'Trump is Hitler!' President and Cabinet members shouted down at DC restaurant

Robert Davis
September 9, 2025 
RAW STORY

U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrive at Joe's Seafood restaurant near the White House for dinner, in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Protesters shouted "Free Palestine," "Free DC," and "Trump is Hitler" at the president and some members of his Cabinet while they were inside a Washington D.C. restaurant on Tuesday.

Videos circulated on social media of protesters shouting inside Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant, which is a quarter of a mile from the White House. At one point, President Donald Trump appeared to mock the group. Trump stops and cocks his head in their direction, but it is unclear if the president said anything to the protesters as he walked through the restaurant.

Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also dined with the president.

Outside, Trump answered questions from reporters about the Epstein letter and Israel's bombing campaign in Doha, Qatar.

Trump said he is "not thrilled" about Israel's strikes.

He also doubled down on his denial of the recently published birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing his signature.

"That's not my signature, not the way I speak," Trump said.

Watch the clip below or at this link.

‘Google it!’ RFK Jr. buried in mockery for spouting widely debunked claim

David Badash,

 The New Civil Rights Movement
September 9, 2025 

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being criticized and mocked for his latest take on mass shootings, suggesting that video games and psychiatric medicines could be to blame, despite numerous studies that largely show otherwise.

The secretary, an attorney with no medical training who is widely regarded as a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist, appeared to dismiss existing research on the potential effects of video games and psychiatric medications—studies that have found no link to mass shooting violence.

“Oh, there are many, many things that happened in the 1990s that could explain these” mass shootings, Kennedy claimed.

“One is the dependence on the psychiatric drugs, which is in our country, is unlike any other country in the world,” he alleged. Studies have shown that most teenage mass shooters had not been prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Kennedy also said that “there could be connections with video games, with social media, a number of things, and we are looking at that at NIH.”

Video games, however, have been found not to have a causal effect on mass shootings.

Brady, the nonprofit working to prevent gun violence, responded to Kennedy, writing: “Access to guns is the problem. Not mental illness. Not SSRIs. Not video games. Not transgender communities. These are hateful and dangerously misguided distractions from the only real solution: gun reform.”

Kennedy, in his remarks, noted that “Switzerland has a comparable number of guns as we do, and the last mass shooting they had was 23 years ago. We’re having mass shootings every 23 hours.”

Kennedy’s claim about Switzerland’s gun ownership is questionable, but reports have shown that a large number of Swiss residents rely on guns for hunting, sport, and prior military service.

He also declared that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is now conducting studies “to look at the correlation and the connection, potential connection between over medicating our kids and this violence.”

Critics jumped on Kennedy’s remarks.

Journalist Jane Coaston mocked the Secretary, writing, “finally, we’re back at ‘video games did it,’ I love the 90s.”

“I am 28 years old,” wrote journalist Matthew Cardenas, “and have played games like Call of Duty, Halo and Gears of War since I was a teenager. Not once have the video games motivated me to commit a mass shooting. This is such a lazy argument.”

“This is no different than asking a random person why shootings occur,” observed Robert E. Kelly, a professor of political science. “He’s obviously not read any work on the issue. He’s just grasping Trump’s refusal to choose people w/ topical expertise is maddening.”

Former defense journalist Kevin Baron blasted Kennedy, urging him to “just Google it.”

See the video and social media post below or at this link.

 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for EMOTIONAL PLAGUE

'Children have died!' Trump admin hatches scheme to prove Covid shots harm pregnant women

Robert Davis
September 9, 2025

RAW STORY

President Donald Trump's administration has hatched a new scheme to determine whether the Covid-19 vaccine harms pregnant women, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that top officials under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are working to "waive privacy protections" around data related to the Covid vaccine, citing "people familiar with the matter." The new scheme was revealed just days after Kennedy's Senate hearing, where he repeated falsehoods about vaccines.

"The push to collect the data is an extension of a broader effort," the report states. "Last week, Makary said he is preparing a report on child deaths he said were caused by the Covid vaccines."

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary and vaccines chief Vinay Prasad are leading what Makary described to CNN as a "proper investigation."

“There have been children who have died from the Covid vaccine. We’re doing a proper investigation,” Makary told CNN. “We think the public deserves to have that information. It wasn’t released in the last administration and it should have been.”

Read the entire report by clicking here.

