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Navi Pillay Punctured Trump’s Overblown Ego in Six Words
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Article by Steve Kaagan republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, gestures after a press conference in Geneva on September 16, 2025.
(Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/ AFP via Getty Images)
With one seemingly off-hand comment, Pillay framed a comparison between a cause she has fought for her whole life on behalf of her fellow human beings and the smallness of a man who is doing his best to unravel that work.
Asked for her thoughts, after learning that the Nobel Committee had awarded her the 2026 Peace Prize, Navi Pillay added a one-liner to an appreciative response, “I’ll share the award with Trump.” The seemingly off-hand comment was anything but. Rather, it showed power and depth in its pointedness, irony, sarcasm, humor, wisdom, and humanity. Here, within the context in which it was made, is what I gleaned from the comment.
The Nobel Committee’s rationale for awarding Pillay the prize included her dedicated efforts to defend international institutions and protect human rights. As a justice on the International Criminal Court, she had secured the indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity committed against the people of Gaza, which amounted to genocide.
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Perhaps the most obvious connection she was making with the comment was the futile gesture of Maria Corina Machado, 2025 Peace Prize winner. Machado attempted to leverage Trump’s support for her movement’s claim to the presidency of Venezuela, by sharing her Peace Prize with him—a move the Nobel Committee prohibits. In effect, Pillay was saying, “Look what that got her, nothing.” The implication is that it is wrongheaded to believe that pandering to petty, aspiring dictators will yield anything positive for a righteous cause.
Her use of humor highlighted its essential role in dressing down bullies who blatantly seek to dominate other human beings and trample on their inherent rights.
At the same time, with her sarcastic jibe, she added emphasis to the cause for which she was awarded the prize, the defense of international institutions and protection of human rights. In citing Trump by name she implied that he is the “poster boy” for the very assault she has dedicated her life to countering, particularly through her work at the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Additionally, her use of humor highlighted its essential role in dressing down bullies who blatantly seek to dominate other human beings and trample on their inherent rights. Through implicit ridicule she deftly punctured an overblown ego. Whether the target of the jibe gathered the intent or not was immaterial. Others would get the gist.
Navi’s use of sarcasm also served another purpose. It eviscerated Trump’s assertions of power, making a distinction between real power that derives from righteous cause and mutual respect, and the semblance of power that comes from the fawning of sycophants. It also reinforced the absence of Trump’s moral standing as world leader and portrayed him appropriately as one for whom “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” is his most notable achievement.
With one seemingly off-hand comment, Navi Pillay framed a comparison between a cause she has fought for her whole life on behalf of her fellow human beings and the smallness of a man who is doing his best to unravel an endeavor which, for a quarter of a millennium, has served as a beacon to the world for the ennoblement of humanity. More power to her!
Article by Steve Kaagan republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Donald Trump warns against following the Onaquietday.org blog, says that he’s heard that she’s a which with a black cat and a dangerous kitchen.
15 October 2026
‘Malicious Use’ of AI, Nuclear War Pose Extinction Threat to Humanity This Century: Lancet Study
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Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Protesters gather outside an OpenAI developers conference at Fort Mason on September 29, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
“Although the likelihood of both dangers remains low, the scale of harm, should they be realized, would inflict an apocalypse on humanity.”
A comprehensive new assessment of worldwide health threats published in The Lancet concludes that nuclear war and “malicious use” of artificial intelligence pose existential risks to humanity over the remainder of the 21st century, a finding that comes amid mounting global concern about the implications of rapid AI advancements.
The Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Threats to Health, comprised of dozens of experts across a range of fields, identifies 17 leading threats to human health and society, from the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency and pandemics to childhood malnutrition, income inequality, conventional war, and air pollution. Two of the threats carry “extinction potential” this century, according to the commission: nuclear conflict and misuse of AI.
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“Although the likelihood of both dangers remains low, the scale of harm, should they be realized, would inflict an apocalypse on humanity,” The Lancet warned in an editorial accompanying the new analysis, which was presented Sunday at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany.
