Thanks to all who attended Wednesday’s debate at The Allen Theatre, discussing regulation of Big Technology. As you might expect, the hour-long debate was dominated by discussion of whether or not AI should be regulated.  

The series at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, draws area and regional residents as well as students from nearby Lebanon Valley College who are interested in civil debate of today’s political issues. Read coverage of the debate series in LVC’s student newspaper, La Vie Collegienne and stay tuned for news of our next live debate, planned for October.

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Limiting growth of artificial intelligence, curbs on social media and better regulation and anti-trust legislation for such Big Technology companies as Meta, Google, Amazon and Elon Musk’s myriad interests are all fair game in the next Talking With, Not At … live debate at The Allen Theatre, at 36 E. Main Street, Annville, Pennsylvania. 

Debate & Donuts V is 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 16 and is a civil discussion free and open to the public. 

See Monday’s center column for the latest news on the AI industry’s interest in self-regulation and President Trump’s preference for unbound competition.

You also are welcome to discuss this issue in the right and left columns. Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.newsand please indicate your political leanings, right or left, centrist-moderate, hard-right or prog-left, in the subject line, irrespective of the political position taken within. –Editors

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MONDAY 9/14/26

Fed Raises Interest Rates – The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee voted 12-0 Wednesday to raise interest rates, its first hike in three years, by 25 basis-points, to 3.75%-4% and indicated another increase later this year. Fed chair, Kevin Warsh (above), said the quarter-point increase “removed a dose of accommodation.” That's Fedspeak, according to The Wall Street Journal, for ‘stimulus.’

Planned Accidental Attacks – Russia plans “accidental” drone or rocket strikes on European countries supporting Ukraine to “paralyze or at least weaken the motivation on NATO countries,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk says.

“There is real risk that drones or other types of projectiles will enter the territory of one or several countries on the eastern flank and even cause destruction,” Tusk told Poland’s parliament Thursday, before traveling to Kyiv Friday. “If anyone dares to attack us, they will face a resolute response from us and our allies.”

Tusk said Poland will invoke NATO Article 5 to defend itself against Russian aggression. 

After Tusk’s remarks to parliament Thursday, President Trump announced the US is closer to a permanent military base in Poland, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. US troops currently rotate through a Polish base.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was also in Kyiv Friday and said Europe is closer than ever to a large-scale war erupting from Russia’s war on Ukraine, according to The Guardian’s report. Meanwhile, Europe plans disbursement of €3.3 billion (about US$3.78 billion) to Ukraine to buy missiles and drones.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.4687 Friday, up 3.01 cents over Thursday’s average, AAA says, and up $1.4887 over February 26. Diesel continues to set new record highs, costing on average $6.4476 Friday, AAA says, up 5.2 cents over Thursday.

•••

Preventing Attack on Kennedy Center – President Trump cannot demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts without providing 30-days’ notice, a federal judge ruled Thursday, after the center’s board of directors voted to close it over poor condition and finances (NPR’s Morning Edition).

Trump suggested the Kennedy Center, opened in 1971, will be “ripped down” if his name isn’t emblazoned on the building to give him credit for the renovation he seeks. Trump also claimed, without evidence that the Kennedy Center has lost millions of dollars. –TL

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Fed Raises Interest Rates 25bps

THURSDAY 9/17/26

EU+Canada: New World Leaders? – Something like the “Fifth Beatle” or the “Twelfth Player” at the Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field, Canada appears poised to become the 28^th member of the European Union, thanks in large part to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s inarguably un-Trumplike statesmanship. 

Canadian politeness lives. 

At the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, where President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Union has proposed making Canada an “associate member” (without offering any details of what that means) Carney wowed the 27 extant members with smooth diplomacy, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

“Canada and Europe are strong,” Carney told the European Parliament. “Europe and Canada are stronger together.”

Canada does not support zero-sum deals, he added.

Von der Leyen noted that the EU and Canada already have “deep” trade agreements, as well as deep sociopolitical ties.

“We see the world with the same eyes, from AI to climate change,” von der Leyen said, “from the Arctic to geopolitics and we’ve stood together on Ukraine defense, on raw material supply chains. But above all, dear Mark, Europe and Canada believe in democracy.”

Touché.

•••

Meanwhile, Prices at the Pump – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.4386 Thursday, up 7.14 cents over Wednesday, AAA says. Diesel is $6.3956, up 8.53 cents over Wednesday. –TL

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War on Iran, Week 23

WEDNESDAY 9/16/26

President Trump departs his Doonbeg golf resort in Ireland, after he said Saturday he would “love to see” unification with Northern Ireland, (Time magazine), which is part of the UK. “It would seem to me that one of the ‘naturals’ of all time is to put them together.” [White House video screenshot]

EU, Canada – European Union President Ursula von der Leyen says she will work on making Canada the economic bloc’s first “associate” member, The Wall Street Journal reports. The new EU category would acknowledge the result of President Trump’s tariff policy and isolationism the shifting the center of “the West’s” power away from US military and economic might.

Speaking in her annual address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, this one with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the audience, von der Leyen said (per WSJ): “We must urgently reimagine our partnerships. And build global coalitions for our resilience and democracies. … I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU.”

Carney has vowed to find new markets for Canadian goods after Trump launched his full-scale trade war with our northern neighbor, which sends about 70% of its exports to the US. Tariffs of 50% are to take effect on key Canadian goods on January 1.

Hello, Cleveland … Meanwhile, the Cleveland City Council Monday, in a shot at President Trump’s “Lake America” moniker for Lake Ontario, voted to rename a portion of another Great Lake, Erie, as the “Gulf of Cleveland.”