Progressives Blast MAHA Report That 'Echoes the Pesticide Industry's Talking Points'

One critic called the report "a slap in the face to the millions of Americans, from health-conscious moms to environmental advocates to farmers, who have been calling for meaningful action on pesticides."


Brad Reed
Sep 09, 2025
COMMON DREAMS


Health and environmental advocates are hammering a new report issued Tuesday by the Trump administration's Make America Health Again Commission for papering over dangers posed by pesticides and replicating the positions of powerful corporate interests.

According to StatNews, the MAHA report takes a "cautious line" on pesticides, and even includes a section recommending that the Environmental Protection Agency work "with food and agricultural stakeholders... to ensure that the public has awareness and confidence in [the Environmental Protection Agency's] pesticide robust review procedures."

As StatNews noted, this section in particular drew the ire of organic food advocate Elizabeth Kucinich—the spouse of Dennis Kucinich, who served as presidential campaign manager for Trump Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who said that it "reads like it was written by Bayer and Monsanto."

Zen Honeycutt, founder of the pro-MAHA group Moms Across America, similarly told StatNews that "we are deeply disappointed that the committee allowed the chemical companies to influence the report," even as she praised other parts of it.

Public interest advocacy groups, meanwhile, slammed the MAHA report, which they called wholly deferential to major industries.

"The MAHA Commission report is a gift to Big Ag," said Food & Water Watch senior policy analyst Rebecca Wolf. "Its deregulatory proposals read like an industry wish list. The truth is, industrial agriculture is making us sick. Making America healthy again will require confronting Big Ag corporations head on—instead, the Trump administration has capitulated."

Wolf added that the MAHA report lacks "any real action on toxic pesticides linked to rising cancer rates nationwide" and called it "shameful but not surprising" that the report barely mentioned so-called "forever chemicals" contaminating drinking water "while disregarding how elsewhere in the administration common-sense water safety rules are being weakened and canceled."

Sarah Starman, senior food and agriculture campaigner at Friends of the Earth, was even more scathing in her assessment of the report, which she called "a slap in the face to the millions of Americans, from health-conscious moms to environmental advocates to farmers, who have been calling for meaningful action on pesticides."

Like other critics, Starman heaped particular scorn upon the report's section on pesticides.

"Laughably, the report calls the EPA's lax, flawed, and notoriously industry-friendly pesticide regulation process 'robust,'" she said. "This, in spite of the fact that EPA currently allows more than 1 billion pounds of pesticide use on US crops each year, including the use of 85 pesticides that are banned in other countries because of the serious risks they pose to human health and the environment."

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) said that the MAHA report offered "a few crumbs" to health advocates, but was mostly filled with "hollow rhetoric."

George Kimbrell, legal director and co-executive director of CFS, also called out the report's claims about the EPA having a "robust" procedure for approving pesticides.

"There is nothing 'robust' about EPA's regulation of pesticides," he said. "In reality it is the antithesis of robust: it is an oversight system filled with data holes and regulation loopholes, lacking in public transparency, which has instead required decades of dogged public interest litigation to get EPA to do its most basic duties."

Environmental Working Group co-founder and president Ken Cook said that the report made a mockery of Kennedy's past promises to use his power to take on powerful industries.

"It looks like pesticide industry lobbyists steamrolled the MAHA Commission's agenda," he commented. "Secretary Kennedy and President Trump cynically convinced millions they'd protect children from harmful farm chemicals—promises now exposed as hollow."

Cook also took aim at the leaders of the MAHA movement, whom he described as "grifters exploiting the hopes and fears of health-conscious Americans in their quest for power jobs in Washington."

White House threatens Brazil with 'military might' amid coup plot reckoning

Brett Wilkins,

 Common Dreams
September 9, 2025 


White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

A White House spokesperson suggested Tuesday that US President Donald Trump could use military force against Brazil as two of the country's Supreme Court justices said they would vote to convict former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of a coup plot involving the assassination of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other officials, including a leading member of the high court.

Speaking during a daily press briefing, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that Trump—a staunch Bolsonaro ally who has called the effort to bring him to justice a "witch hunt"—has "taken significant action with regards to Brazil in the form of both sanctions and also leveraging the use of tariffs."

In addition to imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports, Trump has sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes—who has led efforts to hold Bolsonaro accountable and who placed the former president under house arrest during his trial—while threatening further punitive action.



