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      Pentagon names new press corps from far-right outlets after reporter walkout

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      After the recent departure of Pentagon reporters due to their refusal to agree to a new set of restrictive policies, the defense department has announced a “next generation of the Pentagon press corps” featuring 60 journalists from far-right outlets, many of which have promoted conspiracy theories.Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted the news on X but did not provide any names.The Washington Post, however, obtained a draft of the announcement, which stated that the new reporters, who agreed to the department’s new policies, were from outlets such as Lindell TV, started by Trump ally Mike Lindell; the Gateway Pundit; the Post Millennial; Human Events; and the National Pulse.The list also includes Turning Point USA’s media brand Frontlines, influencer Tim Pool’s Timcast and a Substack-based newsletter called Washington Reporter, the Post reported.The Pentagon did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for the list of journalists.Parnell described the group as a “broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists”.“New media outlets and independent journalists have created the formula to circumvent the lies of the mainstream media and get real news directly to the American people,” Parnell wrote. “Their reach and impact collectively are far more effective and balanced than the self-righteous media who chose to self-deport from the Pentagon.”The new press corps includes rightwing outlets that have promoted conspiracy theories. For example, the Gateway Pundit spread false information about the 2020 election and then settled a defamation lawsuit with two Georgia election workers it falsely accused of wrongdoing and admitted that there was no fraud in the election.Similarly, Lindell denied the results of the election and was ordered to pay $2.3m to an employee of a voting machine company who sued him for defamation.Pool, a conservative podcast host, was among the influencers who allegedly were associated with a US content creation company that was provided with nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to publish videos with messages in favor of Moscow’s interests and agenda.Pool said they were “deceived and are victims”.The journalists who turned in their press credentials earlier this month did so after the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, introduced a policy that required that they agree not to obtain unauthorized material and restricted access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.Outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Atlantic, as well as reporters from rightwing outlets such as Fox News and Newsmax, all refused to sign on to the new rules.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“We believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon will review the matter further,” Newsmax told Times journalist Erik Wemple.The Guardian also declined to sign the revised Pentagon press pass policy because it placed unacceptable restrictions on activities protected by the first amendment.During a White House press briefing, Pool, a member of the new Pentagon press corps, asked Karoline Leavitt to comment on the mainstream media and “their unprofessional behavior as well as elaborate [on] if there’s any plans to expand access to new companies?”In a segment on Wednesday on the rightwing television network Real America’s Voice, defense department spokesperson Kingsley Wilson thanked the show’s host, Jack Posobiec, for joining the press corps.Wilson misstated the policies that caused journalists to leave the Pentagon. She did not mention that it included a requirement that they not obtain unauthorized material.“They walked out because they refused to sign an agreement that was simple. It was common sense. It said, wear a visible press badge. Don’t go in classified spaces, stay in the correspondence corridor and follow the building’s rules,” Wilson said.“That was their right, but also their loss, because now we get to have incredible journalists like yourself who are going to be here in the Pentagon reporting on what the Department of War is doing every single day,” Wilson said. “It’s really the next generation of journalism at the Pentagon.” More

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      Top Democrat on House oversight panel demands Pam Bondi release Epstein files

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      The top Democrat on a congressional committee investigating the government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case demanded on Wednesday that Pam Bondi, the attorney general, turn over files related to the alleged sex trafficker, citing revelations from the posthumous memoir of a prominent abuse survivor.Virginia Giuffre’s memoir Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, published this week, details how Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell groomed and manipulated her.In Congress, the House oversight committee has been investigating the government’s handling of the prosecution of Epstein, who died in 2019 while in federal custody. In his letter to Bondi, the committee’s Democratic ranking member Robert Garcia said that the attorney general must hand over further documents about the case, citing details of Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse Giuffre reveals in her book.“Virginia Giuffre’s allegations are heartbreaking and horrific, including testimony that prominent world and US leaders perpetrated sexual assault and sex trafficking of girls and young women. Ms Giuffre clearly contradicts the agency’s claim that the Epstein files did not justify further investigation,” Garcia said in a statement.He called on the justice department to comply with a subpoena that the Republican-led panel’s members approved in August, writing to Bondi: “Your refusal to release the files and your continued disregard of a congressional subpoena raises serious questions about your motives.”Concerns over Epstein’s case flared up in July, when the justice department announced the alleged sex trafficker had died by suicide and no list of his clients existed to be released. That contradicted claims made by Trump and Bondi, as well as conspiracy theories alleging Epstein was at the center of a larger plot.In response, the House oversight committee opened its inquiry into the government’s handling of the case, while the Trump administration moved unsuccessfully to release transcripts of the grand jury that indicted Epstein. A top justice department official also interviewed Maxwell, who is incarcerated, and she was later relocated to a lower security prison.Trump has condemned the outcry over Epstein as a “Democrat hoax”. Despite that, three House Republicans have joined with all Democrats on a petition that will force a vote on legislation to release files related to the case, which is expected to be resolved once the ongoing government shutdown ends.Giuffre died by suicide in April this year, aged 41. After the Guardian published extracts of her memoir last week, the UK’s Prince Andrew gave up his honors and use of the Duke of York title. He has denied allegations he sexually assaulted Giuffre when she was 17, and admitted no liability when settling a civil case she brought for a reported £12m (about $16m).The House oversight committee’s investigation has led to the release of a lewd drawing Trump is said to have made for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Tens of thousands of pages of documents have already been released, many of which were already public. More

