I wrote back on April 23, 2024:

Global human rights are at historic lows, and the United States is among the worst offenders. By subscribing to Let's Address This with Qasim Rashid, you're helping turn the tide to protect human rights for all.

In the last 2 years, you have made Let’s Address This that platform that more than 182,000 subscribers and more than 2 million monthly readers rely on for daily, critical, and accurate information on human rights. And we’re just getting started.

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As billionaires continue to buy out media outlets, the new independent media universe is our ticket to factual accuracy on the human rights issues that impact us all. Your investment into Let’s Address This makes that possible. Thank you for your support during these last two years. I look forward to another great year of partnered success.

Thank you for your trust.❤️

Sincerely,

Qasim

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In a time of deep political division and escalating global crises, Pope Leo has emerged as a powerful advocate for justice, human rights, and moral clarity. His public stances on issues ranging from combatting gun violence, to protecting immigrant rights, abolishing the death penalty, to ending the genocide in Gaza, and the war on Iran — are reflections of his faith and bold assertions of humanity’s shared responsibility to uphold dignity and compassion for all people.

These principled stances have upset Donald Trump, JD Vance, and even Sean Hannity, who recently announced he’s now leaving the Catholic Church. In particular, the Pope’s old Tweets have created controversy, with Donald Trump himself now citing them to attack the Pope. Let’s Address This.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, social justice, and the facts that corporate media ignores. For only two more days, an annual subscription to support this work is 50% off in honor of our two-year anniversary.

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The Tweet That Upset Trump

After an internet troll found a Tweet Pope Leo retweeted in 2018 in condemnation of Trump’s policy of caging children, Donald Trump responded “Not good!!!”

Let’s be clear for a moment—caging children is bad. The Pope’s decision to retweet a Tweet calling out this injustice is what you want in a moral leader. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Pope Leo also posted the following.

This, after Pope Leo condemned the Israeli government for refusing to recognize a Palestinian state, spoke to the people of Lebanon as Israel was bombing them with the Islamic greeting of Asalaamo Alaikum, and finally, refused to respond to Trump’s aggressive attacks against him. Indeed, the Vatican states that the Pentagon reportedly militarily threatened the Pope for criticizing Donald Trump.

Upholding Justice and Opposing the Death Penalty

Pope Leo has instead made clear that he refuses to engage in such attacks. That his purpose is to uphold justice and peace, as Jesus Christ taught. I, for one, am grateful to see a religious leader whose words match his actions. It is no wonder that the Pope’s approval rating is nearly 50 points higher than that of Donald Trump’s approval rating.

The Pope’s Old Tweets

So I thought, given that Trump is digging up the Pope’s old Tweets, I’d beat him to the punch. I read through the Pope’s entire Twitter history, and this is what I found.

First, his staunch opposition to the death penalty. His Tweet from March 5, 2015, simply stating, “It’s time to end the death penalty,” reflects his firm belief that state-sanctioned executions are not only morally indefensible but contrary to the essence of justice.

The Pope’s stance aligns with growing global recognition that capital punishment is a violation of human rights, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities, and often riddled with wrongful convictions. His call for abolition is a reminder that justice should be restorative, not retributive.

Defending the Vulnerable: Immigrants and Refugees

The Pope’s commitment to human rights extends deeply into his advocacy for immigrants and refugees.

His public denouncement of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and his visible support for Syrian refugees speaks volumes. On January 27, 2017, he reposted the famous and heartbreaking image of a Syrian child, bloodied and battered, with the caption: “We’re banning all Syrian refugees? The men, women, and children who most need help? What an immoral nation we are becoming. Jesus weeps.”

His words call attention to the moral crisis of denying sanctuary to those fleeing war and persecution, echoing a core principle of faith: to welcome the stranger and protect the vulnerable. Pope Leo has likewise openly condemned the Trump administration’s child separation policy, and the caging of children.

In another repost, he called out the racist undertones of Trump’s policies, highlighting how terms like “bad hombres” fuel nativism and bigotry.

And most recently, he’s openly opposed the cruelty of JD Vance, as he demonizes immigrants with bizarre faith based justifications.

The Pope’s voice on these issues is not just compassionate—it is courageous, cutting through political noise to demand that America live up to its ideals of liberty and justice for all. JD Vance meanwhile has the audacity to lecture the Pope on morality.

Combating Gun Violence and Demanding Action

Gun violence is a uniquely American epidemic, and Pope Leo has not shied away from calling out political inaction. His retweet of Senator Chris Murphy’s powerful statement after the Las Vegas shooting—“Your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends unless we do something to stop it.”—is a testament to his belief in action over rhetoric.

The Pope’s alignment with leaders who demand legislative action on gun control is a bold stance that underscores his commitment to safeguarding lives.

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Racial Justice and Moral Leadership

On May 30, 2020, amidst nationwide protests for racial justice after police murdered George Floyd, Pope Leo tweeted, “Thank you! We need to hear more from leaders in the Church, to reject racism and seek justice.”

On the same day he elevated additional voices for racial justice. And these were not isolated Tweets. I found Tweets from years prior celebrating racial justice.

Back in 2014 Pope Leo celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. His call for moral leadership in the face of racial injustice highlights his understanding that silence is complicity.

Prevost’s consistent advocacy for racial equality and justice is a reminder that the fight for civil rights is far from over and requires voices of faith and moral clarity to lead the charge.

Climate Action as a Moral Imperative

Prevost’s environmental advocacy is equally strong. He publicly urged Donald Trump to read Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change, calling for immediate action to protect the environment. His retweet from June 1, 2017, emphasized the urgency of combating climate change, aligning with global scientific consensus that protecting the planet is not just a political issue but a moral one.

He’s additionally recognized that religion and science are not enemies, and should be treated as such. Like his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, Pope Leo is continuing an important tradition of ensuring that those of faith also embrace science.

As the current anti-science administration dismantles critical regulations and departments, one can only hope that Pope Leo might influence someone in the Trump regime to reverse course and instead re-embrace science based policy.

Conclusion

Pope Leo XIV’s bold stances on issues like racial justice, climate action, and ending the death penalty reveal a leader unafraid to challenge political powers in defense of human rights. His unwavering support for immigrants and refugees stands as a testament to his commitment to compassion and justice. He’s called for unity between Christians and Muslims and been unequivocal in condemning war and bombing of civilians in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran.

While Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the MAGA right continue to attack the Pope, the Pope responds fearlessly that he serves God, not a political agenda.

In my view, that’s what frightens Trump the most—a man he cannot force to bend to his will.

Long live the Pope.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the justice that our society demands. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

First, An Important Announcement 📢

Thanks to your support, Let’s Address This is expanding into a second state! The brilliant Saadia Mirza has joined our team as Texas State Director. Today, Saadia launches Let’s Address Texas. Saadia is a business owner, political strategist, and marketing professional who has led in this space for 22 years. She’ll be sharing daily Texas-specific content on politics, human rights, and social justice, with receipts, sources, names, and calls to action to counter the injustices we see.

And lest there be any doubt—always without a paywall.

Read her launch post, and especially if you're in Texas, make sure you subscribe.

Read the launch post!

That's two states now providing the independent, fact-checked, human rights coverage too often ignored by corporate media. In case you missed it, and you live in Illinois, make sure you sign up for the most important political developments shared on a daily basis from Let's Address Illinois with Dylan Blaha.

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On Episode 219 of The Qasim Rashid Show:

Now, let's dive into today's episode. Three years into the war in Sudan, 33 million Sudanese people are at risk of starvation, the UAE is funding the RSF to commit genocide, and the U.S.—the largest arms seller to the UAE—is not using the leverage it has. Congresswoman Sara Jacobs joins the show to talk about the Stand Up for Sudan Act, what cutting USAID funding means for people on the ground, and how we can play a more meaningful role to stop these atrocities from happening.

Watch my full interview with Congresswoman Sara Jacobs on YouTube:

Also in today’s episode, a contractor named Chamel Abdul Karim allegedly set fire to a Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario, California—causing $750 million in damage—and filmed himself doing it. Corporate media called it a crime story and stopped there. I do the math corporate media won’t do: Kimberly-Clark made $2.55 billion in profit while paying workers $30,000 below the cost of living in the city where they worked. Chamel will likely go to prison. The executives who made that choice face no consequences whatsoever.

You can listen to today’s episode here on Substack or watch my mathematical breakdown of the Kimberly-Clark warehouse fire:

Thank you for tuning in to The Qasim Rashid Show. Be sure to subscribe so we can continue to protect your human rights, and our democracy. Become a paid subscriber — 50% off through April 23rd.

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The Qasim Rashid podcast has surpassed 254,000 downloads! Thank you for your support.

Thursday, April 23, Let’s Address This turns two. In celebration, you can become a paid subscriber to our human rights platform dedicated to social justice and the facts that corporate media ignores at 50% off. That means $25 a year. Join our movement.

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This Week’s Articles & Interviews

• Monday — Episode 218: Corporate Media Is Dead. Here’s How We’re Rebuilding Media That Serves People — Dylan Blaha’s return to the show as a colleague

• Tuesday — All You Had to Do Was Pay Us Enough to Live — The Kimberly-Clark warehouse fire isn’t just a crime story. It’s an economic injustice story. And corporate America wrote every word of it

• Wednesday — Rep. Sara Jacobs Won’t Stay Silent On Sudan, Iran, or Lebanon — Today marks three years of war, mass displacement, and genocide in Sudan. Rep. Sara Jacobs confronts the crises Congress would rather ignore

• Thursday — Zohran Mamdani Is Winning. And Politicians Everywhere Should Take Notes — In 100 days, New York’s mayor proved that bold, principled politics doesn’t just drive mass mobilization—it delivers results

• Friday — Men, We Need to Talk About “Rape Academy” — This isn’t about women. This is about us. And it’s long past time we had this conversation

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Readers in Illinois

Earlier this month we launched “Let’s Address Illinois” led by State Director Dylan Blaha—a Veteran, scientist, and former candidate for US Congress. Let’s Address Illinois will serve as your main stop for all things human rights, politics, and social justice in Illinois. Analysis on the latest pieces of legislation that impact your rights, the elections that impact your representation, and the social justice issues that corporate media continues to ignore.

Subscribe to Let’s Address Illinois as a free or paid subscribers. As always, no paywall.

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Dad Joke of the Week

Pull this one from the Twitter archives of April, 2017 :D #DadJokes

This article is not for women.

Women already know everything I’m about to say. They navigate it every single day—calculating risks, adjusting routes, reading rooms, and making hundreds of small decisions designed to keep themselves safe from us.

