near landmines on a hillside in Halabja, Iraq on November 20, 2025. He has been clearing landmines for over four decades.
(Photo by Showan Sulaiman/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Dec 01, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

The 27th annual Landmine Monitor report revealed on Monday that antipersonnel landmines and other explosive remnants of war killed at least 1,945 people and injured another 4,325 in 2024—the highest yearly casualty figure since 2020 and a 9% increase from the previous year.

Since the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force in 1999, “casualty records have included 165,724 people recorded as killed (47,904) or injured (113,595) or of unknown survival outcome (4,225),” according to the new report from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

The ICBL published the report as state parties to the treaty kicked off a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It details not only casualties but also treaty updates; production, transfers, and stockpiles of mines; alleged or confirmed uses; existing contamination; and international efforts to aid victims and clean up impacted regions.

Also known as the Ottawa Treaty, it is now supported by 166 countries, after the Marshall Islands ratified the pact in March and Tonga acceded in June. Despite that progress, there have also been steps backward, as Mark Hiznay, Landmine Monitor editor for ban policy, highlighted in a Monday statement.

“Five states renounced their treaty obligations in a matter of months,” Hiznay said, “when evidence shows if they use mines, it can take decades and enormous resources to clear contaminated land and assist the new victims, who will feel the impact of mine use long after the conflict has ceased.”

The state parties in the process of legally withdrawing are Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. ICBL director Tamar Gabelnick argued Monday that “governments must speak out to uphold the treaty, prevent further departures, reinforce its provisions globally, and ensure no more countries use, produce, or acquire antipersonnel mines.”

“Turning back is not an option; we have come too far, and the human cost is simply too high,” Gabelnick warned.

There have been recent reports of mine use by both state parties to the pact and countries that have refused to embrace the treaty. The publication notes alleged use by government forces in Myanmar; by Iran, along its borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan; and by North Korea, along its borders with China and South Korea. Additionally, in July, Thailand accused a fellow state party, Cambodia, of using mines along their disputed border. Cambodia has denied the allegations.

Another state party, Ukraine, is trying to unlawfully “suspend the operation” of the treaty while battling a Russian invasion, and the report points to “increasing indications” of mine use by Ukrainian forces in 2024-25. Russia—one of the few dozen nations that have not signed on to the agreement—has used mines “extensively” since invading its neighbor in February 2022.

The United States has also never formally joined the treaty and has come under fire for recent decisions. After initially aiming to accede to the treaty, the outgoing Biden administration last year approved a plan to provide antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine. This year, the Trump administration has made deep cuts to foreign aid that have disrupted mine clearance operations.

“Even when fighting stops, these hidden killers remain active for decades, continuing to destroy lives long after the combat has stopped,” Anne Héry, advocacy director at the group Humanity & Inclusion US, said in a Monday statement. “States parties must live up to their obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty: to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, any use of antipersonnel mines by any actor, under any circumstance.”

“A large part of the victims recorded in the Landmine Monitor 2025, like in the previous years, are injured or killed by landmines and explosive remnants long after the fighting has ended, when people return to their homes believing they can start a new life,” she continued. “Landmines are truly barbaric weapons that kill and injure largely outside periods of active conflict.”

On Wednesday, Humanity & Inclusion US executive director Hannah Guedenet will join fellow experts for a virtual briefing “to discuss the latest Monitor reports, the human cost of these weapons, and the role US leadership must play at this pivotal moment,” the group leader previewed in a Monday opinion piece for Common Dreams.

“Bringing these insights directly to policymakers and advocates is essential to strengthening global norms and advancing effective solutions,” she wrote. Despite never joining the Mine Ban Treaty or the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions, “the United States has long been one of the world’s largest supporters of mine clearance and victim assistance, helping make former battlefields safe for farming, economic investment, and community life.”

“The case for action is both moral and pragmatic. Every mine removed or cluster bomb destroyed reopens land for cultivation, enables displaced families to return home, and prevents future casualties. These are tangible, measurable outcomes that support US foreign policy priorities: stability, economic recovery, and the protection of civilians in conflict,” she added. “In a time of never-ending partisan fights, this is a place where both sides can come together and agree on the right steps forward.”

Over 150 Religious Orgs Endorse Salvadoran Mining Ban Reversed by Bukele

A joint letter expresses “steadfast support for the people of El Salvador and their religious institutions and leaders who are struggling to maintain their country’s historic ban on metal mining... so all Salvadorans can enjoy their God-given right to clean water.”

An environmentalist takes a sample of water from San Sebastian River polluted by mining activity in Santa Rosa de Lima, La Union department, El Salvador on February 28, 2025.
(Photo by Marvin Recinos / AFP via Getty Images)

Olivia Rosane
Dec 01, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

More than 150 faith-based organizations from 25 countries launched an open letter on Monday supporting an El Salvadoran ban on metals mining that was overturned by right-wing President Nayib Bukele in 2024.

