Cuba's U.N. Ambassador Denounces U.S. Oil Blockade, Push to Topple Government

Feb 13, 2026 | Cuba is facing a growing humanitarian crisis due to a U.S.-imposed oil blockade. The Trump administration has also threatened new tariffs against any nation that sends fuel to Cuba, which has been under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962. These measures have caused fuel shortages and widespread blackouts, while the cost of food and transportation has skyrocketed. "This is a massive violation of human rights," says Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. "It's a massive violation of international law."

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Trump is a wicked, evil man! As is Marco Rubio.

One doesn’t have to endorse communism for one’s heart to go out to the longsuffering people of Cuba. These are human beings who are suffering needlessly. All the while, Trump and his warped acolytes are living in the lap of luxury.

There is no conceivable reason why Cuba should be considered a threat to the USA. This ‘war on Cuba’ is based solely on ideology and prejudice. Further, the endgame for Trump must surely be the dollar signs he is able to visualize when he can build Trump towers and hotels on the beautiful island. He must surely be salivating even as I write this over the billions he and his crooked family will be able to make from monetizing the island! For he will surely sequestrate any assets available in Cuba for himself, his bent family, and for his warped little helpers.

Had the US authorities had the balls to incarcerate Trump when they had the chance to do so, Cuba, Venezuela, and the rest of the world would have been spared the nightmare of Trump. Alas, the spunk was wanting! Now, we all have to suffer. Some, of course, more than others. – © Mark Alexander

‘The Road to Hell Is Paved with…’: Cory Booker Shames Congress over ‘Failure to Stop’ Trump | US News

Feb 12, 2026 | Watch Democrat Senator Cory Booker deliver a passionate speech on Donald Trump and his ‘abuse of power, Congress’ ‘failure to stop’ him and what can be done.

House Passes "Worst Voter Suppression Bill Ever" in Latest Push to Help Trump Take Over Elections

Feb 13, 2026 | The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to require proof of U.S. citizenship in the November midterm elections. If it becomes law, it would be the "worst voter suppression bill ever passed by Congress," according to Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones. "The bill really combines a lot of the worst things that Republicans want to do with regards to voting, and it comes at a time when Trump appears dead set to try to interfere in the midterm elections," he adds.

Wednesday's vote sends the legislation on to the Republican-led Senate, where it is expected to receive a vote but unlikely to garner the 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority needed for passage.


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Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines

February 13, 2026

The Trump regime must surely be one of the most, if not the most, irresponsible US administration ever! — © Mark Alexander

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‘Do Not Waste One Second of Our Precious Time…’: Jamie Raskin Goes Nuclear on Pam Bondi In Congress

February 11, 2026

Quand la Maison-Blanche utilise l’IA pour fabriquer des « fake news »

LE FIGARO : DÉCRYPTAGE - Donald Trump a récemment publié l’image d’une activiste noire en état d’arrestation, dont la peau avait été artificiellement assombrie et l’expression modifiée.

Il y a quelques semaines, Kristi Noem, la ministre de la Sécurité intérieure, a posté une photo de l’arrestation de Nekima Levy Armstrong. On y voit cette avocate activiste noire menottée, très calme, le visage de marbre, un policier derrière elle, après avoir été appréhendée pour participation à une manifestation dans un temple près de Minneapolis. Moins d’une heure plus tard, la Maison-Blanche a publié le même cliché. Cette fois, l’activiste, dont la peau apparaît nettement plus sombre, est en larmes, l’air éplorée. C’est une image retouchée, sans doute grâce à l’intelligence artificielle, ce que personne n’aurait pu deviner s’il n’y avait pas été possible de la comparer avec l’originale. « La plus haute instance du pays se sert de la technologie pour mentir au monde entier », observe Josh Richman, de la Electronic Frontier Foundation, une organisation de protection du droit numérique. Cela « pose la question de savoir si l’Administration se sent encouragée à manipuler d’autres photos à des fins de propagande, pour donner l’impression d’un président en meilleure santé ou pour créer un prétexte à des guerres… »

