Born in rural Ohio, Howard Keylor attended a one-room country schoolhouse. He became a member of the National Honor Society when he graduated from Marietta High School.
After enlisting in the U.S. Army, Howard fought in the Pacific Theater in World War Two, during which he participated in the Battle of Okinawa as a Corporal. The 96th U.S. Army Division, which Howard trained with, had casualty rates above 50%. The incompetence and racism of the military command, the destruction of the capital city of Naha and the deliberate killings of tens of thousands of Okinawan civil-ians – a third of the population - made Howard a committed anti-imperialist, anti-militarist and anti-racist for the rest of his life.
Upon returning to the United States, Howard enrolled in the College of the Pacific, but dropped out to support Filipino agricultural workers in the 1948 asparagus strike, working with legendary labor leader Larry Itliong. He became a longshore worker in Stockton in 1953. As a member of the Communist Party, Howard and his wife, Evangeline, were attacked in the HUAC (McCarthy) hearings in San Francisco. Later, Howard transferred to ILWU Local 10. In 1971 he, along with Brothers Herb Mills, Leo Robinson and a ma-jority of Local 10’s members, opposed the proposed 1971 contract which codified the 9.43 steadyman sys-tem. This led to the longshore strike of 1971-1972, which shut down 56 West Coast ports and lasted 130 days. It was the longest strike in the ILWU’s history.
In Local 10 Brother Keylor was a member of the Militant Caucus, a class struggle rank-and-file group which published a regular newsletter, the “Longshore Militant”. He later left the Militant Caucus and pub-lished a separate newsletter on his own, the “Militant Longshoreman.” Howard advocated deliberate defi-ance of the “slave-labor” Taft-Hartley law through illegal secondary boycotts and pickets. Running on an open class-struggle program which called for breaking with the Democratic and Republican Parties, form-ing a worker’s government, expropriating the capitalists without compensation and creating a planned economy, Howard won election to the Executive Board of Local 10 for twelve years.
The Militant Caucus was involved in organizing protests and boycotts of military cargo bound for the military dictatorship in Chile in 1975 and 1978 and again in 1980 to the military dictatorship in El Sal-vador. The Caucus also participated in ILWU Local 6’s strike at KNC Glass in Union City, during which a mass picket line physically defeated police and scabs, winning a contract for a workforce composed pri-marily of Mexican-American immigrants.
In 1984, Brother Keylor made the motion, amended by Brother Leo Robinson, which led to the elev-en-day longshore boycott of South African cargo on the Nedlloyd Kimberley. In 1986, Howard again partici-pated in the Campaign Against Apartheid’s community picket line against the Nedlloyd Kemba. When Nel-son Mandela spoke at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990 after his release from prison, he credited Local 10 with re-igniting the anti-Apartheid movement in the Bay Area.
Other actions Brother Howard initiated, organized or participated in included the 1995-98 struggle of the Liverpool dockworkers; the 1999 coastwide shutdown and march of 25,000 in San Francisco to de-mand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal; the 2000 Charleston longshore union campaign; the 2008 May Day anti-imperialist war shutdown of all West Coast ports; the shutdown of Northern California ports in pro-test of the murder of Oscar Grant; the blockades of Israeli ships to protest the war on Gaza in 2010 and 2014; the 2011 ILWU struggle against the grain monopolies in Longview; Occupy Oakland’s march of 40,000 to the Port of Oakland, and countless other militant job actions and protests. Throughout his life, Brother Keylor always extended solidarity where it was needed. He fought racist police murders and fas-cist terror, defended abortion clinics, and fought for survivors of psychiatric abuse. Having grown up in Appalachia, he has always been an environmentalist, and helped shut down a Monsanto facility in Davis in 2012, as well as fighting pesticide use and deforestation in the East Bay.
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The Trump administration is escalating its attack on Cuba, cutting off the island’s access to oil in a deliberate attempt to induce famine and mass suffering. This is collective punishment, plain and simple.
In response, we’re releasing a public Call to Conscience, already signed by influential public figures, elected officials, artists, and organizations—including 22 members of the New York City Council, Kal Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Alice Walker, 50501, Movement for Black Lives, The People’s Forum, IFCO Pastors for Peace, ANSWER Coalition, and many others—demanding an end to this brutal policy.
The letter is open for everyone to sign. Add your name today. Cutting off energy to an island nation is not policy—it is a tactic of starvation.
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Petition to Force Amazon to Cut ICE Contracts!
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-amazon-end-contracts-with-ice/?source=group-amazon-labor-union&referrer=group-amazon-labor-
Amazon Labor Union
Over 600,000 messages have already been sent directly to Amazon board members demanding one thing: Amazon must stop fueling deportations by ending its contracts with ICE and DHS.
ICE and DHS rely on the data infrastructure provided by Amazon Web Services. Their campaign against immigrants and those who stand with them depends on the logistical, financial, and political support of companies like Amazon.
But workers and communities have real power when we act collectively. That’s why we must expose Amazon’s role in the deportation machine. Help us reach 1 million messages and force Amazon to act by signing our petition with The Labor Force today:
Tell Amazon: End contracts with ICE!
On Cyber Monday 2025, Amazon workers rallied outside of Amazon’s NYC headquarters to demand that Amazon stop fueling mass deportations through Amazon Web Services’ contracts with ICE and DHS.
ICE cannot operate without corporate backing; its campaign against immigrants and those who stand with them depends on the logistical, financial, and political support of companies like Amazon. Mega-corporations may appear untouchable, but they are not. Anti-authoritarian movements have long understood that repression is sustained by a network of institutional enablers and when those enablers are disrupted, state violence weakens. Workers and communities have real power when they act collectively. That is why we must expose Amazon’s role in the deportation machine.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its most commonly used cloud platform. DHS and ICE cannot wage their attack on immigrants without the critical data infrastructure that Amazon Web Services provide, allowing the agencies to collect, analyze, and store the massive amounts of data they need to do their dirty work. Without the power of AWS, ICE would not be able to track and target people at its current scale.
ICE and DHS use Amazon Web Services to collect and store massive amounts of purchased data on immigrants and their friends and family–everything from biometric data, DMV data, cellphone records, and more. And through its contracts with Palantir, DHS is able to scour regional, local, state, and federal databases and analyze and store this data on AWS. All of this information is ultimately used to target immigrants and other members of our communities.
No corporation should profit from oppression and abuse. Yet Amazon is raking in tens of millions of dollars to fuel DHS and ICE, while grossly exploiting its own workers. Can you sign our petition today, demanding that Amazon stop fueling deportations by ending its contracts with DHS and ICE, now?
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-amazon-end-contracts-with-ice/?source=group-amazon-labor-union&referrer=group-amazon-labor-
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End Texas Torture of Revolutionary Elder Xinachtli
Organization Support Letter
Letter to demand the immediate medical treatment and release of Chicano political prisoner Xinachtli (Alvaro Hernandez #00255735)
To the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge immediate action to protect the life, health, and human rights of Xinachtli (legal name Alvaro Hernandez). Xinachtli is 73-year-old Chicano community organizer from Texas who has spent 23 years in solitary confinement and 30 years incarcerated as part of a 50-year sentence. His health is now in a critical and life-threatening state and requires prompt and comprehensive medical intervention.
Since his conviction in 1997, Xinachtli has spent decades in conditions that have caused significant physical and psychological harm. As an elder in worsening health, these conditions have effectively become a de facto death sentence.
Xinachtli’s current medical condition is severe. His physical, mental, and overall well-being have declined rapidly in recent weeks. He now requires both a wheelchair and a walker, has experienced multiple falls, and is suffering from rapid weight loss. He is currently housed in the McConnell Unit infirmary, where he is receiving only palliative measures and is being denied a medical diagnosis, access to his medical records, and adequate diagnostic testing or treatment.
A virtual clinical visit with licensed medical doctor Dr. Dona Kim Murphey underscores the severity of his condition. In her report of the visit, she wrote: "Given the history of recent neck/back trauma and recurrent urinary tract infections with numbness, weakness, and bowel and bladder incontinence, I am concerned about nerve root or spinal cord injury and/or abscesses that can lead to permanent sensorimotor dysfunction."
Despite his age and visible disabilities, he remains in solitary confinement under the Security Threat Group designation as a 73-year-old. During his time in the infirmary, prison staff threw away all of his belongings and “lost” his commissary card, leaving him completely without basic necessities. He is experiencing hunger, and the lack of consistent nutrition is worsening his medical condition. McConnell Unit staff have also consistently given him incorrect forms, including forms for medical records and medical visitation, creating further barriers to care and communication.
A family visit on November 29 confirmed the seriousness of his condition. Xinachtli, who was once able to walk on his own, can no longer stand without assistance. He struggled to breathe, has lost more than 30 pounds, relied heavily on his wheelchair, and was in severe pain throughout the visit.
In light of these conditions, we, the undersigned organizations, demand that TDCJ take immediate action to save Xinachtli’s life and comply with its legal and ethical obligations.