This is for men. Specifically, it is for the men who need to hear this, process it, and do something about it. So if you’re a man reading this—good. Stay with me. Because we need to talk. Let’s Address This.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This, a paywall-free platform dedicated to human rights, social justice, and the facts that corporate media ignores. If able, you can support this work with a paid subscription. 50% off for a limited time.

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The Pattern You Cannot Look Away From

Let me give you a series of recent news items. I want you to read them not as isolated incidents, but as the pattern of systemic behavior it is:

• This week, Former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Justin Fairfax killed his wife Cerina Fairfax—then killed himself.

• Last week Nancy Metayer, a woman and inspiring community leader on the verge of announcing her congressional campaign in Florida, was murdered by her husband. He is currently in custody.

• This week former California congressman Eric Swalwell, a former presidential candidate, was forced to resign after it was revealed that four to five women had allegedly been raped and sexually assaulted by him.

• Recently Former Texas congressman Tony Gonzales used his institutional power to coerce an affair with a staffer. She died by suicide—by setting herself on fire.

• The Epstein files document countless cases of rich and powerful men abusing children, raping women, and facing virtually no accountability. Donald Trump himself appears in those files more than one million times. Members of Congress who feign outrage have meanwhile expressed willingness to confirm men nominated by Trump, despite their own extensive appearance in the Epstein Files.

• And now this week we learn about the existence of “Rape Academy.” More on this below.

Rape Academy is the nickname given to a website that accumulated more than 60 million hits in February and more than 80 million hits in March—the majority from men in the United States. According to the CNN expose, Rape Academy exists for one explicit purpose: to teach men how to drug and rape their wives and partners, prostitute them to other men for money, and broadcast it online for the world to see, also for money.

Read that again. 140 million hits in just two months.

This is not a collection of unrelated bad actors. This is a pattern. And the pattern has a name: systemic male violence.

The Part Where Some Men Get Defensive

I already know what a segment of men reading this are going to say: “I’ve never done anything like that”.

Let me be direct: you do not get a cookie for not being a rapist.

That is not an accomplishment or something to hold up as a shield against this conversation. Basic human decency is the floor—the absolute minimum—not a ceiling. And the men who rush to announce their non-rapist status the moment this conversation begins are doing exactly what this culture has trained them to do: center themselves instead of confronting the problem.

The problem is this: we live in a society where one in three women, at minimum, report experiencing sexual assault or rape at some point in their lives. Men are committing those assaults. We live in a society where according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), 98% of men who commit rape will never spend a single day in prison. This is no accident. Our criminal justice system was built by men, is run predominantly by men, and has been structured, whether consciously or not, to protect other men from accountability.

The Men Who Watch and Say Nothing

There is a category of man I want to speak to directly: the ones who watch.

The friend who knows. The colleague who suspects. The family member who looks away. The man who tells himself it’s not my business or I don’t really know what happened or I don’t want to get involved—while a woman in his orbit is being harmed by a man he calls a friend, a brother, a teammate, a colleague.

It is your problem.

The culture of male violence does not survive without the culture of male silence. Every man who watches and says nothing is not a neutral bystander—he is an active enabler of a system that protects predators at the expense of survivors.

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What Men Have Said to Me for Saying This

Once I learned of the horrific “Rape Academy” website, I posted this video—it went viral.

I want to share specific examples of men who have responded to this message with mockery, insecurity, personal attacks, and deflection rather than engaging with the substance or holding other men accountable.

First, the men who falsely alleged my comments call all men rapists by default (they do not). This comment is what insecurity looks like.

Next, the men who call it “paid propaganda” to condemn rape culture. (It is not).

And let’s not forget about the men who think it’s misinformation, clickbait, or a distraction to call out rape culture (it is not, in any way).

And these are but a snapshot of the hundreds of angry, insecure, and in some cases violent responses men sent me for my ‘crime’ of condemning systemic male violence and abuse of women. Still talking to the men reading this—given these are the responses I received from one post about abusive men—imagine what women must navigate every single moment of their lives?

It is horrific, unsustainable, and inexcusable.

I share these not to relitigate those exchanges, but to illustrate the precise problem. When a man responds to a conversation about male violence with ridicule, personal attacks, and defensiveness—rather than with reflection or accountability—he is only further demonstrating exactly what I’m describing. The instinct to protect male ego above all else, even when the cost of that ego protection is the safety and lives of women, is itself a symptom of the sickness I’m naming.

These men are not outliers. And that is the crisis.

My Message to Women

I say this with full awareness of how uncomfortable it makes men: most men are not safe to be around alone.

Not because every man is a predator. But because a woman who does not know a man has no reliable way to determine whether he is one—and the statistical and cultural evidence does not give her reason for default trust. I know I am safe to be around. The women who don’t know me cannot know that. And I refuse to place the burden of that discernment on them.

And to those who would assert that more women should obtain firearms—the FBI data horrifyingly confirms that when a firearm is present, women are 100x more likely to die by that gun than to defend themselves with that gun. The “Rape Academy” story proves once more that if women cannot trust even their husbands, how are they to trust random men in public? Women have been carrying that infinite burden for their entire existence. They have been told to dress differently, walk differently, drink differently, trust differently—as if the solution to male violence is female vigilance.

It is not.

The solution to male violence is male accountability.

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This Is Not Sustainable

I close with something that should matter even to the men who cruelly do not care about women’s safety as a moral proposition: this is destroying our society.

A civilization in which one in three women (at minimum) are sexually assaulted, in which 98% of rapists face no consequences, in which a website teaching men to drug and rape their partners accumulates hundreds of millions of visits, in which powerful men kill their wives and abuse children and face no accountability—is a civilization in collapse. Not metaphorically. Literally.

Societies that normalize the systematic abuse and dehumanization of any minority community do not survive. But what’s happening here goes beyond a minority community, as women are the majority of society. Thus, societies that normalize the dehumanization of the majority of society ensure their own violent collapse. And that is what this society is facing if men do not change.

We are at an inflection point. And the path forward requires men—not governments, not policies alone, not women doing yet more emotional labor—but men to do the work. Get therapy. Do the internal work to understand where your rage, your entitlement, and your defensiveness come from. Hold your friends accountable—not just the strangers in the headlines, but the men in your actual life. Refuse to be silent when you know something is wrong. Refuse to prioritize male camaraderie over female safety.

This is not a political position. It is a human one.

Men, we are capable of better. The question is whether we will choose it—or whether we will continue to watch the consequences of our collective failure accumulate until there is nothing left to salvage.

The time for half-measures and defensive deflection is over.

Fix yourself. Hold each other accountable. Or own the consequences of refusing to.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the justice that our society demands. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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In just 100 days, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has:

• Secured free childcare for two year olds

• Opened the city’s first public grocery store

• Won $10 million for gig workers

• Paid $30 an hour to shovel streets

• Delivered historic low crime and murder rates

• Filled 100,000 potholes

• Negotiated a tax on second homes of the ultra wealthy from Gov.Hochul

For the first time in New York State history—a tax on pied-à-terres: the multimillion dollar second homes that wealthy out-of-state residents park in Manhattan while working people can barely afford to stay in the city they actually live in. Under this landmark agreement, any second residence in New York City valued at $5 million or more will now be taxed at a higher rate—money that goes back to the people of New York, not to the billionaires who treat the city as a luxury storage unit.

One hundred days. That is all it took. And here’s how we must keep building.

Let’s Address This.

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The Pied-À-Terre Tax: A National Blueprint

Let’s dwell on this latest win—because it matters far beyond New York City. By slightly raising taxes on only 13,000 homes, New York City will generate another $500 million for working people.

For years, housing advocates, tax justice organizers, and working-class New Yorkers have demanded that the city’s most exclusive real estate—properties worth millions, owned by people who don’t even live here full time—contribute meaningfully to the public good. For years, they were told it was politically impossible. That the wealthy would fight it. That Albany would never agree.

Mamdani and the coalition of organizers behind DREAM for NYC didn’t accept that answer. They organized. They pressured—and are still pressuring. They made their voices impossible to ignore. And they won—securing a negotiated agreement with Governor Hochul that makes New York the first state in the nation to tax pied-à-terres at this scale as they continue fighting for a budget that refuses to force working New Yorkers to foot the bill for the ultra wealthy.

Here is the video announcing this win in tax the rich negotiations with Gov. Hochul.

This is not just a policy victory. It is a proof of concept for the entire country — especially in the wake of Trump’s trillion-dollar handout to the Epstein class.

If New York can tax the second homes of the ultra-wealthy, so can California. So can Illinois. So can Texas. So can every state where working people are being priced out of their own communities while the wealthy treat their housing market as an investment portfolio.

The tax-the-rich movement is not a slogan. It is a strategy. And it is working.

But the fight is not over because the pied-à-terre tax is a first step. The campaign for a millionaire income tax and put NY’s corporate tax on par with New Jersey—essential to funding the full vision of a city that works for everyone—is still being negotiated. Governor Hochul has not yet submitted her final budget. The movement to make it happen must increase its efforts to make these changes happen. And while the window to make history is open, it will not stay open forever.

This is the moment to turn the volume all the way up.

If you live in New York, sign DREAM’s petition right now and demand we tax the rich.

Tax the rich

If you don’t live in New York, send this to your friends, family and exes in New York.

Every signature matters. This win proves that organizing works. Don’t stop now—organize a similar letter in your own state!

Governor Hochul: Choose Your Side

The pied-à-terre tax win was made possible because Mayor Mamdani negotiated with Governor Hochul—and that negotiation produced something historic.

And to state once more for absolute clarity, the remaining fights—the millionaire income tax, the corporate tax, free buses for working New Yorkers—will require the Governor to make a clear and consequential choice. Will Governor Hochul stand with billionaires who want to keep hoarding wealth while workers struggle? Or stand with the millions of working New Yorkers who are watching, organizing, and voting?

Let me offer her a piece of advice that transcends ideology: Mamdani already proved which side has more power.

It was not the billionaires who won the pied-à-terre tax. It was the people—organized, persistent, loud, and united—who made it impossible to say no. Whether Governor Hochul’s north star is serving working people, or political self-preservation, the math remains straightforward: the people who organize, vote, and show up are more numerous and more powerful than the donors who write checks.

Governor Hochul: the organizing is not stopping. The pressure is not stopping. And the window to be on the right side of history—to be the governor who helped deliver a more just New York—is still open.

Choose wisely.

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This Is What Happens When You Put Principles Above Partisan Cowardice

Politicians who have spent decades telling you that change is slow, complicated, and incremental should be paying very close attention. Because Zohran Mamdani just called their bluff. There is a class of politician—and you know them well—who treats boldness as a liability. Who looks at a popular, necessary, morally urgent policy and says: not yet. Not now. The time isn’t right. We have to be realistic.

