Good Morning, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful
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Did Trump Surrender To Iran After Starting His War?
Remember when Trump bombed Iran and threatened to destroy it? Now the war’s over, and look who walked off with the prizes. Trump promised the Strait of Hormuz would stay permanently toll-free. Iran says not so fast. Tehran won’t call them tolls, but it’ll charge ships fees for so-called navigational services on the route carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil. Iran’s spokesman said it plain. We do not charge tolls, he said, then promised fees anyway.
But wait, there’s more. Trump’s own CIA director, John Ratcliffe, told the president he doesn’t buy Iran’s promises. Intelligence shows Iranian officials describing this deal one way in private, another way to our negotiators. Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth share his doubts.
And then there’s the money. JD Vance swears America won’t hand Iran a single dime. But he admits we’d happily push Gulf states to pump three hundred billion dollars into rebuilding Iran if it behaves. So Trump started a war, killed thousands, and the payoff is tolls on our oil, Iran’s nuclear program left standing, and a fortune flowing to Tehran. That’s no victory. It’s a surrender dressed up as a parade.
Is Trump Trying To Steal Your Vote Before The Midterms?
Election experts are sounding the alarm, and it’s loud. Trump has launched a broad-front attack on voting rights with election deniers planted in key positions. He signed orders to build a national voter list under his own control, to choke off mail-in voting, and to hand your private voter data to Homeland Security. His Justice Department is leaning on states to purge their rolls. The SAVE Act could block millions of citizens who don’t have a passport or birth certificate handy. The Brennan Center says twenty-one million Americans lack those papers. One legal scholar warned an order like this would sow doubt and tilt the field. When a president decides who gets to vote, that’s not democracy. That’s a man afraid the voters will take back the power he stole.
Should Billionaires Get To Buy A Maine Senate Seat?
In Maine, a state of just one point four million people, the Senate race between Susan Collins and progressive Graham Platner could cost close to four hundred million dollars. Nearly one hundred billionaires and their spouses have poured roughly ten million into groups backing Collins. The donors read like a Wall Street guest list, Schwarzman, Singer, Ken Griffin, and operative Leonard Leo. Platner, who just won his primary, says he’ll beat them and then end the whole rotten system. Bernie Sanders cut right to it. People in Maine are tired of establishment status quo politics, he said. When a handful of billionaires can drown out one point four million voters, your vote barely counts. That’s the oligarchy buying America one seat at a time.
Why Do Insurers Deny Care To The Seniors Who Paid In?
A new federal watchdog report just exposed how private Medicare Advantage plans treat sick seniors. The biggest names, UnitedHealthcare, CVS Aetna, and Humana, rejected requests for rehab and long-term care more than seventy percent of the time. A senior recovering from a stroke or a heart attack, told no. And here’s the kicker. When patients appealed, ninety-five percent of those denials got reversed. So they were wrong almost every time, but they said no first to save a buck. Nearly twenty million Americans are in plans run by those three companies. One health policy expert called the denial rates quite staggering. This is what happens when you let Wall Street stand between a doctor and a dying patient. Profit first. Your parents last.
Climate Chaos Now Stalks Nearly Every Child On Earth
A new United Nations report lands like a gut punch. Nearly every child on the planet is now exposed to at least one climate hazard fueled by fossil fuels. Well over half live in areas hit by drought. More than one and a half billion kids face brutal heatwaves. Three hundred seventy million are exposed to flooding. And more than one billion face three or more of these threats stacked together. UNICEF’s director said children’s lives continue to be upended by heat, fire, drought, and floods. These kids did nothing to cause this, yet pay the steepest price. While oil companies post record profits, a whole generation inherits a burning planet. That’s the bill for decades of letting polluters write the rules.
Strength Training Finds Its Sweet Spot For A Longer Life
And some good news to close. A big Harvard study tracked nearly one hundred fifty thousand people for thirty years and found a sweet spot for lifting weights. Just ninety to about one hundred twenty minutes of strength training a week. People who hit that range had a thirteen percent lower risk of dying from any cause, a nineteen percent lower risk from heart disease, and a twenty-seven percent lower risk from brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. And here’s the part the gym bros won’t like. More than two hours a week adds nothing extra. A couple of focused sessions each week can add years to your life. In a country where good health shouldn’t hinge on your bank account, that’s about as democratic as medicine gets.
And that’s the way it is, Today Tuesday, June sixteenth, twenty twenty-six. I’m Thom Hartmann.