•••

House Passes War Powers Act – The House passed the war powers act its third time Tuesday by 220-204 vote, directing the Trump administration to end the war in Iran or seek explicit authorization to continue, The New York Times reports. This time, seven Republicans joined Democrats in the resolution offered by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), up three Republicans from the first two tries.

Moulton, a retired combat veteran, said the war “has not only failed, but backfired.”

Republicans voting for Moulton’s resolution were Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Tom Barrett of Michigan, Marianette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, both of Iowa and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

Impeach Hegseth? ... Massie, meanwhile, has introduced a resolution to impeach war/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

•••

Meanwhile, Prices at the Pump – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.3672 Wednesday, the AAA reports, up another 3.83 cents over Tuesday and $1.551 costlier than the AAA average on February 27. Diesel is up 4.09 cents, to $6.3103 Wednesday, which is $2.6238 higher than just before the US-Israeli war on Iran. –TL

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TUESDAY 9/15/26

It's National Voter Registration Day

•For More on Voter Registration: Click HERE.

Trump Expands his HOAX-o-rama – President Trump defended artificial intelligence development against its chief purveyors – including Dario Amadei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who called for curbs on development last weekend – as Vice President JD Vance questioned AI tech companies’ motives for seeking regulation. 

“AI taking over the World, destroying HUMANITY, and all other things bad, is a HOAX, no different from RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA – UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE – IMPEACHMENT HOAX #1 – IMPEACHMENT HOAX #2 – and all of the other HOAXES and SCAMS that America was forced to endure,” Trump Truth Socialed (hat tip to Politico).

Earlier Monday, Trump TS’d “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades.”

Testing Trump loyalists? … Recently, Trump asserted that “communities that don’t take a data center are making a mistake,” adding that “plenty of communities” want one for the tax revenues (per Forbes), even as right and left have found a not-in-our-backyard issue over which to unite. Will all the president’s 30% or so loyal MAGAnistes stick with him on AI regulation?

Not Steve Bannon … “Face of the MAGA movement” Steve Bannon is joining Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (!!!) in participating in an all-day Pro-Human Assembly in Washington Tuesday arranged by the non-profit Future of Life Institute, NPR reports. Sanders with Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) has written legislation addressing the need for AI regulation. It would make it “illegal for any company to produce AI that is smarter than any human,” Sanders told NPR’s Leila Fadel on Morning Edition Tuesday.

•••

Speaking of Hoaxes – By 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court Tuesday in a one-paragraph ruling blocked the Trump administration from imposing federal requirements for mail-in ballots, The Wall Street Journal reports. With Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting, the court said the US Postal Service cannot enforce a Trump administration rule that would compel state and local election officials to submit lists of voters to the federal government. 

Wait, there’s more… Still, Trump’s Justice Department recently sent out letters to at least 30 top election officials across the country – the “Democratic” ones – in an effort to gain access to private voter data and election records, The New York Times reports.

•••

Speaking of RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA – In the final days of Emmy winner The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, its eponymous host joked about President Trump declining to attend his son, Don Jr.’s wedding to Bettina Anderson. TMZ soon after reported that Donald Sr. did attend the actual May 21 nuptials (last day of The Late Show) of Don Jr. to the socialite/model before the happy couple, sans president, flew off to a “destination” wedding celebration with about 50 guests. 

The May 22 destination wedding might be considered a good thing for President Trump to avoid, if you buy his explanation that his sons control Trump Organization business interests without his input. 

ProPublica Monday published an ongoing investigation of Don Jr.’s three-day wedding party that reports Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, a close friend of dictator Vladimir Putin, “spent hundreds of thousands” of dollars on expenses, including renting out a private island in the Bahamas. 

Kremlev heads the “scandal plagued” International Boxing Association, sponsored by Russian oil giant Gazprom and “appears to have met Donald Trump Jr. only recently, but attended the ‘intimate’ wedding with a large group of other Russian guests.”

Payments for Don Jr.’s wedding were made via an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions, ProPublica reports.

The president’s son recently described the “intimate” three-day wedding celebration in the Bahamas on his podcast, Triggered with Don Jr.

“It was really small, like really close friends. Tried to keep it really tight,” Don Jr. said. “And it was just awesome.”

•••

Meanwhile, Prices at the Pump – The national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.3289 Tuesday, according to the AAA, up 1.26 cents over Monday and up $1.5127 over February 27. Diesel is $6.2694, up 3.93 cents over Monday and up $2.5829 since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran. –TL

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MONDAY 9/14/26

Iran War, Week 23

Can AI’s Quest for World Domination be, er, Slowed? – Until last weekend it seemed only a burst of the artificial intelligence capital-raising bubble on Wall Street could possibly stop development of the technology its leader/experts are beginning to fear will end mankind as we know it. Then on Saturday, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei posted a 3,800-word essay calling on AI companies to “pace the frontier,” which means, “let’s hit the brakes” on AI development. 

Shortly after Amodei’s post, Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, founder of SpaceXAI agreed in their own social posts, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Last Tuesday, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and posted a series of social media posts about how AI companies are not responsibly developing the technology, at the potential expense of human lives. And The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that Amodei’s Anthropic and Altman’s OpenAI are “racing” toward initial public offerings (IPOs) at the same time they admit they call for better understanding of the technology as it develops itself.

Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) tells NPR’s Morning Edition he expects this week to introduce with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) their Ban Artificial Intelligence Act in Congress this week before their recess, which begins next week and extends to after the November 3 midterm elections. The Casar-Sanders bill calls for a ban on the development and deployment of superintelligent AI and for a temporarily pause on advanced AI development until safety rules can be developed under federal regulation.

It would also direct US regulators to pursue international agreements to prevent development of superintelligence anywhere in the world. 

