Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan
“As Americans struggle to pay for gas, groceries, and other necessities, Donald Trump has found a new use for their tax dollars: promoting himself and his party in the midterms. In the last week, the Trump administration has spent more than $1.7 million in federal funds to run three ads on TV, including on Fox News during primetime, on a Sunday-morning political show, and on NFL games. The White House calls these videos ‘public service announcements.’ In reality, they’re obvious campaign ads. And Trump, through taxation and unauthorized spending, is forcing Americans to pay for them.” (09/28/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/congratulations-youre-a-trump-campaign-donor-propaganda-ads-white-house
Source: Politico
“EU lawmakers are calling for the Commission to forbid European firms and banks from applying U.S. sanctions, as Washington weighs sanctioning the International Criminal Court over its actions concerning Israel. The U.S. has already targeted nine of the court’s judges and four prosecutors since the Netherlands-based institution issued a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ‘To protect its values, [the EU] needs to protect the ICC and the people who work there. It means … activating the blocking statute,’ said Dutch lawmaker Dirk Gotink of the center-right European People’s Party after a closed-door meeting of the economy committee on Monday evening.” (09/28/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/block-us-sanctions-on-the-icc-eu-lawmakers-tell-commission
Source: Antiwar.com
“Smotrich: Key To Cleansing Gaza Is ‘Taking Away Hope,’ More US Airstrikes in Somalia, and More.” (09/28/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlW7M6WZPg
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder
“Artificial intelligence gets attention, but population decline and humanity’s destructive impulses may pose greater dangers.” (09/28/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/28/will-ai-destroy-humanity-there-may-be-a-bigger-threat/
Source: Axios
“SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket came back to Earth earlier than planned after its first orbital flight Monday, with an explosion visible on the company’s livestream just after touchdown in the Pacific Ocean. … Starship launched from South Texas just before 9 a.m. ET on a planned test flight of about 10 hours. It was set to orbit Earth about six times before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Chile. But SpaceX decided to bring it back to Earth after only about 3 hours. As part of the mission, Starship deployed 26 of the company’s new, better-performing Starlink V3 internet satellites. The cause of the apparent explosion was not immediately clear, and the company didn’t offer any details.” (09/28/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/09/28/spacex-starship-orbital-flight
Source: Washington Post
by Carine Hajjar
“For all his talk about defeating ‘radical left lunatics,’ the president seems awfully cozy in their company. In the span of a week, Donald Trump managed to pose for chummy photo ops with New York’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and Venezuela’s illegitimate leader, Delcy Rodríguez. Last Wednesday, he rounded out his leftist tour de force by kicking off a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Smiling for the camera doesn’t make Trump a socialist — but the White House’s growing corporate portfolio might. … a democratic socialism that endorses ‘public ownership’ of large corporations and shrinking the workweek ‘with no reduction in pay or benefits’ used to be the kind of nonsense that Republicans could argue against. Today, the GOP could have credibility as the alternative to socialists only if its leader quit acting like one.” (09/28/26)
https://archive.is/c9lwj
Source: Reason
“Trump’s Iran War Is Losing With Everyone (Even Republicans).” (09/28/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/09/28/trumps-iran-war-is-losing-with-everyone-even-republicans/
Source: Al Arabiya [Saudi state media]
“Saudi Arabia has resumed oil exports through the main pipeline extending from the east to the west of the Kingdom. According to Bloomberg, state-run Saudi Aramco was last week testing the East-West pipeline and building pressure, with the aim of resuming meaningful flows by the weekend, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the information is not public. The resumption will restore Saudi Arabia’s access to the alternative export route that it had been using during the Iran war, even as the Kingdom has ramped up shipments through the Strait of Hormuz this month.” (09/28/26)
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2026/09/28/saudi-arabia-s-key-oil-pipeline-starts-exports-after-repairs
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jeffrey D Sachs
“I write to you because you cannot simply walk away from Trump’s recklessness, shaking your heads silently. You have a job to do, so do it. The craven Republican Party has to find even a minimal level of guts to tell Trump, ‘No, you do not have the power to destroy Iran. Any war with Iran depends on us, and we don’t support you and our constituents want this war to stop.’ A clear majority of Americans oppose this war, and poll after poll shows that the opposition to the war is growing. A few Republicans have found that courage. Last week three more Republicans broke ranks to support ending the war. Their colleagues should follow.” (09/28/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jeffrey_sachs/2026/09/27/stop-mad-king-donalds-iran-war-an-open-letter-to-members-of-the-us-congress/
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday boosting the size of the army by 15,500 troops in the fourth such order this year. Putin’s order comes as both Russia and Ukraine suffer mounting casualties in the more than four-and-a-half-year Ukraine war. The decree did not give a reason for the troop increase. … Putin had previously signed documents boosting the size of the army in March, June and July. The combined increase since March amounts to 47,860 soldiers. Russia’s battlefield advances have slowed this year, as widespread drone use on the front has made swift, large-scale troop movements almost impossible. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of preparing for another military call-up, a suggestion that Putin has called Ukrainian ‘disinformation’.” (09/28/26)
https://archive.is/RqSS9