Zohran Mamdani is going to make such politicians go extinct.

Mayor Mamdani has proven in 100 days of bold, principled, people-powered governance that every politician in America who has ever used the word “realistic” as an excuse for timidity, has lied to us. And as Americans, we are done waiting. The people are not asking for the possible. They are demanding the necessary.

Free childcare is necessary. Public groceries are necessary. Living wages are necessary. Taxing the ultra-wealthy is necessary. Historic safety for communities is necessary. And a city where working people can actually afford to live is necessary and long overdue.

Zohran Mamdani is winning. Not despite his principles. Because of them.

Politicians everywhere should be afraid—not of him, but of what he represents: the proof that the people, organized and determined, are more powerful than any donor, any lobbyist, or any political machine that tells them to wait their turn.

We are not waiting any more.

Sign the petition. Tax the rich. Keep the pressure on:

TAX THE RICH

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, economic justice, and the bold politics that corporate media ignores. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

We further examined the urgent push for a War Powers Resolution to halt Trump’s illegal war in Iran, and the moral and legal obligation to uphold international law as Israel continues its bombing campaign in Lebanon.

Watch now and be sure to subscribe to Let’s Address This on YouTube.

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Rep. Jacobs does what too few in Washington are willing to do: speak plainly about injustice—no matter which administration is responsible. From challenging Donald Trump to holding Joe Biden accountable, she makes clear that international law is not optional—it is the baseline.

This is a conversation about accountability, human rights, and the cost of silence.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

Those are the words Chamel Abdul Karim spoke while filming himself allegedly burning down a Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario, California. The fire caused an estimated $500 million in destroyed inventory and hundreds of millions more in rebuild costs. He also allegedly texted: “Didn’t see the shareholders picking up a shift.”

The Justice Department has charged him. Corporate media has covered it as a crime story. And that’s where most outlets stopped.

I’m not stopping there. Let’s Address This.

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You can watch part of the video shared by Chamel here.

The Math That Corporate Media Won’t Do

I want to be clear: I am not endorsing what Chamel Abdul Karim did. Destruction of property is not a policy platform, and I am not treating it as one.

What I am saying is this: his anger is grounded in a documented, quantifiable, economic reality that billion-dollar corporations and their political allies have worked very hard to keep you from seeing clearly. So let’s see it clearly.

Chamel was not even a Kimberly-Clark warehouse employee. He was a contractor earning approximately $18 an hour — roughly $36,000 a year.

Kimberly-Clark’s own warehouse workers fare only marginally better, earning approximately $23 to $24 an hour — about $46,000 to $47,000 a year.

And lest anyone claims these are livable wages, let’s look at what it actually costs to live in Ontario, California. A simple living, not luxuriously, not comfortably, but simply to get by: approximately $67,000 a year for a single person.

That means Kimberly-Clark was paying its own employees $20,000 less per year than the basic cost of living in the city where they worked. It was paying contractors like Chamel $30,000 less per year than what it costs to survive.

And now for the number that should make every American furious.

On just over $20 billion in annual revenue, Kimberly-Clark generates approximately $2.55 billion in net profit every single year. The company employs roughly 38,000 people. If Kimberly-Clark chose to pay every single one of those employees an additional $20,000 per year — bringing them to the basic cost-of-living threshold — it would cost the company approximately $750 million annually.

They would still pocket nearly $2 billion in profit every single year.

The warehouse Chamel allegedly burned cost $750 million in damage.

Read that again: the cost of one act of economic desperation is identical to the annual cost of simply paying 38,000 workers enough to live. Kimberly-Clark chose the latter outcome through years of wage suppression. The math is not complicated. The choice was deliberate.

This Is Not an Isolated Story

Chamel Abdul Karim is one person. But his circumstances are shared by tens of millions of Americans.

Right now, 60% of Americans are not being paid enough even just to get by. Let alone enough to save or enough to build wealth. Not enough to absorb a single unexpected expense. And when we dare to name this reality, we are told the same tired mythology: Americans are lazy. People just need to work harder. If you give low-income workers more money, they’ll stop being motivated.

This is not economics. It is a weapon — deployed specifically to protect the interests of those at the top of the income ladder while convincing those at the bottom that their suffering is their own fault. Let’s examine who actually stops working when they get more money.

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The Trickle-Down Scam, By the Numbers

The Trump administration sold its tax policy on a simple promise: cut taxes on billionaires and corporations, and they will create jobs, raise wages, and the prosperity will trickle down to working people.

Here is what actually happened.

This week alone, Oracle laid off 30,000 employees. Amazon laid off 30,000 employees. Both companies are posting record profits. The billionaires who run these companies are not creating jobs with their tax windfalls. They are eliminating jobs while hoarding wealth at a scale this country has never seen.

And as reported by the Institute on Economic Policy and Taxation:

Four of the corporations whose CEOs flanked President Trump at his January 2025 inauguration ceremony have now disclosed that they collectively received $51 billion in federal tax breaks in 2025, much of that likely from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was signed into law by Trump over the summer. The annual financial reports recently released by Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla disclose that these corporations collectively reported $315 billion in U.S. profits for 2025, and collectively paid just 4.9 percent of that amount in federal corporate income taxes—with Tesla paying exactly zero. That amounts to a collective tax savings of $51 billion last year for these four giant multinational corporations, versus what they would have paid if they paid the full 21 percent federal corporate income tax rate.

It went to shareholders. It went to stock buybacks. It went to executive compensation. It went to the billionaires flanking a president at his inauguration.

Meanwhile, Chamel Abdul Karim was making $18 an hour and couldn’t afford to live where he worked.

Economic Violence Is Still Violence

There is a concept in human rights law and scholarship called structural violence — the idea that social arrangements and institutions can harm people just as surely as physical force, by systematically denying them what they need to survive and thrive. Poverty is not an accident. Wage suppression is not a market outcome. They are choices — made by specific people, in specific boardrooms, with specific political protection — that have specific, measurable human consequences.

When a corporation makes $2.55 billion in annual profit while paying workers $30,000 below the cost of living, that is not an accident or random circumstance. That is economic violence being imposed on working people while the perpetrators collect billion-dollar bonuses and lobby for further tax cuts.

We have criminalized Chamel Abdul Karim’s response to that violence. We have not criminalized the violence itself.

I am not arguing for equivalence. I am arguing for honesty. And honestly, a society that demands compliance from its most economically brutalized members while offering them nothing in return — not a living wage, not healthcare, not dignity, not a basic acknowledgment that their labor has value — should not be surprised when that compliance eventually breaks.

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What We Must Demand

The solutions here are not complicated. Chamel already gave the answer—all you had to do was pay us enough to live. This is common sense, but politically inconvenient for those infected with the sickness of hoarding wealth at the expense of human rights.

We must demand a living wage — not a minimum wage calculated decades ago and eroded by inflation, but a wage indexed to the actual cost of living in the places where people work. If Kimberly-Clark can afford $750 million in warehouse losses, it can afford to pay its workers $67,000 a year. As FDR declared when he signed a minimum wage into law in 1933:

It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By “business” I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.

By this standard, Kimberly-Clark had no right to continue to do business in this country. The problem is too many of our elected officials are feckless, lack the basic courage to stop this economic violence, and lack the will to hold exploitative corporations like Kimberly-Clark accountable.

We must demand that billion-dollar corporations pay their actual tax rate—not the 4.9% their lobbyists have engineered. But a rate that reflects the public infrastructure, educated workforce, legal system, and stable society from which they extract their profits. We must demand an end to the trickle-down mythology — a decades-long scam that has transferred at least $79 Trillion from working people to the ultra-wealthy while delivering nothing but record inequality, wage stagnation, and the slow erosion of the American middle class.

And we must be willing to say clearly: the accumulation of obscene, generational, dynastic billionaire wealth while workers cannot afford to live is not a feature of a just society. It is a moral catastrophe.

Abolish billionaire tax shelters. Tax corporations at rates that reflect their actual profits. Pay workers enough to live where they work. These are not radical demands. They are the bare minimum requirements of a society that takes human dignity seriously.

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The Real Crime in This Story

The real crime story I’ve described here is one you won’t hear from corporate media. Because their goal is to extract profit, not hold power accountable. This is why your support of our platform at Let’s Address This is even more critical—you help us hold the powerful accountable and elevate stories that corporate media ignores. The harsh truth is that Chamel Abdul Karim will likely go to prison. But the executives who spent years paying workers $30,000 below the cost of living, forcing millions of people to suffer in poverty, while themselves pocketing billions—will face no consequences whatsoever. They will, in fact, continue receiving federal tax breaks funded by those same underpaid workers.

That is the real crime in this story.

And until we have the courage to name it, prosecute it, and dismantle the systems that perpetuate it, we will keep producing the conditions that produce Chamel Abdul Karims — and then act surprised when those conditions explode.

When all they had to do was pay them enough to live.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, economic justice, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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On Episode 218 of The Qasim Rashid Show:

I interview Dylan Blaha—combat veteran, cancer researcher, and newly appointed Illinois State Director for Let's Address This. This week, he launched Let's Address Illinois — your main destination for all things politics, social justice, and human rights in Illinois. We discuss the decimation of national and local media, key Illinois legislation like the RIFLE Act and anti-BDS bills, and how we are re-building the media landscape focused on working people—not corporate profit. Let’s Address This.

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This week is a milestone one on Let’s Address This, as we launched our first State publication! You’ve helped build our platform on the national level, and now we are expanding our reach on the state and local level. You made this possible! So today, if you’re in Illinois, I invite you to subscribe to Let’s Address Illinois, led by our Illinois State Director, Dylan Blaha. Dylan is a Veteran, a scientist, and a former candidate for United States Congress. I’m thrilled to welcome him aboard.

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(Our next State launches later this month. It starts with T, and ends with exas!)

Diving into our national platform, this week Trump publicly posted that “a whole civilization will die” — threatening to annihilate 90 million Iranian lives. Congress said nothing. We break down what the resulting ceasefire actually cost compared to the Iran Deal Trump destroyed.

We meet Mai Vang, challenging a 50-year congressional dynasty in California to fight for working people. We expose the Hasan Piker witch hunt and what it reveals about corporate Democrats’ conflicting morals. We arm you with the truth about the national coordinated anti-Shariah campaign. And I share what happened when I addressed my own city council, calling for them to protect our neighbors from ICE. Let’s Address This.