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      Big? Beautiful? Donald Trump is literally ripping apart the home of US democracy. Is anyone really surprised? | Emma Brockes

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      Occasionally, life gives you scenarios that are so on the money it’s impossible to do anything with them. Boris Johnson getting stuck halfway down a zip wire while waving two union flags, for instance; or Liz Truss getting lost while attempting to leave a room – two images that are so embarrassingly on point it is almost difficult to enjoy them. An audience likes to feel it has done a bit of work before arriving at a punch line, which is why, on Monday, when demolition crews moved into the White House to knock down part of the East Wing at the behest of Donald Trump, it felt once again like we were living in post-satirical times.As far as we can tell from the photos, Trump didn’t actually send in a wrecking ball – although his administration did sharply reprimand government employees working in a neighbouring Treasury building for posting visuals of the demolition online, so at this point who knows? There were, however, diggers, torn-down walls and an awful lot of dust. This was the first stage of a project Trump has advertised as the addition to the White House of a 90,000 sq ft (8,300 sq metres) ballroom, at an estimated cost of $250m (£187m) and a capacity, according to Trump, of “999 people”. And while, granted, it’s not a branch of McDonald’s – one thing about Trump’s range is that, however bad things are, they could always have been worse – architectural and heritage institutes have been expressing concern.Presidents, of course, like to leave their mark on the nation’s furnishings as on its finances. The Obamas planted a kitchen garden at the White House, put in a basketball court and tweaked the lighting, apparently so it was bright enough for their daughters to do their homework. Joe Biden had less time to renovate, but did swap out Trump’s gold drapes in the Oval Office for some sober Clinton-era curtains and a new rug.Trump, meanwhile, paved over the Rose Garden, decked out the Oval Office in gold, and now appears to be wholesale demolishing the East Wing’s 1942 facade to build a giant event space – and you have to wonder if the state banquet he enjoyed at Windsor Castle last month has been a spur to get construction under way. As for what the new space might look like, we must assume that Clark Construction and McCrery Architects, the design and building entities involved, will be led by Trump’s general aesthetic and find a happy medium between the Grand Ballroom at Mar-a-Lago and Saddam Hussein’s palace.Well, you can imagine, there’s been some carping online. The Society of Architectural Historians released a statement expressing “great concern” over the proposed ballroom. The American Institute of Architects put out a stiff note reminding the president that “the historic edifice at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the People’s House, a national treasure and an enduring symbol of our democracy”. And more importantly, that “any modifications to it – especially modifications of this magnitude – should reflect the importance, scale and symbolic weight of the White House itself”. This was, perhaps, a discreet way of pointing out that, given you can barely put up a shelf in a major city on the eastern seaboard without having to get a permit, the DC Department of Buildings might care to look into things.In her commentary online, Hillary Clinton was more direct: “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.” For many Americans, the demolition photos were soul-shuddering in a way that has no direct equivalence in the UK. I suppose if they changed the door numbers in Downing Street a lot of people might be upset and disturbed. But the building at No 10, and the living quarters in particular – which for a long time looked like one of those rental ads that go viral for demanding £2,000 a month for a flat in east London that is smaller than the inside of a canal boat – have never been as iconic or emotionally charged as their US counterparts.Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, dismissed all the chatter as “fake outrage”, while the president himself posted online, “For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc.” As with everything Trump says, it’s the “etc” in this sentence that should cause the most worry. The ballroom will be funded via private donations, setting up yet another race to curry favour with the president. And, as an event space, it will run in competition with the Trump International Hotel, offering the possibility of a very Trumpian future use for the building: the White House as venue for corporate retreat.

      Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
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      Boycotts, strikes and more protests: organizers on what’s next for No Kings