The alleged coup plot for which Bolsonaro and seven other defendants are being tried allegedly involved assassinating Moraes, Lula, and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.

Leavitt dubiously couched her threat as a defense of "free speech," saying that "this is a priority for the administration, and the president is unafraid to use the economic might, the military might of the United States of America, to protect free speech around the world."

In 1964, the US assisted a coup against the mildly reformist democratically elected government of Brazilian President João Goulart, ushering in two decades of military dictatorship that crushed dissent and free speech under the pretext of fighting communism. In a move similar to Trump's deployment of US warships to the coast of Venezuela, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson secretly deployed a naval task force to Brazil for possible invasion.

While there was no invasion, the US subsequently supported the 21-year dictatorship, including by sending specialists who taught Brazilian security forces more efficient torture techniques.

Bolsonaro, who was a young army paratrooper during the dictatorship, has infamously praised the brutal regime and pined for its return.


Tuesday's threat came as Moraes and fellow Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino voted to find Bolsonaro and the seven other defendants—who include senior military and intelligence officers—guilty of plotting a coup.

"The defendant, Jair Bolsonaro, was leader of this criminal structure," Moraes told the court in the capital city of Brasília.

"Brazil nearly went back to being a dictatorship... because a criminal organization made up of a political group doesn't know how to lose elections," the justice added. "Because a criminal organization made up of a political group led by Jair Bolsonaro doesn't understand that the alternation of power is a principle of republican democracy." s

In addition to attempting a coup, Bolsonaro is charged with involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, violent damage of state property, and other charges. A coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years' imprisonment under Brazilian law. However, if convicted on all counts, Bolsonaro and his co-defendants could face decades behind bars.

The former president and seven other defendants are accused of being the "crucial core" of a plan to overturn the results of the 2022 election, which Lula narrowly won in a runoff. Like Trump in 2020, Bolsonaro and many of his supporters falsely claimed the contest was "stolen" by the opposition. And like in the US, those claims fueled mob attacks on government buildings. Around 1,500 Bolsonaro supporters were arrested in the days following the storming of Congress and the presidential offices.

Bolsonaro is already banned from running for any office until 2030 due to his abuse of power related to baseless claims of electoral fraud.

Members of Lula's Workers' Party (PT) and other leftist lawmakers applauded Tuesday's conviction votes.

"Our expectation is that justice will be done," Federal Deputy Nilto Tatto (PT-São Paulo) said outside the court. "It was, clearly, an attempted coup. They tried to discredit the electoral system and even set up a scheme to assassinate President Lula."

Leftist lawmakers also condemned the White House's threat, with Federal Deputy Lindbergh Farias (PT-Rio de Janeiro) calling it "a blatant attempt to interfere with our sovereignty and judicial independence."

"This has nothing to do with 'freedom of expression': It is external pressure, blackmail, and intimidation to sabotage Brazilian justice," Farias asserted. "Brazil is neither a backyard nor a colony of anyone. And the trial of the coup plot, which already has two votes in favor... will continue to the end, because here the Constitution decides, not Donald Trump."

Federal Deputy Erika Hilton (Socialism and Liberty-São Paulo) called Leavitt's "free speech" justification "ridiculous."

"First of all, no one is restricting Bolsonaro's freedom of speech," she said. "He can say whatever he wants, from inside his house, where the ineligible individual is serving house arrest due to the risk of flight."

"It's also important to remember that US legislation does not apply to Brazil," Hilton continued. "Instead of protecting absolute freedom of speech to shield groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the right of murderers to enter schools with rifles, our Constitution addresses issues relevant to our country, our democracy, and our people. And in this Constitution, made after the end of a military dictatorship, there is provision for... punishment against those who attempt a coup d'état."

"Of course, besides not caring, Trump isn't even capable of understanding all this," she added. "He's too busy planning his defense for the next public accusation of child sexual exploitation, his next round of golf, or his next dip in a pool of Doritos-flavored sauce. And with his brain in an advanced state of degeneration, Trump was only capable of an empty threat."

WWIII

Poland shoots down Russian drones after airspace breach, authorities say

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki during a recent meeting in Warsaw / Mikołaj Bujak for President Nawrocki's office

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By bne IntelliNews September 10, 2025

Russian drones were shot down after crossing into Polish airspace in the early hours on September 10, Poland’s government said.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Polish and allied radar systems tracked more than 10 objects that crossed the border. “Drones that could have posed a danger were shot down. Work is underway to locate possible crash sites,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said on X.

