Lost in the news this week: the real story behind Palm Beach International becoming Trump International is not the renaming.
It is the coercion that produced it and the extraordinary terms hidden inside the deal.
County staff told commissioners that refusing would put state transportation funding and grant assurances at risk.
DeSantis has already removed state attorneys and school board members who crossed him. That is the climate one Democratic commissioner cast her deciding vote in.
And the agreement itself is not a normal honorary naming.
The Trump family company retains the right to pick vendors, license the name to third parties, and sell branded merchandise off-site.
This is not an honor bestowed as much as it is a shakedown.
https://t.co/a3nrrv4s3F
“ONE OF THE BIGGEST SCAM IN HEALTHCARE”—affecting 90% of patients—CVS, UnitedHealth, Cigna created shell companies to skim patient rebates and and hide rebate payments received from drugmakers. You are paying these middlemen’s middlemen. People have died.
Cancer drug Revlimid is one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of over $100 billion.
It’s also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each pill, even though that pill costs just 25 cents to make.
https://t.co/RsPUlxoWUG
Obama went through the National Capital Planning Commission as the law requires. Plans were submitted, reviewed, revised. Open bids were made/considered. If you can’t see the difference between that and what Trump is doing, you are beyond help.
We are the middle of an authoritarian takeover. It's not too late to stop it. But we're short on time.
It's important we see beyond the daily outrage and understand Trump's coordinated step-by-step plan. In this video, I lay it out for you.
You need to know it to fight it.
Trump in 2017: “Qatar has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
Trump administration in 2025: We are building a Qatari Air Force facility in the United States.
@PpollingNumbers This might look impressive, but it’s not. Some of these states are the least populated. Their combined populations are less than California’s.
The affordability crisis in Florida is our number one issue. It was created (and ignored by) Republicans. I’m running for Governor to fix this issue for people all across the state.
BREAKING: @politico reporting that my @MSNBC colleague David Jolly has joined the Democratic Party and has opened a committee in preparation to possibly run for Governor of Florida in 2026.
David Jolly would make an outstanding Governor of Florida! https://t.co/LS5QhnYDSb
1. Truth Social, Trump's social platform, announced an audacious scheme yesterday to profit from Trump's tariffs
It will offer actively-managed INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS composed of stocks in companies that benefit from Trump's policies
It's a jaw-dropping conflict of interest
This is INFURAITING! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Purple Heart, Burned Alive, Deported Anyway: Welcome to America, Jose Barco 📷 Rick Gaspa
This week, several dozen Venezuelan nationals were loaded onto a U.S. deportation flight from South Texas like unwanted cargo. Among them? A 39-year-old Purple Heart recipient who literally ran into burning vehicles to save fellow soldiers in Iraq.
Meet Jose Barco, decorated American veteran. Twice deployed. Blown up. Traumatic brain injury. Burn scars. A guy who bled for the stars and stripes—now detained, shackled, and deported to a country he hasn’t seen since he was four years old. Because nothing says "thank you for your service" quite like ICE showing up at your door.
And before anyone jumps to conclusions—no, this isn't about a paperwork error or an overstayed visa. This is about a man who served a country he believed was his, only to discover too late that it didn’t see him the same way. Barco’s family fled Venezuela after his father was a political prisoner in Cuba. Barco basically grew up in the U.S. He joined the Army straight out of high school. He earned every inch of his right to be here—just not, apparently, the paperwork.
Let’s talk about that “serious crime” they say landed him in immigration detention. The story is long, complicated, and yes—there was a mistake. That tends to happen when you’ve been blown across a battlefield and handed a pharmacy’s worth of anxiety meds before the VA politely closes the door on you. But the part where we pretend he’s just another “illegal” is where the conversation falls off the rails.
Let’s talk about the U.S. military. We’ll give you a gun. We’ll send you into hell. We’ll pin medals on you for bravery. But don’t expect citizenship. That’s a separate line. And God forbid you show any symptoms of trauma when you come home, or end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The military might’ve treated Barco like a hero—briefly—but the U.S. immigration system treated him like trash.
And the cherry on this disgrace sundae? When Barco landed in Honduras en route to Venezuela, the Venezuelans didn’t want him either. They didn’t believe his birth certificate. Thought his Spanish was “too Cuban.” (He was four when he left, what did they expect—slang and a cedula memorized?) One even said, “It wouldn’t be good for you here. You have no family.” You know it’s bad when the country you're being deported to has more empathy than the one you served.
So where is Barco now? Sitting in a second detention center near Los Fresnos, Texas, asking a reasonable question: What country will take him?
Here’s the thing: we’ve deported over 400 veterans since the 1990s. This isn't some isolated mistake. This is policy. Intentional. Bureaucratic indifference dressed up in red, white, and blue. We’ve created a system where a guy can get lit on fire rescuing soldiers in Fallujah, but still not count as “American enough” when he needs help the most.
But hey—thank you for your service, right?
Welcome to America. We value our veterans… not. ~ 📷 Rick Gaspa
I learned about this earlier today, but I had to compose myself before posting—because this breaks a part of my soul.
If you’re a contractor with a segregation policy, say it loud—so non-white dollars don’t fund your business. It won’t go how you think.
And if anyone uncovers businesses doing this, put them on blast.
@NAACP@NatUrbanLeague
This is not the way forward. A few reminders: 1. Trump tried to overthrow the government by inciting a violent insurrection 2. Trump is trying to wreck the economy and allow Russian influence to circulate freely in America.