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      The No Kings alliance, the groups behind the mass days of protest last Saturday and in June, is building a nationwide rapid response network that will call on supporters to take new actions each week. Leaders of the organizations told the Guardian that there was energy for “some type of disruption”, and future actions could include targeted boycotts, campaigns at universities, more street protests, and electoral organizing in local communities.After an estimated 7 million people took to the streets last weekend, tens of thousands joined a national call on Tuesday to hear what’s next for the growing movement. Leaders celebrated the broad turnout, saying it showed how much opposition to Trump there was in all corners of the US, and talked about how to sustain and grow a movement during an increasingly authoritarian moment for the country.The next steps for this burgeoning resistance will show the durability of the movement and whether it can pressure Democrats or pillars of civil society to stand stronger against Trump, or whether it can force defections from Trump’s Republican allies to fracture his power.Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, elevated the idea of a general strike at his city’s rally, an idea that some labor leaders, including the United Auto Workers president, Shawn Fain, and his Association of Flight Attendants counterpart, Sara Nelson, have called for, though no more imminent plans have emerged.“If my ancestors, as slaves, can lead the greatest general strike in the history of this country, taking it to the ultra-rich and big corporations, we can do the same today,” Johnson said, clips of which spread widely.A report from Harvard researchers before Saturday’s rallies found this year’s protests had been more geographically broad than those in Trump’s first term, saying: “The current protest movement has already reached deeper into Trump country than at almost any point during the first Trump administration.”The geographic diversity means people are getting tapped in with local groups to organize in their own communities, and those local networks will have different goals that make sense in their areas. In some, that could look like attending school board meetings or working against Republican gerrymandering efforts.“It may be different things in different locations,” said Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter. “But I think most of the energy and most of the discussions taking place right now are related to some type of disruption … The next rally needs to be accompanied by some other type of action as well.”Nationwide, the movement remains leaderless, though some elected officials, including Senator Bernie Sanders, attended protests and spoke to the crowds. On The Daily Show this week, Sanders said Democrats now need to set out their vision for the country, citing access to healthcare and home ownership as part of it. “I think that many of my colleagues in the Democratic party have not had that vision,” he said.Here’s what the leaders of organizations involved in No Kings told the Guardian about their vision for what will come next for the movement. Their comments have been edited for clarity and brevity.IndivisibleEzra Levin, co-founder (as told to mass call on 21 October)“No successful anti-authoritarian movement in the history of the world has relied exclusively on one-day protests, even historic, incredible life-giving one-day protests like Saturday. Successful movements grow, they evolve, they diversify their tactics, and they do new things together. There are going to be big mobilizations in our future, but before that, there’s going to be overreach from this regime. We’re seeing it with our own eyes. They’re dominating media institutions, they’re dominating universities. They’re bullying businesses and political opponents, and we need to coordinate a way to respond quickly and powerfully with the full force of this movement. The era of capitulation and obey in advance, that’s over.View image in fullscreen“The No Kings era is here, and it’s defined by widespread mass defiance of this regime. That’s why we’re launching the No Kings alliance, a nationwide Rapid Response Network built for this moment to coordinate pushback … The alliance is an effort to coordinate the full diversity of our movement and use the leverage that we have with the people power we’ve collectively built.“At Indivisible, we’re talking a lot about boycotts and economic power. We should learn from Disney and ABC and Kimmel. The regime bullied. The institution capitulated. The people rebelled. The institution reversed, and democracy sat up a little straighter the next day, is a little bit more confident. Rinse and repeat.“We just pulled off the largest peaceful protest in American history, and those fascists are quaking in their jackboots at what we’ll do next.”Organization for Black StruggleJamala Rogers, executive director“The No Kings protests have accomplished two of its three goals. We have identified the growing defiance of the Maga regime and its inhumane and unconstitutional policies and decisions. It was also important to show the world that we do not condone the current authoritarian government. Protesters are uniting in solidarity, driven by a shared vision of what a true democracy should reflect.“The Organization for Black Struggle believes it is time to intensify our impact on the state and local levels by identifying strategic targets. These could be corporations or institutions who support the Maga platform and who are implementing it. For example, in Missouri the GOP-dominated legislature passed a new gerrymandered map following Trump’s directive to create more districts aimed at securing congressional seats before the midterm elections. The activist communities in Missouri are now collecting signatures to put the issue on the ballot to restore the fifth CD and maintain Kansas City’s sole African American congressman.“The protest communities should also target places of commerce to disrupt the flow of capital, like sports arenas.”American Civil Liberties UnionDeirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer“The best way to protect our freedom is to act free – and that’s exactly what over 7 million people did on Saturday by peacefully and lawfully protesting President Trump’s abuses of power. Using our first amendment rights to free speech and protest is most patriotic and American thing we can do in the face of this administration’s attacks. Saturday’s events were more than a single day of protest: it was a powerful example of the courage, strength and determination of the American people to defend our democracy.View image in fullscreen“The ACLU will continue to channel that courage to defend our freedom in the courts, in statehouses, and in our communities.”50501Hunter Dunn, national press coordinator“At 50501, we’re currently working with members of the Working Families party to promote a toolkit that helps boycott Home Depot, and we are hosting a community survey to help determine our next action(s). We are also focusing on uplifting local organizers in cities facing occupation or increased federal brutality, including Chicago, Portland, DC, Memphis, New York and San Francisco, as well as supporting the Disappeared in America Weekend of Action at the beginning of November.“I expect there will be another No Kings-level mass mobilization sometime in the next several months. However, right now, I believe the most important thing is to focus on connecting No Kings attendees with community groups that provide active resistance against the Trump administration. Whether it’s groups like 50501 that are focusing on protests, mutual aid work and boycotts, or your local union, or immigrants’ rights groups like CHIRLA, or anti-Ice community defense groups like Valley Defensa, or groups providing legal protection from the Trump Regime, or a group you formed on-the-ground at No Kings, the most important thing a No Kings protester can do is get involved.