In ‘9 to 5,’ Dolly Parton Put a Friendly Face on Feminism In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem.
…https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/magazine/dolly-parton-9-to-5-feminism.html?searchResultPosition=1
By Susan Dominus
Published Aug. 27, 2026
Before a script for the movie “9 to 5” even existed — when it was still just a vague concept for a story about female office workers — Jane Fonda had a lightning bolt moment about how to cast it. She was in the car listening to the radio when a Dolly Parton song came on. Immediately, as Fonda later recalled on the podcast “Dolly Parton’s America,” an image popped into her head: “I suddenly had a vision of Dolly as a secretary,” she said. “She can’t see her hands, typing with those long fingernails. Everything about it made me laugh.”

Fonda approached Parton about the role. “How hard can this be?” Parton remembered thinking, in the 2022 documentary “Still Working 9 to 5.” “If it’s big, I’ll get to roll around in the glory, and if it’s a flop, I blame it on them.”

Parton made clear to Rolling Stone in 1980 that she did not take the role in order to be part of a feminist project. “Not that I’m not for rights for everybody,” she told the interviewer. “I’m just saying I don’t want to get involved in a political thing.” Whatever you thought about the movie, she implied, it was not, at least for her, a feminist cri de coeur about sexual harassment, equal pay, child care and job flexibility. “It’s just a funny, funny show,” she said — not, most definitely not, about “bosses in general or the plight of secretaries.”

Parton on the set of “9 to 5.”Credit…Steve Schapiro
Later on in life, Parton, who died on Tuesday, would acknowledge that the movie had “a good message,” but she was clearly ambivalent about being pinned down. Given her many good works — her donations to vaccine research, literacy, disaster relief — Parton’s evasiveness has been interpreted generously by her fans across the political spectrum: It was not so much about making herself marketable as it was about maintaining her status as a unifying cultural force. She seemed to intuit that the best way she could help women fight for equality was by expressing herself her way — without labels.

Despite Parton’s protestations, “9 to 5” was, in fact, developed explicitly as a movie about the experience of low-level office workers. During the years of anti-Vietnam activism that earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane,” Fonda had befriended another activist, Karen Nussbaum, who had started organizing secretaries and clerical workers, the jobs held by about a third of working women at the time. Fonda and her team interviewed dozens of them, many of whom spoke of overt sexism and sexual harassment; some responded enthusiastically when asked if they ever fantasized about getting even with their bosses. One said she wished she could grind up her boss and serve him in the office coffee.

In the film Fonda eventually developed, Parton plays a competent and sweet, happily partnered secretary who wears feminine dresses and a green sequined cardigan at the office. She and two co-workers, played by Fonda and Lily Tomlin, are fed up with their boss, whom they describe as a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.” The three women undertake an absurdist revenge plot that involves keeping him in captivity for six weeks, even suspending him from the ceiling.

Both Fonda and Parton, in their own ways, were trying to manage feminism’s image problem, which persisted despite the movement’s success in opening up women’s lives over a remarkably short span of time. The movement started picking up momentum in the early 1960s, but gained enormous visibility in 1970, when Betty Friedan, author of “The Feminine Mystique,” helped launch the Women’s Strike for Equality, which included rallies, walkouts and teach-ins around the country on Aug. 26 of that year. Some 50,000 women protested in New York City alone, effectively shutting down Fifth Avenue.

In 1971, Gloria Steinem, already a powerhouse political and feminist organizer, co-founded Ms. magazine, which sold out its first 300,000 copies within eight days and helped mainstream the language and mission of female equality. Within the decade, the movement had made significant strides: The passage of Title IX expanded girls’ access to sports and academic opportunities in schools; legislation made it illegal for banks to discriminate on the basis of sex, meaning a woman could no longer be required to provide a signed letter from her husband to receive a line of credit; and a 1978 amendment to the Civil Rights Act made it illegal for employers to discriminate against women on the basis of pregnancy. The Supreme Court also decided Roe v. Wade, establishing a constitutional right to abortion that would stand for nearly 50 years.

And yet even as many of these gains were broadly popular, the feminist movement was still viewed with suspicion, especially by conservatives who associated it with its most radical forms — calls for women to reject men, motherhood and caregiving. If feminists weren’t stereotyped as unshaven and man-hating, they were alternatively construed as out of touch and elite. The comedians Catherine O’Hara and Andrea Martin satirized those tropes in a 1981 parody sketch called “I’m Taking My Own Head, Screwing It On Right, and No Guy’s Gonna Tell Me It Ain’t,” in which O’Hara proclaims she’s happy only when she’s working 21 hours a day and Martin complains that she feels like a prisoner in her own home. Even as series like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” used humor to gently push forward feminist ideals, feminists were typically the butt of jokes in stand-up routines and on late-night shows.

Parton knew that Fonda was being strategic by casting her in “9 to 5,” in the hopes of bringing in a Southern audience. Fonda has been even more explicit that she viewed the movie’s humor as a vehicle for delivering a strong feminist message in a palatable way. “Even if people don’t want to deal with the issues we’re raising,” Fonda told the producer of “Dolly Parton’s America,” “they’ll like the movie anyway, because it’s really funny.”
Image

Parton with the director Colin Higgins on the set of “9 to 5.”Credit…Steve Schapiro
I saw the film at age 10 with my sister, and I think it’s safe to say our reaction was shared by countless viewers: It was Parton who made us laugh the hardest, who we were really rooting for. The rage and revenge on display in the film might have seemed unhinged or ugly — the stuff of violent radicals — but somehow, with Parton at the center, their actions seemed almost plucky: You could push a sweet, smiling flower of a human only so far before she’d show you what she was made of.

The movie was not only a blockbuster — it made $100 million at the box office, the second biggest hit of the year — but according to the organizers who helped Fonda conceive it, it also changed culture in precisely the way they hoped it would. Before its release, “we had to argue that women’s work was plagued by discrimination,” Nussbaum was quoted as saying in Fonda’s memoir, “My Life So Far.” “The movie put an end to that debate. … The audiences recognized it and could laugh at it. Now the debate could shift to what we should do about it.” Ellen Cassedy, an organizer who worked with Nussbaum, said the movie “changed my life, and I can say that without a doubt, it changed offices, bosses and the whole atmosphere of office life.”

It’s unlikely that the movie would have been as effective without “9 to 5,” the theme song Parton wrote for it (a condition of her taking the role). The song starts with a driving, repeating single note, the song’s beating heart, music that’s quickly overlaid with what sounds like a clacking typewriter, even the ping of a carriage. Written on set, with Parton’s acrylic nails her only instrument as she worked it out, the song universalizes the experiences of “folks like me, on the job, from 9 to 5.” Everyone starts their day with that cup of ambition; everyone has that boss who’s on the make; everyone hates on the man while simultaneously despairing of ever joining his ranks.

The song is sometimes considered a feminist anthem, but as the Canadian podcast “Material Girls” pointed out in March, it might be better considered a rallying cry for what the historian Dorothy Sue Cobble has called “labor feminism.” Labor feminism brought working-class women into the fold, recognizing, in Cobble’s words, that “the personal interaction between men and women at work and the sexploitation of women’s bodies were as much labor issues as wages and benefits.” On the album “9 to 5 and Odd Jobs,” on which Parton released the song, her sympathies with labor are in some ways more pronounced than her allegiance to feminism: She chose to cover the famous Woody Guthrie labor and immigrants’ rights song “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” a raw and heartbreaking story of erasure and exploitation.

Like Parton herself, the song “9 to 5” is unexpected as a feminist symbol — it’s playful, unlike many of the most important feminist anthems of the ’70s, which demanded respect, talked of survival, of being petrified. (In “I Am Woman,” Helen Reddy speaks of “wisdom born of pain.”) Fonda has said that she knew, from the moment she heard it the first time, it would be a cultural landmark: “If this movie’s not a big hit, this song will be — it’ll make us a hit,” she said in the 2022 documentary.

Parton took real professional risks in collaborating with Fonda, who earned the enduring enmity of thousands of Americans after she was photographed, laughing, sitting on a North Vietnamese antiaircraft gun while on a visit to Hanoi in 1972. In one of the early interview clips featured in the 2022 documentary, Parton suggested she was not having an easy time being asked “how I deal with Jane, what my folks think about Jane, and what the South thinks about me being a friend of Jane.”

But Parton never seemed to have regrets about making the film. She was herself a savvy career woman, and the film — her first — catapulted her into a new level of celebrity. Whatever her intentions, her performance can be credited with smashing the clichés of what a feminist looked like, even if she wouldn’t use that word to describe herself. She also helped reframe feminism’s image to emphasize more universally relatable demands for an egalitarian, humane workplace — better pay, better conditions, more respect. Getting ahead, getting the raise, getting the credit: It’s a song every American can hum along to.

Photographs by Steve Schapiro/Corbis, via Getty Images
Corrected on Sept. 2, 2026: An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the sound effect in Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” The song features the ping of a typewriter carriage, not a cartridge.
We acknowledge mistakes in our reporting with corrections. If you spot an error, please let us know at corrections@nytimes.com.Learn more.
Susan Dominus has been a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine since 2011.

In ‘9 to 5,’ Dolly Parton Put a Friendly Face on Feminism

In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem.

www.nytimes.com

U.S. Health Officials Move Quickly to Deploy Medical A.I. Despite Concerns
Federal projects are rolling out A.I. agents that offer therapy and prescribe medicine, raising concerns about safety and the influence of venture capital investors.
…https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/health/ai-doctors-medicare-fda.html
A demonstration of a Limbic A.I. mental health app.Credit…Jeremie Souteyrat for The New York Times
Christina Jewett.png
By Christina Jewett
Sept. 14, 2026
Updated 1:38 p.m. ET
The Trump administration is accelerating efforts to make artificial intelligence an integral part of medical care in the United States, throwing the resources and support of the federal government into projects that deploy A.I. agents to diagnose and prescribe treatments to patients.

The multifront effort at the Department of Health and Human Services has raised concerns among some officials over the past few months that change is moving too quickly, with inadequate evidence of the technology’s safety and effectiveness, according to people who have been involved the discussions. They also worry about outsized influence of Silicon Valley investors that have previously played little role in federal health policy.

Vinod Khosla, a billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist whose son has a health care A.I. company, has been particularly influential in conversations with top health department officials, according to people close to the matter. Those officials include Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of Medicare and Medicaid. Chris Klomp, who faces a confirmation hearing this week to be the second-in-command at the health department, said on a podcast in May that the use of A.I. in patient care was the “holy grail” in the agency’s quest to improve the nation’s health and reduce costs.

Mr. Khosla has predicted for more than a decade that A.I. would largely replace doctors. “It’s over for doctors, human doctors,” he said at a July A.I. start-up event. “A.I. is just going to be better.”
In an interview, Mr. Khosla trumpeted Curai Health, his son’s company, which he has backed financially, saying it could offer an A.I. primary care provider that could give underserved people rapid access to care. “C.M.S. seems to be very excited,” Mr. Khosla said, referring to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Concerns about the dangers of A.I., and calls to regulate it, have erupted in recent days as some top executives of A.I. labs have called for slowing the pace of development. In medicine, doctors are increasingly relying on A.I. for help with administrative tasks, but the prospect of A.I. taking over physician roles in assessing and treating patients is unnerving to some.
Image

Vinod Khosla, a billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist whose son has a health care A.I. company, has been particularly influential in conversations with top health department officials, according to people close to the matter.Credit…Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Models meant to render care independently to patients “are not ready for prime time,” said Dr. John Whyte, chief executive of the American Medical Association, the nation’s largest physicians organization.

He said the evidence that Mr. Khosla and others have cited as showing A.I.’s superiority to doctors — including in a recent essayin an American Medical Association publication whose authors included Mr. Khosla and his son, Neal — was not convincing and largely based on simulations.

“A.I. in health should not be driven by the tech industry,” Dr. Whyte said. “It should be driven by the clinical community. And right now, what we have going on is that tech is the tail wagging the dog.”

Grace Davis Jamison, a health department spokeswoman, said the department was taking a “responsible, evidence-based approach” to A.I. deployment and “expanding its use as the evidence demonstrates value.”

“H.H.S. is embracing cutting-edge American innovation, including A.I. as a practical tool, to better serve patients, families, and clinicians as we work to Make America Healthy Again,” she said in a statement.

As part of the effort, federal health officials are working on developing a new payment category for Medicare, the federal health program that covers more than 60 million older Americans, to reimburse companies for A.I. software that supports medical care or diagnosis. Medicare officials have urged private insurerscovering about 165 million Americans to reimburse for “technology-supported care,” including some A.I. projects, if they improve care and cut costs.

The F.D.A. has approved more than 1,500 medical devices that include A.I. to perform discrete tasks, such as spotting a tumor or a blood clot. But the agency does not have rules built to address newer models, such as chatbots or so-called agentic A.I. that perform tasks that a doctor would do, such as prescribing a drug. Ms. Jamison said the F.D.A. was examining how its rules should change to keep up with A.I. systems “that operate with greater autonomy.”

Still, Medicare officials are moving an array of pilot programs forward without F.D.A. approval. Medicare has allowed more than 200 companies to try out pilots that can include A.I.

Through a program aligned with the Medicare effort, the F.D.A. has rejected many of those applicants but has allowed the use of four otherwise-unapproved A.I. models that meet safety criteria and appear likely to benefit patients. They include a project that offers talk therapy with an A.I. chatbot to Medicare beneficiaries with depression or anxiety.

The F.D.A. is still discussing how it should regulate complex A.I. models that change over time and perform actions like prescribing. The task is daunting: The agency would have to manage the risks of large-language models; one was already accused of giving “dangerous” medical advice to a man who delayed care for a life-threatening blood clot.

It would also have to contemplate whether A.I. doctors could go rogue in a manner akin to the OpenAI agents that coordinated a hacking campaign on a company called Hugging Face.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, has publicly acknowledged the risks, but said during a congressional hearing in April that A.I. was “going to revolutionize medicine.”
“A.I. is very dangerous potentially,” he said at the hearing. “But it also has the capacity to bring really great things to humanity, particularly in the realm of human health.”

One of his sons, Finn, started a venture capital fund this year that says it “builds and invests in generational health companies” and was reported to have solicited funds to invest in health care A.I.

Last year, Finn Kennedy worked for 8VC, a venture capital firm run by Joe Lonsdale, a billionaire ally of President Trump’s; the younger Kennedy coauthored articles at the firm, saying that A.I. doctors “won’t work for free,” suggesting that the companies that create the technology should be paid. He laid out the federal overhaul needed to deploy them, which included appointing a person at the F.D.A. to focus specifically on artificial intelligence.
Image

Jared Seehafer, an F.D.A. official with Silicon Valley ties, proposed a plan to centralize A.I. oversight at the health department or in the F.D.A. commissioner’s office.Credit…US Food and Drug Administration
Last week, the health department did just that, announcing that it had elevated Jared Seehafer, a former tech entrepreneur, to a newly created post of deputy commissioner for technology and artificial intelligence. Mr. Seehafer, a political appointee who has been at the agency about a year, has been described by people who worked with him as wanting to pare back the agency’s oversight of medical A.I.