We urge the immediate implementation of the following actions:
Immediate re-instatement of his access to commissary to buy hygiene, food, and other critical items. Immediate transfer to the TDCJ hospital in Galveston for a full medical evaluation and treatment, including complete access to his medical records and full transparency regarding all procedures. Transfer to a geriatric and medical unit that is fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Xinachtli requests placement at the Richard P LeBlanc Unit in Beaumont, Texas. Approval of Medical Recommended Intensive Supervision, the release program for individuals with serious medical conditions and disabilities, in recognition of the severity and progression of his current health issues. Failure to act will result in the continued and foreseeable deterioration of Xinachtli’s health, amounting to state-sanctioned death. We urge TDCJ to take swift and decisive action to meet these requests and to fulfill its responsibility to safeguard his life and well-being.
We stand united in calling for immediate and decisive action. Xinachtli’s life depends on it.
Signed, Xinachtli Freedom Campaign and supporting organizations
Endorsing Organizations:
Al-Awda Houston; All African People’s Revolutionary Party; Anakbayan Houston; Anti-Imperialist Solidarity; Artists for Black Lives' Equality; Black Alliance for Peace - Solidarity Network; Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society; Community Liberation Programs; Community Powered ATX; Contra Gentrificación; Diaspora Pa’lante Collective; Down South; DSA Emerge; Entre nos kc; Fighting Racism Workshops; Frontera Water Protectors; GC Harm Reductionists; JERICHO MOVEMENT; Jericho Movement Providence; Montrose Anarchist Collective; NYC Jericho Movement; OC Focus; Palestine Solidarity TX; Partisan Defense Committee; Partido Nacional de la Raza Unida; PDX Anti-Repression; Red Star Texas; Root Cause; San Francisco Solidarity Collective; Shine White Support Team; Sunrise Columbia; UC San Diego Faculty for Justice in Palestine; Viva Palestina, EPTX; Water Justice and Technology Studio; Workshops4Gaza.
Sign the endorsement letter for your organization here:
https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/MiR1f+iLiRBJC7gSTyfhyxJoLIDhThxRafPatxdbMWI/
IMPORTANT LINKS TO MATERIALS FOR XINACHTLI FREEDOM CAMPAIGN:
PHONE BLAST: Your community can sign up for a 15-minute-long call shift here: bit.ly/xphoneblast
FUNDRAISER: Here is the link to Jericho's fundraiser for Xinachtli: http://givebutter.com/jerichomovement
CASE HISTORY: Learn more about Xinachtli and his case through our website: https://freealvaro.net
CONTACT INFO:
Follow us on Instagram: @freexinachtlinow
Email us:
xinachtlifreedomcampaign@protonmail.com
COALITION FOLDER:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/SP3KTC1RK4#KARGiPQVYIvR
In the folder you will find: Two pictures of Xinachtli from 2024; The latest updated graphics for the phone blast; The original TRO emergency motion filing; Maria Salazar's declaration; Dr. Murphy's report from her Dec. 9 medical visit; Letter from Amnesty International declaring Xinachtli's situation a human rights violation; Free Xinachtli zine (which gives background on him and his case); and The most recent press release detailing who Xinachtli is as well as his medical situation.
Write to:
Alvaro Hernandez CID #00255735
TDCJ-W.G. McConnell Unit
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400
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Self-portrait by Kevin Cooper
Funds for Kevin Cooper
Kevin was transferred out of San Quentin and is now at a healthcare facility in Stockton. He has received some long overdue healthcare. The art program is very different from the one at San Quentin but we are hopeful that Kevin can get back to painting soon.
For 41 years, an innocent man has been on death row in California.
Kevin Cooper was wrongfully convicted of the brutal 1983 murders of the Ryen family and houseguest. The case has a long history of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering, and numerous constitutional violations including many incidences of the prosecution withholding evidence of innocence from the defense. You can learn more here .
In December 2018 Gov. Brown ordered limited DNA testing and in February 2019, Gov. Newsom ordered additional DNA testing. Meanwhile, Kevin remains on Death Row at San Quentin Prison.
The funds raised will be used to help Kevin purchase art supplies for his paintings . Additionally, being in prison is expensive, and this money would help Kevin pay for stamps, books, paper, toiletries, supplies, supplementary food, printing materials to educate the public about his case and/or video calls.
Please help ease the daily struggle of an innocent man on death row!
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
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Dr. Atler Still Needs Our Help!
Please sign the petition today!
https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
What you can do to support:
—Donate to help Tom Alter and his family with living and legal expenses: https://gofund.me/27c72f26d
—Sign and share this petition demanding Tom Alter be given his job back: https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
—Write to and call the President and Provost at Texas State University demanding that Tom Alter be given his job back:
President Kelly Damphousse: president@txstate.edu
President’s Office Phone: 512-245-2121
Provost Pranesh Aswath: xrk25@txstate.edu
Provost Office Phone: 512-245-2205
For more information about the reason for the firing of Dr. Tom Alter, read:
"Fired for Advocating Socialism: Professor Tom Alter Speaks Out"
Ashley Smith Interviews Dr. Tom Alter
—CounterPunch, September 24, 2025
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 Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity CampaignAn appeal for financial supportMay 12, 2026 Dear Friends of the Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign, It has been more than two years since Boris Kagarlitsky began serving the five-year sentence meted out to him by a Russian military court as a way of silencing and punishing him for his opposition to Putin’s war on Ukraine. With a multitude of longstanding friends and colleagues throughout the world, Boris is one of the best-known victims of the steadily escalating political repression in Russia. He has borne the gross injustice of his incarceration with characteristic courage, determination and defiance. But there is no denying that Putin’s gulag takes a toll on even the most valiant spirits. The Boris Kagarlitsky Solidarity Campaign has worked continuously these last two years to draw attention to Boris’s plight, and by extension to that of other prisoners unjustly condemned for protesting the ongoing war that has already cost upwards of half a million lives and vastly more maimed, according to estimates. We have sought, through a variety of activities, to bring pressure to bear on the Russian authorities to free Boris. The many people involved in the Campaign are happy to volunteer their time. However, we rely on the generosity of the Campaign’s supporters to cover the periodic expenses we incur. We recently reached out for help to defray costs associated with the participation of Boris’ daughter and tireless advocate for Russian political prisoners, Kseniia Kagarlitskya, in the international antifascist conference in Porto Alegre at the end of March. That trip was a great success. It allowed Kseniia and Mikhail Lobanov, Russian mathematician, political activist, and former associate professor at Moscow State University, to introduce the thousands of conference-goers from Brazil and across the world to the grim realities confronting Russian political dissidents. The Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Committee has many plans in store for the coming months and especially the fall, including a virtual conference devoted to the global manifestations of political repression. We are appealing to you for a little financial help to carry out our projects and support the day-to-day ongoing work of the committee. We would be deeply appreciative of any assistance you can provide. Because the members of the Campaign coordinating committee are scattered across Europe, North America and beyond, it has been a little complicated to set up a campaign bank account, although we are making progress on that front. For the time being we are asking that you send any contributions you can manage directly to our de facto treasurer Suzi Weissman who is located in Los Angeles, California. The details of her account are: Bank: Wells Fargo Swift/Bic: PNBPUS6L Account holder: Susan Claudia Weissman Account number: 0657205076 International wire transfers: WFBIUS6S wise.com personal account: @susanclaudiaw We thank you in anticipation of any contribution you can make to help keep the Campaign running. Yours in solidarity, Dick Nichols Russia Confirms Jailing of Antiwar Leader Boris Kagarlitsky In a secret trial on June 5, 2024, the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber confirmed a sentence of five years in a penal colony for left-wing sociologist and online journalist Boris Kagarlitsky. His crime? “Justifying terrorism” — a sham charge used to silence opponents of Putin’s war on Ukraine. The court disregarded a plea for freedom sent by thirty-seven international luminaries. Kagarlitsky, a leading Marxist thinker in Russia’s post-Soviet period, recently addressed socialists who won’t criticize Putin: “To my Western colleagues, who…call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. [Would] you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? …In a country which…broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?” Thousands of antiwar critics have been forced to flee Russia or are behind bars, swept up in Putin’s vicious crackdown on dissidents. Opposition to the war is consistently highest among the poorest workers. Recently, RusNews journalists Roman Ivanov and Maria Ponomarenko were sentenced to seven, and six years respectively, for reporting the military’s brutal assault on Ukraine. A massive global solidarity campaign that garnered support from thousands was launched at Kagarlitsky’s arrest. Now, it has been revived. This internationalism will bolster the repressed Russian left and Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s imperialism. To sign the online petition at freeboris.info —Freedom Socialist Party, August 2024 https://socialism.com/fs-article/russia-jails-prominent-antiwar-leader-boris-kagarlitsky/#:~:text=In%20a%20secret%20trial%20on,of%20Putin's%20war%20on%20Ukraine. Petition in Support of Boris KagarlitskyWe, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison. Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles. The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested. On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release. The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison. The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences. There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering. Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course. We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally. We also call on the auth *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* |
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
He still needs more complicated treatment from a retinal specialist for his right eye if his eyesight is to be saved:
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical
Defense Fund
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
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Articles
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1) Green Card Seekers Must Leave U.S. to Apply, Trump Administration Says
The change is likely to affect hundreds of thousands of people. It could also lead to more family separations as spouses or relatives wait for application decisions, immigration lawyers said.