The commission notes that AI’s “potential to advance health and wellbeing is enormous,” but “the risk of catastrophic harm is equally profound.” The authors of the analysis point to several ways in which AI could be “used maliciously,” including the design of bioweapons, autonomous nukes, and invasive ransomware targeting global healthcare and financial institutions.
“The final pathway is loss of control through the emergence of agentic, unaligned artificial general intelligence,” the analysis states. “This loss of control includes AI systems creating subgoals that lead to the seeking of human disempowerment or elimination, particularly if such agents autonomously gain access to financial networks, key infrastructure, or physical tools in the real world.”
Regarding the existential threat of nuclear conflict, the study authors note that a famine stemming from atomic warfare “would affect all regions of the world, including those far from the conflict itself, through reduced caloric availability and cascading food-system failures.”
“The devastation that could result from nuclear war cannot be overstated,” the analysis argues. “The risk is not hypothetical: We found that between 1948 and 2010, 22 nuclear weapon accidents and 21 close calls were recorded. Future nuclear conflicts could occur due to multiple distinct mechanisms, including nuclear exchange arising from international crises between nuclear powers, accidental detonation of nuclear warheads, terrorist use of nuclear devices, and AI deployment of nuclear weapons.”
To avert the most catastrophic possible outcomes and mitigate other threats, the commission calls for “collective action between nations and within nations,” emphasizing that risks posed by AI, nuclear war, the climate crisis, and future pandemics “cannot be solved by governments or other actors acting for their own national populations alone.”
Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and co-chair of the new commission, said in a statement that “the striking finding is not only the scale of these threats, but that humanity still has the agency to act.”
“Across all 17 catastrophic threats, the decisions made by leaders today will shape the health and wellbeing of the next generation,” said Murray. “But delaying action will only serve to shift and increase the costs into the future.”
Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
dizzy: I’m surprised that ongoing climate destruction does not meet the measure of carrying “extinction potential” this century. I certainly believe that it does around 2060.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
14 October 2026
Air Force Major Who Called for Trump’s Impeachment Is in Solitary Confinement 24 Hours a Day
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Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Air Force Maj. Jason Watson stands on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, holding a sign calling for the impeachment and removal of US President Donald Trump on July 1, 2026.
(Photo by The Removal Coalition)
One law professor told Common Dreams the detention of Maj. Jason Watson was a “blatant case of illegal pretrial punishment.”
Air Force Maj. Jason Watson was arrested July 1 on the steps of the US Capitol after calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. According to his lawyer, he’s now being held in solitary confinement 24 hours a day in what some legal experts say could amount to illegal pretrial punishment.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) contains provisions barring officers from engaging in public political activities that are typically protected for civilians, including criticizing the president and other elected officials.
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Prosecutors have charged Watson with violating them when he participated in a news conference calling for Trump to be removed from office over his launching of military actions against Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela without congressional authorization.
After the speech, Watson stood on the Capitol steps holding a sign that read “Impeach, Convict, Remove” and was arrested after he refused to move.
Before he was charged, Watson gave a CNN interview on August 17 in which he continued to criticize Trump, accusing him of “flagrantly violating the Constitution” and “breaking the law.”
He acknowledged that he could face severe consequences as a result of his speech: “We just have to be willing to accept that we can change what is happening in our country if we are just willing to pay a price for it,” he said.
One day later, he was arrested while on duty and taken into pretrial confinement. He now faces a general court-martial, the military’s most severe trial, which is capable of imposing lengthy prison sentences.
“Cruel and unusual form of punishment.” U.S. Air Force Maj. Jason Watson is headed to the most severe form of military trial — a general court-martial — after calling for President Trump’s impeachment while in uniform at the U.S. Capitol. His attorney reveals that Maj. Watson… pic.twitter.com/7izEA47Gh2
— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) October 10, 2026

On Friday, Watson’s lawyer, Christopher Mutimer, told CNN that after nearly two months, Watson is “still in solitary confinement 24 hours a day,” which he said amounted to “cruel and unusual” punishment.
