Global

Yikes, it’s déjà vu all over again. I got an email and then an invitation to a zoom radio broadcast. The Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a group I knew and had actually done some workshops with in Youngstown some years ago, had been subpoenaed by the Justice Department over voter registration. Was this the ACORN voter registration attack of 2008 once again?

The news report indicated that 125 FBI agents had swooped in on the organization taking computer hard drives and other records, visiting canvassers and others at their homes, and more as part of their broad subpoena and investigation. Without sharing details, the investigation was targeting their voter registration efforts. Other reports also underlined their opposition to efforts by the legislature to require photo identification for voters to access the polls.

This is the same, but different. 

The recent "UFC Freedom 250" spectacle hosted by Donald Trump on the White House lawn served as a disturbing stage for the erosion of public decency. During this event, fighter Josh Hokit chose to use his platform to direct a grotesque, misogynistic insult at former First Lady Michelle Obama, baselessly labeling her a man. The immediate roar of laughter and approval from the surrounding crowd was a grim reflection of a culture that has been conditioned to celebrate the dehumanization of Black women. 

​It is critical to observe the reaction—or lack thereof—from those in power. Donald Trump stood by and permitted this vitriol to define the atmosphere of a taxpayer-funded event on the South Lawn. While UFC CEO Dana White eventually condemned the remarks as "nasty and false," the silence from Donald Trump and the White House was deafening. 

BANGKOK, Thailand -- After an 11-year delay, a Bangkok court sentenced two Muslim ethnic Uyghur Chinese men to death for bombing a Hindu shrine in the heart of the capital, killing 20 people and spotlighting Thailand's complex links to China's treatment of its Uyghur minority.

The Bangkok South Criminal Court on June 11 sentenced Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammed to be executed for bombing the crowded, outdoor, streetcorner Erawan Shrine popular with Thailand's Buddhist majority and international visitors.

The court "imposed the harshest penalty available under the law, the death sentence," said one of court's four judges on June 11, announcing the verdict.

The conviction included murder and illegal possession of explosives.

Their lawyer said both men would appeal and cited allegedly harsh "treatment of the defendants during the proceedings."

China welcomed executing the two men.

"The perpetrators were utterly devoid of humanity and absolutely heinous," China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference in Beijing on on June 11.

Trump has taken a victory lap, announcing a tentative agreement with Iran to end the war. This declaration by Trump is way too reminiscent of George W. Bush’s appearance on a US aircraft carrier to claim victory on May 1, 2003 by announcing “Mission Accomplished” and the end to the Iraq War, which then lasted another several years. Admittedly, the details are sketchy, and even the tentative agreement won’t be signed for several days, but what has emerged looks very thin. Both sides, Iran and the US, are declaring victory, which might be face saving diplomacy, but also raises the specter from labor negotiations where a ”tentative” agreement is just that, and not a full and complete agreement on all outstanding issues, and may in fact still indicate that there is not a real “meeting of the minds” required for a complete agreement.

President Trump must get off his lazy and fat ass and demand that Netanyahu free American hostage Sama Safi. Sama, a 20‑year‑old American citizen and honors psychology student at Birzeit University, was kidnapped by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from her family’s home near Ramallah at 3 a.m. on June 2.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D‑MD) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D‑MI) are warning that her life is at risk. Sama, whose family lives in Florida, was taken without charge and transferred to Ofer Prison, then to the Moscovia interrogation center in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

In addition to the regular lethal American and Israeli attacks on Iran, last week alone the Israeli military killed 13 Gazans and 13 Lebanese. Gaza is now 70% Israeli occupied, contrary to what was agreed upon in the ceasefire arrangement, as is much of south Lebanon. More than 1,000 Gazans have been murdered by Israel since the temporary ceasefire was declared in October 2025. And one might add to the toll the constant aggression in south Syria, where Israel is creating an army base presence to be followed by settlers that creeps ever closer to the capital Damascus. It is an encroachment that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of war criminals intend to turn into a component of “Greater Israel” together with Gaza and Lebanon.

As the founder of Heartbeat Movement Inc., I’ve always held that independent journalism isn't just about sharing news—it’s about demanding accountability for the people. We serve as the "Fourth Estate," and in moments like these, our role is to ensure the narrative is told with integrity and that the voices of everyday families are not lost in the shuffle of high-level diplomacy. ​

Today, June 14, 2026, we find ourselves at a historic turning point. On the very day President Donald Trump celebrates his 80th birthday, the administration has announced a deal to bring an end to the U.S.-led war in Iran. While the official signing of this memorandum of understanding is set for June 19 in Geneva, we recognize that this is only the beginning of a long road to true stability. 

BANGKOK, Thailand -- India's military is expanding across the Andaman Sea into Southeast Asia with construction of a multi-billion-dollar air and sea base on remote Great Nicobar Island, New Delhi's furthest reach toward the Strait of Malacca where rival China ships more than 75 percent of its imported oil.

"The Great Nicobar Island Project, which is of strategic, defense and national importance, transforms the region into a major hub of maritime and air connectivity in the Indian Ocean region," India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly shared on his social media in September.

New Delhi and its allies, potentially including Washington, could benefit in that watery zone if a serious conflict erupts with Beijing after the massive project is completed on isolated and previously neglected Great Nicobar Island.

Construction has already begun. An initial phase allowing air and sea operations may be ready within a few years.

Great Nicobar is India's southernmost island, 1,860 miles (3,000 kms) southeast of New Delhi, in a 500-mile-long (800 km) tropical Nicobar archipelago.