Mr. Seehafer’s appointment drew notice in Silicon Valley investment circles. “Great choice from the H.H.S. team,” Sebastian Caliri of 8VC, who co-wrote the A.I. articles with the younger Mr. Kennedy, posted on X. Mr. Lonsdale, his boss, whose venture capital firm has invested in medical A.I., wrote: “Excited to see the right talent going in.”

Mr. Seehafer began working at the F.D.A. after he sold his start-up that provided software to help companies comply with F.D.A. rules. Soon he began to clash with Dr. Marty Makary, then the agency’s commissioner, and with the director of medical devices, whose division oversees software that directs patient care.

Mr. Seehafer proposed a plan to centralize A.I. oversight at the health department or in the F.D.A. commissioner’s office, raising concerns that decisions would be more influenced by the tech sector than by medical considerations, according to people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The plan met with resistance from Dr. Michelle Tarver, the top medical devices official overseeing A.I. software, favoring leadership from expert scientists with a focus on patient safety.

Dr. Makary, who had been outspoken about the influence of Silicon Valley investors, then got word that health department officials wanted him to fire Dr. Tarver, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He refused.

The F.D.A. said in a statement, “The work, expertise, and involvement of career staff is a vital component of F.D.A. successfully delivering public health for the American people.”

The statement added that Mr. Seehafer “has nothing but respect for Dr. Tarver” and her division’s “long history of facilitating innovation while ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medical devices.”

Within the administration, conversations about A.I. in medicine have continued, including on whether to pay AI doctors operated by tech companies and start-ups as much as 60 to 80 percent of what human doctors earn for the same service, according to a person involved.
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Ross Harper, the chief executive of Limbic. He claimed that advancements would allow one clinician to supervise thousands of A.I. therapists.Credit…Jeremie Souteyrat for The New York Times
Other projects offer payment based on whether they demonstrate benefits to patients and cost savings to Medicare. One of them is from the company Limbic, offering cognitive behavioral therapy to Medicare beneficiaries who were diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

The company, which was backed by the elder Mr. Khosla, was selected by the F.D.A. to participate in a Medicare A.I. pilot.

In it, an A.I. counselor, which has a female voice and uses the name “Hope,” offers an hourlong session each week with check-ins as needed. A study by company scientists and engineers that was published in the journal Nature Medicine found that clinicians who were unaware if they were reviewing a therapy transcript led by a human or a chatbot concluded that the Limbic A.I. outperformed humans and a general chatbot.

Ross Harper, Limbic’s chief executive, said that one clinician would supervise thousands of A.I. therapists.

“It is a moral issue to get this out into the hands of people who can’t access care,” said the Limbic executive, who holds a doctorate in computational neuroscience. He added: “We have to remind ourselves: What are we comparing this against? We’re comparing it against no treatment, a long wait list.”

Another medical A.I. pilot with about $60 million in funding is moving forward at the health department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. Dr. Haider Warraich, a former F.D.A. official and cardiologist, said the Advocate project is meant to ultimately deploy autonomous A.I. to manage care for heart failure patients, giving them access to a chatbot that can prescribe and manage medications.

Dr. Warraich said the project was inspired by his experience as a cardiologist managing heart failure patients during the Covid pandemic. He said his team had routine phone contact with patients, many of whom were afraid to enter the hospital and catch the virus, and found that patients improved with the regular check-ins.

He said the A.I. effort, put into practice by teams at Stanford and Duke, among other groups, would include remote monitoring or wearable sensors linked to the A.I., which could adjust medications if a patient’s condition began to deteriorate. (Given current laws and rules, a doctor will oversee the A.I.)

The goal, he said, “is to really bring safe and effective clinical A.I. to the bedside, and build a regulatory pathway for this technology, so that we can really help unlock the potential of this technology — not just for heart failure, which is our main focus, but really for all conditions.”
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Dr. Haider Warraich, a former F.D.A. official and cardiologist, said his health department pilot project is meant to ultimately deploy autonomous A.I. to manage care for heart failure patients, giving them access to a chatbot that can prescribe and manage medications.Credit…Sophie Park for The New York Times
Other companies accepted into Medicare’s pilot programs include Slingshot AI and Devoted Health, organizations backed by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that has heavily supported Mr. Trump.

Neal Khosla’s company, Curai Health, was selected by Medicare and has an application pending with the F.D.A. to deploy its autonomous A.I. primary care doctors. In a pre-published study by company scientists and engineers, his team found that clinicians concurred with the AI doctor’s diagnosis about 91 percent of the time across about 2,300 cases. However, in three cases, the A.I. suggested a telehealth visit in situations where a human doctor advised an urgent or emergency evaluation.

Given the promise to vastly expand affordable care, the younger Mr. Khosla said he was surprised by the vitriol generated by the recent editorial that he and his father and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy official in the Obama administration, wrote with Abe Baker-Butler in a JAMA journal. The article argued that autonomous A.I. outperformed human doctors in several areas and would be in widespread use by 2030.

Dr. Emanuel said that he got feedback from peers reminding him of the role doctors play in consoling patients. Overall, he said the response has been about “40 percent supportive.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Christina Jewett covers the Food and Drug Administration, which means keeping a close eye on drugs, medical devices, food safety and tobacco policy.

Trump Administration Moves to Integrate A.I. Into Medical Care Despite Concerns

Federal projects are rolling out A.I. agents that offer therapy and prescribe medicine, raising concerns about safety and the influence of venture…

www.nytimes.com

Striking AFM 6 SF Opera Musicians Perform In Robin Williams Meadow In Golden Gate Park & Speak Out
https://youtu.be/eSy3DDuKhdE
San Francisco Opera Musicians who are members of AFM 6 were forced out on strike after months of negotiations and demands for take-aways and concessions. The… management cancelled the Opera Day in the Park and the striking musicians and their supporters showed up and talked about their work and performed in the park on September 13, 2026.
They are urging supporters to contact the management to negotiate a fair contract with living wages.
Additional Media:
Mighty Mighty SF Symphony Choristers Sing Out On The Strike Line
https://youtu.be/XEBPQSlsd0E
AFM 6 Striking SF Symphony Community & Receive Rousing Support
https://youtu.be/RS0BlR8VVxI
AGMA Choristers Of The San Francisco Symphony Officially On Strike
https://www.musicalartists.org/agma-choristers-of-the-san-francisco-symphony-officially-on-strike/
Was a Strike Before the SF Symphony’s Season Opener Inevitable?
https://www.sfcv.org/articles/music-news/was-strike-sf-symphonys-season-opener-inevitable#
SF AFM 6 Musicians Commemoration Of A Merger Of White & Black Locals
https://youtu.be/mSUtOZwjBdc
Racial Segregation and the San Francisco Musicians’ Union, 1923–60
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/miller/jsam_miller-segr&sfunion.pdf
A History of the Musicians Union Local 6, American Federation of Musicians
https://afm6.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/local6-history.pdf
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net

Striking AFM 6 SF Opera Musicians Perform In Robin Williams Meadow In Golden Gate Park & Speak Out
https://youtu.be/eSy3DDuKhdE
San Francisco Opera Musicians who are members of AFM 6 were forced out on strike after months of negotiations and demands for take-aways and concessions. The… management cancelled the Opera Day in the Park and the striking musicians and their supporters showed up and talked about their work and performed in the park on September 13, 2026.
They are urging supporters to contact the management to negotiate a fair contract with living wages.
Additional Media:
Mighty Mighty SF Symphony Choristers Sing Out On The Strike Line
https://youtu.be/XEBPQSlsd0E
AFM 6 Striking SF Symphony Community & Receive Rousing Support
https://youtu.be/RS0BlR8VVxI
AGMA Choristers Of The San Francisco Symphony Officially On Strike
https://www.musicalartists.org/agma-choristers-of-the-san-francisco-symphony-officially-on-strike/
Was a Strike Before the SF Symphony’s Season Opener Inevitable?
https://www.sfcv.org/articles/music-news/was-strike-sf-symphonys-season-opener-inevitable#
SF AFM 6 Musicians Commemoration Of A Merger Of White & Black Locals
https://youtu.be/mSUtOZwjBdc
Racial Segregation and the San Francisco Musicians’ Union, 1923–60
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/miller/jsam_miller-segr&sfunion.pdf
A History of the Musicians Union Local 6, American Federation of Musicians
https://afm6.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/local6-history.pdf
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net

Trump Fascist Government Will Stage Jan 3 Attempted Coup 2
THE COMING CRISISThe Final Battle for America’s Democracy
https://newrepublic.com/article/215198/2027-new-congress-final-battle-american-democracy

