unhinged

‘I Will Continue to Speak Out Strongly Against War,’ Says Pope Leo in Face of Trump Abuse

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Pope Leo XIV gestures during a visit at the Maqam Echahid Martyrs’ Monument in El Madania, near Algiers on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

“The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’

Pope Leo XIV on Monday said he would not back off his criticism of President Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran after the president targeted him with an unhinged late-night social media rant.

In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump accused Pope Leo of being “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” even though dealing with crime and running US foreign policy are not part of the pope’s job description.

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“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician,” Trump wrote at the conclusion of his long tirade. “It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

A short time later, Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image that depicted him as a Christ-like figure.

Pope Leo in recent weeks has been openly critical of the US war in Iran, taking particular issue with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claiming that the conflict was being waged in the name of Jesus Christ.

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the pope said during a Palm Sunday sermon last month. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

According to a Monday report from the Associated Press, the pope remained defiant in the face of criticism from the president.

“The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” he said. “I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”

Leo added that he is “not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” and insisted that “I will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems.”

Trump’s attack on the pope drew a rebuke from Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who said it was reflective of a presidency circling the drain.

“ Donald Trump is flailing,” Kelly wrote in a social media post. “His war in Iran has led to the death and injury of American servicemembers and the death of Iranian children. He will attack anyone or anything to try to protect himself, even the Church that millions of Americans find faith and comfort in every day.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal suggested that Trump’s anti-pope rant was more evidence that he is mentally unwell and should be removed from office.

“The deranged and disgusting post from Trump attacking Pope Leo should certainly help him appeal to the more than 50 million Americans who identify as Catholics,” she wrote. “Perhaps this will convince JD Vance to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office?”

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was “disheartened” that Trump “chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father.”

“Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the pope a politician,” Coakley added. “He is the vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

The Rev. James Martin said he doubted Pope Leo “will lose any sleep over” Trump’s rant, but added “the rest of us should” because “it is unhinged, uncharitable, and unchristian.”

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
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Continue Reading‘I Will Continue to Speak Out Strongly Against War,’ Says Pope Leo in Face of Trump Abuse

Dems Say Iran Ceasefire Doesn’t Change Fact That ‘Unstable, Unhinged, and Unfit’ Trump Must Go

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A protester holds a sign calling on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

“Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We are playing with the brink.”

US President Donald Trump’s whiplash-inducing announcement late Tuesday of a two-week ceasefire with Iran did nothing to diminish calls for his removal from office, with Democratic lawmakers arguing that the president’s genocidal threat earlier in the day—and his decision to launch the illegal war in the first place—cannot be walked back.

“The president has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in a statement after the deal was announced. “He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, nor congressional authorization—which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any.”

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“Each day this goes on, the risk and criminality of these actions escalate for our nation and the world,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer… Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink.”

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), one of two Iranian Americans in Congress, said while she was “momentarily relieved” by news of the ceasefire, “this doesn’t change anything.”

“Trump threatened genocide and war crimes against Iranians this morning,” Ansari wrote. “His statements that ‘a whole civilization will die’ and that he’ll take Iran ‘back to the stone ages’ confirm that he is mentally unstable, unhinged, and unfit for office or any position of authority.”

Ansari called for the removal of both Trump and Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, the administration’s leading cheerleader for the war. The Arizona Democrat said earlier this week that she would soon introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth for “repeated war crimes” in Iran, including the deadly bombing of an elementary school on the first day of the war.

“Thousands of civilians have been tragically killed across the region, American servicemembers have died and suffered unnecessarily, and millions are displaced from Lebanon to the Gulf,” Ansari said Tuesday. “Trump and Pete Hegseth have already committed explicit war crimes by bombing schools, hospitals, bridges, and water desalination plants… Whether through impeachment or by invoking the 25th Amendment, it is far past time Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are removed from office.”

According to a tally by Axios, at least 85 House Democrats have called for Trump’s removal via the 25th Amendment, which gives the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet—or a majority of a body established by Congress—the ability to declare the president unable to perform his duties and remove him from office.

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) announced Tuesday that he filed new articles of impeachment against Trump after the president’s threat to wipe out the “whole civilization” of Iran.