By Madeleine Ngo and Albert Sun, May 22, 2026
There are various pathways for foreigners to obtain green cards, which grant them the ability to live and work in the United States as permanent residents. Libby March for The New York Times
The Trump administration said on Friday that most foreigners seeking green cards will have to return to their home countries to apply, a remarkable change that could make it more difficult for hundreds of thousands of people to obtain permanent residency.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the legal immigration system, said it would grant green cards to people inside the country only in “extraordinary circumstances.” People applying for permanent residency, which is one step away from citizenship, will have to go through consular processing outside the country instead, according to a memo issued by the agency.
“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes,” Zach Kahler, a spokesman for the agency, said in a statement. “When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency.”
The change could upend the lives of people who entered the country lawfully through temporary visas and are seeking green cards to remain in the United States, including students, spouses of U.S. citizens and a wide range of foreign workers. The process of obtaining a green card — which gives immigrants the right to live in the country permanently and provides a path to citizenship — takes months or longer, meaning families could be separated for extended periods.
The memo was immediately met with confusion and chaos as immigration lawyers scrambled to understand which exceptions would be granted. Many also expected the policy change to be met with legal challenges.
The agency did not detail which groups would be eligible for an exception, only suggesting that refugees would not be subject. Mr. Kahler said in a statement that people who “provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path.”
It was unclear, though, which foreign workers would be exempt and if exceptions would extend to skilled foreign workers on H-1B visas, for instance.
The policy is a major escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb legal immigration and reflects how the president’s crackdown has broadened beyond immigrants living in the country unlawfully. Federal officials have in recent months sought to strip some naturalized citizens of their status and review thousands of green card holders to root out immigrants they believe should be deported.
The change is likely to lead to more families being separated as spouses or relatives wait for decisions on their applications, immigration lawyers and former homeland security officials said. It could also lead to longer processing times as consulates around the world manage an influx of new cases.
“Our consular processing system through which they would have to apply is already overburdened,” said Sarah Pierce, a former policy analyst at Citizenship and Immigration Services who is now the director of social policy at the center-left think tank Third Way. “So that means we could have families separated for months or years.”
About 1.4 million green cards were granted in 2024, with more than 820,000 approved for people inside the country through a process called “adjustment of status,” according to Department of Homeland Security data. Over the past two decades, more than 500,000 people have received green cards via adjustment of status each year, except for in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Most green cards issued in the last 10 years were to people already in the country
The majority of people who became legal permanent residents while in the U.S. were sponsored by a relative or an employer.
Number of green cards issued each fiscal year
There are various pathways for foreigners to obtain a green card. People with temporary visas can apply to adjust their status if they have spouses who are U.S. citizens, for instance. Certain foreign workers and parents of citizens who are at least 21 years old are also eligible for green cards.
More than 70 percent of people who received a green card through marriage did so through adjustment of status, totaling about 250,000 people in 2024.
Some immigration attorneys said they were inundated with calls and emails from clients on Friday asking how the new memo could affect their cases.
Robert O’Malley, an immigration attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., said several clients called to ask if their spouses needed to leave the United States, or if they would be able to stay together.
“I’ve done my best to assuage those fears,” Mr. O’Malley said. “But I’m really just trying to digest this six-page memo and wait for further guidance so that we know how to best advise our clients.”
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2) Food, Flashlights and Fans: Floridians Step Up Aid to Cuban Relatives
Months into the oil blockade imposed by President Trump, many Cubans are relying more than ever on relatives in the U.S. for help meeting their daily needs.
By David C. Adams, Andrea Zarate and David Ovalle, Reporting from Miami, May 23, 2026
People in Cuba are enduring food shortages, near-constant blackouts and suffocating heat.
For many, the only relief comes in packages from relatives hundreds of miles away in Miami.
As the island nation faces economic collapse under the U.S. oil blockade, South Floridians are rushing to ship boxes stuffed with canned meats, bags of rice and beans and other staples to hungry relatives. They are also sending mosquito nets, flashlights, fans and loosefitting nightgowns for coping with insufferable nights. Some pay off-the-books couriers known as “mulas,” or mules, who fly to Cuba to deliver goods or envelopes of American cash.
Jorge Smith, 64, who left Cuba for Miami four years ago, has been shopping for a stronger solar-powered generator for his daughter and her 5-year-old son in Havana. With electricity ever more fleeting, the 60-watt machine he bought and shipped them months ago no longer suffices.
“They only have two hours grid power a day,” said Mr. Smith, an Uber driver who, like many Cuban Americans, struggles to pay his own bills in an increasingly unaffordable Miami.
While he is deeply opposed to the Cuban government, Mr. Smith doesn’t agree with the blockade. “By cutting off the oil, they cut off the life of the people,” he said. “It’s the people who suffer.”
Cubans have long relied on relatives in the United States, who today can turn to informal couriers, multiple shipping companies in Miami and Amazon-style shopping sites that arrange deliveries to the island.
But demand has intensified as Cuba’s Communist government struggles to contain a catastrophic energy crisis. The island has all but run out of fuel for local transport, and its aging power stations are unable to keep its electrical grid running.
Oil shipments from Venezuela, Cuba’s longtime benefactor, were already dwindling before the Trump administration captured the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, in January and asserted control over the nation’s oil industry. To pressure the Cuban government into collapse, the Trump administration then imposed a de facto blockade barring all foreign oil from reaching the island.
Cuban officials announced last week that its fuel oil supplies had been completely depleted. As part of its pressure campaign, the Trump administration on Wednesday announced it had secured an indictment against Raúl Castro, the nation’s former leader, for his suspected role in the fatal downing of two planes piloted by Cuban exiles.
Food for sale in both state- and private-owned Cuban stores has long been exorbitantly priced, said Michael J. Bustamante, a University of Miami historian who specializes in Cuban affairs.
“If you’re in a position to have family members on the outside that can try to get you stuff, you already have a leg up on a big chunk of the Cuban population,” said Dr. Bustamante, whose family recently helped arrange delivery of a wheelchair to an older relative with dementia.
Yet Cuban Americans find themselves in a delicate position. Many support President Trump’s pressure campaign, even as their families turn to wood charcoal to cook now that blackouts are far more frequent.
“I don’t want my son to suffer, but if that’s the only way to be free, well, I have to put up with it so that Cuba can be free,” said Tania Lompard, 66, who came to Miami from Cuba nearly two decades ago.
She and her husband recently sent 105 pounds of beans, canned ground beef and powdered milk to her adult son. The goods were shipped through Cubamax, a Florida chain that also serves as an online supermarket, travel agency and remittance company.
Such businesses are contentious in Miami.
They have described themselves as vital to delivering the type of humanitarian aid permitted under the decades-old U.S. embargo, which prohibits most exports to Cuba. The new oil blockade briefly disrupted the companies’ deliveries on the island this winter, but they resumed after the Trump administration began allowing private businesses to procure their own fuel.
Some Cuban Americans, including a number of elected officials, have criticized the companies, arguing that their business helps prop up the island’s Communist regime, and that the goods they ship include luxury items prohibited by law.
“Using those services means supporting the regime,” said Lázaro Campos, 42, who instead buys plane tickets for friends to visit Cuba with goods packed in long black duffel bags known as “gusanos,” or worms.
Cubamax executives did not respond to several requests for comment.
In South Florida, Mr. Campos scrapes by on whatever jobs he can muster: handyman, construction worker, delivery driver.
He supports three children in Cuba, one a 17-year-old who said that his school had stopped providing food, and that classrooms had become unbearable without fans. Mr. Campos also sends medicines for his elderly mother, who relies mostly on rainwater to drink and bathe after her town’s water pump broke. She lives on Isla de la Juventud, an island province where ferries delivering supplies have been cut back because of the lack of fuel oil.
Mr. Campos’s living conditions aren’t easy, either — he can’t afford rent, so he sleeps in his white Mitsubishi S.U.V. or crashes with friends.
For Ivis Cladera, the soaring price of gas has crimped her ability to send cash every week to her parents in the Matanzas province. She drives about 20 miles each way between her apartment in Hialeah, outside Miami, and her job at a casino in Hallandale. She earns less than $11 an hour, or minimum wage for servers in Florida.
On a recent afternoon outside a Cubamax in Hialeah, Ms. Cladera was sending sterile syringes to Havana so her mother can inject her blood circulation medication. In Havana, her parents have virtually no electricity — but she doesn’t want to invest in solar panels to send them, as other Cuban Americans have done.
“It’s too expensive,” she said. “Besides, I’m hoping Communism will fall soon.”
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3) Once Trump’s Co-Pilot Against Iran, Netanyahu Is Now a Mere Passenger
A partner in the war, Israel has been largely left out of the peace talks, a humbling setback for its prime minister with significant risks for the country.
By David M. Halbfinger and Ronen Bergman, May 23, 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December. Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
In the run-up to the Feb. 28 attack on Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was not only in the Situation Room with President Trump, he was leading the discussion, predicting that a joint U.S.-Israeli strike could very well lead to the demise of the Islamic Republic.