Speaking to reporters at his Doonbeg golf resort in Ireland Sunday, President Trump, who earlier this year signed an executive order to block states’ regulation of AI, said he  opposes the idea of any federal regulations, NPR reports.

“We’re leading China in AI, we’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins,” Trump said. “And we can put down guardrails, we can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing that up.”

Which means … Even if the Sanders/Casar Ban Artificial Intelligent Act makes it through Congress this week or after the midterms, the Senate will not override a presidential veto.

•••

Kennedy Center May Close Tuesday – President Trump’s hand-picked leaders of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts say the center is close to bankruptcy and the only way to save it is to restore Trump’s name on its façade in order to ensure fundraising efforts, according to a “bleak” 57-page packet distributed to the board and obtained by The Washington Post. 

The Kennedy Center’s board, chaired by the president, is to gather in a special meeting Tuesday to consider two resolutions to address a.) the building’s financial crisis and b.) its physical crisis. The center’s officials say they may be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts “within a matter of weeks” and argue that putting Trump’s name back on the center could help raise enough money to keep the lights on, according to WaPo’s scoop.

•••

Russian Drones Strike Near Ukraine-Polish Border – Russia launched drones Sunday at Western Ukraine, just 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, The Kyiv Independent reports, striking a gas station and a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train with former CIA Director David Petraeus aboard. The drones came late to miss an earlier train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European diplomats.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – Diesel prices are leaping and bounding across the US, according to AAA’s national average price. Diesel averages $6.2301 per gallon Monday, up 17.45 cents over Friday and $2.5436 higher than it was at the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Unleaded regular averages $4.3163 Monday, up 2.13 cents over Friday and up $1.5001 over February 27. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 9/14/26

The Consumer Price Index remained steady at 3.4% on an annual basis in August, the Labor Department reports Friday. But the month-over-month increase was 0.4%, from 0.1% in July. The monthly increase less food and energy was 0.3%. The gasoline index for August over July was +3.9%, with energy up 2.1% and shelter up 0.3%. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

•Read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s reflections on the 9/11 attacks of 25 years ago in The Gray Area.

Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn Live! – It’s the Red Scare all over again for the Republican Party as indicated by the GOP’s midterm convention featuring President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, in Dallas, Wednesday and Thursday. Politico’s wrap-up feature on the convention leads with a photo of a couple wearing white t-shirts with the words in red on back; “America No Commies!”

“This midterm, we face the most dangerous, radical and frankly weird Democratic candidates in American history,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee told the convention crowd. While Trump claimed capacity crowds, most news organizations showed many empty seats. 

Republicans have made Abdul el-Sayed, the Democratic Party’s Senate candidate for Michigan their chief bogeyman in this tactic, NPR’s Tamara Keith noted on Morning Edition. 

The party’s main focus was painting Democrats as too extreme, according to Politico, on the convention stage, in private meetings near the American Airlines Center in Dallas-area hotels and in television advertising between live coverage.

•••

Diesel Breaches $6 – The national average price of a gallon of diesel fuel jumped 7.83 cents to $6.0556 Friday, according to the AAA. That’s up $2.3691 over the end of February, before the war on Iran began. Regular unleaded is $4.295, up 1.8 cents over Thursday and $1.4788 higher than February 27. --TL

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THURSDAY 9/10/26

Bribe?

Trump Offers $5,000 for GOP Majorities – President Trump’s has offered in his nearly two-hour speech to the Republican midterm convention to pay $5,000 to every adult citizen only if the GOP maintains majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives. It is likely illegal (though Trump has Supreme Court immunity from prosecution) and it would cost taxpayers about $1 trillion, according to The New York Times.

Is it a bribe?

You do not need to vote for congressional Republican candidates in the November 3 midterm elections for the federal government to pay out $1 trillion. You need only hope majorities nationwide vote to maintain or improve Republicans’ thin majorities in both chambers. 

One caveat, the BBC World Service reports, is that American citizens must spend that $5,000 in the US.

 “We don’t want you to go to Canada to spend the money,” he said. “We don’t want you to go to China, to Germany.”

While Trump in his GOP convention speech in Dallas conceded that any president’s party typically loses Congress members in the midterms – “we’re going to change that,” he said – he is pulling every lever he can to reverse that trend this November. 

Trump’s executive order to place restrictions on mail-in ballots distributed by states remains in limbo as SCOTUS considers its legality, but it’s enough to cause suspicion and confusion among voters.

Elsewhere in Trump’s Speech … Though ‘The Trump Dividend,’ as the president calls it, seems to acknowledge that middle- and working-class Americans are suffering increasing food and energy costs under his administration, Trump nevertheless referred again to the “fake” affordability issue in his speech.

He also said he is not getting proper credit for his success in the war on Iran: “I should get something out of it. The Trump Strait.”

Where are the Republicans? … The American Airlines Center in Dallas had many empty seats as most Republican congressional candidates in battleground states avoided the Dallas midterm convention for the hustings, the NYT reports. One exception is Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, who is in a statistical dead heat against Democrat James Talarico for retiring Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s seat. Paxton happily attended after accepting $10 million for his campaign from Trump’s political action committee, Make America Great Again Inc.

Then there’s Fetterman … Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s appearance was either the biggest, or perhaps more accurately the only, surprise in Dallas. Fetterman, who is the Senate swing-vote yang to Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) swing-vote yin appeared on video screen to introduce Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick. 

“Yes, I’m a Democrat,” Fetterman said. “Why am I talking to you? Because, well, I’m a common-sense Democrat. … We’ll work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life, right here in the steel valley.”

Democrats worry Fetterman will switch parties after the midterms. If he doesn’t switch, expect him to be primaried in 2028.