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This Week’s Articles & Interviews

• Monday — Episode 217: Her Parents Survived Genocide—She’s Challenging a 50-Year Dynasty — Running for Congress in California’s 7th District, Mai Vang is fighting for working people

• Tuesday — The Hasan Piker Witch Hunt Exposes Everything Wrong With Corporate Democrats — They’ll platform racists, Islamophobes, and war criminals but draw the line at a Muslim who opposes genocide

• Wednesday — Trump Threatened to Annihilate a Civilization — Congress Did Nothing. That Is the Story. And It Cannot Be Allowed To Happen Again

• Thursday — The Anti-Shariah Panic Is a Political Weapon —

  Here’s the truth it’s designed to hide, and the knowledge you need to arm yourself against this dangerous propaganda campaign

• Friday — I Demanded My City Council Protect Our Neighbors from ICE — When the federal government fails, our local leaders must step up, and so must we

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Dad Joke of the Week

Ted Cruz was among the members of Congress who got to ask the Artemis crew a question mid space flight—marking the first time in history someone in space spoke directly to someone in Cancun. :D #DadJokes

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Watch me address my city council:

I share these remarks to encourage you all to take on similar roles in your own communities. We must be active participants in our democracy—not passive bystanders. Find your city council members. Show up to meetings. Call their offices. Write to them. Demand that they use every tool available to protect the people in your community from unconstitutional abuse. Justice right now has to come from all of us.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This, a platform dedicated to human rights and social justice. Subscribe for more.

Its architects have dressed it up in the language of national security, constitutional order, and Western values. But strip away the buzzwords, and what remains is something far older and far uglier—the deliberate use of fear, ignorance, and disinformation to scapegoat a religious minority for political gain.

The weapon of choice? Two words: Shariah law.

Before we examine what is happening and who is doing it, let’s start with what those two words actually mean. Because if you are going to wage a campaign against something, the least you can do is understand what it is.

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What Shariah Actually Is

The word “Shariah” comes from the Arabic word for a path to life-giving water. Remarkably, the root of the Hebrew word Torah means precisely the same thing. Shariah, in other words, is not some alien concept hostile to the West. No, it is, at its linguistic and theological root, an expression of the same Abrahamic impulse toward divine guidance that gave the world the Torah and the Gospel.

Shariah is comprised of five main branches: adab (behavior, morals and manners), ibadah (ritual worship), i’tiqadat (beliefs), mu’amalat (transactions and contracts), and ‘uqubat (punishments). Together, these branches form a framework for a life rooted in justice, compassion, and personal accountability before God.

Critically—and this is the fact most frequently buried under the political noise — Shariah forbids that it be imposed on any unwilling person. This is not a footnote. It is a foundational principle. The Qur’an states plainly: “There is no compulsion in religion.” (2:257) Prophet Muhammad himself, even as the de facto ruler of Arabia, codified this in the Charter of Medina, under which Muslims were held to Shariah and Jews to the Law of the Torah. Not a single non-Muslim was held to Islamic law, because Islamic law itself prohibits such coercion.

In other words, Islamic Shariah specifically and explicitly rejects theocracy.

Do Muslims want Shariah to impose itself on American law? No. Shariah is a personal relationship between a believer and God. American Muslims are, in fact, obliged by Shariah itself to be loyal to their nation of residence and to uphold its laws. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land—and Shariah does not conflict with that. It demands that.

What does Shariah say about other religions? It champions absolute freedom of conscience. The Qur’an goes so far as to oblige Muslims to fight on behalf of Jews, Christians, and people of other faiths and to protect their churches, synagogues, and temples from attack (22:41). To be Muslim, a person must testify to the truth of all past prophets—including Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, and Buddha—and must respect their adherents.

And what about the countries that oppress people in the name of Shariah? They have ignored the fundamental requirement of justice that sits at the heart of Islamic law, using religious language to sanctify what is, at its core, a power grab. As I have written previously, not a single genuinely “Shariah-compliant” country exists today. Ironically, the country that most closely reflects Shariah’s core values—freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of thought—is America itself. Or, at least it is supposed to be. Those who oppress in the name of Shariah are no more justified than the “Christian” enslavers who claimed the Bible gave them the right to hold Black people in bondage.

That is Shariah. A spiritual path. A personal framework. A call to justice. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Now Look at What Is Actually Happening

With that foundation established, look at what a group of sitting members of the United States Congress have been saying in recent weeks.

Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee declared that “Muslims don’t belong in American society” and that “pluralism is a lie.”

Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted that “we need more Islamophobia, not less” and that the choice between dogs and Muslims “is not a difficult one” — a statement so extreme that it drew condemnation from Jewish leaders, CNN anchors, and Israeli-born former officials who called it reminiscent of the language used against Jews in Nazi Germany.

Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called Islam itself “a problem.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin invoked the specter of Muslim sleeper cells.

Likewise, Rep. Keith Self of Texas co-chairs what he has branded the “Sharia-Free America Caucus,” a congressional body now boasting 59 members across 24 states whose stated mission is to “save Western Civilization.”

Senator Tommy Tuberville referred to Muslims as the “enemy inside the gate.” As of the writing of this article it is literally his pinned tweet on Twitter.

This is not fringe. This is not a handful of isolated bad actors mouthing off on social media. This is coordinated, escalating, and increasingly normalized rhetoric from elected officials who hold real power over real laws that affect real people.

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The Coordination Is the Story

And this is why it is so critical we recognize the connection between domestic and foreign policy. The same war hawks funding Netanyahu and bombing Iran also seek to strip rights and protections from Americans who are Muslim here at home. Moreover, that’s only part of what makes this moment particularly alarming. Beyond the rhetoric—the fact is that this domestic anti-Shariah campaign is operating simultaneously at the federal and state level, with unmistakable signs of coordination. When members of Congress, state governors, and state-level candidates are all using the same language, pushing the same legislation, and amplifying the same disinformation, that is not coincidence. That is strategy.

At the federal level, the “Sharia-Free America Caucus” has introduced two separate bills aimed at banning Shariah. In Oklahoma, Republican state lawmakers have introduced a state bill to the same effect.

In Texas—which has become perhaps the most aggressive battleground in this campaign—“banning Shariah” has become a genuine electoral platform. The state has ten members of the congressional Sharia-Free America Caucus alone.

And just this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1471 into law—a sweeping piece of legislation that bars Florida courts from applying what it characterizes as foreign or religious law, with Shariah explicitly in its sights. DeSantis called it the “strongest action” any state has taken against what he termed “stealth jihad.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations immediately called the law “draconian” and warned it threatens free speech, religious freedom, and due process for Muslim Floridians. Legal challenges are already anticipated.

In Georgia, State Senator Greg Dolezal is running for Lieutenant Governor on a platform centered on—not education, not infrastructure, not healthcare—but on banning Shariah law. Yes, a candidate for the second-highest office in the state of Georgia has made the suppression of a religious minority’s personal faith practices his central campaign promise. (Fortunately he faces a Democratic challenger who, as fate would have it, is former Georgia State Senator Nabilah Islam-Parkes—an American Muslim woman of color. More on her in a future article, I promise).

Nobody wins when a government decides that one faith group’s private religious practice is a threat to civilization. When the government is empowered to determine which religious laws are acceptable and which are not, every faith community is at risk. The Minister who performs a wedding ceremony, the Catholic Bishop who administers last rites, the Rabbi who performs a circumcision—all of them operate under religious law. If Islamic Shariah can be banned, so can theirs. If the First Amendment doesn’t apply to one faith group, it will be stripped of every faith group. Rights that are not universal are not rights at all. They are privileges, revocable at the whims of whoever holds power.

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The Real Target Is Religious Freedom Itself

Here is the part that these politicians count on you not knowing: banning Shariah does not just affect how Muslims worship. It directly undermines their ability to marry, inherit, write wills, and pursue divorce according to their faith. American Jews have long resolved civil matters through rabbinical courts known as beit din—a constitutionally protected exercise of religious freedom. American Muslims seek nothing more and nothing less than the same right. The First Amendment guarantees it. These bills threaten to strip it away.

And the campaign does not stop at legislation. It operates through dehumanization. When a sitting congressman says the choice between dogs and Muslims is easy, he is not making a policy argument. He is doing something far more dangerous—he is removing the humanity of six million American citizens in a single sentence. History teaches us, with brutal consistency, where that road leads.

As NPR has reported, what makes this moment uniquely dangerous is that, unlike in previous eras when such rhetoric drew rebuke from Republican leadership, today’s anti-Muslim statements are met largely with silence—or worse, encouragement—from the top of the party. That normalization is not incidental. It is the point.

Unfortunately, we see little comparative pushback from the Democratic Party. Some leaders like Ro Khanna have loudly spoken up against this hate, but we see no meaningful coordinated response to this highly coordinated hate campaign. That matters, because silence in the face of injustice risks complicity, dangerous complicity.

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Why This Matters — And What We Do Next

This is exactly why I built Let’s Address This. Not to echo what you already know or soften the truth. But to confront the narratives that powerful people rely on going unchallenged—and to do so with clarity, facts, and accountability. Because when disinformation spreads this freely, silence is not neutral. It is complicity.

Every piece I publish on this platform is free to read and free to share, because access to truth should never depend on your ability to pay. But this work is only possible because of readers like you.

If you believe in independent, human rights–focused media that holds power accountable, I invite you to support this platform. Right now, in honor of our two-year anniversary, annual subscriptions are 50% off.

Thank you for being part of this movement—and for helping ensure the truth reaches those who need it most.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This, a platform dedicated to human rights, social justice, and the facts that corporate media ignores. Subscribe for more.

A version of this article was published on my platform Islam Today, launched to combat the systemic rise of anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia. If interested in reading more researched scholarship, support our mission of education as a free or paid subscriber.

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Not metaphorically. Not rhetorically. In plain language, posted publicly on social media, for the world to read. Then—at the last second—he agreed to a ceasefire brokered through Pakistan, declared victory, and expected applause.

Congress said nothing.

And 90 million Iranian civilians woke up this morning still breathing—not because US Congress stopped Trump, not because international law functioned as designed, but because a mercurial authoritarian with nuclear capability changed his mind overnight.

That is not governance. That is not foreign policy. That is a hostage situation with an entire civilization held as the hostage. Let’s Address This.

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The Words. Read Them Carefully.

On April 7, 2026, President Trump posted the following on social media:

A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!

I want you to read that again. Slowly.

“A whole civilization will die tonight.”

As a human rights lawyer, I want to be precise about what those words mean legally, morally, and historically. This is why we have a consensus on the meaning of genocide.

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This Is the Legal Definition of a Genocide Threat

The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide—to which the United States is a signatory—defines genocide as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The key legal threshold is intent—and intent can be established through public statements.

