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Trump Tyranny Tracker | Day 568: Aug 10, 2026
A general view of a U.S. State Department sign outside the U.S. State Department building in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File PhotoWelcome to today’s Trump Tyranny Tracker…
New revelations about the Trump Russia investigation, more corruption and cronyism, an expanding immigration surveillance system, and continued attacks on independent institutions were some of today’s top stories.
Today at a Glance
• DOJ drops major fraud case after billionaire’s lawyers promised $10 billion in U.S. investment.
• Government shuts down election security work after researchers fail to validate Trump’s election lies.
• Trump moves to overhaul child vaccines despite decades of scientific evidence.
What We Need to Pay Attention To
How a Counterintelligence Inquiry Into Trump’s Russia Ties Was Derailed
What Happened: The White House released previously classified FBI documents as part of Trump’s campaign against officials who investigated Russia’s 2016 election attack. Instead, the records revealed that the FBI opened a separate counterintelligence investigation in 2017 to determine whether Trump was “directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with” Russia. The inquiry was sidetracked before it could be investigated.
Source: New York Times
Corruption
Trump Crypto Took $100 Million From a Businessman With Red Flags
What Happened: Guren “Bobby” Zhou, a businessman under investigation in Britain for alleged money laundering, invested $100 million in Trump’s World Liberty Financial through a newly created company. As much as $75 million went to a company controlled by Trump and his sons.
Why It Matters: A businessman under investigation for alleged money laundering put $100 million into Trump’s crypto business, with as much as $75 million flowing to Trump and his sons. And the source of the money is unknown.
Source: New York Times
The Suspected Gangster Causing Headaches for Kushner’s Albania Deal
What Happened: A development group backed by Jared Kushner paid more than $120 million for Albanian beachfront property despite villagers warning Kushner that the seller, Artur Shehu, had stolen the land and that its ownership had been disputed for years. Two months later, Albanian prosecutors sought Shehu’s arrest, accusing him of helping lead an international cocaine trafficking operation and laundering money through stolen property, including the land sold to Kushner.
Why It Matters: Kushner was directly warned that the land was allegedly stolen and went ahead with the $120 million deal anyway. Now the man his group paid is wanted in an international drug trafficking and money laundering investigation involving the same property.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Judge grants DOJ’s request to dismiss charges against billionaire Adani, but sharply criticizes DOJ officials
What Happened: A federal judge dismissed fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani at the DOJ’s request but criticized the “irregularities” behind the decision. A political appointee overrode career prosecutors after consulting largely with Adani’s lawyers, who said he would invest $10 billion in the U.S. if the charges were dropped.
Why It Matters: Trump’s DOJ dropped a major fraud case after the defendant’s lawyers promised billions in investment. When money and political connections can override career prosecutors, the Justice Department becomes a system where the powerful can buy their way out of accountability.
Source: CBS News
Power Consolidation
Trump Made Calls to Warsh in Latest Sign of Bid to Influence Fed
What Happened: Trump has repeatedly called Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh since his confirmation in May, asking about his economic forecasts and views while publicly demanding lower interest rates.
Why It Matters: The Fed is supposed to operate independently of the president. Trump picked Warsh, is demanding lower rates, and is calling him directly about the economy. He is again openly pressuring and trying to take control of an independent institution.
Source: Bloomberg
Under Trump, 90% of ambassador nominations have gone to political supporters
What Happened: Ninety percent of Trump’s ambassador nominees in his second term are political appointees rather than career diplomats, the highest share of any modern presidency. Many are wealthy donors or political allies, while more than 100 U.S. diplomatic posts remain without confirmed ambassadors.
Why It Matters: Trump is turning ambassadorships into rewards for donors and loyalists at an unprecedented rate. Experience is being replaced by money and political loyalty in the people representing the U.S. abroad.
Source: Washington Post
Weaponization of Institutions
Trump administration has revoked more than 175,000 visas, State Department says
What Happened: The State Department has revoked more than 175,000 visas, including over criminal allegations, immigration violations, social media activity, and comments officials deemed threatening or supportive of violence. It has also expanded social media screening and vetting of visa holders and applicants.
Source: Reuters
ICE to Pay LexisNexis Millions for Data to Feed to Palantir
What Happened: ICE plans to pay LexisNexis $6.7 million for access to more than 82 billion public and proprietary records that can be fed into Palantir and other ICE systems. The contract also calls for AI identity tools and facial recognition capable of searching massive image databases.
Why It Matters: ICE is building a surveillance state, combining billions of records, facial recognition, AI, and Palantir to identify people, map their connections, and track their movements and where they live. Once built, that system can be used to track and target far more than immigrants.
Source: 404 Media
Media Suppression & Authoritarian Tactics
The government was ready to expand its voting-security work. Then it pulled the plug
What Happened: A cybersecurity firm hired to examine voting systems found serious vulnerabilities but no evidence that votes were altered or the systems exploited. Officials initially approved an expansion of the work, but the project was abruptly terminated after Trump officials and allies pushed researchers to find evidence supporting lies of election manipulation.
Source: Defense One
Human & Civil Rights Abuses
Inside school investigations frozen under Trump: Racial slurs, sexual harassment and more
What Happened: Trump officials indefinitely froze dozens of completed Education Department civil rights investigations involving racial harassment, sexual harassment, and violence in schools. Over the past 18 months, the Office for Civil Rights has reached just three settlements involving racial harassment and none involving sexual harassment or violence after Trump gutted the office and redirected its resources.
Why It Matters: Students reported racial abuse, sexual harassment, and violence, and their cases were close to being resolved. Trump gutted the office responsible for investigating them, leaving students without answers or accountability.
Source: The Washington Post
Philadelphia nanny arrested by ICE at PHL as Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement at airports
What Happened: ICE arrested Iliana Lick, a 30-year-old Argentine woman living and working as a nanny in Philadelphia, as she prepared to fly to a World Cup match. Lick entered the U.S. legally and has a pending immigration application, but DHS claims she overstayed her visa and transferred her to an ICE detention facility in New Mexico.
Source: CBS News
Congressional Democrats launch probe into efforts to deport US military members and their families
What Happened: More than 60 congressional Democrats launched an investigation after an AP review found immigration authorities have detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active duty U.S. service members. Trump rolled back longstanding protections for military families, forcing some troops to take leave or delay deployments after their spouses were detained.
Source: Associated Press
Government Disruption
Trump Demands Major Changes to Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
What Happened: Trump signed an executive order calling for reducing the number of vaccines recommended for all children from 18 diseases to 11, spacing out shots, and breaking up the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. He again linked vaccines to autism despite extensive research finding no causal connection.
Why It Matters: Trump is using presidential power to rewrite childhood vaccine policy around conspiracies that science has repeatedly disproven. Medical experts warn the changes will leave more children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
Source: The Washington Post
DOJ's top prosecutor in LA hires law enforcement liaison with pending battery charge, string of DUIs
What Happened: The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles hired Shawn Christopher Lewis, a former aide to top federal prosecutor Bill Essayli, as a liaison to local law enforcement despite three DUI convictions and a pending battery charge. Lewis was still on probation for his third DUI when he was arrested for allegedly repeatedly punching a man and preventing him from calling 911.
Why It Matters: A federal prosecutor hired a political ally with three DUI convictions and a pending battery case to work directly with law enforcement. In Trump’s government, loyalty and connections matter more than qualifications, conduct, or basic standards.
Source: CBS News
House Democrats Demand Answers From Trump’s VA on Vets Struggling to Access Mental Healthcare
What Happened: More than 60 House Democrats are demanding answers from VA Secretary Doug Collins after hundreds of mental health providers left without being replaced. Remaining therapists report being overwhelmed, with some individual appointments cut to as little as 16 minutes and group sessions growing to as many as 35 veterans.
Source: ProPublica
Imperial & Geopolitical Watch
Iran’s steep demands for US over Strait of Hormuz threaten to derail reopening
What Happened: Negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are at risk of collapsing as Iran and Trump trade escalating demands. Iran wants U.S. attacks and the blockade ended, sanctions lifted, frozen assets released, and compensation for war damages, while Trump is demanding Iran pay for deaths and destruction across the Middle East.
Source: The Hill
Far-Right & Russian Influence Watch
Poland and Baltics shield infrastructure, fearing a Russian false-flag strike
What Happened: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are tightening security around critical infrastructure after warnings that Russia could attack using Ukrainian drones and blame Kyiv. Dams, power plants, natural gas facilities, and other strategic sites are being protected amid growing warnings of Russian sabotage operations.
Source: Reuters
Unmasking RussiaWhy Is Russia Talking About Giving Kash Patel Kompromat on Democrats?A few weeks ago, I wrote about Patel’s reported upcoming trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg on October 14–15 and the serious implications of such a trip. I asked why the FBI director needs to travel to Russia, what he planned to discuss with Russia’s security services, and why the trip was taking place just weeks before the midterms…Read more2 days ago · 361 likes · 45 comments · Olga LautmanEconomic News
The Bond Market Is Signaling Rising Risks. Investors Should Listen.
What Happened: U.S. bond yields remain near their highest levels in two decades as investors weigh inflation, Trump’s tariffs, his Iran war, rising federal debt, and uncertainty over the Fed. Higher Treasury yields are keeping borrowing costs elevated, including mortgage rates for homebuyers.
Source: New York Times
Resistance
Check out 50501 for local and nationwide events…
Source: 50501
By the Numbers
$120 million+ — Amount Kushner’s development group paid for Albanian property whose seller is now wanted in an organized crime and money laundering investigation
$100 million — Amount Bobby Zhou invested in Trump’s crypto business, with as much as $75 million going to a company controlled by Trump and his sons
$10 billion — U.S. investment Adani’s lawyers offered while asking Trump’s DOJ to drop his case, which they did.
90% — Trump ambassador nominees who are political appointees rather than career diplomats
3 — DUI convictions of the political ally hired by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles to serve as a liaison to law enforcement
175,000+ — Visas revoked since Trump returned to office
82 billion — Records ICE is paying LexisNexis to access for its expanding surveillance state
What to Watch Next
The counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was compromised by Russia was derailed — Will Congress ever investigate why?
Election security work was killed months before the midterms — Will Congress investigate why the project ended after researchers failed to validate Trump’s election lies?
ICE is building a massive surveillance system — How far will the government expand its use of billions of records, facial recognition, AI, and Palantir?
Trump is directly pressuring the Fed chair — Will Warsh resist his demands for lower interest rates?
NATO countries are preparing for a possible Russian false flag — Will Moscow stage an attack using Ukrainian drones and blame Kyiv?
Key Takeaways
Rising Costs — Higher oil prices, new tariff threats, and growing trade tensions are pushing up the cost of groceries, school supplies, and other everyday essentials.
Naked Corruption — Foreign money is flowing into Trump family businesses while Trump’s DOJ overrides career prosecutors to protect powerful interests.
Surveillance Expands — ICE is buying access to billions of records, AI identity tools, and facial recognition while the government monitors people’s online speech.
Election Lies — Trump allies pressured election security researchers to find evidence supporting his lies and shut down the work when they couldn’t.
Loyalty Over Independence — Trump is again pressuring the Fed while replacing career diplomats with donors and political loyalists at unprecedented levels.
Call to Action
Document Everything: Document purges, corruption, and power grabs. Share credible information with journalists, watchdogs, and legal experts. Silence enables authoritarianism—see something, say something.
Defend Press Freedom: Support independent journalism by subscribing to and sharing reporting that challenges Trump’s power grab.
Contact Lawmakers: Demand accountability for Trump’s unchecked power and war on oversight.
Mobilize for Action: Organize or join legal efforts and resistance movements to protect democracy and human and civil rights.
Thanks for reading the Trump Tyranny Tracker. Stay tuned for more updates.
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« On ne peut rien faire face à 40 °C » : l'agro-industrie paie le prix fort du dérèglement climatique
Des fermes décimées, des monocultures asséchées, des usines qui ferment : la Bretagne, terreau propice à l'agro-industrie, vit durement les canicules de cet été. Pourtant, ses leaders continuent de regarder ailleurs.
Lire la suite - Reportage / Agriculture , Canicule
Douarnenez (Finistère), correspondance
Le hangar de Manu est bien vide. Seuls les restes de graines qui tapissent le sol et l'odeur d'ammoniac qui pique le nez rappellent qu'ici, il y a encore quelques jours, plusieurs milliers de dindes occupaient l'espace. « Mais avec la (…) -
Washington Policy Review: August 11, 2026
Today’s Report
1. Overview
2. White House News
3. Truth Social Posts
4. Government Department News
5. 2028 Democratic Presidential Candidates
6. AI & Tech Company News
7. Congressional Watch
8. Policy Impact Analysis & Heatmap
1. Overview
President Trump traveled to Ohio to attend the Patriot Games finals, an event celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary and honoring American youth. The White House utilized the visit to showcase the administration’s economic agenda, asserting that tax relief and energy policies have left the state “thriving.” Additionally, the administration cited a new mid-year report showing a 17.2% decline in homicides across major U.S. cities. Officials credited this trend to the “Trump Effect in full force” and the administration’s focus on a “law-and-order agenda.”
On Truth Social, President Trump announced that he has directed Dr. Mehmet Oz to end federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for gender transition procedures for minors, characterizing the practices as “barbaric” and “unthinkable.” He also confirmed the release of U.S. Marine veteran Robert Gilman from Russian detention, noting that the release occurred following his personal negotiations with Vladimir Putin without a prisoner exchange. Furthermore, Trump criticized New York City’s congestion pricing and “Pied-a-Terre Tax” as “dangerous” policies, endorsed Mike Lindell for Governor of Minnesota, and promoted a book detailing his presidency.
State Dept news confirmed the release of Robert Gilman and highlighted a $15.5 million aid package for earthquake recovery in Colombia. The department also joined a coalition statement calling for 24-hour notification for ballistic missile tests and published a report on fiscal transparency. The DOW launched the “Golden Dome for America Hub” to streamline missile defense procurement and awarded nearly $1.5 billion in new contracts. Meanwhile, HHS officially finalized a rule to terminate federal funding for “experimental and life-altering sex-rejecting procedures” for minors, while Treasury’s FinCEN eliminated beneficial ownership reporting requirements for small businesses.
Governor Newsom launched the California Teen Tech Council to integrate youth perspectives into AI and digital wellness policy, stating the effort ensures teens “help shape their future rather than simply inherit it.” He also announced a $239 million investment to fast-track 1,700 affordable housing units and unveiled a strategic plan to combat extreme heat. Governor Moore reported that Maryland achieved nearly all of its 2025 Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction targets, while Governor Pritzker officially renamed the historic Illinois State Armory to honor former Governor Jim Edgar. Senator Jon Ossoff introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Katie Britt aimed at expanding colorectal cancer screenings for Americans under 50 to ensure “early cancer detection saves lives.”
Congressional activity on August 10, 2026, was limited, as both the House and Senate held brief sessions without conducting formal votes or committee hearings. The House of Representatives formally introduced 12 new public bills and three resolutions into the legislative record. Both chambers are scheduled to remain in a pro forma session status until reconvening on August 13, 2026.
The administration’s shift toward aggressive deregulation reduces administrative friction for financial institutions and private entities, favoring capital formation by dismantling traditional reporting mandates. Simultaneously, the establishment of the Golden Dome procurement hub accelerates integration for tech-forward defense contractors by removing “legacy organizational barriers,” though this rapid digitalization may introduce security vulnerabilities within critical infrastructure. Conversely, the restriction of Medicaid reimbursement pathways imposes immediate revenue pressure on specialized healthcare providers, creating a heightened risk premium for institutions dependent on federal funding. These policy realignments reflect a broader strategic pivot toward operational velocity and deregulation, balanced against the potential for systemic instability and increased operational headwinds in highly regulated sectors.
2. White House News
America First Means Ohio First: President Trump, Republicans Deliver for Ohio
President Trump is visiting Ohio for the Patriot Games finals, an event honoring American youth in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The administration asserts that under his leadership, Ohio is “thriving” due to historic tax relief, decreased crime rates, and unleashed energy production. The statement highlights that President Trump’s “Working Families Tax Cuts” and “America First economic agenda” are attracting private investment and delivering “concrete results” for the state, emphasizing that his law and order initiatives are successfully reducing violent crime across the region.
Reference: https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/08/america-first-means-ohio-first-president-trump-republicans-deliver-for-ohio/
ICYMI: “Violent crime keeps falling in biggest U.S. cities”
A new mid-year report shows significant declines in violent crime, which the White House attributes to President Trump’s “law-and-order agenda.” Data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association reveals a 17.2% drop in homicides across large cities, with notable decreases in Washington, D.C., Memphis, and New Orleans. Crediting the “Trump Administration” for surging federal resources, the report asserts the national murder rate is on pace for record lows. Proponents describe this positive statistical trend as “the Trump Effect in full force,” marking a continuation of historic progress in public safety.
Reference: https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/08/icymi-violent-crime-keeps-falling-in-biggest-u-s-cities/
3. Truth Social Posts
President Trump announced that he has directed Dr. Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid funding for gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors, labeling such medical practices “barbaric” and “unthinkable.” Turning to international affairs, he confirmed the release of U.S. Marine veteran Robert Gilman from Russian imprisonment, noting that the release occurred without a prisoner exchange following his personal discussions with President Vladimir Putin. He expressed his gratitude to his diplomatic team and remarked that Gilman’s only request upon landing at Andrews Air Force Base would be a cheeseburger.
Regarding domestic policy and political endorsements, Trump criticized the New York City “Pied-a-Terre Tax” and congestion pricing, characterizing these measures as a “dangerous political experiment” that is driving residents away and threatening the region with “Financial, and then Social, RUIN.” He is currently investigating whether the federal government possesses the legal authority to intervene in New York’s economic policies. Additionally, he endorsed Mike Lindell for Governor of Minnesota, praising him for his efforts regarding election integrity.
In his social media activity, Trump also promoted Todd Starnes’ new book, “The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America.” He further highlighted reports claiming that the Obama-era intelligence reports concerning Russia collusion were “corrupt from start” and shared commentary on newly released documents regarding the origins of the Russia investigation.
Reference: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump
4. Government Department News
State Department (state.gov)
United States Mobilizes Life-Saving Response to Colombia Earthquake
The Trump Administration has mobilized $15.5 million in emergency aid following a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia on August 10. The State Department deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to coordinate relief efforts and structural assessments. Funding supports partners including Catholic Relief Services, the UN World Food Program, and World Vision. The U.S. also contributed $200 million to the Colombia Pooled Fund to address broader humanitarian needs. Consular assistance is available for U.S. citizens through the Embassy in Bogota.
Joint Statement on Notifications of Ballistic Missile Launches
A coalition of nations, including the United States, issued a statement calling on all countries to provide at least 24 hours’ notice for intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missile tests. The signatories condemned recent unnotified Pacific missile activity as dangerous, stating such actions increase the risk of miscalculation and threaten global security. The statement encourages adherence to the Hague Code of Conduct and transparency regarding missile class, launch windows, and trajectory to ensure safety for mariners and airmen.
Robert Gilman has been released after over four years of detention in Russia and is returning to the United States for medical treatment. The State Department thanked Russia for its cooperation with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The administration reiterated its commitment to securing the release of all unjustly detained Americans, specifically mentioning Stephen Hubbard. The statement emphasizes that President Trump will “not stop until all unjustly detained Americans are home.”
Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Meinl-Reisinger
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger in Washington to discuss European security, national sovereignty, and the protection of critical technologies. Secretary Rubio congratulated Austria on its recent election to the UN Security Council and identified key areas of mutual interest for both nations.
Department of State Releases 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report
The State Department published its 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, which evaluates government budget reliability and public procurement processes globally. Out of 139 governments assessed, 73 met minimum transparency standards, while 67 did not. The report aims to foster market confidence, combat corruption, and protect U.S. taxpayer funds used for foreign assistance. By encouraging debt disclosure and transparent awarding of contracts, the Department seeks to create a fairer environment for U.S. companies and improve global economic stability.
The United States extended congratulations to President Marshal Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and the people of Chad on the 66th anniversary of the nation’s independence. The message emphasized the “enduring partnership and mutual respect” between the two countries, reaffirming a commitment to bilateral cooperation on regional security, economic prosperity, and the welfare of their citizens.
Department of War (war.gov)
The Department of War has launched the “Golden Dome for America Ecosystem Hub,” a digital portal designed to connect commercial tech companies, venture capitalists, and startups directly with missile defense program managers. Gen. Mike Guetlein stated the platform aims to “short-circuit the ‘Valley of Death’” and cut bureaucratic red tape to rapidly deploy defensive capabilities. The initiative seeks to leverage “commercial-off-the-shelf technologies” to maintain fiscal accountability while building a scalable, multi-layered homeland missile defense shield to counter sophisticated aerial threats.
The Department of War awarded several major contracts, including a $992 million award to Torch Technologies for technical advisory services and a $309.6 million contract to Hensel Phelps Construction for the Red Hill Water Treatment Facility in Hawaii. BAE Systems received $149.7 million for maintenance and modernization of the USS Boxer. Additional contracts were issued to General Dynamics for Ground Resiliency ($30.4 million), Lockheed Martin for aircrew simulator training ($22.6 million), and Barnett Paving & Sealing for base pavement work ($25 million).
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Travels to Panama
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is traveling to Panama to participate in the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C) Forum. During his visit, he is scheduled to meet with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and senior Colombian officials. Additionally, Secretary Hegseth will visit U.S. service members participating in the Jungle Operations Training Course and observe PANAMAX training exercises.
Department of Health and Human Services (hhs.gov)
HHS Ends Federal Medicaid and CHIP Funding for Sex-Rejecting Procedures for Children and Youth
HHS, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has issued a final rule ending federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for “experimental and life-altering sex-rejecting procedures” for minors, effective October 13. Citing safety concerns and a lack of evidence for clinical benefit, the policy covers puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. A six-month transition period is provided for children currently receiving hormone therapy. The rule does not affect coverage for mental health services. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz stated the move prioritizes “protecting children from potentially irreversible harm.”
Treasury Department (home.treasury.gov)
FinCEN has issued a final rule eliminating the requirement for U.S. persons and companies to report beneficial ownership information under the Corporate Transparency Act. Treasury will delete existing records for those now exempt. Secretary Scott Bessent stated the move is a “victory for common sense and American small businesses” that fulfills President Trump’s promise to “cut red tape.” Foreign entities acting as reporting companies remain subject to the existing requirements.
Treasury Announces Employer Contributions to Trump Accounts, Drawing Corporate Support
Treasury released guidance enabling employers to contribute up to $2,500 annually to employees’ dependents’ Trump Accounts on a tax-free basis. Employees may also make pre-tax contributions via employer cafeteria plans. Secretary Scott Bessent noted that these accounts provide families a “new way to build wealth from day one.” Over 50 companies have committed to the program, which Treasury frames as a tool to help businesses attract workers while fostering long-term financial security for American families.