Michael Luttig/September 10 2026
THE COMING CRISISThe Final Battle for… America’s Democracy
Forget November 3. It’s January 3 when Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans might bury our democracy once and for all.
Here’s how.
Donald Trump instigated a war against America’s democracy on January 6 2021. He and his Republican allies would have crippled America’s democracy that day had his own vice president not refused to be party to the gravest constitutional offense a president can commit—the refusal to relinquish and peacefully transfer the power of the presidency to his duly elected successor.00:0303:12Read MoreToday almost six years later Donald Trump and his Republican congressional allies are even more determined to prosecute the president’s war against American democracy to its catastrophic end than they were on January 6 2021.That catastrophic end could well come on January 3 2027 when Trump and his Republican congressional allies wage the final battle in Trump’s determined war to corrupt America’s democracy and deliver a lasting political victory over the Democrats for his MAGA Republican Party.Trump and his Republican allies have been preparing for this final battle since January 6 2021. For the past six years they have embarrassed themselves and the U.S. with their preposterous win-at-any-cost denial that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and their deceitful slander of America’s democracy. Since his return to the White House Trump’s every unconstitutional act in his effort to seize control over the midterm elections—each hailed by his prostrate Republican Congress—has been toward the end of ensuring that Republicans retain a majority in the 120th Congress.Trump told talk show host Dan Bogino on February 2 “The Republicans should say ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting.’… The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.’” The Republicans have dutifully fallen in line.Before Donald Trump arrived it was the Republicans who professed to stand for the Constitution principle truth honesty integrity—even honor. Republicans were the proud party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. It was our party that could be expected to put country before party when the time came as when Barry Goldwater and other party elders told Richard Nixon in 1974 that it was time to resign the presidency. That was then. None of this is true of today’s Republican Party and this Republican Congress. So enthralled with the forty-seventh president are today’s House Republicans that they long ago abandoned everything the Republican Party has stood for since its founders first met in Ripon Wisconsin in 1854.Today’s congressional Republicans took a blood oath six years ago not just to put their party before their country but to put Donald Trump before their country. And so it is that only weeks before the midterm elections House Republicans have already sworn their allegiance to Donald Trump and doomed the U.S. to another January 6 next January 3.So unalterably subjugated to Trump is today’s Republican House that even a decisive victory for Democrats and a resounding repudiation of Trump and the MAGA Republicans at the polls in November will not guarantee that a Democratic majority-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress on January 3.All year long Trump has been dragooning House Speaker Mike Johnson and the congressional Republicans into prejudging as fraudulent the upcoming November elections of the presumed Democratic majority as he himself has already prejudged those elections. His dragooning appears to have worked. House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress.Over the past year and a half since his return to the White House Trump has exploited every conceivable unlawful means possible to rig the midterm elections in favor of the Republicans and the federal courts have struck down as unconstitutional every one of these unlawful attempts. He will try every unlawful means over the remaining weeks to ensure that Republicans handily win the midterm elections in November. Those of us who oppose his illegality will look to the courts but the federal courts will be institutionally incapable of checking his final unlawful rampage.Trump punctuated his expressed intent to interfere in the midterm elections eight weeks ago in a national prime-time address on “election integrity” accusing the Democrats and the Chinese in particular of threatening the free and fair elections in November. In that address he claimed without evidence or support (as usual) that the 2026 midterm elections were being threatened by noncitizen voting weaknesses in voter registration systems foreign interference and vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems.The concocted address was universally panned as purely partisan devoid of evidence and support and anticipatory of his forthcoming claim in November that the Democrats won a majority in the House of Representatives only because of fraud in their respective elections.Everyone knows that the greatest threat to the upcoming midterm elections is not the Democrats or the Chinese noncitizen voting or electronic voting machines but the president of the United States and his servile Republican Congress.Every member of Congress takes a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution an oath that obligates them to honor the will of the American electorate. It is a sacred imperative that the Congress of the United States must defend our constitutional right to choose our representatives to Congress against all enemies domestic as well as foreign who would deny us this fundamental right.There was a time not long ago when virtually every member of Congress could be expected to commit to the peaceful transfer of congressional power in advance of an election just as every president could be expected to commit to the peaceful transfer of presidential power. But those times came to an abrupt end upon Donald Trump’s arrival in January 2017. In a damning indictment of the president and today’s congressional Republicans it would be hard to find even one congressional Republican with the integrity sense of duty to country honor and courage to put America above the Republican Party let alone above Donald Trump.Yet America’s only hope for saving its democracy and avoiding another crippling constitutional crisis on January 3 is for the House Republicans to decide that they are not going to betray their oaths and their country one last time for Donald Trump and telegraph to Trump and Mike Johnson that any unconstitutional plan they might be contriving to deny Democratic members-elect their rightful seats in the 120th Congress would be dead on arrival January 3.If there are any such Republicans in the Congress today they should announce well before November 3 that they will not be party to Trump’s and Johnson’s attempt to steal the midterm elections from the American people.In fact the House members of both political parties should stand united before November 3 and affirm to the American people that in the United States of America government derives its just powers from the consent of “We the People”—the governed. They should campaign in the fall on any refusal by their political opponents to affirm the same. Their political opponents should in turn campaign on House members’ refusal to affirm that they will not be complicit in any attempt to steal the midterm elections.Standing united before the midterm elections against any attempt by Trump and Johnson to overturn those elections would go a long way toward restoring Americans’ lost trust in their Congress and their government. It would send a powerful message to Trump and Johnson that Americans will never again be forced by their own government to endure another January 6.While it is small solace Americans are not entirely at the mercy of this Republican Congress to suddenly decide to honor its oath to the Constitution and the American people. It will be the Supreme Court not Trump Johnson or even the House of Representatives that will have the final word as to who will be seated in the 120th Congress of the United States.Article I Section 5 Clause 1 of the Constitution provides that “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.” Under Clause 1 the House of Representatives is the “judge” of its “elections” and “returns.” But the House’s power is not plenary. The Constitution constrains how the House can exercise its power to refuse to seat members-elect. Indeed in 1969 in Powell v. McCormack the Supreme Court ensured that the House constitutionally exercised its power to “judge the qualifications” of members-elect when it ordered the seating of New York Representative Adam Clayton Powell who had won reelection in 1966 despite a House vote to refuse to seat him. Just as the court intervened then so also will the Supreme Court ensure that the House exercises its power to “judge” its “elections” and “returns” within the limits imposed by the Constitution. At least we hope it will but can we be sure with this court?Whether the House constitutionally exercises its power not to seat members-elect will ultimately be determined by the federal courts and the Supreme Court—not by a majority vote of the House of Representatives.This is how the crisis would unfold. The precursor of the crisis will come sometime before noon on January 3 when Speaker Johnson removes current House Clerk Kevin McCumber and replaces him with a person loyal to Johnson and House Republicans who they know will refuse to list on the statutory roll of representatives-elect to the 120th Congress any Democrat-elect whom Johnson and the Republicans direct him or her not to list. Under Rule II Clause 1 of the Rules of the House the Speaker of the House has the unilateral power to remove the incumbent clerk and then the power under Title 2 U.S.C. § 5501(a) to replace him temporarily with whomever he wishes until the House elects a successor. McCumber is a Republican appointed by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He is widely respected for his integrity and faithful adherence to the Constitution and is reputed to be unwilling to carry out orders he considers to be unconstitutional.The first moment of constitutional crisis will come when sometime before the 120th Congress has been gaveled into session the loyal temporary clerk refuses to list Democrat representatives-elect on the clerk’s roll of representatives-elect that determines who may participate in organizing the new Congress. At that moment interested members-elect and others will be forced to seek a writ of mandamus—a court order to a government official instructing him or her to perform a mandatory duty—from the federal court to the temporary clerk ordering him or her to list on the clerk’s roll all members-elect who have been certified by the states as having been elected from their districts to the new Congress.Members-elect will argue that the clerk has a ministerial duty under 2 U.S.C. § 26 to list all representatives-elect whose properly filed state certifications show that they were “regularly elected in accordance with the laws of his state or of the United States.” Because the clerk has no authority to omit any duly certified representative-elect even if a representative-elect’s election is contested the clerk unquestionably has a ministerial duty under law to list all duly certified representatives-elect. But this begs the question whether a court will issue the writ of mandamus to the acting clerk.At first blush a court will be reluctant to order the clerk to list all duly certified representatives-elect because of an instinctive belief that such an order would interfere with the constitutional process of the House to judge its own elections and returns. The wise and learned judge however will understand that rather than interfering with the House process issuance of the writ will actually enable the House process to proceed to completion without judicial interference. Were that wise and learned judge to issue the writ his or her order would immediately be appealed to the Court of Appeals and from that court to the Supreme Court while the country and the world wait in suspense.The next moment of constitutional crisis will come if and when after appeals the court finally issues the writ of mandamus and the clerk refuses to obey the court’s order to list the Democratic representatives-elect. At that point it is possible there will be no further federal court involvement until such time as the 120th Congress officially convenes and votes not to seat representatives-elect. Then that vote by the 120th Congress will be immediately reviewable by the federal courts up to and including the Supreme Court of the United States.Judicial review of the House’s decision not to seat Democratic representatives-elect in the 120th Congress would take weeks if not months during which time the United States would be in the throes of a paralyzing constitutional crisis helplessly vulnerable to all the world’s evil as it would have been in January 2021 had Mike Pence not thwarted Donald Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election.It is not difficult to imagine the many possibilities some of the most critical being entirely realistic. It would be the ideal moment for China to move against Taiwan by way of military blockade attack or even invasion. It would be the perfect moment for Vladimir Putin to complete his conquest of Ukraine and perhaps even to move militarily against Estonia. Every passing day could bring a deepening economic crisis worsened by our angry allies around the world who would welcome the opportunity to requite Donald Trump for his belittling mockery of their countries and presidents. Without the Congress the United States would be powerless to respond to any of these crises.The House has historically claimed that its decision not to seat a member-elect because of fraud or irregularities in the elections is unreviewable by the federal courts. But its decision is reviewable. The Constitution unquestionably requires the House to seat a member-elect who was validly elected in a free and fair election. The Article 1 Section 5 power of the House to be the judge of its elections and returns does not give the House the power to deny a seat in the Congress of the United States to a candidate elected by the American people in a free and fair election on the mere assertion pretextual or otherwise by a simple majority of the House that the candidate’s election was tainted by fraud.Thus on and after January 3 if congressional Republicans were to determine that a Democratic member-elect was elected because of fraudulent voting and refuse to seat him or her that determination would be scrutinized by the federal courts up to and including the Supreme Court.It will never be a nonjusticiable political question whether the United States House of Representatives by simple majority vote can refuse to seat a member elected to Congress by the American people in a free and fair election on the pretextual and unsupported assertion that the member-elect’s election was tainted by fraud. Such is the very opposite of a nonjusticiable political question committed to the House of Representatives. For in the decision of this question lies the answer to perhaps the most fundamental question under the Constitution: Is the United States of America a democracy in which “We the People” elect our representatives to the Congress and to the presidency or is it not?I don’t intend to be overly sanguine about this Supreme Court. This is the court that shattered the one constitutional truth in the U.S. since 1789 that “no man is above the law” and placed Donald Trump of all presidents above the law in Trump v. United States. This is the court that betrayed the Constitution by refusing even to decide whether Trump was disqualified from the presidency under the Fourteenth Amendment because of his insurrection against the Constitution which he clearly was. This is also the court that has cynically authorized Trump’s lawlessness for the past two years through its aptly named “shadow docket” without so much as briefing argument or written opinion.But surely by now this court must understand what it has wrought for the U.S. and the Constitution and is aghast as we all are even if it is not penitent. Surely surely it will understand the signal moment in American constitutional history that would be presented and this time understand its supreme obligation to the nation.Between now and November 3 congressional Republicans would do well to ponder one last time the fate of their Republican Party were the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse a fraudulent determination by the 120th Republican Congress not to seat Democratic members-elect who would give the Democrats majority control of the House.Two hundred and fifty years into the greatest experiment in self-government in the history of the world the Republican Party would finally meet the fate to which it has been destined since January 6 2021 and cement its place in history as the most corrupt political party ever to emerge in the United States of America for its second attempt in six years to defy the will of the American people on Election Day.If we Americans are to save our democracy from the forty-seventh president and his MAGA Republican Party we must disenthrall ourselves from our political bondage to Donald Trump and MAGA as Abraham Lincoln urged the nation in 1863 to disenthrall itself from its bondage to the ruinous political dogmas of its time. “We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country” the sixteenth president admonished. The Republican Party in particular must finally loose the chains of its political and moral enslavement to Donald Trump and separate itself from the MAGA political party cult.The writing is already on the wall Republicans.

The Final Battle for America’s Democracy

Forget November 3. It’s January 3 when Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans might bury our democracy once and for all. Here’s how.

newrepublic.com

As the coast begins to crumble, the clock ticks on moving San Onofre’s radioactive waste
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2026-09-12/as-coast-begins-to-crumble-clock-ticks-on-moving-san-onofres-radioactive-waste
A view of decommissioning work at San Onofre Nuclear Generating …Station in San Clemente.
A view of decommissioning work around San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station reactor containment domes in San Clemente on Aug. 21. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Blanca Begert
Staff Writer
Photography by Allen J. Schaben
Sept. 12, 2026 3 AM PT

Storm-driven erosion exposes vulnerability of California coast , reviving questions about keeping 3.6 million pounds of radioactive waste just 100 feet from the Pacific at decommissioned San Onofre nuclear power plant.
Utility officials insist seawalls and steel canister storage system can withstand tsunamis, quakes and rising seas for decades, even as scientists warn of hazards of storing nuclear waste indefinitely in a seismically active area next to the ocean.
With Yucca Mountain effectively cancelled, federal officials promote new “campus” storage sites in Utah and other states, promising jobs and consent-based siting while communities debate becoming America’s long-term nuclear waste repository.
As parts of the Southern California coastline crumbled into the sea, slammed by intense waves and flooding in recent days, oceanographer Kim McCoy had one thing on his mind: the nuclear waste set in concrete on the beach near San Clemente at the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant.

“Rising sea levels, storm waves, El Niño which increases wave height … these could wash away a section of the walkway that protects the San Onofre seawall and the waste canisters are just 100 feet away from that,” the former wave dynamics researcher and longtime advocate against beach storage of nuclear waste said.

Most experts agree the risk of erosion damaging the nuclear waste storage system is extremely low, in the near term. The plant’s owner, Southern California Edison, has promised the California Coastal Commission to move the waste to higher elevation on site if modeling shows sea level rise and erosion will start to pose a challenge.

But the recent waves, fueled by Hurricane Marie far away in the Pacific, re-surfaced the issue of the ultimate fate of the highly radioactive spent fuel that used to power the reactors.

“At the moment, it is under control, I think it’s essential to say that,” said James Day, a geology professor at UC San Diego. “But geologically we must be thinking long term. The waste lasts for hundreds, if not thousands of generations.”

1 Rows of round concrete vaults, each holding a canister of used nuclear fuel, sit underground at the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation at the former San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
2 San Clemente, CA – Indep
3 San Clemente, CA – Aug. 21, 2
1. Rows of round concrete vaults, each holding a canister of used nuclear fuel, sit underground at the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation at the former San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. 2. Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) where dry cask storage of used nuclear fuel is stored horizontally at the decommissioning San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. 3. A photograph above the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station hangs on the wall of a conference room at the facility.
Seen from I-5, the twin domes of San Onofre look like they’re part of an operating facility. Red lights flash at the top of each sphere, visible from afar, amid the chaparral and military buildings of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

But go behind the security checkpoint and you see a demolition site. Trailers and tents now sit where acres of office buildings, steam turbines, diesel generators, control rooms, cooling pools and water treatment plants have been knocked down and hauled away, since a scandal involving faulty steam generators shut the plant down in 2013.

Most of the rubble, which is only mildly radioactive or not at all, has already been sent to sites in Utah, Texas and Arizona.

The iconic twin domes that once housed the reactor cores will start coming down early next year. But the 3.6 million pounds of high-level waste will stay in the coastal community indefinitely.

How much of a safety hazard that is depends on whom you ask.

“San Onofre is sitting on some fairly young rocks in a seismically active region,” Day said at a recent symposium at the Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla, hosted by the Samuel Lawrence Foundation. “This is not the sort of place you would leave nuclear waste.”

Others noted that collapse of beach slopes could make the site more vulnerable to tsunamis. They spoke of the corrosive effects of the ocean air on the steel canisters that hold the waste.

A model display of a nuclear fuel assembly.
Manuel Camargo, principal manager, strategic planning, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, talks about nuclear waste storage with a model of a nuclear fuel assembly in the background on Aug. 21 in San Clemente. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“They could be doing more monitoring,” Greg Jaczko, former head of Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said of Edison. The utility tracks air temperature and radioactivity, checks canisters for cracks on the outside and inspects test canisters that mimic the active waste ones for signs of degradation.

They say their system will be safe for decades to come.

“The maximum credible tsunami here would not even overtake the seawall,” said Manuel Camargo, principal manager of decommissioning for Edison, standing on the concrete pad that holds the steel waste storage canisters. “The maximum credible earthquake, somewhere around a 7.0 magnitude, would produce something about half of what this system is designed to withstand.”

As he spoke, just in front of the plant, surfers were catching waves. He pointed out where Edison is bolstering a path below the sea wall. Based on state data from the California Ocean Protection Council, the sea wall would not be inundated before 2050, Camargo said. “It’s an extremely robust system.”

Rows of round concrete vaults, each holding a canister of used nuclear fuel.
Rows of round concrete vaults, each holding a canister of used nuclear fuel. The system, built into the bluff above the Pacific Ocean, holds dozens of canisters of radioactive waste and is designed to withstand fire, flood and tsunami.
Yet despite confidence in its protective measures, even the utility wants the waste out of there as soon as possible. Because this status quo is expensive.

From 1982 through 2014, Edison customers, like many ratepayers around the country, paid into a federal fund for a promised permanent nuclear waste storage site. But plans for a deep geological repository beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada crumbled in the face of local pushback in 2011.

Utilities around the U.S. now sue the federal government every year to recoup their storage expenses because the Department of Energy has not come through on its promise. The lawsuits cost taxpayers $2 million a day, according to Camargo.

“It’s so safe that it’s almost a problem,” Camargo said. “It’s not a priority to a lot of folks to move it.”

1 San Clemente, CA – A
2 San Clemente, CA – A ca
3 San Clemente, CA – A cauti
1. A caution: radioactive material sign is posted as Kevin Sheek, senior advisor for Emergency Planning, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, gives a tour of the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) . 2. An estimated 5,000 rail cars wait to be loaded to haul away dismantled plant materials. 3. The plant is located on an 84-acre site on the Pacific coast within the boundaries of the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.
Camargo, like so many in the nuclear power industry, is hanging his hopes on a new idea. The Trump administration’s Department of Energy wants to create “campuses” in several states to store waste, and in exchange, give local jurisdictions funding to develop different aspects of the nuclear cycle — like fuel creation, power generation and potentially fuel recycling.

The administration wants to address the fact that waste is sitting at 80 reactor sites around the country. It also needs places for waste from new reactors it wants to build. Several states including California have bans on new nuclear power until there is permanent federal storage. Some state leaders are trying to make an exception for small modular reactors such as the one the Port of Long Beach wants to build on a floating barge offshore.

For the record:
4:45 p.m. Sept. 12, 2026A previous version of this article listed Indiana as one of the five potential states to host nuclear waste campuses. The fifth state is actually Louisiana.
The Energy Department announced in July that it had signed memoranda of understanding with Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Idaho and Louisiana to explore their potential as campus hosts. Congressman Scott Peters and Mike Levin, whose district includes San Onofre, support this idea, and Camargo said Edison was in discussions with Utah and Tennessee about how it can help.

Other efforts to create nuclear waste storage facilities since Yucca Mountain have floundered. But boosters of the campus idea say this will be different, since the plan draws on principles of “consent-based siting” developed under the Obama administration and offers money and jobs.

“The community engagement piece has been central to our entire strategy, and we’re giving the community these options and funding to win,” said Tim Kowalchik, research director at Utah’s Office of Energy Development.

Others in Utah disagree, indicating it could be a long road to community buy-in. “What we’re seeing still is very limited community engagement and transparency about these proposed plans,” said Carmen Valdez, radioactive program manager with the nonprofit Heal Utah. “Our communities have always said no to becoming a waste site. We don’t want to be the toilet bowl of the nation.”

A man points to decommissioning work during a tour of a nuclear waste storage facility.
Kevin Sheek points to decommissioning work around reactor containment domes during a tour of the nuclear waste storage facility. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Finland is the country furthest along in building a deep, permanent geological storage for nuclear fuel. It will soon place canisters thousands of feet underground in stable rock formations and seal them off forever. Sweden has also broken ground on a facility, and Switzerland and Canada have chosen sites.