•••

Happy Holidays – The Washington Post claims this as a scoop, though we first spotted the news item under an “Exclusive” banner in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal: Natalie Harp – yes, the portable printer executive assistant constantly at the president’s side – communications advisor Margo Martin and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Chamberlain Harris each received $45,000 cash gifts from President Trump as holiday bonuses at the end of 2025. Each make $150,000 in annual salaries. 

The disclosure also noted a $25,000 cash gift to Walt Nauta, the director of Oval Office operations, which means he’s Harris’ boss. Nauta, whose salary is $175,000 per year, was indicted in June 2023 with Trump in a federal case involving classified documents kept at Mar-a-Lago after the president’s first term.

WaPo reporter Kat Zakrewski told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition Thursday that it is not clear whether Trump paid Nauta and the three female aides from his own money. Inskeep replied that it’s not a pejorative to point out that Trump has bragged he pays for nothing with his own money.

Wherever the $155,000 in bonuses came from, University of Minnesota law Prof. Richard Painter told The Wall Street Journal the gifts could be breaking federal law that prohibits government employees from accepting outside salaries and bonuses. 

The appearance of a bribe-thing, you know.

“If you want to take a tip, don’t work for the government,” Painter, who was White House ethics officer in President George W. Bush’s administration, added. “I mean, it’s not the Fifth Avenue doorman.”

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.277 Thursday, according to the AAA, up 5.25 cents over Wednesday and up $1.4608 over February 27. Diesel is $5.9773, up 3.49 cents over Wednesday and $2.2908 versus late February, when the Strait of Hormuz was still open to oil tanker traffic. –TL

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Iran War, Week 23

WEDNESDAY 9/9/26

Let’s Get This Strait – Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz may be restricting the flow of oil tankers, but the US blockade there is damaging Iran to the point its leadership is escalading the war. Lead negotiator and speaker of Iran’s parliament Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday said the era of “proportionate responses” to American attacks is over. 

On Tuesday, the US military said it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in response to Iran’s attempted strikes on a US Navy warship, The New York Times reports. [The US reportedly gave the oil tankers enough warning for their crews to evacuate, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.] 

Iran said it had launched strikes on a base in Jordan used by US forces. Three days earlier, Iran made its first known attempt at striking an American military vessel. Iran also has reportedly captured an American underwater drone. The US military says the drone is an old, early model with dated technology.

And so it goes. 

More than six months into his six-week war, President Trump can claim “victory” over Iran by cutting off its oil exports and squeeze its already damaged economy, as Iran has restricted tankers navigating the Strait of Hormuz, and funding Houthis who have threatened Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure as global oil prices breach $100 per barrel.

•••

Sanctions on Israeli Settlers – British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced an import ban on all goods from Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Tuesday (Time magazine). Charging UK leadership with “antisemitism,” the Israeli government ordered the British consulate in East Jerusalem closed.

The UK sanctions lead a coordinated effort by 12 governments to restrict trade with the Israeli settlers.

Miliband told the House of Commons; “The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists.”

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has counted 80 attacks carried out by Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian casualties or damage to their property, between August 11^th and 24^th.

•••

Smithsonian Secretary ‘Retires’ – Lonnie Bunch, the first Black secretary of the 21-museum Smithsonian complex in Washington, D.C., told NPR’s All Things Considered Tuesday he is stepping down “because I’m old as dirt.” 

Bunch, 73, is also the first historian to lead the Smithsonian, where he has worked for 38 years. He was named secretary of the institution in 2019 and is founding director of the National Museum of African American History & Culture, which was established in 2003 and opened in its permanent location in 2016. 

Addressing employees at the Smithsonian Tuesday, Bunch was less sanguine about his “retirement.”

“I may be going away, but I’m still going to be a pain in the ass to some people,” he said, according to The Atlantic Daily’s account of his departure. Bunch will be more effective fighting against the Trump administration in its culture war on the institution, according to the report.

President Trump in July signed an executive order calling for signage to be added to the National Museum of American History warning of its “inaccurate” and “partisan” presentation of history. 

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – Brent Crude topped $100 per barrel on the global market Tuesday, and AAA’s national average for a gallon of unleaded regular gas Wednesday is up 7.31 cents to $4.2245 as a result. Unleaded regular now is up $1.4083 over February 27. Diesel is $5.9424 Wednesday, up 4.12 cents over Tuesday and $2.2559 higher than the beginning of the war on Iran. –TL

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TUESDAY 9/8/26

Canada Strikes Back in Trump Trade War

Good Luck with Trump-a-palooza – Republican lawmakers hope Trump-a-palooza, the Wednesday-Thursday midterm GOP convention in Dallas this week will give the president a chance to draw a contrast with Democrats rather than prosecute his personal grievances, Politico reports. On NPR Tuesday, Jonah Goldberg, founding editor of The Dispatch told Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep he fears Trump-a-palooza could become “the political version of a ShamWow infomercial.” 

•••

US-Canada Trade War, Week 1 – Hours before Canada imposed retaliatory 50% tariffs on approximately US$20 billion on American-import clothing, cheese, metal parts, wood products and other items, President Trump Truth Socialed, “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!”

Montreal-based Bombardier builds most of the regional jetliners favored by US carriers for short- to medium-distance flights. The company responded to Trump’s ALL CAPS social media post that it makes such crucial components as wings in California and Texas, The New York Times reports, and a US boycott would hurt American factory workers there. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney made it clear after trade talks with the US collapsed in August that Canada would counteract Trump’s taxes on its goods. Carney described Canada as being “at war” and Canadian officials would respond “dollar for dollar” to US duties. 

After the US had to refund much of last year’s “Liberation Day” tariffs after the Supreme Court struck them down, the Trump White House cited Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (paging Smoot-Hawley) to add 50% duties to motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages and dairy products. 