United States Trade Representative (ustr.gov)
Ambassador Jamieson Greer and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler are traveling to Iowa to visit Titan Tires and the Iowa State Fair. During the trip, they will meet with workers to discuss how President Trump’s pro-growth policies are supporting job creation and the reshoring of production. Ambassador Greer will also join Governor Kim Reynolds and Representatives Ashley Hinson and Zach Nunn at the state fair to highlight Iowa’s agricultural and industrial sectors.
5. 2028 Democratic Presidential Candidates
Gavin Newsom (gov.ca.gov)
First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and #HalfTheStory have launched the California Teen Tech Council, an initiative under the California Innovation Council. The council aims to include youth perspectives in state policy regarding AI, digital wellness, and technology. Governor Newsom stated that the goal is to ensure teens “help shape their future rather than simply inherit it.” The program will recruit students statewide this fall for leadership training, with the intent of empowering them to act as advisors and advocates for healthier digital ecosystems.
Governor Newsom fast-tracks 1,700 new affordable housing units
Governor Newsom announced a $239 million investment to accelerate the construction of 20 affordable rental housing developments, totaling 1,700 units. These projects utilized a streamlined approval process to reduce delays and development costs. The investment is part of broader state efforts to address the housing shortage and homelessness crisis. According to the administration, these policies contributed to a 6.8% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in California, which the Governor’s office cited as the largest such reduction in the nation.
Governor Newsom unveiled an updated Extreme Heat Action Plan to mitigate the impacts of rising temperatures on California communities. The strategy focuses on four pillars: public awareness, service response for vulnerable populations, resilience of the built environment, and the use of nature-based solutions. Mandated by Senate Bill 306, the plan aims to improve coordination across state agencies. Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot emphasized the need for both immediate safety measures during heatwaves and long-term investments, such as urban greening and power grid hardening.
Governor Newsom highlighted 15 new behavioral health projects funded through the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) and Proposition 1. Since 2021, the state has invested $5.8 billion in this infrastructure, resulting in over 437 projects across 546 facilities. These initiatives aim to increase residential beds and outpatient capacity, specifically targeting rural and tribal communities. Officials stated that these efforts are central to the state’s strategy for transforming the behavioral healthcare system and providing “treatment options, closer to home, designed for preventative care, and long-term recovery.”
Wes Moore (governor.maryland.gov)
Governor Moore announced that Maryland has met or surpassed nearly all 2025 pollution reduction targets under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, achieving 100% of sediment and phosphorus goals and 99% of nitrogen goals. Success was driven by investments in wastewater treatment and agricultural conservation. While the state outpaced the broader regional partnership, officials are now shifting focus toward 2040 targets. Priorities include modernizing infrastructure and addressing stormwater and agricultural runoff to improve water quality for the state’s significant seafood and tourism industries.
JB Pritzker (gov.illinois.gov)
Gov. Pritzker Renames Historic Springfield Armory as Governor Jim Edgar Executive Office Building
Governor Pritzker has officially renamed the historic Illinois State Armory in Springfield as the Governor Jim Edgar Executive Office Building. Funded by the Rebuild Illinois initiative, the renovated 231,765-square-foot facility will house over 870 state employees across various agencies, including the Department of Central Management Services and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget. The renaming serves to honor Governor Edgar’s long career of public service, integrity, and his commitment to fiscal responsibility and bipartisan leadership within the state.
Daily Public Schedule: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Governor Pritzker’s public schedule for August 11, 2026, included a 10:00 AM ceremony at the Executive Mansion in Springfield to commemorate the renaming of the Illinois State Armory in honor of former Governor Jim Edgar. The event was made available for public viewing via a live stream on the official Illinois state website. No further press availability was scheduled for the day.
Jon Ossoff (ossoff.senate.gov)
Sens. Ossoff, Britt Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Help Detect & Prevent Colorectal Cancer
Senator Jon Ossoff and Senator Katie Britt have introduced the Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Act to address rising cancer rates among Americans under 50. The legislation aims to provide state funding for increased screenings, public awareness campaigns, and support for health care professionals. Citing data that colorectal cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death for this demographic, the senators stated, “Early cancer detection saves lives,” and emphasized the necessity of providing resources to treat and inform the public about this disease.
6. AI & Tech Company News
No relevant AI & tech company updates found for this date.
7. Congressional Watch
Covers the 2026-08-10 session — the Congressional Record is published with a one-day delay.
Senate
The Senate met briefly for a pro forma session that lasted less than one minute. No legislative business or committee meetings were conducted during this time.
None — No legislative actions occurred [N/A]
House of Representatives
The House met for a brief session, during which it introduced 12 new public bills and three resolutions. The chamber did not conduct any committee hearings or formal voting.
H.R. 10070–10081 — Twelve public bills were formally introduced into the legislative record [Introduced]
H.J. Res. 213–214 and H. Res. 1480 — Three resolutions were formally introduced into the legislative record [Introduced]
Committee Highlights
None — No committee hearings or markups were held in either chamber
Coming Up
The Senate is scheduled to meet for a pro forma session on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at 8 a.m. The House of Representatives is also scheduled to meet for a pro forma session on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at 9 a.m.
Reference: Congressional Record Archive
8. Policy Impact Analysis & Heatmap
This analysis is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
Impact on Market
Based on today’s policy developments, our analysis identifies the following market impact themes:
THEME 1. DEREGULATION AND COMPLIANCE RELIEF
The administration is aggressively dismantling reporting mandates to stimulate small business growth and reduce corporate overhead. The removal of beneficial ownership filings provides an immediate reduction in administrative friction for financial institutions and private entities. Critics, however, may argue that such transparency rollbacks could increase systemic risks related to illicit finance and corporate opacity. The trend favors a lighter regulatory touch intended to prioritize domestic capital formation over federal oversight.
THEME 2. DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE ACCELERATION
The launch of the Golden Dome hub signals a structural shift toward rapid, tech-forward defense procurement. By creating a unified digital portal, the government is incentivizing nontraditional tech players to participate in homeland security infrastructure projects. This mechanism aims to dilute the traditional “legacy organizational barriers” that have historically slowed procurement cycles. While bullish for integrated defense-tech contractors, the shift raises concerns about whether rapid integration can maintain rigorous security standards for critical infrastructure.
THEME 3. HEALTHCARE REGULATORY HEADWINDS
Federal agencies are increasingly leveraging funding conditions to influence private hospital service models. The prohibition of Medicaid reimbursement for specific procedures creates an immediate revenue impact for medical providers. Opposition figures suggest these restrictions interfere with clinical judgment and could result in operational disruption for specialized health networks. This policy creates a new risk premium for healthcare entities heavily reliant on federal reimbursement pathways.
Policy Impact Heatmap with Market Direction
Each cell shows an estimated impact score on a fixed scale of -10 to +10, reflecting how today’s policy developments may affect each market sector. Positive scores (green, ▲) suggest bullish impact; negative scores (red, ▼) suggest bearish pressure. Rows and columns are sorted by impact strength, and sectors and policy events with no meaningful impact are omitted. The heatmap, the analysis below, and the Impact on Market themes above are produced from a single unified analysis: the heatmap visualizes the magnitudes, while the text explains the causal reasoning behind them.
Federal policy shifts today favor deregulation and industrial mobilization. The Treasury’s decision to repeal beneficial ownership reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act significantly lowers compliance costs for the financial sector. This aligns with the administration’s broader push to strip away what Secretary Bessent characterizes as “burdensome” red tape. Concurrently, the Department of War’s new digital hub aims to tighten links between the private sector and missile defense initiatives. By “slashing bureaucratic red tape,” this move effectively lowers entry barriers for commercial tech firms, potentially accelerating contract flow and R&D for defense-linked technology companies.
Conversely, the healthcare sector faces tightening regulatory constraints. The CMS rule ending Medicaid funding for specific procedures targets hospital revenue streams, signaling a shift in federal healthcare priorities. While proponents label these interventions as “barbaric,” the mandate forces hospitals to restructure clinical offerings. These actions reflect a distinct prioritization of fiscal liberalization for businesses alongside social-conservative regulatory alignment. Market participants should monitor the potential for similar restrictive mandates across other federal health programs. Simultaneously, the focus on direct-to-consumer wealth vehicles through Trump Account guidance indicates a shift toward private-sector-led financial incentives, which may alter employee benefit structures over the coming fiscal year.
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Ephéméride des luttes : 12 août
L'éphéméride des luttes du 12 août se met en grève et voit voler les pavés, tente de les mettre "à hauteur d'un empire" comme dit le poète. Sans oublier quelques tonnes d'explosifs par-ci par-là, pour la forme.
1861 : Naissance à Verceil (dans la Piémont) de l'anarchiste italien Luigi Galleani, qui deviendra une figure très importante de la lutte anarchiste aux Etats-Unis, tant par ses écrits que par les séries d'actions directes que de nombreux anarchistes mènent à cette époque. Le journal qu'il contribue à créer, Cronaca Sovversiva, est à l'époque considéré par le président comme étant "le journal le plus dangereux édité sur le sol des Etats-Unis".
1888 : A Barcelone, création du syndicat UGT.
1893 : Premier numéro du journal anarchiste L'insurgé à Lyon.
1919 : Au Costa Rica, le dictateur Pelico Tinoco s'enfuit du pays avec plus de 100.000 dollars sur à une grève générale déclenchée par l'assassinat d'un professeur
1921 : A Almería, naissance d'Abel Paz (de son vrai nom Diego Camacho Escamez), anarcho-syndicaliste et historien, qui participa à la guerre civile.
1962 : En Espagne, le Mouvement Libertaire Espagnol et le groupe Défense Intérieure, lié aux résistant-e-s anarchistes à la dictature franquiste fait sauter une bombe dans la Basilique de Valle de los Caídos contre les liens entre l'Opus Dei et la dictature.
1969 : A Derry, en Irlande du Nord, c'est le début de la Bataille du Bogside entre la population et les membres loyalistes de l'armée britannique : trois jours d'émeutes presques ininterrompues qui font neuf morts et plus de 750 blessé-e-s (dont 150 par balles).
1977 : A Potenza, une attaque à l'explosif des NAP (Nuclei Armati Proletari) contre une caserne de carabinieri est abandonnée au dernier moment du fait de l'arrivée inopinée d'une patrouille. Tout le matériel, y compris une voiture volée, est laissé sur place.
1992 : La police métropolitaine de Londres découvre douze tonnes d'explosifs artisanaux lorsqu'elle saisit trois vans. Ceux-ci auraient été confectionnés par l'IRA.
1995 : En Irlande du Nord, la ville de Derry s'enflamme de nouveau et connait une journée d'émeutes.
2016 : A Gênes, des répétiteurs de télévision sont incendiés en soutien aux prisonniers anarchistes et aux révolutionnaires en cavale.
Voir l'éphéméride anarchiste du 12 août.
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Trump Tyranny Tracker | Day 565-567: Aug 7-9, 2026
Federal Reserve Board building in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File PhotoWelcome to this weekend’s Trump Tyranny Tracker…
ICE will hide body camera footage, the Senate confirmed Trump’s lawyer as attorney general, and U.S. intelligence linked Russia to an explosive drone at a German airport.
This Weekend at a Glance
• Trump revives his attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
• Greenland warns Trump-linked oil company after it brings drilling equipment ashore without approval
• U.S. economy loses 23,000 jobs in July as hiring weakens
What We Need to Pay Attention To
ICE will release body camera video only when seen in the agency’s ‘best interests,’ policy says
What Happened: ICE said that all field officers will have body cameras by the end of August, but the agency can withhold footage of shootings and other serious incidents unless releasing it is in ICE’s “best interests.” The ICE director can block or indefinitely delay footage, and released videos will conceal officers’ faces, names, and badge numbers.
Why It Matters: ICE has repeatedly acted as if the rules don’t apply to it, and this policy makes accountability even harder. The agency can now decide whether the public gets to see evidence of its own officers’ misconduct based on whether releasing it is in ICE’s “best interests.”
Source: Associated Press
Corruption
Major Republican fundraiser winning contracts from Trump administration, emails reveal
What Happened: Republican megadonor Palmer Luckey, co-founder of defense contractor Anduril, has donated $5.9 million to the party while his company receives billions in federal contracts. In March, the Army awarded Anduril a $20 billion sole-source drone contract, and the company could also compete for Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense project.
Why It Matters: Luckey is raising millions for Republicans while his company is getting billions from the government. It is classic pay-to-play cronyism where major political donors gain access and influence while taxpayer money flows to their businesses.
Source: The Guardian
Small law firm with ties to Trump gets massive no-bid contract to aid immigrant kids
What Happened: Trump officials awarded a $150 million no-bid contract to the 24-attorney Burke Law Group to represent unaccompanied immigrant children after ending contracts with dozens of organizations that previously provided those services. Only two of the firm’s attorneys specialize in immigration and asylum law, while two of its leaders have served in Trump’s government.
Why It Matters: Trump officials took legal services for vulnerable immigrant children away from experienced organizations and handed $150 million, without competitive bidding, to a politically connected firm with little immigration expertise. Trump allies get a massive government contract while children facing deportation pay the price.
Source: MS NOW
SEC drops insider trading suit against ex-healthcare executive pardoned by Trump
What Happened: The SEC moved to dismiss its insider trading lawsuit against former healthcare executive Terren Peizer, who was convicted of insider trading and securities fraud and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Trump pardoned Peizer in January.
Why It Matters: Trump’s pardon already erased Peizer’s criminal punishment, and now the government is dropping the civil case against him too, removing another consequence for crimes a federal jury found he committed.
Source: Reuters
Power Consolidation
In Confirming Blanche, Senators Endorse a Justice Dept. Under Trump’s Sway
What Happened: The Senate narrowly confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general after he repeatedly argued that Trump has broad constitutional authority to direct the Justice Department, including ordering investigations. When asked about DOJ independence during his confirmation hearing, Blanche pointed to Article II and said executive power belongs to Trump.
Why It Matters: Trump has put his former personal lawyer in charge of a Justice Department he has already used to target his enemies and protect his allies. Blanche believes Trump can direct investigations and prosecutions. DOJ independence is effectively gone, leaving federal law enforcement in the hands of a Trump loyalist.
Source: New York Times
Trump Revives Attempt to Fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook
What Happened: Trump revived his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over “mortgage fraud” allegations she denies, two months after the Supreme Court blocked his previous attempt because she had not been given enough opportunity to respond. The White House has now given Cook 21 days to answer the allegations before Trump decides whether to remove her.
Why It Matters: Trump wants the Fed to lower interest rates and is again trying to remove a governor who stands in his way. Replacing Cook would give him another chance to install a loyalist and bring an institution that is supposed to operate independently of the president further under his control.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Weaponization of Institutions
Hegseth Strips Security Clearance From Biden’s Air Force Secretary
What Happened: The Pentagon revoked former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s eligibility to access classified information, accusing him of revealing sensitive information about Trump’s Qatari Air Force One. Kendall denies disclosing classified information and says he has not been told what he allegedly revealed.
Why It Matters: Kendall publicly raised security concerns about Trump’s Qatari plane, and now the Pentagon is stripping his security clearance over information it has not even identified. The government is once again using its power to punish someone who criticized Trump.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Trump calls on Jeanine Pirro to ‘re-visit’ Reflecting Pool case
What Happened: Trump publicly called on U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to revive charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Prosecutors dropped the case after finding evidence that faulty installation, not vandalism, may have caused the damage, but Trump insists a crime occurred and has criticized Pirro for dropping it.
Why It Matters: Trump is publicly ordering a federal prosecutor to reconsider a criminal case after her office found the evidence did not support it. Criminal prosecutions are supposed to follow the evidence, not the president’s personal demands.
Source: Politico
Media Suppression & Authoritarian Tactics
US to vet social media of foreign journalists applying for visas, report says
What Happened: The State Department is reportedly expanding social media screening to foreign journalists applying for U.S. visas and requiring them to make their accounts public for government review. The move follows new limits on how long foreign journalists can remain in the country.
Why It Matters: Foreign journalists now have to consider whether their reporting on Trump or his government could jeopardize their ability to enter and work in the U.S. That gives the government enormous power to punish or deter journalists whose coverage it doesn’t like.
Source: Reuters
Human & Civil Rights Abuses
Women’s Share of Top Military Promotions Falls as Hegseth Blocks Nominees
What Happened: Pete Hegseth has blocked at least 40 high-ranking military promotions from reaching the Senate, roughly half involving women and people of color. Women now account for just 4% of nominations for general and admiral positions this year, the lowest share in at least 25 years.
Why It Matters: Hegseth is personally intervening in promotions while openly attacking diversity in the military. Women are reaching lower officer ranks in record numbers, but their path to the military’s highest ranks is being narrowed.
Source: New York Times
The Deaths ICE Doesn’t Count
What Happened: ICE ended a policy requiring it to report and investigate deaths that occur within 30 days of release from detention. Prisciliano Trejo Ricano, 29, became critically ill in ICE custody and died from acute leukemia eight days after his release, but his death does not appear in ICE’s official count.
Why It Matters: ICE can now release gravely ill detainees and leave them out of its death count if they die days later. The government has created a way to hide deaths connected to its brutal detention system.
Source: Mother Jones
Fled to America at 11. Stole at 18. Deported to Vietnam at 44.
What Happened: Trump has deported more than 1,200 people to Vietnam and 400 to Laos, more than during the previous three presidential terms combined. Many came to the U.S. legally as children after the Vietnam War and are now being deported decades later over old criminal convictions after Trump pressured both countries to accept them.
Source: New York Times
New Jersey opens civil rights probe of privately run ICE detention center in Newark
What Happened: New Jersey opened a civil rights investigation into GEO Group’s treatment of detainees at Delaney Hall, days after Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died following a medical emergency. His family says he was not receiving necessary medication. The privately run ICE facility has faced other allegations of inadequate medical care, spoiled food, and unsanitary conditions.
Source: Reuters
Government Disruption
A top US general in Europe abruptly removed from command
What Happened: Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commander of the Army’s V Corps overseeing U.S. forces and operations across Europe, was abruptly removed nearly two months before his scheduled departure. The Army has not explained why, and Costanza joins more than two dozen senior military officers removed or sidelined under Pete Hegseth.
Why It Matters: V Corps helps coordinate U.S. forces along NATO’s eastern flank and provide support for Ukraine as Russia escalates its attacks across Europe. Removing its commander without explanation adds another senior officer to Hegseth’s growing purge of military leadership at a very dangerous moment.
Source: ABC News
Trump administration considers order on autism and vaccines, source says
What Happened: Trump is considering an executive order on vaccines and autism as his regime continues investigating a connection despite decades of research involving millions of people finding no credible link. Trump has reportedly pressed RFK Jr. privately about whether he believes he can prove such a conspiracy.
Source: Reuters
Imperial & Geopolitical Watch
Oil prices tick higher as Iran issues demands to reopen Strait of Hormuz
What Happened: Oil prices rose Sunday after Iran issued sweeping demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to U.S. attacks, withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region, sanctions relief, and compensation for war damages. Tankers have been unable to use the strait, which normally carries about 20% of global oil supplies, since fighting resumed in July.
Source: CNN
Greenland issues ‘strong warning’ as Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill
What Happened: Greenland issued a “strong warning” after Greenland Energy, a Texas oil company linked to Trump, brought drilling equipment ashore without government approval. The company claims the area could hold $1 trillion in oil and is preparing to drill as Trump renews threats to seize control of Greenland.
Why It Matters: Trump is threatening to invade Greenland while a company tied to his circle is preparing to exploit its oil without permission. His threats against Greenland are unfolding alongside private efforts to profit from its natural resources.
Source: The Guardian
U.S. Squeezes Cuba Even as It Searches for a New Regime Leader
What Happened: Trump officials have directed U.S. intelligence agencies to identify a current or former Cuban official who could take power in Havana and cooperate with the U.S. At the same time, Trump is pressuring Cuba to open its economy to U.S. businesses, buy American oil, and expel Russian and Chinese intelligence operatives.
Source: New York Times
Far-Right & Russian Influence Watch
U.S. Intel Links Russia to Explosive Drone at German Airport
What Happened: U.S. intelligence assesses that an explosive-laden drone found near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport likely belonged to the Russian government. The discovery forced the airport to shut down, and German reports say the drone failed to detonate.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Economic News
July jobs report reveals unexpected loss of 23,000 jobs, missing economists’ forecasts
What Happened: The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, far below economists’ forecast of 95,000 new jobs, while May and June were revised down by another 103,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, largely because people left the workforce.
Source: CBS News
Resistance
Check out 50501 for local and nationwide events…
Source: 50501
Voter turnout surges in Tennessee after Black-majority district is erased
What Happened: Democratic turnout for House primaries in Shelby County, which includes Memphis, more than doubled from 2024 and reached its highest level in a decade. The surge followed Tennessee Republicans’ decision to dismantle the state’s only majority Black congressional district and divide its voters among three districts after the Supreme Court eroded Voting Rights Act protections.
Source: The Washington Post
By the Numbers
$20 billion — Sole-source Army drone contract awarded to Anduril, whose co-founder Palmer Luckey has donated $5.9 million to Republicans since 2017.
$150 million — No-bid contract awarded to a small Trump-connected law firm to represent immigrant children
4% — Share of general and admiral nominations going to women this year, the lowest in at least 25 years
1,600+ — People deported to Vietnam and Laos under Trump
23,000 — Jobs the U.S. economy lost in July
What to Watch Next
ICE controls the cameras meant to hold its officers accountable — Will Congress step in and force ICE to change a policy that allows it to hide evidence of misconduct?
Trump has an attorney general who says he can direct DOJ investigations — How much further will Trump be allowed to go in using federal prosecutors against his political enemies?
Trump is trying again to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve — Will he succeed in replacing her with a loyalist and gaining more control over the Fed?
Trump-linked business interests are colliding with his threats to invade Greenland — What happens as Greenland pushes back against unauthorized drilling?
Key Takeaways
Rising Costs — Higher oil prices, new tariff threats, and growing trade tensions are pushing up the cost of groceries, school supplies, and other everyday essentials.
Control Over Justice — Todd Blanche says Trump can direct DOJ investigations, while Trump is already publicly pressuring federal prosecutors over individual criminal cases.
Hiding the Evidence— ICE can decide when to release body camera footage and has stopped counting some deaths that occur shortly after people leave its custody.
Cronyism Pays — Republican donors and Trump-connected firms continue benefiting from enormous federal contracts, including deals awarded without competitive bidding.
Consolidating Control — Trump is again trying to remove a Federal Reserve governor while Hegseth continues to remove or sideline senior military leaders.
Call to Action
Document Everything: Document purges, corruption, and power grabs. Share credible information with journalists, watchdogs, and legal experts. Silence enables authoritarianism—see something, say something.
Defend Press Freedom: Support independent journalism by subscribing to and sharing reporting that challenges Trump’s power grab.
