Watch now   Important Saturday Night Update Aaron Parnas Sep 5 Big update this Saturday, and it does not have much about Donald Trump. Federal immigration officials have quietly won a judge’s permission to force-feed a detained Cuban hunger striker in Texas through a rare, nonconsensual surgical procedure that cuts into the abdomen to insert a permanent feeding tube, the first documented case of its kind and the 19th time since January 2025 ICE has secured approval for involuntary medical treatment on a hunger striker. In a separate ruling, a divided federal appeals court found that the Constitution doesn’t guarantee Americans a right to clean drinking water, tossing out a lawsuit from Jackson, Mississippi residents over lead contaminated water despite a sharp dissent comparing the case to the Flint water crisis. Overseas, the Iran war escalated further this weekend as the U.S. destroyed or disabled three Iranian oil tankers after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired on an American aircraft carrier and destroyer, even as Trump and Vance downplayed the fighting as “small potatoes” and gas and diesel prices hit record highs heading into Labor Day weekend. And in a story getting renewed attention, Julia Molchanova has gone public for the first time about years of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, revealing she was the Jane Doe plaintiff behind a $72.5 million settlement with Bank of America. Stories like these, ICE quietly winning approval to cut into a detained man’s body without his consent, a federal court ruling that Americans have no constitutional right to clean water, aren’t getting the coverage they deserve elsewhere. That’s exactly why this newsletter exists. If you’ve found value in the reporting here, the best way to support it is to subscribe. It keeps this work independent, and it keeps me able to dig into the stories that would otherwise stay buried With that, here’s the news. ICE Given Permission to Conduct Non-Consensual Surgery: Federal immigration officials quietly received a judge’s permission to force-feed a detained Cuban hunger striker at a Texas detention center, including through a rare, nonconsensual surgical procedure, according to court records reviewed by The Guardian. The man is likely the 19th hunger striker since January 2025 for whom ICE has won approval for involuntary medical procedures, and this is the first documented case involving a “percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy” tube, a surgery that cuts into the abdomen to insert a permanent feeding tube. Judge Andrew Hanen approved the force-feeding on August 19 and extended the order this week through mid-September, even as DHS claimed Thursday the man had resumed eating and was not being force-fed. He is held at the privately-run Montgomery ICE processing center near Houston, operated by GEO Group, and was arrested by ICE on July 22 before being declared a hunger striker three days later. The Guardian is not naming him because efforts to contact him were unsuccessful, and like in most force-feeding cases, the majority of his court records remain sealed. ACLU Texas attorney Savannah Kumar condemned the practice as torture, saying “the cruelty of the extreme tactics at ICE’s disposal to end lawful protest, including forcibly cutting into a protester’s body to insert a tube in their stomach, underscores the horrors happening outside our view in ICE detention centers.” Immigrant and civil rights attorney Eunice Cho, who has documented ICE’s forced treatment of hunger strikers extensively, said the high number of verified court orders since January 2025, 19 in total, “raises serious concern” and suggests either that conditions are bad enough to drive more hunger strikes or that officials are increasingly skipping less confrontational resolutions in favor of forced medical intervention. Like many cases The Guardian has reviewed, the Cuban man has no current legal representation, which Cho called “a tragedy, and a clear failure of our justice system” given the invasive, nonconsensual procedure he now faces. GEO Group referred all questions to ICE, and the US attorney’s office representing ICE in the case did not respond to a request for comment. DHS said the Cuban hunger striker entered the US unlawfully in 1980 and was ordered deported in 2004, claiming he has past convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon, aggravated battery, drug possession, and carrying a concealed firearm, and that he “received due process and will remain in ICE custody until removed.” The agency also maintained that its facilities provide proper food, hygiene, phone and other basic services, and that hunger strikers continue receiving three meals a day delivered to their rooms. Typically, once a judge approves a force-feeding request, guards hold down a hunger striker while medical staff insert a tube through the nose and down the throat to pump in nutritional liquid, but this case marks the first known instance of ICE receiving permission for the more invasive surgical gastrostomy procedure instead. The Trump administration had previously refused to acknowledge that force-feeding was happening in ICE detention at all, only confirming the practice after The Guardian’s ongoing investigation, which has now identified 19 such cases since January 2025. Major Court Ruling Denies Americans Right to Clean Water: A divided full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the US Constitution doesn’t provide a right to clean drinking water or accurate information from public officials, affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit over alleged lead-contaminated drinking water in Jackson, Mississippi. Writing for the majority, Trump appointee Judge Kurt Engelhardt said “the Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing” and found no historical basis for such a right under the due process clause. He said residents have other options, including pursuing tort claims, electing new officials, or petitioning representatives, and added that even if a due process violation had occurred, city officials would still get qualified immunity because no clearly established right was violated. The ruling reverses course from a 2025 panel decision that had revived the residents’ bodily autonomy claim, which was vacated once the full court took up the case en banc. Engelhardt’s opinion was joined by nine other Republican appointed judges on the court. Jackson residents have claimed officials deliberately allowed lead to contaminate the city’s drinking water, harming those who drank it, allegations the city has denied. Engelhardt distinguished the case from other bodily integrity claims, like sexual assault by police or forced medication of prisoners, calling water system mismanagement “wholly different,” and said Supreme Court precedent on informed consent doesn’t extend to a right to accurate information from officials. The case, Sterling v. City of Jackson, was decided by the full Fifth Circuit sitting en banc on September 4th. Neither a lawyer for the residents nor representatives for the city immediately returned requests for comment. Judge Catharina Haynes, a George W. Bush appointee, dissented in part, joined by four liberal members of the court, arguing that at this stage the claims must be accepted as true and that residents should at least get discovery. She wrote that the allegations “mirror in various ways one of the worst public health crises in recent American history, the Flint water crisis,” and said the majority ignored the residents’ state-created danger claim. Haynes said the Fifth Circuit “stands practically alone in its decades-long fence-sitting” on the state-created danger doctrine and said she would adopt it and find the residents plausibly alleged a bodily integrity violation. Separately, parents of children who died in last year’s Camp Mystic flood in Texas had also urged the circuit to recognize the state-created danger theory, which would let cases proceed against public entities accused of increasing people’s risk of harm. Iran war: The U.S. struck and “permanently disabled” three Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman on Saturday after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyer, both of which evaded the strikes with no American personnel injured. CENTCOM said the M/T Downy and M/T Stark 1 were permanently disabled while the M/T Kylo was completely destroyed, with its crew directed to abandon ship beforehand. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper warned “if you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost, taking out three of yours,” adding the U.S. would “not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard responded by saying it had targeted three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels “affiliated with” the U.S. in retaliation, warning other ships against using unapproved routes, though there was no immediate U.S. confirmation. Iran’s joint military command separately warned that strikes against U.S. ships would grow more severe if the U.S. keeps interfering with Iranian shipping. President Trump downplayed the conflict Friday, calling it “small potatoes” for the United States and saying “a lot of people don’t call it a war, I call it a military conflict,” a day after Vice President JD Vance said he “wouldn’t call it a war” and argued major combat operations had ended weeks ago. That framing came despite Trump himself referring to it as a war multiple times in a Truth Social post the same morning, and despite an Air Force email obtained by CBS News showing the Pentagon had instructed personnel in August to stop calling it “Operation Epic Fury,” three months after the administration had declared that operation over. Trump also told reporters the U.S. may strike Iran’s alleged Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site “very soon,” saying “we know everybody that’s moving at Pickaxe... if anything goes bad, we hit them, we hit them hard.” Meanwhile, Iranian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akrami-Nia argued the U.S. and Israel had failed to achieve their war objectives, including destroying Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities or overthrowing its government, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said separately that toppling Iran’s regime was “within reach.” Iranian officials have also acknowledged mounting economic strain from U.S. sanctions, with the rial trading at a record 2.2 million to the dollar on the black market against an official rate of about 42,000. U.S. gas prices surged into Labor Day weekend, with diesel hitting a record $5.85 a gallon Friday and AAA predicting the highest holiday pump prices ever recorded, as the war keeps traffic through the Strait of Hormuz well below pre-war levels and pushes global oil prices higher. Regular gas reached nearly $4.15 a gallon, the first time it has ever topped $4 on Labor Day, with Brent crude plateauing around $95 a barrel, about 45% higher than a year ago. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett called the price spike “a very short-term thing,” saying he gets daily updates on how much oil is moving through the strait and that Saudi Arabia has increased flows through its pipeline to the Red Sea to help ease prices. Away from the economic fallout, the war has also drawn in Lebanon and Yemen, with Israeli strikes killing several people in southern Lebanon despite a truce with Hezbollah, and fighting between Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels killing more than 60 people including civilians on a bus. Separately, the U.S. approved a $5 billion sale of bombs and other equipment to Saudi Arabia, which has faced repeated drone and missile attacks since the war began. Other news: Julia Molchanova, now 37, has gone public for the first time as the Jane Doe plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Bank of America, describing years of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein that began in 2011 when she was 22 and spoke little English. Epstein lured her in with a promise to help her enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology, then abused her starting on her first trip to New York, eventually drawing her into what she described as a cult-like arrangement in which he controlled her spending, appearance, relationships, and even arranged a marriage for her to another woman, while registering companies in her name that he used to move money without her knowledge. A federal judge recently approved a $72.5 million settlement with Bank of America over claims the bank ignored suspicious transactions tied to Epstein’s trafficking, calling it a case that “brought actual justice, although partial,” while Bank of America said it maintains it didn’t facilitate trafficking crimes. Molchanova said she finally broke away in 2019 after discovering unfamiliar credit card activity tied to her name, confronting Epstein’s bookkeeper and accountant, and refusing his invitations back to Palm Beach, saying she feared “someone would find me on the bottom of his pool if I go.” She said she’s speaking out now to show “women have a voice and the ability to rebuild themselves,” while attorneys for Epstein’s accountant and lawyer disputed knowing she was a trafficking victim. Vladimir Putin has begun talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The discussions are the latest push by the Trump administration to broker a resolution to the more than three year conflict, using informal envoys rather than traditional State Department channels. No timeline for a deal has been set, and it remains unclear what concessions either side would be willing to make. The talks come as fighting continues on the ground and international pressure builds for a negotiated end to the war. Kushner and Witkoff have both taken on outsized diplomatic roles in this administration despite holding no formal State Department posts. Donald Trump has a new hair style now, it appears to be brunette: Clorox is recalling about 6.3 million bottles of scented Mistolin Dilutable Cleaners and Lestoil Heavy Duty Multi-Purpose Cleaners sold in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands because the products may be contaminated with bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The CPSC notice, issued September 3rd, says the risk falls mainly on people with weakened immune systems or external medical devices, such as those on chemotherapy, living with an organ transplant, or using a feeding tube, catheter, or central line, while healthy adults are usually not affected. The bacteria can enter the body if inhaled, through the eyes, or through broken skin, all plausible during ordinary cleaning, and it’s a recognized cause of device associated infections that are often resistant to multiple antibiotics. The recall covers specific scented varieties with date codes starting “PR01” made between April 2025 and June 2026, sold in 28 to 128 ounce bottles at retailers like Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Costco for $1.40 to $8, with no injuries reported so far. It’s also the second time in four years Clorox has recalled cleaners over this same bacteria, after pulling roughly 37 million Pine-Sol bottles in 2022 for identical contamination, which raises questions about manufacturing process controls the CPSC notice doesn’t address. A chunk of ceiling fell inside the Kennedy Center’s grand foyer Friday evening during stormy weather in Washington, leaving a large hole and debris on the red carpet in the hallway connecting the venue’s three main auditoriums, though no one was injured. Center spokesperson Roma Daravi seized on the collapse to argue for the Trump-backed renovation plan, saying “the reality is, the place is falling apart and @realDonaldTrump wants to fix it” and that “there is no legitimate reason to further halt the renovations.” The Kennedy Center’s Trump-aligned board is fighting in court to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade and to close the center for two years for $250 million in renovations, part of the president’s broader push to reshape Washington that also includes the demolished East Wing ballroom project and a planned triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name had been added to the Kennedy Center illegally and blocked the administration from closing the venue, and is now weighing an August board vote to restore a version of his name to the facade, with Justice Department lawyers arguing that donations will dry up without it. Grace Terpstra of the group Keep the KC said she suspects the board will use the limited ceiling damage “to make the point that the whole thing needs to be shut down,” adding “I think they’ll try to make it into a bigger thing.” For the first time since NATO’s decades-old Northern Viking exercise began, no American ships or aircraft joined this year’s submarine-hunting drills off Iceland, with German surveillance planes, Canadian warships, and Belgian fighter jets filling in instead under French command. The exercise focuses on the “GIUK Gap,” the stretch of water between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK that Russian nuclear-powered submarines use to enter the Atlantic, with a senior NATO official warning that Russian control of the gap would give Moscow “free reign of the Atlantic.” The pullback follows