Just a few weeks later, after those sanguine assurances proved inaccurate, the picture was starkly different. Israel was so thoroughly sidelined by the Trump administration, two Israeli defense officials said, that its leaders were cut almost entirely out of the loop on truce talks between the United States and Iran.
Starved of information from their closest ally, the Israelis have been forced to pick up what they can about the back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran through their connections with leaders and diplomats in the region as well as their own surveillance from inside the Iranian regime, said the two officials. Like others for this article, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The banishment from the cockpit to economy class has potentially significant consequences for Israel, and especially for the prime minister, who faces an uphill re-election battle this year.
Mr. Netanyahu has long sold himself to Israeli voters as a kind of Trump whisperer, uniquely capable of enlisting and retaining the president’s support. In a televised speech early in the war, he portrayed himself as the president’s peer, assuring Israelis that he talked to Mr. Trump “almost every day,” exchanging ideas and advice, “and deciding together.”
He had led Israel to war in February with grand visions of achieving a goal he has pursued for decades: stopping Iran’s push for nuclear weapons once and for all. As the war began with a stunning decapitation of much of the government in Tehran, it seemed as though an even more grandiose dream might come true: the toppling of the regime.
But many in Mr. Trump’s inner circle had always viewed the idea of regime change as absurd. And it wasn’t long before American and Israeli priorities began to diverge more, especially after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring and pressuring Mr. Trump into agreeing to a cease-fire.
Far from vanquished, the Islamic Republic has behaved as though it won the war, merely by surviving it.
Israel, by contrast, has seen its biggest objectives for the war elude its grasp.
Mr. Netanyahu set three goals at the start of the war: toppling the regime, destroying Iran’s nuclear program and eliminating its missile program. None have been realized.
Instead of burying Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a recent American proposal called for a 20-year suspension of, or moratorium on, Iranian nuclear activity — and that time frame may have gotten smaller in subsequent proposals. That raises the prospect that an eventual deal could resemble the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear accord, which Mr. Netanyahu fought against at the time and Mr. Trump exited from three years later.
With the Trump administration excluding Israel from the negotiations, Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles may have been left off the table, as far as Israeli officials know. In that respect, any deal would fail to improve on the 2015 agreement, which Mr. Netanyahu assailed in part because it did not address Iran’s missiles.
It would also be a dismaying setback for the Israeli public, for whom life largely ground to a halt as the nation was bombarded by Iranian missiles in March and April.
There are other concerns for Israel about the possible contours of a U.S.-Iran agreement, including a lifting of economic sanctions against Tehran. Doing so could amount to an economic lifeline, flooding Iran with billions of dollars that it could then use to rearm and to help its proxy forces, like Hezbollah, replenish their own arsenals with weapons to use against Israel.
While little is certain yet about the shape of an eventual deal — and any agreement could still be postponed by a renewal of fighting — what seems clear is that Israel’s partnership with the United States has come at a steep price. A country that for generations prided itself on “defending ourselves by ourselves,” and whose leaders exasperated a succession of American presidents with their hardheaded recalcitrance, is now making little secret of its need, and willingness, to submit to Mr. Trump’s demands.
As Defense Minister Israel Katz said on April 23, as President Trump threatened to resume the war and bomb Iran back to the “Stone Age”: “We are only waiting for the green light from the U.S.”
That admission was a humbling climbdown from the heady first days of the war, when the two countries achieved air supremacy and were so confident of success that they urged the Iranian people to topple the regime and secure their future.
At the time, they spoke proudly of achieving an unprecedented degree of cooperation, their militaries knitted together intricately, with Israeli officers assigned to Centcom’s headquarters in Tampa, Fla., and U.S. officers embedded in “Fortress Of Zion,” the so-called Pit deep beneath the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in downtown Tel Aviv. Moment-to-moment decisions like how to respond to incoming Iranian missiles were being made jointly, officials said.
Within two weeks, it became clear that the war would not produce instant victory, as Mr. Trump had hoped. The White House, and some Israeli leaders, put aside their hopes for regime change, and Mr. Trump turned his attention toward ending the fighting. He had viewed Mr. Netanyahu as a war ally, but not as a close partner when it came to negotiating with the Iranians, American officials familiar with his thinking said; in fact, he considered Mr. Netanyahu someone who needed to be restrained when it comes to resolving conflicts.
Israel soon found itself demoted from equal partner to something more akin to a subcontractor to the U.S. military.
Israeli intelligence had proposed sending Kurdish fighters into Iran from Iraq, and supported the plan by bombing targets in northwest Iran to help pave the way for such an invasion. Mr. Trump, after publicly supporting the idea, reversed himself two days later, on March 7. “I don’t want the Kurds going in,” he said on Air Force One. “I don’t want to see the Kurds get hurt, get killed.”
That same weekend, Israel bombed oil facilities in Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj. The Americans, who had approved of the operation in advance, expected a small but symbolic strike that would signal to the Iranians that their vital energy industry could be targeted, according to two Israeli officials.
The burning fuel caused vast clouds of black smoke carrying dangerous chemicals that hovered over Tehran for days, prompting concerns that Gulf countries could face Iranian retaliation against their energy facilities. The Trump administration let it be known that it disapproved and that it had asked Israel to stop striking such infrastructure.
It was not the only time that Israel cleared plans with the United States, only to have the Trump administration throw it under the bus after those plans were executed.
A similar sequence of events played out when Israel later struck the South Pars natural gas field and oil facilities along the Persian Gulf in southern Iran.
The aim of that March 18 strike, which was also coordinated with the United States, was to press Iran to agree to much better terms in an eventual cease-fire.
Instead, Mr. Trump gave the order to call off such bombings, but not before a head-spinning series of statements. He at first denied advance knowledge of the South Pars attack, then criticized Israel for having “violently lashed out,” and finally suggested that he had, in fact, spoken about the strike beforehand with Mr. Netanyahu, but had urged him not to carry it out.
That night in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu took full responsibility. “Fact No. 1, Israel acted alone,” he told reporters of the strike on Asaluyeh and South Pars. “Fact No. 2, President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we’re holding it.”
Mr. Trump even pressured Israel to bring a premature halt to its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon within days after the cease-fire on April 8, forcing Israel to accept restraints on its fighting with a hostile adversary right on its border.
The sidelining is particularly hard to take for some Israeli officials, who, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that the country willingly shouldered some of the war’s more controversial assignments. That included the extrajudicial killing of the leader of a sovereign nation, something that the United States has never openly done itself.
For Mr. Netanyahu, it has meant repeatedly recalibrating his rhetoric, and even adjusting his description of Israel’s war objectives, in response to Mr. Trump’s frequent vacillations.
After initially telling his citizens that Israel’s goals were to “remove” the existential threats of an Iranian nuclear weapon and of its ballistic missile arsenal, by March 12 Mr. Netanyahu was articulating a new idea. This one downplayed the fact that those threats had not been removed, and instead exalted Israel’s close partnership with the United States.
“Threats come and threats go, but when we become a regional power, and in certain fields a global power, we have the strength to push dangers away from us and secure our future,” he said. What gave Israel such newfound strength in the eyes of its adversaries, Mr. Netanyahu asserted, was his alliance with Mr. Trump — “an alliance like no other.”
Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
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4) Iran Meets Mediators for Talks as Cease-Fire Hangs in Balance
People across the Middle East were bracing for the possibility of renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran as mediation efforts continue in Tehran without a clear sign of a breakthrough.
By Aaron Boxerman and Leily Nikounazar, Aaron Boxerman reported from Jerusalem, May 23, 2026
A handout picture from the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency, showing Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s army chief of staff, left, meeting with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, on Saturday in Tehran. Credit...Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency
The cease-fire between Iran and the United States hung in the balance on Saturday, as Iranian leaders met with Pakistani mediators for rounds of talks in an effort to stave off a renewed American assault.
Syed Asim Munir, the Pakistani Army’s chief of staff, met with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, in Tehran, according to Iranian state media.
Mr. Munir, who has played a central role in his country’s mediation efforts, left Tehran on Saturday afternoon, a day after his arrival in the country, Iran’s state television said.
During the meeting, Mr. Ghalibaf said that Iran’s military had been rebuilt during the cease-fire, according to Iranian state media. “If Trump acts foolishly and the war resumes, the response against the United States will certainly be more crushing and bitter than on the first day of the war,” Mr. Ghalibaf reportedly said, referring to President Trump.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump spoke with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, to discuss “regional and international efforts to stabilize the cease-fire,” according to a statement by Sheikh Tamim’s office. A Qatari delegation had joined Pakistani mediators in Iran on Friday, two diplomats with knowledge of the mediation efforts said. There was no immediate comment from the White House.
The United States, Israel and Iran agreed a cease-fire in early April after more than a month of war. The truce was intended to allow for talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil and gas shipping that Iran has effectively closed since the early days of the war, causing energy prices to soar worldwide.
After about six weeks of on-and-off negotiations, however, the United States and Iran appear to still be far apart on several sticking points.
With talks at an apparent impasse, Mr. Trump has frequently threatened to resume strikes on Iran, although military analysts are skeptical that further aerial attacks would force Iran to compromise. He has just as frequently pulled back on his threats as he pursued a resolution to the war.