Contact Lawmakers: Demand accountability for Trump’s unchecked power and war on oversight.
Mobilize for Action: Organize or join legal efforts and resistance movements to protect democracy and human and civil rights.
Thanks for reading the Trump Tyranny Tracker. Stay tuned for more updates.
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En Guyane, l'Etat s'embourbe dans la guerre contre l'orpaillage illégal
Depuis trente ans, le pillage de l’or guyanais charrie son lot de drames humains, sanitaires et environnementaux. Ce trafic révèle les limites de l’Etat français dans la région. -
Donald Trump Just Became The World’s Most Famous Anti-Vaxxer Nonsense Peddler
When it comes to the bullshit, batshit-crazy anti-vaxxer movement that currently has the United States in its un-scientific grip, I’ve focused most of my attention on RFK Jr. And, frankly, for good reason. For arguably decades, but definitely for the last five to ten years, RFK Jr. was the most infamous anti-vaxxer in the world. Kennedy would deny this, of course. In fact, it is old habit for him to talk out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to vaccines, but his anti-vaxxer side speaks much more loudly. And, because of course, one of his chief claims has been that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.
When Donald Trump tasked Kennedy with finding the “cause” of autism, it came off looking like Trump fulfilling his promise to let Kennedy promote his pet conspiracy theories in exchange for gobbling up the MAHA vote when he ran for president. Then Trump himself started parroting some of the same claims you would normally hear from Kennedy. Still, it all looked like performative promise-keeping.
All of that has changed. Donald Trump just made himself the most famous anti-vaxxer on the planet. On Monday, Trump signed an Executive Order making enormous changes to vaccine schedule recommendations for children, both limiting the number of vaccines recommended and advising that vaccines be split up and not offered in combo-shots.
The vaccine changes are not backed by evidence or spurred by new findings. Rather, they are based on false anti-vaccine fearmongering about harms, including the debunked claim that they cause autism, and misinformation that multiple vaccinations can “overwhelm” children’s immune systems. This false claim has also been repeatedly debunked and explained.
During a signing event at the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump falsely claimed that pediatricians “have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda,” that is “poured into a little child’s body, and bad things happen in too many cases. This is an explosion; this is an epidemic,” Trump said.
He also tied the new vaccine recommendations to his goal of finding out “what’s going on with autism.” Dozens of high-quality studies encompassing data on millions of children have found no evidence linking the neurodevelopmental condition to immunizations. Nevertheless, Trump suggested that the changes outlined in the order would reduce autism rates in the US.
This is madness. Trump has no understanding of the science or medicine behind vaccines. The fact that he’s layering lies into his signing ceremony for this unscientific proclamation should tell you everything you need to know. It was not that long ago that my own children received their childhood vaccines. I can promise you that no doctor approached them with a syringe the size of a soda can to pour into them. These are lies. Bald-faced lies.
And, while this has been pitched as putting America in line with the vaccine schedules of other developed nations, that is also a lie.
Under the new recommendations, Trump said children should get fewer vaccines, suggesting that the US recommends an excessive number of vaccines compared with other high-income countries. In reality, by dropping down to only 11 recommended vaccinations, the US becomes an outlier in recommending so few, according to fact-checking by Stat News in January. The only other country that recommends so few vaccines is Denmark, a small, relatively homogenous country with universal healthcare.
As for breaking up the MMR vaccine into individual shots, that specific part of the EO also came with lies from Trump. In the signing ceremony, he claimed that the combo MMR shot was “quite lethal.” There is has never been a death linked between the MMR shot and a person with a normally functioning immune systems. Those who are immuno-compromised are already warned against getting the combo shot. In fact, that warning and inability to get what are otherwise normal vaccinations is why it’s so damned important that everyone else immunize based on the previous recommendations, which were made under good science. It’s herd immunity that protects the immuno-compromised. This EO, to whatever extent it is implemented, will be “quite lethal” or otherwise produce negative health outcomes for a non-zero number of people, mostly young children.
This EO will almost certainly result in the deaths of at least some children.
And why? Ego, it appears.
The order is in line with reports that Trump personally promotes the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism and that he wants part of his legacy tied to curing autism. Trump had reportedly put pressure on anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to do more to link vaccines and autism. In the signing event, Trump praised Kennedy, saying, “He’s doing a fantastic job,” and telling the anti-vaccine advocate “I’m proud of you.”
That Trump would prioritize his own legacy over the health of American children is about as surprising dilated pupils at a Grateful Dead concert. But Trump now directly owns the consequences of promoting anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories to his dedicated flock, as well as the health outcomes for their children. I expect lawsuits to come fast and furious from medical associations and institutions. And I hope they work, but they won’t be enough.
Some percentage of the country will listen to Dear Leader, because that is how cults work. And their innocent children, vulnerable to the misinformed demands of their parents, will be hurt. Perhaps time, money, and effort will be wasted doing trials on individual vaccinations for measles, mumps, and rubella. What comes next is not certain.
But what is certain is that this EO is crafted from a place of selfish ignorance. It does no good and can only cause harm. And our own president is the one harming us.
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Trump hid in catering truck in secret plane swap over Iran threat, reports say
Donald Trump secretly swapped planes as he left a Nato summit in Turkey last month, as part of an elaborate ruse in response to a possible Iranian threat, US media report. -
Trump and RFK Jr. Repeat False and Misleading Vaccine Claims
During the signing of an executive order on vaccines, President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a deluge of false and misleading claims about the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule.
The executive order establishes “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” and directs federal agencies and states to advance them. The new recommendations attempt to repeat prior administration changes to the routine vaccine schedule through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reducing it from targeting 17 to 11 diseases. At the time, we explained that HHS had justified this decision with a variety of incorrect or misleading assertions. A judge subsequently blocked these changes after the American Academy of Pediatrics sued HHS.
During the Aug. 10 signing, Trump repeated claims about the childhood vaccine schedule and autism that he has made in the past, often bolstered by comments from Kennedy.
- Trump misleadingly claimed that the changes to the vaccine schedule align the U.S. with peer nations. When counting diseases the schedule protects against, the changes would put the U.S. at the low end of peer nations in the size of its vaccine schedule, exceeding only Denmark.
- The president falsely claimed that the U.S. requires “72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children.” States require certain vaccinations to attend school, but none come close to mandating 72 doses. And there are no federal vaccine mandates.
- Trump said children don’t need to be vaccinated against hepatitis B until adolescence. That ignores what medical experts say are good reasons to vaccinate every newborn at birth.
- He falsely claimed that children and infants are being injected with massive volumes of fluid during routine immunizations, referring at one point to “vats of vaccine.” Doses of childhood vaccines are generally about a tenth of a teaspoon, and there’s no evidence that the size or number of doses under the current vaccination schedule is harmful.
- Trump baselessly suggested rising rates of autism are connected to the growth of the childhood vaccine schedule over time. A number of studies have found no connection between vaccines and autism, and the contention that there has been a massive rise in autism is also faulty.
It’s unclear what the practical results of the executive order will be. “It should not be valid legally, and CDC should not be changing its immunization schedule table,” Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at University of California Law San Francisco, wrote in a Substack post.
The new order additionally recommends splitting up combination vaccines into separate doses given on separate medical visits. In another article, we wrote about Trump’s false claims about the combination measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.
Misleading Country Comparisons
Trump justified his Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations by misleadingly claiming that the U.S. has been out of step with peer nations in the number of vaccines it recommends.
“For long — and far too long — a long period of time, America has recommended more childhood vaccines than any peer nation and even twice as many doses as some European countries, and even more than that,” he said during the Aug. 10 signing. He later claimed that “this updated recommendation finally aligns the United States with other advanced and developed nations around the world.
The U.S. childhood vaccine schedule historically has recommended a relatively high number of vaccines, routinely protecting against a few more diseases than the median among other high-income nations, according to our previous analysis. Reducing the number of routinely recommended vaccines to 11, as the executive order suggests, would put the U.S. schedule at the low end compared with peer nations’ recommendations.
HHS previously attempted to limit universal recommendations to these same 11 childhood vaccines in January, although this change was subsequently blocked in court. HHS backed the decision to pare down the schedule with a 33-page assessment comparing the U.S. schedule with recommendations in 20 peer nations. Among these countries, only Denmark has a smaller number of universally recommended vaccines than put forward in the proposed 11-vaccine schedule.
HHS at the time justified these changes with a variety of incorrect or misleading claims about the vaccines and the diseases they target. For example, in no longer recommending universal vaccination against rotavirus — diverging from recommendations in 17 of the 20 peer nations — the assessment minimized the significant impact of hospitalizations and the risk of death from this gastrointestinal illness. The assessment also made misleading assertions about the safety of the hepatitis A vaccine and the effectiveness of pediatric flu vaccination, while claiming that the low incidence of meningococcal disease in the U.S. was reason not to vaccinate.
“[L]ow incidence in the context of a vaccination program is what we want,” Dr. David S. Stephens, an expert on bacterial meningitis at Emory University, told us in an email at the time. “Even though polio is very low in the US we still recommend routine vaccination.”
No Requirement for 72 ‘Jabs’
Trump erroneously claimed that the U.S. is “requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children.” States mandate that children get certain vaccines to attend school, but the number of shots needed to meet these requirements is nowhere near 72.
The CDC’s vaccine schedule recommends a broader set of vaccines than the states require for school. The CDC vaccine schedule does not constitute any sort of vaccine requirement, as we’ve written before.
There are various ways one could count the number of recommended injections or oral doses in the CDC’s routine childhood vaccine schedule. It is only possible to reach the 70s if counting annual flu and COVID-19 vaccines through age 18, while also opting to get some available combination vaccines as separate shots. The current schedule, however, does not recommend COVID-19 shots for all children.
No states require flu vaccines for school-age children, nor do any states require COVID-19 vaccination for school.
Trump speaks in the Oval Office after signing an Aug. 10 executive order on vaccination. Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images.
Kennedy claimed an even higher number of recommended shots, stating that there were “72 jabs before 18, but it actually could be up to 94 jabs.”
But getting above 90 injections and oral doses would require counting each component of each combination vaccine separately. This includes separating out vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine, that are currently only available in combination. Kennedy’s inflated shot number would therefore only be near possible if Trump prevails in getting vaccine companies to break up combination vaccines, as he advocated in the executive order, while continuing to count annual flu and COVID-19 doses.
Dr. Paul Offit, a physician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, pointed out the contradiction in criticizing large numbers of injections for children while simultaneously advocating that combination vaccines be separated.
“Here you have this administration constantly talking about how children get too many shots and then they say they want more shots,” he told us.
Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines
Trump also criticized the longstanding practice of vaccinating infants against hepatitis B at birth, saying that vaccination isn’t necessary until adolescence. But that ignores the reasons medical experts have cited for why every newborn should be vaccinated.
Health care providers, Trump said, are “giving the hepatitis B shot to infants and newborns on top of many other vaccinations. The hepatitis B shouldn’t be given until they’re 14 or 15 years old. They were given early.”
Hepatitis B is a viral liver infection that can cause serious long-term complications, including death from cirrhosis and liver cancer. Infants and children face much higher risks than adults of developing a chronic hepatitis B infection if exposed to the virus, making it especially important to prevent infections in kids. Most childhood infections result from mothers passing the virus to newborns during pregnancy or birth, though caregivers and other close contacts can also transmit the virus.
As we’ve written before, hepatitis B can also spread in adults via sex or injection drug use, and some activists have invoked the disease’s association with those risk factors to question the need for universal vaccination at birth.
The CDC first recommended a universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine in 1991. As explained in a 2025 review by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, the agency did so after narrower approaches — which focused on screening pregnant women and vaccinating the newborns of those who tested positive — proved ineffective at reducing childhood hepatitis B infections.
Since that time, according to the review, hepatitis B infections in infants and children have fallen by about 99% — from around 16,000 cases a year to fewer than 20.
The CIDRAP review notes several reasons why the previous frameworks based on maternal screening proved insufficient, including gaps in prenatal care and false negatives. Vaccinations at birth can also protect children from catching the virus if someone else in their household is infected.
Late last year, the CDC dropped its longstanding recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine, saying only those born to mothers who had tested positive for the virus, or had an unknown infection status, needed a vaccine at birth, and other parents could decide “when or if” to vaccinate — which is among the changes blocked in court. As we’ve written previously, that decision came after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and appointed new ones.
Leading medical groups continue to recommend hepatitis B vaccination for all newborns.
‘Vats of Vaccine’
Trump also claimed, falsely, that children are being injected with massive volumes of fluid when they get their shots, comparing it to “a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body” or “a large glass of something.”
“Vats of vaccine are currently pumped into your child’s body,” Trump said, echoing language he’s used before. He added that appointments should be further apart “so the body can handle this massive amount of fluid being pumped in.”
This is false. The volume of vaccines given to children is nowhere near what Trump is describing. Moreover, as we’ve written before, there’s no evidence that the number or size of doses that kids receive under the current vaccination schedule is harmful, or that the shots need to be further spaced out.
Offit told us that doses of MMR and other vaccines given to young children are typically around 0.5 milliliters, or a tenth of a teaspoon. So even if a kid gets several vaccines at one appointment, the volume probably wouldn’t exceed one teaspoon.
Multiple studies have looked at the effects of giving different combinations of vaccines at once and found it to be safe, according to a CDC page dated December 2024. As the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains, kids’ immune systems are responding to thousands of bacteria from the moment of their birth, and the vaccines they receive before age 2 “are just a drop in the ocean when compared with the tens of thousands of challenges their immune systems successfully manage every day.”
Delaying routine vaccinations, meanwhile, can leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases, according to the CDC.
Offit also noted that even though children today receive more vaccines than previous generations, those vaccines actually contain a smaller total quantity of immunologic components — components such as proteins that stimulate an immune response — thanks to advances in vaccine science.
“I had a greater challenge to my immune system with the vaccines — two vaccines — I got as a child than my four grandchildren are getting today,” he said.
Baseless Connection of Vaccines and Autism
Trump repeated the baseless suggestion that the increasing number of recommended vaccinations is linked to a rise in autism.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” he said. “In those times, people were much healthier. And, of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. And we’re going to bring it back to much closer to where it was.”
Autism is “many, many times what it used to be years ago,” he later said. “And it gets progressively worse. And we add progressively more and more vaccines.”
As we’ve written many times before, scientists have researched the question of whether vaccines cause autism in multiple ways, looking at the MMR vaccine, vaccine ingredients shared across multiple vaccines and the vaccine schedule as a whole. None of these efforts has uncovered a link between vaccines and autism.Trump’s underlying assumption that there has been a massive rise in autism is also highly flawed.
Experts have previously explained to us that while there may have been some true increase in autism, evidence indicates a large portion of the rise in cases comes from increased recognition of the condition. Factors driving this include broadening definitions of autism, as well as increased screening and awareness of the condition. Researchers have also suggested that the growing availability of services for children with autism contributed to a rise in diagnoses.
Rather than recognizing these factors, Kennedy and Trump made a misleading comparison between an estimate from a 56-year-old study and today’s autism prevalence figures.
“In 1970, the biggest epidemiological study at that time in history was performed,” Kennedy said. “And the university scientists from across this country looked at all the 8-year-olds in Wisconsin, about 900,000 children, and they were looking for autism, and they knew what autism looked like. And they came back with an incident rate of 0.8 per 10,000, so less than 1 in 10,000. The rate according to CDC today in this country is 1 in every 31 children.”
Trump repeated a version of these statistics. “When you hear that number, where it was 1 in 10,000 20 years ago and now it’s 1 in 30 … it’s something — something happened in the meantime. Something happened environmentally or otherwise,” he said.
Dr. Eric Fombonne, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, previously told us that it was “completely absurd” to compare the autism prevalence estimate from the 1970 Wisconsin study to estimates today. At the time of the Wisconsin study, few people were aware of autism, and the researchers looked at children using different diagnostic criteria than are used today. Fombonne added that even at the time, other studies estimated a higher autism prevalence, and that people claiming a large rise in autism cite the Wisconsin study “because it gives them a very low starting point and accentuates the trend.”
Also, the researchers did not do autism evaluations on all the 8-year-olds in the state. They looked at records of children in certain medical settings, such as health clinics and hospitals.
Kennedy then repeated an incorrect claim that autism must be increasing because it’s not being seen in older adults. “If we were just noticing it more, we would notice it in older groups, but we’re not,” he said. “We’re only noticing it in kids who were born around 1989 or after.”
As we explained in 2023 in response to Kennedy’s claims, there are in fact autistic people across all generations, although the CDC doesn’t systematically monitor autism prevalence in adults. There are various factors that may lead autism in older generations to go unrecognized.
Jessica McDonald contributed reporting.
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Trump’s False MMR Vaccine Claims
In signing an executive order about childhood vaccines, President Donald Trump falsely suggested that the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine was unsafe and that splitting up the combination shot would reduce the number of children with autism. There’s no evidence for those claims, and the vaccine has been well-studied for several decades.
Together with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he also repeated many other falsehoods we’ve fact-checked before about vaccines. We wrote about those in another article.
On Aug. 10, Trump signed the executive order aiming to overhaul childhood vaccination in the U.S. Couched in the language of “gold standard” science, but bypassing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s typical process for recommending vaccines, the order attempts to reinstate earlier efforts by the administration to cut the number of universally recommended vaccines. The earlier changes to the vaccine schedule were blocked in court.
In addition to lowering the number of recommended vaccines and asking states to revise their immunization requirements for schools, the order also called for administering the MMR vaccine in separate shots, preferably giving all vaccines “at separate medical visits.”
“We want it in three separate vaccinations given at separate times,” Trump said of the MMR vaccine in remarks made when signing the order. “Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal. And separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective.”
“It’s inconvenient, it’s five stops,” he said later, referring to multiple trips to the pediatrician. “But it’s something that I think will have a huge impact on autism.”
“The worst thing that would happen would be nothing happens. We’re not going to lose anything,” Trump said of splitting up the MMR vaccine. “At the same time, we could gain tremendously. We could save hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of lives.”
There is no evidence that splitting up the MMR vaccine, which has been in use for more than 40 years, would be safer, save lives or prevent cases of autism. Since a fraudulent scientific paper first proposed a connection between the vaccine and autism nearly 30 years ago, the MMR has been rigorously investigated for any link to the condition. No credible link has been found.
More broadly, the MMR is among the most well-studied vaccines on the planet, with far more data on its safety and effectiveness than any of the standalone vaccines. More than 800 million doses of the Merck MMR vaccine have been given in more than 75 countries as of 2021, with decades of post-marketing safety surveillance and clinical and population studies.
“To date, there has been no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots,” a Merck spokesperson told us in a statement. “Use of the individual components of combination vaccines increases the number of injections for the individual and may result in delayed or missed immunizations.”
Trump signs an executive order about childhood vaccines in the Oval Office on Aug. 10. Official White House Photo by Molly Riley.
Merck’s combined MMR vaccine was first approved in the U.S. in 1971, not long after the individual vaccines were introduced in the 1960s. In 1978, the vaccine was updated to include a superior rubella component. The Food and Drug Administration approved a similar MMR vaccine made by GSK in 2022. That vaccine has been licensed in more than 100 countries, including all of Europe, and more than 800 million doses have been distributed, according to a company press release in 2022. GSK did not reply to our request for comment.
While health officials in the administration have frequently pointed to European countries as a model for U.S. vaccination policy, all exclusively use the combined MMR shot. No country in the world gives each of the three components separately as part of the childhood immunization schedule.
Some countries, mostly lower- and middle-income countries, use a measles and rubella combined shot rather than the MMR largely because it is cheaper, and not due to any safety concerns. Japan is one of the few, if not only, high-income countries to separate out the mumps vaccine. This policy stems from a safety concern with the mumps component that used a mumps strain that was never used in the U.S. (Autism rates did not decline when Japan stopped using the combined MMR vaccine.)
Moreover, as the executive order acknowledges, no U.S. vaccine manufacturer still makes the individual shots. Merck stopped in 2008 due to manufacturing constraints, and declined the following year to resume production.
“Today’s executive order is not based on ‘gold-standard science.’ There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance. Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families,” Dr. Andrew D. Racine, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics , said in a statement. “The only purpose of this announcement is to sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines. Delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.”
“This executive order is part of a troubling pattern by the administration to attempt to unilaterally change vaccine guidance, particularly for children, rather than relying on the transparent, scientific review that has guided the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule for decades,” Dr. Jan K. Carney, the president of the American College of Physicians, said in a statement. “If implemented, the changes could increase costs to patients and families, including additional copays while also placing a greater burden on families needing to schedule multiple appointments for a multiple-dose MMR vaccine.”
The executive order does not give a scientific rationale for recommending that the MMR vaccine be broken up. Rather, it simply states that its recommendations “recognize” that the MMR vaccine “should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available.” It directs Kennedy, through a task force, to “present plans” to Trump within 90 days to offer the single vaccines as options.
“President Trump is one of countless parents who have voiced questions and concerns about the combined MMR vaccine,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told us in an email when asked to explain the reasoning for splitting up the MMR and for evidence that the combination shot is a problem. “The Administration’s push to develop separate vaccinations for all three diseases will give parents more options on timing and frequency for their children, which ultimately will increase vaccination rates for all three diseases.”
Experts, however, fear that adding the option of separate MMR vaccinations will lower vaccination rates.
It remains to be seen how Trump’s executive order will play out.
“There’s not the force of law behind this,” Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told us. “He’s asking states to consider implementing this. I think that it will be ignored because it should be ignored. It’s not a science-based recommendation.”
Autism Claims Come from Fraudulent 1998 Paper
As we’ve explained before, the notion that the MMR vaccine might be safer separated out goes back to a fraudulent research paper by the British physician Dr. Andrew Wakefield. In 1998, Wakefield published a case series of 12 children in the Lancet that proposed the MMR vaccine might cause autism.
The British journalist Brian Deer reported that in a press conference announcing the results, Wakefield recommended that the government stop using the combination MMR vaccine and switch to individual shots, given a year apart.
“I can’t support the continued use of these three vaccines given in combination until this issue has been resolved,” Wakefield said.
But the underlying data had been faked or misrepresented. Five of the 12 children had developmental problems prior to vaccination, and many did not even have an autism diagnosis. Prior to the study, Wakefield had been hired as a consultant by a lawyer who wanted to sue MMR manufacturers, and many of the kids in the study had been recruited by law firms or groups opposed to vaccination. The publication was later retracted. Wakefield, who has since lost his medical license, also did not disclose at the time that he had previously filed a patent on his own measles-only vaccine, which he alleged was “most probably safer.”
Fraud aside, the hypothesis that the MMR vaccine causes autism has now been formally tested repeatedly. In 2012, the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, concluded that the evidence “favors rejection of a causal relationship between MMR vaccine and autism,” finding a “high degree of confidence in the epidemiologic evidence” of no connection and a lack of evidence of any mechanistic link.
