Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Did Trump’s Postal Service Just Cancel Thousands of Rural Votes?
Three days after Washington’s August primary, election workers in Stevens County expected a few dozen late ballots. They found more than 500. None will count. Across 11 rural counties in eastern Washington, nearly 2,000 ballots came in late, up from about 600 in 2022. ProPublica found out why. The Postal Service quietly cut pickups from twice a day to once at rural post offices 50 miles or more from a sorting plant. That delays the postmark. In Washington, California, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon, late ballot rejections doubled or tripled in counties hit by the cuts. In urban Spokane, rejections actually fell. Garfield County tossed nearly one in 10 ballots. The cuts now cover almost 20,000 ZIP codes and at least seven tight congressional districts. The counties hit hardest voted for Trump. Washington’s Secretary of State Steve Hobbs put it plainly. “I don’t think they realized how much it was going to affect their voter base.” Experts say the question for November 3rd isn’t whether ballots get thrown out, it’s how many. When a cost cutting plan silently erases rural votes, that’s not efficiency. That’s disenfranchisement with a postage stamp. Use the drop box.
Who Pulled the Plug on Ukraine? Rubio and Hegseth Point at Musk
Last week Trump swore neither he nor Elon Musk slowed Starlink service to Ukraine. Then the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Musk himself ordered the throttling of Starlink and its military cousin Starshield, the systems Ukraine uses to fend off Russian missiles and drones. Now the story’s changed. Rubio says Ukraine’s access is governed by a private commercial contract. Hegseth says Starlink gets to make those calls under its terms of service. Trump’s answer Wednesday? “I don’t know who did it but I was not involved.” The slowdown came right after Zelensky called Trump weak for waiving Russian sanctions and buying Putin’s diesel. Republicans aren’t buying the shrug. John Cornyn called it shameful and doubts Musk acted without White House blessing. Brian Fitzpatrick said throttling Starshield, a military tool, is likely a violation of law, and he and Don Bacon threatened to block Trump’s lame duck agenda until they get answers. 23 lawmakers from both parties begged Trump to make one phone call. Meanwhile Musk has poured more than $276 million into Republican midterm campaigns. One unelected billionaire holds a kill switch over a nation’s defense, and our government can’t say who flipped it. That’s not democracy. That’s oligarchy.
Zuckerberg Blinks as California’s Billionaire Tax Closes In
Mark Zuckerberg told Meta’s board he might flee California. Not anymore. A 109-page SEC filing released Wednesday shows that from July through September, Zuckerberg told directors he was planning to move out of state to dodge what the filing calls a significant, multi-billion-dollar tax. That tax is Proposition 40, on the November 3rd ballot. A one-time 5% levy on Californians worth more than $1 billion as of January 1st. About 90% of the money goes to public health care Trump’s tax law gutted. Forbes puts Zuckerberg’s fortune at $239 billion, so his bill runs about $12 billion. Paying it could force him to sell supervoting shares and cut his control of Meta from 60.6% to 53%. So the board cut him a deal. A new class of nonvoting stock, roughly $20 billion in cash he can tap, and a Founder Alignment Agreement where he promises to stay in California for eight years. Economist Gabriel Zucman, whose research inspired the measure, called it huge. “This SEC filing is proof that the campaign for Proposition 40 is working.” For 40 years billionaires have told us tax them and they’ll leave. The richest man in California just signed a contract to stay. The threat was always a bluff. Call it.
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Three Men Break Silence and Accuse the Late Lindsey Graham of Paying Them for Sex
A new documentary from The Young Turks and Swamp Watch Studios makes an explosive allegation. Three men say the late Senator Lindsey Graham paid them for sex. One, identified only as Kelvin, says he was 17 at the time. His words in the film are direct. “I had sex with Lindsey Graham when I was 17.” Graham died in July at 71 after a sudden illness. His sister now holds his seat. The film sets the men’s accounts against Graham’s decades of public opposition to LGBTQ rights. Cenk Uygur called them serious claims that deserve public scrutiny and released the full film so viewers can judge for themselves. Let’s be clear about what we know and don’t. These are allegations. Graham isn’t here to answer them. No court has weighed them. No major outlet has independently confirmed them yet. But remember what Graham did with his power. He voted against marriage equality. He fought the Equality Act. He built a career on the politics of other people’s bedrooms. If these accounts hold up, that’s not just hypocrisy. It’s a reminder that the loudest moralizers in Washington often have the most to hide, and the people who pay for it are the ones they legislate against.
Why Is Bari Weiss Protecting the CBS Reporter Who Cheered a Bigoted Heckler?
Early Sunday morning, CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford posted video of a heckler named Tommy demanding that Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed said sure, absolutely, then asked why. Because, he said, you assume I have dual loyalties. Crawford thanked Tommy and called the answer a spectacular self own. Hours later she deleted it, admitted it broke CBS standards, and apologized. Now Zeteo’s Justin Baragona reports she won’t face any further punishment despite growing calls inside the building for her to be suspended or fired. One CBS staffer told him, “There is zero question that she should be fired.” Why no consequences? Crawford is seen as a close ally of CBS editor in chief Bari Weiss. Semafor reports Weiss has pushed reporters to tie El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood. An insider said Bari doesn’t think Crawford did anything wrong. CNN’s Karen Finney said Crawford got caught red handed propping up a GOP operative spreading racist lies because El-Sayed is Muslim. When a network’s top legal reporter amplifies a loyalty test aimed at a Muslim candidate 2 weeks before an election, and the boss shrugs, that’s not journalism. That’s a campaign ad with a CBS logo on it.
Trump Scrambles on Gas Prices. Is It Too Little, Too Late for Republicans?
Less than Two weeks from the midterms, Trump is finally scrambling on gas prices, and the Guardian’s verdict is too little, too late. In Perrysburg, Ohio, Sharie Smith, 41, says soaring costs hit her life directly. In February Trump bragged about gas at $2.30. Then came his war with Iran, and prices blew past $3.60. Diesel, the fuel that runs every farm and every truck in America, has topped $6 a gallon, nearly double a year ago. Trump drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level since 1982. He cut a deal to import diesel from Vladimir Putin weeks after signing Russia sanctions into law, then blamed Zelensky for the prices. His own Energy Department just raised its crude forecast to $105 a barrel. Voters noticed. A New York Times Siena poll found 73% of likely voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of gas prices. Reuters Ipsos found 78% blame his policies for higher costs, including 64 percent of Republicans. Asked if he’s worried, Trump said, “I’m not concerned at all.” A man who promised $2 gas started a war, bought fuel from a dictator, and shrugged. Working people pay at the pump. Republicans pay on November 3rd.
And that’s the way it is, Today Thursday, October 22, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
