The
Guardian - Donald Trump has promised not to attack Iran before
November’s US midterm elections, outlining a pause on the protracted war he has
struggled to end after almost eight months. In a Truth Social post on Thursday,
the US president said Washington was “having productive discussions with the
Islamic Republic of Iran”, which he claimed was “in very bad condition, both
Economically and Militarily”.
October 9, 2026
Middle East
October 8, 2026
Judge extends temporary limit on Trump's media ban
The
Hill - A federal judge on Thursday briefly extended an order lifting a
ban implemented by the White House last month on three new outlets President
Trump said should not be allowed to cover him over what he has called “fake
news” that puts national security in danger.
U.S. District Judge Timothy
Kelly, a Trump appointee, is weighing whether to issue a longer-lasting
injunction after he handed down a 14-day temporary restraining order last month
that required the administration to immediately restore press credentials for
reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW.
That order was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday but
Kelly said at the start of the hearing that it would be in effect for “another
two business days.” A ruling is expected by Tuesday.
The decline of hosting at home
The
Guardian - In the US, the number of people who regularly host friends
or family fell from 42% in 1975 to 12% in 2026 – a 70% drop over the last 50
years. In the UK, the numbers are not much better: last year, a poll of 2,000
adults found that more than four in 10 British people avoid hosting at home due
to the clean-up it requires….
We haven’t always felt this way
about having people over. In fact, anthropologist Robin Dunbar, best known for
“Dunbar’s number” – a theory that suggests humans can only really maintain
about 150 stable social connections at once – believes we would still rather
entertain at home given the choice, but circumstances often conspire against
it. “One reason is that our social networks may have become more scattered as
cities have got larger,” he says. “If we live in smaller villages and towns, it
is easy to visit for casual get-togethers. There is a thing called the
30-minute rule: if someone lives more than 30 minutes away, we pretty much stop
seeing them regularly. The time/effort required becomes too great.”
Meanwhile . .
Time - Oil tanker captains are being
paid the equivalent of $100,000 a month for traversing the Strait of Hormuz,
according to the Financial Times. That comes on top of a $50,000
bonus for each trip, as Iran has stepped up its attacks on ships in recent
weeks.
Axios reports that the Fox News Channel’s lead over MS NOW
and CNN has never been wider. Fox averages 1.5 million "total day
viewers," while MS NOW has 647,000 and CNN has 500,000. MS NOW has led CNN
since 2015.
People
- Prince Harry reveals that he experienced a two-week period of
depression after moving to Canada with Meghan Markle and their son, Prince
Archie, in 201
The elections
The Guardian - Donald Trump suffered a torrid night at a rally in Texas that was rocked by repeated protests. The US president briefly stepped away from the microphone after one protester appeared to approach the stage. At least half a dozen demonstrators interrupted Trump during his remarks in San Antonio, with some led away by police. One was physically assaulted by an older Trump supporter as he tried to leave the arena
The Guardian - An Arizona
congressional candidate says she was raped while trying to repair a campaign sign. Bernadette
Greene-Placentia says she is sharing her story to fight for victims of sexual
assault.
California
Newsworthy News - California lawmakers sent [Governor] Newsom about 1,160 bills in 2026. He signed roughly 90% of them and vetoed the rest, according to an Orange County Register count citing a veteran Sacramento lobbyist. The governor's office released the signings in waves through the summer and fall, often grouping dozens of bills by topic in a single announcement rather than one giant list.
….On September 29, Newsom signed
21 bills described by his office as protecting immigrant communities from
federal immigration enforcement. The package covers detention oversight,
enforcement transparency and public records access. The announcement framed the
bills as a response to what the governor’s office called “Orwellian” federal
tactics, a label that signals the political fight behind the policy.
A separate law, Assembly Bill 282
from Assemblymember Pellerin, makes it a felony to seize ballots, election
records or certified voting equipment before results are certified. It also
targets officials who order subordinates to interfere with vote counts.
Newsom’s office tied the bill to concerns about outside interference in
California elections, giving it unusually sharp language for a state statute.