The original ban was passed by the country’s legislature in 2017 following years of study and the advocacy of El Salvador’s religious communities. The letter signatories, which include 153 global and regional groups from a wide range of traditions, stood with faith groups in El Salvador in calling both for no new mining and for an end to the political persecution of land and water defenders.

“We, the undersigned, from a diversity of church structures (representing local, regional, and national expressions of churches and related agencies), express our steadfast support for the people of El Salvador and their religious institutions and leaders who are struggling to maintain their country’s historic ban on metal mining—in place from 2017 to 2024—so all Salvadorans can enjoy their God-given right to clean water,” the letter begins. “We stand in solidarity with civic and religious leaders who are being persecuted and imprisoned for working against injustices, including the devastation that metals mining would cause their communities.”

The faith leaders also released a video reading sections of the letter aloud.

“This letter is a hope-filled expression of solidarity and humanism.”

“Through this declaration, faith communities from around the world have affirmed their solidarity with faith leaders in El Salvador as they carry out their duty to protect water as a sacred inherited trust, a human right meant to be shared by all,” Rev. Dr. Japhet Ndhlovu, executive minister for the Church in the Mission Unit of The United Church of Canada, said in a statement.

El Salvadorans already struggle to gain access to clean and plentiful water. The water of 90% of Salvadorans is contaminated, half of all Salvadorans have “intermittent access to water,” and one-half of those with water access report it is poor quality, said Gordon Whitman, managing director for international organizing at letter-signatory Faith in Action, at a Monday press briefing anouncing the letter.

“Restarting mining would be catastrophic,” Whitman said.

The mining ban was already hard won.

A 2012 study commissioned by the government affirmed that mining would endanger the nation’s rivers and watersheds with cyanide, arsenic, and other toxins and found widespread public opposition to mining. Before the ban was passed in March of 2017, the archbishop of San Salvador mobilized support for it by leading a march to deliver a draft of the ban to the National Assembly. After it passed unanimously, he called it a “miracle,” according to John Cavanagh, a senior adviser at the Institute for Policy Studies.

The law made El Salvador “the first nation on Earth to ban mining to save its rivers,” Cavanagh said at the press briefing.

“The Salvadoran precautionary approach banning metal mining is essential to protect drinking water and aquatic ecosystems, given the irreparable damage that has been done by irresponsible mining around the world,” Willamette University professor emeritus Susan Lea Smith of the Ecumenical Water Network of the World Council of Churches said in a statement. “El Salvador had made a difficult but wise choice in banning metal mining. Clean water is a gift from God, and so, for the sake of clean water and the rest of Creation, we work together for the common good.”

“It is a sin to render water undrinkable.”

However, in December 2024, Bukele’s government passed a new law that allows mining once again without environmental oversight or community consultation.

“It’s a law that has become one of the main threats for the Salvadorans’ right to clean water,” Pedro Cabezas of International Allies Against Mining in El Salvador said in the press conference.

Cabezas also said the new law was a “symptom of what El Salvador has been going through over the last five years” as Bukele concentrates all power within the executive and his own party.

While the Salvadoran public and civil society groups remain opposed to mining—a December 2024 poll found that 3 in 5 are against the practice in the country—the Bukele government has ramped up its criminalization of dissent.

In this context, the Catholic, protestant, and evangelical churches in El Salvador are among the remaining institutions “with space to speak out” against mining, Christie Neufeldt of the United Church of Canada explained at the briefing.

For example, in March, Mons. José Luis Escobar Alas, the archbishop of San Salvador, presented an anti-mining petition signed by 150,000 people.

International faith groups wanted to stand in solidarity with their Salvadoran counterparts.

“This letter is a hope-filled expression of solidarity and humanism in the face of forces that would degrade” the Earth, human rights, and democracy, Neufeldt said.

Salvadoran faith groups “remind us that access to water is a fundamental human right and that clean water is not a commodity, but a shared inheritance entrusted to all people by God. And they remind us that ending the mining ban is fueling egregious rights violations against those organizing to protect their water and land from destruction,” the letter says.


Whitman spoke about the importance of water to several religious traditions.

“All of our faith traditions teach that water is a sacred gift of God,” Whitman said, adding, “It is a sin to render water undrinkable.”

In the press briefing, speakers acknowledged the link between rising authoritarianism and environmental deregulation, in El Salvador and beyond.

Cavanagh noted that, as the energy transition increases demand for rare earth minerals and global instability makes gold more attractive, “oligarchs linked to extractivism” have begun “pumping money into elections” to boost candidates who will allow them to exploit resources.

“It’s not at all surprising that the opposition to mining comes from the people, and so it’s absolutely natural that the oligarchs, that the transnational corporations are going to want to crack down on public dissent,” Smith said, adding there was an “intimate connection between authoritarianism and any extractive industry, including mining.”