“He’s becoming more unstable by the day. His profane and sacrilegious Easter Sunday and subsequent threats, including ‘a whole civilization will die’ and ‘open the Strait…or you’ll be living in hell,’ not only foreshadow war crimes, but put our security at risk,” Larson said in a statement. “People across my district know he is unfit to lead and are calling for impeachment. While Republicans in the majority have so far failed to uphold their constitutional responsibility to initiate impeachment proceedings, that does not absolve others of their duty.”

The House and Senate, both controlled by a Republican Party whose ranks are packed with Trump sycophants unwilling to restrain him, are currently on spring recess and aren’t scheduled to return to Washington until next week.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called for both chambers to reconvene immediately to “stop this war and remove Donald Trump.”

“I’m glad there is a reported ceasefire deal with Iran. But we shouldn’t be in this illegal war in the first place,” said Markey. “And Donald Trump can’t simply threaten war crimes with impunity.”

Democratic leaders, who have faced backlash for slowwalking a new vote on a resolution aimed at forcing an end to the Iran war, vowed to move ahead with a War Powers vote when lawmakers return from recess.

“We need a permanent end to Donald Trump’s reckless war of choice, which is why House Democrats have demanded that Speaker Mike Johnson immediately reconvene the House back into session so we can move a War Powers Resolution that will end this conflict permanently,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in an appearance on CNN late Tuesday.

“Assuming it doesn’t happen this week, we’ll go back into session next week and we will present a War Powers Resolution as soon as it becomes available to us to do so as a matter of privilege on the House floor,” said Jeffries. “All we need are a handful of Republicans to join us.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
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Continue ReadingDems Say Iran Ceasefire Doesn’t Change Fact That ‘Unstable, Unhinged, and Unfit’ Trump Must Go

Trump Energy Department Blasted for ‘Unhinged’ Pro-Coal X Post

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

The U.S. Department of Energy shared an image of coal with the message, “She is the moment,” on social media on July 31, 2025. (Image: U.S. Department of Energy/X)

“The Trump administration wants us all choking, sick, misinformed, and working ourselves to death so that a few from the luxury class can be ever more wealthy,” said one science communicator.

The U.S. Department of Energy came under fire from scientists and other climate action advocates on Thursday for a social media post celebrating coal, as President Donald Trump works to boost the fossil fuel, despite its devastating impacts on public health and the planet.

On X—the platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who left the Trump administration earlier this year—the department shared an image of coal with the message, “She’s an icon. She’s a legend. And she is the moment.”

The audio of television host Wendy Williams saying that, while speaking about rapper Lil’ Kim, often has been repurposed by social media users. However, the DOE’s use of the phrase to glamorize coal sparked swift and intense backlash.

Much of the response came on X, with critics calling the post “some weird shit” and “literally unhinged.”

“POV: It’s 1885 and you work for the Department of Energy,” wrote Jonas Nahm, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies who served on the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Joe Biden.

Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources replied: “She is inefficient. She is dirtier air. She is higher energy bills.”

Multiple X users pointed to coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a condition that occurs when coal dust is inhaled—including California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office, which wrote, “She’s black lung.”

The national Democratic Party account said, “In April, Trump cut a program that gave free black lung screenings to coal miners.”

After U.S. District Judge Irene Berger—appointed by former President Barack Obama in West Virginia—issued a preliminary injunction against firings at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program, nearly 200 workers who screen coal miners for black lung were reinstated.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has taken various steps to attack the climate and benefit the fossil fuel industry, such as picking fracking CEO Chris Wright to lead DOE, signing coal-friendly executive orders in April and issuing proclamations that provide what the White House called “regulatory relief” for a range of facilities, including coal plants, earlier this month.

“Hard to fathom this coming from the DOE if there were any sane, reasonable, rational, or thoughtful government in control,” Graham Lau, an astrobiologist and science communicator, said of the department’s pro-coal X post. “The Trump administration wants us all choking, sick, misinformed, and working ourselves to death so that a few from the luxury class can be ever more wealthy. Coal is not the moment. Coal is not going to meet U.S. energy needs. Coal is not the way forward.”

Climate and clean energy investor Ramez Naam wrote, “She is the past,” and shared the graph below, which features data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration about coal consumption since 1960.

Ryan Katz-Rosene, an associate professor at Canada’s University of Ottawa studying contentious climate debates, quipped, “Just the U.S. Department of Energy shilling for one of the most destructive industries known to humanity cool cool cool.”