On Friday, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, accused the United States of “excessive demands” in a call with António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general. Mr. Trump recently denounced one Iranian counterproposal as “totally unacceptable.”
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5) How $6 Gas Prices Are Affecting the Lives of Californians
California is the nation’s most expensive state for gasoline. The latest spike has forced more residents to change their habits.
By Orlando Mayorquín, Jill Cowan and Soumya Karlamangla, May 23, 2026
Jake Michaels for The New York Times
California is a huge state, with both sprawling metropolises and vast rural areas. And getting around isn’t cheap.
Californians have historically paid more for gasoline than the rest of the country because of high gas taxes and state requirements for cleaner, more expensive fuel blends. Refinery closures have increased costs by forcing the state to import more gasoline. And that was before the war with Iran sent oil prices soaring.
This week, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in California was about $6.15 a gallon, up from about $4.90 a year ago, according to the AAA motor club. The U.S. average is $4.56.
We talked to people all over the state to understand how higher fuel prices were affecting their lives and businesses. Here is what they told us.
Patrick VanHorn, 71, of Ventura, and his wife decided against flying to visit relatives in South Carolina this summer, because a round-trip ticket would have cost more than $1,500 per person.
Instead, he said, they are planning to drive their new Kia EV9 electric sport utility vehicle across the country. The car’s range is 300 miles, he said, so they will be stopping frequently to recharge.
Santiago Peralta, 41, of West Covina, owns a landscaping business and had to raise prices on his lawn maintenance services because the cost of gas to power his tools has risen. He pays about $200 daily to run his equipment, and $80 to fuel his truck. He’s going to wind down the maintenance part of his business if prices stay high, he said.
Maria Moreno, 42, of Los Angeles, owns a food truck and is buying fewer ingredients to stock her mobile kitchen because it costs her $20 more to fuel up her vehicle.
She has laid off her helper, seen a decline in customers and contemplated shutting down her business if gas prices don’t come down this summer.
Cheryl Rogers, 89, of Goleta, is a retired city planner who used to car-pool with friends to lectures, theater productions and music classes. But she has a 20-year-old Buick sedan that gets less than 20 miles to the gallon.
She recently asked her friends to chip in some money for her to buy gas — a conversation that went “not well,” she said. So now she’s staying home more often.
Paco Flores, 40, of Oxnard, is a strawberry farmer who has seen the price of biodiesel, which powers his tractors and other machinery, skyrocket. It used to cost $800 to $900 to fill his equipment. The last time he filled up, it was $1,500.
He has also been buying fertilizer in bulk to try to get ahead of price spikes that have occurred because supplies have been constrained through the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.
Iris Levitis, 46, of Santa Rosa, is an engineer who stopped driving her electric vehicle to work and started commuting 14 miles on her bicycle.
That’s so her husband, Dan, 48, can now use her car to take their children to school. He would normally use their larger, gas-powered minivan to do that, but a full tank now costs $110.
Cara Meredith, 47, of Oakland, and her husband, James, 58, just bought their first electric vehicle to replace their S.U.V. because their gas bills had gotten way too high.
With one car for their family of four, and with the need to shuttle their children to school and soccer practice, they were spending $500 per month on gas. They have to pay $400 to install a charging outlet at their home, but hope to quickly recoup those costs.
Tyler Holybee, 27, of Oakland, takes Bay Area Rapid Transit to work in downtown San Francisco five days a week. He has been a longtime transit user and has noticed that others seem to be crowding onto the trains as gas prices have gone up because the BART cars have been more packed lately.
Joshua Ashenmiller, 54, of Los Angeles, has been driving an electric vehicle for 12 years. Whenever he drives past a gas station advertising fuel for $6 a gallon, he said, “I get a smug feeling.”
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6) Firing Prevention Experts Will Not Make Us Healthy Again
By Michael Silverstein and John Wong, May 23, 2026
Drs. Silverstein and Wong are former chairs of the United States Preventive Services Task Force. Dr. Wong was fired in May 2026.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Last week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the two leaders of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a powerful expert panel whose recommendations shape preventive services, like cancer screenings, for millions of Americans. They were given little explanation for their firing, besides a vague pronouncement in a letter they received from Mr. Kennedy that it had been done “to protect the integrity of the task force’s work.”
One of us (Dr. Silverstein) served as the task force chair until March, when he left, as planned, when his term was up; the other (Dr. Wong) was one of the two individuals fired.
We had worried that something like this could happen ever since the Supreme Court affirmed almost a year ago that U.S. health secretaries can remove task force members at will. Mr. Kennedy had made it clear, repeatedly, that he had no love for the organization. He postponed all three of its scheduled meetings, blocked it from beginning work on new topics, suppressed new guidelines (including critical new recommendations on cervical cancer screening) and, most recently, accused it of being “lackadaisical and negligent.”
This is not the first time Mr. Kennedy has fired health experts without cause or injected politics into the mission of what is supposed to be an independent health advisory panel. The consequences here could be particularly wide-ranging. The U.S. Preventive Task Force is hugely influential in determining what types of counseling, screenings and preventive medications doctors recommend to Americans — and what insurance companies are required to cover, with no co-pays from patients. The screenings it recommends for cervical, colon, breast, prostate and lung cancer save tens of thousands of lives per year. Our recommendation for medication to prevent H.I.V. transmission could help eliminate as many as 90 percent of new H.I.V. cases among those at highest risk.
Our fear is that a task force beholden to political interests could roll back evidence-based recommendations and coverage. Or it could start recommending screening tests or other prevention strategies that are unproved, harmful or better for corporate profits than they are for patients. Mr. Kennedy has already promoted dubious treatments for autism spectrum disorder and measles. It is easy to imagine him calling for prevention strategies that propagate his views on dietary supplements or consumption of red meat. Or offering recommendations that bolster the financial interests of the myriad individuals in his circle who profit from fitness and nutrition products.
Traditionally, our organization is made up of 16 members — all unpaid, highly qualified experts with experience in primary care. But for the better part of the past six months, vacancies have been building up, as members finished their allotted terms and Mr. Kennedy and his director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality did not appoint new members. With the recent firings, there are now eight open spots. Only within the past weeks has Mr. Kennedy moved to fill them.
We understand that the Supreme Court has conferred on the health secretary the power to appoint task force members, but typically, the task force chairs play a significant role in this process; now that Dr. Wong and his fellow co-chair have left, Mr. Kennedy will be able to reconstitute the organization without any guidance (or as he may see it, interference) from people who understand it most intimately.
If Mr. Kennedy tries to influence task force decision making, the next leaders of the task force cannot be truly independent — and trust in the institution from doctors and other health care providers will crumble.
We do not yet know who will replace the dismissed leaders or if the other eight members of the task force will remain. But we do know that for the foreseeable future, they will be working in service of an administration with little respect for scientific processes. The American people can trust disease prevention guidance only if it’s produced by people who are not influenced by political ideology, corporate dollars, advocacy organizations or preconceived notions of what we should do to promote our health.
Mr. Kennedy and Roger Klein, the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, should be called to testify before Congress about their rationale for these firings. And the task force should be allowed to continue its work.
Patients across the country deserve to be guided by advice from primary care clinicians with the best and most up-to-date science at their fingertips. Without a trusted and independent task force, the health of our country will worsen.
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7) Xi Calls for All-Out Rescue After Coal Mine Explosion Kills at Least 90 in China
The death count rose drastically on Saturday as the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, called for an investigation and emphasized the need to “hold those responsible to account.”
By Catie Edmondson, May 23, 2026
Rescuers at the site of a deadly explosion at the Liushenyu coal mine in China’s Shanxi Province on Saturday. Credit...Cnsphoto, via Reuters
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, called on Saturday for a redoubled rescue mission in northern China after a gas explosion in a mine there killed at least 90 people, the Chinese state news agency said, in what appeared to be one of the deadliest Chinese mining disasters in years.
Mr. Xi “stressed the need to make every effort to treat the injured, organize search and rescue operations scientifically and properly handle the aftermath,” the agency, Xinhua, reported. He also called for an investigation into the explosion, which happened Friday night, and emphasized the need to “hold those responsible to account, according to the law.”
Mr. Xi’s decision to quickly, and personally, issue a statement was significant and may have indicated that Chinese officials expected the situation to worsen. The Chinese government often holds back details of accidents while it gathers information and prepares to issue a response. But soon after Mr. Xi’s statement on Saturday, the official death count began to rise drastically, with new tolls announced every few minutes.
Xinhua initially reported eight deaths and said that more than 200 of the 247 workers who had been underground when the explosion occurred, on Friday night, had been safely recovered. The agency did not explain the jump in the death toll.
As of Saturday morning, the cause of the explosion was still unknown, according to CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster. Xinhua reported that local authorities had been alerted on Friday night that an underground carbon monoxide sensor at the site, the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi Province, had set off an alarm, indicating that levels had exceeded safety limits.
Live coverage from CCTV on Saturday showed emergency personnel massed on site, pulling out stretchers from ambulances alongside what appeared to be workers pushing mine carts.
The mine, operated by the Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Group, was listed in 2024 among 1,128 mines that had been cited for “severe safety hazards” by China’s National Mine Safety Administration. The Liushenyu coal mine was specifically cited for high gas levels.