Camacho and lawmakers are optimistic that the U.S. can create something similar, and remove the waste from San Onfre in 10 to 15 years. If not, in 2103, when the site’s earliest canisters’ approach their intended 100-year lifespans, the utility may have to start transferring the fuel into new ones.

As the coast begins to crumble, the clock ticks on moving San Onofre’s radioactive waste

tktktk

www.latimes.com

Nurses Across US & The Globe Demand Hospitals Cut Ties With Palantir, Citing ICE and Gaza
National Nurses United is expanding its campaign against Palantir in a global week of action starting on September 28.

…https://truthout.org/articles/nurses-across-us-demand-hospitals-cut-ties-with-palantir-citing-ice-and-gaza/

By Shireen Akram-Boshar , TRUTHOUT
PublishedSeptember 11, 2026
Health Workers for a Free Palestine picket military intelligence company Palantir on December 21, 2023 in London, England.
GUY SMALLMAN / GETTY IMAGES
Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today!
National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., is demanding that hospitals cut ties with Palantir, with nurses citing the firm’s role in developing technology used to surveil immigrants in the U.S. and target civilians in Gaza.
The union – which represents more than 225,000 nurses in all 50 U.S. states — has announced a global week of action against Palantir, set to begin on September 28.
Palantir’s “AI-powered tools for large-scale data collection and mass surveillance… threaten human rights globally,” the union said in a press release announcing the campaign.
The global week of action is aimed at pushing all public institutions — including hospitals and other health care providers — to end contracts and partnerships with Palantir, and to divest from the company, the union said.
The global week of action builds on a national day of action, also led by the union, which saw demonstrations in eight cities across the U.S. on August 27, including in Portland, Maine; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Austin; and Los Angeles.
Palantir Paid No Federal Income Tax. Its Global Tax Rate Is Just 1.4 Percent.
The infamous surveillance company paid $22.7 million in global corporate taxes while raking in $1.6 billion in profits.
By Brett Wilkins , COMMONDREAMSAugust 7, 2026
The global week of action is also coordinated with health care workers in the U.K., where National Health Service (NHS) workers and activists will protest Palantir’s use in health care on October 1. Other organizations, like Amnesty International and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement, are also part of the global week of action.
“Palantir has no place in patient care, no place in our communities, and no place in our society,” a NNU nurse said in a video from the August 27 day of action.
The nurses have outlined Palantir’s complicity in human rights violations both nationally and internationally, from detentions of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the genocide in Gaza.
“We think that a company that specializes in mass surveillance, kidnappings and killings, has no place in patient care,” one nurse explained in a videoposted by the California Nurses Association.
During the August day of action, nurses placed 50 pairs of baby shoes in the street in each city – to represent the 500 babies and toddlers who have been detained in immigrant jails since President Donald Trump started his second term. The nurses also brought letters written by children in ICE detention.
“Palantir, we know, helps ICE identify people to kidnap off of our streets,” another nurse said during the day of action.
The company also has “their hands in the genocide and murders of civilians in Gaza,” another nurse present at the protests said. “They’ve [helped with the targeting of] hospitals, schools, mission workers taking food and aid….”
In a statement shared with Truthout and read at the August 27 day of action, Chicago-based nurse and NNU member Elizabeth Lalasz said that “nurses, health care workers, our patients, immigrants, and allies from every walk of life stand united here in Chicago and all across the country to demand an immediate end to the violence inflicted by Palantir technologies and the Trump administration.”
“As we speak, Palantir’s AI is enabling atrocities and human rights abuses: ICE killings, mass deportation, and concentration camps with no access to health care – even the imprisonment of more than 500 babies and 6,200 children – and Palantir is providing the technology for Israel’s U.S.-funded genocide in Gaza, the cruel and illegal war in Iran, and mass surveillance at home and abroad,” she went on.
Lalasz also noted that Palantir has partnered with the world’s largest health care corporations “to suck more and more profit from our broken health care system, causing untold suffering in our hospitals.”
“This country could fund health care for 12 million children with the money spent on ICE detention alone,” she said.
João Paulo Connolly, an activist in the Bay Area who has organized protests against Palantir, explained in a webinar that “Palantir’s profit model is data extraction and surveillance,” and then “giving employers new, powerful ways to monitor and spy on their workers at all times and track their behavior,” while also selling the health care industry and the federal government “unprecedented levels of access” to this data.

Nurses Across US Demand Hospitals Cut Ties With Palantir, Citing ICE and Gaza

National Nurses United is expanding its campaign against Palantir in a global week of action starting on September 28.

truthout.org

Across The Globe Palantir Out-Patients Over Palantir

Architect of billionaire tax tried to ‘extort’ support for the measure and targeted women, union reports find
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-11/architect-of-billionaire-tax-tried-to-extort-support-for-measure-targeted-women-union-reports-find

SEIU-United …Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan speaks during a summit hosted by Politico in August in Sacramento. (Annie Barker / Associated Press)
SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan denied the allegations. He said he did not attempt to extort from union officials, or assault or threaten female labor leaders.

Taryn Luna. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
By Taryn Luna
Senior Sacramento Reporter
Sept. 11, 2026 9:36 AM PT

SACRAMENTO — SEIU United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan allegedly tried to “extort” an SEIU state council endorsement of the billionaire tax ballot measure from other California union leaders, according to an investigation commissioned by Service Employees International Union.

The investigation and a second inquiry conducted on behalf of SEIU California found that Regan allegedly threatened and intimidated women who worked for the state council, and in one instance, physically assaulted a former executive director of the labor organization.

Regan, in an interview with The Times, denied the allegations that he attempted to extort from union officials. He also denied assaulting the executive director and said he did not threaten female labor leaders. He repeated a counter claim he made to the union: The allegations against him are retaliation for his advocacy for Proposition 40, the proposed wealth tax that will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.

“They are internally contradictory, they are fundamentally biased, and maybe most importantly, they are politically motivated,” Regan said about the probes.

The law firm hired by the national union investigated Regan’s claim of retaliation but found the allegation could not be substantiated.

David Huerta, the president of SEIU United Service Workers West, and three other labor leaders filed a rare formal union charge against Regan in February.

The national union of SEIU has ultimate authority to resolve charges filed under its constitution and hired the New York labor law firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon to independently investigate the claims. The firm interviewed 18 current and former SEIU leaders and others in the California labor movement over nearly three months, according to its report.

The law firm’s report, reviewed by The Times, supported Huerta’s claim that on Dec. 3 Regan suggested the state council could be investigated for “governance issues” if the council did not endorse the billionaire tax on the November ballot. Huerta was then president of SEIU California.

“During the investigation, Huerta reported that he left the conversation with Regan feeling ‘extorted’ and believing that Regan might report unspecified governance concerns to the United States Department of Labor, which is known to be unfriendly to labor unions under the Trump Administration, if state council did not support the billionaire tax,” the report said.

The law firm’s investigation substantiated an allegation that on the same day, Regan threatened Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, over the council’s position on the ballot measure. The SEIU probe found an allegation that Regan also assaulted one of Orr’s predecessors in the job, Courtni Pugh, in 2009, to be credible.

“SEIU California leaders filed charges against Dave Regan alleging a pattern of bullying, threats, abuse, harassment, physical violence and attempted extortion,” said Christopher Calhoun, a spokesperson for SEIU California, in a statement. “Initial investigations pertaining to these charges substantiated most of SEIU California leaders’ allegations.”

State union officials have temporarily banned Regan from the offices of SEIU California, a council of union leaders that coordinates political operations for all SEIU-affliated unions in the state, to protect female employees, according to the state council’s report.

Democratic National Committee delegate Courtni Pugh speaks at the California Democratic Party breakfast in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2024. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“Sufficient evidence was also found to substantiate that Regan has engaged in a pattern of subjecting former and current SEIU California female directors to intimidating and threatening physical behavior and verbal abuse,” the report commissioned by the state council said.

Leaders and workers within the labor movement describe Regan’s alleged behavior as an open secret at SEIU, which represents more than 2 million members nationwide and is the largest union in California.

The law firm hired by SEIU submitted its investigation report on July 28. Regan remains in his job as an administrative process moves forward with hearings. Regan will get a chance to make his case before SEIU determines any appropriate disciplinary action.

SEIU President April Verrett has the power to temporarily suspend Regan as the process plays out.

“SEIU is deeply committed to the safety and well-being of all people, including our members, staff, and the public, and takes these matters seriously,” said Dan O’Sullivan, a spokesperson for SEIU. “As soon as these concerns were raised, we initiated a deliberate and thorough process and retained independent, outside investigators to look into these allegations. Our process is active and ongoing, and the next steps include appointing a hearing officer and holding an evidentiary hearing through which all parties will be afforded due process.”

At a California Federation of Labor event on Dec. 3, Regan told Orr that “state council better endorse this measure by Jan. 1 or I’m coming for you,” she told investigators in both probes.

Regan rode to the airport with Orr and sat next to her on the plane “as part of a continued effort to intimidate her into providing state council’s support for the billionaire tax,” Orr told the investigators. As they left, Regan tapped his watch to suggest her time was running out, the report stated.

Regan told investigators that he learned last year that Orr was working behind the scenes to undermine his billionaire tax proposal. If approved by voters, the measure will retroactively apply a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of billionaires who were residing in California as of Jan. 1, 2026.

Regan denied that he threatened Orr, calling the claims “completely fabricated.”

“And again, the source of that is somebody who is not in favor of Proposition 40, and somebody who has not been leading the state council with practices of good governance,” Regan said in an interview.

Regan also denied intimidating Orr to investigators hired by the national union, but offered a different perspective on the SEIU California executive director. He said he traveled with Orr as a friend that day, had previously supported her professionally and offered her a job, according to the report.

The law firm said Orr believed that Regan was a “bully” who mistreated women of color and made it difficult for them to do their jobs at SEIU and had even “fought someone” when he didn’t “get his way.” Regan denied those allegations, including that he mistreated women of color.

“Orr therefore took Regan’s statement that he was ‘coming for’ her as a threat to her job security and her physical safety. She contemporaneously shared this fear with a colleague. Moreover, her response to Regan’s statement is reasonable because three interviewees — both current and former employees of state council — corroborated that Regan has verbally berated and at times physically intimidated or assaulted former state council executive directors,” the report stated.

The investigation commissioned by the national union concluded that UHW then launched a “fishing expedition” into the state council’s finances under Orr’s leadership, but did not substantiate a claim that Regan defamed her to allies of the labor movement.

The SEIU investigators also wrote that the claim that Regan assaulted Pugh was substantiated.

Pugh told investigators that Regan kicked open her office door and “jacked” her against the wall, according to the investigative report. While she was “pinned,” Regan pressed his finger into her chest and screamed that she was a “dumb ass,” the report said.

When he left her office, Pugh fell to the ground and began to hyperventilate, according to the report. Two colleagues found her, helped her breathe into a paper bag, and walked her home, the report said.

Regan denied the allegation.

“It is a complete fabrication and a fiction made by somebody who has all of the incentive possible to critique or trash or criticize UHW generally, and me specifically, and no, there was no mention of it for 17 years,” he said.

The report also concluded that Regan recently threatened to sue SEIU Local 221 President Crystal Irving in an attempt to silence her from warning others about the alleged assault against Pugh.

Regan said the national union’s investigation was “fundamentally flawed” because it stated that Pugh “had nothing to gain from sharing her story” with Irving. Pugh, now a political consultant, has worked against the billionaire tax ballot measure, which Regan said gave her a reason to lie about him.

Pugh called Regan’s response “offensive to the women” who she said objected to his behavior. She said she detailed the alleged incident at the time to board members who oversaw her work and SEIU leadership. The encounter, she said, was well-known.

“I told my colleagues and organization leaders when it occurred,” Pugh said in a statement. “I was asked to participate in the later investigation because so many people had heard about the 2009 incident over the years. I chose to participate in the investigation because I saw that his behavior had continued and in hopes that no one else would have to endure this kind of treatment from him.”

Regan, in his interview with The Times, also denied the allegation that he attempted to force the state council to support the billionaire tax.

David Huerta, president of SEIU-USWW, speaks during a Memorial Day action in Los Angeles on May 21. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
“Huerta then asked Regan if it was his intention to initiate an investigation,” according to the report. “Regan replied, ‘I don’t have to; there are others who would.’ In that conversation, Regan demanded a full endorsement of the billionaire’s tax initiative measure by the state council by Jan. 1.”

Regan told investigators he raised governance issues with Huerta and could not remember if he demanded the council’s support for the billionaire tax during the conversation, though he said he had been seeking the endorsement for months, according to the national union’s report.

“The investigation found that Regan likely suggested he would cause the DOL to investigate state council,” the report said. “According to Regan, he did discuss with Huerta that an investigation was possible.”

The executive board of SEIU California later voted in July to remain neutral on Proposition 40, marking a blow to Regan’s efforts to overcome an onslaught of opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, billionaires and liberal groups concerned that the measure could backfire and reduce state tax revenue collected from the ultra wealthy.

Regan filed a counter claim with SEIU in April, alleging that the state council initiated the complaint and launched their own investigation into him as a retaliatory “character assassination” for his advocacy for the billionaire tax, which the SEIU report said was not substantiated.

The investigative report submitted to the national union raised questions about Regan’s tactics to earn support for his causes.

Investigators said their probe “revealed that Regan has been associated with similar extreme efforts to secure political endorsements in the recent past.”

The firm reported that it reviewed text and email messages in which a representative for Regan offered to drop part of his counter claim “in exchange for the state council’s endorsement of Tom Steyer for governor.”

“In an email response to that offer, a State Council representative stated they have ‘no interest in a behind-the-scenes trade involving dropping internal charges of misconduct in exchange for the making of a political endorsement.’”

The person working with Regan who sent the offer denied to the law firm that the conversation constituted extortion.

“This denial is not credible,” the firm wrote in the report. “The Regan Offeror stated that they were ‘extremely careful’ with their language when conveying Regan’s offer, as they were aware that what they said could be misconstrued as extortion. That the Regan Offeror took such care suggests that the offer was likely extortion.”

Regan also denied the claim, which he called a “complete fabrication.”

A second investigation by the Los Angeles law firm Barboza & Associates, which was hired by SEIU California, found sufficient evidence to substantiate a complaint that Regan bullied Jessica Bartholow, the council’s government relations director.

Bartholow reported to her superiors at SEIU California that Regan stood uncomfortably close and hovered over her at the bar at a fundraiser for the state Senate leader in San Diego in March as tensions flared over the billionaire tax. He then screamed an expletive at her in front of a crowd of lawmakers and lobbyists when she walked away from him, according to the state council’s report.

