Good Morning, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Are Republicans Finally Cracking on Trump’s Iran War?
The Senate finally did it. After seven failed attempts, senators voted 50 to 47 yesterday to advance a war powers resolution forcing Trump to end his unauthorized war on Iran. The breakthrough came from Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy. He lost his primary over the weekend after Trump endorsed his opponent, and suddenly he found his backbone. Cassidy joined Republicans Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, plus every Democrat except John Fetterman. The National Iranian American Council called it a major blow for a disastrous war and said, “The hard work of pro-peace Americans is paying off.” Trump started this war at the end of February without a single vote from Congress. Gas prices are up. Inflation is roaring back. And even his own party is saying enough.
Trump’s DOJ Just Made Trump & Sons Untouchable on Taxes Forever
Quietly, on Monday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s own former defense lawyer, signed a one-page addendum that bars the IRS from ever auditing or examining Trump’s past tax returns. Forever. Period. It was slipped into a settlement that already created a one point seven billion dollar so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund to pay Trump’s allies. Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance calls it a “pardon on steroids.” She says it covers Trump, his family, his businesses, every entity, for crimes “presently known or unknown.” One veteran FBI agent told Vance the sweep is staggering. Fraud at Trump Media, fraud at crypto ventures, fraud at Don Junior’s gambling outfit. All wiped clean. The Supreme Court already gave Trump immunity for official acts. Now he’s wiped out the personal stuff too. This isn’t a settlement. It’s a self-pardon by another name, and it shreds the idea that no one is above the law.
Why Is Trump Indicting a 94-Year-Old Cuban?
The Justice Department is set today to indict former Cuban president Raul Castro. He’s 94 years old. The charges relate to the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes that killed four Cuban Americans. The announcement comes at the Freedom Tower in Miami with Acting AG Todd Blanche, the FBI, and Senator Ashley Moody of Florida. But this isn’t really about justice for 1996. The Trump administration just attacked Venezuela and captured Nicolas Maduro. They’ve slapped crushing sanctions on Cuba and threatened military action. This indictment is the next move in a regime change campaign across Latin America. Trump is using a thirty-year-old tragedy to lay the groundwork for the next war.
Bond Markets Sending a Warning to America..Are You Paying Attention?
The thirty-year Treasury yield hit five point one nine percent yesterday. That’s the highest level since July 2007, just before the financial crisis. Why does this matter to you? Because it sets mortgage rates, credit card rates, business loans, car loans. Stocks dropped for the third day in a row. Investors are dumping U.S. bonds because they don’t trust where this economy is going. The Iran war is driving up oil prices. Inflation is reaccelerating. Federal deficits are exploding. And global investors, including Japan and China, are quietly cutting back on U.S. debt. Barclays warns yields could hit five and a half percent. Bank of America says sixty-two percent of fund managers expect them to hit six. Working families are about to feel this in every monthly bill. The bond market isn’t a casino. It’s a giant lie detector. And right now it’s screaming.
Trump Just Dissed Canada Again
The Pentagon has suspended the Permanent Joint Board on Defense with Canada, an alliance that goes back to World War Two. Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby announced the move, complaining Canada hasn’t spent enough on its military. Prime Minister Mark Carney brushed it off, noting Canada just hit two percent of GDP on defense for the first time since the Berlin Wall fell, including a forty billion dollar investment in NORAD. Andrea Charron of the University of Manitoba put it bluntly. She said, “None of this rhetoric serves anyone’s purposes but China and Russia.” Canada is now renegotiating trade, gave Australia an Arctic radar contract, and is eyeing Swedish jets instead of American F-35s. Trump is burning down a 250-year friendship over wounded ego. Russia and China are toasting.
A Freight Train of Hot Water Is Coming for You
Hundreds of feet beneath the Pacific Ocean, a 9,000-mile-long wave of record-warm water is barreling east. It’s seven and a half degrees Celsius above normal. That’s thirteen and a half degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists call it a Kelvin wave, and the European model now puts the odds of a super El Nino forming by November at 100 percent. The last two super El Ninos, in 1982 and 1997, caused trillions in damage. This one starts from a hotter baseline because our planet is warming. Expect floods, droughts, killer heat, weakened monsoons, and a wild hurricane season. Climate change isn’t a future problem. It’s the freight train already in the station.
And that’s the way it is, Today Wednesday, May 20th, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
