Cattle Ranchers Have a Beef With Trump

Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen & Zachary Groz

“On the day that the Trump administration announced the importation of 300,000 metric tons of ground beef without tariffs in an attempt to reduce current sky-high retail prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly Cattle on Feed Report, which showed growth in the amount of cattle on feedlots but at much lower percentages than estimated. Placements were also historically tight, at the lowest level for July in 30 years. What this means in layman’s terms is that ranchers should have been able to earn higher prices for heads of cattle, since supply was at a premium, for the first time in a while. After decades of falling profitability, over half of cattle ranches have shuttered in the U.S.” (09/09/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/09/09/trump-meat-cattle-ranchers-beef/

Steve Trinward

Poll: Mistrust of US regime information is rising across major issues

Source: Houston Chronicle

“Americans are more skeptical of government information than they were a few years ago, with majorities now saying they have little or no trust in federal government information about elections and politics, foreign affairs or the environment, a new poll finds. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USA Facts shows that while mistrust of government information has grown since 2024, it’s also higher than it was at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, underscoring how his recent attempts to dismantle the federal bureaucracy may have affected public confidence in the executive branch, particularly among Democrats. … About 6 in 10 U.S. adults have low trust in information from the federal government about the environment, foreign affairs, elections and politics, abortion or immigration — saying they trust it ‘only a little’ or ‘not at all.'” (09/09/26)

https://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/mistrust-of-us-government-information-is-rising-22423404.php

Thomas L. Knapp

A Mail Voting Fight About Nothing

Source: The Dispatch
by Stephen Richer

“On Sunday, the Trump administration made its third appeal in less than six weeks to the Supreme Court, seeking to move ahead with implementing a role for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in overseeing mail ballots as some blue states try to block it. … There’s been lots of talk about election law, the president’s powers, whether the postal service can actually execute the role the president has tasked it with, and whether election administrators could handle the last-minute change. But overlooked in all the discussions is the fact that the administration is pursuing a change that will do nothing to make our elections more secure.” (09/09/26)

https://thedispatch.com/article/postal-service-mail-ballots-trump-administration-supreme-court/

Thomas L. Knapp

Israel opens embassy in Slovenia as small EU nation shifts policies

Source: SFGate

“Israel opened its first embassy in Slovenia on Wednesday, boosting relations with the small European Union nation even as ties sour with some longtime allies over its policy on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar travelled to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, for the occasion that asserts a shift in Slovenia’s policy toward Israel under the current right-wing Prime Minister Janez Jansa. Saar called the embassy opening a ‘historic day’ after a meeting with his Slovenian counterpart Tone Kajzer. He described Israel as ‘the only democracy in the Middle East and almost the only real and true partner of Europe’, the STA news agency reported. ‘Moreover, we are defending Europe, Europe’s security, directly and indirectly,’ Saar said, adding that ‘Israel is the fortress on the front line for Western civilization’. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the new embassy building to protest the visit, demanding the embassy’s closure.” (09/09/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/israel-opens-embassy-in-slovenia-as-small-eu-22424151.php

Steve Trinward

Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Deal Is a Big Gamble

Source: The American Conservative
by Joseph Addington

“t the end of August, President Donald Trump announced a major deal with the government of Venezuela. The agreement would give the U.S. functional control of about 20 percent of Venezuela’s oil, which equates to over 65 billion barrels—or almost one and a half times more oil than the United States has in its own current proven reserves (which total approximately 46 billion barrels). … Trump, ever the dealmaker, appears to view this as the capstone of his Venezuela policy. Superficially, it bears the hallmarks of a triumph for a kind of crude foreign policy realism: American hard power, deployed narrowly, forced cooperation from a previously hostile neighbor and secured material benefits for the United States. … Despite the president’s enthusiasm, however, the Venezuelan oil deal is a clumsy instrument that introduces significant risks.” (09/09/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-venezuelan-oil-deal-is-a-big-gamble/

Thomas L. Knapp

UK: Regime Summons Air Traffic Boss After Major Outage as Flights Slowly Resume

Source: US News & World Report

“Flights from British ⁠airports ⁠resumed on Wednesday after a major air ⁠traffic failure, but questions mounted about the reliability of Britain’s aviation systems and ministers called ​in the flight control boss to explain the shutdown. The hours-long outage on Tuesday, which resulted in the cancellation of more than 1,000 ‌flights and left hundreds of thousands of ‌passengers stranded, has ramped up pressure on air traffic control provider NATS and its boss Martin Rolfe. Transport minister Heidi Alexander will ⁠later on Wednesday ⁠hear from Rolfe after she summoned him to explain what happened, amid concerns that ​the infrastructure and technology are not up to scratch. The shutdown comes three years after the last system meltdown in August 2023, when cancelled flights on one of the busiest travel days of the year cost airlines £100 million ($135 million).” (09/09/26)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-09-09/uk-flights-resume-but-airports-warn-of-ongoing-disruption-from-air-traffic-outage

Thomas L. Knapp