Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Economist Warns of Double Whammy. Is Your Wallet About to Get Crushed?
Some economists and the Fed say the rest of 2026 will be smooth sailing. Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, says don’t believe it. Writing in Business Insider, he warns the economy’s facing “a squeeze from two ends.” First, consumers are tapping out. The bump from bigger tax refunds, up about 11% this year, is fading. Gas is up $1.25 a gallon from a year ago because of the Iran war. Diesel’s soaring, so grocery prices are next. Mortgage rates just topped 7%. Second, the Fed just hiked rates for the first time in three years, and more are likely. Dutta expects higher unemployment and lower stock prices. Working families get hit twice, once at the checkout counter and again when the layoffs come.
Did Trump Just Claim Victory in Greenland for a Deal We’ve Had Since 1951?
Donald Trump announced a deal Friday with Denmark and Greenland that he says gives America permanent control over security there. There’s just one problem. A Cold War treaty already gives the US broad military access to Greenland. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says the new agreement recognizes Denmark’s sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. It’s expected to be signed this week at the UN. University of Maryland professor David Karol called it “largely a rebranding of the status quo to claim a win.” One Danish columnist called it a flea market find from the diplomatic recycling bin. So Trump threatened a NATO ally with military force and came home with what we already had. That’s not dealmaking. That’s a con
Amnesty Sounds Alarm as Men Trump Deported Are Beaten. Is Torture Next?
Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal for two men the Trump administration deported to Equatorial Guinea, a country neither had ever lived in. Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian who grew up in Phoenix, and Samson Birhane of Eritrea both had US court protection from being sent home. So ICE shipped them to a hotel turned prison in Malabo. Days after video showed police aiming a gun at Soliman, officers hauled both men away, accusing them of breaking a mirror. Amnesty says police tied bags over their heads and beat them with elbows, knees, and guns. A lawyer told the New York Times they’ve been denied food and are “covered in bruises.” Our tax dollars are paying dictators to do what American courts said we couldn’t.
Newsom Makes Seizing Ballots a Felony. Will It Stop Trump’s Election Meddling?
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a stack of bills Saturday to shield November’s election from Trump administration interference. It’s now a felony to seize ballots, election records, or voting machines, punishable by up to four years in prison. That follows Republican Sheriff Chad Bianco seizing more than 650,000 ballots in Riverside County. Another law makes it a crime to interfere with mail ballots in transit. Drop boxes open 30 days before the election, and police can’t make most arrests near polling places. Influencers paid by campaigns face new disclosure rules. Newsom said Trump “won’t stop until he can exert dictatorial control over your free vote.” When a president treats elections as something to seize, states become democracy’s last line of defense.
EPA Hands Bayer the Pen and Lets It Write Its Own Weedkiller Rules
Newly released documents show the EPA let pesticide giant Bayer pick its own regulations for dicamba from a menu of options. One EPA slide asked the company which option to go forward with. Bayer chose the weakest protection on one rule and the middle option on another, and the EPA wrote both into its proposed rule. Dicamba drifts for miles, has damaged millions of acres of farmland, and is linked to liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Courts pulled it off the market twice. Nathan Donley of the Center for Biological Diversity said Bayer ordered rules like “a late-night dinner à la carte from Chili’s.” The EPA’s response? It says the system’s working exactly as intended. When polluters write the rules, farmers and families pay the price.
And that’s the way it is, Today Monday, September 21, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