•••

Houthis Hit Saudi Oil – Brent crude inched near $100 per barrel after Iran-backed Houthi militants struck Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reports. Watch for a bleak day on Wall Street and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off more than 1% by mid-morning as a result. 

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for a gallon of unleaded regular gas is $4.1514, up 0.4 cents from last Friday and $1.3352 over February 27. Diesel inched up from its record price late last week to $5.9012, up 5.12 cents over Friday and $2.2147 higher than since the beginning of the war on Iran -- costs freight and delivery companies using diesel (most of them) will pass on to you. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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TUESDAY 9/8/26

The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1% for August as the US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, better than analysts had expected. The Labor Department cited gains in construction, food service and drinking places and local government education. The Federal Reserve can now be confident about interest rate hikes to fight inflation, Macro Policy Perspectives founder Julia Coronado told Marketplace. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

FRIDAY 9/4/26

Record Diesel Prices – National average for a gallon of diesel fuel hit an all-time record $5.85 per gallon Friday, the AAA reports. That’s up 6.68 cents per gallon over Thursday and +$2.1635 since the beginning of the US-Israeli war over Iran. This mean likely higher inflation for goods delivered by diesel trucks and trains, which means nearly everything. Meanwhile, a unleaded regular gas hit an average of $4.1474 per gallon Friday – not a record – but 0.38 cents over Thursday and $1.3312 over February 27.

•••

Treasury Goes After Private Schools’ ‘DEI’ – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is on a MAGA roll of sorts. While blaming Ukraine for higher oil prices with its strikes on Russian reserves, Bessent also says the Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service intends to revoke tax-exempt status for private schools that help students based on race.

Wesleyan University President Michael Roth told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition that his school has programs designed to help students, such as low-income first-generation college students, in need. Such programs are not race-based, though they may benefit students of color in much larger proportion than white students, he said.

“But the secretary of the Treasury is talking about ending discrimination against white people,” Roth told Inskeep. “That’s what should shock us here. The secretary of the Treasury is using the IRS to advance a pro-white nationalist agenda.”

•••

‘Limited Military Operation,’ Week 22 – While the economic war via strict sanctions on Iran broke out into US military strikes on Iran while Iran continued attacking the region this week, the Trump administration is casting whatever we’re doing there as a limited military operation.

“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vice President JD Vance said in the first White House press briefing since press secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped down, Time reports. “Right now, there is no shooting.”  – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 9/4/26

Our next Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts in partnership with The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, is Wednesday, September 16. 

Debate topic is a question: Should there be increased regulation in the US of big technology?

We’re sure at least a bit of the debate will discuss whether Big Technology should be capitalized.

The debate is free and open to the public. In accordance with The Hustings’ ethos, we will conduct a civil debate to be comfortable for all participants regardless of political convictions.

________________________________________________

Civil Media v. Social Media

American journalism has been under attack since Google, Meta’s Facebook and Elon Musk’s X-Twitter began sucking advertising profits from traditional fact-based news organizations years ago.

The threat has since grown, as Google’s artificial intelligence search function bypasses traditional news organizations to give readers some sort of answer based on, apparently, an amalgam of various original sources. 

At The Hustings we endeavor to fight back against AI social media slop.

If you’re a small, independent fact-based news organization, please contact us to learn how we can work together (without making any structural or financial connection).

If you’re a reader who has an opinion about any of the news we report and aggregate, and/or the commentaries in our right and left columns, we ask you please let social media eat itself and email your comments to The Hustings instead.

The email for readers as well as fellow independent news organizations is: editors@thehustings.news. 

If you are commenting, please indicate your political leanings (left or right, whether centrist or progressive or MAGA) in the subject line, irrespective of your position in the comments within, so we publish your thoughts in the proper column. –Editors

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FRIDAY 9/4/26

Our Talking With, Not At … debate series in partnership with The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, returns in September. We’ll civilly discuss and debate whether or not there is a need for stronger tech sector and artificial intelligence regulation.

Watch this space (and the right column) for details to come.

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Civil Media v. Social Media

American journalism has been under attack since Google, Meta’s Facebook and Elon Musk’s X-Twitter began sucking advertising profits from traditional fact-based news organizations years ago.

The threat has since grown, as Google’s artificial intelligence search function bypasses traditional news organizations to give readers some sort of answer based on, apparently, an amalgam of various original sources. 

At The Hustings we endeavor to fight back against AI social media slop.

If you’re a small, independent fact-based news organization, please contact us to learn how we can work together (without making any structural or financial connection).

If you’re a reader who has an opinion about any of the news we report and aggregate, and/or the commentaries in our right and left columns, we ask you please let social media eat itself and email your comments to The Hustings instead.

The email for readers as well as fellow independent news organizations is: editors@thehustings.news. If you are commenting, please indicate your political leanings (left or right, whether centrist or progressive-MAGA) in the subject line, irrespective of your position in the comments within, so we publish your thoughts in the proper column. –Editors

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MONDAY 8/31/26

Lake America on Google Maps (Lake Ontario elsewhere).

The Donroe Doctrine is Alive – Following President Trump’s announcement that the US will have access to 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil, Houston’s Chevron announced Wednesday it is expanding operations there to take advantage of its huge known reserves, NPR’s All Things Considered reports.

“The catalyst for transforming Venezuela is energy,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at Chevron’s announcement, with its CEO, Mike Wirth, and Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez at Miraflores Palace in Caracas. “The catalyst for improving life conditions of Americans, our hemisphere and everyone in the world is to massively expand energy production around the world.”

But not quite yet, for everybody. 

“They’re not ready for elections, but at some point they will be,” Trump said of Venezuela last Friday, as he announced US access to its oil (PBS News). 