“Bartholow was scared and her heart was pounding,” investigators wrote in the report for the state council that was reviewed by The Times. “Bartholow had heard that Regan could be violent, and she did not know what he was going to do.”

Regan told investigators and The Times that he swore at Bartholow but denied that he physically intimidated her. Regan said he was upset with her over an allegation that she previously threw “four staff members of UHW out of the state council office.” The report commissioned by the state council discredited his claim and said “Bartholow did not throw UHW staff out of the SEIU California office or treat them rudely or disrespectfully.”

Lawyers hired by the state council said Regan intimidated another woman within the union during their investigation.

The state council investigation included an allegation that Regan physically and verbally intimidated Susan Li, an assistant director of external organizing for SEIU Local 721, on April 30 after a meeting with the Assembly Speaker’s Office and the California Primary Care Assn. Regan was allegedly upset with David Green, president of SEIU Local 721 who had just left for the airport, and began randomly screaming at Li, according to the investigative report on the probe commissioned by the state council.

Regan described the encounter as a conversation and said he did not scream at Li.

The state report said Regan “attacks female staff members instead of taking his concerns to the individuals who had the authority to make decisions.”

“Time and again, Regan unleashed his hostility toward the women who worked for SEIU California, and one from Local 721, in a physically intimidating and verbally abusive manner,” the report concludes.

Regan vigorously denied this assertion.

The state council report said Regan often berated Pugh when she worked at SEIU.

“Every week it was, ‘What the f— were you doing in this meeting? Why did you say that? You dumb ass bitch,’” the SEIU state report said. “Every time Regan called Pugh, she put him on speaker phone so everyone could hear him call her a f—up and tell her to f— off. Not one person said anything.”

Pugh told investigators hired by the national union that Regan continued to belittle her in meetings until she eventually resigned from the state council. She said she believed he formed a coalition to force her out of her job and that she would have been fired if she had not stepped down.

Terry Brennand, director of pensions, revenue and budget at SEIU California, told investigators that he and Mary Gutierrez, now deceased, heard Pugh sobbing in her office after Regan allegedly assaulted her.

“Brennand believed Pugh was in shock and traumatized,” the state SEIU report stated. “Pugh seemed frozen, terrified and not quite clear-headed. It was not the usual Pugh, who was direct, thoughtful and expressive. She was shaking and clearly traumatized.”

Three current and former SEIU California executive directors, all women of color, told Brennand that Regan had bullied them, the report said.

“That’s his forte,” Brennand said to investigators. “That’s his wheelhouse.”

Regan denied that he has a problem with women, or women of color.

“It is 100% false,” he said.

Lorena Gonzalez, president of California Labor Federation, said Regan’s union is overwhelmingly composed of women and women of color, who just reelected him to a position he’s held for 16 years.

“Ultimately they have the ability to make this determination of whether he’s an appropriate leader, which they just made again,” she said. “I think what’s most important is that we have to keep our eyes on the fact that Medi-Cal is being cut and we have no solution but the billionaire’s tax to fill that cut.”

Times staff writer Kevin Rector contributed to this report.

Attendees wear "Billionaire Tax Now" shirts during a campaign kickoff event for the California Billionaire Tax Act at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. An influential union has introduced a ballot initiative to impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaire wealth, as a political spending committee backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and others will support three different voter initiatives that would limit and restrict the creation of new taxes in the state. Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Taryn Luna covers Gov. Gavin Newsom and California politics in Sacramento for the Los Angeles Times.

Architect of billionaire tax tried to ‘extort’ support for the measure and targeted women, union reports find

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan denied the allegations. He said he did not attempt to extort from union officials, or …

www.latimes.com

UC faculty council calls for regent’s resignation over failure to condemn Islamaphobic remarks

https://www.dailycal.org/news/uc/uc-faculty-council-calls-for-regent-s-resignation-over-failure-to-condemn-islamaphobic-remarks/article_548fb5e9-c53f-4193-bbd8-d5fa5332eb23.html

Padma …Balaji | Staff Sep 10, 2026 Comments
sures_Regents of the University of California_courtesy.jpg

The UC Ethnic Studies Council criticized UC Regent Jay Sures for staying silent at event where a speaker made Islamophobic remarks.
Courtesy | Regents of the University of
The UC Ethnic Studies Council is calling for UC Regent Jay Sures’ resignation after he spoke at an event where another speaker made Islamophobic remarks.

At the Jewish American Summit on Aug. 30, Mosab Hassan Yousef, an author and former Israeli spy, made a number of comments attacking Muslim Americans, including telling them to “get the f— out of the United States. Go back to the s—holes where you came from.”

In a social media statement released Monday, the UC Ethnic Studies Council — which represents almost 700 ethnic studies faculty across the UC system — criticized Sures for staying silent about Yousef’s remarks.

Other prominent politicians like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff have condemned Yousef’s remarks on social media.

The council said Sures’ silence on the remarks was “not an isolated concern.”

“We contextualize Sures’s failure to speak out against Mosab Hassan Yousef’s call to ethnically cleanse Muslims from the United States within Sures’s long history of targeting students and faculty who have stood up for the Palestinian right to life and his strategic silence, which amounts to sanctioning violence when it comes to structural discrimination and state violence against Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians,” said Christine Hong, a professor of critical race and ethnic studies at UC Santa Cruz and member of the UC Ethnic Studies Council, in an email.

Hong alleges Sures violated UC Regents Policy 4400, which affirms the UC’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and serving “all parts of the community equitably.”

The Council previously called for Sures’ resignation in 2023 after controversy between the faculty group and Sures over the UC system’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Additionally, after a pro-Palestinian protest in front of Sures’ home last year, he unsuccessfully filed a restraining order against a UCLA graduate student. Sures was later ordered to pay the student’s legal fees.

Sures also rebuked Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine for hosting a pro-Palestinian activist previously convicted in an Israeli car bombing.

“It just really shows that he’s not just comfortable being around people making these bigoted remarks, he’s actively doing the bigotry himself, right? He’s an active proponent of this bigotry against Muslim students, against pro-Palestinian students,” said a member of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. “That’s not somebody that should be in any position of power when clearly they hold such bigotry in their hearts.”

Hong says the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council is planning to release a petition calling for Sures to resign.

The UC Office of the President did not respond to a request for comment.

UC faculty council calls for regent’s resignation over failure to condemn Islamaphobic remarks

The UC Ethnic Studies Council is calling for UC Regent Jay Sures’ resignation after he spoke at an event where another speaker made Islamophobic…

www.dailycal.org

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine activism

https://mondoweiss.net/2026/09/the-u-s-government-is-going-after-a-michigan-labor-union-over-its-palestine-activism/

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine …activism
The U.S. government is criminalizing a campus labor union at the University of Michigan for supporting Palestine. We are calling on fellow labor organizers to resist this dangerous act of repression
BY ADI SALEEM AND YARDEN AZOULAY KATZ SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 1
FACEBOOKXBLUESKYWHATSAPPREDDITLINKEDINMASTODONEMAILPRINT
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“The Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Michigan, which was violently disbanded by UM police in May 2024. Photo by TAHRIR Coalition.”
“THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHICH WAS VIOLENTLY DISBANDED BY UM POLICE IN MAY 2024. PHOTO BY TAHRIR COALITION.”
On June 10, 2026, the FBI raided the homes of activists involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan (UM), who are now known as the “Michigan 8.” In a show of force, federal agents in military gear broke through the door of a home in Ypsilanti, MI, to arrest a couple of individuals. That day, the FBI also arrested individuals connected to UM Palestine activism in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Justice Department indicted these activists on wildly exaggerated “conspiracy” charges. They could face decades in prison.

The government is now targeting a pro-Palestinian campus labor union involved in defending the Michigan 8.

Last month, August 2026, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), which represents over 4,000 UM graduate student workers, was served a subpoena signed by the Justice Department’s attorney on the Michigan 8 case. This came shortly after UM and a local prosecutor tried – but failed – to bring down GEO’s President using baseless “embezzlement” charges. The August subpoena requests extensive information about GEO, including a list of current and former members, meeting minutes, and financial records, dating back to 2023.

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This is a clear criminalization of ordinary labor organizing. It’s also a “fishing expedition” that is meant to help the government’s case against Palestine solidarity activists.

The developments in Michigan closely follow those in Minnesota, where certain anti-ICE organizers (the “Minnesota 15”) were also indicted on “conspiracy” charges in June 2026, and where federal agents had spied on unions and used a subpoena to obtain union financial records.

The federal government understands that our struggles are connected. It’s time all labor unions realize it too, and refuse to separate Palestine solidarity or migrant justice organizing from labor organizing.

Criminalizing a pro-Palestinian labor union by targeting its president

The University of Michigan has been working with the local and federal governments to attack GEO. In recent years, GEO, which is Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has won concessions. In April 2023, it went on the longest strike in the University’s history, which resulted in better pay and health care for graduate workers. And while big labor unions have historically been on the side of U.S. imperialism (AFT’s current President Randi Weingarten is a staunch Zionist), some union locals, such as GEO, have embraced Palestine solidarity.

Recognizing this emerging alliance between labor and Palestine solidarity organizing, the University turned to the legal system to criminalize the union. This past summer, they went after GEO’s President, Hiab Teshome, an MD-PhD student at UM.

Hiab Teshome, President of GEO and an MD-PhD student at the University of Michigan. (Photo courtesy of GEO Communications Team)
HIAB TESHOME, PRESIDENT OF GEO AND AN MD-PHD STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GEO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM)
On June 15, 2026, just five days after the FBI raids on the Michigan 8, Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department called Teshome on her personal phone to say there was a warrant for her arrest and that she would soon be charged with “embezzlement” and “false pretenses.” According to Teshome, he said he wanted to talk about the logistics of her turning herself in to the police. Cavanaugh is well-known to the campus Palestine solidarity movement: he has pepper-sprayed some protesters in the past, allegedly tackled others, and also attended the September 9, 2026, court hearing for the Michigan 8, where we saw him speaking with the U.S. government attorneys. Organizers, including Teshome, also report that Cavanaugh has a history of harassing them. In February and April of 2026, Cavanaugh had called Teshome to tell her she was being investigated for “embezzlement,” but without giving specifics. Teshome says she referred Cavanaugh to her lawyer, but he failed to respond to her lawyer’s calls. Instead, he continued to call, text, and email Teshome directly, and even visited her former residence, believing it was her current home.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department being honored as “Veteran of the Game” in a Michigan basketball game, November 2019. Cavanaugh, who receives a salary of $103,334, is described in University reports as a “Master Trainer in Threat Assessment and Management,” a certificate given by the Department of Homeland Security. He served in the US Army for 23 years, including in Egypt, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. (Photo: University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT BEING HONORED AS “VETERAN OF THE GAME” IN A MICHIGAN BASKETBALL GAME, NOVEMBER 2019. CAVANAUGH, WHO RECEIVES A SALARY OF $103,334, IS DESCRIBED IN UNIVERSITY REPORTS AS A “MASTER TRAINER IN THREAT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT,” A CERTIFICATE GIVEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. HE SERVED IN THE US ARMY FOR 23 YEARS, INCLUDING IN EGYPT, GUATEMALA, EL SALVADOR, AND CUBA. (PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY & SECURITY)
It turned out that the “embezzlement” charges concerned purchases made by a student group in which Teshome was the designated co-signer. UM claimed the purchases weren’t properly accounted for – yet Teshome did not make these purchases herself and was no longer involved in the group. She was implicated simply by being a co-signer, on paper.

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Rather than try to resolve this bureaucratic matter internally with its own students, UM took the unprecedented step of turning to the local county prosecutor, Eli Savit (who calls himself a “progressive prosecutor” and is currently running for Michigan Attorney General). Using the narrative and information provided by Cavanaugh, Savit then pressed felony charges against Teshome for embezzlement and false pretenses.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department (on left) pepper spraying the crowd outside the UM Museum of Art on May 3, 2024. The crowd had gathered to call on the UM Regents, some of whom were inside the museum for an event, to divest from Israel. Four protestors were detained, arrested, and given trespass warnings in that protest. (Photo: TAHRIR Coalition)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT (ON LEFT) PEPPER-SPRAYING THE CROWD OUTSIDE THE UM MUSEUM OF ART ON MAY 3, 2024. THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO CALL ON THE UM REGENTS, SOME OF WHOM WERE INSIDE THE MUSEUM FOR AN EVENT, TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL. FOUR PROTESTORS WERE DETAINED, ARRESTED, AND GIVEN TRESPASS WARNINGS DURING THAT PROTEST. (PHOTO: TAHRIR COALITION)
At Teshome’s arraignment on June 26, 2026, an Ann Arbor judge noted that the University had requested that Teshome be banned from campus as part of the bond conditions. Such a ban would have prevented Teshome from participating in the union’s bargaining with the University. The judge refused that request, but instead banned Teshome from the University’s administration building and specifically noted she must stay away from the UM Regents. The Regents, who set the University’s major policies, have been targeted by campus activists with calls to divest from Israel. This bond condition shows that the attack on Teshome was also meant to stifle such divestment campaigns.

In response, many showed solidarity with Teshome. An open letter in support of Teshome was signed by hundreds of individuals and several organizations, including the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) and the Huron Valley DSA. Yet conspicuously absent from the signatories was Michigan’s labor union establishment, which did not seem to grasp the political significance of the attack on a union president. This is the same labor establishment that had failed to heed a call by Palestinian trade unions, following October 7, 2023, to disrupt the entities enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Nonetheless, the grassroots prevailed. On August 6 2026, activists and community members packed the court for Teshome’s probable cause conference. The judge, Cedric Simpson, dismissed the charges within minutes. The court, Simpson said, “is certainly not getting involved in that.”

Criminalizing the whole union

After the effort to bring down Teshome failed, the next target became the union as a whole.

The federal government served a grand jury subpoena, dated August 6: the day that the charges against Teshome were dismissed by the court. The subpoena – signed by the Justice Department Attorney Maggie Smith from the Michigan 8 case and by Detroit office FBI agent Kara Phipps – asks for the following information, dating back to January 1, 2023:

“1. Collective bargaining agreements;
2. Constitution and By-laws;
3. All disbursement records and receipts journals pertaining to union officials;
4. All union employee personnel records, to include all payroll records, W-2 Forms, W-4 Forms, 1099’s, etc;
5. All associated membership agreements;
6. Listing of all active and former union members;
7. Complete listing of all officers and executive board members, to include position.
8. All minutes of membership meetings and Executive Board meetings” [emphasis added].
“The University of Michigan and the federal government are attacking our union and the broader labor and Palestine solidarity movement because we are powerful and because we are challenging the University’s material investments in genocide,” said GEO President Hiab Teshome. GEO’s lawyers are currently attempting to get the subpoena quashed on the grounds that it is too broad in scope and violates the union members’ rights to free speech.