“Even if he gets an hour to eat or to exercise, he is alone,” Mutimer said. “He is literally by himself, with his thoughts, in a room where the light never turns off all day.”
In an essay published Sunday by writer Monte Mader, Watson himself acknowledged spending his days in isolation, revealing that his Bible had only recently been returned to him and that he had little access to news.
Watson described the conditions of his confinement as the reality one must accept when choosing to engage in nonviolent resistance.
“Walking this path,” he said, “means exposing oneself to violence while refusing to retaliate against it.”
Major Jason Watson is NOT a Democrat.

His protest was NOT about party politics.

It was about what he believes his oath requires of him—and the price he’s willing to pay for speaking out.

Everyone has seen the arrest.

Now hear the courageous powerful speech that came first: pic.twitter.com/MMRoiYPV7K
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) July 3, 2026

After his July 1 protest, Watson had been restricted to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington. Though the base reportedly has a confinement facility, following his detention, he was instead moved to a county jail in Maryland.
During Watson’s September 18 preliminary hearing, Maj. Joshua Wendell, the hearing officer, said Watson could not be confined with civilians and was therefore kept in solitary confinement.
“He was placed in confinement because of the law, which puts him in solitary confinement,” Wendell said, according to Stars and Stripes.
Article 13 of the UCMJ “forbids punishing a service member before trial and forbids pretrial restraint more rigorous than the circumstances require.”
Mutimer has pointed out that solitary confinement is “usually reserved for individuals who are disobeying or are violent, and injuring other people,” and usually only for “a day or two, or a week.” Watson, he said, has “been in there for months now.”
Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force judge advocate and professor of law at Southwestern Law School, told Common Dreams that this “seems to be a blatant case of illegal pretrial punishment given that the nature of his pretrial restraint does not seem necessary to either ensure his presence at trial or to prevent foreseeable serious criminal misconduct.”
“Solitary confinement is rare, and must be justified,” she said. “What, is the administration so afraid of this major’s words that he cannot talk to anyone?”
Military defense attorney Cody Harnish, who attended Watson’s preliminary hearing, has raised concerns that his detention could be unlawful and that his especially harsh treatment was political in nature.
“I represent people at court-martial in the military, who are accused of doing some very bad things,” he said during an interview this weekend with Meidas Defense. “They are not in pretrial confinement.”
Harnish noted other abnormal aspects of Watson’s preliminary hearing: He was denied the ability to wear his uniform and instead arrived handcuffed, unshaven, and wearing an undershirt, which pointed to the possibility that he was facing degrading treatment.
He also pointed out that Watson had submitted a request to resign his commission in exchange for avoiding a court-martial, but that the request was denied in 24 hours.
“Nothing gets processed in the military that fast,” he said, suggesting that this could indicate influence from senior Pentagon officials.
During his second term, Trump has used members of the military for political purposes in ways that have challenged longstanding norms of political neutrality. This has included hosting overtly political rallies before uniformed troops, screening them for ideology, and purging senior military officers deemed disloyal.
Harnish suggested that the Trump administration was seeking to make an example out of Watson for speaking out against the president.
“When someone speaks out against this administration in the military,” he said, “they’re going to crush him to silence anyone else in the ranks from ever thinking about it.”
Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would Lock Him Up, small Orca says he thinks that his meds have been changed.
14 October 2026
Big Payback: Corporations That Enjoyed Enforcement Rollback Plowed $200 Million Into Pro-Trump Super PAC
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Article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks to reporters as US President Donald Trump looks on outside the White House on September 29, 2026 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Tierney L. Cross/Pool/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Allowing corporations to make political payments in order to make enforcement go away is hardly a model for governing that supposedly prioritizes ‘law and order,’” said one researcher.