Since then, even more studies have continued to support this conclusion. In 2019, a Danish study used population registry data to probe the link again, also looking to see whether there might be a link for higher-risk children. “The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination,” the study concluded.
Last month, a study looking at the electronic health records of 2.5 million American children also found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism when giving the first dose before the age of 2, as is recommended. The first dose is typically given between 12 and 15 months of age, with a second dose at 4 to 6 years of age.
“This is Groundhog Day 25 years later,” Offit said, of the idea that the MMR vaccine should be broken up.
False Allegation of Lethality
During the Q&A portion of the signing, a reporter asked Trump if there was any evidence for his comment that the MMR combination vaccine is “quite lethal.”
“What I’ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way,” Trump said. “And I say, well, let’s say there’s a 5% chance of it.”
“Let’s split it up,” he continued, adding that when the MMR is given separately, “they” say “there is no impact. In fact, they’ve said how safe it seems to be. But I’ve heard when you put them together, they can be explosive.”
Regardless of what Trump might have heard, this is false. While serious side effects can occur, they are rare. And death from MMR vaccination is exceedingly rare.
“There have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people,” the Infectious Diseases Society of America website says. “There have been rare cases of deaths from vaccine side effects among children who are immune compromised, which is why it is recommended that they don’t get the vaccine.”
The concern for immunocompromised children is the measles component of the vaccine, which is a weakened but live virus. For almost everyone, this weakened virus poses no risk of death, in contrast to the virus that can circulate in an outbreak and sicken people. But on very rare occasions, if a child is severely immunocompromised, and doctors don’t realize it — or mistakenly still vaccinate against recommendations — it can prove fatal. A 2015 article by the CDC noted that there have been “at least six case reports of death among severely immunocompromised persons that have been linked to vaccine strain measles virus infection.” This exceptionally rare outcome, however, would still occur if children got a separate measles shot rather than the combination vaccine.
Anaphylaxis, a serious allergic reaction that can be life-threatening, can also occur with any vaccine, but these are extremely rare, and in many cases can be treated.
To be clear, a 5% chance of death would be astronomically high and easily detectable in both studies and surveillance. Trump’s claim that the combination MMR vaccine is “quite lethal” is false.
Negative Impacts from Splitting the Vaccine
Many experts disagree with Trump that the worst outcome of splitting up the MMR vaccine would be “nothing.” On the contrary, the main concern, assuming the shots were available, is that fewer people would get vaccinated, putting more people at risk for disease and leading to more outbreaks.
“We’re in the midst of a big measles epidemic. There are more cases of measles than we’ve seen in more than 30 years,” Offit said. Moving to a six-dose regimen, he said, would introduce chaos and confusion, and children would be less likely to get all their necessary vaccines. He called it “an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.”
University of Utah pharmacotherapy professor Joey Mattingly wrote in a Health Affairs perspective last month about using single-disease shots: “The available evidence on vaccination behavior and coverage favors retaining the combined formulation, and the same evidence suggests that moving to separate vaccines, whatever flexibility it might offer families, could make it harder to recover the coverage levels that population immunity requires,” referring to the decline in measles vaccination rates.
Offit said that first, the FDA would need to license the standalone vaccines. It remains to be seen whether any manufacturers would want to go through the process.
The Health Affairs article noted that doing so would require significant investment and clinical trials. “There is little commercial incentive to build a less convenient product to compete with a vaccine that already works,” Mattingly wrote. Clinics and pharmacies would then need to stock them, when it might not make financial sense to do so.
Moreover, just the suggestion that the MMR should be split — as Trump and other officials have now done — could discourage vaccination with the only available vaccine.
As Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, wrote in STAT, “the government is directing the health system toward an alternative that is not licensed here — and asking parents to reconsider a familiar, highly effective combination vaccine in the process.”
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Entretien avec le collectif Alarmphone
En septembre 2024, l'équipe de l'émission Minuit Décousu décide de programmer pour le mois d'octobre une émission qui aura pour thème les luttes et les solidarités contre le système de frontières. Elle tourne alors ses micros vers Toulouse où trois camarades du réseau Alarmphone répondent très gentiment à une longue liste de questions qui vont du fonctionnement du réseau d'Alarmphone aux transformations des routes migratoires en passant par le rôle de Frontex dans l'externalisation des frontières hors du sol européen. Un entretien dont l'émission avait soigneusement monté et gardé certains des éléments (heure de radio oblige) mais qui a depuis été retranscrit dans son intégralité. Il apparaissait important de proposer la publication de l'entretien dans le contexte actuel de boucle médiatique réactionnaire depuis que près de 60 000 personnes en mouvement ont franchi la frontière espagnole de l'enclave néo-coloniale de Ceuta au Maroc. Bonne lecture !
Présentations
Minuit Décousu : Est-ce que vous pourriez vous présenter ?
Alarmphone : On est trois personnes qui faisont partie d'Alarmphone-Toulouse et qui habitons Toulouse ou alentours. C'est une équipe d'Alarmphone qui s'est montée localement en 2020.
Le contexte de création d'Alarmphone et ses objectifs
Minuit Décousu : Est-ce qu'on peut revenir sur comment ça s'est monté Alarm Phone de manière générale et puis ensuite la cellule Toulousaine plus précisément.
Alarmphone : En fait Alarmphone ça arrive dans dans le contexte de montée des migrations et de la répression des migrations. Répression qui date quand même depuis longtemps, qui commence dans les années 1970 avec les visas, c'est ce qui va entraîner les passages de frontières de manière irrégulière, mais qui sont assez stables jusqu'en 2013. On compte un millier de passage de la Méditerranée en gros de ce qu'on peut compte jusque là, et à partir de 2014, ça va monter très fort du fait des contextes internationaux. Là on en compte 200 000 en 2014 et près d'un million en 2015. En 2013, il y a un gros naufrage qui fait 300 morts, et qui va entraîner l'opération Mare Nostrum. Cette opération, qui est largement menée par l'Italie à l'époque, va faire des opérations de sauvetage. Comme quoi c'est possible. Et il y a 150 000 personnes qui secourues dans cette opération assez massive, dont des personnes qui sont principalement orgiainaires de pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, mais aussi beaucoup de Syrie et de Libye qui sont en guerre civile à ce moment-là. Donc Alarmphone se monte en 2014, avec des activistes qui vivent au nord et au sud de la Méditerranée. Pour le dire rapidement, le principe c'est une ligne téléphonique d'urgence à destination des personnes se retrouvant en situation de détresse pendant une traversée de frontière, la mer Méditerranée notamment. Et ce numéro est joignable 24h/24 toute l'année. Ça c'est le principe de base.
Mais l'histoire elle commence doucement, à la fois avec peu de personnes. C'est vraiment peu de gens qui font ça au départ, mais et aussi pas beaucoup d'appels. le numéro n'est pas n'est pas très connu et progressivement il y a des équipes qui vont se monter en Allemagne, en Espagne, en Suisse, en France, en Angleterre, en Hollande, en Sardaigne et bien entendu au sud de la Méditerranée au Maroc, en Tunisie, au Sénégal. Il y a des contacts forts aussi au Mali au Niger et certainement j'en oublie parce qu'il y a des équipes qui vont se monter qui vont ensuite disparaître d'autres arriver etc c'est un réseau qui est assez important qui compte plus de 200 000 personnes. Les appels aussi vont se multiplier. L'année dernière [2023], on a reçu, on a accompagné 2400 situations. C'est beaucoup plus d'appels, mais en tout cas 2400 situations de problématiques liées à la répression aux frontières. Et ce matin, on en était à ouvrir le 1358e cas, comme on dit dans le jargon, quoi.
Je pense qu'il y a un truc qui est important dans dans la formation d'Alarm phone général, c'est que ce qu'on sait, ce qu'on fait, on le doit avant tout aux personnes en mouvement qui inventent des nouvelles routes, qui diffusent le savoir qu'elles ont collecté le long de celles-ci. Et depuis dix ans le réseau il apprend et grandit avec ça. Ça, c'est vraiment une une base importante à mon sens avant de développer. Et pour nous spécialement, je crois pas qu'il y ait pas grand chose à dire. C'est comme partout à plein d'endroits, des gens ont envie d'avoir une action directe contre le système des frontières, qui s'insèrent dans ce réseau, qui apprennent (c'est une formation qui est pas simple) et qui qui vont ensuite travailler à participer à cette ligne d'urgence. On a une amie qui disait qu'Alarm Phone c'était une sorte de legal team de la mer. Dans un contexte pourri où la répression fait rage, c'est s'accrocher à quelques droits pour tenter de s'en sortir au mieux. Et là, ici, c'est le droit de la mer, celui ancestral, un peu mythique, que les marins doivent porter secours aux autres marins. Bon, en vrai, c'est très relatif, surtout dans la réalité aujourd'hui du commerce maritime, etc. Et puis même, c'est des bateaux aujourd'hui où en fait tu vois rien, tu sais pas ce qu'il y a sur la mer, donc bon... Mais il y a ça, et puis il y a aussi une convention internationale sur la recherche et le sauvetage maritime qui est signée en 1979 et qui va finalement entrer en vigueur en 1985… Bon ça c'est un peu des détails mais mais c'est important et c'est ce qui oblige à ce qu'il y ait des des moyens de sauvetage et de coordination du sauvetage en mer dans ce qu'on appelle des zones SAR, de “search and rescue”, de recherche et de sauvetage en français, et c'est un espace maritime qui est pas de tout celui des des eaux territoriales qui est les eaux internationales mais dans lesquels les États ont des responsabilités morales et matérielles et légales de sauver les personnes qui sont en détresse et de les ramener à un port sûr. C'est comme ça que c'est c'est c'est noté dans la loi. Le port sûr, ça va être un endroit où les personnes en danger ne le sont plus, tout simplement. Mais ce qu'il faut ce qu'il faut bien te garder en tête, c'est que le port sûr, c'est en fait une définition politique. Et qui résulte d'un rapport de force. Demain, il pourrait être établi que Misrata en Libye, c'est un port sûr, alors que la Libye, c'est un bagne horrible pour les personnes en mouvement. Donc, vraiment ce droit, c'est un champ de bataille perpétuel pour que les ports sûrs, ça soit des ports réellement sûrs et qu'ils soient notamment au nord de la Méditerranée.
MD : Sur votre site il est fait mention d'un réseau de collectif, d'associations auquel appartient Alarmphone. Est ce que vous pouvez en dire deux mots ?
Alarmphone : En fait, je pense qu'il y a un truc important qui fait le lien, en fait, avec qui est-ce qu'on s'organise. C'est que même si on agit surtout pour le sauvetage et le droit des personnes qui traversent, on est avant tout convaincu que ce qui est urgent, c'est de détruire le système des frontières et des visas, pour que les drames de la mer soient évités. Le problème, c'est les frontières, et nous on se bat pour la libre circulation. Donc on s'accorde avec des gens qui partagent ces idées-là. Ce qu'on appelle les projets “soeurs” d'Alarmphone. C'est comme Alarmphone Sahara qui travaille sur la traversée du Sahara, notamment à partir du Niger. C'est aussi la maison de Laâyoune, qui accueille des personnes en mouvement à Laâyoune dans le Sahara occidental. Et ensuite, on a d'autres contacts plus larges sur des acteurs du sauvetage en mer, ce qui s'appelle la “civil fleet”, la flotte civile, qui remplace les États dans leur travail de sauvetage. Donc c'est les Geo Barrents, c'est les Humanity One, c'est tous ces bateaux.
Il y a un autre élément sur lesquels on collabore beaucoup c'est les commémorations. Les commémorations, c'est des actions qui viennent de familles du sud, de familles de personnes qui ont disparu dans leur parcours de migration et qui veulent commémorer pour qu'aucun mort ne passe inaperçu. Une des dates assez importante, c'est notamment celle du 6 février. Par exemple, le 6 février dernier, c'est dans 54 villes de l'Afrique à l'Europe, de Tripoli au Liban à Brest en France, d'Amsterdam à Douala, qu'il y a eu des événements pour la tristesse et le souvenir et avec la rage de faire cesser le système des frontières. Et ça, c'est des éléments importants du travail d'Alarm Phone : regarder ce qui se passe aux frontières, le faire savoir, le faire sortir de l'oubli et le raconter le plus largement possible.
Capture d'écran Nitter du compte Twitter d'Alarmphone. On y voit l'image d'une carte marine qui indique la position de 49 personnes en détresse au large de la Tunisie.
Le fonctionnement d'Alarmphone
MD : Du coup si vous voulez on va passer au fonctionnement d'Alarmphone même on a déjà un peu commencé à amorcer un peu des éléments mais je pense que du coup ça permettra de compléter. Concrètement, comment on fait pour pour venir en aide aux personnes en exil ? Vous avez expliqué le principe de ligne téléphonique mais comment ça fonctionne si on prend le truc un peu dans l'ordre, on va dire, pour aider les personnes.
Alarmphone : En gros, nous, ce qu'on fait, c'est relayer les appels de détresse aux gardes côtes et faire pression. C'est ça le principe. On est pas un numéro de sauvetage, on n'a pas de bateau. Et quand on nous appelle, on est dans nos salons avec nos ordis. Donc, c'est un numéro d'alerte pour appuyer les opérations de secours. Par rapport à ce que les gens directement sur les bateaux peuvent faire, nous on va peut-être apporter des meilleures capacités matérielles et des connaissances pour pouvoir mettre la pression aux autorités nationales et aux gardes côtes pour qu'ils viennent en aide aux personnes en mer. Donc ce qu'on va faire pendant les permanences, c'est envoyer des emails aux autorités des zones SAR concernées en fonction d'où se situent les personnes sur les bateaux, on les appelle et ensuite on les rappelle et ensuite on les rappelle. Comme ça, ils sont au courant des bateaux en détresse, ils sont au courant de leur localisation et de la progression des bateaux. Et aussi, surtout, ils savent qu'on est au courant et qu'on visibilisera leur inaction s'il y a des naufrages. Donc, on pense qu'une grosse partie du travail, c'est d'assister les personnes en mouvement, bien qu'on se sente souvent impuissant-es. En fait, quand on a les personnes au téléphone, bien sûr c'est pour relayer toutes les informations nécessaires pour un sauvetage mais c'est aussi du travail émotionnel. Enfin, il y a ce truc d'apporter autant d'éléments que possibles pour qu'ils puissent en sortir au mieux, leur donner des conseils et aussi être des soutiens s'il y a beaucoup d'angoisse de la panique, s'il y a des personnes qui ressentent le besoin d'avoir quelqu'un au téléphone. On va rester en contact avec les personnes et on va faire le maximum pour être présent-es tant qu'il y a besoin.
Donc du coup, il y a ce travail de permanence. On est plein d'équipes locales dans plusieurs pays et on va se répartir les permanences pour qu'il y ait tous les jours, 24h/24, des camarades qui puissent répondre au téléphone. Pendant ces permanences, on va regarder la météo, on va suivre les parcours des personnes grâce à leurs positions GPS. On va archiver tout ce qui se passe pendant la permanence. On va répondre aux proches sur les réseaux sociaux. On va recharger les téléphones des personnes en mer quand ils ont plus de crédit. Et on peut aussi relayer les situations très dangereuses sur Twitter, par exemple. Comme ça, ça met davantage de pression aux garde-côtes. Et donc, en dehors du travail de permanence, il y a aussi tout le travail à côté. pour que cette permanence soit possible. En amont, il va y avoir le travail de prévention qui est mené au sud de la Méditerranée dans les communautés de départ par le biais par exemple de brochures qui vont expliquer les risques auxquels s'exposent les personnes qui veulent traverser et faire de la réduction des risques en distribuant le numéro d'Alarme Phone parmi d'autres choses et après on a aussi des groupes de travail, par exemple un groupe de travail technique pour résoudre les problèmes techniques du réseau. Il y a des groupes régionaux qui vont analyser les tendances dans telle ou telle région et mettre à jour les meilleures manières qu'on peut avoir d'aider les gens en fonction des parcours de migration.
Après, il va y avoir un groupe de suivi des bateaux et des personnes disparues, qui va essayer de chercher ce qui est arrivé aux bateaux dont on a perdu la trace et aussi être en contact avec les familles des personnes disparues. Et après, j'ai l'impression que ce qui nous paraît très important, c'est l'archivage. Parce que l'intérêt de tout ça, c'est aussi que soit rendus visibles les luttes des personnes migrantes, les actes de solidarité et la violence des régimes frontaliers européens. On fait des rapports sur toutes les traversées qu'on assiste, on publie des articles. Après, il y a un podcast qui s'appelle Chroniques A Mer, qui est fait par des personnes d'Alamphone. Et après, pour finir, c'est essayer de faire fonctionner un réseau transnational avec les outils de l'auto-gestion. On a nos fonctionnements par ville, donc des tas de réunions en fonction des groupes de travail, et après des meetings deux fois par an qu'on fait au nord et au sud de la Méditerranée pour se rencontrer, se former ensemble, améliorer nos fonctionnements, prendre des décisions et prendre soin du réseau.
MD : La question que j'avais par rapport à à tout ça, c'est la question de la langue. Comment est-ce que les gens qui vous appellent font pour se faire comprendre et en échange, comment vous vous pouvez vous faire comprendre des personnes qui vous appellent. Est-ce qu'il y a des interprètes, omment ça fonctionne au niveau linguistique ?
Alarmphone : La plupart des personnes d'Alarmphone savent à peu près comprendre et se faire comprendre en anglais, donc on peut dire que c'est la langue qu'on utilise le plus, y compris avec les personnes sur le bateau. Aussi avec le français. Il y a souvent minimum une personne qui pourra prendre le téléphone et parler en anglais ou en français et si c'est pas le cas, surtout pour le français, on va avoir des sortes d'astreintes où par exemple, moi, je vais me rendre disponible au cas où personne n'arrive à communiquer en français avec des gens sur un bateau. Après, pour les gardes côtes, par exemple, ça peut être bien de pouvoir parler espagnol avec les autorités, les gardes côtes espagnols, de savoir parler grec pour parler avec les autorités grecques, et que ça peut être une bonne une excuse pour les gardes côtes de de nous envoyer chier parce que on parle pas assez bien leur langue donc ils vont dire qu'ils nous rappellent, qu'ils nous comprennent pas et ils vont raccrocher. Après, les équipes de permanence au nord de la Méditerranée sont en bonne partie majoritairement blanches et non arabophones donc ça peut être compliqué aussi quand personne ne parle arabe. Des fois on peut ne pas trouver de langues en commun avec les gens sur les bateaux Et quand ça arrive, on va demander au réseau si un ou une arabophone est disponible pour être en contact avec tel ou tel bateau. Et il y a presque tout le temps quelqu'un qui va être là pour pour s'en pour s'en charger.
MD : Vous disiez que c'est la Méditerranée que vous surveillez plus spécifiquement, mais est-ce que vous surveillez aussi d'autres zones maritimes ? Et plus largement aujourd'hui, quelles sont les zones les plus complexes à traverser quand on est en parcours d'exil autour de l'Europe ?
Alarmphone : On surveille pas en fait de zones en particulier. C'est plus qu'au fur et à mesure de la militarisation des frontières européennes, les personnes en mouvement vont tester des nouvelles routes qui sont de plus en plus dangereuses et mortelles. Et nous, on est simplement témoin de ça. Par exemple, dans la Manche, parce qu'on a aussi des appels de la Manche, il n'y a jamais eu autant de personnes mortes que cette année [2024]. Là, à l'heure où on parle, il y a 37 personnes au moins qui sont décédées dans la Manche. Et la raison pour laquelle c'est le cas, c'est parce que les plages sont plus en plus militarisées et que les départs se font de plus en plus dans la précipitation, le stress, l'obscurité. On n'a pas le temps de bien gonfler les bateaux et les embarcations. Ils sont aussi de plus en plus éloignés des endroits historiques de départ comme Calais ou Grande Synthe. Et après, en Méditerranée, les zones de de départ, ça va être la Méditerranée centrale, beaucoup de départs de la Libye, de la Tunisie, de l'Égypte qui vont aller vers Lampedusa, vers la Sardaigne, la Sicile. La zone SAR libyenne, elle est très large. Donc sur toute cette zone-là, qui est énorme, il y a un gros danger de pushback et d'interception de la part des soi-disant garde-côtes libyens. La zone est extrêmement surveillée par les drones de Frontex et les soi-disant garde-côtes libyens, ils s'en foutent que les gens risquent de se noyer. Et par ailleurs, les interceptions dans cette zone-là ont pour conséquence l'emprisonnement en Libye dans des conditions inhumaines. Donc beaucoup de gens veulent continuer la route coûte que coûte, ce qui est extrêmement dangereux. Et ça fait que, toujours pareil, les bateaux partent de plus en plus loin. Maintenant, depuis cette année, il y a énormément de bateaux qui partent de l'Est de la Libye. Enfin, c'était déjà le cas, mais c'est de plus en plus courant, et ça représente une distance beaucoup plus grande pour arriver en Europe. Et c'est à cause de ça qu'en fait il y a des massacres en qui se passent en Méditerranée. Donc on peut reparler en juin dernier du massacre de Pilos où il y a six cents personnes qui ont qui ont été tuées en mer en empruntant cette route là. Et là, si on compte juste les six premiers mois de 2024, il y a 800 personnes répertoriées qui sont décédées en Méditerranée centrale. Il y a l'ordre qui est souvent donné de ramener les personnes en Tunisie, en Libye, en Égypte. Malgré les violations en droits humains documentées par les personnes en mouvement dans ces pays. Ça, c'est pour la Méditerranée centrale.
Après, pour l'Espagne, les personnes partent d'Algérie, du Maroc, de Sahara occidental, de plus en plus fréquemment par l'Atlantique vers les îles Canaries, qui est une route moins surveillée, mais qui est aussi beaucoup plus longue et beaucoup plus dangereuse. Et pour l'est de la Méditerranée, les personnes vont partir de Turquie, de Syrie et du Liban. Il y a des traversées de l'Evros [ou Maritsa], le fleuve qui sépare la Turquie de la Grèce, avec énormément de pushbacks par la police aux frontières grecques. Les personnes peuvent attendre des jours ou des semaines sur des petites villes au milieu de l'Evros, parce qu'ils ont été pushbackés. Ou parce qu'ils ont peur de se faire tabasser par la police grecque. Et pour les traverser en bateau de la Turquie vers les îles grecques, il y a aussi beaucoup de pushbacks qui sont répertoriés, ainsi que beaucoup de violences des gardes-côtes grecs, qui a été répertoriée par énormément de personnes, telle que la violence physique : les gardes-côtes qui vont attendre que les gens arrivent sur les îles pour les taper, enlever le moteur et les laisser ensuite repartir à la dérive.