GRAND JURY SUBPOENA SERVED TO THE GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO), AFT LOCAL 3550, MARKED AUGUST 6, 2026. THE SUBPOENA WAS SIGNED BY MARGARET (“MAGGIE”) SMITH, ONE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S ATTORNEYS ON THE MICHIGAN 8 CASE, AND DETROIT OFFICE FBI AGENT KARA PHIPPS. THE GOVERNMENT BOTCHED THE DELIVERY OF THE SUBPOENA, INITIALLY SENDING IT VIA FEDEX RATHER THAN SERVING IT IN PERSON. IT WAS THEN SERVED ON AUGUST 26, 2026.
The attacks on this Michigan labor union closely parallel the federal government’s tactics against the anti-ICE movement in Minnesota, following the January 2026 murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by ICE agents. As part of their investigation into “domestic terrorist financing,” federal agents used subpoenas to obtain several years’ worth of wire transfers made by the Service Employees International Union, which largely represents health care workers. The individuals who so far have been singled out by the government, the Minnesota 15, may now face decades in prison, just like the Michigan 8.

“What is happening to our labor union and other unions across the country is extreme acts of workplace repression by our employer collaborating with the state and the federal government to weaken labor organizing and violate our right to collective action,” Teshome noted.

The major labor unions can no longer keep pretending like workers’ struggles can be separated from Palestine solidarity or from the struggle against ICE and policing. No one should stay neutral on this moving train.

Ways to support the Michigan 8 and Minnesota 15

Donate to the Michigan 8 legal fund and visit defendmichigan8.org
Donate to the Minnesota 15 legal fund and visit minnesota15.org

We Defend the Minnesota 15 Defendants | Minnesota 15

On Tuesday, June 16, the federal government arrested fifteen of the tens of thousands of people who took a stand against ICE terror in Minnesota.

minnesota15.org

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine activism

https://mondoweiss.net/2026/09/the-u-s-government-is-going-after-a-michigan-labor-union-over-its-palestine-activism/

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine …activism
The U.S. government is criminalizing a campus labor union at the University of Michigan for supporting Palestine. We are calling on fellow labor organizers to resist this dangerous act of repression
BY ADI SALEEM AND YARDEN AZOULAY KATZ SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 1
FACEBOOKXBLUESKYWHATSAPPREDDITLINKEDINMASTODONEMAILPRINT
mw-google-prefered-add.png

“The Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Michigan, which was violently disbanded by UM police in May 2024. Photo by TAHRIR Coalition.”
“THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHICH WAS VIOLENTLY DISBANDED BY UM POLICE IN MAY 2024. PHOTO BY TAHRIR COALITION.”
On June 10, 2026, the FBI raided the homes of activists involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan (UM), who are now known as the “Michigan 8.” In a show of force, federal agents in military gear broke through the door of a home in Ypsilanti, MI, to arrest a couple of individuals. That day, the FBI also arrested individuals connected to UM Palestine activism in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Justice Department indicted these activists on wildly exaggerated “conspiracy” charges. They could face decades in prison.

The government is now targeting a pro-Palestinian campus labor union involved in defending the Michigan 8.

Last month, August 2026, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), which represents over 4,000 UM graduate student workers, was served a subpoena signed by the Justice Department’s attorney on the Michigan 8 case. This came shortly after UM and a local prosecutor tried – but failed – to bring down GEO’s President using baseless “embezzlement” charges. The August subpoena requests extensive information about GEO, including a list of current and former members, meeting minutes, and financial records, dating back to 2023.

Advertisment
Shop the From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free short sleeve t-shirt in the Mondoweiss store!

This is a clear criminalization of ordinary labor organizing. It’s also a “fishing expedition” that is meant to help the government’s case against Palestine solidarity activists.

The developments in Michigan closely follow those in Minnesota, where certain anti-ICE organizers (the “Minnesota 15”) were also indicted on “conspiracy” charges in June 2026, and where federal agents had spied on unions and used a subpoena to obtain union financial records.

The federal government understands that our struggles are connected. It’s time all labor unions realize it too, and refuse to separate Palestine solidarity or migrant justice organizing from labor organizing.

Criminalizing a pro-Palestinian labor union by targeting its president

The University of Michigan has been working with the local and federal governments to attack GEO. In recent years, GEO, which is Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has won concessions. In April 2023, it went on the longest strike in the University’s history, which resulted in better pay and health care for graduate workers. And while big labor unions have historically been on the side of U.S. imperialism (AFT’s current President Randi Weingarten is a staunch Zionist), some union locals, such as GEO, have embraced Palestine solidarity.

Recognizing this emerging alliance between labor and Palestine solidarity organizing, the University turned to the legal system to criminalize the union. This past summer, they went after GEO’s President, Hiab Teshome, an MD-PhD student at UM.

Hiab Teshome, President of GEO and an MD-PhD student at the University of Michigan. (Photo courtesy of GEO Communications Team)
HIAB TESHOME, PRESIDENT OF GEO AND AN MD-PHD STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GEO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM)
On June 15, 2026, just five days after the FBI raids on the Michigan 8, Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department called Teshome on her personal phone to say there was a warrant for her arrest and that she would soon be charged with “embezzlement” and “false pretenses.” According to Teshome, he said he wanted to talk about the logistics of her turning herself in to the police. Cavanaugh is well-known to the campus Palestine solidarity movement: he has pepper-sprayed some protesters in the past, allegedly tackled others, and also attended the September 9, 2026, court hearing for the Michigan 8, where we saw him speaking with the U.S. government attorneys. Organizers, including Teshome, also report that Cavanaugh has a history of harassing them. In February and April of 2026, Cavanaugh had called Teshome to tell her she was being investigated for “embezzlement,” but without giving specifics. Teshome says she referred Cavanaugh to her lawyer, but he failed to respond to her lawyer’s calls. Instead, he continued to call, text, and email Teshome directly, and even visited her former residence, believing it was her current home.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department being honored as “Veteran of the Game” in a Michigan basketball game, November 2019. Cavanaugh, who receives a salary of $103,334, is described in University reports as a “Master Trainer in Threat Assessment and Management,” a certificate given by the Department of Homeland Security. He served in the US Army for 23 years, including in Egypt, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. (Photo: University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT BEING HONORED AS “VETERAN OF THE GAME” IN A MICHIGAN BASKETBALL GAME, NOVEMBER 2019. CAVANAUGH, WHO RECEIVES A SALARY OF $103,334, IS DESCRIBED IN UNIVERSITY REPORTS AS A “MASTER TRAINER IN THREAT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT,” A CERTIFICATE GIVEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. HE SERVED IN THE US ARMY FOR 23 YEARS, INCLUDING IN EGYPT, GUATEMALA, EL SALVADOR, AND CUBA. (PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY & SECURITY)
It turned out that the “embezzlement” charges concerned purchases made by a student group in which Teshome was the designated co-signer. UM claimed the purchases weren’t properly accounted for – yet Teshome did not make these purchases herself and was no longer involved in the group. She was implicated simply by being a co-signer, on paper.

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Rather than try to resolve this bureaucratic matter internally with its own students, UM took the unprecedented step of turning to the local county prosecutor, Eli Savit (who calls himself a “progressive prosecutor” and is currently running for Michigan Attorney General). Using the narrative and information provided by Cavanaugh, Savit then pressed felony charges against Teshome for embezzlement and false pretenses.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department (on left) pepper spraying the crowd outside the UM Museum of Art on May 3, 2024. The crowd had gathered to call on the UM Regents, some of whom were inside the museum for an event, to divest from Israel. Four protestors were detained, arrested, and given trespass warnings in that protest. (Photo: TAHRIR Coalition)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT (ON LEFT) PEPPER-SPRAYING THE CROWD OUTSIDE THE UM MUSEUM OF ART ON MAY 3, 2024. THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO CALL ON THE UM REGENTS, SOME OF WHOM WERE INSIDE THE MUSEUM FOR AN EVENT, TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL. FOUR PROTESTORS WERE DETAINED, ARRESTED, AND GIVEN TRESPASS WARNINGS DURING THAT PROTEST. (PHOTO: TAHRIR COALITION)
At Teshome’s arraignment on June 26, 2026, an Ann Arbor judge noted that the University had requested that Teshome be banned from campus as part of the bond conditions. Such a ban would have prevented Teshome from participating in the union’s bargaining with the University. The judge refused that request, but instead banned Teshome from the University’s administration building and specifically noted she must stay away from the UM Regents. The Regents, who set the University’s major policies, have been targeted by campus activists with calls to divest from Israel. This bond condition shows that the attack on Teshome was also meant to stifle such divestment campaigns.

In response, many showed solidarity with Teshome. An open letter in support of Teshome was signed by hundreds of individuals and several organizations, including the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) and the Huron Valley DSA. Yet conspicuously absent from the signatories was Michigan’s labor union establishment, which did not seem to grasp the political significance of the attack on a union president. This is the same labor establishment that had failed to heed a call by Palestinian trade unions, following October 7, 2023, to disrupt the entities enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Nonetheless, the grassroots prevailed. On August 6 2026, activists and community members packed the court for Teshome’s probable cause conference. The judge, Cedric Simpson, dismissed the charges within minutes. The court, Simpson said, “is certainly not getting involved in that.”

Criminalizing the whole union

After the effort to bring down Teshome failed, the next target became the union as a whole.

The federal government served a grand jury subpoena, dated August 6: the day that the charges against Teshome were dismissed by the court. The subpoena – signed by the Justice Department Attorney Maggie Smith from the Michigan 8 case and by Detroit office FBI agent Kara Phipps – asks for the following information, dating back to January 1, 2023:

“1. Collective bargaining agreements;
2. Constitution and By-laws;
3. All disbursement records and receipts journals pertaining to union officials;
4. All union employee personnel records, to include all payroll records, W-2 Forms, W-4 Forms, 1099’s, etc;
5. All associated membership agreements;
6. Listing of all active and former union members;
7. Complete listing of all officers and executive board members, to include position.
8. All minutes of membership meetings and Executive Board meetings” [emphasis added].
“The University of Michigan and the federal government are attacking our union and the broader labor and Palestine solidarity movement because we are powerful and because we are challenging the University’s material investments in genocide,” said GEO President Hiab Teshome. GEO’s lawyers are currently attempting to get the subpoena quashed on the grounds that it is too broad in scope and violates the union members’ rights to free speech.

GRAND JURY SUBPOENA SERVED TO THE GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO), AFT LOCAL 3550, MARKED AUGUST 6, 2026. THE SUBPOENA WAS SIGNED BY MARGARET (“MAGGIE”) SMITH, ONE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S ATTORNEYS ON THE MICHIGAN 8 CASE, AND DETROIT OFFICE FBI AGENT KARA PHIPPS. THE GOVERNMENT BOTCHED THE DELIVERY OF THE SUBPOENA, INITIALLY SENDING IT VIA FEDEX RATHER THAN SERVING IT IN PERSON. IT WAS THEN SERVED ON AUGUST 26, 2026.
The attacks on this Michigan labor union closely parallel the federal government’s tactics against the anti-ICE movement in Minnesota, following the January 2026 murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by ICE agents. As part of their investigation into “domestic terrorist financing,” federal agents used subpoenas to obtain several years’ worth of wire transfers made by the Service Employees International Union, which largely represents health care workers. The individuals who so far have been singled out by the government, the Minnesota 15, may now face decades in prison, just like the Michigan 8.

“What is happening to our labor union and other unions across the country is extreme acts of workplace repression by our employer collaborating with the state and the federal government to weaken labor organizing and violate our right to collective action,” Teshome noted.

The major labor unions can no longer keep pretending like workers’ struggles can be separated from Palestine solidarity or from the struggle against ICE and policing. No one should stay neutral on this moving train.

Ways to support the Michigan 8 and Minnesota 15

Donate to the Michigan 8 legal fund and visit defendmichigan8.org
Donate to the Minnesota 15 legal fund and visit minnesota15.org

We Defend the Minnesota 15 Defendants | Minnesota 15

On Tuesday, June 16, the federal government arrested fifteen of the tens of thousands of people who took a stand against ICE terror in Minnesota.

minnesota15.org

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine activism

https://mondoweiss.net/2026/09/the-u-s-government-is-going-after-a-michigan-labor-union-over-its-palestine-activism/

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine …activism
The U.S. government is criminalizing a campus labor union at the University of Michigan for supporting Palestine. We are calling on fellow labor organizers to resist this dangerous act of repression
BY ADI SALEEM AND YARDEN AZOULAY KATZ SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 1
FACEBOOKXBLUESKYWHATSAPPREDDITLINKEDINMASTODONEMAILPRINT
mw-google-prefered-add.png

“The Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Michigan, which was violently disbanded by UM police in May 2024. Photo by TAHRIR Coalition.”
“THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHICH WAS VIOLENTLY DISBANDED BY UM POLICE IN MAY 2024. PHOTO BY TAHRIR COALITION.”
On June 10, 2026, the FBI raided the homes of activists involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan (UM), who are now known as the “Michigan 8.” In a show of force, federal agents in military gear broke through the door of a home in Ypsilanti, MI, to arrest a couple of individuals. That day, the FBI also arrested individuals connected to UM Palestine activism in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Justice Department indicted these activists on wildly exaggerated “conspiracy” charges. They could face decades in prison.

The government is now targeting a pro-Palestinian campus labor union involved in defending the Michigan 8.

Last month, August 2026, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), which represents over 4,000 UM graduate student workers, was served a subpoena signed by the Justice Department’s attorney on the Michigan 8 case. This came shortly after UM and a local prosecutor tried – but failed – to bring down GEO’s President using baseless “embezzlement” charges. The August subpoena requests extensive information about GEO, including a list of current and former members, meeting minutes, and financial records, dating back to 2023.

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Shop the From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free short sleeve t-shirt in the Mondoweiss store!

This is a clear criminalization of ordinary labor organizing. It’s also a “fishing expedition” that is meant to help the government’s case against Palestine solidarity activists.

The developments in Michigan closely follow those in Minnesota, where certain anti-ICE organizers (the “Minnesota 15”) were also indicted on “conspiracy” charges in June 2026, and where federal agents had spied on unions and used a subpoena to obtain union financial records.

The federal government understands that our struggles are connected. It’s time all labor unions realize it too, and refuse to separate Palestine solidarity or migrant justice organizing from labor organizing.

Criminalizing a pro-Palestinian labor union by targeting its president

The University of Michigan has been working with the local and federal governments to attack GEO. In recent years, GEO, which is Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has won concessions. In April 2023, it went on the longest strike in the University’s history, which resulted in better pay and health care for graduate workers. And while big labor unions have historically been on the side of U.S. imperialism (AFT’s current President Randi Weingarten is a staunch Zionist), some union locals, such as GEO, have embraced Palestine solidarity.

