Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Why Is America Still Blowing Up Boats and Killing People Without a Trial?
Trump’s military killed four more people on Sunday. Southern Command says it hit a go-fast boat in the Caribbean and called the dead narco-terrorists. It offered no evidence. No names. No trial. That’s the 71st confirmed strike in a 13-month campaign that’s now killed at least 238 people. Last month UN counterterrorism expert Ben Saul said that even if these boats are running drugs, there’s no right under international law to use military force against them. Former State Department lawyer Brian Finucane called Sunday’s strike more performative killing at sea. Amnesty International USA called it murder and asked, “Where is Congress to stop the horror?” The Republicans who run both chambers keep refusing to rein him in. A president who can kill without a trial out there can do it anywhere.
Nine Wounded Soldiers Break Their Silence and Say the Pentagon Left Them on Their Own
Nine American service members wounded in Trump’s Iran war are going on the record with the Associated Press, rare for troops still in uniform. They were hit March 1 when an Iranian drone struck Port Shuaiba in Kuwait, killing six and injuring dozens. Lieutenant Colonel Arturo Lincón took shrapnel that damaged an artery feeding his brain. Instead of a hospital bed in Germany, he got barracks and orders to book his own appointments. Major Stephen Ramsbottom waited more than four months for MRI results. Chief Warrant Officer Rodney Bearman rode to Germany on the floor of a cargo plane, then learned the wounded weren’t even recorded as combat casualties. “Some sacred trust that I thought would never be broken was broken,” he said. The Pentagon says doctors decide who gets admitted. These politicians love starting wars. They just don’t love the people who fight them.
Why Did Trump Just Throw Politico Off Air Force One?
The White House barred Politico from Air Force One on Monday, the day it was Politico’s turn as the print pool reporter, the one who sends dispatches to every other news outlet. Trump’s already blocked CNN from its turn in the TV pool and handed seats to MAGA outlets LindellTV and Real America’s Voice. On September 18 he announced he was banning Politico, CNN and MS NOW from the White House over what he calls fake news. A judge temporarily blocked that ban, and Judge Timothy Kelly weighs extending that block at a hearing Thursday. The outlets’ lawyer, Ted Boutrous, says, “The law is absolutely clear.” Trump claims the plane’s different because space is tight. When a president picks who gets to cover him, you’re not getting news anymore. You’re getting a press release.
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Where’s the Evidence? Trump Storms Off When Reporters Demand Proof of Voter Fraud
Heading to Marine One on Monday for campaign events, Trump told reporters there’s a lot of cheating in vote by mail. A reporter asked why he’s telling his own supporters to vote by mail if it’s fraud. He said they can do either. Then they pressed him. Where’s the cheating? All over, he said. Where’s the evidence? Take a look at California, he said. A reporter shot back that there’s no evidence in California. Trump snapped, “You are fake news!” and walked away offering no proof. He made the same charge after California’s June primary, and his White House had no evidence for the New York Times then either. The midterms are November 3, less than a month away. He isn’t hunting for fraud. He’s building an excuse in case he loses.
Is a Computer Now Deciding Which Books Your Kids Can Read?
PEN America reported Monday that schools banned books 11,982 times last school year. That’s the most it’s ever recorded, hitting 7,370 titles in 114 districts. Texas alone banned more than 8,100, over two-thirds of the national total, and Florida banned more than 3,200. PEN blames a 2025 Texas law, SB 13, that sweeps out books somebody calls profane or indecent. Texas districts used artificial intelligence to build ban lists, and the software recommended books because they’d been banned somewhere else. So bans feed bans while librarians get ignored. The most banned book was Sold, a novel about a girl trafficked into slavery. Stephen King was the most banned author again. “Increasingly, these bans are invisible,” PEN warns. That’s 34,000 bans since 2021. People who trust their own ideas don’t fear a library.
Geeky Science. Could Cats Be the Secret to a Happier Country?
A study in the journal PLOS One looked at 93 countries and found that the ones with more cats report higher levels of happiness. Researchers led by Javier Borráz-León, with senior author Dario Maestripieri of the University of Chicago, compared happiness scores with cat numbers, wealth and exposure to Toxoplasma, a parasite cats can pass to people. More cats went with more happiness. More recent infections went with less. The surprise? Countries with more cats had less of the parasite, likely because richer nations keep cats indoors, vaccinated and well fed. The authors are careful. “We cannot say that having more cats makes people happier,” they said. Income tracked with happiness even more strongly. So maybe the real secret isn’t the cat. It’s living in a country that takes care of its people, and its pets.
And that’s the way it is, TodayTuesday, October 6, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
