Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Did Big Coal Buy Itself a President?
The coal industry was dying. Natural gas and solar beat it on price, coal’s share of our electricity fell by more than half, and only about 41,000 Americans still work in it. Then Donald Trump came back. He signed orders letting old plants dodge pollution rules. His Energy Department forced five retiring plants to keep burning. He opened 13 million acres of public land to mining and spent $625 million patching up aging plants. In February, Peabody’s CEO handed him a trophy naming him the Undisputed Champion of Coal, and Trump ordered the Pentagon to buy coal power. In June came $700 million more, pulled from money Congress set aside to cut pollution. One critic called it “throwing a lifeline to a ship that has already sunk.” You pay twice, on your power bill and in your lungs.
Why Are Small Business Owners Betting Their Homes to Survive Trump’s Economy?
A new survey of more than 1,000 small business owners found 83% worried about their company’s financial health over the next year. 44% are very worried. Small Business for America’s Future says tariffs, soaring health premiums, and fuel costs driven by the Iran war are crushing Main Street all at once. Gabe Hagen runs a coffee roaster in Tempe. He raised prices, and sales flattened because customers are ordering less. To keep the doors open he put his 401(k) and his home equity on the line. Walt Rowen, who runs a century-old glass company in Pennsylvania, said “costs are hitting Main Street from every direction at once.” These are the people Republicans claim to speak for. Three weeks before the midterms, they’re comparing this economy to the worst moments of the century.
Who Took $50,000 in a Paper Bag, Ilhan Omar or Trump’s Border Czar?
Monday before dawn, Homeland Security agents raided Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Washington home, two days after Trump attacked her on stage at a rally. For years he and his party have demanded she be stripped of her citizenship and deported. Omar called it political intimidation. Don Beyer called it insanely corrupt. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal went further. She reminded the country that Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, was reportedly caught on FBI video in 2024 taking $50,000 in cash in a paper bag from undercover agents posing as businessmen seeking contracts. Trump’s Justice Department shut that case down. Homan says he did nothing illegal. Jayapal’s point was simple. “Maybe they should look at themselves first.” When the state raids its critics and protects its bag men, that’s not law enforcement. That’s a regime.
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Ken Paxton Declares War on Pediatricians, and Texas Kids Pay the Price
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s endorsed candidate for Senate, is investigating pediatricians for giving kids vaccines. He claims drug companies and insurers are bribing doctors to vaccinate. At least one Texas pediatrician has gotten demand letters from his office and spent thousands on lawyers. Pediatricians are among the lowest paid doctors in America. Lubbock’s public health director says she’s reimbursed as little as $6 per shot and loses money on every one. Meanwhile, RFK Jr. has pocketed at least $2.5 million in referral fees from vaccine lawsuits. Measles is back in Texas, and only 93.3% of kindergartners there are fully vaccinated. Vaccine expert Paul Offit called the probe “a stupid, desperate thing to do.” Paxton may lose to James Talarico. So he’ll let children get sick to win a few more votes.
Trump Denies China Is Arming Iran. Did He Miss the Dead Americans?
Late Monday night, Trump posted on Truth Social that Russia and China aren’t helping Iran in its war with the United States. “I don’t believe they are at all,” he wrote, claiming they’d have too much to lose. Here’s what we already know. The Wall Street Journal reported Chinese entities shipped components used in Iran’s drones and missiles. American officials tied satellite imagery from Chinese sources to an Iranian strike that killed three American troops. Beijing says it follows the rules. Trump takes Beijing’s word over his own military. Americans are dead. And the commander in chief is telling the country not to believe its own intelligence. When a president won’t face facts about who is shooting at our soldiers, every family with someone in uniform should be asking why.
Federal Judge Channels the Lorax and Stops Trump’s Chainsaws Cold
Trump promised one of the greatest golf courses in the world on public land in Washington. Between October 5 and October 9, his Interior Department approved a plan to clear hundreds of trees from the East Potomac course. They notified the court just before five on a Friday afternoon. Bulldozers rolled at eight the next morning. By nightfall, about 430 healthy trees were gone. On Tuesday, Judge Ana Reyes halted the cutting through October 26. The government claimed the clearing came from a 2019 landscape report and had nothing to do with Trump. Reyes answered, “That asks rather a lot of coincidence.” The budget was unclear, the environmental impact unstudied, the urgency nonexistent. In a footnote on trees that can’t be replaced, she wrote, just ask the Lorax. Dr. Seuss warned us about men like this. One of them has the nuclear codes.
And that’s the way it is, Today Wednesday, October 14, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
