Today
OIL COMPANIES DOUBLED THEIR PROFITS WHILE THE WAR BURNED THROUGH $37.5 BILLION, 25 STATES SUED TRUMP OVER TARIFFS THE SUPREME COURT ALREADY STRUCK DOWN, ICE FORCE-FED HUNGER STRIKERS FOR MONTHS — AND THE FIRST AMERICANS DIED FROM A PARASITE OUTBREAK SPREADING ACROSS 17 STATES

Exxon doubled its profits to $14.5 billion. BP doubled to $3.9 billion. Chevron surged 385 percent. Saudi Aramco made $33 billion in three months… a 33 percent jump. The oil industry just posted its biggest quarter since the war began. And the war is the reason.

When Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in March, 20 percent of the world’s oil supply was cut off. Prices surged from $70 a barrel to above $100. Gas hit $4.11. Shipping costs spiked. And the companies that pump the oil… the same ones that lobbied for decades against regulation… made record profits from the chaos.

On Monday, Trump said he was not happy. “They made too much money, too much money,” he said in the Oval Office. “Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much, too much money. They ought to give some of that back to the public, and they better cut the retail price.”

He did not propose a windfall profits tax. He did not sign an executive order. He complained on camera and moved on. In March, Congressman Brad Sherman introduced a bill to tax oil company war profits and return the money to consumers. The bill has not had a hearing.

The war cost $37.5 billion in taxpayer money. The oil companies made $54 billion in one quarter. The public paid for the war. The oil companies cashed the check.

THE WAR COST $37.5 BILLION. THE OIL COMPANIES MADE $54 BILLION IN ONE QUARTER. THE PUBLIC PAID FOR THE WAR. THE OIL COMPANIES CASHED THE CHECK.

BREAKING

25 States Sued the Trump Administration on Monday Over Tariffs That Cover 99.4% of U.S. Imports — the Third Attempt After the Supreme Court Struck Down the First

On Monday, 25 states filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade to block the latest round of Trump tariffs. The tariffs hit 60 trading partners at 10 to 12.5 percent. Together, those countries account for 99.4 percent of all U.S. imports. New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul led the filing.

“After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” James said. The states are asking the court to declare the tariffs unlawful, stop their collection, and order refunds for duties already paid.

This is the third time the administration has tried to impose broad tariffs under a different law after the Supreme Court struck down the first round. The states argue the “forced labor” rationale was a pretext… that the tariffs were drafted at the same rates, took effect the same day the old ones expired, and that the government finished 60 country reviews in two and a half months.

The Supreme Court said no. Congress has not acted. And the administration is trying a third door. The machine does not accept the answer when the answer is no.

EXPOSED

ICE Force-Fed Hunger-Striking Detainees for Months — One Man Had a Tube Pushed Down His Throat for Nearly Eight Months Before He Was Deported

Court records obtained by The Guardian show that the Trump administration sought to force-feed at least 10 hunger-striking ICE detainees. At least three… and possibly five… were actually force-fed. Five others broke their strikes at the last moment rather than have a tube pushed through their nose, down their throat, and into their stomach.

One Kurdish asylum seeker held at the Port Isabel facility in South Texas was force-fed for nearly eight months. The court filings began in May 2025 and ended only when the man was deported. A second person at the same facility was force-fed for six months. A third at the Krome center in Miami was force-fed for three months.

The procedures were approved by federal judges. ICE says they are medically needed. The ACLU calls them torture. The American Medical Association says force-feeding violates medical ethics. The United Nations considers it cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

A hunger strike is the last thing a person can do when every other way to be heard has failed. The machine’s answer was to push a tube down their throat and wait.

“They made too much money, too much money. They ought to give some of that back to the public.”

— President Trump, on oil companies posting record profits from the war he started

DEVELOPING

The First Americans Have Died from a Parasite Outbreak Spreading Across 17 States — 18,000 Cases, Two Dead, and the CDC’s Team Was Already Gutted

Two people in Michigan have died from cyclosporiasis… a parasite that spreads through tainted food and causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. They are the first known deaths in the United States tied to this outbreak. Michigan has reported more than 11,000 cases and 193 hospitalizations. The CDC says more than 18,000 cases have been confirmed or suspected nationally.

Federal health officials linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in at least five states. The lettuce came from Taylor Farms de Mexico. Cases have now spread to 17 states. The previous record for cyclospora cases in a single year was 4,700… set in 2019. This year has nearly four times that.

The CDC’s outbreak response team has been cut under RFK Jr.’s leadership at HHS. The Epidemic Intelligence Service… the “disease detectives” who get sent to outbreak sites… has been gutted. The former chief medical officer at the CDC resigned weeks ago and said on camera: “The U.S. is really at a tipping point.”

Oil companies made $54 billion in a quarter. The government spent $37.5 billion on the war. And the agency that tracks parasites in the food supply was defunded before the parasite arrived.

 Connecting the Dots 

▸ The Bigger Picture

Four stories from one Monday. Oil companies posted $54 billion in profits from a war that cost taxpayers $37.5 billion… and the president told them they made too much but did nothing about it. Twenty-five states sued the federal government over tariffs it imposed after the Supreme Court struck the first round down. ICE force-fed hunger strikers for months… pushing tubes down throats to silence the last form of protest a detained person has. And a parasite outbreak that has now sickened 18,000 people across 17 states just produced its first deaths… while the agency built to stop it was being taken apart.

The press covers each on its own beat. An “earnings report.” A “court filing.” A “detention story.” A “health update.” But the thread is the same in every one.

The machine feeds the people who feed it. Oil companies profit from the war. The government tries a third law after the first two failed. Hunger strikers are silenced with tubes. And a disease spreads through the food supply while the team that was built to catch it is gone. Every dollar, every law, every tube, every cut… flows in the same direction: toward power and away from the people it is supposed to protect.

When the oil companies profit from the war and the CDC can’t track a parasite… the budget is the confession. That’s the Seventh Floor.

They rely on the shadows.
It’s time to turn on the lights.