•••

What the Hegseth? – Many Republicans outside the White House, and probably a few within, are calling for President Trump’s removal of Defense/war Secretary Pete Hegseth after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced his resignation Monday.

“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” lame duck Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) wrote of Hegseth on X-Twitter, according to Politico. 

Now The Washington Post scoops that President Trump late last week asked Driscoll to remain on at least through the midterms, according to people familiar with the meeting. 

At that meeting last week, Driscoll told Trump he was concerned about the damage Hegseth was doing to the Army, people familiar with the conversation told WaPo.

An unnamed White House spokesperson disputed that characterization of the meeting, the newspaper reports. 

Driscoll and Hegseth repeatedly clashed over Hegseth’s firing of several Army generals, stifling advancement of other top officers and blocking some of Driscoll’s efforts to modernize the Army.

•••

Gloria Steinem Has Died – Probably the most high-profile feminist leader of the late 20^th Century, Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem has died at her home in New York City. She was 92. 

Steinem’s journalism career took off with the 1963 publication in Show magazine of “A Bunny’s Tale,” described in her New York Times obituary as “a witty exposé” of her undercover stint as a cotton-tailed waitress at the Playboy Club in New York City. She was a co-founder of New York magazine in 1968, where she developed her political journalism chops writing “The City Politic” column. 

In 1969, some four words ahead of Roe v. Wade, Steinem attended a “speak out” of women’s illegal abortions (she had had one at age 22), and in 1971 she helped launch Ms. which the NYT describes as the first glossy national publication created, owned and run entirely by women. The author of nearly a dozen non-fiction books, Steinem’s An Unexpected Life is scheduled for publication in September.

•••

Are We Blue? – Apparently not. In what appears to be another example of President Trump’s work to put his gold-plated imprimatur on the nation’s capital, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has removed artist Joel Shapiro’s “Blue,” a large metal sculpture of a human stick figure, installed in 2019.

“Blue” was targeted for removal after Kennedy Center Chairman Trump’s takeover last year, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. Would “Red” have survived the Trump administration?

Shapiro died in 2025. His daughter and president of his foundation, Ivy Shapiro, said he would have been “alarmed” it has been removed from its intended location.

“In Joel’s mind, it was one of his greatest site-specific commissions,” she told the NYT, “which celebrated joy, freedom and creativity.”

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded is`up 2.33 cents Thursday to $4.1436, AAA reports, or $1.3274 costlier than on February 27. Diesel shot up 16.07 cents to $5.7832 per gallon, $2.0967 costlier than in late February. –TL

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WEDNESDAY 9/2/26

Prog v. Prog – Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), 80, is 33 years older than Rep. Seth Moulton, and beat him in Tuesday’s Massachusetts Democratic primary by 29.8 points, The Associated Press reports. Both Markey and Moulton are progressives, (though Moulton rankled many Democrats with comments critical about trans athletes playing girls’ and women’s sports) which suggests that maybe the progressive wave in earlier primaries in other states this midterm season is more about taking on MAGA Republicans than it is about replacing Democratic status quo with a younger generation of the party’s candidates. 

Markey is virtually assured re-election to the Senate in deep-blue Massachusetts, where his Republican challenger is John Deaton, who ran for his party’s nomination unopposed Tuesday. Deaton previously ran for Senate in 2024, when he lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) by about 20 points. 

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded is`up 2.49 cents Wednesday to $4.1203, AAA reports, or $1.3041 costlier than on February 27. Diesel is up 5.54 cents to $5.6325 per gallon, $1.9360 costlier than in late February. –TL

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TUESDAY 9/1/26

Whistleblower: USPS Rushing to Suppress Midterm Vote

Midterm Mail-In Ballots Imperiled – President Trump's executive order to take federal control of mail-in ballots could cause "catastrophic failure" in the midterm elections, according to a Whistleblower Aid report published by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Tuesday. A federal official with direct knowledge of the US Postal Service's "secretive, rushed" implementation of Trump's EO has "grave concerns" that "potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballots this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all," according to The New York Times. The report published by the senator was prepared with the assistance of the non-profit Whistleblower Aid.

The federal official alleges the USPS is rushing implementation of Trump’s EO #14399 restricting mail-in ballots to complete a new digital system overseeing mail ballots by September 1. 

"Millions of Americans could be disenfranchised in a new election ballot mail system being hastily implemented by the United States Postal Service (USPS), according to the new, alarming revelation from a federal official with direct knowledge of the system's potentially catastrophic outcome," says the Whistleblower Aid report.

The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with the president's EO, ruling a lawsuit to stop it was premature, having been filed before implementation. But days before that, the USPS published a new plan to comply with Trump's order, according to the NYT.

•••

Ballroom Blitz, Part II – One way or another, the hole in the ground filling up where the White House East Wing used to be is destined to become President Trump’s most enduring legacy on the District of Columbia. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit attempting to put the kibosh on the Trump ballroom failed Monday when the Supreme Court granted the administration’s request, 5-4, to allow construction to continue, per SCOTUSblog. 

The eight-page unsigned ruling came 10 days after Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay – a temporary order – that put a lower court’s ruling stopping construction on hold (follow the double-negative). 

However, Roberts joined SCOTUS’ three Democratic appointees in dissenting, writing that construction “is likely unlawful” and the 5-4 decision moving construction forward is “no victory for the separation of powers.”

Trump said on August 13 that ballroom construction is “65% complete.”

•••

Army Secretary Resigns – After months of tension with Pete Hegseth over the war/defense secretary’s thinning of Pentagon generals and admirals, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Driscoll, a friend and former law school classmate of Vice President JD Vance, clashed with Hegseth over the direction of the service and outcome of numerous senior officers, including Driscoll’s predecessor as Army secretary, Gen. Randy George, and top Army officer in Europe Gen. Chris Donahue, whom Hegseth downgraded, effectively ending his military career. 