“Provincial-level mine safety supervision departments must urge severely disaster-prone coal mines to implement measures for regional disaster management,” the National Mine Safety Administration said in a statement when it released the list.
China has a long history of industrial disasters, though in the past 10 years, the government has tightened safety regulations and reduced the number of industrial and mine accidents.
The explosion in Shanxi appears to be among the deadliest in recent years, and comes only weeks after a fireworks factory blast killed 26 in Hunan Province. It seems to be the deadliest mining disaster since 2023, when 53 people were killed after an open pit coal mine collapsed in Inner Mongolia, a region of northern China.
In 2020, 16 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning after they were trapped in a coal mine in southwestern China.
Chris Buckley contributed reporting. Li You contributed research.
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8) As Ebola Rages in Countryside, Congo’s Capital Strives to Carry On
Kinshasa residents continue to pack markets, bars and public transportation, despite growing international concern about the spread of the virus.
By Justin Makangara and John Eligon, May 23, 2026
Justin Makangara reported from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and John Eligon from Johannesburg.
A crowded market on Saturday in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. Justin Makangara for The New York Times
Nations around the world are imposing strict entry restrictions on people who have been to the Democratic Republic of Congo recently because of a deadly Ebola outbreak in the country’s northeast.
But in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, most of the 20 million residents are carrying on as usual.
Open-air markets where vendors sell cassava, fish, fruit and clothes remained packed. Workers continued to cram themselves into taxis or hop on their motorcycles for morning commutes on the heavily congested roads. Patios and bars were full of patrons drinking beer and eating grilled chicken with mayo.
“I don’t know and don’t see why we should be afraid,” Malula Richard Esambo, the president of a soccer fan group in Kinshasa, said at an event in the city this week organized by the Congolese Football Association. “Kinshasa is safe for now.”
Spanning more than 900,000 square miles, Congo is nearly six times the size of California. The distance between the center of the Ebola outbreak, Ituri Province in the northeast, and Kinshasa is roughly 950 miles, about the distance to Orlando from New York.
And there is not much travel between Kinshasa and Ituri because of poor roads, reducing the likelihood of the outbreak spreading to the capital, said Tulio de Oliveira, the director of the Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
That is why, Dr. de Oliveira said, the United States would be better served by supporting the affected countries in order to stem the outbreak at its source, rather than “establish a travel ban or isolation of all patients who come from such a large country.”
“I don’t think that’s a good public health response,” he added.
Still, some public health experts warn that because the virus spread unchecked for weeks, faraway places may not yet be in the clear. There is no vaccine for this species of the virus, called Bundibugyo, and health officials are still struggling to set up clinics in Bunia, the capital of Ituri.
On Friday, the governor of Ituri banned gatherings of more than 50 people and suspended a soccer match in Bunia.
So far, there have been 177 suspected deaths and about 750 suspected cases of the virus, which has spread into Uganda and South Sudan. If it were to reach a megacity like Kinshasa, which has a population of about 20 million people, it could present significant challenges because its dense urban environment and large population offer ripe conditions for rapid spread.
What eases the minds of many Congolese is the fact that they have been here before.
This is the 17th Ebola outbreak to hit the country since the virus was discovered 50 years ago. For all of the challenges that Congo might have, its health authorities are well experienced in responding to Ebola.
“Here, people think it doesn’t concern Kinshasa,” said Christine Nlandu, 37, a vendor at a suburban market. “They think it’s a far-off story.”
Petronella Mugoni, a social and behavioral epidemiologist who has worked in Congo, said she feared that some in Kinshasa had become complacent about Ebola because the city had not been heavily affected by previous outbreaks.
It is critical for the government to step up its targeted public health information about Ebola, she said. But that can be difficult in a city where there are so many diseases that kill more people annually than Ebola has, and residents face an overload of health information, she said.
It may also be hard for many people in Kinshasa to focus on Ebola prevention when they have to rely on informal work in order to feed their families, Dr. Mugoni said.
“Even in the midst of challenges, earning money takes precedence,” she said. “Closing markets down would be more catastrophic than Ebola for many.”
But residents of Goma, another major city, are not taking the Ebola outbreak lightly. Goma is the largest city in the eastern part of the country, and there is a lot of travel between Goma and Ituri. On top of that, Goma is currently under the control of M23, a rebel group.
“I am overwhelmed by the news,” said Joëlle Koko Zihindula, 28, a youth worker in Goma. “It is depressing, how the situation is all mixed with conflicts.”
The Congolese government has posted a message on social media stressing “the importance of adhering to preventive measures in response to the Ebola outbreak declared in Ituri.”
But there have been no public awareness campaigns targeting Kinshasa. There are no bans on large gatherings. Schools remain open.
The government has told educators to maintain vigilance and conduct awareness campaigns for their students, said Sister Elysee Ntoto Mazoba, the principal at Madame Lecandele School in northwestern Kinshasa.
One student at Madame Lecandele, Christopher Ciribagula, 9, has taken the awareness campaign to heart. He said he and other students were told to avoid touching dead animals, to tell their parents immediately if they have a fever and not to go close to someone with a bloody nose. “That means they have Ebola,” he said.
They have also been encouraged to wash their hands frequently, Christopher said. He is not excited about an upcoming family trip because he does not want to come into contact with someone who might be sick, he said. “I am very afraid of this disease,” he said. “If this disease ever reaches Kinshasa where we live, it could be dangerous for the whole city.”
Not all of the concerns surrounding Ebola are about life and death.
Some soccer fans fear that they may be denied entry into the United States to support their team in the World Cup. Congo is scheduled to play its first game on June 17 in Houston. Mr. Esambo, the president of the fan group, has tried to allay those fears, saying that the visa process was already underway and that he was confident the American authorities would allow them into the United States.
“America is a great country,” he said. “Making such groundless decisions would not be a good move.”
Arlette Bashizi contributed reporting from Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lynsey Chutel from London, and Zimasa Matiwane from Johannesburg.
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9) U.S. and Iran Signal Move Toward Initial Peace Deal, but Details Remain Murky
President Trump said the United States and Iran had “largely negotiated” an agreement, even as American and Iranian officials described the terms differently.
By Farnaz Fassihi, Julian E. Barnes, Aaron Boxerman and Tyler Pager, May 24, 2026
The United States and Iran signaled on Sunday that they were close to reaching a deal to wind down the war in the Middle East, even as many of the details of the proposal remained murky.
President Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that a preliminary agreement between the two countries was “largely negotiated” following phone calls with leaders across the Middle East. He added that the deal’s “final aspects” were still under discussion.
“Suffice it to say some progress has been made, significant progress, although not final progress,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a visit to India on Sunday, adding that Mr. Trump could reveal more about the talks later today.
U.S. and Iranian officials called the agreement a framework that would need further negotiations rather than the final word. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator, said on social media that he hoped to host “the next round of talks very soon.”
For Mr. Trump, a deal with Iran could offer a path to ending the turmoil wrought by the war, which began in late February when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. The conflict has killed thousands, rattled global energy markets, left many in the region bracing for rounds of missile attacks and bombing raids, and been broadly unpopular among the American public.
But neither the United States nor Iran released a copy of the proposed framework, leaving the contours of the deal in doubt. The future of Iran’s nuclear program, part of Mr. Trump’s case for launching the war, was unclear.
U.S. and Iranian officials also gave clashing statements as to what had been agreed. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said Iran must give up its stockpile of enriched uranium, which the U.S. and Israel fear could be used to build a nuclear weapon.
Two U.S. officials said the proposed agreement included an apparent commitment by Tehran to give up the uranium, although exactly how would be deferred to a later round of talks. Three Iranian officials said the memorandum of understanding said nothing about the fate of Iran’s nuclear program.
The Iranian officials said the memorandum stipulated only that all nuclear matters would be negotiated within 30 to 60 days. Like the American officials, they spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive subject.
Publicly, both the American and Iranian officials emphasized the concessions they hoped to secure. Mr. Trump said the deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas supplies, which Iran has effectively blockaded during the conflict, spurring a surge in global energy prices.
The Iranian officials said the deal Tehran had agreed to would reopen the Strait of Hormuz without any tolls; lift the U.S. naval blockade on Iran; stop the fighting on all fronts, including between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, in Lebanon; and release $25 billion in Iranian assets frozen overseas.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
· Cease-fire backdrop: The United States, Israel and Iran agreed to a cease-fire in early April to allow for talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump’s latest announcement followed a wave of last-ditch diplomatic efforts to stave off a return to full-scale war.
· Israeli reaction: Mr. Trump said in his social media post that he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu’s office has not commented, and it was unclear whether Israel would agree to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
· Regional role: Leaders from Arab and Muslim-majority countries told Mr. Trump by phone on Saturday that they supported the latest proposal to end the Iran war and urged him to accept it, according to three Middle Eastern officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Edward Wong contributed reporting,
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10) Kennedy’s Push to Curb Antidepressants Has Shaken Psychiatry
An annual psychiatric meeting was abuzz over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s call to rein in the use of depression medications. Some fear it will drive patients away from care.
