October 7, 2026
Donald Trump
MS NOW - President Donald Trump's gimmicky $500 Affordable Care Act refund checks have started arriving in the homes of nearly a million Americans. The letters that accompany them act as textbook Trumpian disinformation and underscore how the check campaign is a cheap trick masquerading as populism. The letters notify recipients that "For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov. That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you!" It notes that the refund is for Americans who do not receive subsidies to help pay for their coverage. Read the full column
Immigration
New Republic - As
the Supreme Court returns from its summer recess next week, due process is on
the chopping block with a slate of cases that could fundamentally reshape
American democracy.
Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha is at
the top of the docket. A terrifying bid by the Trump administration to hold
undocumented immigrants indefinitely without bond hearings, Rhoney could undo
centuries of legal tradition dating back to Magna Carta in 1215.
More than 500 federal district
court judges and nine of the 11 federal circuit courts have rejected Trump’s
mandatory detention policy. Now Trump is relying on his handpicked conservative
majority on the high court to override them.
October 6, 2026
Meanwhile. . .
Newsworthy
News - National Park Service issued a $1.7 million no-bid deal for the
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to Greenwater Services. Reports link the firm to longtime Trump donor
John J. Cafaro through the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust. Lawmakers are pressing
for answers on why competitive bidding was bypassed and whether favoritism
played a role.
Student Protests Expand to More Than 40 French Cities
NY
Times - Demonstrations swept across France on Tuesday as labor unions
rallied in solidarity with high school students who have spent two weeks
blockading schools to protest understaffing, overcrowded classrooms and
dilapidated buildings.
Marches were held in more than 40
cities, from Caen in the north to Marseille in the south, as activists,
teachers, parents and university students joined swelling protests that had
spread to hundreds of schools across the country. Tuesday’s marches drew roughly
256,000 people, according to the Interior Ministry; a major union said the
figure was more than twice that many.
Who turns out for midterms?
USA
Facts - Every four years, a pattern repeats: fewer Americans vote in
the midterm elections than did in the presidential race before it. It’s a
pattern that’s persisted for decades. However, turnout during the November 2022
midterm was higher than it had been for much of the past four decades. Only
2018’s was higher.
Turnout varies by age. People
between the ages of 18 and 24 have the largest drop in turnout in the midterms.
In the 2020 presidential election, 51.4% of young adults reported voting,
compared with 27.6% in 2022. Their rate was back to a reported 47.7% by 2024.
Meanwhile, people 65 and older reported voting at rates of 74.5% in 2020 and
66.8% in 2022. Their reported rate during the 2024 presidential election was
slightly higher than four years earlier: 74.7%.
Word
“There is nothing to stop Amazon and the like from copying my viral product,
lowering prices and quashing my business.” — Corissa Steiner, the founder of a
bedding company. Read now →
Donald Trump
The
Hill - Donald Trump said Monday that reporters from The New York Times
and other media outlets should be “arrested” over their coverage of his
Saturday rally in Ohio. “The Ohio Arena was already full to the brim — And yet
these people were still trying to get in,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, sharing
a video of people in line for the rally…. “The New York Times, and many other
Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and
disservice to our Country,” the president added.
Roll Call - President Donald Trump announced Monday night that taxpayers will no longer pick up the tab for political TV advertisements promoting himself and administration policies.Facing a public backlash from lawmakers of both parties, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site that he would in part use money raised by a super PAC, MAGA Inc., to fund the ads instead of relying on tax dollars. When the ads began running last month, the government had used funding provided to the Department of Homeland Security in last year’s reconciliation law, something lawmakers in both parties widely criticized.
The Guardian - Donald Trump has suggested Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego, in comments described as “reckless” and “deranged” by California officials. At a rally in Nebraska on Monday, the crowd applauded when the US president said high prices owing to the war with Iran were a “small price to pay for keeping the world safe – keeping our country safe”. He added: “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.” Gavin Newsom, the governor of California and a Democrat who has repeatedly clashed with Trump during his two terms, said from his press office account: “Let’s be clear: the president is advocating for an attack on 10+ million US residents in two of America’s largest cities. This is not normal … He is deranged and dangerous.
Polls
Trump bans another media service
Time
- The White House on Monday blocked POLITICO from boarding Air Force
One and carrying out its print pool duties, marking the latest escalation in an
ongoing battle over media outlets’ access to President Donald
Trump.
“Many outlets including POLITICO
are granted access to attend and cover presidential events unilaterally, but
traveling with the President of the United States aboard Air Force One is a
privilege not a right,” a White House official tells TIME. The official adds
that Trump is “the most accessible President in American history, and that he
will “continue to grant an unprecedented level of access to the press.”
In the White House pool system, a
rotating group of journalists accompanies the President to events and shares
updates with the wider press corps. But that pool system has been complicated
by the President’s most recent efforts to punish media organizations whose
coverage he objects to.