Hegseth has plans to cut generals and admirals by 10% overall while thinning four-star positions by 20%, according to the WSJ.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded is`up 1.47 cents Monday to $4.0954, AAA reports, or $1.2792 costlier than on February 27. Diesel is up 3.23 cents to $5.6325 per gallon, $1.8806 costlier than in late February. --TL

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MONDAY 8/31/26

Iran, US Resume Attacks – The US military struck two Iranian rocket launchers it said were about to fire sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz Sunday, according to an email to NPR. Iran retaliated with strikes on US forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, marking the first major attack between the US and Iran in more than a month, according to Morning Edition.

The US strike on Iran’s Larak Island killed military personnel and civilians, according to the report.

•••

One Week Only! – The House is back in town, through Thursday allowing enough time, they hope, to vote on a spending bill the Senate passed before the August break to keep the federal government open past September 30 and the midterms, to December 11 (Politico). Both chambers return September 14 to the 30^th before recessing for all of October to the November 3 midterm elections. 

Meanwhile, Trump campaigns … President Trump travels to Texas Thursday to inject more campaign money into the Republican Party’s “massive” midterms war chest, CQ Roll Call reports, and to stump for Senate nominee Ken Paxton, the ethics-challenged state attorney general who defeated incumbent John Cornyn in the midterms. Polls show Paxton in a “tight race” with Democratic hopeful and state Rep. James Talarico, though there’s not much confidence left in modern polling results, especially for midterm primaries and the election. 

•••

Trump Touts Deal for Venezuelan Oil – The US has a deal with Venezuela to take majority control of its oil reserves though a partnership with a so-far unnamed private company, the State Department said through a US official. Two people familiar with the partnership told The New York Times that the firm is affiliated with Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López.

The US would have control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, Trump Truth Socialed Friday, almost equal to all the proven reserves in the US.

While Trump promises the deal thus will lower gas prices at the pump for American consumers, it will take at least a couple of years to see any progress in reviving Venezuela’s broken down oil extraction business.

Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said the agreement would involve developing 17 oil fields and have a “significant impact on our nation’s revival.”

Chevron and Haliburton are in … Chevron and other US companies are near deals to invest billions of dollars into Venezuela’s oil fields, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing “people familiar with the matter.” Haliburton also is in talks to bring equipment systems to oil producers in the country.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded is down 0.91` cents Monday to $4.0807, AAA reports, or $1.2645 costlier than on February 27. Diesel dropped 1.03 cents to $5.6002 per gallon, $1.8483 costlier than in late February.

•••

On the Lake Front – It is now “Lake America” for Americans, at least, in place of “Lake Ontario,” on Google Maps. This from President Trump’s name change last week in the midst of a contentious trade war with Canada in which the Trump administration is imposing 50% tariffs on such goods as lumber, concrete and hockey sticks. 

By Saturday, Google had changed the name of the Great Lake from “Ontario” to “America” for those in America using the map via mobile and desktop, as updated by the US Geographic Names Information System, while it remained Lake Ontario for the rest of the world.

Ontario’s feisty Premier Doug Ford told ABC This Week Sunday that Trump’s change, echoing his “Gulf of America” dictum last year, is like something out of Saturday Night Live.

“No one’s going to call it Lake of America,” Ford said. “It’s been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years. It’s going to continue being Lake Ontario. It’s just so disappointing.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 8/31/26

Singer, songwriter, businesswoman, philanthropist Dolly Parton died Tuesday in Nashville (photo ca. 1977). Her many awards and recognitions included a Kennedy Center Honor in 2006. Twenty years later, President Trump wants to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts if his name is not restored to the side of the building.

•Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett's commentary on the US-Canadian trade war is in The Gray Area.

Fed Rate Hike in September? – Though newly minted Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh is loath to publicly signal interest rate increases or cuts, Wall Street investors Friday signaled they expect an increase when the Reserve’s Open Market Committee meets in September. Warsh told the Federal Reserve’s annual Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming Friday that the central bank is not doing enough to curb inflation, NPR’s All Things Considered reports. 

Warsh in his speech ticked off economic bright spots, including strong capital expenditures by US businesses, strong consumer spending and low unemployment rates.

“But on the price-stability side of our mandate, the numbers are more concerning,” Warsh said. “The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the 12-month change in the PCE price index, stands at 3.7%, while the six-month change is 4.1%.”

Coincidentally, Friday marks six months of the US and Israel at war with Iran.

“The comparable measures from the Consumer Price Index are also elevated,” Warsh continued, “as are the core measures of both PCE and CPI inflation. None of these measures are perfect, but they all tell a similar story: Inflation is running above our 2% target. So the Fed’s predominant focus right now should be on prices.”

President Trump is not likely to be pleased.

•••

We’ll Always Have Lake Erie – Before a map of the Great Lakes hung in the White House, President Trump signed an executive order Thursday to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The display map made it so with “Lake America” printed in large red letters over the lake’s name for the rest of the world, Newsweek reports.

This was the latest shot in Trump’s trade war on Canada. It’s also the career real estate developer’s propensity to rename everything, as the president did last year when he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

“So, if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said. “Now, all we need is an ocean. So maybe we’ll change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them.”

Let that be a warning: It would be confusing for the US to be surrounded by the American Ocean off the West Coast and the East Coast. One of them, probably the Atlantic, would have to be renamed, perhaps, the Trump Ocean? (Someone warn The Atlantic magazine.)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney noted the name has been Lake Ontario for more than 400 years; “America is changing,” he said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also chimed in, saying, “It’s Lake Ontario to the Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever.”