October 7, 2026
Word
"History shows that nonviolent protest is one of the
most powerful tools ordinary people have ever wielded, helping advance social
and environmental progress while serving as a cornerstone of democracy. This is
why authoritarians, both at home and abroad, are vilifying protestors,
suppressing free speech, and cracking down on political dissent. But if enough
of us are willing to defend the right to protest, we can build the power to get
our country back on the path towards democracy. Because if we lose the right to
protest, we stand to lose so much more." – Annie Leonard
Nutritional value of fruits and vegetables is declining
Telegraph,
UK - The nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has fallen by up to
50pc since the Sixties because of declining soil quality, according to a new
study. The report, from researchers at Deep Science Ventures, found that humans
needed to consume twice the number of vegetables to get the same level of
minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper as would have been present in
their food 60 years ago.
….The decrease in nutrient and
vitamin value is thought to be down to declining soil quality and crops being
selectively bred for their ability to grow quickly, rather than there being any
focus on their health benefits. The
effect will be particularly acute for the 14pc of Britons who identify as
vegetarian or vegan.
Social Security
Shortlysts - Social Security beneficiaries could
receive a 3.5% increase in 2027, according to projections, adding roughly $73
to the average retired worker’s monthly payment. While these are just estimates
for the time being, the final adjustment is still awaiting September inflation
data scheduled for release on October 14th.
….Higher benefits would increase
spending as Social Security draws down its reserves to cover a funding
shortfall. Trustees project that the retirement and survivor trust fund will
exhaust those reserves in late 2032, potentially forcing benefit cuts of up to
22% unless Congress addresses the gap. Payroll taxes would still fund payments,
but would not cover all scheduled benefits.
….A larger Social Security
adjustment is a strong indicator that everyday expenses have become harder to
cover. Retirees receive more money because prices have risen, meaning much of
the projected increase is already spoken for before it reaches their accounts.
Someone spending more on fuel, groceries, and utilities may see a bigger check
without gaining room in the household budget.
That pressure also reaches the
program paying those benefits. Annual adjustments become part of the benefit
amount used to calculate future increases, so their cost carries forward. With
reserves projected to run out in 2032, higher payments could leave Congress
less time to resolve the gap between promised benefits and available revenue.
Inflation can also raise wages
and payroll-tax receipts, however, so a larger adjustment alone does not
establish how quickly reserves will disappear. The approaching deadline makes
any delay consequential, as workers nearing retirement have limited time to
replace income they expect from Social Security, while current retirees may
have few ways to earn more. Each year without a funding agreement leaves both
groups planning around benefits whose full payment depends on congressional
action.
Meanwhile. . .
Student protests in France disrupt nearly nine hundred
schools and lead to over six thousand arrests. Read more here…
Donald Trump
New Republic - An eight-foot-tall statue covered in 23-karat gold leaf has been erected at the building in Strasbourg, France, showing a naked, overweight Trump being carried on the back of a much smaller man, while the president holds a golf club, a tiny world-shaped ball, and the scales of justice.
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
ICE
ProPublica reports that 506 U.S. citizens have
been detained by ICE. That includes at least 100 people whose citizenship was
questioned (almost all people of color); 70 children and teens; 63 were
detained while recording; 36 were held for 24 hours without being able to
contact a lawyer or loved ones; and about a dozen citizens were deported,
mostly children. Fewer than half of the 300 Americans detained for allegedly
assaulting or obstructing agents were charged in federal court; many of their
cases were dropped or dismissed.
Presidential golf course
Washington
Post - Trump wants to transform his West Palm Beach golf club into a
presidential retreat modeled after Camp David. The plan calls for a parcel of
the private club to be designated a permanent, official sanctuary for foreign
leaders and future U.S. presidents, designed to host international summits and
house presidents when they take vacations in Florida, according to a proposal
presented to Palm Beach County officials by Trump International Golf Club’s
legal counsel. Future presidents would also be offered comped memberships to
the Trump club.
“Just as Camp David, Windsor
Castle, or the Elysee Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential
Golf Course in Palm Beach County,” Harvey Oyer, a lawyer representing the Trump
course, wrote to the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners in a
letter last month. Oyer asked the county, which owns the property the course is
on, to provide a piece of the land to the federal government, and he promised
Trump would pay for the construction of a presidential residence and facilities
on that land. Oyer told The Washington Post that a name has yet not been
selected for the presidential golf course.