October 5, 2026
Donald Trump
Deep
State Tribunal - President Trump told Time that he regrets appointing
Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. He said they
“voted against me too often,” pointing to decisions that went against key
policies in his second term. Multiple outlets published the remarks on October
1, 2026, using near-identical quotes from the interview. The consistent
reporting frames the regret as a response to specific recent losses at the
Supreme Court, not a general change of heart.
Coverage identified three policy
areas tied to the backlash. Stories noted Court rulings that blocked an
emergency tariff approach, rejected a move to restrict birthright citizenship
by executive action, and curbed mail voting limits pushed by the administration.
These decisions drew strong reactions from conservatives focused on border
control, economic sovereignty, and election integrity, and they set the stage
for the president’s candid assessment of his own picks.
Book bans
The
Guardian - The US saw almost 12,000 book bans in public schools during
the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number in a single year, according to
the free-expression non-profit PEN America.
In a report released on Monday, PEN America said that there had been
34,000 instances of book bans since the organization started tallying the
increasing “book censorship crisis” across US schools in 2021.
PEN said that new state-level censorship laws fueled much of
this increase, in conjunction with the implementation of artificial
intelligence tools that removes an expansive number of titles. Texas saw the
greatest number of book bans in the 2025-2026 school year – more than 8,100.
Immigration
Deep
State Tribunal - Governor Gavin Newsom signed a statewide ban on
electric-shock gloves that outlets say covers local, state, and federal
officers in California. The Department of Homeland Security called the ban
unconstitutional and said it will not comply, citing the Supremacy Clause.
Newsworthy
News - The Supreme Court issued an emergency order that lets the
administration restart third-country removals while the case continues. The
order is unsigned and provisional, so it does not settle the law. The Court
plans to hear arguments in December and rule after that. For now, immigration
officers can resume transfers to countries that are not a person’s homeland,
under the current policy framework. Supporters call this needed control.
Critics say due process is at risk.
The administration argued that stopping the policy would
slow removals and force new talks with foreign partners. Government lawyers
said time-consuming objection steps would upend flight plans and agreements.
They also said they do not deport someone to a third country unless that
country offers assurances against torture or persecution. News reports did not
publish those agreements, so the exact terms are not public in these accounts.
The Court’s stay leaves those arguments in place during review.
A federal district judge earlier found that the policy was
unlawful because the government did not give people a real chance to object to
the chosen country. The First Circuit appeals court largely agreed and said
people must get notice of the planned destination and a chance to raise fear of
persecution or torture before removal. The panel warned that a right to contest
is hollow without prior notice and a meaningful chance to speak up. Those
rulings remain the backdrop to the current stay. The Supreme Court issued an
emergency order that lets the administration restart third-country removals
while the case continues. The order is unsigned and provisional, so it does not
settle the law. The Court plans to hear arguments in December and rule after
that. For now, immigration officers can resume transfers to countries that are
not a person’s homeland, under the current policy framework. Supporters call
this needed control. Critics say due process is at risk.
Meanwhile. . .
The roughly 100 tech fortunes
among the world’s 500 richest people gained $845 billion through
September, according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index, which tracks the world’s biggest fortunes.
The
Guardian - The White House has defended a newly hired press aide who
posed for a holiday photograph in 2021 wearing a “Fuck Joe Biden” T-shirt and
holding a rifle.
Trump's press secretary joins Fox News
NY
Times - President Trump recruited a fleet of Fox News personalities for
his second administration, filling key cabinet positions with the likes of Pete
Hegseth, Sean Duffy and Mehmet Oz. Now a homegrown star of the Trump White
House is headed to Fox News.
Karoline Leavitt, who until August served as Mr. Trump’s
press secretary and chief spokeswoman, is joining the Rupert Murdoch-owned
channel next month as an on-air contributor, the network said on Monday.
Ms. Leavitt, 29 and a steely and nimble presence at the
White House lectern, was the youngest person to be appointed press secretary.
She established herself as an unflinching advocate for the president, who
gushed over her verbal fusillades and has said her lips “move like a ‘machine
gun.’”
Climate change
NBC
News - The Supreme Court kicks off a new term today, with the justices
hearing an attempt by oil companies to throw out lawsuits alleging they should
pay damages related to climate change.
The case concerns a lawsuit
brought by the city and county of Boulder, Colorado against Exxon Mobil and
Suncor Energy. The ultimate decision could have broad ramifications for similar
lawsuits around the country.
Boulder officials say they face
increasing costs because of the impacts of climate change, including efforts to
minimize risks from wildfires. They accuse Exxon and Suncor of misleading
consumers about the effect of greenhouse gasses from their products, an
allegation the companies deny.
Other major cases already on the
court’s docket involve a challenge to bans on AR-15 semiautomatic rifles and
two about the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
Republicans questioning Hegseth's reduction of admirals and generals
The
Hill - Key Republican senators say they were blindsided by Defense
Secretary Pete
Hegseth’s announced 20 percent reduction of the U.S. military’s
general and admirals, and they’re voicing concerns about the lack of
consultation with Congress and the possibility that qualified senior officers
were sacked for political or ideological reasons.