“We need to continue building our protest, mutual aid and civil disobedience muscles now, so that when the opportunity arises, we can peacefully dismantle this regime and undermine its pillars of support.”American Federation of TeachersRandi Weingarten, president“It’s really important to tie together the issues around democracy and fighting back against authoritarianism and what we need to do to help Americans have a better life, and how to address the affordability crisis and the cost of living crisis. If you’re an American who is actually struggling to make ends meet, you want to connect the voice in government with what you use that voice for. And so that’s why we connect it to these other fights, like the healthcare premiums that are skyrocketing.View image in fullscreen“When you talk about boycotts, or what we’re doing on college campuses to fight against the loyalty oaths, these are all part of the fight to get other institutions to actually do their jobs and to, instead of capitulating to authoritarianism, to actually believe in the rule of law, not the rule of one man. But look at what’s happening on college campuses: there are at least seven of the nine who were asked to sign the loyalty oath that said no. So that kind of organizing is always a part of something bigger, and that is to try to get these institutions to be as courageous as the individuals who are on the streets for No Kings on Saturday.“We think about the tactics, we think about how we fight this as a community, and the courage of our convictions. We fight it through Congress and the courts. We fight it in commerce and we fight it in the court of public opinion.”Public CitizenLisa Gilbert, co-president“We have great challenges ahead to defeat Trump’s authoritarianism. But animated by the spirit and energy of this weekend, we have a springboard for more actions to follow. This may include call-in days to stand up for healthcare in the current government shutdown fight, actions to support immigrant families against Ice raids, email campaigns to block schemes that would make voter suppression even worse, campaigns against corporations preparing to fund Trump’s White House ballroom and engage in other corrupt dealings with the administration, campus projects to ensure universities reject Trump’s proposed ‘racist’ compact, rallies to fight free speech affront, and more.“The fight for the soul of democracy is live, and we all need to participate.”View image in fullscreenService Employees International Union (SEIU)Joseph Bryant, executive vice-president“On No Kings Day, SEIU members and unions across the country exercised our first amendment right to show what real power looks like. From care workers to janitors to educators, millions filled the streets to reject the lawlessness of this administration. “Our work doesn’t stop here. We will continue to mobilize to demand that our healthcare be protected and not robbed for billionaire tax breaks. We demand an end to cruel Ice raids and militarized takeovers of our cities that make no one safer. And we demand that federal workers who serve our communities be reinstated. When working people move together, we can defend democracy and build a future where every one of us can thrive.”View image in fullscreenBlack Voters MatterCliff Albright, co-founder and executive director“There’s no one way to grow a movement like this. We can look at some of our past experiences in this country. We can look at what some other countries have done … [The movement] is growing and, like a lot of things in life, that growth needs to be nurtured. I’m confident that this movement is going to continue going in the right direction, and it will continue to bring more people on board. Because a lot of people have observed, it’s a lot of white people at these rallies. Where’s everybody else? Where are the black people, the Latino people. I think what you’re seeing at each one is that it gets more diverse … It’s moving us up a scale, up a ladder of engagement.View image in fullscreen“There’s growing support for [a general strike]. Groups like ours will be involved with educating people around, what is this? When has it been done in the past? How do you do it successfully? What are the objectives? I think there would need to be ongoing awareness raising and education and preparation for it.“Whatever the next action is, it’s going to be one that both has an understanding and acceptance by a good number of the 7 million people that showed up to the rallies, but I think may even be something that may push some of us to go a little bit beyond what the current comfort level is. Finding that balance of something that stretches us enough, but doesn’t stretch us too much. Something that is practical enough to be manageable and doable, but also big enough and visionary enough to be impactive.”Human Rights CampaignBrandon Wolf, national press secretary“The fight for democracy and freedom needs all of us. What comes next is plugging people in wherever they can – in big ways and small – to resist this administration’s authoritarianism. We will mobilize people to school board meetings and legislative hearings, boycotts and buy-ins, local elections and campaigns for Congress. Now is the time to continue turning the nationwide No Kings energy into strategic people power.”View image in fullscreenWorking Families PartyJoe Dinkin, deputy national director“Working people are tired of Republicans who say they care about the working class only to turn around and cut our healthcare so the wealthy can get bigger tax cuts. That’s why we saw millions of people show up to No Kings protests on Saturday. Heading into the midterms, we expect to see new leaders step up, from protests to boycotts to getting out the vote and even running for office themselves.”Interfaith AllianceThe Rev Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO“The No Kings movement has mobilized many millions of Americans to demonstrate courage in defense of democracy and decency. Going forward it should continue to build unprecedented levels of civic engagement, including by training thousands of people of faith in the spiritual discipline of nonviolence – which is crucial to the practice of democracy. The movement can push back in real time against attacks on vulnerable minorities and core freedoms – taking actions to show that we will never capitulate to authoritarianism.”Common CauseVirginia Kase Solomón, president & CEO“People in this country are sick of the corruption and abuse coming from this administration. Instead of lowering costs and improving lives, Trump has only enriched himself and his billionaire friends. The millions that came out to the No Kings rally did their job and now it’s time for Congress to respond to the people’s activism with action, something tangible that demonstrates that we are a democracy and not an autocracy.”View image in fullscreenLeague of Conservation VotersJustin Kwasa, democracy program director“People in every state showed up to clearly say No Kings in our country. Trump and his extreme Republican allies are increasing the cost of healthcare and energy for families around the country, and are using Trump’s government shutdown to attempt to illegally fire more workers, shut down more programs, and threaten the health and safety of communities. The next step for us is to identifying ways to get these 7 million people who showed up for No Kings more involved in holding this administration accountable in various ways … LCV will be featuring our actions in their regularly updated weekly activities section.” More

