Good Morning, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Trump Hands Putin the Crown Jewel of NATO
The Kremlin just won a war it never had to fight. Reuters, Politico, and Germany’s Der Spiegel report the Trump administration is preparing to gut the U.S. military commitment to NATO. Strategic bombers, fighter jets, destroyers, submarines, drones, refueling aircraft. Some capabilities cut by half. Others wiped out completely. These are the assets that have deterred Moscow for seventy years. Pentagon officials briefed allies behind closed doors in Brussels last week. And the timing couldn’t be worse. Russia just hammered Kyiv with over ninety missiles and hundreds of drones, including a nuclear-capable Oreshnik. Olga Lautman puts it plainly. Trump is “advancing those objectives from inside the alliance.” Putin spent decades trying to break NATO from the outside. Trump’s doing it for him from the inside, and Republicans in Congress are letting it happen.
Will DHS Block Your Flight Home Because Your City Won’t Help ICE?
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin went on Hannity Tuesday night and announced he’s drawing up plans to stop international flights from landing in so-called sanctuary cities. He named Newark first, where protesters at the Delaney Hall detention facility are blocking ICE agents and over a thousand immigrants are being held. Mullin called it economic punishment for cities that won’t enforce his immigration crackdown. Just Monday, ICE agents pepper-sprayed Democratic Senator Andy Kim outside that same facility. Border czar Tom Homan threatened to force-feed hunger-striking detainees. Now Washington wants to cut off entire airports because mayors won’t surrender local police to federal raids. That’s not law enforcement. That’s economic blackmail and collective punishment aimed at millions of Americans who happen to live in a blue zip code, with a blue mayor.
Trump Slaps Gag Order on Every Federal Worker in America - Is the End of Whistleblowers?
The self-described most transparent administration in history just proposed forcing every federal employee to sign a sweeping nondisclosure agreement. The Office of Personnel Management published the draft Tuesday. It would cover “internal agency operations, personnel matters, procurement processes,” and any pre-decisional material. Former employees would need written permission before talking to reporters. Lauren Harper of the Freedom of the Press Foundation says it would “kneecap whistleblower protections” and crush the First Amendment. The largest federal workers union warns agencies will pressure employees to sign and fire anyone who refuses. This is how authoritarians operate. They don’t bother repealing the whistleblower laws. They just make telling the truth a fireable offense and let fear do the rest. And the public learns nothing about waste, fraud, or crimes committed in our name.
Mamdani Drops the Biggest Housing Plan in NYC History
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled “Block by Block” Tuesday in Brooklyn. Build 200,000 brand-new affordable, rent-stabilized homes over ten years. Preserve another 200,000. Twenty-two billion dollars in capital investment over five years. The largest investment in NYCHA public housing in recent memory, around 5.6 billion. The plan creates roughly 30,000 construction jobs a year and nearly 13,000 permanent jobs. It increases homes for the homeless by 45%. Mamdani said, “We have the resources, the talent, and the will to achieve this.” Real estate lobbyists are already squealing about project labor agreements. Of course they are. They’ve spent decades hoarding housing and gouging tenants. Mamdani is showing every Democrat in America what political courage actually looks like.
Can Gig Workers Finally Break Big Tech’s Stranglehold?
History was made in Massachusetts last week. Uber and Lyft drivers officially formed the App Drivers Union, the first state-recognized union of rideshare workers in American history. Governor Maura Healey called it a “historic moment.” The union will represent nearly 70,000 drivers, with 32% already signing on for representation. Until now, gig drivers were classified as independent contractors. No federal labor protections. No minimum wage. No bargaining power. Companies pocketed billions while drivers couldn’t pay rent. SEIU President April Verrett said drivers “had the audacity and imagination to unrig those rules.” Uber and Lyft made hundreds of billions while paying drivers poverty wages. Now those drivers finally have a seat at the table. This is how working people fight back.
Why Has the Fun Disappeared From American Life?
A new Talker Research survey of 5,000 American adults found 48% feel their lives are seriously lacking fun. Twelve percent can’t even remember the last time they had a full free day to enjoy themselves. The fun-deprived say they’d need 17 extra hours a week to fix it. The biggest obstacles aren’t mysterious. Cost and budget at 57%. Personal schedules at 34%. Work schedules at 31%. General burnout at 22%. More than half say it’s harder to have fun than ten years ago because they simply can’t afford it. This isn’t a personality problem. It’s an economic one. Wages stagnated. Rent exploded. Healthcare bankrupted families. Billionaires bought yachts and second islands while working people lost their weekends, their savings, and their breathing room. The fun didn’t disappear. It got stolen. Can we take it back.
And that’s the way it is, Today is Wednesday May 27, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
