Rapturous applause followed the stirring words of Cuban trade union leader OSNAY MIGUEL COLINA at the TUC Congress today
DELEGATES to the TUC Congress gave a standing ovation to Cuban trade union federation leader Osnay Miguel Colina today and demanded an end to US aggression against the island.
Mr Miguel Colina told Congress the Cuban people would never surrender to US bullying.
“And resistance does not mean simply enduring. We will work, create, develop alternatives,” he said.
The Cuban trade unionist detailed the horrific impact of the US blockade, which has intensified this year with a siege cutting off all oil supplies, leading to blackouts, disrupting transport and shuttering many workplaces.
But he also described Cuba’s response, including an accelerated push to install solar power capacity to make up for the loss of oil. “They cannot blockade the sun,” he said, to deafening applause.
Congress overwhelmingly backed a Prison Officers’ Association motion demanding the TUC push the government to oppose the extraterritorial application of US sanctions on Cuba in this country, deliver humanitarian assistance to Cuba and for affiliated unions to support the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.
Moving, Phil Hannant of the POA said the US was waging “economic warfare to make everyday life unbearable, to create hunger, desperation and suffering in the hope that this will produce political change.”
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US President Donald Trump speaks during a Steel Across America event at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 8, 2026. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)
“He created a fictitious event featuring himself, who did nothing, as the hero of 9/11.”
While Republicans express “offense” at plans for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to attend September 11 remembrances this week due to his Muslim faith, President Donald Trump provoked outrage on Tuesday when he told what seems to be a fabricated story about his heroism following the terrorist attack.
Before a crowd that included over 100 first responders, Trump described being at ground zero with a construction crew he said he’d deployed to help with the aftermath of the attack. He described walking beneath the US Steel building, now known as One Liberty Plaza, which was believed to be at risk of collapsing.
“The United States Steel Building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down. The truth is, it creaked a lot. It creaked. It still creaks, but it never came down,” Trump recalled. “And I’ll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big, strong guys—and I’m not the smallest guy in the world—they grabbed me under the arm, said, ‘Got to get out of here!’ And they literally lifted me up.”
“This is not easy to do. I’m big,” Trump continued. “They lifted me up, and they started running with me. I said, ‘Fellas, I can run myself,’ but they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn’t come down.”
Trump on 9/11: I was building a big building in New York, and I took the whole crew down there right after this happened., Wasn't too much we could do. We had other buildings, the United States steel building was creaking. I'll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming… pic.twitter.com/kEt6IO71qR
Trump has claimed on multiple occasions to have been present in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and has told a version of the same story before, including on the 2016 campaign trail.
But many aspects of the tale are in doubt or contradicted by both the public record and others known to be involved in the recovery.
Trump said he saw the attacks happen from his office in Trump Tower, about four miles away from the World Trade Center. In an interview with WWOR-TV that day, he infamously boasted (incorrectly) that he now had the tallest building in downtown Manhattan after the collapse of the World Trade Center.
While Trump himself was documented on September 13 to have been a few blocks from ground zero and said he’d visited the site, his claim to have sent over 100 of his construction workers in the immediate aftermath of the attack and to have “helped a little” himself has been disputed.
In 2019, Richard Alles, a New York City Fire Department battalion chief on the day of the attack, who said he was on the scene about 20 minutes after the second tower collapsed, told PolitiFact that he had no knowledge of Trump sending a crew of men to help with the wreckage.
“I was there for several months—I have no knowledge of his being down there,” Alles said, adding that if Trump had sent a crew of 100 workers, “there would be a record of it. Everybody worked under the direct supervision of the police and fire department and the joint commander for emergency services. Is there a chance he was ever down there by himself and I didn’t know it? It’s possible, but I know of no one who ever witnessed him there.”
Other outlets, including The Associated Press and The Washington Post, said they contacted Trump’s 2016 campaign to ask for details about his activity following the attacks, but received no response.
Neither of the two firefighters who supposedly carried Trump to safety has ever publicly come forward to discuss their run-in with the famous New York developer, and Trump did not mention the incident during interviews at the time.
Reminder: Donald Trump’s immediate reaction to the 9/11 attacks was to brag that his building was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan after the Twin Towers collapsed. pic.twitter.com/iAkUeGafG9
Trump has a history of lies surrounding 9/11, including that he saw “thousands” of Muslims “cheering” in Jersey City as the towers fell and that he personally “predicted” the attacks in one of his books.
He has also been found to have misled the public about his philanthropy related to the tragedy: In 2001, he pledged to donate $10,000 to a recovery fund for victims and first responders, which the city comptroller’s office ultimately found was never delivered. More than 15 years later, his foundation gave $100,000 to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.