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      RFK Jr railed against ultra-processed foods. Trump’s policies encourage their production

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      As health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr has repeatedly blamed industrially manufactured food products for the country’s chronic illness and obesity crises, and urged Americans to limit their consumption of foods with added sugar, salt, fat, dyes and preservatives.Amid a slew of controversial and unbacked public health claims, his stance on ultra-processed foods is one of his least polarizing. More than 65% of Americans say they are in favor of reforming processed foods to remove added sugars and added dyes, according to a January Associated Press and National Opinion Research Center poll.Yet while RFK Jr touts the importance of eliminating ultra-processed foods from the US diet, nutrition experts say several of the Trump administration policies, including massive subsidies to corn and soy farms, undermine that goal.“Maha leadership is really failing on their promise to fight chronic disease, and they’re betraying the members of the public who put their trust in them to address this very real problem that Americans are really concerned about,” said Aviva Musicus, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.In September, Kennedy’s health and human services department released the “Make America Healthy Again” strategy report, billing it as a roadmap to improve children’s health. The report named highly processed foods as a leading driver behind the rising rates of chronic disease in children and outlined more than 120 recommendations, including educational campaigns to promote new, forthcoming dietary guidelines; advancing policies to restrict food dye additives; and potential revisions to nutrition information rule-making.The report has been criticized by nutrition and public health experts, however, for its focus on voluntary action over meaningful regulation of food and chemical companies. It suggests tracking Americans’ exposure to chemicals and pesticides, but does not impose any limitations on pesticide use, for example. Despite poor diet being named as a harm to children’s health, it does not suggest regulating the majority of additives in ultra-processed foods (UPFs).It instead proposes developing a government-wide definition to “support potential future research and policy activity”. The plan also recommends the exploration of “potential industry guidelines”, to limit the marketing of unhealthy food to children. Some advocates say that the report’s goals clash with the Trump administration’s cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), Medicaid and scientific funding, all of which are essential to public health.“When it comes to food, Maha doesn’t seem particularly interested in regulation, despite talking about the need to protect consumers from industry influence and the harms the industry is creating,” Musicus said.A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in a statement to the Guardian: “The MAHA Strategy is a comprehensive plan with more than 120 initiatives designed to reverse the failed policies that have fueled America’s childhood chronic disease epidemic. It represents the most ambitious reform agenda in modern history – realigning our food and health systems, transforming education, and unleashing science to safeguard America’s children and families.”She added: “HHS is committed to serving the American people, not special interests, by delivering radical transparency and upholding gold-standard science.”Ultra-processed foods are industrially altered food products that include processed additives to improve taste, convenience and shelf life. Making up as much as 73% of the US food supply, UPFs have been linked to a number of health risks including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, digestive and microbiome issues, and adverse mental health.Many of the additives in UPFs, such as high-fructose corn syrup, corn starch, dextrose, soy lecithin and maltodextrin, are derivatives of corn and soy, two commodity crops that receive millions in agricultural subsidies. Trump’s reconciliation bill, signed into law in July, increases spending on these subsidies by $52bn over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group. (Subsidy payments increased even as programs like Snap, which in 2024 provided food and nutrition assistance to 41 million Americans, faced significant cuts.)Subsidies for corn and soy “have definitely contributed”, to the proliferation of UPFs, said Ben Lilliston, the director of rural strategies and climate change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. The consumption of high-fructose corn syrup, for example, increased 1,000% between 1970 and 1990.“Our farm policy is designed for farmers to overproduce corn and soy, and encourage them to do that,” Lilliston said. Decades of huge subsidies for commodity crops led to an excess amount of corn and soy, which eventually were used to produce the additives in ultra-processed foods like corn syrup and soy lecithin, he added.“It’s hard to find a processed food, if you look at the ingredients, that doesn’t have corn and soy in there. It’s incredibly cheap – below the cost of production – there’s so much of it, and there’s access to so much of it,” Lilliston said. Today, ultra-processed foods make up more than half of the calories in the American diet, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Soy and corn – most of which is converted to animal feed, ethanol fuel, and byproducts used in UPFs – make up more than half of the country’s cropland. The farms that grow fruits and vegetables (known as specialty crops), are typically smaller and are not eligible for the majority of subsidies. But, these “are the types of farms that will be providing healthy foods, fruits, and vegetables on plates across the US”, said Jared Hayes, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Working Group.Before joining Trump’s cabinet, RFK Jr himself blamed agricultural subsidies for America’s addiction to ultra-processed foods. In a 2024 interview, RFK Jr said the US obesity epidemic was being driven by food “poisoned” by “heavily subsidized” commodity crop derivatives. In a 2024 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy listed several steps Trump could take to “Make America Healthy Again,” and among them was reforming crop subsidies.“They make corn, soybeans and wheat artificially cheap, so those crops end up in many processed forms,” he wrote, adding: “Our subsidy program is so backward that less than 2% of farm subsidies go to fruits and vegetables.”The first Maha assessment report, released in May, blamed the food manufacturing industry for rising rates of chronic illness. After its publication, more than 250 food and agriculture groups, including the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association signed a letter claiming it included “erroneous representations” about food and agriculture and called for “formal inclusion of food and agriculture representatives in the commission’s processes moving forward”.But in the follow-up report, there was little mention of the food industry’s role in children’s health, nor were there suggested pathways to regulate what ingredients companies put in their products. While ultra-processed foods were mentioned 40 times in the initial report, the second, strategy report mentioned the term just twice.“Kennedy has framed himself as an anti-corporate hero, while at the same time utilized the age-old tactic of becoming buddies with the very industries that he purports he wants to change or regulate,” said Rebecca Wolf, the food policy lead at Food and Water Watch.“There’s anti-corporate rhetoric, but at the same time an inability and an unwillingness to actually take on corporate power,” Wolf said. “We’ve just [been] keeping a really close eye on the difference between narrative and policy, and what I’ve seen right now are policies that will not protect people, but in fact, further threaten their health.”To truly build a healthier US diet, Musicus says the Trump administration, in addition to regulating UPFs, should not be cutting the very programs that make nutritious food and healthcare more accessible to low-income families and individuals.“We’ve seen the federal government cut Snap benefits, write off millions of Americans from their health insurance coverage, slashed programs to help farmers bring local foods into schools, eviscerate government funding for research on nutrition and health and threaten access to life-saving vaccines,” Musicus said, adding that RFK Jr had simultaneously failed to impose meaningful regulation on the food industry.“As a result, the net public health impact of this administration has been negative, despite the fact that they’re constantly talking about improving Americans’ health,” she said. 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      Black History Month is a reflection of the political moment, so how do we revamp it?