Depuis son retour au pouvoir, Donald Trump ne cesse de diffuser sur les réseaux sociaux des images trafiquées par l’IA et d’autres méthodes, parfois produites par la Maison-Blanche ou empruntées à des utilisateurs extérieurs, notamment des groupes d’influenceurs. Il en est très friand, car c’est un merveilleux outil de propagande : cela permet de créer du buzz, de mobiliser sa base et d’appuyer des efforts de désinformation. L’avalanche d’informations fausses finit en effet tout par rendre suspect. Il devient ainsi plus facile de discréditer auprès de l’opinion publique une nouvelle véridique en l’accusant d’être fabriquée par l’intelligence artificielle. » | Par Hélène Vissière
Réservé aux abonnés

Une approche «non stigmatisante» : les mariages entre cousins au Royaume-Uni «ne doivent plus être découragés», soutient le NHS

LE FIGARO : Le risque d’avoir un enfant atteint d’une maladie génétique ne serait que «légèrement augmenté», selon le National Health Service (NHS), qui appelle à ne pas « stigmatiser » une pratique jugée « normale » dans certaines cultures.

Le personnel hospitalier doit cesser de décourager les mariages entre cousins germains. Tel est le mot d’ordre adressé aux soignants par le National Health Service (NHS), le système de santé britannique. En cause : le risque d’avoir un enfant atteint d’une maladie génétique ne serait, selon la base de données nationale sur la mortalité infantile (NCMD) financée par le gouvernement, que « légèrement augmenté ». Pourtant, les chiffres interrogent. L’an dernier, il a été révélé que la mort de plus de deux enfants par semaine en Angleterre était liée au fait que leurs parents étaient étroitement apparentés, indique le Times .

Par ailleurs, les bébés nés de cousins germains seraient jusqu’à trois fois plus susceptibles de présenter des troubles génétiques. Les directives évoquées reconnaissent l’existence de « risques pour la santé des enfants liés au mariage de proches parents », mais invitent à ne pas les «exagérer». Selon ces recommandations, 85 à 90 % des couples de cousins n’ont pas d’enfants affectés par une maladie génétique. À titre de comparaison, le taux moyen national d’enfants nés sans maladie congénitale s’élève à environ 98 %. » | Par Marie de Montalembert de Cers | vendredi 13 février 2026

Clara Mattei: Capitalism Is Not Natural - It’s Enforced

Feb 13, 2026 | Clara Mattei is an economist who wants us to rethink the idea that capitalism is simply the natural order of things.

Clara Mattei »

Epstein Files Cover Up And Whose Lies Are Fuelling It

Feb 10, 2026 | There is still a lot we need to know about the remaining Epstein Files.

But one thing we know for sure: this administration has been lying, consistently, about the Epstein Files and their attempts to cover up his connections to them and Trump himself.

New Epstein File Emails Raise Fresh Questions over Andrew Claims in Newsnight Interview | BBC News

Feb 13, 2026 | Following the latest release of the Epstein files, claims made by the then Prince Andrew in the 2019 BBC Newsnight interview have been put into question.

The BBC’s Sean Coughlan and Sarah Campbell have gone through the interview to compare Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s replies with emails which were apparently sent by and to the former prince.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is facing growing pressure from US officials and the family of his prominent accuser Virginia Giuffre to testify in the US about his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

We have contacted Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

”Donald Trump and Pam Bondi Are Malignant and Vicious Clowns”

Steve Schmidt explains.

Thom Hartmann: Do We Have a Russian Agent in the White House?

Feb 11, 2026 | NSA detected foreign intelligence phone call about a person close to Trump. Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff.

Trump Will Not ‘Get Away With Defying Court Orders’

”John Roberts is presideing over the destruction of the rule of law.”

Trump: Ein unbequemer Verbündeter für Europas Rechtsextreme?

Feb 13, 2026 | Die Grönland-Affäre hat die europäischen Souveränisten und Patrioten verunsichert. Vor dem Hintergrund der zahlreichen Wahlen in den nächsten zwei Jahren vermeiden es Europas rechtsextreme Parteien, ihre Verbindung zu Donald Trump allzu offen zu zeigen.