Recognizing this emerging alliance between labor and Palestine solidarity organizing, the University turned to the legal system to criminalize the union. This past summer, they went after GEO’s President, Hiab Teshome, an MD-PhD student at UM.

Hiab Teshome, President of GEO and an MD-PhD student at the University of Michigan. (Photo courtesy of GEO Communications Team)
HIAB TESHOME, PRESIDENT OF GEO AND AN MD-PHD STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GEO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM)
On June 15, 2026, just five days after the FBI raids on the Michigan 8, Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department called Teshome on her personal phone to say there was a warrant for her arrest and that she would soon be charged with “embezzlement” and “false pretenses.” According to Teshome, he said he wanted to talk about the logistics of her turning herself in to the police. Cavanaugh is well-known to the campus Palestine solidarity movement: he has pepper-sprayed some protesters in the past, allegedly tackled others, and also attended the September 9, 2026, court hearing for the Michigan 8, where we saw him speaking with the U.S. government attorneys. Organizers, including Teshome, also report that Cavanaugh has a history of harassing them. In February and April of 2026, Cavanaugh had called Teshome to tell her she was being investigated for “embezzlement,” but without giving specifics. Teshome says she referred Cavanaugh to her lawyer, but he failed to respond to her lawyer’s calls. Instead, he continued to call, text, and email Teshome directly, and even visited her former residence, believing it was her current home.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department being honored as “Veteran of the Game” in a Michigan basketball game, November 2019. Cavanaugh, who receives a salary of $103,334, is described in University reports as a “Master Trainer in Threat Assessment and Management,” a certificate given by the Department of Homeland Security. He served in the US Army for 23 years, including in Egypt, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. (Photo: University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT BEING HONORED AS “VETERAN OF THE GAME” IN A MICHIGAN BASKETBALL GAME, NOVEMBER 2019. CAVANAUGH, WHO RECEIVES A SALARY OF $103,334, IS DESCRIBED IN UNIVERSITY REPORTS AS A “MASTER TRAINER IN THREAT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT,” A CERTIFICATE GIVEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. HE SERVED IN THE US ARMY FOR 23 YEARS, INCLUDING IN EGYPT, GUATEMALA, EL SALVADOR, AND CUBA. (PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY & SECURITY)
It turned out that the “embezzlement” charges concerned purchases made by a student group in which Teshome was the designated co-signer. UM claimed the purchases weren’t properly accounted for – yet Teshome did not make these purchases herself and was no longer involved in the group. She was implicated simply by being a co-signer, on paper.

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Rather than try to resolve this bureaucratic matter internally with its own students, UM took the unprecedented step of turning to the local county prosecutor, Eli Savit (who calls himself a “progressive prosecutor” and is currently running for Michigan Attorney General). Using the narrative and information provided by Cavanaugh, Savit then pressed felony charges against Teshome for embezzlement and false pretenses.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department (on left) pepper spraying the crowd outside the UM Museum of Art on May 3, 2024. The crowd had gathered to call on the UM Regents, some of whom were inside the museum for an event, to divest from Israel. Four protestors were detained, arrested, and given trespass warnings in that protest. (Photo: TAHRIR Coalition)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT (ON LEFT) PEPPER-SPRAYING THE CROWD OUTSIDE THE UM MUSEUM OF ART ON MAY 3, 2024. THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO CALL ON THE UM REGENTS, SOME OF WHOM WERE INSIDE THE MUSEUM FOR AN EVENT, TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL. FOUR PROTESTORS WERE DETAINED, ARRESTED, AND GIVEN TRESPASS WARNINGS DURING THAT PROTEST. (PHOTO: TAHRIR COALITION)
At Teshome’s arraignment on June 26, 2026, an Ann Arbor judge noted that the University had requested that Teshome be banned from campus as part of the bond conditions. Such a ban would have prevented Teshome from participating in the union’s bargaining with the University. The judge refused that request, but instead banned Teshome from the University’s administration building and specifically noted she must stay away from the UM Regents. The Regents, who set the University’s major policies, have been targeted by campus activists with calls to divest from Israel. This bond condition shows that the attack on Teshome was also meant to stifle such divestment campaigns.

In response, many showed solidarity with Teshome. An open letter in support of Teshome was signed by hundreds of individuals and several organizations, including the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) and the Huron Valley DSA. Yet conspicuously absent from the signatories was Michigan’s labor union establishment, which did not seem to grasp the political significance of the attack on a union president. This is the same labor establishment that had failed to heed a call by Palestinian trade unions, following October 7, 2023, to disrupt the entities enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Nonetheless, the grassroots prevailed. On August 6 2026, activists and community members packed the court for Teshome’s probable cause conference. The judge, Cedric Simpson, dismissed the charges within minutes. The court, Simpson said, “is certainly not getting involved in that.”

Criminalizing the whole union

After the effort to bring down Teshome failed, the next target became the union as a whole.

The federal government served a grand jury subpoena, dated August 6: the day that the charges against Teshome were dismissed by the court. The subpoena – signed by the Justice Department Attorney Maggie Smith from the Michigan 8 case and by Detroit office FBI agent Kara Phipps – asks for the following information, dating back to January 1, 2023:

“1. Collective bargaining agreements;
2. Constitution and By-laws;
3. All disbursement records and receipts journals pertaining to union officials;
4. All union employee personnel records, to include all payroll records, W-2 Forms, W-4 Forms, 1099’s, etc;
5. All associated membership agreements;
6. Listing of all active and former union members;
7. Complete listing of all officers and executive board members, to include position.
8. All minutes of membership meetings and Executive Board meetings” [emphasis added].
“The University of Michigan and the federal government are attacking our union and the broader labor and Palestine solidarity movement because we are powerful and because we are challenging the University’s material investments in genocide,” said GEO President Hiab Teshome. GEO’s lawyers are currently attempting to get the subpoena quashed on the grounds that it is too broad in scope and violates the union members’ rights to free speech.

GRAND JURY SUBPOENA SERVED TO THE GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO), AFT LOCAL 3550, MARKED AUGUST 6, 2026. THE SUBPOENA WAS SIGNED BY MARGARET (“MAGGIE”) SMITH, ONE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S ATTORNEYS ON THE MICHIGAN 8 CASE, AND DETROIT OFFICE FBI AGENT KARA PHIPPS. THE GOVERNMENT BOTCHED THE DELIVERY OF THE SUBPOENA, INITIALLY SENDING IT VIA FEDEX RATHER THAN SERVING IT IN PERSON. IT WAS THEN SERVED ON AUGUST 26, 2026.
The attacks on this Michigan labor union closely parallel the federal government’s tactics against the anti-ICE movement in Minnesota, following the January 2026 murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by ICE agents. As part of their investigation into “domestic terrorist financing,” federal agents used subpoenas to obtain several years’ worth of wire transfers made by the Service Employees International Union, which largely represents health care workers. The individuals who so far have been singled out by the government, the Minnesota 15, may now face decades in prison, just like the Michigan 8.

“What is happening to our labor union and other unions across the country is extreme acts of workplace repression by our employer collaborating with the state and the federal government to weaken labor organizing and violate our right to collective action,” Teshome noted.

The major labor unions can no longer keep pretending like workers’ struggles can be separated from Palestine solidarity or from the struggle against ICE and policing. No one should stay neutral on this moving train.

Ways to support the Michigan 8 and Minnesota 15

Donate to the Michigan 8 legal fund and visit defendmichigan8.org
Donate to the Minnesota 15 legal fund and visit minnesota15.org

We Defend the Minnesota 15 Defendants | Minnesota 15

On Tuesday, June 16, the federal government arrested fifteen of the tens of thousands of people who took a stand against ICE terror in Minnesota.

minnesota15.org

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine activism

https://mondoweiss.net/2026/09/the-u-s-government-is-going-after-a-michigan-labor-union-over-its-palestine-activism/

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine …activism
The U.S. government is criminalizing a campus labor union at the University of Michigan for supporting Palestine. We are calling on fellow labor organizers to resist this dangerous act of repression
BY ADI SALEEM AND YARDEN AZOULAY KATZ SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 1
FACEBOOKXBLUESKYWHATSAPPREDDITLINKEDINMASTODONEMAILPRINT
mw-google-prefered-add.png

“The Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Michigan, which was violently disbanded by UM police in May 2024. Photo by TAHRIR Coalition.”
“THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHICH WAS VIOLENTLY DISBANDED BY UM POLICE IN MAY 2024. PHOTO BY TAHRIR COALITION.”
On June 10, 2026, the FBI raided the homes of activists involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan (UM), who are now known as the “Michigan 8.” In a show of force, federal agents in military gear broke through the door of a home in Ypsilanti, MI, to arrest a couple of individuals. That day, the FBI also arrested individuals connected to UM Palestine activism in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Justice Department indicted these activists on wildly exaggerated “conspiracy” charges. They could face decades in prison.

The government is now targeting a pro-Palestinian campus labor union involved in defending the Michigan 8.

Last month, August 2026, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), which represents over 4,000 UM graduate student workers, was served a subpoena signed by the Justice Department’s attorney on the Michigan 8 case. This came shortly after UM and a local prosecutor tried – but failed – to bring down GEO’s President using baseless “embezzlement” charges. The August subpoena requests extensive information about GEO, including a list of current and former members, meeting minutes, and financial records, dating back to 2023.

Advertisment
Shop the From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free short sleeve t-shirt in the Mondoweiss store!

This is a clear criminalization of ordinary labor organizing. It’s also a “fishing expedition” that is meant to help the government’s case against Palestine solidarity activists.

The developments in Michigan closely follow those in Minnesota, where certain anti-ICE organizers (the “Minnesota 15”) were also indicted on “conspiracy” charges in June 2026, and where federal agents had spied on unions and used a subpoena to obtain union financial records.

The federal government understands that our struggles are connected. It’s time all labor unions realize it too, and refuse to separate Palestine solidarity or migrant justice organizing from labor organizing.

Criminalizing a pro-Palestinian labor union by targeting its president

The University of Michigan has been working with the local and federal governments to attack GEO. In recent years, GEO, which is Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has won concessions. In April 2023, it went on the longest strike in the University’s history, which resulted in better pay and health care for graduate workers. And while big labor unions have historically been on the side of U.S. imperialism (AFT’s current President Randi Weingarten is a staunch Zionist), some union locals, such as GEO, have embraced Palestine solidarity.

Recognizing this emerging alliance between labor and Palestine solidarity organizing, the University turned to the legal system to criminalize the union. This past summer, they went after GEO’s President, Hiab Teshome, an MD-PhD student at UM.

Hiab Teshome, President of GEO and an MD-PhD student at the University of Michigan. (Photo courtesy of GEO Communications Team)
HIAB TESHOME, PRESIDENT OF GEO AND AN MD-PHD STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GEO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM)
On June 15, 2026, just five days after the FBI raids on the Michigan 8, Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department called Teshome on her personal phone to say there was a warrant for her arrest and that she would soon be charged with “embezzlement” and “false pretenses.” According to Teshome, he said he wanted to talk about the logistics of her turning herself in to the police. Cavanaugh is well-known to the campus Palestine solidarity movement: he has pepper-sprayed some protesters in the past, allegedly tackled others, and also attended the September 9, 2026, court hearing for the Michigan 8, where we saw him speaking with the U.S. government attorneys. Organizers, including Teshome, also report that Cavanaugh has a history of harassing them. In February and April of 2026, Cavanaugh had called Teshome to tell her she was being investigated for “embezzlement,” but without giving specifics. Teshome says she referred Cavanaugh to her lawyer, but he failed to respond to her lawyer’s calls. Instead, he continued to call, text, and email Teshome directly, and even visited her former residence, believing it was her current home.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department being honored as “Veteran of the Game” in a Michigan basketball game, November 2019. Cavanaugh, who receives a salary of $103,334, is described in University reports as a “Master Trainer in Threat Assessment and Management,” a certificate given by the Department of Homeland Security. He served in the US Army for 23 years, including in Egypt, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. (Photo: University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT BEING HONORED AS “VETERAN OF THE GAME” IN A MICHIGAN BASKETBALL GAME, NOVEMBER 2019. CAVANAUGH, WHO RECEIVES A SALARY OF $103,334, IS DESCRIBED IN UNIVERSITY REPORTS AS A “MASTER TRAINER IN THREAT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT,” A CERTIFICATE GIVEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. HE SERVED IN THE US ARMY FOR 23 YEARS, INCLUDING IN EGYPT, GUATEMALA, EL SALVADOR, AND CUBA. (PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY & SECURITY)
It turned out that the “embezzlement” charges concerned purchases made by a student group in which Teshome was the designated co-signer. UM claimed the purchases weren’t properly accounted for – yet Teshome did not make these purchases herself and was no longer involved in the group. She was implicated simply by being a co-signer, on paper.

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Grab a new tote bag from Mondoweiss with the powerful slogan, "From the River, To the Sea, Palestine will be free!"

Rather than try to resolve this bureaucratic matter internally with its own students, UM took the unprecedented step of turning to the local county prosecutor, Eli Savit (who calls himself a “progressive prosecutor” and is currently running for Michigan Attorney General). Using the narrative and information provided by Cavanaugh, Savit then pressed felony charges against Teshome for embezzlement and false pretenses.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department (on left) pepper spraying the crowd outside the UM Museum of Art on May 3, 2024. The crowd had gathered to call on the UM Regents, some of whom were inside the museum for an event, to divest from Israel. Four protestors were detained, arrested, and given trespass warnings in that protest. (Photo: TAHRIR Coalition)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT (ON LEFT) PEPPER-SPRAYING THE CROWD OUTSIDE THE UM MUSEUM OF ART ON MAY 3, 2024. THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO CALL ON THE UM REGENTS, SOME OF WHOM WERE INSIDE THE MUSEUM FOR AN EVENT, TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL. FOUR PROTESTORS WERE DETAINED, ARRESTED, AND GIVEN TRESPASS WARNINGS DURING THAT PROTEST. (PHOTO: TAHRIR COALITION)
At Teshome’s arraignment on June 26, 2026, an Ann Arbor judge noted that the University had requested that Teshome be banned from campus as part of the bond conditions. Such a ban would have prevented Teshome from participating in the union’s bargaining with the University. The judge refused that request, but instead banned Teshome from the University’s administration building and specifically noted she must stay away from the UM Regents. The Regents, who set the University’s major policies, have been targeted by campus activists with calls to divest from Israel. This bond condition shows that the attack on Teshome was also meant to stifle such divestment campaigns.

In response, many showed solidarity with Teshome. An open letter in support of Teshome was signed by hundreds of individuals and several organizations, including the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) and the Huron Valley DSA. Yet conspicuously absent from the signatories was Michigan’s labor union establishment, which did not seem to grasp the political significance of the attack on a union president. This is the same labor establishment that had failed to heed a call by Palestinian trade unions, following October 7, 2023, to disrupt the entities enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Nonetheless, the grassroots prevailed. On August 6 2026, activists and community members packed the court for Teshome’s probable cause conference. The judge, Cedric Simpson, dismissed the charges within minutes. The court, Simpson said, “is certainly not getting involved in that.”

