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News for the public, not the powerful.
Did Trump Just Threaten a War Crime From the UN Podium?
Donald Trump stood before the United Nations today and asked the world whether he should wipe a country off the map. He said he has a big decision to make. Either he cuts a deal that lets Iran rebuild, or, as he put it, “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly?” He bragged that Operation Epic Fury sank all 159 ships in Iran’s navy, wiped out its air force and radar, and pushed Iranian inflation past 300%. Then he predicted Iran will cut a deal right after the midterms, since they’re waiting to see how he does in an election he isn’t running in. New York Times reporter Farnaz Fassihi called it jarring to hear an American president threaten to annihilate a nation, which is considered a war crime, from the UN podium. He also said of January’s raid on Caracas that to the victor belong the spoils, which one foreign policy expert called an open admission of the war crime of pillage. Seven months into a war most Americans say we aren’t winning, the president is musing about annihilation on the world stage. It’s a man telling the planet that American power now answers to one man’s mood.
Trump Declares War on the UN, Then Renames Artificial Intelligence
Trump used the back half of the speech to attack his hosts. He bragged that Ambassador Michael Waltz helped cut the UN budget by 15% this year and eliminate more than 4,000 jobs. He said the UN must stop pushing the far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats nobody elected. He turned on the International Criminal Court, telling its members, “You’re an evil group of people,” and demanded every nation resign from it immediately. He blasted UN human rights officials for criticizing America over immigration enforcement and what he called transgender mutilation of children. He called the Human Rights Council craven hypocrites for not doing more about persecuted Christians. He accused UNESCO of destroying Western heritage by promoting mass migration. He announced the United States rejects any global effort to regulate artificial intelligence, and that from now on every American government document will call it superintelligence, because the word artificial makes it sound fake. That’s the president of the United States renaming a technology from the UN podium while telling the world to abandon the court that prosecutes war crimes. Every guardrail against unchecked power, at home and abroad, is being ripped out in real time.
Why Did Cuba’s Diplomats Walk Out on Trump’s Speech?
Two delegations didn’t stay for the whole thing. Iran’s diplomats walked out about ten minutes in, leaving a single delegate glaring at the president. Then Cuba’s team stood up and left when Trump called their country a completely failed state and declared it will fall. He promised that freedom is coming to Cuba and said Marco Rubio is handling the pressure campaign. His administration has hit the island with over two dozen new sanctions since January. Cuba’s foreign minister shot back that Cuba is not a threat to the United States. But the day’s real confrontation came before Trump reached the podium. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked him why two-thirds of Americans don’t believe we’re winning the Iran war and when it’ll end. Trump snapped, “You should not be here covering me.” He claimed CNN said it wouldn’t cover him. Collins said the network never said that and noted she was there on UN credentials, not White House ones. That matters because the White House has banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, and all three are suing over the First Amendment. A president who threatens to annihilate nations and can’t tolerate one reporter’s question is telling you exactly what kind of power he’s after.
Did ICE Dump a Shot Man on a Cell Floor With a Bullet in His Back?
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was delivering DoorDash orders in North Austin, Texas, Sunday when he says unmarked vehicles sideswiped his car. No lights, no sirens, no badges. He says an ICE agent shot him while he sat in the driver’s seat. Austin police say he ran. He ended up with a bullet lodged so close to his spine that doctors couldn’t remove it. After a few hours in the hospital, ICE hauled him to a processing center in Pearsall, more than 100 miles away. His lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, says he spent the night on a cold floor, no bed, no pain medication, still bleeding. He told reporters, “I’m not doing well because of the gunshot I received.” By Monday night he’d lost movement on his entire left side, and ICE returned him to a hospital for paralysis treatment. His lawyer has sued to get him released and to block his deportation to Venezuela. Homeland Security says he had a final removal order and won’t discuss the shooting. Congressman Greg Casar calls it a disturbing pattern, at least the third shooting by immigration agents in Texas this term. A government that shoots a delivery driver and then denies him a bed isn’t enforcing the law. It’s abandoning it.
Will Trump’s War Push Oil to $150 a Barrel?
Bank of America issued a warning Tuesday that ought to worry anyone with a car or a heating bill. The bank raised its forecast for Brent crude from $83 to $95 a barrel for the second half of this year. That’s the good scenario. If the disruptions from the Iran war drag into next spring, or if more oil infrastructure gets hit, the bank says Brent may have to spike well above $150 a barrel before demand breaks. Strategist Francisco Blanch wrote that “damaged infrastructure and rising geopolitical tensions make rapid normalization unlikely.” Before the war, roughly 125 large vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz every day. On Monday, two made it through. Strategic reserves have fallen substantially, product stocks are ultra low, and the physical market is already flashing acute scarcity. Brent dipped below $100 Tuesday on hopes of peace talks, but it’s still up about 50% over the past year. Trump told the UN this morning a deal won’t come until after the election. So working people paying for this war at the pump keep paying for at least two more months. Every dollar added to a barrel comes out of a paycheck, and the bill for one man’s war lands on everyone else.
Pennsylvania Measles Cases Hit 792 While RFK Jr. Argues Over the Dead
Pennsylvania’s health department reported 792 measles cases on Monday, 25 more than Friday. That puts the state at the center of the worst measles resurgence this country has seen in decades. 155 people are in the hospital, up from 150 just three days earlier. Lancaster County remains the hardest hit. Earlier this month the state reported measles deaths among unvaccinated residents. Governor Josh Shapiro and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are now publicly fighting over how many of those deaths were actually caused by the virus. The CDC still hasn’t added Pennsylvania’s 2026 measles deaths to its national count. The agency says it’s reviewing how it classifies such deaths. Nationally, the CDC has logged 3,471 measles cases this year as of September 17. This is a disease America declared eliminated in 2000. The MMR vaccine is 97% effective after two doses. It’s cheap, it’s safe, and it’s been routine for generations. The only thing that changed is who’s running the Department of Health and Human Services. When a health secretary spends his energy arguing about whether the dead count instead of getting people vaccinated, that isn’t a policy dispute. It’s a public health collapse with a name attached to it.
And that’s the way it is, Today Tuesday, September 22, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