The Trump administration’s canceled enforcement actions against at least 205 corporations accused of wrongdoing have been cases of powerful companies “getting what they paid for,” according to a new report by government watchdog Public Citizen.
Building on an analysis it released earlier this week regarding hundreds of canceled investigations and dismissed lawsuits against companies, many of which have ties to the administration, the group on Thursday published a follow-up report detailing just how much some of the corporations paid to have their legal troubles wiped away.
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Companies that have benefited from the cancellation of enforcement have given $210.5 million in contributions and pledges to MAGA, Inc. and other super political action committees (PACs) that worked to elect President Donald Trump and other Republicans in 2024 and are continuing to back right-wing candidates in the midterms.
As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has benefited from at least eight canceled actions, with lawsuits filed against the former company by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the National Labor Relations Board dismissed and an investigation into data center pollution presumably closed. Tesla has avoided three investigations that the National Highway Traffic Safety had begun and one that the Department of Labor has opened into contract compliance.
The cancellations didn’t come for free, Public Citizen said. Musk—who also served in the administration last year and is now helping with a Pentagon project—donated $5 million to MAGA, Inc. and has pledged to spend $100 million to help elect Republicans this year.
“Corporations and ultrawealthy executives with enormous financial interests before the federal government are pouring extraordinary sums into the president’s political operation,” said Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman. “Once the check is cashed, the administration is pulling back enforcement actions meant to punish corporate misconduct. It’s a great deal for the corporate wrongdoers—at the expense of their victims and the American people.”
Crypto.org is another top beneficiary of Trump’s favorable treatment of the cryptocurrency industry, Wall Street, Big Tech, and large corporations that have pledged to help push his far-right agenda in the elections.
The Securities and Exchange Commission had been investigating allegations that the crypto platform was trading unregistered securities. The probe was abruptly closed in March 2025, after the company gave $35 million to MAGA, Inc. and $2 million to Keep America Great, another super PAC aligned with the president.
“Once the check is cashed, the administration is pulling back enforcement actions meant to punish corporate misconduct.”
Gemini, co-founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, had been facing a similar investigation, but it was also closed after the company gave $20 million to MAGA, Inc.—on top of $10 million each that the two founders personally donated.
“Allowing corporations to make political payments in order to make enforcement go away is hardly a model for governing that supposedly prioritizes ‘law and order,’” wrote Rick Claypool, research director for Public Citizen, in the report. “On the contrary, it is indicative of a profoundly unjust and arbitrary mode of enforcement organized around the principles of rewarding insiders, punishing outsiders, and concentrating power in the hands of an increasingly authoritarian president.”
He noted that while the Trump administration has demonstrated little interest in addressing corporate wrongdoing, “enforcement personnel and resources are being channeled toward punishing immigrants, activists, and perceived political opponents.”
“Restoring the rule of law will be a challenge for the future,” wrote Claypool, “and the path forward will require a rebalance of priorities that ensures that corporations and the powerful cannot pay to protect themselves from federal enforcement that holds them accountable when they break the law.”
Article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Mob rule?
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
11 October 2026
Groups Call Senate Permitting Deal a ‘Blatant Giveaway to Big Oil and Big Tech’
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Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Green-winged teals are seen flying over water at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming on April 25, 2019. (Photo by Tom Koerner/US Fish and Wildlife Service/flickr/cc)
“If it comes to pass, this deal would bulldoze America’s most important wildlife law,” said one campaigner.
A bipartisan Senate proposal to overhaul federal permitting rules drew fierce opposition Wednesday from environmental and wildlife advocates, who warn that the legislation could significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act and other key protections in service of boosting President Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel and artificial intelligence agenda.
Senate negotiators—chiefly Democrats Martin Heinrich (NM) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Republicans Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) and Mike Lee (Utah)—reportedly reached an agreement Monday on the text of a sweeping permitting package intended to speed construction of energy and infrastructure projects.
