US Military Eyes 10,000 Troop Surge to Middle East Amid Iran Nuclear Tensions 
FEMA Reinstates $1 Billion Disaster Prevention Grant Program After Court Order 
CPAC 2026: Republicans Back Trump's Iran Strikes Amid Growing Public Skepticism 
Trump Pauses Iran Strikes as Peace Talks Stall Amid Military Buildup 
Iran Demands Lebanon Be Part of Any Ceasefire Deal With Israel and the U.S. 
China Opens Door to Stronger U.S. Trade Ties Amid Rising Tensions 
SMIC Allegedly Supplies Chipmaking Tools to Iran's Military, U.S. Officials Warn 
G7 Foreign Ministers Gather in France Amid Global Tensions and U.S. Policy Uncertainty 
Israeli Airstrike Targets Building in Beirut's Southern Suburbs Amid Ongoing Hezbollah Conflict 
Iran-U.S. Negotiations: Tehran Reviews American Peace Proposal Amid Ongoing Gulf Conflict 
Russia Accused of Helping Iran Target U.S. Forces, European Powers Tell G7 
Russia Strikes Kharkiv and Izmail as Cross-Border Drone War Escalates 
U.S. Praises Kurdistan's Role in Oil Markets Amid Iran War Fallout 
Iran Allows Oil Tankers Through Strait of Hormuz Amid U.S. Negotiations 
What does China’s host bid mean for the High Seas Treaty? 
WTO Reform Talks Begin in Cameroon Amid Global Trade Tensions 
Barack Obama has been accused of being apolitical since he got out of the office and now that the country is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, the ex-POTUS posted about author Shea Serrano and Roxanne Gay’s efforts to provide support to people in need amid the outbreak.
Serrano asked people who posted screenshots of their student-loan statements and past-due medical bills to tag him if they need financial support.
“Who has bill coming up that they’re not sure if they’re gonna be able to pay?” he tweeted. Serrano vowed to send direct payment amounting to a total of $10,000 to those in need.
Gay also gave 20 people $100 each to help with their bills.
“People need immediate relief. They need food. They need water. They need health care. They need prescriptions,” she said.
Shortly after learning about their efforts, Obama tweeted about Serrano and Gay. However, the ex-POTUS was criticized for only celebrating the initiatives of private individuals and not the government.
Vice journalist Laura Wagner claimed that focusing exclusively on these kinds of good works is a way of avoiding the obvious.
“Donations and volunteering from private citizens and organizations alone will not and cannot avert a national crisis. It will take drastic, unprecedented government intervention in order to avoid mass unemployment, another Great Depression, and thousands of preventable deaths,” she said.
Wagner went on to say that Obama is known to famously loathe to say or do anything political.
“The refusal to engage in politics is, of course, a political act. So too is a decision to focus solely on individual responsibility—a huge part of what got the country into this mess in the first place – rather than that of the collective,” she said.
Despite the criticism he received, Michelle Obama’s husband continues to inspire and comfort Americans. The dad of two said that netizens should continue to stay hopeful amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“Stay healthy, stay hopeful,” he tweeted.