Capture d'écran Nitter du compte Twitter d'Alarmphone datée du 3 août 2026. On y lit « 3 personnes à risque de pushback dans la zone de l'Evros. Une mère, son frère mineur et son enfant ont traversé pour arriver en Grèce cette nuit. Iels ont été trouvés par la police. Depuis, nous n'avons plus de nouvelles d'eux ou de la police. Iels ont besoin de protection internationale ! Non aux pushbacks ! »
Alarmphone : Juste pour un rajout, il y avait un peu la partie plus spécifique sur ce qu'il se passe quand on a les gens au téléphone ? Qu'est-ce qu'on check comme information ?
Alarmphone : Ben oui, je peux en parler un peu. Donc, il y a le numéro de téléphone d'Alarmphone qui est distribué par les camarades du Sud. qui joue un rôle déterminant pour faire circuler le numéro dans les communautés de départ, ce qu'on a dit. Et après, nous, on va répondre à chaque appel téléphonique. On a plusieurs téléphones au cas où il y a plusieurs appels en même temps. Et après, une fois qu'on est en contact avec un bateau, on va se recontacter assez régulièrement avec les personnes sur le bateau pour savoir ce qui se passe, comment les gens vont, et on va demander les informations dont on a besoin. que ce soit le type de bateau, sa taille, le nombre de personnes à bord, la nationalité des gens, la présence de gilets de sauvetage, si elles ont de l'eau, de la nourriture, s'il y a des personnes malades... Et le truc le plus important, c'est le plus régulièrement possible de connaître leur position GPS. Après, s'il y a un sauvetage aussi, on va essayer de rester en contact vraiment jusqu'au bout. Parce que les moments de sauvetage, ça peut être des moments aussi très dangereux où il y a beaucoup de mouvement. À part par le téléphone, on peut aussi être contacté-es par d'autres biais, par exemple par des proches sur Facebook ou sur Twitter. Donc là, c'est plutôt eux qui vont nous donner les informations. Ça peut aussi arriver qu'Utopia 56 nous demande si on peut s'occuper de cas de bateaux dans la Manche parce qu'ils ont trop de travail. Et il y a aussi des endroits où il va y avoir de la connexion réseau, donc par exemple sur l'Evros ou sur les îles grecques. Donc on va pouvoir parler avec les gens sur WhatsApp dans ces moments-là, ce qui peut résoudre pas mal de problèmes de communication liés à la langue parce qu'on va utiliser des traducteurs automatiques.
MD : Du coup je voulais rebondir là-dessus. En mer, en Méditerranée comme dans la Manche, il y a pas de zone où il y a pas du tout de réseau, par exemple, pour appeler. Est-ce que enfin ça se pose comme problème les zones blanches en Méditerranée ?
Alarmphone : Oui il y a en mais en fait on utilise des des téléphones satellites.
MD : Ah d'accord oui.
Alarmphone : Peut-être pour faire un petit complément là-dessus. En fait les gens qui partent de Libye partent quasiment toujours avec un téléphone satellite parce qu'effectivement rapidement la couverture téléphonique qui est permise par des antennes terrestres s'arrête. Et c'est une des difficultés qu'il y a dans d'autres régions, par exemple en Tunisie les téléphones satellites sont considérés comme du matériel militaire et interdits ce qui fait que les gens partent sans téléphone satellite et très vite n'ont plus de réseau téléphonique et donc ça augmente vachement le danger et le risque de mourir en mer puisque les personnes ne sont pas en capacité de contacter des secours quand elles se retrouvent en détresse. C'est aussi un des enjeux sur la route vers les Canaries, la route atlantique, où en fonction des pays de départ c'est plus ou moins possible pour les personnes d'avoir accès à des téléphones satellites. Donc il y a des départs qui se font avec et des départs qui se font sans.
Frontex et l'externalisation des frontières européennes
MD : Si vous voulez, on peut passer au fait d'expliquer comment sont gérées les frontières européennes, expliquer un peu ce que c'est que Frontex, comme ça fonctionne etc. Et on verra ensuite si ça fait émerger d'autres trucs.
Alarmphone : Eh ben c'est pas une si petite question [rire]. Frontex, c'est une agence de l'Union européenne qui est basée à Varsovie. C'est la plus grosse agence de l'Union européenne en termes de budget et de nombre d'agents. Pour donner une idée de chiffres, son budget c'est environ 900 millions d'euros par an et le nombre d'agents actuellement, j'ai pas réussi à trouver d'info très claires, mais l'objectif c'est d'atteindre 10 000 agents d'ici 2027. Avec 3 000 agents fixes et 7 000 détachés dans différents pays. Le rôle de Frontex c'est de protéger les frontières européennes de l'immigration illégale. C'est assez explicite. Et ça, ça se fait principalement en contrôlant les frontières externes de l'Europe, donc en dehors de l'Europe. Ce que fait Frontex, c'est plusieurs choses. C'est une agence qui produit de l'analyse, cette analyse, elle sert à définir un niveau de risque et donc des stratégies de militarisation adaptées à ce niveau de risque tel qu'il a été évalué. Donc la militarisation, elle passe par la surveillance, le contrôle et les violences aux frontières. Frontex fait partie aussi de la coordination des expulsions de migrants et migrantes sans papiers vers leur pays d'origine, donc les charters quoi. Des gens qui sont en France, qui ont une OQTF et qui reçoivent une convocation pour un avion, par exemple. Et donc Frontex coordonne ces expulsions-là, les facilite notamment en finançant les vols. Et nous, la partie à laquelle on est la plus confrontée de l'action de Frontex, c'est l'intervention dans les États membres de l'Union européenne et dans des États en dehors de l'Union européenne par la mise à disposition de moyens humains, donc des gardes frontières, par la formation de ces gardes frontières et par la mise à disposition de matériel. Le matos, c'est des avions, des bateaux. les drones et les armes à feu. Il faut savoir que les gardes frontières de Frontex sont autorisés à porter des armes à feu. Et cette intervention, on remarque qu'elle est vraiment en expansion au-delà de l'Union européenne. Et du coup, il y a des agents et des gardes de côte formés par Frontex en Libye. mais aussi de plus en plus loin par exemple au Sénégal, en Mauritanie, au Nigeria.
L'action de Frontex, elle démarre bien avant les départs en mer, avec cette politique d'externalisation des frontières qui augmente d'année en année, avec des accords toujours plus nombreux entre des pays de l'Union européenne et des pays considérés comme de transit. Et donc ça passe par des contrôles accrus des routes migratoires terrestres et aussi des zones côtières d'où partent les bateaux. Une fois en mer, par exemple si on parle de la Méditerranée centrale, donc les départs de Libye comme on disait tout à l'heure, en fait Frontex ils ont vachement de matos de surveillance donc des drones et des avions qui leur permettent de repérer toute embarcation de “migrants illégaux” entre guillemets et à ce moment-là de les signaler aux autorités compétentes et parfois d'envoyer des signaux de détresse qui vont être relayés aux embarcations proches conformément au droit maritime international de porter assistance aux personnes en détresse en mer. Comme on l'expliquait tout à l'heure, Frontex signale les embarcations aux pays responsables du secours dans les zones en question. Or, depuis 2018, la Libye possède une zone SAR, donc une zone de responsabilité de recherche et de secours en mer qui est très grande, qui auparavant n'existait pas. Et donc à ce moment-là, en fait, les embarcations repérées par Frontex sont assez systématiquement interceptées par les soi-disant garde-côtes libyens, et les personnes sont donc abordées dans des conditions catastrophiques qui conduisent souvent à des morts. et ensuite sont ramenés et incarcérés en Libye.
Capture d'écran Nitter du compte Twitter d'Alarmphone datée du 1 août 2026. On y lit « 37 personnes en détresse en Méditerranée centrale ! Cela fait 7h que nous parlons avec le groupe. Les soi-disant gardes-côtes libyens prétendent qu'ils ont cherché l'embarcation sans la trouver. Nous sommes très inquets et demandons à ce que les opérations de recherches continuent ! »
C'est toute cette histoire de ports sûrs don't on parlait tout à l'heure en fait. Depuis 2024, le droit maritime oblige les bateaux qui recueillent des migrants en détresse à les débarquer dans un lieu sûr tel qu'il est défini par l'organisation maritime internationale c'est-à-dire quelque part où la vie des personnes n'est plus menacée. Or par rapport à ça, on remarque que Frontex n'a pas de souci à considérer que la Libye est un lieu sûr. Si on prend l'exemple d'une autre zone, dans la mer Égée, les routes de la Turquie vers la Grèce, comme le disait la camarade tout à l'heure, nous recevons beaucoup d'appels de personnes qui sont parties de la Turquie, qui sont refoulées par les gardes-côtes grecs. Parfois, les gardes-côtes ne sont pas identifiables, les personnes sont cagoulées, les bateaux n'ont pas vraiment d'insigne. Ils coulent les embarcations, noient les moteurs ou repoussent les embarcations dans les eaux turques et les abandonnent à la dérive. Parfois, et c'est arrivé fréquemment dernièrement, ils mettent les personnes sur des espèces de petits radeaux gonflables et ils les laisse à la dérive dans les eaux turque. Tout ça, c'est des pratiques de refoulement qui sont illégales selon les différents points du droit et qui du coup font partie des critiques un peu fortes qui sont faites sur Frontex. Ces pratiques sont aussi difficiles à documenter, et c'est un peu le taf qu'on essaie de faire.
MD : Est-ce que du coup les appareils répressifs des différents Etats viennent en appui à Frontex ? Je pense notamment à la police aux frontières en France ou à leurs équivalents européens. Et est-ce qu'il y a des partenariats qui existent entre les agences de répression européennes sur les questions migratoires ?
Alarmphone : J'ai l'impression que c'est l'inverse qui se passe : que c'est les appareils répressifs des États qui sont renforcés par Frontex. Les Libyens qui ont du coup des yeux dans le ciel avec des drones de Frontex, et ça peut être aussi à d'autres endroits, c'est-à-dire qu'ils viennent renforcer les frontières et les appareils répressifs existants, et que la violence aux frontières ça va être un mélange d'initiatives privées. Il y a beaucoup de milices en Grèce, mais on peut aussi considérer que les soi-disant gardes-côtes, on dit soi-disant gardes-côtes libyens, parce que ils ont aucune mission de sauvetage ni même de préparation au sauvetage. c'est des flics en fait, et dans un pays où c'est quand même un peu le bordel, c'est vraiment à la limite de la milice. Et aussi des d'actions étatiques menées par des agences internationales, donc Frontex. et des corps répressifs classiques, l'armée, la police, mais aussi les gardes-côtes, comme on voit en Grèce. C'est vraiment le cas paradigmatique où c'est la pratique de refoulement illégal, c'est le fait de la police, de l'armée, des gardes-côtes, ou même parfois d'obscurs milices mal identifiées, où on ne sait pas si effectivement c'est les corps répressifs sans insignes et en cagoule, ou si c'est des citoyens organisés. On peine à savoir, mais on sait que c'est de la violence étatique déléguée quoi. Et Frontex joue un rôle d'informateur et intervient finalement peu dans ces violences directes. Il les cautionne, les organise et les supporte, mais finalement les organise n'y participe pas forcément en première ligne.
Retour sur 10 ans de traversées de la Méditerranée
MD : Effectivement, j'avais pas vu les choses dans ce sens là mais ça paraît logique. La dernière question que j'avais sur cette partie là ce serait si vous pouviez revenir sur les évolutions que vous constatez à grande échelle sur la migration et la répression ces 10 dernières années. Parce que quand on pense à la question migratoire j'ai l'impression que tout le monde en parle un peu au passé, notamment avec cette fourchette 2013-2016 avec un moment politique et médiatique fort, alors que le phénomène s'est pas du tout arrêté. Comment ça a évolué cette dernière décennie ?
Alarmphone : Effectivement, peut-être contrairement à ce qu'on peut percevoir au niveau médiatique, le nombre de personnes en mouvement il ne diminue pas, et la répression à l'égard des personnes en mouvement elle ne diminue pas non plus. Pour le dire un peu simplement, c'est que les raisons de la migration ne diminuent pas. C'est-à-dire que les enjeux de crises économiques et politiques, de guerres civiles, de réchauffement climatique, etc., ne vont pas en s'améliorant. Donc il n'y a pas vraiment de raison que les gens n'aient plus besoin de se déplacer et du coup que la répression ne diminue pas du tout non plus.
Il y a toutes les pratiques de violation des droits humains dont on a parlé juste avant et également des phénomènes de criminalisation des personnes en mouvement qui est permise notamment par la surveillance exercée par Frontex. Quand on parle de criminalisation on parle des personnes migrantes qui sont criminalisées, inculpées quand elles arrivent en Europe pour différents motifs. Globalement, elles sont inculpées pour facilitation de l'entrée irrégulière sur le territoire. Ça, c'est la manière un peu, on va dire, juridique de dire passeur, en fait. Ou parfois des inculpations pour terrorisme dans certains cas. Pour donner un exemple, si on revient sur le naufrage de Pilos en juin 2023 au large de la Grèce, c'était un bateau qui transportait environ 700 personnes, parti de Libye qui a coulé durant une intervention bien trop tardive et extrêmement catastrophique des gardes-côtes grecs qui ont tenté de traquer le bateau et l'ont fait basculer. Dans ce naufrage, il y a 104 personnes qui ont survécu et 9 personnes survivantes ont été inculpées comme passeurs. Le procès, il a eu lieu en mai dernier, en 2024, et les neuf ont été acquittés. Alors ce procès, il a été très médiatique, ce qui peut-être a permis une relaxe. On ne peut pas trop le savoir. Par ailleurs, et de manière beaucoup plus invisible, en fait, il y a des milliers de personnes qui sont incarcérées à leur arrivée en Europe, accusées d'aide au passage ou d'être responsables de naufrage. Et cette accusation, en fait, elle se fonde sur le fait que les personnes conduisaient les bateaux ou étaient impliquées dans le fait de conduire le bateau, donc avoir une boussole, tenir la barre... Et une fois incarcérées, c'est beaucoup plus difficile pour ces personnes-là d'avoir accès à une demande d'asile, ce qui est leur droit. C'est également des situations qui augmentent le danger en mer puisque les personnes sont au courant de ces enjeux de criminalisation et ça peut faire que parfois, du coup, un bateau qui est survolé par un drone de Frontex, tout d'un coup, les gens vont essayer de s'éloigner le plus possible du moteur du bateau. Ça peut entraîner des mouvements de foule, des déséquilibrages du bateau qui conduisent à des naufrages. Pour faire face à cette criminalisation, il y a une plateforme qui s'est créée qui s'appelle Captain Support qui possède un site internet qui soutient les personnes inculpées pour essayer de leur permettre d'avoir accès à leurs droits et les mettre en lien avec des avocats/avocates etc.
Sur une espèce d'évolution globale, quand on regarde un petit peu la comm' officielle de Frontex, ils se targuent de sauver des vies en Méditerranée, on imagine sous-entendu en empêchant les départs en mer. En réalité, ce qu'on constate, c'est que les personnes, comme on l'a expliqué tout à l'heure, elles continuent d'essayer de rejoindre l'Europe, et pour ça, vont faire des choix de route de plus en plus dangereux, parce que dans des conditions de merde, des routes plus longues et tout ça. Du coup, sans répéter tout ce qu'on a déjà dit, c'est des chiffres qui sont difficiles à avoir et c'est difficile de faire de l'analyse globale chiffrée. Par exemple, je reparle du naufrage de Pilos, mais dans les médias, quand on fait quelques recherches, on se rend compte que ce naufrage, il est qualifié du plus meurtrier depuis 2016 parce que 80 personnes sont mortes. En fait, il y avait 700 personnes sur ce bateau, il y a 104 survivants et il y a 80 morts. Donc il y a un petit problème mathématique. On se rend assez vite compte, c'est qu'en fait, souvent Les chiffres qu'on donne sur le nombre de morts, c'est les corps qui sont retrouvés. Et en fait, à toutes ces personnes mortes dont on a pu retrouver et identifier le corps, il faut rajouter le nombre immense de personnes qui sont disparues. Donc il faut avoir une forme de prudence avec ces chiffres qui souvent rendent très invisibles énormément de personnes mortes et disparues sur les routes migratoires, qui invisibilisent aussi tout ce que ça représente pour les proches, pour les familles qui parfois pendant des années cherchent des nouvelles, se battent et luttent pour rapatrier des corps, pour offrir des sépultures dignes, etc. Du coup, on avait envie aussi de rappeler un peu ces histoires-là pour qu'elles tombent pas dans l'oubli. Je dévie un peu de la question de base, mais ça me semblait important à rajouter.
MD : Tu fais bien, tu fais bien. J'arrive au bout de mes questions. Je sais pas si vous avez des choses que vous voulez rajouter, ou si vous vouliez compléter des trucs que vous avez déjà dit.
Alarmphone : Peut-être un truc qu'on voulait rajouter sur la fin. C'est que si on essaie de faire des bilans ou de conclure des choses sur ce qu'on observe en dix ans d'existence d'Alarmphone, c'est que les gens se déplaceront toujours, en fait. Et ça, c'est le fruit de nouvelles routes inventées, de coopération, de plein d'actes de solidarité et de lutte qui rendent en fait très, enfin, relativement, inopérant le système répressif de frontières. Et en tout cas, nous, en tant que réseau Alarmphone, c'est aussi ça qui nous donne de la force pour continuer à lutter.
Alarmphone : Peut-être juste aussi une précision sur quand on parle de frontière. À chaque fois on parle vraiment d'un objet politique et militaire et et pas du tout quelque chose de physique ou de géographique et que c'est vraiment une série d'obstacles qui sont dressés sur la route des personnes en mouvement et qui sont vraiment purement fictifs. C'est pas les frontières elles-mêmes qui tuent comme des objets, comme des lignes tracées, mais vraiment le système, l'organisation des entraves au mouvement et de l'abandon, parce qu'il y a vraiment une organisation de l'abandon des personnes en danger, mis en danger par ces entraves. Donc voilà, on parle de frontières, mais c'est ni la montagne ni la mer qui sont dangereuses. Même si évidemment on peut en parler, mais en vrai, c'est simplement que les gens peuvent pas prendre l'avion. Parce qu'en vrai il y a beaucoup plus de gens qui vont faire du tourisme au Maroc tous les ans. Et a priori, ils font des aller-retours et ça se passe très bien.
L'émission #191 No Borders de Minuit Décousu :
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Trump’s Air Force One deception faces scrutiny over ‘decoy’ passengers
Journalists and others were allowed to fly on presidential jet despite security threat while Trump was spirited away
Democrats called on Tuesday for a congressional briefing over a stunning charade in which Donald Trump was secretly spirited to a different plane than the one the public and press believed he was travelling on. Critics now question why reporters and the public had been deliberately misled.
When US intelligence allegedly found a credible threat that Iran plotted to kill him last month, Trump left Air Force One in a catering truck, an episode first reported by the Washington Post and also by the New York Times. While the president was reportedly snuck out the side door of the plane, more than a hundred aides, officials and reporters were kept onboard to fly towards Britain, without being told there was a threat to their lives.
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Judge blocks Trump’s order aimed at using USPS to restrict mail-in voting
Ruling expands on earlier order that prevented implementation in 23 mostly Democratic-led states
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the US Postal Service (USPS) from implementing part of Donald Trump’s executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
The ruling by US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston in effect expanded on an earlier order she had issued in June that had prevented Trump’s administration from implementing it in 23 mostly Democratic-led states.
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ACLU asks judge to block new Trump order restricting birthright citizenship
Group says new executive order is attempt to evade supreme court’s earlier ruling against the president
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups have asked a federal judge to block Donald Trump from enforcing new executive orders he signed last week in his latest attempt to restrict eligibility for birthright citizenship in the US.
In a Tuesday court filing, the groups called the US president’s new orders an improper attempt to evade the US supreme court’s 30 June rejection of his first, more sweeping bid to deny automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents.
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[Info « Splann ! »] En pleine crise sécheresse, les pêcheurs portent plainte après la pollution d’un affluent de l’Ellé à Langonnet dans le Morbihan
L'association de pêche du Haut-Ellé a porté plainte contre X, lundi 10 août, après la découverte d'une pollution agricole affectant un ruisseau à Langonnet (56), en Centre Bretagne. La mairie assure que la pollution n'affecte pas la ressource en eau potable.
L’article [Info « Splann ! »] En pleine crise sécheresse, les pêcheurs portent plainte après la pollution d’un affluent de l’Ellé à Langonnet dans le Morbihan est apparu en premier sur Splann ! | Premier média d'enquête indépendant en Bretagne.
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Carte Blanche
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.Cronyism, politicization and outright weaponization of the Justice Department have become so routine in Trump’s second term that the scale is hard to comprehend. New abuses, attacks and crimes by the White House and its enablers land in rapid succession, and they usually register individually rather than as parts of a pattern.
That pattern is why Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general carries such grave weight. Critics and former officials warn that Blanche now effectively has free rein at the Justice Department, now that he is no longer angling for the job and forced to appease critics and skeptics in the Senate. He is fully empowered to pursue Trump’s agenda, and there is little to hold him back.
We already know where his priorities and loyalties lie. Asked at an April press conference whether he wanted the attorney general job permanently, Blanche said, “I did not ask for this job. I love working for President Trump.” Pressed on what would happen if Trump chose someone else, Blanche said he would respond, “Thank you very much. I love you, sir.”
Cultish devotion of that sort—from the man who spent 16 months as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney before joining the department—is an organizing principle. It will underlie all of the DOJ’s decisions in the coming years about prosecutions, self-dealing, transparency and even our elections.
Rather than throw up our hands and surrender to the storm, we can chart a path above its dark clouds. From there, we can make some predictions about what’s coming straight for us and our democracy now that Blanche is helming the DOJ. We can in fact sort his likely behavior into four large buckets.
But first, in order to get our bearings, it’s helpful to remember what the DOJ is supposed to be. We begin some 50 years ago, in the wake of the previous worst scandal of the modern U.S. presidency.
The reforms Blanche is dismantling
Historically, the Justice Department has not had a clean track record. Even before Nixon, the DOJ was implicated in abuses and scandals. As Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer noted, Woodrow Wilson’s AG targeted socialists and communists, imprisoning thousands without due process. Harding’s AG was forced out amid allegations that he failed to investigate a corruption scandal linked to the interior secretary accepting bribes from oil interests. Bobby Kennedy, serving under JFK, authorized the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr.
Under Richard Nixon, however, the DOJ truly became an instrument of the president’s personal grievances. Attorney General John Mitchell, who had also run Nixon’s re-election campaign, oversaw illegal wiretaps of anti-war activists, leaked damaging information about Nixon’s political opponents and worked to block publication of the Pentagon Papers before resigning to lead the Nixon re-election committee later implicated in the Watergate break-in.
Nixon’s resignation in 1974 left the department’s credibility in ruins. Gerald Ford’s response was to install Edward H. Levi, a University of Chicago law scholar with no political ambitions of his own, specifically to rebuild the DOJ as a nonpartisan institution the public could trust. At his 1975 swearing-in, Levi told the department that “our law is not an instrument of partisan purpose,” and warned that nothing could more endanger the country than failing to make that true by word and deed.
