Early September 2026 News.

 

We haven't forgotten about Cuba. Cuba has a humanitarian crisis in part because of U.S. sanctions and embargoes. Some of its leaders are using measures to open the country to the "free market." In Cuba, many people make withdrawals before cash reserves run out. Elderly people are trying to get food to stop hunger. Mothers and kids beg for pesos in rich areas. Crime is on the rise, along with domestic violence, drug abuse, and corruption. Transportation and public services have halted. There are days-long water shortages and massive blackouts. There are fuel and electricity shortages. Cuba has been harmed by recent Trump and Rubio's military petroleum blockade. Only 2 oil tankers came to Cuba in 2026. Cuba has been a nation filled with periods of economic prosperity and economic recession. Fidel Castro was right to oppose imperialism and capitalistic exploitation (as we know that Batista was a dictator who was funded by Western corporate interests and the Mafia), but he made the error of promoting anti-civil liberty measures at times. We don't need imperialism or the status quo. We need Cuba to be given the opportunities to have its own political, economic, and social independence. Cuba has the right to its sovereignty without the embargo and without U.S. aggression.  Many hotels and industries stopped investing in Cuba to avoid Trump's criticism. Cuba is fighting for its survival. Either Cuba will be a puppet state of Trump and Rubio or an independent progressive nation. 

Recently, Gloria Steinem passed away at the age of 92 years on September 2, 2026. She was one of the most prominent journalists and social activists of the 20th and 21st centuries. She helped to be one of the major leaders of second-wave feminism. Back before 1970, tons of women couldn't have a bank account without a husband's or father's permission. Back in the day, all women couldn't vote until the 1920s. Back then, many women were readily fired from certain jobs because of their sex. This was real and horrendous at the same time. Gloria Steinem worked hard to promote women's equality and women's liberation. We have made progress in laws and awareness to combat misogyny and discrimination against women. Yet, we have a long way to go when women's rights are being massively stripped, especially since 2016. She was a columnist for New York magazine and co-founder of Ms. Magazine. She co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus and the Take Our Daughters to Work Day in order to allow young girls to learn about various future career opportunities. She, in my opinion, was wrong to work in a CIA-backed group of the Independent Research Service. She called the CIA liberal, nonviolent, and honorable. You can Google the CIA's real history in Operation Phoenix, Operation Mockingbird, and other wicked actions to witness that the CIA is not progressive, far from nonviolent, and many of their members were dishonorable. Nevertheless, Gloria Steinem, despite her imperfections, was a strong advocate for the rights of all women and sought equality among men, women, and the rest of the human family. At the very end of her life, Gloria Steinem fought against the racist, sexist, xenophobic, and imperialistic movement of MAGA. So, we remember Gloria Steinem's life and legacy as a continued call to make sure that women have all of the opportunities, equality, and liberty in the world to fulfill their aspirations and dreams on their own terms. I send my condolences to Gloria Steinem's friends and family. 

One major lesson in life is to always embrace your human compassion. Many of us may not notice this, but tons of people in this world see us and realize what we do. That compassion is related to the Golden Rule, which is about treating people how you want to be treated (which is dignity and respect). Believing in altruism, treating your neighbors right, and standing up for justice refutes the old prejudices of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry that have plagued us human beings for millennia. You can't have altruism without moral principles. It is true that all of humanity is created equal and has unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (as found in the Declaration of Independence). Now, the person who wrote the Declaration of Independence didn't live up to the precept that he wrote, but we should live up to the ideals of equality and freedom for all people, though. Human beings, with our own intellectual ingenuity, have every right to responsibly improve our society, to develop legitimate inventions to help people, and to improve the environment. God gave us the right to help humanity in their material needs while rejecting excessive materialism, imperialism, and selfish individualism. The role of government has always been to be empowered by the people to regulate the economy, promote industry, grow infrastructure, and defend justice. That is precisely why we need a strong social safety net, voter rights protections, health care meant for all, an end to police brutality, and making sure that people are allowed to live out their dreams filled with joy and happiness. Also, life is both social and individual. We encounter humor, joy, pain, anger, and the wide spectrum of human emotions. Yet, we need to be better and do better since physical life is very temporary, but our legacies will last for all eternity. 

Now, James Talarico and Paxton are even in the Texas Senate race. Many years back, this was unthinkable in Texas. Now, we have this reality: because Paxton has so many scandals and hypocritical views, Talarico could win the Senate race. The bad news is that the key Texas county of Tarrant has voted to cut polling sites. This action will make it so much harder for human beings to vote. During our primaries of 2026, we see more voters embrace anti-establishment populism. It has nothing to do with age, but people just want power back to the people instead of mostly given to the oligarchy. For example, Massachusetts Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate resulted in 80-year-old incumbent Ed Markey defeating the 47-year-old Congressman Seth Moulton. The establishment is filled with radical centrists who desire the status quo. The problem is that the status quo is not working as we have an affordability crisis, an illegal Iranian war, data centers growing in America (with environmental issues that come along with their construction), we have high oil prices, and voter suppression laws (when Texans protest the vote to eliminate nearly 100 polling sites in Tarrant County, Texas). We have a massive inequality of wealth, income, and power never seen since the Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, we have to be for freedom, and that means we want racial justice, economic justice, and justice for all in general.

Evil consumes the Trump administration. During this week, Trump approved disaster relief requests for seven red states (I have no problem with this), but he repeatedly delayed and denied aid to blue states (which is wrong and evil). No other President in American history has politicized natural disasters the way that Trump has done. The reason is that no state that experiences a natural disaster ought to be denied legitimate aid because of the state's voting patterns. Natural disasters don't discriminate based upon political ideology, so all people (irrespective of a person's political beliefs) should have natural disaster assistance. Trump has fired hundreds of people from the NOAA, and these people work hard to warn people about hurricanes, tornadoes, and other dangerous weather occurrences. Trump cut so many employees from NOAA, that the agenda is desperately scrambling to try to hire some of them back. These cuts have led to few weather ballons to help meteorologists to track storms. Trump has gutted responses after disasters happen. Trump and DOGE gutted 20 percent of FEMA. When floods hit Texas in 2025, FEMA"s new contract review policies delayed rescue efforts by 72 hours plus left thousands of emergency calls unanswered. Trump has readily denied disaster funding from blue state which is sick. FEMA ended a grant program that spent billions to protect people from disasters. The government ought to help Americans and be there for us, but Trump believes in radical laissez faire capitalism that desires large corporations, not the people, to have the majority of the power in America.

By Timothy