His business empire also received $150,000 from a post-9/11 recovery program meant for businesses affected by the attacks, which Trump has claimed was reimbursement for allowing victims to use his building at 40 Wall Street to take shelter. But the application made no mention of shelter and instead stated that the request was for compensation for lost rent, cleanup, and repairs following the attacks, according to a 2016 investigation by the New York Daily News.
Journalist Ron Filipkowski described Trump’s tale about the firefighters as yet another instance of what he’s called “stolen valor,” but was astonished by its specificity.
“I know he’s lied about his non-role in 9/11 rescue and recovery before, but never this level of detail,” he said. “Trump could have made the ceremony with 9/11 first responders today about the many heroes who died attempting to rescue people and others who risked their lives and long-term health. But instead, he created a fictitious event featuring himself, who did nothing, as the hero of 9/11.”
Making it more offensive, other commentators said, was the double standard from Republicans, like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who have claimed “offense” at the fact that Mamdani, as a Muslim, was planning to attend 9/11 memorials on Friday.
“The people mad about the Mayor of New York attending the 9/11 event must be ENRAGED that Trump just lied about being at ground zero on 9/11,” wrote Tim Fullerton, a former digital strategist for the Obama administration, on X. “This is all about honoring the victims and not just to score points. Right???”
Mamdani on Tuesday released around 170,000 pages of records indicating that Giuliani’s administration had misled New Yorkers about the severity of air quality risks near ground zero after the attacks.
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A panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against the Department of Energy’s use of emergency powers to keep Consumers Energy’s JH Campbell Generating Plant running in Michigan on September 11, 2026. (Photo by Consumers Energy)
“Preventing the market-driven retirements of coal plants to advance a coal-friendly agenda is not a proper use of emergency powers,” said one lawyer.
Climate defenders celebrated on Friday after a federal appellate court rejected the US Department of Energy’s abuse of emergency powers to keep a Michigan coal plant open, part of President Donald Trump’s broader push to boost the climate-wrecking industry.
“The court rejected the Trump administration’s nationwide push forcing unreliable, aging coal plants that are bleeding money and polluting communities to stay online,” said Ted Kelly, director and lead counsel for US clean energy at the Environmental Defense Fund—which was among the advocacy groups that joined Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois in challenging the DOE’s abuse of Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to keep the JH Campbell Generating Plant running.
“The Department of Energy’s unlawful actions attempted to make families and businesses in the Midwest wastefully pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a coal plant that should have been shut down over a year ago,” said Kelly. “That’s why these aging coal plants are scheduled to retire in the first place—they are incredibly expensive, dangerous to our health, and break down frequently.”
The Campbell plant was scheduled to retire on May 31, 2025, after over six decades of operation. As the opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia notes, Consumers Energy “worked for several years to develop plans and secure regulatory approval to retire the old Campbell plant and replace it with a mix of expanded and new electricity-generation sources.”
While Michigan officials approved the company’s retirement plan for the facility, Trump’s DOE intervened, forcing not only that plant but six others across the country to remain open—collectively costing Americans over $547 million, according to a live tracker from the Sierra Club, which has challenged all of the department’s coal plant orders.
The three-judge appellate panel unanimously vacated the department’s order on Friday, writing that “our reading of the text, structure, and history leaves us unpersuaded by DOE’s sweeping conception of its ‘emergency’ authority under Section 202(c).”
The Associated Press reported that while the DOE didn’t respond to a request for comment, Consumers Energy spokesperson Brian Wheeler said the plant operator was reviewing the court ruling and, in the meantime, will keep the facility operating through mid-November.
In a statement to Bridge Michigan, DOE spokesperson Emily Mathews claimed the emergency orders prevented blackouts and “likely saved hundreds of lives,” without offering evidence. She did not confirm plans for an appeal but did say that the department “will continue to protect and defend energy security for all Americans.”
Consumers Energy spokesperson Katie Carey told the outlet that the company “is reviewing today’s court ruling,” and “while that happens, we are continuing to comply with the current 90-day Department of Energy order.” Still, those who fought against the administration’s policy welcomed their legal victory.
“By forcing its continued operation, DOE tried a never-before-used tactic to illegally prop up the aging JH Campbell coal plant that nobody asked to keep, sticking ratepayers with a bill for a facility that should have been retired more than a year ago,” said Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in a statement.
“I am relieved that the court saw through this facade and threw out DOE’s order that had zero basis in reality,” she continued. “My office has been fighting this unlawful political stunt at every turn, and this ruling proves what we have been saying all along: This administration does not get to invent fake emergencies to bypass the rule of law against the best interests of Michigan residents. We remain committed to fighting these nonsensical orders and protecting our ratepayers.”