Criminalizing the whole union

After the effort to bring down Teshome failed, the next target became the union as a whole.

The federal government served a grand jury subpoena, dated August 6: the day that the charges against Teshome were dismissed by the court. The subpoena – signed by the Justice Department Attorney Maggie Smith from the Michigan 8 case and by Detroit office FBI agent Kara Phipps – asks for the following information, dating back to January 1, 2023:

“1. Collective bargaining agreements;
2. Constitution and By-laws;
3. All disbursement records and receipts journals pertaining to union officials;
4. All union employee personnel records, to include all payroll records, W-2 Forms, W-4 Forms, 1099’s, etc;
5. All associated membership agreements;
6. Listing of all active and former union members;
7. Complete listing of all officers and executive board members, to include position.
8. All minutes of membership meetings and Executive Board meetings” [emphasis added].
“The University of Michigan and the federal government are attacking our union and the broader labor and Palestine solidarity movement because we are powerful and because we are challenging the University’s material investments in genocide,” said GEO President Hiab Teshome. GEO’s lawyers are currently attempting to get the subpoena quashed on the grounds that it is too broad in scope and violates the union members’ rights to free speech.

GRAND JURY SUBPOENA SERVED TO THE GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO), AFT LOCAL 3550, MARKED AUGUST 6, 2026. THE SUBPOENA WAS SIGNED BY MARGARET (“MAGGIE”) SMITH, ONE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S ATTORNEYS ON THE MICHIGAN 8 CASE, AND DETROIT OFFICE FBI AGENT KARA PHIPPS. THE GOVERNMENT BOTCHED THE DELIVERY OF THE SUBPOENA, INITIALLY SENDING IT VIA FEDEX RATHER THAN SERVING IT IN PERSON. IT WAS THEN SERVED ON AUGUST 26, 2026.
The attacks on this Michigan labor union closely parallel the federal government’s tactics against the anti-ICE movement in Minnesota, following the January 2026 murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by ICE agents. As part of their investigation into “domestic terrorist financing,” federal agents used subpoenas to obtain several years’ worth of wire transfers made by the Service Employees International Union, which largely represents health care workers. The individuals who so far have been singled out by the government, the Minnesota 15, may now face decades in prison, just like the Michigan 8.

“What is happening to our labor union and other unions across the country is extreme acts of workplace repression by our employer collaborating with the state and the federal government to weaken labor organizing and violate our right to collective action,” Teshome noted.

The major labor unions can no longer keep pretending like workers’ struggles can be separated from Palestine solidarity or from the struggle against ICE and policing. No one should stay neutral on this moving train.

Ways to support the Michigan 8 and Minnesota 15

Donate to the Michigan 8 legal fund and visit defendmichigan8.org
Donate to the Minnesota 15 legal fund and visit minnesota15.org

We Defend the Minnesota 15 Defendants | Minnesota 15

On Tuesday, June 16, the federal government arrested fifteen of the tens of thousands of people who took a stand against ICE terror in Minnesota.

minnesota15.org

Union boss behind billionaire tax bullied, tried to ‘extort’ staffers over the measure, reports find
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/seiu-dave-regan-billionaire-tax-22427506.php
By Hannah Wiley, Sara Libby,
Staff Writers
Updated Sep 11, 2026 12:01 p.m.

…SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan takes part in a summit hosted by Politico on Aug. 11, 2026, in Sacramento.
SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan takes part in a summit hosted by Politico on Aug. 11, 2026, in Sacramento.
Annie Barker/AP

The head of the healthcare union behind California’s controversial billionaire tax allegedly bullied, intimidated and attempted to extort fellow labor leaders in his quest to marshal support for the ballot measure, according to an internal investigation obtained by the Chronicle.
The investigation, which took place between April and July 2026 and was conducted by the New York-based labor law firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon, partially substantiated allegations against Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, as he was working to get Proposition 40 onto the November ballot.
Prop 40 would impose a one-time, 5% wealth tax on anyone worth more than $1 billion. It would apply retroactively to people living in California on Jan. 1, 2026. It is intended to backfill cuts to the state budget by the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Act.

The charges against Regan were filed by some of the state’s top leaders connected to the statewide umbrella group, Service Employees International Union, and its local affiliates, including David Huerta, Arnulfo De La Cruz, Crystal Irving and David Green.
SEIU has stayed neutral in the Prop 40 campaign, a decision that demonstrates how deeply divided many of the state’s major Democratic groups feel about the measure, including many of the state’s most prolific labor unions. The California Teachers Association and the State Building and Construction Trades are also among those opposing the tax.
But the investigation underscores the degree to which the measure fractured California’s most powerful labor union and its network of influential leaders.
Allegations against Regan include that he “violated the SEIU Constitution by threatening and defaming certain union leaders as part of his campaign to secure endorsements for the Billionaire Tax” and that Regan assaulted former SEIU-affiliated leaders, according to the report.

A separate claim from Regan’s allies, which was not substantiated, alleged that the opposing labor leaders “violated the SEIU Constitution by targeting Regan with a retaliatory ‘character assassination’ in the form of false assault allegations, internal union charges and a meritless investigation into his behavior.”
One claim of bullying against Regan was not substantiated. But the investigation determined that Regan did attempt to extort an endorsement for the billionaire tax from the SEIU State Council by suggesting in a December 2025 conversation with Huerta, who heads the SEIU-United Service Workers West but was also then the state council’s president, that Regan could cause the federal Department of Labor to investigate the council.
That conclusion was reached, in part, because the investigation “revealed that Regan has been associated with similar extreme efforts to secure political endorsements in the recent past,” including another incident in which Regan had allegedly offered to drop his counter-charge if the state council endorsed billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer during his run for governor earlier this year.
The investigation also substantiated a claim that Regan allegedly attempted to defame and bullied Tia Orr, SEIU’s executive director, for not supporting the billionaire’s tax. The report noted that Regan allegedly told Orr that “State Council better endorse this measure” by the start of 2026, “or I’m coming for you.”
The investigation partially substantiated another another claim that Regan attempted to “damage Orr’s reputation” by “spreading falsehoods to allies, legislators, and the governor about Orr, including that Orr was involved with a corruption case involving Dana Williamson,” Newsom’s former chief of staff who pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges this year. The claim also alleged that Regan launched a “fishing expedition, including repeated requests for many years of state council data and records” in an attempt to “chill state council members’ behavior” as they voiced concerns over the tax.
As it investigated the competing claims over Regan’s behavior as he attempted to shore up support for Prop 40, the firm probed a much earlier incident in which he was accused of assaulting a union leader in 2009.
The staffer, referred to in the report as Person A, told investigators that in 2009, when she was serving as executive director of the SEIU’s state council, Regan came to her office to discuss his frustration with her handling of a ballot measure. He “kicked in her office door, and ‘jacked’ her ‘against the wall,’” the report says. “Regan also pushed his finger on Person A’s chest and screamed that she was a ‘dumbass.’”
Regan denied the allegations to investigators, but they ultimately substantiated the claim based on Person A’s interview and separate interviews with a colleague who spoke with her immediately after the incident.
“Person A had nothing to gain from sharing her story,” investigators wrote.
A separate investigation, by the law firm Barboza & Associates, substantiated claims by SEIU State Council staffer Jess Bartholow that Regan physically intimidated her “by standing very close to her, hovering over her, and silently glaring at her” at an event in San Diego on March 20.
According to the report, Regan approached Bartholow at the Pro Tem Cup, a community event held by leaders of the California Senate.
At the event, Regan allegedly approached Bartholow, leaned in closely to her face and said, “You don’t know anything about how to do your job.”
“Bartholow tried to de-escalate the situation by saying, ‘OK, thank you for letting me know,’ and walking away,” the report said. “As Bartholow walked away, Regan allegedly yelled, ‘Fuck you,’ really loudly.”
Investigators noted throughout its report that Regan denied the allegations against him, even as he admitted to make certain comments. In a statement, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West defended Regan and discredited the investigation as politically motivated because it said several individuals involved in the probe are opposed to Prop 40 or have personal bad blood with Regan and his union.
“California’s largest healthcare worker unions, understood from the beginning that mounting a campaign to tax billionaires to restore massive federal healthcare cuts would upset some of the state’s wealthiest and most powerful interests and could bring unfounded personal attacks,” the statement said. “This misinformation campaign will not distract the elected leadership or members of SEIU-UHW from passing Proposition 40 and protecting healthcare, hospitals and emergency rooms for millions of Californians.”
The statement also acknowledged that Regan had used profanity against Bartholow, who the healthcare union alleged had treated its staff and members “abusively.” The group denied Regan’s comment was a threat.
Both reports say Regan was barred from at least one SEIU property as a result of his behavior, and detail new policies the union incorporated to ensure women would not be alone with him.
“As a result of Regan’s alleged conduct, State Council instituted a new safety protocol,” the Cohen, Weiss and Simon report notes. “Under this protocol, male staff were directed not to leave an event when women colleagues intended to remain, and to escort the women to their rooms at the end of the night.”
SEIU’s spokesperson Christopher Calhoun said in a statement that “SEIU leaders in California are proud of taking action to stand up for our values: respect, workplace justice, fairness, gender equity, racial justice, and nonviolence.”
“We stand with women, women of color, workers, and all those who have been bullied or oppressed by those who have power over them,” Calhoun said. “We ask members every day to stand up to power and speak out against abuses. We are inspired by their courage, and our leaders, too, are saying, ‘Enough! ’”

Union boss behind billionaire tax bullied, tried to ‘extort’ staffers over the measure, reports find

The investigation underscores the degree to which the measure fractured California’s most powerful labor union and its network of influential…

www.sfchronicle.com

A.I. Boom Poses Growing Public Health Threat, Former E.P.A. Officials Warn
Air pollution from gas-fired power plants to run data centers is expected to add at least $20 billion in annual health care costs by 2028, the group warns.
…https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/climate/ai-data-centers-air-pollution-health.html

Rows of low-slung homes abut a flat expanse of dirt where an enormous data center is planned.
A neighborhood near the construction site of a Meta A.I. data center in El Paso, Texas.Credit…Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times
Hiroko Tabuchi.png
By Hiroko Tabuchi
Sept. 10, 2026
Updated 1:06 p.m. ET
A group representing more than 800 former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday sounded the alarm over the health consequences of data centers. It warned that Trump administration policies to weaken pollution safeguards and speed up approvals of the facilities threatened to exacerbate those health harms.

In a report released Thursday, the nonprofit Environmental Protection Network examined pollution from power plants, gas turbines and diesel generators needed to meet data centers’ surging electricity demand. And it listed 30 federal actions taken by the Trump administration that it warned would increase pollution-related health risks as more data centers open across the country.

The report builds on modeling from academic researchers that projects that air pollution from data centers could contribute to roughly 600,000 asthma symptom cases, 1,300 premature deaths and more than $20 billion in annual public health costs by 2028. But the former E.P.A. employees note that these estimates do not account for the rollback of environmental regulations under the Trump administration, which could further increase emissions and health risks.

“What concerns me now is the role E.P.A. and other government agencies are playing and proudly touting: weakening the very safeguards designed to protect people from the pollution in the name of helping tech and power companies accelerate these data center build outs,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and former E.P.A. assistant administrator and a member of the group.

“These are decisions that can affect what Americans breathe, what gets into our water and, ultimately, what can make its way into our soil and food supply,” said Dr. Goldman, who is now dean emerita of the Milken School of Public Health at George Washington University.

The E.P.A. did not respond to a request for comment.

Data centers are the target of a national, bipartisan backlash. Much of the debate has focused on worries about a quickly changing economy and the loss of jobs to machines, along with noise, energy costs and water use.

But concerns about air pollution from the gas-burning plants to power the centers are drawing more attention.

More than 1,300 data centers already operate in the United States, and more than 2,000 more are planned, according to Cleanview, a market intelligence company that tracks U.S. power infrastructure and data center development. Still, polling shows the majority of Americans oppose data centers in their communities, elevating the issue to one that could affect November’s midterm elections.

President Trump has held steadfast in his support of A.I. Last week, the president lashed out at communities that are protesting data centers.

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”

Mr. Trump has acknowledged, however, that families should not have to bear higher electricity bills and his ratepayer protection pledge seeks to prevent A.I. data centers from driving up electricity costs for millions of Americans.

The former E.P.A. employees argue that protecting families from pollution, illness and medical costs warrants the same urgency.

“If the administration has already said that families shouldn’t have to bear higher costs of electricity because of the A.I. boom, we think the same principle should apply to health,” said Marc Boom, a former senior adviser in the E.P.A.’s policy office.

Under President Trump, the E.P.A. has made establishing the United States as the “A.I. capital of the world” a central goal. It has made it easier for data centers to run certain kinds of emergency generators that burn diesel fuel and emit soot, nitrogen oxides and other harmful air pollution. It has proposed a sweeping rule change that would let developers start building data centers and power plants before their air pollution permits are approved. And it has exempted off-grid gas plants that supply data centers from federal limits on pollution that causes acid rain.

To make more electricity available, the E.P.A. has eased restart rules for long-idled coal and gas-burning power plants, proposed the repeal of power-plant carbon standards, and is moving to make it harder for communities to weigh in on proposed data centers through public comment. At the same time, it has throttled clean energy wind and solar projects.

The former E.P.A. employees group also points to a mismatch between the scale of the A.I. build out and the E.P.A.’s capacity to oversee it. With staffing levels at their lowest in four decades, the E.P.A. lacks the personnel and resources to monitor pollution and enforce limits, said Larry Starfield, a former principal deputy assistant administrator in the E.P.A.’s Office of Enforcement.

“They’ve got fewer inspectors to go out there,” Mr. Starfield said. “They’re conducting quick and simple inspections. That’s not going to be effective for data centers.”

Shaolei Ren is a professor of electrical and computer engineering who studies A.I. and society at the University of California, Riverside, and led the analysis used by the Environmental Protection Network. He said because of the Trump administration’s explicit focus on increasing the use of fossil fuels, “the actual impact could be worse than we modeled.”

To protect public health, he said, there also needed to be a focus beyond tech companies’ emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, to air pollution that harms local communities.

“Tech companies report their energy use, their carbon emissions, but there’s no mention of local air pollution,” he said. And while tech companies often offset their greenhouse gas emissions with investments in clean energy, he said, it was trickier to offset local health risks.

A.I. Data Center Pollution Poses Health Threat, Former E.P.A. Officials Warn

Air pollution from gas-fired power plants to run data centers is expected to add at least $20 billion in annual health care costs by 2028, the group…

www.nytimes.com