In the end, however, the letter signatories expressed faith for a greener, freer future.

“We pray for the Salvadoran people and their government, that they protect the sacred gift of creation, uphold human rights, and ensure every family clean water—now and for generations to come,” they concluded.

‘Fighting for Our Lives’: Youth Sue to Block Utah Fossil Fuel Permits

“Some days I can’t even go outside because the air is so polluted,” said one plaintiff. “I get headaches, feel dizzy when it’s too hot, and sometimes I can’t even see down my own street because of smoke from wildfires.”


Young people from Utah are suing to block fossil fuel permits in the state.
(Photo by Our Children’s Trust)

Jessica Corbett
Dec 01, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Following the Utah Supreme Court’s dismissal of a youth-led constitutional climate lawsuit earlier this year, 10 young Utahns on Monday launched a new case intended to block state permits for coal, gas, and oil development.

Backed by Our Children’s Trust—a legal group behind various youth climate suits, including Juliana v. United States and Held v. State of Montana—the plaintiffs are suing the Utah Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining; the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining; and the director of the latter, Mick Thomas, in state court.

“Plaintiffs bring this action to protect their fundamental rights to life, health, and safety that defendants are violating by permitting fossil fuel development, when doing so is harmful, unnecessary, and more expensive than clean, renewable forms of energy,” says the complaint.

“Due to localized air and climate pollution caused by defendants’ permitting activities, plaintiffs live in some of the worst air quality of any state in the nation and face climate disruptions, including elevated temperatures and deadly heatwaves, frequent and severe wildfires and smoke, exceptional drought, exacerbated medical conditions, and increased health risks,” the filing continues.

“Defendants’ fossil fuel permitting challenged here is unconstitutional because it harms the health and safety of plaintiffs, interferes with their healthy development, and takes years off of their lives,” the document adds.



When the Utah Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of the earlier lawsuit in March, Our Children’s Trust called it a “partial win” because, as lead attorney Andrew Welle explained at the time, “the decision opens a clear path forward for continuing our challenge to the state’s actions in promoting fossil fuel development.”

The lead plaintiff for both cases is Natalie Roberts, an 18-year-old who lives in Salt Lake City. In April, the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report gave the state capital’s metro area an “F” grade for both ground-level ozone (smog) and particle (soot) pollution.

“Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births, and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer,” said Nick Torres, advocacy director for the American Lung Association, in a statement when the report was released.

“Unfortunately, too many people in the Salt Lake City metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution,” Torres continued. “This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick and unable to work, and leading to low birth weight in babies. We urge Utah policymakers to take action to improve our air quality, and we are calling on everyone to support the incredibly important work of the US Environmental Protection Agency.”

Roberts, in a Monday statement, shared her experiences with her city’s polluted air and increasingly hot temperatures.

“Some days I can’t even go outside because the air is so polluted,” the teenager said. “I get headaches, feel dizzy when it’s too hot, and sometimes I can’t even see down my own street because of smoke from wildfires. I worry every day about my health, my future, and what kind of world I’ll live in if the state keeps approving these fossil fuel permits. We’re fighting for our lives and asking the court to protect us before it’s too late.”

The complaint details similar experiences by other plaintiffs. When 21-year-old Park City resident Sedona Murdock “is exposed to dangerous air quality, she experiences pain in her chest and lungs, difficulty breathing, and coughing, and it can trigger life-threatening asthma attacks,” it says. “Sedona experiences stress and anxiety because of the harms to her health that she has already suffered.”

Otis W. and Lev W., brothers from Salt Lake City who are respectively 16 and 13, “experience painful headaches from bad air quality and have often had days where their schools have not allowed them or their peers to go outside,” according to the filing. “Increasingly intense rain events have resulted in flooding and water intrusion in Otis and Lev’s home, threatening their shelter and presenting a risk of dangerous mold growth.”

“Decreased snowfall, snowpack, precipitation, and warming temperatures are diminishing water sources that provide water for Otis and Lev’s family and community, threatening their water security,” the complaint says. “Several trees in Otis and Lev’s yard that provided shade for their home have already died from increased heat and drought conditions, making their home hotter and increasing the dangers to them of rising temperatures and heatwaves.”

The document also points out how the pair and other youth plaintiffs have had to alter or abandon beloved outdoor activities, from team sports such as soccer to camping, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, running, and skiing, because of the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency.

“The state cannot continue issuing fossil fuel permits that put children’s lives and health in jeopardy,” said Welle, the lead attorney. “This case is about holding Utah accountable to its constitutional obligations to protect youth from serious harm caused by air pollution, climate impacts, and unsafe fossil fuel development. The court now has what it says it needs to hear and decide this case and prevent further harm to these young people and ensure the state governs responsibly.”