broader tension over the Arctic, including Trump’s threats last year to buy or seize Greenland and reported plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Europe, moves that pushed NATO allies to start planning how to defend Greenland from a fellow alliance member. Officials pointed to rising Russian activity as the backdrop, including Germany blaming Moscow for a drone found loaded with explosives at the Leipzig airport and CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow to warn against attacking the Baltic states. French Rear Admiral Nicolas Molitor, who led the coalition, said the allied ships still exercise with the U.S. Navy elsewhere but acknowledged the shift, noting “we will always be sailing with allied ships, and this is a strength,” even without the Americans this time. A Guardian investigation examined why seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their convoy in Gaza. The reporting points to a “guilt by association” targeting practice, in which people connected to suspected militants can themselves become targets even when there’s no direct evidence they posed a threat. The strike killed the seven workers despite WCK having coordinated its convoy’s movements with Israeli forces beforehand. The findings raise fresh questions about the rules of engagement Israel’s military uses when approving strikes near aid operations. WCK suspended its Gaza operations after the attack, which drew international condemnation over the safety of humanitarian workers in the territory. A New York gallery is suing Alaska Airlines after more than $500,000 worth of Japanese artwork was allegedly ruined in transit. The gallery claims the pieces, described as valuable and fragile, were damaged because of how the airline handled the shipment. The lawsuit seeks to recover the value of the destroyed works along with additional damages tied to the loss. It’s the latest case of a high value art shipment going wrong in the hands of a commercial carrier, an issue that has repeatedly dogged airlines handling delicate cargo. Alaska Airlines has not yet publicly detailed its response to the specific allegations. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has acknowledged that measles caused the death of an infant in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, after previously hedging on the cause. The admission follows a dispute between Kennedy and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro over how the state’s measles outbreak has been handled. The Lancaster County coroner had already attributed the infant’s death to the virus, putting Kennedy’s earlier reluctance at odds with local officials’ findings. The admission comes as Pennsylvania’s outbreak continues to grow, with the case count climbing well into the hundreds. Kennedy’s handling of the outbreak has become a flashpoint in the broader fight over his vaccine skepticism as the nation’s top health official. A federal judge refused Friday to block the Pentagon from firing three Stars and Stripes staff members who claim they were illegally disciplined for speaking out about the outlet’s editorial independence. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, ruled the journalists are unlikely to prove their First Amendment rights were violated, finding they gave their CBS News interview as part of their official duties rather than as private citizens, writing “they are being fired for giving pre-approved interviews on their paper’s behalf in which they largely toed the company line.” Publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte sued after Slavin and Korte were disciplined for the CBS interview objecting to potential military censorship, and Lederer was dismissed shortly after announcing his retirement, saying the Pentagon had installed a new deputy publisher, an active-duty service member, under him without his knowledge. Their lawsuit alleges the firings were retaliation for a report on deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, and names the Defense Department and Secretary Pete Hegseth as defendants. Democracy Defenders Fund attorney Taryn Wilgus Null called the ruling not the final word, saying “we fully expect to prevail after we have an opportunity to take discovery and all the facts are revealed.” A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must give 48 hours notice before starting construction on the president’s planned “Great Triumphal Arch” in Washington, D.C. The ruling came in response to a legal challenge over how the project was approved and how quickly officials moved toward breaking ground. The notice requirement gives challengers a window to seek emergency relief before any physical work begins, though it doesn’t block the project outright. The arch is the latest in a string of monument and construction projects Trump has pursued in the capital during his second term. The ruling amounts to a procedural check on the pace of the project rather than a verdict on its merits. A prankster built a lookalike website for the GOP’s midterm convention that redirects unsuspecting visitors straight to the Justice Department’s released Epstein files. The site mimics the official convention page closely enough to fool people searching for event details. Instead of convention information, anyone who clicks through lands in the trove of Epstein related documents the DOJ has made public. It’s the latest instance of Trump aligned events or officials being targeted by pranksters using the Epstein files as a pointed political jab. It’s not yet clear whether convention organizers or the GOP plan to respond or seek to take the site down. See you soon. — Aaron You’re currently a free subscriber to the Parnas Perspective. For the full experience, more content, and to support Aaron, upgrade your subscription.