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      It’s Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Over the years, an event that started out as a celebration and reminder of history, culture and the connections between global Black communities, has taken on a corporate feel, expanding to include events where Black people are paid to talk to white audiences about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The wave has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.The history of Black HistoryView image in fullscreenOriginally observed in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with seven days of commemoration and observance in the second week of February. Black History Month grew out of this movement and was officially launched in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in October in the UK, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.The month has evolved since those days, focusing less on the histories of transatlantic enslavement and civil rights battles, and more on prominent Black figures in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with talks and cultural events. But the way the month is celebrated is a reflection of the political moment. How it evolves is a good lesson in how co-option leads to dismantling: the reshaping of Black History Month has stymied the point of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.A jarring momentView image in fullscreenLittle demonstrates how important it is to rethink Black History Month more than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the shape of the Reform party is leading the polls. In the summer we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels emboldened to say that “not seeing any white faces” in parts of a city is a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, far-right parties are surging in Europe as a whole.In the US, a colossal assault against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, often successfully, to the highest courts of the country. A campaign to scrub Black history and experience from the archives is under way. One of Donald Trump’s first executive orders targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by portraying America “as inherently racist”.Against this backdrop, the month symbolises how little it can be impactful if it is limited to either dutiful corporate observances, or politically neutered celebrations of contributions in the past, rather than challenging the conditions of the present. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is needed. Denise Miller, a prof at University of Greenwich, put it best when she raised concerns about the temporary “tokenism” of the month. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month becomes a fleeting performance rather than a catalyst for change.”Rethinking, but not jettisoningskip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionView image in fullscreenFiguring out how to adjust, modify and expand efforts for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just do away with things like Black History Month altogether, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an era that has not worked.But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an infrastructure that a lot of work has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a living breathing thing.So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is spread out through the year (as some institutions are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a period that does not shy away from politics, and leaves space for people, particularly young people, to air their fears and experiences. What use is mere awareness of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of far-right rallies in the street? Institutions who observe it should not be comforted with the passive language of “unconscious bias” and alertness to “microaggressions”, but confronted with the risks that face all if anti-racism is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made current, urgent, and reactive. Perhaps an entire name rebrand is in order – Black History is Now Month. More

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      in US Politics

      US leaders are erasing Black history. That threatens our future | Stacey Abrams and Esosa Osa