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While the full legislative text of the “Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026” had not been publicly released as of Wednesday, reported provisions have prompted alarm among conservation groups, who warn that the proposal would weaken endangered species protections, shift federal authority and responsibility to states, limit scientific review and judicial oversight, and exempt some projects from key environmental consultations.
“If it comes to pass, this deal would bulldoze America’s most important wildlife law,” Defenders of Wildlife president and CEO Andrew Bowman said Wednesday. “We can build the infrastructure America needs without sacrificing the wildlife we have a responsibility to protect and that Americans cherish. Development should not come at the expense of science, accountability, or the ability of America’s most imperiled wildlife to survive.”
Oil Change International called the proposal “a blatant giveaway to Big Oil and Big Tech.”
“This ‘dirty deal’ threatens to raise electricity prices for working families by accelerating the buildout of energy-guzzling AI data centers and liquefied natural gas export projects,” said Oil Change International US campaigns manager Collin Rees. “Our recent research shows that the Trump administration’s support for reckless AI development and greater gas exports drives up energy costs for households.”
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said that “this is a climate kill shot that condemns our most vulnerable communities to suffer decades more fossil fuel pollution.”
“It’s absurd to ensure our planet chokes with greenhouse gases, gut endangered species protections, and eviscerate the Clean Water Act for what seems to be a nearly meaningless victory against Trump’s war on offshore wind,” Hartl continued. “The minor benefits for renewable energy corporations are massively dwarfed by the gifts to the fossil fuel industry.”
“If this grotesque legislation becomes law, the paltry increases in renewable energy will be instantly devoured by AI data centers,” he added. “The only winners here are Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, tech oligarchs, and the shareholders of fossil fuel companies.”
According to CBD:
Today’s package contains numerous provisions that lock in thousands of fossil fuel projects, including oil and gas pipelines, [liquefied natural gas] export terminals, and expanded fossil fuel drilling onshore and offshore approved by President Trump over the past two years. It also ensures that future fossil fuel pipelines and methane gas-generated electricity can never be challenged in court.
Additional provisions gut parts of the Clean Water Act, including the Section 401 authority of states to protect their rivers and streams from the impacts of building pipelines and the [Environmental Protection Agency’s] Section 404(c) permit veto authority, which has been used to stop projects like the Pebble Mine in Alaska.
The legislation weakens the National Historic Preservation Act and Tribal consultations, leaving most Tribal nations with no meaningful way to protect their sovereignty when faced with potential fossil fuel projects on their lands.
Furthermore, CBD noted, “the legislation guts the Endangered Species Act by allowing states to take over the Section 7 consultation process with minimal safeguards, turning one of the law’s strongest provisions into a state-run rubber stamp of dangerous projects.”
The Western Environmental Law Center described the proposal as a “five-alarm fire,” warning that it could weaken the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, [National Environmental Policy Act], and other safeguards.
“The permitting deal is a betrayal of public lands, water, and wildlife, and environmental justice values that Westerners depend on,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, the group’s executive director, who warned that the measure could ultimately “hobble the ability of future administrations to enact an ambitious climate and conservation agenda.”
Hartl called out Democrats Heinrich and Whitehouse for “giving away our most cherished environmental laws based on fantastical models that project a renewable energy utopia.”
“They’re rewarding a ruthless fossil fuel industry that will always put its quarterly profits ahead of a livable planet and future generations,” he said. “Trump promised fossil fuel companies that he’d do everything in his power to assist them in his second term, and Sen. Heinrich and Sen. Whitehouse seem hell-bent on helping Trump fulfill that promise.”
Bowman contended that “Congress should be looking for ways to make permitting more efficient rather than a Trojan horse to weaken the Endangered Species Act.”
“Efficiency and conservation are not opposing goals,” he added. “A durable permitting bill should deliver both. Congress should not lock in permanent damage to the Endangered Species Act simply to get a deal today.”
Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
2 October 2026

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