Will the Epstein Files Tarnish the Reputation of Jamie Dimon, America’s Banker?

THE GUARDIAN: The final stretch of the JP Morgan Chase chief’s career is a bumpy one, as Trump himself demands prosecutors investigate Epstein’s ties to Dimon’s bank

Jamie Dimon, the longtime chief of JP Morgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, was under oath. The occasion was a May 2023 deposition related to several lawsuits filed against his bank over its history of involvement with the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The question put to Dimon was straightforward: “When did you first learn that Jeffrey Epstein was a customer of JPMorgan?”

His answer seemed clear: “I don’t recall knowing anything about Jeffrey Epstein until the stories broke sometime in 2019” – meaning the stories about Epstein’s arrest by federal authorities in the summer of 2019 and his death a month later in a Manhattan jail cell.

Clear, but believable? This exchange can be found in the US justice department’s Epstein files, with the digital “Epstein library”, as it’s called, tabulating 204 “results” (separate documents, though some duplicative) for Dimon, at current count, and 9,404 for his bank.

Epstein was a client of JP Morgan Chase for 15 years, from 1998 to 2013, for the last eight of which Dimon was the bank’s CEO, the position he still holds. And Epstein was not just any client, but a prized one of JPMorgan’s private bank for ultra-wealthy customers. A JP Morgan report, belatedly filed with the treasury department, flagged about 4,700 Epstein-related “suspicious activity” transactions totaling $1.1bn, including payments to women from post-Soviet countries. Through Dimon’s bank, Epstein wired hundreds of millions of dollars to Russian banks.

Not only that, a top former JP Morgan executive, Jes Staley, undermined Dimon’s sworn testimony – claiming to have communicated with Dimon on Epstein years before the 2019 arrest. And a current senior bank executive, Mary Erdoes, often said to be on Dimon’s shortlist of candidates to succeed him as CEO, was also actively involved with the Epstein account and was aware, as documents show, of Epstein’s court-affirmed status as a high-risk sex offender. » | Paul Starobin | Friday, February 13, 2026

JD Vance's Silence Is Deafening When It Comes to the Epstein Files

February 13, 2026

‪@ Save America Mvmt

Will Russia Defy Trump's Warning and Send Fuel to Its Old Ally Cuba? | DW News

Feb 12, 2026 | The Russian newspaper Izvestia is reporting that Moscow is planning to send crude oil and fuel to Cuba.

The country is suffering its worst energy crisis for years, after the US choked off its oil supplies. Cuba had long relied on its ally Venezuela for fuel, but those supplies dried up after the US abducted the country's president, Nicolás Maduro.

Like many countries, Russia is evacuating its tourists from the island and suspending all flights there, because of a lack of aviation fuel. Canadian airlines also suspended flights this week - and Cuba has warned international carriers that jet fuel is no longer available.

Ricardo Torres Pérez an economist and Research Fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American & Latino Studies talks to DW.

Cuba Receives Humanitarian Aid from Mexico as Trump’s Blockade Bites

Feb 12, 2026 | Humanitarian aid from Mexico has arrived in Havana, as Cuba continues to struggle under what amounts to a fuel blockade by the Trump administration.

Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Environmental Protection Agency repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet.

The action is a key step in removing limits on carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases that scientists say are supercharging heat waves, droughts, wildfires and other extreme weather.

Led by a president who refers to climate change as a “hoax,” the administration is essentially saying that the vast majority of scientists around the world are wrong and that a hotter planet is not the menace that decades of research shows it to be.

It’s a rejection of fact that had been accepted for decades by presidents of both parties, including Richard Nixon, whose top adviser warned of the dangers of climate change and the first President George Bush, who signed an international climate treaty.

And it is a knockout punch in the yearslong fight by a small group of conservative activists as well as oil, gas and coal interests to stop the country from transitioning away from fossil fuels and toward solar, wind and other nonpolluting energy. » | Lisa Friedman | Reporting from Washington | Thursday, February 12, 2026

Trump Declared War on Canada — Carney's Cold Blooded Response Stunned the World

February 12, 2026