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      Democracy flourishes when Black Americans advance. The evidence is clear: birthright citizenship, constitutional due process, anti-discrimination laws from education to housing to employment and equitable small business investments, are all byproducts of the systemic corrections known today as DEI. Yet, in recent years, DEI has been used as a smokescreen by cynical politicians and activists to roll back progress and consolidate power. Across classrooms, museums, boardrooms and federal agencies, the key pathways to opportunity and success are under attack through a coordinated disinformation campaign of erasure, distortion and suppression.The impact of these tactics is concrete and undeniable. Since the start of this year, Onyx Impact’s research has found, 306,000 Black women have lost their jobs and $3.4bn in grant programs investing in Black communities has been slashed – including $9.4m in sickle cell disease research, $42m in programs designed to address Black maternal mortality and $31m in cuts to address asthma rates and air pollution harming Black children.Concerted attempts to stifle the progress of Black communities is not new; however, history has proven that when progress for Black people is erased, everyone suffers. During Reconstruction, Black Americans made extraordinary strides – holding office, building businesses and founding schools. Less discussed is how other oppressed communities, from white sharecroppers to Latino gauchos, also benefited from increased access to legal and economic systems. When Black people faced a century of Jim Crow and state-sanctioned discrimination, other communities saw a similar retreat on their access to full citizenship. When the civil rights movement sought to eliminate the vestiges of Jim Crow, its practices of nonviolent civil disobedience expanded freedom and opportunity not just for Black Americans, but for communities of all backgrounds. From the Native American movement to the advancement of gay rights to women’s economic empowerment, Black civil rights opened the aperture for expanded human rights.Nevertheless, every time Black communities gain ground, forces threatened by change work to push us back. As we face the current regime, DEI is the bulwark that guarantees a pluralistic democracy. Its power is rooted not in politics, but in the promise of America itself: that all people are created equal and deserve a chance to thrive. Defending DEI, accurate historical education and equitable access to opportunity protects the very principles that allow our nation to live up to its highest ideals. Authoritarians and their acolytes despise DEI because it secures the rights of all.And when we do not recognize this, the consequences are immediate and real. The newly released Onyx Impact report, Blackout: The Real-World Cost of Erasing, Distorting, and Suppressing Black Progress, documents more than 15,000 instances, in just nine months, where Black lives, histories and pathways to success have been directly harmed or erased by the Trump administration and their legislative and judicial cronies. This report provides not only a stark account of harm but also a way forward. Its rigorous, data-driven analysis empowers citizens, journalists and policymakers to recognize the instances and patterns of erasure, distortion and suppression.We must, though, understand these attacks as part of a deliberate campaign. The goal is to rewrite our nation’s story and restrict the futures of Black Americans, and by extension, any American deemed unworthy. We can be tempted to view their actions in isolation, but that is by design.Distortion is one of the most insidious tactics. It reshapes reality in ways that narrow our expectations and cements bigotry as policy. Scholarships and education programs are being cut, leaving Black students with fewer chances to pursue a quality education. These cuts also affect Native American students and served as a predicate for attacks on Hispanic students. Black families continue to live in districts with underfunded schools due to historical patterns of segregation and inequality, and the concomitant effect of slashing services disproportionately harms all low-income children and disabled people. Support for Black-owned businesses and vital health initiatives have been slashed, leaving our nation without the data necessary to address systemic disparities in our economy and healthcare system. The follow-on effect will undermine research and investment for women across racial categories. By rewriting who counts, who is valued and what histories are taught, these policies compound the barriers that communities have fought for centuries to overcome.Erasure and suppression work in tandem, and practitioners predictably start with Black America. Those seeking to cripple democracy have removed Black stories from curricula, exhibits and public memory, costing us the lessons of confrontation, remediation and redemption. Rising autocracies know to pressure schools, universities, corporations and government institutions into silence. Together, these tactics do more than harm Black communities – they hollow out our democracy itself. Civic trust erodes, economic opportunity narrows and our national narrative becomes dangerously incomplete.The question before us now is: what will we do in response? Will we allow fear, disinformation and autocracy to write the next chapter? Or will we act, fiercely and deliberately, to defend the truth, honor Black progress and protect the right to opportunity for every American? The answer will shape not just this moment, but the very future of our country.Protecting and defending the historic progress we’ve made is a moral imperative, one that demands concerted civil action. As the struggle for liberation has taught us, when we fight for freedom, we win. We absolutely face coordinated attacks on truth, which are intended to sow despair or lead to inaction – but we cannot allow that. The 10 Steps campaign, a nationwide mobilization effort to protect democracy, provides a clear playbook for understanding the threat that faces our country and the roadmap for action, helping individuals and communities navigate this moment and demand freedom and power. Additionally, Onyx Impact documents information threats, amplifies truth and equips communities to resist the harmful false narratives that are used to rationalize the dismantling of our democracy.When linked, these initiatives show that protecting Black history and progress is a shared responsibility if we are to defend America – a responsibility that demands action from every corner of society.Our nation’s future will not arrive on its own. Its success or failure will be determined by what we choose to do and resist today.America’s story began by deciding that from many, we could become one. E pluribus unum is the essence of DEI, the lived reality of the Black experience and the proof that we can build something bigger than fear and despair. Together, we can preserve opportunity, honor truth and strengthen our democracy for generations to come.

      Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022, is the founder of American Pride Rises, a group dedicated to defending the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

      Esosa Osa is the founder and CEO of Onyx Impact, an organization created to fight digital harm, amplify Black voices and create healthier online ecosystems More

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      in US Politics

      Albanese has worked out a way to deal with Trump – even if there are areas where they don’t see eye to eye

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      Outside the White House cabinet room hangs a painting of Donald Trump flanked by Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, in front of a billowing American flag.The fan-fiction rendition of three Republican leaders, proudly displayed on a main thoroughfare amid a gallery of other photographs and portraits of Trump, is far from the oddest thing in the home and office of the 47th president. The White House is a homage to gilding and gold, crown moulding daubed in glittering paint, with knick-knacks gaudy and glistening stuffed on to his shelves, a Diet Coke button on his desk, and a new ballroom requiring the partial tear-down of the historic East Wing.But the painting, spied on the way into Trump’s press conference with Anthony Albanese on Monday, is a good place to start in considering just how much of a political odd couple the two men are – and why, from the outside at least, their remarkably warm first formal sit-down surprised nearly everyone.Nearly everyone, except the prime minister himself.Trump, the brash and unflinching authoritarian conservative launching assaults on the judiciary and political opponents to steamroll his agenda, who hangs portraits comparing himself to arguably America’s greatest president who freed the slaves and won the civil war. Albanese, a leftwing warrior turned cautious team captain, who has made a virtue of “orderly government” and knocked more ambitious policies on the head out of pragmatism.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailWalking from the Brady press briefing room, shuffling through poky corridors toward the cabinet room, there was a sense among the media pack that we could be in for – if not a Zelenskyy-style browbeating – at least a disagreement or two. Turning a corner, as if to bluntly contrast the two men, the corridor suddenly filled with wall-to-wall images of Trump.Trump striding a red carpet in front of Air Force One, Trump brandishing an agreement signed with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump flashing a thumbs up with Palestinian Authority chair Mahmoud Abbas, with giant meme text reading “PEACE 2025” superimposed along the bottom. Right outside the cabinet room, as if to bludgeon your head in with symbolism, a giant oil painting of Trump standing stoically in front of a half-dozen American flags. About 20 paintings and photos, each pumping up Trump’s tyres more than the last, leave visitors in no doubt about whose White House we’re in.On tables in the anteroom, White House attendants buzzed around preparing for the official lunch to come, plastic bottles of Diet Coke sitting in plastic buckets of ice next to silver platters of crystal ware.But inside the room, the two men sat side-by-side as partners. Nestled between military flags and nearly needing to shield their eyes from Trump’s gleaming trappings of office, the leaders shared a minerals deal, shared black Texta pens, shared a laugh at Kevin Rudd, then shared a meal.Albanese famously once said in 2017 that Trump “scares the shit out of me”. It would have been hard for the then shadow minister to imagine he would be sitting in Trump’s White House eight years later, swapping jokes and gifts – let alone to imagine himself praising the Republican president a day after millions rallied across America for the No Kings protests against Trump’s policies, including troubling immigration raids, sending military into Democratic-governed cities, and crackdowns on free speech.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionPosters advertising the rally and critical of Trump still hung in streets around the White House the day of Albanese’s arrival. Families and tour groups milled awkwardly on the outskirts of the White House and Capitol building, not allowed in due to the continuing government shutdown as Trump’s Republicans remain in a stalemate with Democrats over budget funding.Albanese later described his first proper meeting with “very warm” Trump as a major success, the president taking him on a tour of the White House and Oval Office. Albanese and his team had been confident it would go well, the US-Australia relationship – forged in history and the heat of battle – being bigger than the people occupying each nation’s government benches.The extraordinary warmness shown by Trump was held up as vindication of the prime minister’s foreign policy acumen, and the nerve he had shown in not bending to opposition demands to beg and scrape for a meeting earlier. Sussan Ley walked back her only criticisms of the meeting less than 24 hours after making them, in the face of ridicule for her overreach.But relief and victory were written across the faces of the PM and his people on Tuesday, realising they had not only escaped the White House without tripping up, but indeed in triumph.As they fly home on Wednesday, perhaps they’ll be thinking of their wins: Aukus backed in the strongest terms (albeit with mysterious “ambiguities” the US wants to iron out, and which Albanese refused to talk about). A multi-billion minerals deal. Zero blowback from any number of policy areas, from defence to the Middle East, where the two nations have disagreed.Inevitable criticism from the ALP’s left flank came quickly, with former Labor senator Doug Cameron calling Albanese’s conduct a “capitulation”. Albanese’s joking quip that he would use Trump’s warm words about him in future election ads will be played again and again by progressive critics unhappy about Labor further tying Australia to the US administration.In 2017, adding to his “scared” remarks, Albanese said: “We have an alliance with the US, we’ve got to deal with him, but that doesn’t mean that you’re uncritical about it.”At the time, Albanese was a shadow minister. Now as prime minister, he has seemingly worked out a way to deal with Trump – even if they’re unlikely to swap interior design tips anytime soon. More