Trump did not hint. He did not imply. He publicly declared, in writing, that “a whole civilization will die.” He described the annihilation of 90 million people as something that “probably will” happen. He framed it not as a military operation but as the elimination of a civilization.

Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 6 defines genocide to include “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” Under Article 25, individual criminal responsibility attaches to those who “directly and publicly incite” genocide.

The President of the United States publicly and directly incited the destruction of an entire civilization. On social media. With a timestamp.

The UN Charter, Article 2(4) prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of any state. Trump’s post was not ambiguous diplomatic posturing. It was a direct, public threat of civilizational annihilation—a statement that, were it made by any other world leader, would trigger immediate UN Security Council emergency sessions and universal condemnation.

Instead, Congress went home.

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While Trump Threatened Genocide, Iranian Youth Formed Human Chains

As Trump and the MAGA GOP invoked “Christian values” to justify threatening the destruction of 90 million civilian lives, something remarkable was happening on the streets of Iran.

Iranian youth—young people with no army, no nuclear arsenal, no geopolitical leverage—formed human chains to peacefully stand in solidarity with their nation against illegal and violent attacks. No weapons. No threats. No declarations that a civilization must die. Just human beings, linked arm in arm, refusing to be dehumanized.

Let the contrast speak for itself: on one side, the most powerful military in human history threatening to annihilate a civilization. On the other, unarmed young people forming human chains in the streets. It is abundantly clear to any unbiased observer who is engaging in terrorism and who is peacefully upholding humanity.

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The Bombing of the Rafi Nai Synagogue

I also cannot allow this moment to pass without addressing an atrocity that Western corporate media has almost entirely ignored: the Israeli military bombed and destroyed the Rafi Nai synagogue in Iran.

On Passover.

I condemn this without equivocation because human rights demand consistency. Jews live in Iran. The Iranian government — for all its profound and documented flaws — legally recognizes its Jewish community. The Rafi Nai synagogue was a house of worship, a cultural institution, a living piece of Jewish history in the Persian world.

Its destruction by military strike, on one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar, is an atrocity. I do not say that as a political statement. I say it as a human rights lawyer who believes that the protection of religious minorities and sacred spaces is non-negotiable — regardless of which government orders the strike and which government the target is located in.

The near-total silence from Western media on this destruction is telling. I cannot imagine why a Western media apparatus so quick to condemn the destruction of religious and cultural sites elsewhere would go quiet here. I will let you draw your own conclusions.

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The “Ceasefire” — And What It Actually Costs

Hours after threatening civilizational annihilation, Trump posted again:

Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.

Pakistan brokered the pause. Trump declared victory. And his cult like following pushed the “Trump the dealmaker” narratives.

But let’s look at what this “deal” actually produced. According to reporting from the New York Times and other sources, under this ceasefire arrangement, each ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz will pay $2 million. Before Trump launched this illegal war, that number was $0. Approximately 100 to 130 ships pass through the Strait daily. That fee is split 50/50 with Oman.

Do the math: Trump just handed Iran a windfall of $100 million to $130 million per day. But that’s not all. As I detail below, this deal is catastrophic when compared to the Iran Nuclear Deal brokered by President Obama. Meanwhile, MAGA is calling this 5D chess. I call it what it is: a catastrophic, self-inflicted geopolitical own-goal dressed up as diplomacy. And that is before we account for what this “victory” actually cost:

Obama’s Iran Deal vs. Trump’s Iran Ceasefire

Let me lay out as clearly as possible the contrast between the 15-year-long Iran Nuclear Deal negotiated by President Obama, and this temporary 14-day-ceasefire negotiated by Donald Trump.

The Iran Deal negotiated by President Obama:

• Strait of Hormuz: open, free of charge

• Iran limits uranium enrichment

• Iran commits to no nuclear weapons development

• Iran agrees to international inspections

• Inspectors confirm Iran’s full compliance

• Americans killed: 0

• Iranians killed: 0

• Bombs dropped: 0

• Taxpayer dollars spent on war: $0

Trump’s Iran Ceasefire:

• Strait of Hormuz: closed unless ships pay $2 million per passage

• No guarantee on uranium enrichment limits

• No guarantee on nuclear weapons development

• No guarantee of international inspections

• 15 American soldiers killed, approximately 700 injured — and those are the numbers we know of

• 1,900 Iranian civilians killed, 26,000 injured

• $45 billion in taxpayer money spent on war

• 18 countries bombed or drawn into conflict

Trump withdrew from Obama’s Iran Deal in 2018, calling it “the worst deal in history.” He then spent years of maximum pressure, threats, and military escalation—culminating in a public threat to annihilate a civilization—to arrive at a ceasefire that is objectively, measurably, catastrophically worse than what he abandoned.

This is not the art of the deal. This is the devastation of diplomacy.

Make No Mistake: This Will Happen Again

I want to be direct with you: do not mistake this ceasefire for resolution.

Trump has now established a pattern. He pushes the Overton window toward normalizing threats of mass civilian annihilation. He creates a crisis. He accepts a face-saving off-ramp. He declares victory. And two weeks later—as his own post suggests, given the explicitly temporary “two week” suspension—he will be back at the precipice of civilizational annihilation.

Each cycle normalizes the unthinkable a little more. Each cycle moves the baseline of acceptable presidential conduct further into authoritarian, genocidal territory. Each cycle gives Congress another opportunity to act—and another opportunity to fail. And Congress continues to fail at every single turn.

We cannot afford the consequences of continued apathy.

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The Only Acceptable Conclusion: Impeach. Remove. Prosecute.

As a human rights lawyer, I do not use the word genocide lightly. It is a precise legal term with specific evidentiary requirements. And I am telling you clearly: what Trump posted on April 7, 2026—a public declaration that “a whole civilization will die tonight” —meets the threshold for a public incitement to genocide under international law.

A president who publicly threatens to annihilate 90 million civilians is not fit to hold office for another hour, let alone another day. Congress has the constitutional authority—and obligation—to act. The impeachment mechanism exists precisely for this moment. Not for policy disagreements. Not for partisan point-scoring. But for the precise circumstance in which a president poses an existential threat to human life and the constitutional order.

And the task is not as insurmountable as some might believe. Impeachment requires a simple majority in the House. Right now Republicans control the House 217-215. If only two Republicans flip and vote with Democrats to impeach Trump, then the process moves forward to the Senate. The Senate requires 67 votes to convict. Right now Republicans hold 53 seats, Democrats hold 45 seats, and 2 Independents caucus with Democrats. If 20 Republicans recognize that this is far above politics, and that the fate of humanity cannot be left in the hands of Donald Trump, we can end this madness.

On one hand finding 22 Republicans between the House and the Senate seems impossible. On the other hand, recognizing that 22 people can prevent us from hurtling towards global nuclear war that will devastate 8 billion people seems like we should be able to meet the moment.

That moment is now.

Congress must Impeach him. Prosecute him. Convict him. Remove him. Charge him. Arrest him. Sentence him. End this dictatorship once and for all.

We have a small and closing window to demand that Republican members of Congress fulfill their oaths of office and vote to remove this man from power. Contact your representatives. Show up. Make noise. Do not let this moment pass in silence.

Why Independent Media Matters Right Now

Corporate media will move on from yesterday’s events by week’s end, just as they’ve moved on from the Epstein files. Just as they’ve moved on from Trump’s rape of E. Jean Carroll. Just as they’ve moved on from his 34 felony convictions. Just as they’ve moved on from the January 6 insurrection. And the list goes on. They will frame Trump’s last-second ceasefire as a diplomatic win. They will not linger on the words “a whole civilization will die.” They will not invoke the Genocide Convention. They will not do the math on what $2 million per ship per day means for Iran’s economy or American credibility. They will not show you the human chains forming in the streets of Tehran.

That is why independent media exists. That is why Let’s Address This exists. To continue to ensure our readers stay informed on the facts, have the receipts, and have clarity on the next steps necessary to demand accountability.

If this work matters to you—if you believe that accurate, legally grounded, morally consistent human rights analysis is essential right now—then I ask you to support it. Share this article. Subscribe. Tell someone who needs to read it.

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The people in power are counting on our silence. Let’s be sure to disappoint them.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, social justice, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe for more.

The knives are out. The think pieces are being written. The operatives are organizing. And the message from the Democratic establishment is clear: Hasan Piker is unacceptable. He is too radical. He is too dangerous. He cannot be tolerated. At least that was the message from The Bulwark’s Mona Charen, who astonishingly compared Piker to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Stephen Miller, before concluding:

Democrats need not flatter Piker or his audience to win elections. On the other hand, if they taint themselves with his hateful rhetoric and extremist views, they will be making a moral and strategic mistake.

The irony of a woman who worked for Ronald Reagan in communications as he spewed the Black woman “welfare queen” trope, let gay Americans die by mocking the AIDS epidemic, referred to Black people as monkeys, sold illegal arms to Iran, and decimated the middle class with the trickle down scam, lecturing anyone about the dangers of hateful rhetoric is beyond parody. But fine. Let’s take that moral standard seriously—and apply it consistently. Because if corporate Democrats and suddenly enlightened Republicans want to have a conversation about who is and isn’t acceptable, I am very eager to have that conversation. Let’s Address This.

A reminder that until April 23, an annual subscription to Let’s Address This is 50% off. Join now for $25.

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Gavin Newsom Welcomes Ben Shapiro

Let’s start with California Governor Gavin Newsom—one of the most prominent faces of the Democratic establishment and a front runner for the 2028 Democratic nominee for President—who proudly invited Ben Shapiro onto his podcast.

Ben Shapiro. The man who claims that “over 800 million Muslims were radicalized—more than half the Muslims on Earth.” A claim rated False by PolitiFact. The man who wrote that “the Palestinian Arab population is rotten to the core.” The man who said of Arab civilians: “Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage.”

The man who wrote—in his own words—“Enemy ‘civilian casualties’ ok by me,” adding, “I don’t really care. In fact, I would rather that the good guys use the Air Force to kill the bad guys, even if that means some civilians get killed along the way.”

The man who declared that Muslims who don’t follow extremist interpretations of Islam “are bad Muslims in the eyes of Mohammed and they know it.”

Gavin Newsom sat across from this man. Smiled. Had a conversation to deny the genocide of Palestinians. And corporate Democrats said nothing.

But Hasan Piker? Unacceptable.

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Gavin Newsom Also Welcomes Charlie Kirk

Not content with just one open racist and bigot, Newsom also hosted Charlie Kirk—a man whose public record of bigotry is so extensive it requires its own catalog.