The armed forces described the incident as an “act of aggression” that posed “a real threat to the safety of our citizens.” Polish and allied aircraft were sent to identify and neutralise the drones, the Operational Command said.

The Operational Command also warned that the military operation remained active and urged residents in Białystok, Warsaw, and Lublin provinces - which are closest to Poland’s borders with Belarus and Ukraine - to stay indoors.

Poland also closed its Warsaw Chopin Airport, the country’s biggest, as well as airports in Modlin near Warsaw, and Lublin.

“Due to the actions of state services and the military to ensure safety, the airspace over part of the country, including over Chopin Airport, has been temporarily closed. The airport remains open, but no flight operations are currently taking place,” Warsaw Chopin Airport said in a statement.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was in “constant contact" with the defence ministry and President Karol Nawrocki. The president’s office is yet to issue a statement.

Poland’s armed forces had earlier reported “repeated violations by drone-type objects” during Russian strikes on Ukraine, saying the country’s air defences had been moved to the “highest state of readiness.”

Poland says 'hostile objects' downed in its airspace during Russian attack on Ukraine

Warsaw (AFP) – Poland said Wednesday that "hostile objects" had been downed by Polish or allied aircraft scrambled in response to multiple violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine.


Issued on: 10/09/2025 - FRANCR24

A cornerstone of the Western military alliance NATO is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all © JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP/File

"Aircraft have used weapons against hostile objects," Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on social media, adding: "We are in constant contact with NATO command."

Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members including Poland several times during Russia's three-and-a-half-year war, but a NATO country has never attempted to shoot them down.

A cornerstone of the Western military alliance is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.

The operational command of Poland's military said earlier that "our airspace was repeatedly violated by drones" during a Russian assault on neighbouring Ukraine, and that Polish and allied aircraft had been mobilised in response.

It added they were working to "identify and neutralise" some targets and to locate others that had been downed.

"An operation related to multiple violations of Polish airspace is underway," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on social media, confirming that weapons had been used against the invading objects.

'Provocation'

The operation came as airports including Warsaw's main Chopin Airport were closed, according to a US Federal Aviation Administration notice which cited "unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security".

It comes a day after Poland's newly elected nationalist President Karol Nawrocki warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was ready to invade more countries after launching his war in Ukraine.

"We do not trust Vladimir Putin's good intentions," Nawrocki told reporters Tuesday at a press conference in Helsinki.

"We believe that Vladimir Putin is ready to also invade other countries."

NATO-member Poland, a major supporter of Ukraine, hosts over a million Ukrainian refugees and is a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the war-torn country.

Last month, Warsaw said a Russian military drone flew into its airspace and exploded in farmland in eastern Poland, calling the incident a "provocation".

Poland in 2023 said a Russian missile had crossed into its airspace to strike Ukraine.

And in November 2022, two civilians were killed when a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile fell on a village near the border.

© 2025 AFP

UPDATED: Poland scrambles jets, shuts airports as Russia accused of drone incursions

Warsaw, Poland / Iwona Castiello d'Antonio - Unsplash

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By bno - Taipei Office September 10, 2025

Poland has scrambled fighter aircraft and temporarily shut its main airports after reports that Russian drones entered its airspace during overnight strikes on Ukraine the BBC reports. It is a development that has drawn immediate reaction from Washington.

The Polish armed forces said on X that both national and allied aircraft were airborne to protect the country’s skies. “Ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” the operational command announced.

According to a notice posted by the US Federal Aviation Administration, four airports were suspended, including Warsaw Chopin and Warsaw Modlin - the capital’s two key hubs. Rzeszów-Jasionka, the closest air hub to Ukraine, and Lublin were also closed. The Reuters news agency first reported the closures.

The suspected incursion has already sparked political shockwaves in Washington. Senator Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it would be “incredibly serious” if confirmed that Russian aircraft were active over a Nato country. He noted, however, that Poland has been caught in the crossfire of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict a number of times previously.

It has since been revealed that 'objects' have been shot down over Poland, and in a subsequent post on X by the Polish military that "weapons have been used, and operations are underway to locate the downed objects" according to the BBC.

This is a developing story and will be added to as news comes in.

