'Beyond sad': Analyst aghast as 'big lie' Trump bought from adversary proves deadly

08/05/26 11:33 PM

Iran has broken its word to President Donald Trump and has ramped up executions under the guise of war to cover up the deaths, an analyst told CNN on Wednesday.Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad told CNN anchor Jake Tapper how the executions have impacted people inside Iran, where the United Nations has reported that at least 56 people have been executed by the regime since March. Tapper reported that the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, which was signed in June, did not include any human rights protections, which experts said has led to Iran intensifying executions. Last week, two men were executed after the Iranian regime claimed they were involved in the killing of four police officers during the anti-government riots in 2025.Alinejad told Tapper she felt "heartbroken" for Iranians living under the regime. "I'm in touch with a lot of people inside Iran, the relatives of those who have been executed," she said. "They cannot believe that the whole world stopped talking about them because the execution machine is still working, never sleeps. But as you see, barely media leaders, international community talk about the mass executions." Alinejad pointed out a concerning reality."You remember yourself that President Trump said that the Islamic Republic promised him to stop executing protesters," she added. "That was the big lie. And now it's beyond sad that teenagers are being hanged in public. And there is no TV inside Iran, no media inside Iran talking about the concern of the family members who are actually waiting for their beloved ones to be executed very soon."

'Do not disrespect Bad Bunny': White House's mass deportation celebration slammed

07/31/26 5:01 PM

The White House used a Bad Bunny song to promote its deportations and harsh immigration agenda — and Tik Tok was not happy about it, TMZ reported on Friday.A TikTok posted Thursday shows ICE agents handcuffing and hauling off detainees to Bad Bunny's "LA MuDANZA," according to TMZ.In the video, the White House took the original lyrics "un aplauso pa mami y papi porque en verdad rompieron," meaning "a round of applause for mom and dad, because they really crushed it" — and changed them.The video instead had: "A round of applause for Donald J. Trump because he really crushed it." The post was captioned "We're making America great again."Bad Bunny hasn't commented on the White House move yet, according to TMZ.The Puerto Rican rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio has been a critic of the Trump administration and its policies. The international star performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in February, sending a message of pride to the Latino and immigrant community.Tik Tok commenters were outraged. Nearly 3,000 people responded to the video, the top comments were mostly condemnations."Do not disrespect Bad Bunny like that," wrote one. Said another, "This is just disgusting." @whitehouse We’re making America great again ♬ original sound - The White House

'Especially weird' twist uncovered in White House's leak denial: report

08/08/26 7:46 PM

President Donald Trump has been raging against possible leakers over information he gave away months ago.Trump has spent the week vowing to hunt down "treasonous" leakers over a missile shortage he was warned about and that he publicly acknowledged months before he launched his war with Iran, points out a Saturday piece by the legal blog emptywheel."Donald Trump told us on February 23, before he started this war, that he was reading the stories describing that he was warned, including about the missile shortage," emptywheel wrote. "And his response was to say that the decision was his, that if we went in spite of the warnings, the decision was his."The depletion of long-range missiles and interceptors was never a surprise, but despite that, Trump's recriminations have been building as he even turns on people within his own administration.Emptywheel noted a recent report by The Washington Post that revealed Trump laid into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Camp David meeting because of the shortages, but White House and Pentagon spokespeople have denied the report. Trump took to Truth Social to deny the missile shortage as well, writing, "The U.S. has massive amounts of 'munitions,'" but also went after "the 'leakers' of those treasonous statements" about a shortage. He said they were "being hunted down."According to emptywheel, "the especially weird part" of the White House and Pentagon denials is that they insist Trump isn't angry at Hegseth at all. "Shouldn't the President be angry with a Secretary of Defense who conducted the war in such a dumba— way, losing the war while blowing the missile reserves?" the blog asked.The blog also mentioned reporting that suggests that missile supplies are indeed dangerously low. A CNN report estimated about 80 percent of U.S. THAAD interceptors are gone, and Reuters reported, citing sources, that "virtually all" of the Army's surface-to-surface weapons have been used up.