By Ellen Barry, Reporting from San Francisco, May 24, 2026
Many psychiatrists said they worried that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements about antidepressants would cause patients to refuse or quit them. Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Most years, when thousands of psychiatrists gather for the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, they walk past a scattering of protesters. There are Scientologists with megaphones; Falun Gong groups doing their exercises; and, often, former patients, saying they have been harmed by medications or electroconvulsive therapy.
This year, though, the profession is facing criticism from the highest levels of the federal government. The American Psychiatric Association gathered just 10 days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a set of policies to encourage doctors to deprescribe, or assist patients in stopping, the most widely prescribed class of antidepressants.
A current of anxiety ran through the meeting, held here this week. Many physicians in the crowd said they worried that Mr. Kennedy’s statements would prompt people to refuse medications, or to quit them and relapse. The plenary session erupted in applause when Dr. Marketa Wills, the organization’s chief executive, declared, “We will never support governmental interference in the practice of medicine.”
“We are standing tall for evidence-based care,” she continued. “We are standing tall against stigma, oversimplification, and anything that would move patients further away from the care that they need.”
But there were also signs that the field’s leaders are engaging, albeit cautiously, with Mr. Kennedy’s effort to curb overprescribing. Numerous sessions offered training in helping patients taper off medications. In July, the association’s president will take part in a panel convened by the Department of Health and Human Services to develop clinical guidance on tapering antidepressants.
In an interview, Dr. Wills said she had been “encouraged” by the invitation to participate in the panel, and she credited the administration with “putting mental health front and center.”
“It feels like the beginning of a conversation, one that we welcome,” Dr. Wills said. She added, “It would be odd to have that conversation without psychiatrists at the table.”
Outside in the corridors, some rank-and-file attendees were less diplomatic.
Many providers took issue with Mr. Kennedy’s negative characterization of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or S.S.R.I. s, the most widely prescribed class of psychiatric medications. Clinical trials have found that most patients’ depressive symptoms improved with S.S.R.I.s, and they are considered safe enough to be prescribed by general practitioners.
A 2026 study found that 16.6 percent of U.S. adults, or roughly one in six, reported currently taking an antidepressant.
“He just doesn’t like S.S.R.I.s,” said Dr. Sung Hyon, a psychiatrist from Pasadena, referring to Mr. Kennedy. Dr. Hyon said S.S.R.I.s had been “foundational” in his practice — “boring drugs that are well established, have good safety evidence and have zero chance to cause addiction.” He called them “God’s gift to psychiatry.”
And patients know it, he added. “So many millions” of Americans already take S.S.R.I.s, he said, and the vast majority are fully aware of their downside, like sexual side effects and withdrawal symptoms.
“And they say, ‘You know what? It’s worth it,’” Dr. Hyon said. “Because there are so many of them, it would be a pretty big political firestorm if he really tried to restrict access. And there is very, very little medical evidence to do so.”
Mr. Kennedy has long signaled that curbing the use of psychiatric drugs was a goal of his. Earlier this month he began taking steps in that direction, announcing guidelines and regulatory changes meant to provide an incentive for clinicians to help patients taper off psychiatric medications. The steps would not affect patients’ access to antidepressants.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the agency had had no discussions about banning S.S.R.I.s., “and any claims suggesting otherwise are false.” The aim of the new initiative, he said, is to “promote appropriate psychiatric prescribing and drive deprescribing when clinically indicated.”
Some psychiatrists said they worried that Mr. Kennedy’s deprescribing initiative was the beginning of a wider effort that might, in later stages, discredit psychiatry more broadly and restrict access to care.
“I think it is actually putting more questions in people’s minds about whether psychiatric treatment is safe or effective,” said Dr. Eric Rafla-Yuan, who chairs the A.P.A.’s caucus on the social determinants of health. “The data has not changed on S.S.R.I.s. It’s the narrative that has changed.”
He said the A.P.A. should be pushing back forcefully against Mr. Kennedy’s claims about psychiatric treatments, and should steer clear of seeming to endorse any part of the initiative.
“It’s a fine line between having a seat at the table and being used as a tool to legitimize their agenda,” he said.
‘Much Too Medicated’
At the same time, deprescribing seemed, at the meeting, to be on everyone’s lips. A new book, “Stahl’s Deprescriber’s Guide,” was selling like hot cakes in the exhibition hall. There were panels titled, “Deprescribing Antipsychotics,” “The Much Too Medicated Patient” and “Stimulants for A.D.H.D.: Did We Get It Wrong?”
Dr. Chris Aiken, who delivered an address about multidrug cocktails, said a generational change is moving through the psychiatric association, as a younger cohort of physicians, in their 30s and 40s, take a more prominent role.
Millennials were part of the first generation to be prescribed stimulants and antidepressants as children and teens, he said, and physicians in that group are more conscious of poor outcomes years later. “Meds are not the answer, and they have seen this in their own lives,” he said.
Some senior physicians had a similar message.
“If I have any regrets about my recommendations as a physician, it’s about the medications that I did not withdraw sooner,” said Dr. Ronald Winchel, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University’s medical school, at one panel.
He said a number of concerns had prevented him from doing so: Sometimes, patients were taking multiple medications and it was difficult to say which was effective. Sometimes, patients were doing well, and he was afraid of setting them back. And there was a dearth of research on how patients do after they quit medications.
“The fear of withdrawing medications has really complicated our work,” he said.
Dr. Winchel compared this year’s churning discussion to a watershed moment in the A.P.A.’s history: In 1973, sustained pressure from protesters caused the organization to reverse its century-old position and declare that homosexuality was not a mental disorder.
“Instead of getting into a defensive crouch, they looked at themselves and they made progress,” Dr. Winchel said. The same kind of advancement, he added, could result from a rigorous discussion about prescribing practices. “If some of this agitation is coming from outside,” he said, “what is wrong with that?”
In his presentation, Dr. Aiken urged colleagues not to dismiss the stories Mr. Kennedy has highlighted of patients who have encountered serious difficulties quitting antidepressants.
“I don’t really know how common it is, but I do know that when it does happen, it can be quite severe,” he said. “It may be rare, but let’s take it seriously, because it can really burn people when it happens.”
Others said working with Mr. Kennedy around mental health policies was a matter of simple pragmatism.
“There’s definitely a need for us to be talking to the people who are making decisions,” said Dr. Hammad Khan of Sacramento. “We can’t let Joe Rogan decide what the F.D.A. approves or doesn’t approve.”
An Inflection Point
Dr. Awais Aftab, the author of “Psychiatry at the Margins,” a popular mental health Substack, said he expects the H.H.S. effort to focus on raising awareness about tapering off medications. There are few pathways for the government to reduce the prescription of drugs like S.S.R.I.s, which have gone through F.D.A.-approval pathways and are widely used by the public, he said.
He described “a sense of alarm” among psychiatrists at the virulent critique of the field coming from Mr. Kennedy’s circle. Psychiatry, he said, has been late to acknowledge the complaints of patients like Laura Delano, an author and activist, who say they were overmedicated as children or teenagers and got little support from doctors when they wanted to reduce or stop the drugs.
“The mainstream psychiatric community has been fairly insulated, and suddenly they are hearing now about this issue,” said Dr. Aftab, a psychiatrist at Case Western Reserve University.
He added that he believes that the use of antidepressants in the United States may have reached a natural limit. “The demand is going to, at some point, go into an equilibrium with the reality of the lack of effectiveness and the reality of the tolerability issue,” he said.
But the experience of some other countries suggests that the demand for antidepressants may continue to rise, even amid warnings about overprescribing.
In 2017, Britain commissioned a major report on overprescribing and then followed up with a series of reforms, including updating clinical guidelines to require regular prescribing reviews and instituting a national audit program to monitor drug use.
But a study of prescribing in Britain found that the use of antidepressants continued its steady rise through 2023, the last year for which data was available. In contrast, recent years have seen a decline in the use of anxiety medications and hypnotics, which were also the subject of updated clinical guidelines.
The study’s authors said the rise was most likely driven by patient demand, reductions in stigma and the lower cost of antidepressant medications available in generic form.
Many psychiatrists at the conference in San Francisco said that they routinely urge patients to try therapy as an alternative or a complement to medications, but that many patients have no access to that care, because their insurance will not pay for it.
Dr. Michael Bostwick, a suicide researcher and professor of psychiatry at Mayo Medical School, in Rochester. Minn., said it remained unclear what alternative treatments Mr. Kennedy is recommending to patients who quit antidepressants.
“Toward what end?” he said. “Is he going to put more resources toward therapists? Is he going to tell us to eat more red meat, or work out more, or take psychedelics, like the president has advocated? There is no alternative plan.”
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11) As a Doctor, I Can Understand the Allure of ChatGPT
By Helen Ouyang, May 24, 2026
Dr. Ouyang is an emergency physician and an associate professor at Columbia.
María Medem
Several months ago, I got the results back from some routine blood tests, and let’s just say several numbers were a tad too high. My doctor advised “continued diet and exercise” and signed off on the results.
For the past couple of years, though, my numbers had been inching up, and I was frustrated that I couldn’t seem to do much about them. I requested a phone call from my doctor — surely, she had better advice than what she wrote — but she messaged back that if I wanted to discuss my results, I had to set up another appointment.
