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News for the public, not the powerful.
Hurricane Isaias Explodes Over a Record-Hot Gulf and Millions Are Told to Get Ready to Run
The first Atlantic hurricane of the year is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, and it’s getting stronger by the hour. Isaias became a hurricane late Wednesday and had 80 mile an hour winds by Thursday morning. Forecasters expect it to hit Category two, with winds near 110, before it comes ashore late Friday or early Saturday somewhere between the Alabama coast and the Florida Panhandle. Storm surge warnings stretch from the mouth of the Mississippi River all the way to Steinhatchee, Florida, with five to seven feet of water possible, up to 10 inches of rain, and tornadoes Friday night. Florida’s declared an emergency in 25 counties and Alabama in 40. The National Hurricane Center’s message is blunt. If you’re in the surge zone, “evacuate if told to do so.” Here’s the part the oil industry doesn’t want you thinking about. Isaias blew up fast because the Gulf is at record-high temperatures for this time of year, around 86 to 88 degrees. Hot water is hurricane fuel, and burning fossil fuels is what’s heating that water. Storms that explode overnight leave families less time to get out. That’s the bill for 50 years of fossil fuel lies, and working people on the coast are the ones paying it.
Did a Convicted Election Felon Just Hand Trump a Plan to Seize Your Ballots?
While the Gulf braces for one storm, there’s another brewing in the Oval Office. Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk convicted in 2024 of multiple felonies for a security breach of her own election equipment, met with Trump at the White House on Monday. Former Justice Department official Ed Martin says the president’s taking her seriously. Denver 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark reports that her lawyer, Peter Ticktin, laid out what she’s pitching. Have the Trump administration seize ballots all across America and run its own hand recount. Ticktin told a far-right podcaster he thinks something like that’s probably going to happen, and that if the midterms go badly, “Donald Trump is not going to relinquish control again.” He even talked about civil war, and said it’d be better to march in with all the weapons on their side. The White House won’t confirm or deny the meeting. And Peters is only free because Governor Jared Polis cut her sentence and she walked out in June. Folks, the Constitution puts the states in charge of running elections, not the president. A man who seizes the ballots decides who won. That isn’t an election. It’s a coup with paperwork.
Did Trump Just Declare His Own Voters the Enemy Over Two Words?
And if you’re wondering about the state of mind of the man hearing that pitch, look at what he posted on Truth Social. Trump announced that the White House considers anyone who says artificial intelligence, instead of what he calls the more accurate term, super intelligence, to be, in capital letters, the enemy. Even his own fans couldn’t swallow it. One longtime supporter wrote, “Okay, what has happened to you?” and said she’s pretty sure his war with Iran has cost Republicans the midterms. A Christian woman who voted for him said being called the enemy over a name change is like being accused of treason, and that this dangerous technology needs regulating right now. A veteran called it a dumb statement and asked if he’s trying to lose the midterms. One pointed out that Truth Social’s own search tool is labeled AI, which makes Trump’s own company the enemy. Laugh if you want, but notice what’s underneath it. A president who brands citizens the enemy for using the wrong words is telling you exactly what he thinks of free speech. And the tech billionaires who bankrolled him get a shiny new brand name while nobody regulates their machines.
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Is Trump’s Justice Department About to Indict the Woman Who Dared Testify About January 6?
He’s got an enemies list with real names on it, too. Punchbowl News reporter Laura Weiss says the Justice Department is seeking a federal criminal indictment of Cassidy Hutchinson, claiming she lied to Congress in her January 6 testimony. Sources say the department’s Civil Rights Division, of all places, brought evidence to a federal grand jury on Tuesday with more witnesses coming later this month. You remember her. She was the young aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who told the January 6 Committee, under oath, what Trump was doing while the mob sacked the Capitol. Trump’s been demanding her prosecution since at least March of 2024. And last week The Atlantic reported that Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel could lose their jobs if they don’t deliver indictments of Trump’s enemies. As one former official put it, “The president wants indictments. He wants people in handcuffs.” So the division built to protect your civil rights is now being used to punish a witness. If telling Congress what you saw can land you in front of a grand jury, who’s going to come forward next time? That’s the whole point. Silence the witnesses and there’s nobody left to tell the truth.
Trump Parades Columbus for Votes, but Is Cruelty Why He Really Loves Him?
Which brings us to the kind of man this president picks for a hero. With Columbus Day coming Monday, the Washington Post reports Trump’s counting on a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus to win him Italian American votes in the midterms. It stands outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, right next to the White House. It’s a replica of the Baltimore statue Ronald Reagan dedicated in 1984, the one protesters pulled down and threw in the harbor on July 4, 2020. Trump calls Columbus the original American hero. So let’s talk about that hero. Columbus enslaved the Taino people who welcomed him. In 1495 he packed about 500 of them onto ships for Spain, and roughly 200 died on the way. He ordered every Taino 14 and older to bring him gold, and accounts from the time say those who came up short had their hands cut off. In a letter in 1500 he described the trade in girls, noting that “those from nine to ten are now in demand.” Spain’s own crown had him arrested and shipped home in chains. Within a couple of generations the Taino of Hispaniola were nearly wiped out. A man who got rich on cruelty, ruled by terror, and called it glory. Is that what Trump sees in him? Italian Americans gave this country Fiorello La Guardia, Mother Cabrini and Enrico Fermi. They deserve a better hero. So do the rest of us.
Fascist Alert. Vance Flunks a One-Word Vocabulary Test and Blames Girls’ Sports
And finally, the vice president of the United States, a Yale Law graduate, got asked a simple question at a press conference Thursday. How do you define socialism? He sighed, said it’s a hard term to define, and then admitted, “I don’t know what the term means anymore.” Then he defined it anyway. Socialism, says JD Vance, means you want to replace American workers with foreign workers and you want boys playing in girls’ sports. Oh, and it’s really about hating native-born citizens. JD, it’s in the dictionary. It means the public owns things, like, say, the fire department. It’s got nothing to do with the girls’ soccer team. But here’s the tell. When a politician can’t explain an idea and reaches straight for foreigners and trans kids to blame, he isn’t confused. He’s reading from the oldest fascist playbook there is...
And that’s the way it is, Today Thursday, October 8, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