“It would further cement Palm
Beach County as one of the most recognizable brands and destinations in the
world,” Oyer said.
A spokesperson for the Trump
Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
A White House official with
knowledge of the proposed plans said in a text message the facilities would
provide amenities of a “world-class property.”
Israel
Axios
- Israel is marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7
terror attacks three weeks before an election where Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's personal culpability for the country's worst-ever security failure
will be a central issue…
The big picture: Oct. 7 still looms over the country
and his candidacy. The opposition lambasts him for refusing to take
responsibility or allow an independent inquiry into the Hamas attacks that
killed around 1,200 people.
- Netanyahu's
chief opponent, former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi
Eisenkot, lost his son and two nephews during the war in Gaza. Sources
close to Eisenkot say he sees his main mission as replacing the man he
holds responsible for allowing the Oct. 7 attacks.
Netanyahu blames the deep state,
claiming his security chiefs kept him in the dark. His political and media
allies have even spread conspiracy theories implying that those officials
betrayed Israel. But recent reporting suggests Netanyahu had at least some
warning. Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that United Arab Emirates President
Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) told Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major
operation days before the attack.
Three knowledgeable
sources confirm to Axios that UAE intelligence gave a general warning to
its Israeli counterparts and that MBZ spoke to Netanyahu to make sure he
received it. Netanyahu denies receiving the UAE warning and has sued
several media outlets and journalists that reported he had. Share this story.
Grocery costs
Wallet Hub - To identify the cities where groceries take up the biggest share of household income, WalletHub compared the prices of 26 everyday grocery items in 100 of the nation’s largest cities. We then measured the total cost of those items against median household income in each city.
| Highest % of Income Spent | Lowest % of Income Spent | |
| 1. Detroit, MI (4.03%) | 91. Scottsdale, AZ (1.46%) | |
| 2. Cleveland, OH (3.93%) | 92. Plano, TX (1.46%) | |
| 3. Birmingham, AL (3.45%) | 93. Seattle, WA (1.44%) | |
| 4. Toledo, OH (3.20%) | 94. Huntington Beach, CA (1.42%) | |
| 5. Newark, NJ (3.15%) | 95. Santa Clarita, CA (1.34%) | |
| 6. Baton Rouge, LA (3.11%) | 96. Gilbert, AZ (1.32%) | |
| 7. Buffalo, NY (3.10%) | 97. Irvine, CA (1.21%) | |
| 8. Memphis, TN (3.07%) | 98. San Francisco, CA (1.10%) | |
| 9. Cincinnati, OH (3.05%) | 99. San Jose, CA (1.07%) | |
| 10. Hialeah, FL (2.99%) | 100. Fremont, CA (0.91%) | |
To
view the full report and your city’s rank
Health
Axios- The health care sector has
added three times as many jobs as the rest of the economy over the past year,
with growth outpacing all other economic sectors, according to a new KFF analysis…. Since September of last year, the
health care sector has added 372,000 jobs — a 2% increase — while
the rest of the economy added a net 124,000, a 0.1% increase.
Legalized gambling and health
Time
- Legalizing gambling can come
with big health problems. That’s the conclusion of a recent study out of
Ontario, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which found
that after the Canadian province legalized betting on individual sports events
in 2022, emergency department visits for gambling disorders doubled. Most of
the people who landed in the emergency department were men, and almost one
third of the visits led to hospitalizations….
The authors of the Ontario study projected how many people
would normally end up in an emergency department every year, and then compared
that to what they saw after online betting on single sporting events became
legal in Ontario. Emergency department visits were 154% higher than they would
have been had the law not been changed, Forrest says. The visits were
concentrated among men aged 10-44.
Many of the patients showed up at the emergency room with
major depression and suicidality, and some had other mental-health or
substance-abuse diagnoses, Forrest said. Doctors at the emergency department
noted in patients’ records that gambling had contributed to those other issues.
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
Time - Just 24% of Hispanic Americans
approve of President Donald Trump’s job performance, according to
a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday. It is the lowest share among the
group in either of Trump’s two terms, and comes two years after gains among Hispanic
voters helped him win back the White House.
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.
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