Levi spent the next two years building the guardrails that defined DOJ independence for the next half-century. He established early limits on White House contacts with a policy limiting communication between the department and the president on pending matters. He created the Office of Professional Responsibility to police the DOJ’s own attorneys. And he initiated the work that led to the Principles of Federal Prosecution, implemented later by Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, which hold that charging decisions should follow the evidence rather than the target’s politics.
Every administration since Ford maintained some version of these guardrails for the next 50 years. Until Trump came along.
Weaponized prosecutions and the Principles of Federal Prosecution
The first Blanche bucket carries the slop of Trump’s personal grievances against his political enemies. Here, the Principles of Federal Prosecution bear directly on the pattern we are seeing from this DOJ. And those principles will likely continue to expose Blanche’s politicized prosecution decisions for what they are.
Under those principles, a charging decision is supposed to arise from the evidence, not the defendant’s politics. But Pam Bondi, and now Todd Blanche, moved in precisely the opposite direction. Since Blanche took the deputy attorney general post in 2025 and the acting AG role in April, the department has pursued criminal investigations or prosecutions against a lengthening list of Trump’s perceived critics: former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, former FBI Director James Comey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
Bondi’s failure to get any charges to stick against the people on this list contributed to her being pushed out of the job. Blanche no doubt understands that he has to deliver more than Bondi did in order to keep his boss happy.
That may not be so simple. The problem both Bondi and Blanche face is institutional. Politicized prosecutions don’t go very well when career prosecutors won’t cooperate. The case against New York Attorney General Letitia James is a good example. After the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia resigned rather than press charges on a politicized case against James that lacked sufficient evidence, Trump installed his former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan. But she had no prior prosecutorial experience and little support from the office. She personally presented mortgage fraud charges against James to a grand jury and secured an indictment—though it was rife with issues. Not long after, however, a federal judge threw it out on the grounds that Halligan’s appointment itself was invalid. The department returned to a grand jury in Norfolk to refile the charges, but jurors there refused to indict—a rare rejection. Prosecutors tried a second time in Alexandria, before a different grand jury. Jurors refused again.
Career prosecutors in New York also invoked the Principles of Federal Prosecution in the corruption case against then-Mayor Eric Adams. They were fired or resigned rather than carry out the DOJ’s order to drop corruption charges against Adams as part of what was reported as an arrangement trading dismissal for Adams’s cooperation with the White House on immigration enforcement.
The DOJ also struck out in its attempt to prosecute sitting lawmakers who challenged Trump’s unlawful military orders. Prosecutors asked a federal grand jury in Washington D.C. to indict Sens. Kelly and Slotkin, along with four House members, over a video in which the lawmakers, all military or intelligence veterans, reminded service members of their duty to refuse illegal orders. The grand jury refused, demonstrating that regular citizens can also smell a political witch hunt and abridgement of speech when presented with one.
This year, while serving as acting attorney general, Blanche extended the White House’s target list beyond individual political enemies of Trump to include groups working to oppose his agenda. The DOJ brought charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization whose prosecution the ACLU describes as touching on nothing more than SPLC’s long-standing work tracking extremist groups. Disturbingly, a federal judge in Alabama, appointed by Trump, refused to dismiss the case, allowing the targeting and weaponization to continue while raising the stakes for organizations everywhere that stand against white supremacy, Christian nationalism and the abridgement of civil liberties.
Self-dealing and institutional capture
In the 1970s, Attorney General Levi also established early limits on White House contacts, his most direct answer to the danger of self-dealing. The policy that developed from those limits restricts communication between the White House and the DOJ specifically to prevent a president from directing federal law enforcement toward his own political or financial benefit.
Blanche’s DOJ has tested that policy directly, and a federal judge has already found that it failed. In January, Trump sued the IRS and Treasury (both of which he also controls) for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns by a contractor who had already been prosecuted and imprisoned. But government lawyers, who were in on the con, never meaningfully contested the case. In May, the two sides announced a “settlement” creating a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who claimed they had been unfairly targeted by the government.
The fund illustrates the danger of unchecked close contact between the White House and the DOJ. Payouts would go to anyone claiming to have been wronged by federal law enforcement, with eligibility and amounts decided by a five-person committee appointed by the attorney general, giving Blanche control over who would make those decisions. Nothing in that structure requires a court finding of wrongdoing, an independent review or any process a claimant couldn’t simply lose by falling out of favor with the president. Public money raised through a lawsuit against the government would flow back out at the discretion of the president’s own former defense lawyer to a pool of claimants that critics say was always understood to include Trump allies and January 6 defendants.
Separately, Blanche signed a memo permanently barring the government from investigating or acting on Trump’s past tax returns, with that protection extended to his businesses and family members.
The fate of that fund, and possibly others like it, remains unclear. Last month, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a scathing 56-page order finding that Trump’s lawsuit was never adversarial to begin with, writing that the parties “worked in tandem and were never actually adverse” and that the case was brought “for an improper purpose — to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.” She barred the government from citing or using the settlement as evidence of a valid judicial agreement in any future proceeding, sanctioned Trump’s attorneys and referred one of them to the Florida Bar for potential discipline.
Judge Williams was especially pointed about the audit-immunity memo Blanche had signed, calling it a “blanket grant of immunity” that was “wholly incompatible with the duties of DOJ attorneys ... to enforce the law and protect the public interest.”
Trump, his two sons Don Jr. and Eric, the Trump Organization and their attorneys have appealed her ruling to the 11th Circuit.
Rep. John Larson, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee overseeing the IRS, put the stakes of such a fund in blunt terms: “Your tax dollars are not Donald Trump’s personal ATM. The attorneys who signed off on this settlement should face accountability — including Todd Blanche.” Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden pressed the Treasury Department and the IRS directly after Williams’s ruling, writing that “the IRS should not and cannot implement illegal orders” and demanding answers on whether the agencies were still complying with the voided settlement.
Facing political headwinds, Blanche purportedly rescinded the $1.776 billion fund the Sunday before his confirmation vote, telling senators it was “not moving forward.” Sen. John Cornyn, whose support Blanche needed to be confirmed, said publicly that he wasn’t convinced the administration had made a binding commitment before voting to advance Blanche anyway.
Despite the alleged rescission of the fund, Blanche did not abandon the audit-immunity provisions, agreeing only to narrow their scope, which drew far less scrutiny from Senate Republicans. Sen. Jim Justice told HuffPost the issue was too “complex” to assess on short notice, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville said simply, “I hadn’t kept up with all that.” Asked by senators whether the remaining tax-audit immunity provisions were still in effect regardless of the ruling, Blanche confirmed they were: In his telling, the ruling was still under “review.”
Given Blanche’s intransigence and evasion over the fund and audit-immunity provisions, we should expect an expansion of this kind of self-dealing between the White House and the Justice Department, with the latter putting its imprimatur on bogus settlements, payouts and further immunities for Blanche’s boss. None of it is normal, and none of it is permitted under the existing White House contacts policy, but that has not stopped Blanche from plowing ahead. That will be especially true now that he faces zero political obstacles.
Erosion of transparency and trust
Levi created the Office of Professional Responsibility during his tenure in the 1970s. Separately, the “presumption of regularity” is an established legal doctrine courts employ to extend baseline trust to what the government represents as fact in court.
That presumption has been breaking down in real time and is likely to erode further under Blanche. As NPR reported, federal judges have repeatedly raised concerns about the regime’s failure to comply with court orders or its representations that weren’t backed by facts. Several high-profile cases have unraveled recently, including the dismissal of vandalism charges against a former Olympic canoeist and others tied to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Blanche’s own rhetoric toward the judges enforcing these orders adds urgency to the problem. As deputy attorney general, Blanche urged Justice Department lawyers to join what he called a war against federal judges whom he accused of “micromanaging” the executive branch. He falsely described district courts as “more political ... than the most liberal governor or DA,” for merely following the law.
Blanche’s treatment of adverse rulings as illegitimate, rather than binding, is a clear break from the practices that Levi’s reforms were designed to protect and echoes Trump’s own disregard for the rule of law. The Office of Professional Responsibility is meant to police misconduct within the department, while the presumption of regularity allows courts to assume that DOJ officials have properly discharged their duties absent evidence to the contrary. Both depend on the department accepting judicial oversight as legitimate rather than treating it as an obstacle to circumvent.
The Epstein files, over which Blanche has played a principal role in obstruction and cover-up, are the clearest test of the erosion of both DOJ professionalism and regularity, while offering some paths to fight back successfully. Journalist and attorney Katie Phang sued the DOJ in April, arguing that the department was slow-walking document releases required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Judge Emmet Sullivan found in June that Blanche had effectively conceded his own noncompliance, ordering him to either produce more unredacted files or show cause for withholding them. Blanche ultimately complied only minutes ahead of a court deadline in late July, and even then, redaction logs categorized withheld material only as generic “personally identifiable information” rather than specifying whether it involved victims or law enforcement.
Judge Sullivan wasn’t having it. In an order issued Aug. 6, he found the DOJ still had not complied with his prior rulings: It had failed to justify its redactions of names it claimed, without evidence, belonged to victims rather than associates of Epstein, and had withheld handwritten FBI interview notes without credible explanation. He scheduled a status hearing for Aug. 13 to force the department to explain itself in open court.
Blue state officials are also stepping up to battle the DOJ’s lack of transparency. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the department in August after it refused to share Epstein-related investigative material with his office. Torrez said the material had been shared routinely with state law enforcement in the past, and he didn’t mince words: “Instead they have decided to stonewall, to obstruct and to frankly conceal for whatever reason.”
Democratic lawmakers, who will likely regain the House committee gavels next year, are also gearing up to take on Blanche. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, raised concerns about the DOJ’s lack of transparency in January after the department released only half of the roughly 6 million pages of Epstein files it had collected. Garcia argued that it was evidence the department intended “to withhold roughly 50% of the Epstein files, while claiming to have fully complied with the law.”
The greatest risk of all
After losing the 2020 election, Trump and his allies pushed a series of escalating claims that the national vote had been stolen through systemic fraud. Attorney Sidney Powell alleged that voting machines had been programmed to flip votes from Trump to Biden as part of a coordinated international conspiracy. Trump pressed the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate, and at one point a group discussed federalizing the effort outright. Advisers even went so far as drafting an executive order that would have appointed Powell as a special counsel with authority to seize state voting machines, while Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, publicly suggested the military could be used to “rerun” the election.
Then-Attorney General Bill Barr’s response was a rare example of the department’s principles actually holding. The DOJ investigated the voting machine-tampering claim specifically and found nothing to support it. Barr told the AP in December 2020 there was no evidence machines had been programmed to skew the results, and separately said he saw “no basis right now for seizing machines by the federal government” when pressed on whether the DOJ would act on the executive order under discussion.
Barr testified to the Jan. 6th Committee that he told Trump directly the fraud claims were “crazy stuff” that were “doing a grave disservice to the country.” Trump’s own White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, independently rejected the machine-seizure executive order as a “terrible idea,” telling colleagues in a late-night West Wing meeting, “That’s not how we do things in the United States.”
In short, at least with respect to Trump’s bogus claims of a stolen election, Barr continued to recognize the Principles of Federal Prosecution and required that evidence rather than politics guide his decision. That baseline produced an attorney general willing to tell the president no, even under direct pressure, because the department’s institutional integrity mattered more than the president’s preference. It held in 2020, albeit imperfectly and briefly, under a president who would go on to try to overturn the outcome anyway.
Ty Cobb, who served as special counsel to the president during Trump’s first term, argues the guardrail will not hold this time. Referencing Barr’s refusal directly, Cobb told Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo’s “Mehdi Unfiltered” that there is “no circumstance under which we shouldn’t expect Blanche to seize ballots and seize voting machines and try to interfere in the process of the upcoming election.”
That warning must be our guiding assumption, and the documented record already points in that direction. In January, the FBI raided Fulton County’s election hub in Union City, Georgia, seizing between 656 and 700 boxes of materials from the 2020 election, including original ballots, tabulator tapes and ballot images. In April, a federal grand jury convened by the DOJ subpoenaed the Fulton County elections board for the personal information of election staff and volunteers.
Notably, the DOJ has now lost 20 consecutive lawsuits seeking unredacted voter rolls from states, including a Colorado case dismissed with prejudice this month, out of lawsuits filed against more than 30 states and D.C. in total. Twelve of those 20 losses came from judges appointed by Republican presidents, and eight of those 12 came from judges Trump himself appointed.
Unable to force compliance through the courts, Trump has turned repeatedly to the SAVE America Act to try to reshape voter eligibility rules ahead of the midterms. That effort has hit resistance in the Senate, where it has twice failed even to reach a simple majority: The vote was 48–50 in April and again in June, with the same four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) — joining every Democrat in voting no, well short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Beyond the courtroom record, the DOJ continues to defend Trump’s anti-mail-voting executive order. Bondi and Blanche have both sent letters pressuring state officials over voter roll compliance, including one to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tying compliance to concerns about unrest in his state.
Blanche has also declined multiple opportunities to specifically rule out Justice Department intervention in the midterms. Marc Elias, the election lawyer who founded Democracy Docket, has been warning about this for months, including in April when Blanche told reporters that it was the president’s “duty” to weaponize the DOJ if he chose to. Elias called Blanche “an unusually good liar” and “incredibly dangerous” in response.
Blanche’s other comments on the subject have done little to reassure critics. At a Conservative Political Action Conference appearance in March, before he became acting attorney general, Blanche waved off concerns about deploying immigration agents to voting sites. “Why is there objection to sending ICE officers to polling places?” he asked. “Illegals can’t vote. It doesn’t make any sense.”
At his July confirmation hearing, pressed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on whether he would commit to keeping armed federal agents away from polling places, Blanche said only that he would “follow the law … no matter what it includes” — stopping short of a direct commitment.
Levi’s 101s
Levi’s reforms, put in place after Watergate, are still holding more often than not. Grand juries in Norfolk and Alexandria refused to indict James. A grand jury in Washington, D.C. refused to indict Kelly and Slotkin. Career prosecutors walked rather than drop the Adams case as commanded. Even U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped the absurd criminal charges tied to the Reflecting Pool for lack of evidence.
Judges, including those appointed by Trump himself, have drawn a line. They have consistently ruled against his Justice Department’s requests for voter roll data from states that challenged Trump’s executive order on voting. At least one federal judge has stopped taking the department’s word on the Epstein files and is demanding it show its work.
None of this happened because Blanche relented. It happened because key people inside and around the institution he leads have, so far, declined to go along. But that resistance is not a guarantee. It is based on a principle that must be renewed case by case, court by court, and ultimately by the voters in a midterm election that Blanche himself has refused to promise to stay out of.
And when this regime ends — and it will end — two big projects will remain. The first is accountability for Blanche and everyone else in the DOJ who treated an oath and a license to practice as inconveniences rather than obligations. Here, Blanche ought to take note of history: Nixon’s AG John Mitchell was convicted for his role in that scandal and served 19 months in prison.
The other is restoration of the guardrails Levi and others built after the last time an attorney general mistook the president for his client. These guardrails have held before and can hold again, but only if the people who intend to repair them understand exactly how close they are right now to coming apart.
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White House pushes DoJ to revive reflecting pool case against Olympian
Justice department is asked to weigh new charges against David Hearn after US attorney dropped vandalism charges
The White House has asked the Department of Justice to weigh new charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, according to a person familiar with the matter, pushing to revive a case Donald Trump has fumed about ever since an ally dropped the case citing insufficient evidence.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, dropped the charges against the man, David Hearn, on 31 July, blaming a contractor for a flawed installation. In a 20-page filing dismissing the charges, Pirro’s office said it had received evidence that damage to the pool occurred before Hearn visited it, and that “it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hearn has maintained that he reached in the water to touch a piece of already detached lining while he was on a bike ride in June.
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Trump 'secretly switched planes via catering truck' amid Iran threat | Deconstructed – video
In July, Donald Trump hid in a catering truck and reportedly secretly switched planes in a security ruse prompted by a credible Iranian assassination threat.
The Guardian breaks down the footage from that day, showing how the president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight. Trump’s actual location was concealed from journalists and some White House staff, who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older plane
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Pourquoi la transition écologique est un leurre
Une étude du FMI remet en cause les fondements mêmes de la logique de transition écologique. Certes, les énergies propres progressent, mais sans qu’elles se substituent aux hydrocarbures, en raison d’une constante augmentation de la consommation énergétique. La démonstration des auteurs pulvérise la logique à l’œuvre depuis trois décennies. -
Cohabiter avec le monde sauvage: comment lutter contre la destruction du vivant?
À l’heure où les forces anti-écologiques sont plus puissantes que jamais et où les forêts brûlent faute de préparation adéquate, comment préserver la biodiversité? Devant le public du Mediapart Festival, le 6 juin 2026, plusieurs personnalités ont donné des pistes de réflexion. -
Les Bure'lesques 2026
Les bure'lesques reviennent pour leur 5e édition ! Au programme : trois jours informatifs et festifs ouverts à toutes et tous pour des moments conviviaux et constructifs au coeur d'un territoire rural bien vivant, refusant de devenir la mégapoubelle nucléaire du pays, celui de Bure (Sud Meuse)
Les informations les plus à jour sur le festival seront sur le site dédié : https://burefestival.org/ . On essayera de mettre à jour régulièrement cet article notamment dès que le programme sera sorti.
N'oublions pas : à ce jour, il n'y a pas de déchets radioactifs enfouis à Bure (Meuse/Haute-Marne), ni aucune infrastructure pour les accueillir, juste le « laboratoire de recherches géologiques » de l'Andra installé en 1999.
En 2026, l'avis définitif sur la demande d'autorisation de création (DAC) de Cigéo, en instruction express depuis 3 ans sera publié. L'enquête publique annoncée pour l'automne a été avancée au printemps (mai/juin). Un comble alors que l'Andra a des démonstrations majeures de sûreté à apporter et que divers avis officiels ne seront pas encore publiés.
Le chantier Cigéo aura-t-il le feu vert ? Ce méga-projet industriel ne tient pas la route, tant du point de vue technologique qu'éthique, tout le confirme. Rien n'est joué et depuis 30 ans, l'opposition citoyenne ne faiblit pas ! (+ d'infos sur Burestop.eu et bureburebure.info)
Pré-programme des Bure'lesques 2026
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Child vaccine schedule reduced as Trump moves to dramatically shift medical power to parents
President Donald Trump is spearheading a major overhaul of current childhood vaccination mandates in an effort to give parents more freedom to choose which shots their children take, and when. Trump signed an Executive Order announcing what the administration is calling the Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations, saying that not only do the new recommendations align with other developed nations, but they also with common sense. A memo on the order recommends children receive immunizations for 11 diseases, fewer than the 18 current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. It also ended recommendations that all minors receive the COVID-19 jab. -
Trump signs executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines, falsely linking shots to autism
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order backing fewer routine vaccines for kids, calling to whittle down the number of recommended childhood shots to 11 while falsely tying immunizations to autism. The order builds on the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the childhood shot schedule under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. -
WHO defends immunisation schedules after Trump orders fewer childhood shots
The World Health Organization on Tuesday defended the science-based process used to determine childhood immunisation schedules after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccinations in the United States. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order calling for a reduced childhood vaccination schedule of 11 immunisations. Trump said the move would provide U.S. children with "gold-standard" protection and align the United States more closely with other developed countries that recommend fewer shots. -
How to Drain Trump’s Corruption Pool
Greg Sargent did a story yesterday promising the dismissal of Davey Hearn’s charges last Friday, “is not the final chapter in this story—not by a long shot” and laying out how whether we can get accountability for those malicious charges, “will help settle whether we are capable of dispensing real justice to all those Trump accomplices who are helping make our slide into authoritarianism possible.” (As I have been working on this post, WSJ reports that Trump is pressuring DOJ to find a new way to charge Hearn.)Sargent is an engaging writer who lays out the stakes, and the story was well-received. But while I agree with his frame — Hearn’s case is that important — in my opinion Sargent lays out an entirely inadequate map to accountability. I responded badly to that, and for that I apologize.
In hopes of being more constructive I want to lay out where I believe Sargent was wrong and what he’s missing about the task ahead. But I also point to other things we can do, we need to do, now, and if we don’t, this inquiry will suffer the same fate as the Russian investigation, impeachment 1, impeachment 2, and January 6 generally. We cannot sit around and wait for six months in hopes that Raskin gets subpoena power while Trump stokes personalized opposition to Hearn, because that is not the only or even the best route to accountability.
The House Judiciary Committee will not avenge Davey Hearn
Start with his notion that justice for Hearn is most likely to come from Jamie Raskin’s promised investigation (update, here’s Raskin’s letter, which makes current demands). The focus on what Jamie Raskin plans to do six months from now if Democrats win the House takes up 295 words, 23% of Sargent’s story, and holds place of privilege at the start and end of the story.
The focus on Davey’s remaining legal fight (just in his criminal case), which is sandwiched between coverage of Raskin, took up 236 words, 18% of the total article. Over half of that focuses on quotes from an expert who offers no specific comment about the posture of this case or the reputation of this judge or the prosecutors. That’s a journalistic convention, even among journalists who cover the law full time. But the space could have better been used describing more about what’s in the public court docket or even providing further description from Norm Eisen about the proof they have that Jeanine Pirro knew Davey Hearn didn’t do the damage she accused him of. As I’ll show, Sargent seems unaware of stuff that’s in the docket, of some questions that have been answered and other questions that are posed there, of what transparency may be possible from it. Similarly, he seems unaware of the different strengths and weaknesses of the tools of accountably.
As for Congress, for example, Sargent promises that “Subpoena power would help fumigate all this” and envisions “put[ting] Pirro and Burgum under oath and tak[ing] them apart.” It’s as if Sargent doesn’t remember how little Dems could do with subpoena power back in 2019, even under an impeachment inquiry, to say nothing of the stone-walling the January 6 Committee faced in 2021 and 2022. Since that time, Trump has added to his bag of tricks, invoking Trump v. US in a bid to cover up Aakash Singh’s role in a similarly fraudulent prosecution last week, and having OLC expand executive power to cover Boris Epshteyn this week — an expansion that would have protect Steve Bannon from his 2021 J6C subpoena.
Similarly, Sargent tells Congressional Dems to assure potential whistleblowers that “Democrats will have their back.” How’d that work out for the main Ukraine impeachment whistleblower? For the Vindmans? For Cassidy Hutchinson? Democrats have been able to use whistleblower information to good effect already this Trump term. But journalists have had a better record of protecting whistleblowers than Congress, and Democrats need to learn how better to protect these people.