'We will fight back!' Trump hit with protests from over 1,000 students

Jessica Corbett,

 Common Dreams
September 9, 2025 


A person runs with a flag as they take part in "cacerolazo", a protest by Free DC that calls upon residents to bang pots and pans and make noise for five minutes at 8pm every night to protest the deplyment of the National Guard and increased presence of federal law enforcement ordered weeks ago by U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 8, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

As US President Donald Trump expands his authoritarian takeovers of Democrat-led cities, more than 1,000 students from four universities in Washington, DC, walked out to protest the Republican's recent actions in the nation's capital.

Students from American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, and Howard University are protesting Trump's deployment of National Guard troops and federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), which have also provoked a lawsuit from DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb and a congressional resolution that aims to stop his takeover.

"Students are showing the country that we won't be silent while Trump tries to strip DC residents of our rights," American University student organizer Asher Heisten said in a statement circulated Tuesday by the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

"When Trump sends federal forces into DC, he is trying to intimidate and silence us," Heisten continued. "But students are proving that we will fight back to reject Trump's dangerous authoritarianism."



The students were joined by a pair of progressive lawmakers, US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).

"Trump's federal takeover is a direct attack on democracy and the people of Washington, DC," Jayapal said in a statement. "The students leading today's walkouts are showing the entire nation what it means to resist authoritarianism with strength and solidarity."

The congresswoman told a crowd at Georgetown, her alma mater, that "this is an unprecedented moment in our country, where we have an authoritarian leader who is deploying federal troops to Washington, DC—to cities across the country, militarizing our streets, kidnapping people on the streets."

"The only bulwark that we have is the people, and so what you are doing here today is so important, because, at the end of the day, the checks and balances that were supposed to be built into our Constitution so that we could protect our constitutional rights are not working right now," she stressed, calling out Republicans in Congress and US Supreme Court justices for refusing to hold Trump accountable.

Acknowledging the thousands of protesters who marched to the White House on Saturday, Jayapal declared that "we are not powerless," a line that drew loud cheers from the crowd.

Markey, in his remarks at Georgetown, noted that when the president's supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in hopes of stopping the certification of his 2020 electoral loss, "Trump refused to send in troops."

"He allowed for that assault," Markey said of the attempted insurrection. "But now, here in DC, the president is attempting to create an impression that the crime rate is going up rather than down, that there is in fact a crisis here in the District of Columbia."

"And what he is doing, not just here in DC, but in Chicago, in LA, in Boston, is to try to characterize communities that are majority minority, that are majority Black and brown, as being unsafe to live," Markey noted. "And it's not a coincidence... It is to scare America. You cannot make America great again by making America hate again."

Markey argued that "this is not about policing, this is about political theater," and denounced Trump's DC takeover as a "charade."

Like the lawmakers, Georgetown student Scout Cardillo suggested that the DC takeover isn't just about the district. Cardillo told The Washington Post that "the effects of the occupation of DC and federalization of MPD is going to be felt throughout the country imminently, and it is on us to take a stand and fight back."

'Gestapo!' 

US Immigration agents swarmed and tires slashed in explosive standoff

Matthew Chapman
September 9, 2025 
RAW STORY


ICE agents walk away sorrounded by protestors in a residential area, as demonstrators gathered in front of a house with workers on the roof, to block the agents, in Rochester, New York, U.S., September 9, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from social media video. Rachel Barnhart/via REUTERS

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who moved to make an arrest in an upscale neighborhood of Rochester, New York, were blindsided as a crowd of angry protesters descended on them and vandalized their vehicles, according to WXXI.

"The group shouted 'shame' and 'Gestapo,' and applauded as agents in the ICE-led action drove a Border Patrol SUV away on four flat tires, which had been slashed," said the report. "One of the roofers was taken into custody, but agents left others apparently unchecked on the rooftop of the Westminster Road rental house."

The crowd in Park Avenue accosting ICE and CBP agents was said to be around 200 people.

Clayton Baker, a local roofing contractor, identified the arrested roofer as "Chino," whom he said had legal authorization to work and had been in the United States for 25 years.

“They took my best worker that's been working with me for 5 years, and just basically, ‘See you later,’ you know? He's a family guy, and he's got a baby on the way. He's never even had a speeding ticket that I know of. He goes to church every Sunday, and he pays his taxes. But you want to come get him off of a hard-working job. It's bulls---, and it's inhumane and it's sad.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, was stunned by the incident.