A HUGE win for AG Dana Nessel and the rule of law.
The Trump administration illegally forced a Michigan coal plant to stay open more than a year past its planned retirement. Today, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled DOE overstepped its authority. https://t.co/KlaybPVv2z
Derrell Slaughter, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Michigan policy director for climate and energy, declared that “Michiganders shouldn’t have been saddled with artificially high energy bills or forced to deal with toxic air pollution over a fabricated ‘emergency.’ The Campbell coal plant is out of date, costs more to operate than other electricity generation options, and is one of the worst polluters in the state.”
While applauding the decision as “a victory for families across the Midwest who are tired of paying to keep this old, expensive, and dirty power plant online,” Sierra Club chief appellate counsel Sanjay Narayan stressed that “instead of working to lower costs and clean up our air and water, the Trump administration has been pulling out all the stops to try to bolster dirty and expensive fossil fuels—at public expense.”
“This reckless agenda will not succeed,” the attorney pledged. “We will continue to hold the Department of Energy accountable to the law, and ensure that the JH Campbell plant finally retires as it was scheduled to, and we will continue to fight back against the other illegal extensions across the country.”
A win for Michigan ratepayers!
A federal appeals court just struck down the Trump administration's "emergency" order forcing the Campbell coal plant to stay open — an order costing $640,000 a day. We commend Dana Nessel (@MIAttyGen) for working to challenge Trump's illegal…
Earthjustice attorney Michael Lenoff also cheered the court’s rebuke of the “Trump administration’s abuse of emergency powers” and vowed to “continue to challenge unlawful orders if DOE persists in issuing them.”
“The DOE needs to stay in its lane and use its emergency powers only in actual emergencies,” he said. “Preventing the market-driven retirements of coal plants to advance a coal-friendly agenda is not a proper use of emergency powers.”
Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, noted that two years ago, his consumer advocacy organization “predicted Trump would try to force household consumers to pay higher utility bills to prop up uneconomic coal power plants, and we proudly joined with other public interest groups in June 2025 to challenge his bogus emergency declaration for the Campbell coal power plant.”
“But Americans have already been forced to shell out half a billion dollars for Trump’s obscene coal bailout vanity project,” he emphasized, pledging to “explore all options to force” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “to refund consumers for this Trump boondoggle.”
The appellate court’s ruling came on the heels of data released this week showing that 2026 had the warmest August and meteorological summer on record in the contiguous United States, and globally, last month was the hottest ever recorded, tied with July 2023.
Despite such records, and scientists’ persistent warnings, Trump has repeatedly delivered on his campaign promises to serve the fossil fuel industry, from declaring a national energy emergency and waging a war on renewable power projects to ditching the Paris Agreement, again, and signing executive orders on coal denounced as “reckless” and “breathlessly stupid.”
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
[Photo by Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images]
World must slash emissions to limit irreversible climate damage
The world must rapidly change course as it drifts beyond the global warming limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned in a new report.
The UN and climate scientists have already conceded that the red line agreed in Paris over a decade ago will be crossed. The three-year average last year exceeded the limit agreed in Paris in 2015, many are betting on 2026 being among the hottest years ever, and 2027 looks set to be hotter still.
“We must make the overshoot as small and short as possible,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement ahead of the report’s publication on Wednesday. This means “limiting how high temperatures rise and how long they remain above 1.5°C,” he said.
At a time of growing political resistance to climate action, Guterres called for an “overshoot of ambition” that would include a faster phase-out of fossil fuels and sharp cuts to methane emissions.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
‘Until energy markets calm, the squeeze will persist’ on UK households, says the CEBR consultancy. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Centre for Economics and Business Research calculates effect of inflation and wage stagnation to end of 2027
UK households will have suffered a £2,400 financial hit, on average, from the Iran war by the end of 2027, new analysis shows.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has calculated that the jump in inflation since the conflict began, and weaker wage growth, will knock £1,100 off the real income of the average UK household in 2026, and by a further £1,300 in 2027.
This adds up to a total of £70.4bn that will be wiped off UK households’ real disposable incomes by the Middle East conflict, according to the CEBR, an economic consultancy.
…
Energy bills across Great Britain are scheduled to rise in October, after the regulator, Ofgem, decided to lift its quarterly price cap by 4%.
Last week, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank (ECIU) calculated that higher wholesale oil and gas prices since the start of the US-Iran war, on 28 February, will add an estimated £9.8bn to UK energy and road transport costs. UK gas and electricity users face paying an extra £190m for each week the conflict continues, the ECIU found.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