Congress has certain tools, including appropriations and impeachment, and some of their tools, including subpoenas, will work better with other targets (like the law firms Trump has politicized or the media companies he bribed). There are even questions specific to this case, such as how Pirro is staffing her office (which is split between Superior and District Court) and how she’s paying lawyers that Raskin could pursue right now. But dumping your hopes on Congress — six months in the future, and only if Dems with the House!!! — ignores the lessons of 2019 and 2020 and 2021 and 2022, to say nothing of the tools Trump has rolled out since (or been gifted by a far right SCOTUS) to defy or at least delay Congress.
It is far more important for Raskin to game out how he’ll thwart this obstruction than it is to map out an investigation into the Hearn case.
I’m not saying that Raskin’s letter — or Sargent’s coverage of it — harms the case. At the very least, when Pirro refuses his request, it’s a good way to generate scandal.
I am saying that we need to have a realistic discussion about what tools are best suited to this task.
What we’ve gotten and what we may get
Meanwhile, Sargent does the same thing that happened with the Jack Smith case, where some of the most prominent commentators (including HJC member Dan Goldman) proved to be unaware of what was made public by the prosecution; Sargent is promising future disclosures but showing little curiosity about what’s already public, much less playing a role in doing anything to magnify that information.
To Sargent’s credit, he treats Pirro’s scapegoating of Interior in her Motion to Dismiss with the skepticism that most outlets have not. He links a news report about the first, but not the second, disclosure about the grand jury proceedings. But that’s about it. There’s a good deal more about the investigation in the filings that are far more pressing to expose than Raskin’s plans six months down the line (if Democrats win).
They include:
- There are two main witnesses who implicated Davey Hearn: a female Parks Service employee who claims he told her she was “awfully sensitive about the pool,” and Emily Miller, the right wing propagandist who captured his arrest and claimed to talk to Pirro’s people about the case; Miller may be a witness mentioned in the arrest affidavit (she blocked me when I asked if she was on Xitter).
- That woman from the Parks Service did not testify to the grand jury and the investigative witness who did (MF) emphasized that her testimony “was not a sworn statement.” She’s the source of the claim that Hearn “violently” ripped at the pool liner.
- There are two photographs, one posted publicly by Hearn before he was charged, and another taken by a government employee, both of which show the damage was already done before Hearn reached his hand into the water.
- With regards to Hearn’s photo: the government did not present it to the grand jury (which is not a clearcut abuse) but also did not mention it in an affidavit to seize his phone (which is).
- With regards to the other photo, the government seems to have claimed that the female Parks Service employee took it and obscured when it was taken; Pirro’s MTD corrects the timing and attributes the photo to another government employee. The government refused to provide Hearn with metadata to prove this before they dismissed the case.
- There is CCTV footage that should have been turned over to Hearn that was not — footage that was shared with Jesse Watters so he could do propaganda to support Trump’s claims of sabotage. It almost certainly would debunk the entirety the Parks Service employee testimony.
- Even if we buy Pirro’s suspect claims about what Interior turned over when or her claimed ignorance about the problems with the pool before that, we know she had notice of the problems with the pool well before July 16 or 17, when she claims DOJ discovered the problems for the first time. DOJ knew of a damage assessment Interior did — which included a map of many different sites of damage — no later than July 10 (when she turned over the report to Hearn). And investigative agents were at the pool on July 13, three or four days earlier than Pirro let on in her report.
- The harms witness (MR) testified to the grand jury twice. The first time he described tons of pre-existing damage and said it would not be possible to isolate the damage attributed to Hearn. The second time (21 minutes later), he claimed he could attribute $1,000 of damage to Hearn. The prosecutor who sent MR back into the grand jury to give conflicting testimony — he said “Hopefully that kind of nailed down that specific question” to the grand jury after MR changed his story — is probably the prosecutor most responsible for the abuses in the prosecution.
In other words, we have a pretty good sense of how Hearn was indicted, one of the questions Sargent hopes Raskin will answer: An unreliable Parks Service employee made suspect claims about Hearn, which were presented via an investigative witness, not under oath. DOJ covered up the photographic evidence they had (or Hearn had taken) that the pool was damaged before he got there. And their harms witness was sent back to the grand jury to give testimony that arguably conflicted with what he had given 21 minutes earlier so they could meet a crucial element of the felony offense.
That’s what we already know. As Sargent noted, Hearn is still demanding grand jury testimony. For the reasons I laid out in this post, Judge Todd Edelman seems far more amenable to the request than Sargent’s expert lays out. For example, Sargent notes that Norm Eisen can still pursue this largely because Pirro moved to dismiss the case without prejudice, and that’s true. But Edelman could have just dismissed it with prejudice after Hearn responded to the government MTD. He did not, retaining jurisdiction to grant that grand jury transcripts motion or more. So the judge — not Pirro — is responsible for leaving that option and others on the table. Indeed, Edelman already said he’ll hold a hearing where we should expect DOJ witnesses to go on the record on risk of sanctions about what happened. Some of the questions Raskin wants to ask — in six months time, if Democrats win — are likely to be aired at this hearing, and if the prosecutor abused his ethics to get the indictment, Judge Edelman has more ability to get recourse than Congress does.
Even if Edelman denies that motion, though, if he relies on any of the things Hearn has already submitted as sealed exhibits, we will have reason to demand it under First Amendment precedent. Those exhibits include:
- The affidavit for Hearn’s phone (making a false claim about who took the Park Service’s before picture and making no mention of his picture).
- The initial excerpts of grand jury testimony (reflecting that the pool was already leaking millions of gallons of water and had already been damaged), and also reflecting the testimonial witness’ squeamishness about the Parks Service witnesses claims.
- The follow-up excerpts, in which the prosecutor delivered up altered testimony and closed down discussion.
- The damage report, dated June 30.
Davey Hearn’s case is really a remarkable instance where someone has superb criminal defense attorneys (don’t forget that one of the key January 6 prosecutors, Mary Dohrmann, is representing him), but also someone like Eisen, who not only knows how to work the press, but who has been instrumental in suing Trump for accountability.
Barring discovery violations, criminal defendants have the ability to get information that Congress will have to fight to get, which is likely why this case was dropped. But Eisen’s involvement ensures that there will be follow-up lawsuits where Hearn will also be differently postured than Congress.
Stop the bleeding
The reason why it’s utterly crucial that people like Sargent learn these details and use them now is because the first thing we need to do to get accountability is to undercut Trump’s propaganda designed not only to prevent that, but to extract revenge for even asking for it.
Consider this very sophisticated piece of propaganda Trump posted on Sunday.
Not included in this post, but another tack he’s already using, is to attack the judge, Todd Edelman.
Hopefully my annotations make it clear how Trump’s post works — most notably, how Trump is trying to change the meaning of the linked document (Pirro’s MTD) and resuscitate the credibility of the Parks Service accuser.
Trump’s trolls responded. Just as one example, Libs of TikTok did what she does; triggering grievance with her attentional device — “HOLY CRAP” — (over 300K views when I screen capped it, which is monetized), expanding the ActBlue conspiracy beyond what Trump claimed, then dehumanizing her targets, techniques which have long shown to lead to stochastic terrorism.
I was actually mildly surprised at how much pushback Libs got after posting this, with people pointing out she was dumb as shit for repeating Trump’s lies. She moved onto stoking other conspiracies.
I can’t solve far right stochastic terrorism in this post. But in pushing back against it, it’s important to understand and hook on Trump’s new lies here, because it’s the only way to short circuit the propaganda campaigns of the like that Trump has always used to defy oversight. Trump’s post attempts to reframe Pirro’s motion to dismiss by highlighting the part he likes — the testimony of the female Parks Services employee who accused Hearn. As laid out above, we already have reason to suspect she falsely accused Hearn.
Participatory messaging
The most important thing lefty pundits need to understand is how that media economy from Trump to Libs to death threats against Hearn and the judge works and find a way to undercut it. This page has a good description of how that works. But the dynamic is that, while Trump is a key source of disinformation, there are people like Libs making shit tons of money to do things like make unsubstantiated claims about Hearn’s ties to ActBlue and dehumanize him, with predictable effects.
I’m not asking the left to lie or get on Xitter to monetize incitement or anything like that.
I am asking the left to understand that this is the engine via which Trump survives every single attempt at accountability, and even if Raskin had more tools awaiting him, until we address this media economy, Trump will continue to escape accountability. Every single time we make comments about what Trump is doing, we have a choice: Do we act like we have the ability to do what the far right is doing? Or do we outsource the work to people like Jamie Raskin?
Map the structure and find surface area
I also urge people (as people like Norm Eisen already have) about various directions to go at this problem, because some of them will show more immediate payoff than waiting 6 months for Raskin to get subpoena power, maybe.
Some of the other ways people are contesting the reflecting pool are:
WaPo’s very good and persistent coverage of this issue
Leaks from whistleblowers about Doug Burgum’s corruption
Scott MacFarlane’s report on the diversion of National Park dollars to Trump’s vanity projects
A shadow hearing by Robert Garcia and Richard Blumenthal on Trump’s “vanity” projects, generally (I was not aware of this in real time, though Meidas Touch did post it
Jared Huffman’s oversight (the ranking member on the Natural Resources Committee, who would have jurisdiction), including his opposition to a 2025 flunky being installed as Inspector General
But there are other points of leverage, any one of which might pull loose new threads:
- Emily Miller’s role in this
- Pirro’s choice to use DC Superior Courts, her $25,000 retention payments to AUSAs, and the use of JAG and ICE lawyers as prosecutors in DC Superior (though not in this case)
- Will Sharf — whom Trump just named to succeed David Warrngton as White House Counsel — and his role on the National Capital Planning Commission
We are in a fight for our lives. And the last thing we should do is sit back and assume Jamie Raskin will fix things … if we’re lucky enough to have a fair election and manage to win one or both houses of Congress. Especially when there are far more effective means of accountability we can pursue right now.
The post How to Drain Trump’s Corruption Pool appeared first on emptywheel.
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What effect will Donald Trump’s childhood vaccine recommendations have in the US and beyond?
Is there any science behind the recommendations? Will they result in lower vaccination rates? And will they cause a resurgence of preventable diseases?
A new executive order from the US president, Donald Trump, calls for sweeping changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.
His plans would result in fewer vaccines being recommended overall; the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine being replaced with three separate shots, and all childhood immunisations being administered during separate medical visits “to the maximum extent feasible”.
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Aux championnats d’Europe d’athlétisme, les femmes sont filmées de façon moins sexualisée
Une charte publiée par l’Union européenne de radio-télévision, à destination des professionnels de l’image, est mise à l’essai pendant les championnats d’Europe d’athlétisme qui ont débuté lundi 10 août. Pour les sportives, «les cadrages qui mettent le plus en lumière la précision et la technique de leur discipline sont ceux qui les représentent avec dignité et respect». -
26 mois après le ticket de métro, le passe Navigo Annuel est disponible sur iPhone
Île-de-France Mobilités a publié le 11 août la version 10.0.0 de son application iOS, qui permet enfin de transférer un passe Navigo Annuel sur son iPhone. La fonction était promise pour septembre, elle arrive avec quelques semaines d'avance. Subtilité : il faut toujours posséder une carte physique pour la dématérialiser.
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Contradicting public statements, Trump took secret flight from Turkey amid Iranian threat
An Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump prompted an extraordinary operation last month in which he flew secretly from Turkey on an alternate military aircraft while the White House said he was aboard Air Force One, The Washington Post has learned. -
Trump hid in catering truck, departed NATO summit via decoy aircraft amid Iran threat: Report
President Trump secretly departed the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, last month using an alternate military aircraft amid security concerns involving Iran. -
Trump snuck off Air Force One in catering truck, departed Turkey on secret military flight after Iran threat: report
President Trump was secretly whisked off Air Force One in an airport catering truck last month and departed Turkey on a separate military flight in response to a threat from Iran, according to a report. -
Au commissariat de Saint-Denis, un pot de départ finit en grosse gueule de bois
Alors que la brigade anticriminalité fêtait la mutation d’un de ses membres, fin juillet, des policiers ont déclenché un incendie sur le toit en tirant des mortiers. Deux fonctionnaires ont aussi été surpris en pleine violation de leur contrôle judiciaire. -
Des puzzles à en perdre la bulle
- Article rédigé par l'ami Remouk (DansTonChat) - Merci à lui -Licence mythique des années 90, Bubble Bobble a eu le droit à différents spin-offs, dont le tout aussi mythique Puzzle Bobble, aussi appelé Bust-a-Move ! Vous y avez sûrement joué à l'époque sur Playstation ou PC !
Ce "puzzle game" à la Tetris / Columns / Puyo Puyo, a été copié en boucle, mais jamais égalé. De nouvelles versions sont sorties au fur et à mesure des années, sans jamais trop réinventer la formule (à quoi bon ?) mais aussi, sans jamais trop apporter grand-chose de nouveau. Ce Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! fera-t-il exception ?
Charger la vidéo depuis YouTube
Ce clic autorise une connexion à Google : adresse IP transmise et traceurs possibles.
En savoir plus
Voir cette vidéo sur YouTube
Et bien je sais pas s'il apporte grand-chose, mais il est super super chouette ! Faut dire, je suis vraiment fan du jeu original. Ici, j'ai l'impression qu'ils ont tout amélioré et fourni une expérience super riche. Par rapport à la version pixelisée de l'époque, on gagne pas mal de choses :
Une réalisation super léchée. Le style dessin animé est super joli, très fin, les musiques entraînantes (trop ? :D), ça rend le jeu ultra lisible et agréable à jouer. Il y a des options pour régler certains effets et améliorer la lisibilité, si jamais. La maniabilité est donc très fluide, très précise.
Vu que la précision devient extrême, et pour filer un coup de pouce (j'imagine) aux gamers les moins aguerris, notre viseur nous "aide" un peu. C'est très très léger, et vraiment bien fait : on doit toujours bien viser, et ça nous permet quelques coups de génie qu'on aura pas réussi si c'était pixel-perfect (surtout vu la haute définition du jeu :D).
Côté contenu, la grande nouveauté c'est le mode multijoueur ! En plus du 1v1 qu'on connaissait déjà (jouable en ligne d'ailleurs !), il y a un mode 2v2 (superbe idée), et surtout tous les niveaux du mode histoire sont jouables jusqu'à 4 ! La disposition s'adapte en fonction du nombre, mais conserve la même mécanique / astuce. Côté contrôleurs tout est possible : clavier, gamepad, souris... (si si, même que c'est pas mal !)
Le contenu est immense, avec + de 100 niveaux à parcourir, à peu près tous aussi malins / bien conçus les uns que les autres. Voir le bout vous demandera du skill et de la patience. Perso, j'ai fini tous les niveaux mais pas avec le max d'étoiles, certains sont vraiment retors. 😅
On retrouve aussi, bien sûr, le mode "infini" à la Tetris, un marathon où il faut faire le plus gros score. Là aussi c'est pas mal corsé. Enfin (et ensuite je crois que je n'aurai rien oublié) on trouve une collab' avec Space Invaders ! Ça mélange un peu les deux jeux pour un résultat plutôt chaotique mais réussi. Lui aussi faisable en coop. :)
Voilà, donc non ça ne va pas révolutionner la licence ou le genre, mais c'est une excellente version de ce grand classique. À mon sens, c'est ce qu'il se fait de mieux dans le genre puzzle game. À la fois technique, malin, ça mélange réflexion et skill, c'est ultra mignon, y a énormément de niveaux et un bon paquet de contenus (personnages etc.) à débloquer, ça se joue à l'infini... :)
Je conseille !
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! est dispo sur Steam et Nintendo Switch 1 & 2
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Nucléaire : 3 réacteurs arrêtés... par des méduses
Des méduses antinucléaires ? Le 10 août, le groupe EDF a annoncé sur son site l'arrêt de trois réacteurs de la centrale nucléaire de Gravelines (Nord). Le coupable : un afflux massif de méduses dans les stations de pompage d'eau de la mer du Nord, qui refroidissent la centrale. Un incident similaire s'était déjà produit durant l'été 2025.
Lire la suite - En bref / Nucléaire
« Cette situation n'entraîne aucune conséquence sur la sûreté des installations, la sécurité du personnel ou sur l'environnement », a assuré EDF, comme (…) -
Trump put a wrecking-ball through the East Wing – and through democratic norms | Francine Prose
Our children should be able to visit our nation’s capital without having to think about Donald Trump and about how much he did to deface it
History has shown us how much dictators and aspiring dictators love building monuments to themselves. They enjoy reminding the world that they can do anything, no matter who is responsible for the physical labor or who will be paying the financial and human cost.
They prefer outsized structures, heroic arches, towers and columns designed to prove that their signature and their esthetic will be with us forever, even after they’re dead, though dictators often seem to believe they are too powerful to die.
Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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How Jeanine Pirro Framed Davey Hearn
For a post, I wrote up a list of everything we know about how Jeanine Pirro succeeded in getting a felony indictment against Davey Hearn. I’ve summarized this here.- There are two main witnesses who implicated Davey Hearn: a female Parks Service employee who claims he told her she was “awfully sensitive about the pool,” and Emily Miller, the right wing propagandist who captured his arrest and claimed to talk to Pirro’s people about the case; Miller may be a witness mentioned in the arrest affidavit (she blocked me when I asked if she was on Xitter).
- That woman from the Parks Service did not testify to the grand jury and the investigative witness who did (MF) emphasized that her testimony “was not a sworn statement.” She’s the source of the claim that Hearn “violently” ripped at the pool liner.
- There are two photographs, one posted publicly by Hearn before he was charged, and another taken by a government employee, both of which show the damage was already done before Hearn reached his hand into the water.
- With regards to Hearn’s photo: the government did not present it to the grand jury (which is not a clearcut abuse) but also did not mention it in an affidavit to seize his phone (which is).
- With regards to the other photo, the government seems to have claimed that the female Parks Service employee took it and obscured when it was taken; Pirro’s MTD corrects the timing and attributes the photo to another government employee. The government refused to provide Hearn with metadata to prove this before they dismissed the case.
- There is CCTV footage that should have been turned over to Hearn that was not — footage that was shared with Jesse Watters so he could do propaganda to support Trump’s claims of sabotage. It almost certainly would debunk the entirety the Parks Service employee testimony.
- Even if we buy Pirro’s suspect claims about what Interior turned over when or her claimed ignorance about the problems with the pool before that, we know she had notice of the problems with the pool well before July 16 or 17, when she claims DOJ discovered the problems for the first time. DOJ knew of a damage assessment Interior did — which included a map of many different sites of damage — no later than July 10 (when she turned over the report to Hearn). And investigative agents were at the pool on July 13, three or four days earlier than Pirro let on in her report.
- The harms witness (MR) testified to the grand jury twice. The first time he described tons of pre-existing damage and said it would not be possible to isolate the damage attributed to Hearn. The second time (21 minutes later), he claimed he could attribute $1,000 of damage to Hearn. The prosecutor who sent MR back into the grand jury to give conflicting testimony — he said “Hopefully that kind of nailed down that specific question” to the grand jury after MR changed his story — is probably the prosecutor most responsible for the abuses in the prosecution.
In other words, we have a pretty good sense of how Hearn was indicted: An unreliable Parks Service employee made suspect claims about him, which were presented via an investigative witness, not under oath. DOJ covered up the photographic evidence they had (or Hearn had taken) that the pool was damaged before he got there. And their harms witness was sent back to the grand jury to give testimony that arguably conflicted with what he had given 21 minutes earlier so they could meet a crucial element of the felony offense.
The post How Jeanine Pirro Framed Davey Hearn appeared first on emptywheel.
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La meilleure distribution Linux n'existe pas - Voici la vôtre
Bonne nouvelle les amis, je viens de vous mettre en ligne un sélecteur de distribution Linux !! 35 distributions dans la balance, vingt questions max et à l'arrivée, le nom du Linux qu'il vous faut !
Parce que oui, la "meilleure" distribution Linux n'existe pas dans l'absolu. En fait, le bon choix dépend de votre machine, de votre usage et du temps que vous acceptez d'y passer. Posez la question à deux personnes, l'une répondra Linux Mint, l'autre CachyOS, et les deux auront raison !
L'outil vous demande vos usages et ce que vous avez sous la main... L'âge de la machine, la RAM, la carte graphique, un Windows à garder à côté, et ce que vous comptez en faire, jouer compris.
Le questionnaire se raccourcit ensuite selon ce que vous avez déjà répondu et au final, vous repartez avec une distribution, sa fiche technique et 2 alternatives si celle-là ne vous branche pas.
J'ai remarqué que ce qui manquait à la plupart des classements de ce type, c'était le "pourquoi pas cette distrib ?". C'est pour cela que mon sélecteur affiche aussi les distributions écartées avec la raison de leur élimination, et celles qui ne démarreront même pas chez vous. Hé oui, un vieux PC en 32 bits n'a plus grand monde à se mettre sous la dent depuis que Debian 13 a supprimé son noyau i386.
Et quand Linux n'est pas la réponse à votre besoin, il vous prévient. Par exemple, si votre travail dépend de la suite Adobe ou d'un jeu avec un système anti-triche, l'outil ne fera pas semblant du contraire.
Et bien sûr, tout cela tourne exclusivement dans votre navigateur, et rien ne part ailleurs dans le cloud. En plus c'est gratuit ! 35 distributions ne font évidemment pas tout l'écosystème Linux, et j'ai dû faire des choix mais ça vous donne déjà un nom précis sur lequel vous lancer en toute sérénité.
Et si vous voulez découvrir les autres services Korben c'est par ici .
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Trump Media's quarterly loss widens to $238 million from $20 million a year earlier
Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O), opens new tab, founded by U.S. President Donald Trump and known for its Truth Social platform, reported a wider second-quarter loss, largely due to unrealized losses tied to its cryptocurrency assets. Its second-quarter net loss jumped to $238.1 million from about $20 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement. -
Trump Picks Project 2025 Co-Author for Role That Would Oversee Any Reflecting Pool Review
President Trump has chosen Dennis Kirk, a co-author of the right-wing road map known as Project 2025, as inspector general for the Interior Department, a role that would oversee any review of the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The White House announced the nomination of Mr. Kirk, a former adviser to Tulsi Gabbard when she served as director of national intelligence, and a staff member at the conservative Heritage Foundation, last week. His nomination is subject to Senate approval. -
Trump reportedly hid in catering container to board secret flight in Turkey amid Iran threat
Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey to Britain last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse – prompted by an Iranian assassination threat – that involved hiding the president in an airport catering container, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times. The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post. -
Progressive praise for Trump as Warren backs push to curb defense contractor CEO payouts
Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., issued extremely rare credit to President Donald Trump for pressuring defense companies to put more money back into building weapons and expanding production rather than returning it to investors and lining stakeholders' pockets. Warren and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are urging War Secretary Pete Hegseth to make Trump's restrictions on stock buybacks for defense contractors permanent, according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital. The bipartisan duo argue the policy is already changing how major defense companies spend their money and bolstering national security and military readiness. Senator Elizabeth Warren is seen asking questions of Kevin Warsh during his confirmation hearing. -
The Straits Are Not OK
At time of writing, U.S. President Donald Trump's haphazard attacks on Iran have killed 18 U.S. service members, an unknown number of Iranian civilians and military personnel, and cost tens of billions of dollars. Most importantly for everyone else on Earth, it has closed the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. Approximately 90 percent of traded goods are shipped by sea. Disruptions caused by a war over vitally important naval choke points are not new, nor are their calamitous economic effects. Trump's war has catalyzed a reversion to a period before Great Britain and the United States enforced the neutrality of major global waterways in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a deliberately manufactured situation that modern Americans inherited without remembering or understanding that it was artificial, and like everything artificial, needed to be maintained. -
Trente trois heures de garde à vue et trois nuits en prison pour une banderole sur un pont
Selon leur avocat, « la machine s’est clairement emballée. Ils ont voulu les intimider, les casser pour les dégoûter de l’action militante pour une action purement symbolique. »
Cet article Trente trois heures de garde à vue et trois nuits en prison pour une banderole sur un pont est apparu en premier sur La Relève et La Peste.