Senior Republicans on Capitol Hill are questioning whether
too many experienced and highly qualified generals and admirals are being
pushed out because of politics and what impact it might have on military
readiness in the future.
October 4, 2026
The anti-AI movement
New
Yorker - In the past year, data centers have emerged as a central issue
in both American politics and the gyre of discourse swirling around American
politics. On blogs and podcasts, the commentariat has marvelled at the
emergence of an elusive bipartisan consensus. And well they should: the most
recent polling shows that an astounding seventy-one per cent of the population
opposes data-center construction in their areas.
Equally astonishing, if not yet equally remarked upon, is
the consensus about A.I. itself. Sixty-nine per cent of Americans are
“concerned” about the technology’s role in society, according to a study that
used data from norc at the University of Chicago. A poll conducted by NBC last
spring found that A.I. is less popular than such societal darlings as ice,
Donald Trump, and J. D. Vance. More
Trump retitles artificial intelligence
Washington
Post - President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he would name four
top administration officials to a “Super Intelligence Force” that will
coordinate the federal government’s response to artificial intelligence.
Director of National Intelligence
Jay Clayton, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Office of
Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor and Emil Michael, undersecretary of
war for research and engineering, will lead the task force, Trump said. The
task force is expected to coordinate the government’s engagement with various
stakeholders in a growing debate over the risks of AI, including consumers,
public interest groups, tech companies and infrastructure providers.
“The Super Intelligence Force is
tasked with coordinating the effort of the Federal Government to ensure that
America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is
bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet, and will protect the
interests, and improve the lives, of all Americans,” Trump wrote Sunday morning
on Truth Social.
Immigration
Newsworthy
- Governor Gavin Newsom signed bills that limit certain enforcement tools
and target private immigration detention businesses in California. The laws ban
officers in the state from using electric shock gloves through 2030 and order a
safety study by the California Department of Justice by 2029. The package also
imposes a 25% tax on the gross income of for-profit immigration detention
operators, described as a first-in-the-nation measure tied to a “Due Process
for All” fund.
Newsom and state leaders framed
the laws as a response to alleged civil rights violations and a push for
accountability. They argued that federal agents who disregard constitutional
limits should not be trusted with broad peace enforcement roles in the state.
Supporters said the study-and-sunset design treats the shock-glove pause as a
temporary safety step, not a permanent political ban, while the tax aims to
fund legal help for detained people.
Polls
NBC News- Latino voters helped propel Donald Trump back to the White House. Now, they are turning on him, according to a new NBC News/Telemundo poll — a shift that gives Democrats a major opportunity to capitalize in midterm elections that could hinge on states and districts with sizable Latino populations. ….The president’s approval rating sits at 27% among Latino voters. Two-thirds say his administration’s deportation policies have gone too far and three-quarters disapprove of how he has handled the economy and the cost of living. And Democrats have a 24-point lead on whom Latino voters want to see in control of Congress, 59%-35%.
Climate
Word
“The deranged depravity of Donald Trump has delivered more degradation to this country than any other person in our history has come close to delivering.” - Lawrence O’Donnell
How I'll be voting
Sam Smith - I first took part in an election stuffing envelopes when I was 12 years old in a vote that ended decades of GOP rule in Philadelphia. Seventy six years later I am still working on the principle I learned back then: go with the candidate who will act and vote the best. The fact that a candidate may have said or acted wrong in the past, especially on non-political matters, is pretty standard but the important thing is what will they do in the job that they’re seeking. For example, neither Susan Collins nor Troy Jackson are particularly strong role models but Jackson is the one who will most likely vote the right way if elected. Much clearer is the justifications for supporting Hanna Pingree.
The other race that draws my attention is for town council
in Freeport. Running is Jim DeGrandpre
who I’ve known and worked with for about six decades and have never experienced
a bad moment. He not only is a great candidate, he is a role model for candidates
we should be proud to elect.
October 3, 2026
Switzerland Loses 20% of Its Glacier Ice in Just 5 Years
Donald Trump
NY
Times - President Trump personally instructed his budget director to
use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him and his presidency, setting in
motion a $20 million contract that used funds from the Department of Homeland
Security, according to people familiar with the matter. The ads have run across
cable and network television — on Fox News, CNN and MS Now, with football games
on Fox and with national newscasts on CBS, ABC and NBC, including “Meet the
Press,” which Mr. Trump is known to watch.
Independence Journal -- President Trump just canceled $810 million in federal money that Congress already approved, using a rare budget trick that some Republicans and Democrats both call illegal. President Trump ordered $810 million in cuts on September 25, targeting immigration-related services and race-based grant programs.
The White House used a "pocket rescission," a move that delays a funding request until it expires on its own before Congress can act. The Government Accountability Office has previously said this exact tactic breaks federal law.
Critics on both sides of the aisle, including some Republicans, say the maneuver strips Congress of its constitutional power over spending