In the early 1900s, coal mining in the United States often killed more than 2,000 workers per year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. Over the past decade, it has killed roughly 10 people annually.

It’s not just coal miners who are at risk. Research published in the journal Science two years ago found that “from 1999-2020, approximately 460,000 deaths in the Medicare population were attributable to coal electricity-generating emissions.”

Genevieve Guenther, founding director of End Climate Silence, said Thursday: “The fact that they’re coding coal as female is right in line with the fact that Trump is a rapist. They take everything they want, they think the planet is like a woman they can just exploit, and fuck whomever they hurt in the process.”

Several women have accused the president of sexual assault, including journalist E. Jean Carroll, who said he raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. Although Trump has denied the allegations, in 2023, a New York City jury found him civilly liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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Continue ReadingTrump Energy Department Blasted for ‘Unhinged’ Pro-Coal X Post

‘Unhinged’ Trump Vows ‘There Will Be All Hell to Pay’ If Hostages Not Released

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A woman holding a girl reacts after Israeli airstrikes hit the Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on October 23, 2023.  (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Someone tell Trump that Israel already unleashed hell on Gaza, and hostages were not released.”

In an early signal of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy plans for when he returns to office next month, the Republican said Monday “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release hostages taken from Israel, the occupying military force in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Trump demanded hostages seized during the October 7 attack of last year be released or his promised retribution would follow. Nearly 45,000 Palestinians have already been killed—mostly civilian men, women, and children—since Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Gaza in the wake of the Hamas-led operation.

Of the 251 people taken captive last year, 63 are believed to be still alive in Gaza, according toThe Washington Post‘s tracker, which was updated last week. So far, 117 others have been freed or rescued and 71 have been confirmed killed.

After dining with Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israel’s prime minister, at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida Sunday night, the U.S. president-elect made his threat about the hostages on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon.

“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East,” Trump wrote. “But it’s all talk, and no action! Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.”

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America,” Trump added. “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”

https://twitter.com/margbrennan/status/1863426884433850423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1863426884433850423%7Ctwgr%5Ecd66f4441f346e9d1d1b1bd91eaa75f4d0576be7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrumps-middle-east-policy

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Stephen Pollard, editor-at-large The Jewish Chronicle, responded that “this is the message the president of the USA should have sent on October 8, 2023.”

Noting Pollard’s comments, Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at the U.K.-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, said: “Genuinely interested to know what Stephen thinks the U.S. could have supported Israel to do in Gaza beyond what it currently has. Nukes?”

“This statement is unhinged—’there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East,'” Talbot added.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, said, “Someone tell Trump that Israel already unleashed hell on Gaza, and hostages were not released.”

Drop Site News highlighted that “Trump’s statement—which follows a video released over the weekend by Hamas’ armed wing featuring U.S.-Israeli captive Edan Alexander and explicitly addressing Trump—does not acknowledge that Netanyahu has repeatedly sabotaged cease-fire deals that could have freed Israeli hostages. It also appears timed to position himself to claim credit for any progress in cease-fire talks, as negotiations between Hamas and Egyptian mediators are already underway.”

As the American Jewish outlet Forward reported Monday:

The White House is attempting a final push to get… a deal done. President Joe Biden said last week that the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon had created an opportunity to reignite stalled negotiations for a similar deal in Gaza. “We will use every day we have in office to try to generate as much progress towards that end as possible,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said Sunday morning on ABC‘s “This Week.”

Given the failed efforts in the past, the families of the American hostages are hoping Trump could leverage his popularity in Israel and his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take immediate action during the transition period. “Trump must not wait until he is inaugurated to help reach a deal that secures the freedom for Edan, six other Americans, and the rest of the hostages,” Adi and Yael Alexander, the parents of Edan, said on Saturday.

Despite an abundance of evidence showing how Israel is using U.S. weapons to slaughter civilians in Gaza and severely restricting the flow of humanitarian aid while claiming to target Hamas, Biden and Congress have refused to cut off arms to Netanyahu’s government. In fact, just hours after the cease-fire between the Israeli government and Hezbollah took effect—a deal that Israel has since violated approximately 100 times—the Financial Times reported last week that “Biden has provisionally approved a $680 million weapons sale to Israel.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue Reading‘Unhinged’ Trump Vows ‘There Will Be All Hell to Pay’ If Hostages Not Released