On Black Americans, Kirk has said on his own show: “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.” He has described Black people “prowling” urban areas to “target white people.” He has questioned whether Black women in professional roles earned their positions or were “affirmative action picks,” adding that they “do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.”

On women, Kirk said Taylor Swift should “reject feminism and submit to your husband.” On a ten-year-old rape victim, he said he would support forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term.

On Islam, Kirk spewed, “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.” And: “Islam is not compatible with western civilization.”

On LGBTQ healthcare providers: “We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor.”

Gavin Newsom hosted this man. Proudly. He did so while arguing that we must converse with those with whom we disagree. And corporate Democrats said nothing.

But Hasan Piker? Unacceptable.

Bill Maher’s Democratic Fan Club

Bill Maher has been a reliable destination for Democratic politicians for decades. Corporate darling Senator Elissa Slotkin recently made her appearance. Countless others have followed.

This is the same Bill Maher who used the N-word on air—casually, laughingly, without meaningful consequence.

This is the same Bill Maher who mocked domestic violence survivors by comparing dealing with Hamas to dealing with “a crazy woman who’s trying to kill you—you can only hold her wrists so long before you have to slap her.”

This is the same Bill Maher who has declared: “Islam is the only religion that acts like the mafia that will f---ing kill you if you say the wrong thing.” Who said that Muslims worldwide have “too much in common with ISIS.” Who described Muslim people as bringing “that desert stuff to our world.”

Maher additionally went to dinner with Trump, then wrote a fawning piece describing him as a “normal human being.” Yes, a man convicted of raping E. Jean Carroll, a man who tried to violently overthrow our democracy, a man convicted of dozens of felony counts of fraud, and a man who appears in the Epstein files more than a million times, is a “normal human being” per Bill Maher.

And yet, Democratic politicians line up to appear on his show. Corporate Democrats defend the access. Nobody launches a campaign.

But Hasan Piker? Unacceptable.

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Joe Rogan and the 2024 Election

And who can forget that Joe Rogan has used the N-word dozens of times on his platform. He has amplified vaccine deniers, election deniers, and conspiracy theorists. His endorsement of Donald Trump in 2024 was a meaningful factor in Trump’s victory—one that has produced the increasing assaults on democracy, human rights, and civil liberties that we now suffer through every day.

And yet—Democratic politicians have no problem going on his show. No campaigns were launched. No statements of condemnation were issued. In fact, to this day some criticize Kamala Harris for not going on his show.

The calculation was simple: reach matters more than principle.

But Hasan Piker? Unacceptable.

Liz Cheney Got a Campaign Trail Invitation

And if we’re truly taking stock—how did the Democratic establishment find room for former Congresswoman Liz Cheney?

She is praised for “standing up to Trump,” as if opposing a fascist as a last resort is some high bar to clear. Meanwhile, Liz Cheney proudly voted with Trump and against the Equality Act. Against the Equal Rights Amendment. Against protecting voting rights. Against abortion access (literally celebrated when Roe was overturned). Against a minimum wage increase. Against climate justice. And have we forgotten that Cheney blocked January 6 scrutiny into Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Thomas, even as it was painstakingly clear that Ginni was complicit in the insurrection? Cheney is, by any measurable standard, opposed to every policy position the Democratic Party claims to champion, blocked critical life saving legislation, and did lasting damage to our democracy.

And she is the daughter of Dick Cheney—the architect of an illegal war in Iraq that killed hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim civilians, destabilized an entire region, and produced generational trauma that continues to this day. And while Liz Cheney cannot be condemned merely for the sins of her father, she has proudly embraced and defended her father’s illegal Iraq war to this day. I welcome any critic of Hasan Piker to point to his most offensive quote—his mere words—and explain how his words are more damaging to human rights and dignity than the actions of the Cheneys which led to an estimated 4.6 million civilians murdered in the illegal western wars they launched and to this day support.

And how did Corporate Democrats respond to Liz Cheney and her grotesque, vile, and anti-human rights record? Kamala Harris not only welcomed Liz Cheney’s support—she campaigned with her. This, even as polling showed Cheney was a total flop and depressed turnout for Harris. Yet, Corporate Democrats cheered. It was called savvy coalition building.

But Hasan Piker? Unacceptable.

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Let’s Be Honest About What This Is

I want to be clear: I am not writing this to defend Hasan Piker. He is perfectly capable of defending himself, and he does not need my help. And I’m also not here to explain any of his quotes people find offensive. I am writing this to call out a hypocrisy so glaring, so consistent, and so targeted that it demands to be named plainly.

Corporate Democrats have demonstrated—through not just words but through their actions—that they are perfectly comfortable platforming and embracing those who:

• Mock survivors of domestic violence as a punchline

• Dehumanize Black Americans in the most explicit terms, including using the N-word on air with impunity and on repeat

• Call Islam incompatible with civilization and dehumanize Muslims as sewer dwellers, ‘desert culture,’ and call every one of us radical and ISIS

• Defend the mass killing of millions of Muslim civilians, fund and then deny the genocide of Palestinians, even as it is live streamed on our phones

• Oppose every policy value Democrats claim to hold, including denying voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration rights, healthcare access, and even the most basic elements of economic justice

And tolerate all of the above under the guise of “expanding the Democratic tent.” But what they cannot tolerate is a Muslim man who is anti-Zionist.

That is the line. Not racism. Not misogyny. Not LGBTQ dehumanization. Not Islamophobia. Not the N-word. Not cheerleading for civilian casualties. Not even genocide. The line is: a Muslim who opposes Israeli government policy and says so loudly. And how do we know this is the line?

Because if they were upset about Piker’s offensive quotes, then they should be far more outraged about Cheney’s destructive votes. Instead they had her campaign with Harris in the most important of Presidential elections. If they’re upset about Piker minimizing the 3000 civilians killed on 9/11, they should be inconsolable about Shapiro, Kirk, Maher, Rogan, and Cheney undermining democracy, mocking millions murdered in western wars, and platforming an actual fascist in the White House. Instead, they embrace each of those individuals.

If it were truly about principles and values, then they must be applied consistently—otherwise it’s nothing but grotesque hypocrisy. And that is the reality of what we see here. Corporate Democrats need to make a choice. Either they have a moral standard—one that applies consistently, regardless of who is being dehumanized—or they need to stop pretending that their campaign against Hasan Piker is about principles and values.

Because from where those of us committed to justice and human rights stand, it is clear that this has nothing to do with principles, it has nothing to do with values, and it has everything to do with anti-Muslim bigotry and intolerance of criticism of the Israeli government, dressed up in the language of political strategy.

We see it. We’re naming it. And we will not stay quiet about it.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This — a platform dedicated to human rights, social justice, and the facts that corporate media ignores. Subscribe for more. 50% off until April 23.

BREAKING NEWS

(Especially if you live in Illinois)

Today I share exciting news of expansion. Let’s Address This is officially launching its first State platform—Let’s Address Illinois.

Led by State Director Dylan Blaha, you can read all about it in his launch post:

Let's Address Illinois

Announcing Let's Address Illinois — A Human Rights Project

I ran for Congress because of my commitment to our community, to working people in Illinois, and to our United States Constitution. We didn’t win that race, but I want you to hear me clearly: the work doesn’t stop. It never did. Today, I’m writing to share with you where it goes next, how we build together, and why I cannot do this without you…

Read more

17 days ago · 1 like · Dylan Thomas Blaha

Your support made this expansion possible. As corporate media continues to capitulate to billionaires and fascists, our commitment to human rights and absolute justice remains firm. Especially if you are based in Illinois, I hope you will take a moment to subscribe to Let’s Address Illinois and help us make an impact in the Land of Lincoln. And stay tuned, as we’ll be launching our second state very soon!

Now, let’s dive into the latest episode of The Qasim Rashid Show.

On Episode 217 of The Qasim Rashid Show:

I have the opportunity to speak with Mai Vang, a community organizer running for Congress in California’s 7th District to take on the political establishment and fight for working families.

You all know that part of my mission is to elevate leaders who reject corrupt corporate PAC money and challenge the status quo—Mai embodies that vision. Mai is a daughter of Hmong refugees, who arrived in the United States after surviving genocide. Born and raised in Sacramento, Mai shares how her experience growing up on Medicaid and food stamps, helping raise her 15 siblings, and organizing in low-income communities shaped her commitment to building a government that works for the people.

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We break down the issues driving her campaign, from ending endless wars and calling out genocide, to guaranteeing healthcare as a human right through Medicare for All. Mai’s grassroots, people-funded campaign is up against an entrenched incumbent backed by corporate interests.

Listen here on Substack or watch this inspiring conversation on YouTube:

Mai is exactly the kind of candidate we need in this moment. Join me in supporting her campaign.

Donate if able

This week on Let’s Address This, we break down what comes next—from the energy of the No Kings protests and how to turn that momentum into real political power, to a defining Democratic primary in Florida and the future of grassroots candidates. We also examine the near-complete billionaire takeover of our media, what it means for our democracy, and how we fight back with our time and resources.

This month, we mark two years of Let’s Address This by doing something we’ve never done before, and I follow up on Trump v. Barbara after more than 340,000 Americans spoke out to defend birthright citizenship. And finally, I draw a clear line on what this platform stands for—and why human rights is not conditional. Let’s Address This.

An Important Call to Action

If we’re serious about challenging billionaire-controlled media, we need better tools. Ground News is one of them. It doesn’t tell you what to think. It shows you who owns the news, what bias exists, and what stories are being ignored so you can decide for yourself. That kind of transparency is rare—and right now, it matters more than ever.

Ground News is subscriber-supported. That means it answers to readers—not to Larry Ellison, not to Nexstar, not to Brendan Carr. Subscribe through my link, get 40% off the Vantage Plan—the same plan I personally use to research, fact-check, and write the pieces I publish—and arm yourself against the most dangerous media environment this country has seen in generations.

Subscribe to Ground News

This Week’s Articles & Interviews

• Sunday — What America Saw at NO KINGS Part 3 — Here’s how we turn the No Kings Movement Into Real Power

• Monday — Episode 216: A Defining Democratic Primary in Florida — An interview with Oliver Larkin, running for Congress in South Florida’s 23rd Congressional District

• Tuesday — The Billionaire Media Takeover Is Nearly Complete — Here’s how to fight with your time and resources

• Wednesday — Doing Something We’ve Never Done Before — Celebrating 2 years of Let’s Address This this April with a 50% annual offer

• Thursday — 340,000 Americans Said No to Trump’s Attacks On Our Constitution — A follow-up on Trump v. Barbara and what comes next

• Friday — Why I BANNED A Subscriber from Let’s Address This — My commitment to human rights doesn’t come with an asterisk, and I ask you to embrace the same principle

  Subscribe now

Dad Joke of the Week

On April 1 our 10-year-old daughter gave me a container and announced, “Abbu, good news! I made you a brownie!”

