Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Trump’s Iran War Is Draining $1 Million From Our Wallets Every Two Minutes
Brown University has put a running meter on Trump’s war with Iran, and it just crossed $100 billion. That’s the extra money Americans have paid for gasoline and diesel since the bombing started on February 28. It’s climbing $1 million every two minutes. Diesel hit a record Friday, kept rising, and reached $5.90 a gallon Monday. That’s up 60% from a year ago, and every truckload of food and freight rides on diesel. Now oil is racing back toward $100 a barrel after the US struck three Iranian tankers and someone hit a Saudi refinery. Brown puts it plainly, these costs “come directly out of Americans’ pockets.” Trump promised cheap gas. Instead he bought a war and now you have the bill.
AfD Wins Historic Landslide and Rocks Germany’s Chancellor to His Foundations
Germany’s far right just did something no party like it has done since World War Two. The AfD took 44% of the vote in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, winning 39 of 83 seats and falling three short of an absolute majority. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives collapsed to 17%, their worst defeat in decades. Merz called it a result “we cannot simply move past as if nothing happened.” Nearly 60% of voters there backed parties that question Germany’s democratic rules. German intelligence has labeled the state AfD chapter a confirmed right wing extremist group. Its lead candidate campaigned on friendship with both the White House and the Kremlin, and JD Vance has cheered the party on. Remember, Germany built its postwar democracy to stop this. The firewall is cracking, and Trump’s MAGA people are holding the hammer.
Did Canada Just Hit Back at Trump With 50 Percent Tariffs?
At one minute past midnight this morning, Canada’s retaliation kicked in. Prime Minister Mark Carney slapped tariffs of up to 50% on $20 billion worth of American goods, from steel to cheese to raincoats. It matches the batch of 50% tariffs Trump hit Canada with last month after talks collapsed. Trump’s response? He threatened to ban Bombardier jets unless the company builds them here, vowed to double auto tariffs to 50% in January, and renamed Lake Ontario Lake America. Carney’s answer was short. “This lake is called Lake Ontario, today and forever.” Republican Susan Collins is already warning that businesses in border states will get crushed. Canada is the top export market for 36 American states. Trump is picking a fight with the customer next door, and your job might be the collateral.
Will the Pentagon Stiff a War Widow Because Congress Never Said the Word War?
Major Alex Klinner was 33 years old. He died in March when his KC-135 refueling plane went down over western Iraq while supporting strikes on Iran. His widow, Libby, went public last week after the Air Force told her she’s ineligible for certain combat death benefits because Congress never formally declared war. She told the AP, “My husband lost his life because we’re in a war.” Eighteen American service members have now died and 780 have been wounded in this conflict. Asked about her case, JD Vance said the administration loves her and takes its commitment seriously, then insisted it isn’t a war because nobody’s actively shooting. Trump backed him up and called the whole thing small potatoes. Small potatoes. These families buried their loved ones. Now Washington is hiding behind a technicality to shortchange them. They are cowards and this is just wrong.
Has Trump’s Trade War Turned America’s Oldest Allies Into Its Angriest Critics?
Europe is watching the Canada fight closely, and it’s not happy. The European Union already swallowed a deal with Trump that locked in American tariffs and delivered none of the certainty it was promised. A former Italian prime minister shared Carney’s defiant speech and wrote, “Here is a speech I would like to hear in Europe.” Economists across the spectrum agree these tariffs raise prices for Americans while punishing the friends we’ll need in the next crisis. A Pew survey this summer found just 23% of adults worldwide have confidence in Trump, with the steepest drops among our closest allies, Germany and Canada. Trade wars are supposed to make the other guy blink. Instead this one is uniting the world against us, and the price shows up on your receipt.
Why Did Trump Order 660 Million Pounds of Mystery Meat From Melania’s Friend?
Eric Schlosser, who wrote Fast Food Nation, is telling Americans to stay away from the 660 million pounds of tariff free ground beef Trump ordered, supposedly to cut prices. It’s frozen chunks that may have sat overseas for years. Beef from Uruguay and Argentina has tested positive for a parasite drug and a banned antibiotic. And Brazil had police raid nearly 200 plants for selling rotten meat. Why? Schlosser points to a White House meeting with JBS owner Joesley Batista, jailed in Brazil for bribing 2,000 politicians. Schlosser writes Batista got the meeting “because of his friendship with Melania Trump.” Weeks later the SEC approved JBS for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The FDA is juggling a record 19 outbreak investigations after Trump gutted inspectors. Groceries cost 18% more than in 2022, and now you can’t trust them.
And that’s the way it is, Today is Tuesday, September 8, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
