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News for the public, not the powerful.
Will Trump Bomb Iran Before the Midterms?
The Atlantic reports the White House has asked the Pentagon for strike options against Iran that could be carried out before the November 3 midterms. Two administration officials confirmed it. Central Command is drawing up the plans, and no final decision’s been made. Trump wants to show progress in an 8-month war and bring down gas prices before you vote. But even supporters of the strikes admit they won’t bring Iran to the table, won’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and won’t lower gas prices by Election Day. One Republican told the magazine, “It would make the president look like he got a win.” Government data shows oil prices typically rise when strikes resume. When a president times combat to the election calendar, that’s not national security. That’s a campaign ad paid for in blood.
Trump Unveils a $6.6 Billion Submarine Deal and His Sons Stand to Cash In
On Tuesday Trump stood on the site of the old Bethlehem Steel plant near Baltimore and announced a $6.6 billion submarine shipyard deal with the weapons company Anduril. The Navy’s putting in $2.9 billion of your tax dollars. Anduril’s investors include 1789 Capital, the venture firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. It bought in last year. And that’s just one deal. ABC News found companies backed by Don Jr. and Eric Trump have landed more than $6 billion in active or promised government contracts since the sons invested. Democrats in Congress want the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate. The White House insists there are “no conflicts of interest.” The sons’ spokesperson calls them passive investors. When the president’s family profits from contracts the president hands out, that’s corruption, and it rots a republic from the top.
Is Putin Building His Excuse to Attack the Baltics?
Latvia’s army says armed, masked men showed up on the Belarus side of its border and tried to force about 20 migrants across, threatening the Latvian soldiers who blocked them. Hours later, masked men crossed into Latvia, smashed an electrical panel, stole 2 surveillance cameras, and ran back into Belarus. Latvia calls it a planned provocation. Meanwhile, a Russian court on Monday branded 13 people and five organizations Nazi collaborators, in a case that accuses Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia of glorifying Nazis. It’s the story Moscow told about Ukraine. Analyst Olga Lautman warns Russia has “a long history of manufacturing pretexts” before it acts. Danish intelligence says Putin could test NATO with a false flag or troops without insignia. All 3 Baltic nations are NATO members. If Putin moves and America shrugs, the alliance that’s protected Europe for 77 years is finished.
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Trump’s EPA Torches Methane Limits to Reward Big Oil
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin went to Santa Fe on Wednesday, stood before the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, and announced he’s gutting federal limits on methane pollution from oil and gas operations. A proposal to rewrite the 2024 Biden rules is coming within days. Zeldin claims it’ll save $45 billion in regulatory costs. Save who? The drillers. Methane traps about 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over 20 years, and oil and gas operations are America’s biggest industrial source of it. Maggie Coulter of the Center for Biological Diversity said Trump’s Environmental Destruction Agency “continues its rampage by torching limits on superheating methane.” Trump asked oil executives for a billion dollars in campaign cash. Now they’re collecting. Your kids get the hotter planet and the dirtier air. The donors get the profits.
Did Plague Escape a Russian Lab in Siberia?
A 28-year-old lab technician, Darya Shipilova, died October 2 after working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia. Independent Russian media report she broke a test tube of pneumonic plague bacteria on September 25. Russia’s health agency says only that she died of pneumonia of unknown origin, and claims tests found nothing tied to her work. Nearly 200 people are under medical observation and more than 60 institute staff are isolated. Russia says contacts tested so far don’t have plague. The World Health Organization says no cause of death is confirmed. The State Department’s watching with the CDC, and health officials call the risk to Americans “extremely low.” Plague’s treatable with antibiotics when it’s caught early. The real danger is secrecy. Authoritarian governments hide bad news, and germs don’t respect borders or propaganda.
Lie Alert. Trump Orders Talarico to Debate Paxton, but Who’s Really Hiding?
Just after 11 Wednesday night, Trump went on Truth Social and declared Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico missing in action. He wrote that Talarico “should immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton.” Here’s the truth. Talarico has the flu, as widely reported. And he’s the one who’s been demanding a debate for weeks. He even offered to do it on Fox News with Bret Baier moderating. Fox says it’ll go ahead if both candidates commit. Paxton won’t commit. So the guy ducking the debate is Trump’s guy. Hours earlier, a reporter asked Trump if he regrets endorsing Paxton, now the subject of three leaked audio stories. Trump said he has no regrets at all. When a president lies this easily about something you can check, imagine what he’s telling you about the things you can’t.
And that’s the way it is, Today Thursday, October 8, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