Me: Aww that’s so sweet of you!

I opened the container… #DadJokes

In response, I received a disturbing and lengthy note from a long-time reader, upset that I spoke up for Jewish Americans. Below is my detailed response to his bigotry. I additionally unsubscribed him from Let’s Address This and permanently banned his email from this page. Human rights is not a buffet where we get to pick and choose which humans get rights. Every human being innately deserves full rights, and anything less than that is unacceptable. Let’s Address This.

In response to my article on a Jewish couple denied the ability to adopt based on their religious identity, I received a note from a reader indicating he was disappointed in me for my article. Confused as to what could possibly have disappointed him, I replied asking for clarity. What follows is my response, slightly edited, dismantling his email piece by piece.

Qasim: I need you to take a seat because class is in session and I am about to dismantle your ignorance and bigotry. And, you’ve convinced me to share this message publicly to ensure anyone else as misinformed as you knows where I stand. In short, your antisemitism is not welcomed, excused, or tolerated. In response to my article citing Constitutional law to condemn the discrimination of two Jewish Americans in Tennessee, you wrote:

Stated simply, Some people are actually suffering right now. Black people. Palestinian people. Cuban people. Venezuelan people. Haitian people. Lebanese people. Iranian people. Poor and average American people.

Qasim: I have loudly condemned the violence each of these groups face, elevated their humanity, represented many of them in legal battles as a human rights lawyer, and personally fundraised hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure they, and other marginalized groups, have access to the humanity every person deserves. I have additionally donated tens of thousands of my own hard-earned dollars to elevate these marginalized communities, among others. And this advocacy hasn’t spanned a few months or even a few years—but at least a quarter of a century. My entire adult life. Why you felt the need to lecture me on the substantive work I’ve done for decades, and continue to do every day, is beyond me. But if all you wrote was an empty lecture to attack my ego, I would have let it go. Instead, you continued headfirst into antisemitism. That I cannot let go. You continued:

This piece reads like donor-safe moral theater. The state-sanctioned machinery of exclusion appears for a moment, then disappears under soft constitutional uplift.

Qasim: How would you know what “donor-safe moral theater” looks like? You are not a donor to my human rights advocacy. If you were, you would know that I have built this platform to uphold universal human rights. You would know that we do not make exceptions and we don’t place asterisks on anyone’s humanity. Dehumanization of Jewish people is indefensible and unacceptable. And I make zero excuses for condemning antisemitism or theocratic rule. What this Jewish family is experiencing in Tennessee is antisemitic. Calling it out is the bare minimum. If that offends you, then you are exhibiting the exact behaviors of ignorance and bigotry I am working to eradicate from society. You yet continued:

In this moment, a piece centering Jewish persecution passively supports the genocide being carried out in the name of Jewish people by Israel, the self-defined Jewish Zionist state.

Qasim: The Israeli government’s genocide against Palestinians is not being “carried out in the name of Jewish people” and it is indefensible to make such a claim. Corrupt politicians, the military-industrial complex, and war criminals are carrying out this genocide. Moreover, to conflate the dehumanizing discrimination of Jewish people in the United States with the genocide the Israeli government is committing on Palestinians is not only foolish, it is also dangerous and morally reprehensible. In fact, the only morally consistent standard is to condemn the dehumanization of people in every part of the world because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And none of us are free until all of us are free. I center the critical need to counter Jewish persecution in this piece, because Jewish persecution has no place in our society. This is not a controversial statement, or at least not to people who center justice and humanity. And finally you conclude:

Those forces remain unnamed. That is the plot. I supported you because you said you opposed it. You had an opportunity to pair compassion with accountability coessentially here. You lost it, and you lost me. [end of email]

If you supported me and thought I would excuse your hatred of Jewish people, I am glad to disabuse you of your ignorant and bigoted notion. You are offended that I express compassion for Jewish people and their humanity, and refuse to blame Jews for the actions of the Israeli government. If that’s what it takes to “lose you,” then I’m eternally grateful to have “lost you.” In truth, I never want such cruel, calloused, and confused people to think they have any sway over me, or to think they were ever my supporters. Meanwhile, my Jewish neighbors have been the staunchest allies for justice in condemning the Israeli government’s and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s unjust actions.

Finally, let me make this point clear: Many questions enter my mind when I advocate for the human rights of any marginalized community. For example:

• Do I have my facts right?

• Am I citing the right law?

• Is this the correct legal precedent?

• Am I using correct terminology?

• Does my argument make logical sense?

• Did I present it in an easy to understand manner? And more.

The one question that has never, and will never, enter my mind is, “will this make donors happy?” My readers donate and support me not necessarily because they agree with every argument I make—but because they know my standard of absolute justice is not for sale. Because they know my fact based conclusions are not influenced by whether it will “get me more donors” or not.

My human rights advocacy is built on absolute justice. And my affirmation of human dignity of people of all faiths and no faith does not come with an asterisk. If me defending the equal humanity of Jewish people, or of any people, costs me support from those who demand selective outrage, then that is not a loss—it is the price of integrity, and I will pay it every time.

I answer to the demands of justice—not the comfort of the crowd—and I will continue to defend the full humanity of all people, whether that earns me applause or costs me everything.

Class dismissed.

Qasim

Yesterday on April 1, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the case that will determine whether a president can unilaterally strip birthright citizenship from children born on American soil. If you haven’t read my earlier piece, [read it here] — because what happens next affects every single one of us.

Let’s Address This.

What’s At Stake

Here’s your quick reminder of what’s at stake: On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an executive order claiming that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause does not protect children born to undocumented parents or those with temporary legal status. Every federal court that has considered the issue has already struck the Executive Order down as unconstitutional. The text of the Amendment is clear—all persons born on American soil, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens. Full stop. This is not a gray area. This is settled constitutional law, affirmed by the Supreme Court itself going back to 1898.

And yet, here we are.

The People Showed Up—More Than 340K of Us

But here is what I need you to hear loud and clear: the American people did not sit this one out.

Ahead of oral arguments, I partnered with the ACLU to call on Americans to sign the ACLU’s petition reaffirming what we have always known—that no president has the authority to redefine who is or isn’t a citizen. The response was overwhelming. Over 340,000 people have signed their names so far.

Last night, those names were projected in a light display in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of thousands of names, illuminated on the walls of the capital, declaring in one collective voice: every child born in this country belongs here.

That is not symbolic. That is a mandate.

As the ACLU pointed out right before the Supreme Court heard the case:

Hopefully, President Trump will learn something about the Constitution he keeps trying to violate. He wants to distract from the chaos his administration is causing at home and abroad. But what he can’t distract from are the real children and families at the center of this case. What he will hear in that courtroom is simple. The Constitution, not the president, defines who is a citizen. The 14th Amendment guarantees that children born in the United States are citizens, a principle the U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed for more than a century.

Indeed, this is exactly what the ACLU brilliantly argued.

President Trump’s Strategy Is Part of a Larger Attack

Make no mistake—this case does not exist in a vacuum. The assault on birthright citizenship is one front in the Trump administration’s broader campaign to redraw the boundaries of who “belongs” in America. We have seen the gutting of asylum protections. Armed agents deployed into immigrant communities. Non-citizen students punished for constitutionally protected speech. U.S. citizen children—including a child receiving cancer treatment—placed on deportation flights. US Veterans being deported. In fact, the administration’s own immigration chief bragged about building a deportation system that runs like “Amazon Prime for human beings.”

This is not immigration policy. This is a systematic dismantling of constitutional protections—and birthright citizenship is their next target.

What Happens Next?

Keep your eyes on June / July. That is when the Supreme Court’s decision is expected. Between now and then, do not look away. Follow this platform and the ACLU for updates on this case and other critical cases moving through the courts right now. Share this piece. Talk to your people. Stay in the fight.

I often reflect that my father arrived in this country with $30 and an unshakeable belief that the Constitution meant what it said. This week, 340,000 people proved that belief is still alive in America.

Now we need the Court to prove it too.

Follow the ACLU for updates. Stay engaged. The decision is coming.

To cut to the chase, there’s a very specific reason we’re doing something we’ve never done before—asking you to subscribe to Let’s Address This at 50% off. And I’m hopeful to inspire at least 3.5% of you to further invest in this movement.

Let me explain.

Thursday, April 23 marks two years of Let's Address This. For those readers who have been with us since the very beginning, you may remember that I didn’t start this platform to build another media brand. I started it because too many institutions that were supposed to inform the public were collapsing in real time or staying silent as extremism grew louder.

As a human rights lawyer, I’m trained to recognize when systems fail slowly—and then all at once. I’ve seen how institutions meant to protect people can instead remain silent, become complicit, or prioritize access over accountability.

That is exactly what we are witnessing right now and I refused to sit idle. And I know you’re here because you feel that same urgency.

What We’ve Built

In less than two years, together we’ve built something powerful:

• We are currently #64 in the entire Substack Politics universe

• More than 177,000 subscribers from 165 countries and all 50 states

• More than 775 original articles, interviews, and podcasts

• More than 43 million readers reached

That hasn’t happened because of billionaire donors or corporate backing.

It happened because thoughtful people like you are actively searching for accuracy. For clarity. For justice. For accountability. For voices willing to say what is happening, why it is happening, who is responsible, and how we fix it. And on our best days, Let’s Address This is the #1 page in the entire Substack Politics Universe.

What Comes Next

And now, we’re entering the next phase. Because the biggest lesson from the past two years is this: national coverage alone is not enough.

The most underreported damage to democracy is increasingly happening at the state and local level. So in the coming months, Let’s Address This will expand to bring deeper, sharper coverage to where power is actually being exercised:

• State legislatures

• Judicial races

• Local elections

• Policies that shape everyday lives but rarely make national headlines

The first two states will be Illinois and Texas. More details are coming very soon. But building this next phase requires one thing above all else: YOU.

The Offer

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a paid subscriber, this is the moment. To mark our 2-year anniversary, we’re doing something we’ve never done before: For the month of April up until our 2-year anniversary, we’re offering 50% off an annual subscription.

Yes, you read that right. And no, it's not a cruel April Fools trap. The same work, the same access, the same mission—at half the price for the next year. $25 for 12 months instead of $50.

Become a paid subscriber 50% off!

No fine print. Just an opportunity to invest in independent, people-funded advocacy and reporting at a moment when it matters most. The very first article I wrote for Let’s Address This garnered a humble 212 reads. Today, on average between 50,000 and 100,000 people read our daily articles. You made that possible. Today, if only 3.5% of our daily readers join as paid subscribers, we could launch our next phase immediately.