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« Restez chez vous » : à la montagne, ces randonneurs subissent le racisme
[Le renouveau de la rando 1/4] Randonnée, alpinisme, bivouac : les espaces naturels sont présentés comme universels, mais restent traversés par le racisme, entre moqueries et soupçons. Une génération de randonneurs racisés raconte. Et commence, doucement, à changer la donne.
Lire la suite - Info / Antiracisme
C'est une vidéo comme il s'en poste des dizaines chaque jour. Un jeune homme se filme longeant une rivière, surplombée par des montagnes. Mais lui, il s'appelle Omar. Et il s'adresse en ces mots à ceux qui le (…) -
Journal de bord de Gaza : « Ils nous exterminent à petit feu »
Rami Abou Jamous écrit son journal pour Orient XXI. Dans ce texte, il revient sur les raisons de son silence, la mort de proches à Gaza — dont celle de la tante de son épouse Sabah —, la réduction de l'aide humanitaire et une situation qui empire chaque jour, à Gaza comme en Cisjordanie.
Cet article est publié par Orient XXI.
Samedi 25 juillet.
Salut les amis. Toujours vivant.
Chers lecteurs, chères lectrices, cela fait longtemps que je n'ai pas donné de nouvelles, et je vous prie de me pardonner. Je sais que vous vous êtes inquiétés et que les informations sur Gaza vous manquent. J'ai eu quelques soucis de santé, mais ensuite, je ne sais pas pourquoi, je n'ai pas repris l'écriture. Sabah, ma femme, me demandait souvent : « Pourquoi n'écris-tu pas ? » Le problème, c'est que je n'avais pas de réponse. Depuis plus d'un mois, je vivais avec un cerveau qui voulait parler de tout, et un cœur saturé de chagrin et de tristesse qui n'avait pas envie de parler. Peut-être que ce génocide qui ne cesse pas depuis trois ans, ces catastrophes et massacres quotidiens, ce stress permanent pesaient trop lourd.
Il y a beaucoup de choses à raconter et, en même temps, la communauté internationale n'a rien à dire. Rien de ce qu'il se passe à Gaza n'a d'écho dans le silence du monde. Ni dans mon propre silence que je ne comprends pas moi-même. De quoi était-il fait ? Peut-être que j'avais simplement besoin de me reposer. Peut-être que j'étais arrivé à un point où j'avais besoin de ne rien dire, où je n'avais plus rien à dire.
Pendant le mois écoulé, nous sommes passés par de grands moments de tristesse. Sabah a perdu sa tante, pas à cause d'un bombardement, mais à cause des rats. Oui, à cause des rats. À Gaza, vous le savez, plus de 1,5 million de personnes vivent toujours sous des tentes dans des camps de fortune. Ces gens sont entassés les uns à côté des autres, concentrés dans 30 % de la surface de Gaza, c'est-à-dire à peu près 120 kilomètres carrés. Récemment, et surtout avec la chaleur, la majorité de ces tentes ont été attaquées par les rats, par les souris, par les reptiles, par les rongeurs.
Quand ils installent leurs bâches, les déplacés essaient de trouver un mur auquel adosser leur abri, afin d'économiser les toiles sur un côté, et pour avoir un pan solide où planter des clous, par exemple. C'est ce qu'avait fait la tante de Sabah. Elle n'avait été déplacée qu'une fois, contrairement à la majorité des Gazaouis, qui ont dû errer d'un endroit à un autre sous les attaques israéliennes. Elle était originaire du quartier de Shejaya — dans l'est de la ville de Gaza —, qui a été complètement rasé par l'armée israélienne. Elle avait fini sous une tente dans le centre de la ville. Cette tente, elle l'avait plantée contre le mur resté debout d'une maison détruite. Il a fini par s'effondrer sur la famille : les rats avaient creusé des trous sous ses fondations fragiles. Toute la famille s'est retrouvée à l'hôpital. Huda est morte au bout de quelques jours. Qu'elle repose en paix. Sa fille a été amputée d'une jambe. Elle est diabétique, ce qui va aggraver ses souffrances.
Il y a aussi l'histoire de cet ami que vous connaissez peut-être, le rappeur palestinien Ayman Mghames [1] qui travaillait avec moi quand j'étais fixeur. Il m'aidait pour les contacts avec les journalistes et pour les traductions. Il a eu la chance de pouvoir quitter Gaza avec sa femme et ses enfants, et est actuellement en France. Malheureusement, il n'a pas pu faire évacuer sa mère, ainsi que son frère et sa famille. Sa belle-sœur a été transférée avec ses enfants en Égypte, où elle est traitée pour un cancer. Le frère d'Ayman était resté à Gaza avec sa mère. Mais il souffrait d'une insuffisance rénale qui lui a été fatale, faute de soins adéquats. Qu'il repose en paix.
Ce n'est qu'un mort parmi tant d'autres. Chaque jour, on apprend la mort d'un ami proche, d'un voisin, dans un bombardement ou à cause d'une maladie non soignée. Tout cela dans le silence du monde entier. Bien sûr, je ne parle pas des populations. Je sais qu'il y a une forte mobilisation, que ce soit en France ou ailleurs, et je sais que beaucoup de lecteurs et lectrices attendent mon journal parce qu'ils veulent savoir ce qu'il se passe à Gaza. Ils veulent savoir la vérité, connaître la réalité.
Je parle du silence des dirigeants et des décideurs de la communauté internationale. Nous sommes étranglés par l'occupation, massacrés par les Israéliens, dans une impunité totale, à Gaza comme en Cisjordanie où les colons armés attaquent sans cesse les villages. L'objectif, c'est la déportation des Palestiniens. Le plan est désormais sur la table. En Cisjordanie, il est mis en œuvre par les colons, protégés par l'armée d'occupation. Des agences de presse ont récemment rapporté la version israélienne d'une attaque de colons contre un village proche de Naplouse : des « randonneurs » auraient été « attaqués » par des Palestiniens. De paisibles promeneurs amateurs de nature parcourant les territoires palestiniens pour en admirer les paysages auraient donc été agressés par des terroristes sanguinaires qui détestent les sacs à dos.
Je parle du silence des dirigeants et des décideurs de la communauté internationale. Nous sommes étranglés par l'occupation, massacrés par les Israéliens, dans une impunité totale, à Gaza comme en Cisjordanie où les colons armés attaquent sans cesse les villages. L'objectif, c'est la déportation des Palestiniens. Le plan est désormais sur la table. En Cisjordanie, il est mis en œuvre par les colons, protégés par l'armée d'occupation. Des agences de presse ont récemment rapporté la version israélienne d'une attaque de colons contre un village proche de Naplouse : des « randonneurs » auraient été « attaqués » par des Palestiniens. De paisibles promeneurs amateurs de nature parcourant les territoires palestiniens pour en admirer les paysages auraient donc été agressés par des terroristes sanguinaires qui détestent les sacs à dos.
Il s'agissait en réalité d'une milice de colons armés de fusils M16 venus, comme à leur habitude, harceler et brutaliser les habitants. Un jeune Palestinien a saisi l'arme du chef de bande et l'a tué sur le coup. Les « randonneurs » ont le droit d'attaquer les villages, de brûler les mosquées et les champs, de tuer qui ils veulent. Les Palestiniens qui veulent simplement vivre sur leurs terres n'ont pas le droit de gâcher leurs promenades.
Comment relier ces deux réalités, celle de la propagande israélienne et celle du terrain ? Là aussi, je ne savais que dire, et c'est une des raisons pour lesquelles j'ai gardé le silence pendant un moment. La réalité, la voici : à Gaza, la situation est de pire en pire. Le génocide continue. L'eau potable devient rare. Les ONG internationales, même les ONG onusiennes, sont en train de réduire leur activité dans l'enclave. La majorité de la population dépend de l'aide humanitaire qui diminue de plus en plus. Le responsable des situations d'urgence du Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) vient d'annoncer que « ce mois-ci, l'aide en espèces qui était destinée à 75 000 personnes a été réduite de 25 %, tandis que 220 000 foyers ont vu leurs rations alimentaires divisées par deux », ajoutant que « d'ici le mois d'octobre, le PAM devra procéder à des coupes bien plus importantes à moins que des financements supplémentaires ne soient obtenus » [2]. Il a averti qu'une nouvelle famine risquait de s'installer à Gaza en décembre prochain. L'ONG World Central Kitchen (WCK), qui livrait jusqu'ici 1 500 000 repas par jour aux cuisines communautaires, a divisé son aide par deux. La diminution de l'aide humanitaire touche aussi l'emploi. Beaucoup d'habitants de la bande de Gaza employés par des ONG internationales ou des associations locales ont été licenciés.
Le soutien de la diaspora tend pareillement à diminuer. Depuis le début du génocide, de nombreuses familles gazaouies étaient soutenues par leurs amis, par leurs frères, par leurs familles à l'étranger qui leur envoyaient régulièrement de l'argent, ou à travers des cagnottes en ligne. Trois ans après, beaucoup de ces familles n'ont plus les moyens de financer leurs parents. Ceux qui en ont les moyens, ainsi que les donateurs des cagnottes, peuvent se lasser devant une situation sans issue. Et surtout, les Palestiniens de l'étranger peuvent être trompés par les images renvoyées par des médias occidentaux et israéliens qui prétendent que c'est la belle vie à Gaza. On nous parle d'un « cessez-le-feu » qui n'existe pas. On nous montre des épiceries où l'on trouve du chocolat, du Nutella et du ketchup. Ils ne montrent pas les 1,5 million de personnes qui vivent sous des tentes dans des conditions de vie atroces. Ils ne montrent pas le système de santé quasi anéanti, les enfants qui courent après les camions-citernes pour récupérer un peu d'eau, qui font la queue dans une chaleur torride pour un plat de lentilles. En France, la canicule a quand même fait des milliers de morts malgré un bon système de santé. Imaginez ses effets à Gaza, sur des enfants, et des personnes âgées qui vivent sous des bâches. Sous le soleil, ces bâches et ces toiles de tente se transforment en serres où les gens brûlent.
Gaza est aujourd'hui étranglée économiquement, plus que militairement. Pendant la période la plus intense du génocide, les prix de l'alimentation pouvaient être multipliés par 100. Un kilo de pommes atteignait 100 shekels (près de 29 euros), et l'on trouvait quand même des acheteurs. Aujourd'hui, le kilo de pommes est à 10 shekels (près de 3 euros), mais presque plus personne ne peut se l'offrir. Les gens qui avaient un peu d'argent n'en ont plus du tout. Ceux qui avaient un peu d'économies les ont perdues. J'ai dépensé presque toutes mes économies dans ce génocide. Je n'arrive plus à fournir à mes enfants une vie normale.
Tous les jours, il y a des bombardements, tous les jours il y a des morts soit dans les frappes, soit par manque de soins, comme le frère d'Ayman. Ceux qui souffrent de maladies graves — cancer, insuffisance rénale, problèmes respiratoires et dermatologiques —, ceux qui ont été amputés ne peuvent être soignés. Tous ces malades sont en train de mourir silencieusement, mais dans de grandes souffrances. Les Israéliens nous tuent aussi par le manque d'hygiène. Les rats attaquent des bébés. Selon Bassem Zaqout, directeur de l'organisation Palestinian Medical Relief Society (l'Association de secours médical palestinien, PMRS) :
Il y a eu 3 958 fausses couches chez des femmes enceintes au cours du premier semestre 2026, à cause des déplacements sur des routes dégradées et à bord de moyens de transport non sécurisés, de l'état de peur permanent provoqué par les bombardements, ainsi qu'aux conditions de vie extrêmement difficiles : dormir à même le sol, absence d'eau chaude et de produits d'hygiène, et propagation de conditions sanitaires insalubres dans les camps de déplacés.
Et puis, dans cet océan de misère, il y a les nouvelles fortunes nées des divers trafics, souvent en liaison avec les Israéliens. Ces nouveaux riches aiment se montrer. Ils paradent dans des voitures à 100 000 euros, voire à 200 000 euros. Ils achètent des terrains, des maisons, ou ce qu'il en reste, et les reconstruisent, ce qui coûte une fortune à cause du manque de matériaux, mais les trafiquants trouvent les moyens de s'en procurer au prix fort.
La guerre a déchiré le tissu social de Gaza. Bien sûr, il y a toujours des cas de solidarité entre les familles, mais faute de moyens, faute d'argent, faute de tout, c'est de plus en plus « chacun pour soi ». On est en mode survie, parce qu'il n'y a pas de vie à Gaza. C'est le plus fort qui reste en vie. Le plus fort financièrement, le plus fort physiquement, qui peut chercher du travail, et qui est le premier servi dans les queues pour l'aide humanitaire et pour l'eau. Les moins forts appartiennent à la catégorie de ceux qui vont mourir.
Tout cela, c'était sans doute la raison de mon silence. L'impression d'avoir le cœur plein de choses à dire, mais en même temps de ne pas arriver à les dire. C'est l'effet de trois ans d'un génocide sans fin. Et surtout de ce sentiment de ne pas être écouté. Cette « communauté internationale », ces gouvernements qui nous voient, qui nous entendent, qui voient tout ce qu'il se passe… Pourquoi nous traitent-ils ainsi ? Pourquoi ne nous considèrent-ils pas comme des êtres humains ? Pourquoi cette impunité d'Israël ? Pourquoi cet État est-il intouchable ? Pourquoi ces massacres, ce terrorisme d'État ? Ils disent clairement qu'ils veulent nous déporter, qu'ils veulent chasser la population de Gaza et y installer des colonies. Et l'Occident ne bouge pas. Peut-être que j'avais besoin de me taire, de réfléchir à ce que nous sommes en train de vivre. Parce que notre société a changé. Nous avons changé. Nous essayons de continuer à vivre, de trouver des moments de joie, mais nous y arrivons de plus en plus rarement.
La stratégie israélienne a évolué. Elle utilise maintenant l'effet grenouille. Au lieu de nous tuer directement et en masse, ils nous exterminent à petit feu, comme une grenouille plongée dans une eau qui se réchauffe graduellement. Elle ne le sent pas, et, quand l'eau bout, il est trop tard. Pour les Israéliens, leur ministre de la défense en 2023 Yoav Gallant (inculpé par la Cour pénale internationale de « crimes de guerre » et de « crimes contre l'humanité ») l'a dit, nous sommes des « animaux humains ». J'écris ces mots avec une grande tristesse. D'habitude, c'est mon cerveau qui parle, mais là, c'est mon cœur. Je sens que la communauté internationale sait très bien qu'à la fin, la grenouille va mourir.
Fondateur de GazaPress, un bureau qui fournissait aide et traduction aux journalistes occidentaux, Rami Abou Jamous a dû quitter en octobre 2023 son appartement de Gaza-ville avec sa femme Sabah, les enfants de celle-ci, et leur fils Walid, trois ans, sous la menace de l'armée israélienne. Ils se sont réfugiés à Rafah, ensuite à Deir El-Balah et plus tard à Nusseirat. Après un nouveau déplacement suite à la rupture du cessez-le-feu par Israël le 18 mars 2025, Rami est rentré chez lui avec sa famille le 9 octobre 2025. Le 12 octobre 2024, le Prix Bayeux pour les correspondants de guerre et le quotidien Ouest France ont récompensé, par deux fois, dans la catégorie presse écrite, Rami Abou Jamous pour son « Journal de bord de Gaza ». Le 18 mai 2026, il a reçu le Prix Nord-Sud du Conseil de l'Europe — 31e édition. Un prix décerné depuis 1995 aux personnalités engagées pour les droits humains et la solidarité Nord-Sud.
[1] Ayman Mghames, « Ma mère a enterré son fils seule à Gaza », Politis, 21 juillet 2026.
[2] Olivia Le Poidevin, « WFP warns of deeper cuts in Gaza aid due to donor fatigue », Reuters, 24 juillet 2026.
Photo d'illustration de l'article : Camp de réfugiés de Bureij, au centre de la bande de Gaza, le 20 mai 2026. Une enfant palestinienne déplacée se tient debout sur les décombres au lendemain d'une frappe israélienne qui a visé une maison.
EYAD BABA / AFP -
Amazon brade de 150 € sa liseuse premium Kindle Scribe qui fait carnet de notes
[Deal du jour] Le Kindle Scribe est une liseuse haut de gamme d’Amazon qui permet également la prise de notes via un stylet. Amazon retire 150 € de son prix initial au modèle 64 Go.
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Qui possède vos médias préférés ?
Aujourd'hui, je tiens à vous présenter cette extension navigateur qui colle le nom du propriétaire à côté des résultats Google dont le média est référencé, aussi bien dans la recherche Web que dans l'onglet Actualités. Ça s'appelle "Qui possède ?" et sa base de référence contient 584 médias français.
Une fois le propriétaire identifié, le badge reste affiché quand vous arrivez sur le site du média.
Au survol du badge, la chaîne de détention se déroule alors en entier, du média jusqu'au propriétaire final, avec la source de l'info. Les données viennent de l'open data d'Acrimed et du Monde diplomatique + les propres recherches de l'auteur de l'extension. Ensuite, les propriétaires sont répartis dans 7 catégories : milliardaire, famille ou propriétaire privé, groupe de presse, banque ou fonds, public, religieux, et indépendant.
Bien sûr, Korben.info est dedans, chez les indépendants, avec moi comme seul propriétaire ^^.
La base est embarquée dans l'extension, disponible sur Chrome, Firefox et Firefox Android et les permissions de celle-ci se limitent au stockage local, à 6 domaines Google et aux sites des médias référencés. Aucun serveur tiers n'est donc appelé et en plus c'est gratuit.
Et s'il manque un média, un bouton apparaîtra même dans les résultats pour le proposer. Bref, installez-la sur Chrome ou Firefox , et signalez les médias qui manquent.
Merci REDMAMBA l'auteur de l'extension pour le partage !
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Les travaux du plus grand data center d'Europe ont commencé en Île-de-France
Les travaux du data center de Fouju (Seine-et-Marne) ont commencé. Céline Malaisé, conseillère régionale d'Île-de-France (Parti communiste), s'est rendue sur place pour constater que le ballet des bulldozers avait débuté, comme le montrent ses images publiées sur Instagram.
Lire la suite - En bref / Numérique
Le préfet de Seine-et-Marne a donné son autorisation le 29 juillet pour lancer le chantier de cet immense data center, qui va artificialiser 90 hectares de terres agricoles. Il devrait consommer, à lui seul, autant (…) -
Non, l’ancienne ministre du Travail n’a jamais parlé d’« opulence » pour les retraités à plus de 2 000 euros
Source :Compte Facebook, le 9 août 2026
Etiqe :Inventé
Contenu :
Selon de nombreuses publications en ligne, l’ancienne ministre aurait proposée une nouvelle taxe pour les « seniors bénéficiant d’une retraite supérieure à 2 000 euros », estimant qu’il serait « inacceptable de vivre dans l’opulence en cette période ».
Une phrase choc, empreinte d’une forme de mépris, qui a particulièrement agacé de nombreux internautes. « Opulence ? 2000 euros ? Se fout du monde eux qui ont des gros salaires et tous les avantages …. La honte.. », s’agace l’un d’entre eux.
« Elle est complètement folle cette ministre c’est plutôt un Sinistre ! Bon maintenant ça suffit ! Nous devons nous révolter !!!! », ajoute une autre internaute, au milieu d’un torrent d’insultes.
Problème : l’ancienne ministre du Travail n’a jamais prononcé cette phrase, comme l’ont déjà montré nos confrères de franceinfo, en juillet 2025. Mais la désinformation continuant de circuler, Les Surligneurs mettent également la main à la pâte.
Une fausse citation indélébile
Malgré nos recherches, nous n’avons retrouvé aucune trace d’une déclaration plus récente allant dans ce sens. Ni dans la presse ni dans les communications officielles de l’ancienne ministre.
La fausse citation, elle, n’a pourtant jamais vraiment disparu. Les Surligneurs en ont retrouvé les premières occurrences en février 2025, sur TikTok. Sans qu’il soit possible d’établir un lien direct, ces publications apparaissent quelques jours après l’invitation de la ministre sur le plateau de l’émission « Bonjour ! », la matinale de TF1.
Au cours de cette interview, la ministre défend l’idée de taxer davantage les retraités les plus aisés. Le seuil de « 2 000 – 2500 euros » est évoqué comme une hypothèse, mais la phrase concernant « l’opulence » dont bénéficieraient ces seniors n’est jamais prononcée.
Quoi qu’il en soit, la fausse citation entame ensuite une longue vie numérique. En juillet 2025, elle refait surface. Un internaute s’agace sur Facebook, estimant que « ces propos ne peuvent soulever que la colère, ils sont d’une indignité incommensurable ! »
Il publie également un visuel montrant le visage de la ministre, accompagné de la citation litigieuse et d’un titre : « Mépris de classe ».
Un an plus tard, en juillet 2026, la fausse citation apparaît une nouvelle fois. L’article des Surligneurs aura-t-il davantage d’impact ?
Auteurs :
Auteur : Étienne Merle, journaliste
Relectrice : Clara Robert-Motta, journaliste
Liens d’intérêts ou fonctions politiques déclarés des intervenants à l’article : aucun
Secrétariat de rédaction : Étienne Merle, journaliste
L’article Non, l’ancienne ministre du Travail n’a jamais parlé d’« opulence » pour les retraités à plus de 2 000 euros est apparu en premier sur Les Surligneurs.
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Nom, adresse, téléphone, commande… Une cyberattaque chez un prestataire de Steam expose les données personnelles de clients
Valve, qui exploite la plateforme de distribution numérique de jeux vidéo pour PC Steam, a averti par e-mail une partie de ses clients européens : leurs données personnelles ont pu être compromises à la suite d’une cyberattaque survenue chez CEVA Logistics, l’entreprise chargée d’expédier le matériel Steam sur le continent et filiale de CMA CGM.