So, I did what everyone does in this day and age: I turned to artificial intelligence. With low expectations, I typed my lab results into ChatGPT.
As both a physician and a patient, I found the experience startling. Not because ChatGPT dazzled me with its scientific knowledge, but because it behaved the way I wish modern medicine, and its practitioners, still would.
I had always assumed the “human side” of medicine was the part A.I. couldn’t touch. Sure, I know doctors are turning to A.I. to help them break bad news, since patients seem to find messages crafted by bots more empathetic than those written by doctors. But, in practice, what I thought really mattered was that a person was delivering that care.
The chatbot didn’t just spit back generic advice. It asked questions about my daily life and figured out what I could realistically change. It suggested a short walk immediately after eating, something I’d never taken seriously. When I inquired about doing a longer activity, it told me that would likely offer only marginal benefit. Its recommendations were manageable and easy to follow.
When I sheepishly asked a silly question — if eating my vitamin gummies after my post-meal walks would raise my blood sugar — it asked me to upload the link to the specific product, and it did a close analysis of its ingredients. (No, it would not.)
I felt comfortable telling it that there was no way I was taking some of its suggestions — consuming Metamucil drinks or another psyllium husk powder concoction, no thank you — and it responded with understanding and offered me alternatives. (No offense taken.)
Of course, as I doctor, I know when to question the chatbot and when to ignore it. Many other patients don’t.
But I could also ask the same question over and over, and the chatbot never seemed annoyed or judgmental. Most important, it kept cheering me on — precisely the kind of steady, relational care we keep insisting only humans can provide. Recently, I met a patient living with a highly curable form of cancer. Every week, he would ask a chatbot if his cancer could be cured. He already knew the answer — he just longed for regular reassurance.
As a doctor, I was a little embarrassed to be using ChatGPT. But every interaction with, say, OpenEvidence, a professional medical A.I. tool, felt cold and sterile. It referred to me as if I were a case report, not a person with preferences and habits. I realized what was winning me over about ChatGPT wasn’t its ability to sift through the latest studies, or diagnose my ailments; but its unwavering messages of empathy and encouragement, and its endless willingness to listen and its patience. It’s not human, but it can model some traits we value most in human interaction.
I followed ChatGPT’s advice, and when my blood work improved, ChatGPT affirmed my progress and urged me to keep going. I doubt I would have made those changes — much less stuck with them — without that sustained back-and-forth. I certainly hadn’t before.
It’s a grim fact of American medicine today that doctors can’t come close to a chatbot’s availability. And when the health care system can’t reliably offer time, attentiveness and compassion, patients will go searching for them somewhere else, even from a machine we assumed could never feel human. A.I. may not replace doctors, but it will change what patients expect from us. Doctors need to adapt.
Before I used a chatbot for my own health concerns, the thought of telling a patient to “ask ChatGPT” was inconceivable — or at least something I considered terrible care. Now I’m not so sure. In certain situations, A.I. offers something patients clearly need and medicine has trouble fulfilling.
The reality is, many patients are already consulting A.I. Doctors can keep fearing or condemning those interactions, or they can figure out how to support people using A.I. tools for their health care — cautiously, with clear guardrails. I would never tell patients to ask ChatGPT or Claude for a diagnosis, but perhaps I would suggest they use it to make sense of a new condition or keep up with routine screenings — or translate “diet and exercise” into steps that actually fit into their lives, as I did. At the same time, we need safeguards built into these systems to protect people from real harm from dangerous advice.
My experience with the chatbot has already shifted how I interact with patients in the E.R., with only minutes to piece together fragments of their circumstances. When a patient asks the same question repeatedly, I try to listen for what’s behind it. Maybe she’s not after more medical facts.
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12) New York’s Rape Laws Leave Out Many Victims Who Drank Willingly
Prosecutors say accusers who chose to drink or get high have a “very high burden” of proving they were physically helpless and unable to consent. There is a push to change the law.
By Maria Cramer and Olivia Bensimon, May 24, 2026
Leslie Hunt said she was raped in October 2015 when she went out with a co-worker for drinks. She woke up in a Brooklyn hospital. Bethany Mollenkof for The New York Times
A young woman testified that she was out with two male friends when they decided to drink at the home of one of the men.
She became ill and one of the men helped carry her to a bed. As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she testified that both men and a third man who came into the room took turns having sex with her as she murmured, “I just want to go home.”
Prosecutors in Westchester County argued it was clear that the woman had not consented and that she had been raped. Richard Ferrante, a lawyer for one of the men, said his client believed “there was nothing done without consent.” But jurors could not agree on a verdict, resulting in a mistrial. The men pleaded guilty to lesser charges that helped them avoid prison.
Prosecutors say cases like this might have turned out differently under a bill pending in the New York Legislature that would change the state’s rape law, which has made it difficult to charge people with rape if the accuser chose to become intoxicated.
The current law excludes people who were voluntarily intoxicated from claiming they were “mentally incapacitated” during an assault and therefore unable to consent, according to prosecutors. Defense attorneys argue someone could still say they were “physically helpless,” meaning they were either unconscious or physically unable to communicate consent at the time of the act.
But that definition leaves out people who were semiconscious, slurring their words, or unable to stand or walk steadily before they were assaulted, according to those that back the new bill.”
A significant number of victims who were clearly intoxicated cannot meet the “very high burden” of proving physical helplessness, said Joe Muroff, chief of the Special Victims Unit at the Bronx district attorney’s office.
If the bill passed, those victims “would be able to seek their day in court,” he said.
With at least 90 sponsors, the bill has bipartisan support from more than half of the State Assembly. But with less than two weeks before the session ends on June 4, the bill appears doomed to die without even a vote.
The first version of the bill was introduced in 2019 by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Democrat representing the Bronx, but it has never been brought to the floor for a vote.
Some supporters have blamed the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, a Democrat representing the Bronx whose role is to bring bills for a vote. Last month, a dozen people, including sexual assault survivors and their advocates, protested outside Mr. Heastie’s office in the Bronx, calling on him to support the bill.
Kerri Biché, a spokeswoman for Mr. Heastie, declined to state his position on the bill. But she said that generally the speaker wants to have the support of 76 Democrats before bringing a bill to the floor. There are 103 Democrats and 47 Republicans in the Assembly.
“There’s not yet sufficient support to bring the measure to the floor,” Ms. Biché said. “We are continuing to discuss the bill with our majority members.”
Under the proposed legislation, third-degree rape could be charged in cases where a person who was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was unable to control or understand their behavior was assaulted by someone who should have “reasonably” understood the condition of the victim.
Other states like California and Virginia already have similar laws.
Defense lawyers have pushed back hard on the legislation, saying it would make it easier for prosecutors to charge people who had sex with someone they believed had given consent and later claimed they were too intoxicated to know what they were doing.
Yung-Mi Lee, a public defender and past president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, described the legislation as “very paternalistic.”
“To just say anyone who is that drunk is incapable of saying ‘no’ takes away ownership and a woman’s ability to say, ‘Well, I wanted to have sex with that person even though I wasn’t able to stand steadily,’” Ms. Lee said.
If the bill were passed into law, she said, it could capture “a lot of innocent conduct” and “be weaponized against a lot of innocent people when the so-called victim regrets having sex with the other person.”
The judge in the Westchester County case, Susan Cacace, is now the county’s district attorney.
“When you’re intoxicated, it’s difficult to formulate the words to express anything,” she said. “Victims should be protected even if they’re out for a good night and want to drink. It doesn’t make it right for them to be victimized.”
Mr. Dinowitz said it’s a “binary issue.”
“Either you’re on the side of the survivors or you’re on the side of the rapists,” he said. “For once, we should be able to put ourselves in the shoes of people who have endured untold horror and be on their side.”
Darcel Clark, the Bronx district attorney, said the proposed law would not be used to prosecute drunken consensual sex.
The burden of proof will remain high, and prosecutors will need to call witnesses or pull video surveillance to prove that a person was incapacitated, she said.
Jane Manning, a former prosecutor and advocate for rape survivors, said the legislation targets cases “where a person is visibly, severely incapacitated, and a predator takes advantage of that incapacitation.”
Opponents still have concerns.
“I, of course, want survivors to get justice,” said Assemblywoman Latrice M. Walker, a Democrat whose district includes the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. “I am also cautious about the creation of new laws and our duty to preserve due process protections.”
Mark Bederow, a lawyer who has represented defendants accused of sexual assault, said the current law is “not a license to say that somebody is not mentally incapacitated under the law, therefore they can’t be raped.”
But advocates say the current need to show physical helplessness is insufficient.
They point to the case of Leslie Hunt, who in October 2015 went out with a co-worker for drinks and woke up in a Brooklyn hospital. There, she said, a nurse told her that she had been found inside a hotel, climbing on furniture. When emergency workers came to help her, she fought with them, kicking and screaming.
A rape kit found semen on her body and she had bruises on her arms. But, in part because of errors the detectives made in the investigation, she was unable to prove she had been drugged.
And because of her conduct inside the hotel, Ms. Hunt said she did not appear “physically helpless.”
“It’s incredibly unjust,” said Ms. Hunt, now 42 and living in California. “Like I did something wrong because I chose to drink.”
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