"Incredible scene in Rochester, NY, where a crowd of almost 100 people surrounded ICE and CBP officers there to arrest someone at a construction site. Someone in the crowd, which appears to be locals, apparently slashed the tires of the Border Patrol car during the protest," he posted to X. "Pretty remarkable scene where you have federal agents driving off with four flat tires after a crowd that size came out to confront them in a fairly wealthy neighborhood!"

Slashing the tires of a federal vehicle, Reichlin-Melnick noted, is a severe crime, "Which is why it's pretty incredible that we are seeing that level of willingness to engage in pretty serious behavior in opposition to immigration enforcement."

If the US government is a neofascist regime run by a sociopath, should we shut it down?

Robert Reich
September 9, 2025

National Guard members patrol past a banner of Donald Trump on the Department of Labor. REUTERS/Brian Snyder


The U.S. government runs out of money Sept. 30.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would see that as a huge problem. I was Secretary of Labor when the government closed down, and I vowed then that I’d do everything possible to avoid a similar calamity in the future.

Under ordinary circumstances, people like you and me — who believe that government is essential for the common good — would fight like hell to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30.

But we are not in ordinary circumstances. The U.S. government has become a neofascist regime run by a sociopath.

That sociopath is using the government to punish his enemies. He’s using the government to rake in billions of dollars for himself and his family.


He’s using the government to force the leaders of every institution in our society — universities, media companies, law firms, even museums — to become fawning supplicants: pleading with him, praising him, and silencing criticism of him.


He is using the government to disappear people from our streets without due process. He is using the government to occupy our cities, overriding the wishes of mayors and governors.

He is using the government to impose arbitrary and capricious import taxes — tariffs — on American consumers. He is using the government to worsen climate change. He is using government to reject our traditional global allies and strengthen some of the worst monsters around the globe.

Keeping the U.S. government funded now is to participate in the most atrocious misuse of the power of the United States in modern times.


So I for one have decided that the best route is to shut the whole f------ thing down.

Morally, Democrats must not enable what is now occurring. Politically, they cannot remain silent in the face of such mayhem.

To keep the government funded, Senate Republicans need seven Democratic senators to join them.


Last March, when the government was about to run out of money, Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Democrats, voted to join Republicans and keep the government going. Schumer got enough of his Democratic colleagues to follow him that the funding bill passed.

As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein has argued, even if you supported Schumer’s decision then, this time feels different.

By now, Trump has become full fascist.

Congressional Republicans are cowed, spineless, deferential, unwilling to make even a small effort to retain Congress’s constitutional powers.

The public is losing faith that the Democratic Party has the capacity to stand up to Trump — largely because it is in the minority in both chambers of Congress.

But this doesn’t mean Democrats must remain silent.

If they refuse to vote to join Republicans in keeping the government open, that act itself will make them louder and more articulate than they’ve been in eight months.

It will give them an opportunity to explain that they cannot in good conscience participate in what is occurring. They will have a chance to show America that they have chosen to become conscientious objectors to a government that is no longer functioning for the people of the United States but for one man.

They will be able to point out the devastating realities of Trump’s regime: its lawlessness, its corruption, its cruelty, its brutality.

They will be able argue that voting to fund this government would violate their oaths to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Then what?

They can then use their newfound leverage — the only leverage they’ve mustered in eight months — to demand, in return for their votes to restart the government, that their Republican compatriots give them reason to believe that the government they restart will be responsible.

It is time for Democrats to stand up to Trump. This is the time. This is their clearest opportunity.

Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/

Robert Reich's new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org.

Google to obey South Korean order to blur satellite images on maps


By AFP
September 9, 2025


Image: — AFP/File Chris DELMAS

Google said on Tuesday that it would comply with the South Korean government’s demand to blur sensitive satellite images on its mapping services, paving the way for the US tech giant to compete better with local navigation platforms.

South Korea is one of the few places in the world, like Russia and China, where Google Maps does not fully function.

That is because South Korean laws require that companies store core geospatial data locally, something Google has long refused to do.

As a result, domestic technology firms like Naver and Kakao have cornered the market for mapping services, making navigation harder for foreign visitors unfamiliar with their platforms.

Google confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that it would abide by Seoul’s demand.