I invite you to be in that 3.5%.

Many of our thoughtful readers have already invested in Let’s Address This as paid subscribers. Let me be clear: You are the pillar upon which this community is built. Your generosity as among our earliest paid subscribers is seismic, and your impact cannot be overstated enough. Truly. Thank you, because your support makes this possible. My humble ask of you is to continue your generous support, and share this community and this offer with someone you trust and help us continue to grow.

Become a paid subscriber 50% off!

Conclusion

I closed my very first piece for Let’s Address This by writing, “Every dollar we spend is a reflection of the kind of future we want to create. I hope I’ve motivated you to invest your dollar to advance human rights.”

As corporate media continues to capitulate to state media, as billionaires line up behind a fascist for personal benefit at our expense, and as too many politicians remain cowardly silent on human rights atrocities—my mission remains clear: Advance absolute justice and human rights in all I do.

Your support of Let’s Address This is an investment in a future that demands justice and universal human rights. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

Thank you for your trust. Let’s keep building. ❤️

Become a paid subscriber 50% off!

Sincerely,

Qasim Rashid, Esq.

Founder, Let’s Address This

I can’t. In fact, what has unfolded since makes that Pentagon press purge look like a dress rehearsal. And it’s more critical than ever we engage new tools to fight back. More on this in a minute.

We are now watching the most sweeping, systematic consolidation of media power in American history—happening on two fronts simultaneously, moving faster than most people can track, and being actively enabled by a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that was created specifically to prevent exactly this kind of takeover. And the most chilling part? It is designed to be invisible. By the time most Americans realize what’s happened, the deal will already be done. Let’s Address This.

The First Front: One Billionaire. TikTok. CBS. CNN. HBO. Paramount.

Let me introduce you to Larry Ellison—or rather, re-introduce you, because most people still don’t fully understand what he’s quietly assembling.

Ellison is 81 years old, the founder of Oracle, a longtime Trump ally, and as of this writing, one of the wealthiest people on earth with a net worth exceeding $370 billion. For years, he was something of an outlier among tech billionaires—massive wealth, but no direct grip on the media you consume. That has now changed with breathtaking, alarming speed. In the span of months, the Ellison family has moved to take control of more of America’s media landscape than any single entity in modern history.

Here is what they now control or are actively acquiring:

TikTok’s U.S. operations. Oracle—Ellison’s company—is part of the investor consortium that acquired TikTok’s domestic operations. Under this deal, Oracle oversees TikTok’s data management and, critically, its content moderation. That means Ellison’s team now has extraordinary influence over what 170 million American users see every day, what gets amplified, and what gets suppressed. He has made clear that his mission is to advance right wing content, and suppress criticism of Trump, Israel, or anyone elevating the genocide in Gaza. Think about that. The algorithm shaping the political consciousness of an entire generation of Americans is now, in significant part, under the thumb of a man who hosts Trump fundraisers and whom a Trump adviser called a “shadow president of the United States.”

CBS News and Paramount. Ellison’s son David is the CEO of Paramount Skydance, which completed an $8 billion merger with Paramount Global—giving the Ellison family direct control over CBS News, Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, and Paramount+. The political direction of this takeover is not subtle. One of Paramount’s first moves under new ownership was acquiring The Free Press, the right-wing media outlet run by Bari Weiss that has positioned itself as the self-declared leading, anti-woke voice on the internet. Since this takeover, CBS has killed a story on the illegal CECOT prison, stifled reporting on the illegal attack on Venezuela, and promoted right-wing disinformation on the genocide in Palestine and the illegal war on Iran. CBS News, once one of the most trusted names in journalism with voices like Walter Cronkite, is now about as reliable as the National Enquirer.

Warner Bros. Discovery—and with it, CNN and HBO. The Ellison family is now pursuing a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal that could exceed $111 billion. If it closes, the combined Ellison media portfolio would include CNN, CBS News, HBO, TikTok, Paramount+, and more. CNN alone draws 1.8 million viewers. CBS adds another 1.4 million. Together they would eclipse every other television news network in the country—combined.

This is not a series of unrelated business decisions. This is a coordinated consolidation of narrative power by a family ideologically aligned with an authoritarian administration. One man. One agenda. The news you watch on TV. The algorithm that decides your social media feed. The streaming service your kids use. All increasingly flowing through the same billionaire’s hands.

And we haven’t even gotten to what’s happening at the local level.

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The Second Front: The FCC Just Handed 80% of Your Local TV News to One Corporation

While the Ellison empire assembles itself in plain sight on the national stage, something equally alarming—and far less covered—has been quietly unfolding at the local level.

The FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr recently approved a $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna. You may not know those names. But here is what you absolutely need to understand: together, they now own 265 television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Most of them are the local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC affiliates you turn to for weather, breaking news, and local politics.

The combined Nexstar entity now reaches 80% of U.S. television households.

Let me be direct about what that means. When you sit down tonight and flip on your local news—that anchor you’ve watched for years, that station you trust because it feels familiar and close to home—there is now an 80% chance the company that owns it, dictates its editorial direction, and controls its resources is Nexstar. One company. 80% of local American TV news.

To make this merger happen, the FCC had to waive its own national ownership cap—a rule that had existed for decades specifically to prevent any single entity from owning stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. Chairman Carr didn’t go through Congress. He didn’t hold a public vote. He didn’t solicit meaningful consumer input. He waived the rule behind closed doors, without a full commission vote, and without transparency.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the commission, said exactly what this is: she called it the “billionaire bypass.” Her words: if “you are a billionaire with business before a government agency and a perceived friend of the White House, your transaction will get fast-track approval.” She called the approval “flatly illegal.”

She’s right.

Attorneys general from eight states have filed suit. A federal judge has issued a restraining order temporarily pausing the deal. California Governor Gavin Newsom called Carr “a disgrace.” Even Republican Senator Ted Cruz said the full commission should have voted on it. The legal fight is ongoing. But the regulatory damage—the signal sent to every broadcaster in America that compliance with this administration gets rewarded and resistance gets punished—that damage is already done.

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This Is a Two-Front War. And the Battlefield Is Your Mind.

I need you to hold both of these stories in mind, because that’s what the architects of this takeover are counting on you not doing. They are counting on you treating each story as separate, isolated, too complicated, too distant from your daily life to matter.

It is not separate. It is one strategy with two arms.

On the national front: a Trump-aligned billionaire family is assembling control over TikTok, CBS, CNN, HBO, and Paramount—meaning the algorithm that shapes your social media feed and the anchors who deliver your evening news are increasingly operating under the same ideological ownership.

On the local front: an FCC chairman who has already demonstrated his willingness to threaten broadcast licenses over coverage that displeases the President is handing control of 80% of local TV news to a single corporation that has already proven it will flinch when the government calls.

This is the autocratic media playbook. It doesn’t always look like state-run television. Sometimes it looks like billionaires doing the state’s work voluntarily—enthusiastically—in exchange for favorable deals, regulatory protection, and proximity to power. The result is the same: a media environment in which independent, accountability-driven journalism becomes increasingly rare, increasingly sidelined, and increasingly difficult to find.

And here is the question that should keep you up at night: how would the average person even know?

How would you know that your local news station is now owned by a corporation that once pulled a comedian off the air at a regulator’s suggestion? How would you know that the TikTok algorithm curating your political reality is now managed by an Ellison-linked consortium? How would you know which billionaire funds which outlet, and what editorial priorities that funding quietly enforces?

Without the right tools, you probably wouldn’t. That information asymmetry is not an accident. It is a feature of the system these billionaires are building.

Which is exactly why what I’m about to tell you matters more than ever.

The Solution: Ground News Is the Antidote to Billionaire-Controlled Media

I don’t propose problems without offering solutions. And I will never ask you to fight without handing you a weapon first.

That weapon is Ground News—and right now, it is one of the most important tools available to anyone who wants to stay genuinely informed in an era of billionaire media consolidation.

Let me get something out of the way—I am choosing to let Ground News sponsor this piece because I find them to be an ethical, practical, and sustainable response to billionaire disinformation. Ground New is, notably, not owned by a billionaire. It is instead a website and app founded by a former NASA scientist that does something seemingly radical: it shows you exactly who is behind the news you’re consuming, and what they want you to think. Here’s how it works:

✅ Bias Ratings. Every source is categorized by political leaning—left, center, right—and overall reliability. When a single billionaire family can own CBS, CNN, and TikTok simultaneously, understanding the ideological fingerprint on your news is no longer optional. It is essential.

✅ Ownership and Funding Transparency. This is the feature I rely on most. Ground News tells you who owns and funds each outlet—so when you’re reading a Nexstar-owned local affiliate, or a Paramount-controlled CBS story, you know. You can factor that into how you consume and evaluate what you’re reading.

✅ Blind Spot Feed. This is extraordinary: Ground News shows you stories that are getting significant coverage on one side of the political spectrum but being ignored on the other. In a media environment increasingly controlled by ideologically aligned owners, the blind spots are often where the most important truths live.

✅ Full Comparative Context. It pulls related coverage from around the world into one place, so you can compare how different outlets with different ownership structures cover the same event. No algorithm feeding you one pre-approved version of reality. Just the full picture, across the spectrum, and the tools to evaluate it yourself.

Ground News is subscriber-supported. That means it answers to readers—not to Larry Ellison, not to Nexstar, not to Brendan Carr. Subscribe through my link, get 40% off the Vantage Plan—the same plan I personally use to research, fact-check, and write the pieces I publish—and arm yourself against the most dangerous media environment this country has seen in generations.

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The Billionaires Are Betting You Won’t Fight Back. Prove Them Wrong.

Let me be honest with you. The situation is dire. It is more dire than it was a year ago, and a year from now—if we don’t fight—it will be more dire still. The legal challenges to the Nexstar merger may succeed. The Ellison bid for Warner Bros. may face scrutiny. People are fighting back—attorneys general, federal judges, independent journalists, and activists. I refuse to give up hope that accountability is still possible.

But the structural threat is real and it is accelerating. An FCC that rewards political compliance with billion-dollar merger approvals. A billionaire assembling a media empire with one hand while standing next to the president with the other. A regulatory framework being dismantled in real time, behind closed doors, without public debate.

Against all of that, the most powerful thing any one of us can do is refuse to be manipulated. Stay informed. Know your sources. Understand who owns what you’re reading, who funds what you’re watching, and what agenda is being served when that algorithm decides what you see next.

That is not a small act. In a war for your mind, clarity is resistance.

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