“We have already confirmed our commitment with the government to blur satellite images as required and we’ll be exploring acquiring imagery from approved Korean third parties where appropriate,” Google Vice President Cris Turner told reporters.

The announcement suggests the conclusion of a nearly two-decade dispute in which Google has argued for access to detailed South Korean maps to offer full walking and driving directions, only for Seoul to refuse to export that data for national security reasons.

Turner added that Google would “invest a lot of time and resources” to remove the coordinates of security facilities from its maps.

Google Maps access has been raised in South Korea’s recent trade talks with the United States, where Seoul managed to secure a last-minute tariff reduction from President Donald Trump.

The South Korean presidential office said that high-precision map data was among the topics that the trade minister had discussed “most extensively” with their US counterpart.

But it added that there had been “no additional concession on our part in that area”.

Industry sources told AFP on Tuesday that South Korean officials are still in talks with Washington, with the possible export of high-precision maps still on the agenda.

Former Meta researchers testify company buried child safety studies


By AFP
September 9, 2025


Copyright AFP Brendan SMIALOWSKI

Meta systematically suppressed internal research highlighting serious child safety risks on its virtual reality platforms, according to allegations from current and former employees who testified to Congress on Tuesday.

The social media giant deployed lawyers to screen, edit and sometimes veto sensitive safety research after facing congressional scrutiny in 2021, six researchers alleged.

In their allegations, first revealed in the Washington Post, the whistleblowers claim Meta’s legal team sought to “establish plausible deniability” about negative effects of the company’s VR products on young users.

Though a major money loser for the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, Meta is a leading force in the VR industry, primarily through its Quest lineup of devices, including the successful Quest 3.

“Meta is aware that its VR platform is full of underage children. Meta purposely turns a blind eye to this knowledge, despite it being obvious to anyone using their products,” said former Meta researcher Cayce Savage at the US Senate hearing.

According to the Post, internal documents show that after former Meta product manager Frances Haugen leaked damaging information about the company’s policies on content issues, the company imposed new rules on any research into “sensitive” topics including children, gender, race and harassment.

This included advice to researchers to “be mindful” about how they framed studies, avoiding terms like “illegal” or saying something “violates” specific laws.

But the documents reveal employees repeatedly warned that children under 13 were bypassing age restrictions to use Meta’s VR services, despite terms of service limiting access to users 13 and older.

As early as 2017, one employee estimated that in some virtual rooms as many as 80 to 90 percent of users were underage, warning: “This is the kind of thing that eventually makes headlines — in a really bad way.”

Speaking to the Post, Meta vehemently denied the allegations, with spokeswoman Dani Lever calling them a “predetermined and false narrative” based on cherry-picked examples.

“We stand by our research team’s excellent work and are dismayed by these mischaracterizations of the team’s efforts,” Lever said, noting the company has developed various safety protections for young users.

Researcher Jason Sattizahn told the Senate hearing that it was “very clear that Meta is incapable of change without being forced by Congress.”

“Whether it’s engagement or profits at any cost, they have, frankly, had unearned opportunities to correct their behavior, and they have not,” Sattizahn told senators.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Vancouver-based Teck Resources and Anglo American announce merger

LARGEST MINING MERGER IN DECADES

By The Canadian Press
September 09, 2025 

The Teck Resources logo is seen on a podium before the company's special meeting of shareholders, in Vancouver, B.C., on April 26, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER — Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd. and Anglo American plc have announced an agreement to merge their operations.

A statement from the two mining and natural resources companies released on Monday night says they will form the Anglo Teck group.

The release says the “merger of equals” will create a company that will be a global critical minerals champion and one of the world’s largest producers of copper.

The two companies are committing to having Anglo Teck’s global headquarters in Vancouver, with corporate offices in London and Johannesburg.

Canada’s Minister of Industry Melanie Joly said in a social media post that the federal government will address several issues as it considers the merger, including the combined firm’s pledge to have its senior leadership based in and reside in Canada.


Teck Resources and Anglo American expect the merger to be completed in the next 12 to 18 months

Anglo American, Teck strike merger in decade’s top mining deal

Cecilia Jamasmie | September 9, 2025 |

Highland Valley Copper Operations in British Columbia. (Image courtesy of Teck Resources.)

Anglo American (LON: AAL) is acquiring Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A TECK.B, NYSE: TECK), Canada’s largest diversified miner, in a $50-billion all-share deal that would create the world’s fifth-largest copper producer — if regulators in Canada, the United States and China sign off.

Anglo will exchange 1.3301 shares for each Teck share, a structure it called a “zero-premium” merger. The math tells a different story: the exchange ratio represents a 17% premium on Teck’s closing price Monday, though Anglo will offset it with a $4.5-billion special dividend to its investors, leaving the effective premium at just 1%.

If completed, Anglo shareholders will own 62.4% of the new company, to be named Anglo Teck, while Teck shareholders will hold 37.6%. Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad will lead the combined miner, with Teck CEO Jonathan Price as deputy.

Wanblad said she headquarters will be based in Vancouver, while Anglo’s London office, where its stock is listed, will be “streamlined”. Secondary listings are planned for Toronto and Johannesburg, along with a New York float via American Depository Receipts.

The merger is aimed at securing copper supply amid soaring demand for the metal, essential to electrification and renewable energy. Teck’s Quebrada Blanca mine in Chile, plagued by cost overruns and operational challenges, is central to that strategy. Both Anglo and Teck have shed assets in recent years to focus on critical metals, with Teck selling most of its coal unit to Glencore and Anglo moving to exit coal, platinum and diamonds.

Canada’s Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said the merger will undergo review under the Investment Canada Act to ensure it delivers a “net benefit” to the country. “Any new investments must support our core mission of building one economy in the best interests of Canadians,” she posted on X.

The deal comes after both miners resisted takeover bids: Anglo rebuffed a $49-billion approach from BHP Group last year, while Glencore failed to acquire Teck in 2022. Analysts say consolidation has been building across the industry as companies race to secure copper reserves.

More to come…

Miners Anglo American and Canadian peer Teck Resource plan new copper giant


By AFP
September 9, 2025


Copper demand has exploded in recent years as the world transitions to cleaner energy and artificial intelligence - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP SCOTT OLSON

Ben PERRY

British mining group Anglo American and Canadian peer Teck Resources on Tuesday announced plans for a multi-billion-dollar merger, creating a champion of copper production and other critical minerals.

A combined group is worth more than US$50 billion according to the companies’ current market values, while the agreed deal is expected to complete in 12-18 months, subject to regulatory hurdles.

It will create Anglo Teck, headquartered in Vancouver and with a primary listing in London, according to a joint statement. It is the sector’s biggest tie-up for some years.

Copper demand has exploded in recent years as the world transitions to cleaner energy and artificial intelligence (AI).

The metal is needed for solar panels, wind turbines, electric-vehicle batteries and consumer electronics.

“This merger of two highly complementary portfolios will create a leading global critical minerals champion headquartered in Canada,” Teck chief executive Jonathan Price said in the statement.

Anglo American shareholders will own 62.4 percent of the new group and Teck shareholders the remainder.

Price added that the new company would be “a top five global copper producer with exceptional mining and processing assets located across Canada, the United States, Latin America, and Southern Africa”.

Copper is used also in military hardware, including aircraft, while there is growing demand linked to the boom in AI and data centres.

Alongside copper assets, the new group will operate premium iron ore, zinc and crop nutrients businesses.

Anglo Teck expects recurring annual pre-tax cost savings of $800 million, beginning four years after the merger completes.

“We are all committed to preserving and building on the proud heritage of both companies, both in Canada, as Anglo Teck’s natural headquarters, and in South Africa where our commitment to investment and national priorities endure,” said Anglo American chief executive Duncan Wanblad.

He will become CEO of Anglo Teck, with Price his deputy.

– Shares soar –

Shares in Anglo American surged more than eight percent in early trading, taking it to the top of London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index. Shares in rival miners jumped on its coattails.

“Anglo American’s merger with Teck is its latest strategic pivot that cements copper at the heart of its portfolio,” noted Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“With over 70 percent copper exposure… the combined group is positioned to ride the structural demand story tied to electrification and energy transition.”

Anglo American in 2024 rejected a multi-billion-dollar takeover bid from Australian rival BHP, one year after Swiss commodities giant Glencore failed with an offer for Teck.

More recently, US group Peabody Energy walked away from a a $3.8-billion deal to buy Anglo American’s steelmaking coal business.

In 1917, German-born industrialist Ernest Oppenheimer founded Anglo American in South Africa, 15 years after his arrival in the country.