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular fell 0.99 cents Friday to $4.0898, AAA reports, or $1.2736 costlier than on February 27. Diesel dropped 0.78 cents to $5.6105 per gallon, $1.8586 costlier than in late February. –TL

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THURSDAY 8/27/26

Kennedy Center Threatened – If President Trump can’t join his name onto the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he wants to demolish it. That’s the threat posed as Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia holds a hearing Thursday on whether Trump’s name should be added to the 55-year-old building, as demanded by the Center’s board chaired by President Trump, Roll Call reports. The board wants the judge to consider options for adding the current president’s name to the Kennedy Center, something along the lines of “Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump.”

On Monday, Trump’s Justice Department issued the threat to demolish the Kennedy Center if the president is not allowed to renovate it and fix his name to it.

“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” DOJ attorney Brantley Mayers argued.

Though it’s not clear who those “some” proposing an amphitheater might be, it is pretty clear the president for which it would be named. 

“No one is going to demolish the Kennedy Center, we should leave the Kennedy Center theatrics to the performers,” Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said in a release.

Judge Cooper halted the Trump White House’s first attempt to add the current president’s name to the building in May, following a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex-officio member of the Center’s board. 

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular fell 0.17 cents Thursday to $4.0997, AAA reports, or $1.2835 costlier than on February 27. Diesel dropped 0.47 cents to $5.6183 per gallon, $1.8664 costlier than in late February. –TL

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WEDNESDAY 8/26/26

Dolly Parton: 1946-2026 -- Singer, songwriter, businesswoman, philanthropist whose Imagination Library has distributed more than 200 million books to babies and young children, Dolly Parton died Tuesday in Nashville after a “brief battle with cancer,” age 80. She made people of all sorts of cultures, identifications and ideologies claim Parton for their own, drag queen Trixie Mattel told NPR’s All Things Considered: “It’s the one thing maybe a hardcore conservative and a drag queen can have a middle ground on.”

Meta Settles – Facebook/Instagram owner Meta will pay $17 billion split between 47 states and the District of Columbia and agree to some major changes to its products over a lawsuit claiming its platforms endangered children, The New York Times reports. 

Meta agrees to limit how long teenagers can spend on its platforms and will ban features that trigger mental health issues, which the NYT notes is the heart of its engagement for advertising. The settlement ends a federal civil trial filed in the US Northern District of Oakland in which California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey sought about $200 billion over accusations that Meta harmed children. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is expected to approve the settlement Meta filed with the Northern District of Oakland Wednesday morning.

The civil court trial, which began last week, was expected to run for about six weeks during which Meta founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg was considered likely to testify.

Obviously, Zuckerberg is now saved from the indignity of appearing in public court. 

Meta reported $15.85 billion in profits for the second quarter of 2026, on gross revenues of $60.8 billion.

•••

Graham, Trump Win South Carolina Runoff – Incumbent Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), who was appointed to the seat by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) after her brother Lindsey died in June, won a special Republican primary race Tuesday with 52.5% of the vote to Rep. Ralph Norman’s 47.5%, The Associated Press reports. 

Graham faces Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in the November 3 midterm elections.

The runoff result is a win for President Trump, who endorsed Graham over Norman. After successfully defeating in early primaries several incumbent Republicans who sometimes voted against him, Trump endorsees more recently had lost a few House and gubernatorial races. 

Andrews, or much more likely, Graham, will serve a full Senate term, through 2032.

•••

Canada Tariffs Back – Ottawa announced $20 billion in retaliatory tariffs on US imports on about 700 products, to take effect September 8, Newsweek reports, citing a Canadian government statement. Tariff rates will be 15%, 25% or 50% depending on the product. A $7.5 billion package will aid affected Canadian businesses. 

The approach is “firm but disciplined,” Duncan Wood, visiting fellow for North America at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, told Newsweek.

“The objective is not to win a tariff war, it is to establish the credibility required to negotiate with this administration,” Wood said.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular rose 0.45 cents Wednesday to $4.1014, AAA reports, or $1.2852 costlier than on February 27. Diesel was up 0.31 cents to $5.623 per gallon, up $1.8711 over late February. 

CORRECTIONS: YouTube's owner was misidentified in the report on Meta's $17 billion settlement with California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. The video sharing social media outlet is owned by Google.

Drag queen Trixie Mattel's name was misspelled in an earlier edition of the caption at the top of this page. –TL

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TUESDAY 8/25/26

Trump in SpaceX – President Trump’s portfolio managers purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of SpaceX stock when it went public in June, the International Business Times reports. A major contractor with the NASA space agency led by ex-DOGE chief Elon Musk, who wants to use the company’s spaceships to colonize Mars and briefly became the first-ever trillionaire after its stock’s initial public offering, it was part of more than 1,000 trades the president’s managers made in June, according to the IBT. 

Neither Musk, who is no longer a trillionaire on paper, nor Trump have done well with SpaceX stock, so far. It has dropped in value from $156.11 per share June 23, shortly after its IPO, to trading at just under $137 per share as of Tuesday morning.

•••

Neither Snow, Nor Rain, but Maybe SCOTUS – The Supreme Court in a 10-page unsigned ruling Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to begin implementation of the president’s executive order from early this year to impose restrictions on mail-in voting. But it is far from a sure victory for President Trump’s effort to regulate voting and comes within a week or two of states’ distribution of mail-in ballots for the November 3 midterms.

The SCOTUS ruling paused a federal judge’s injunction that banned the federal government from applying provisions of Trump’s EO in the November election to the 23 states and District of Columbia challenging the EO’s legality, according to SCOTUSblog. SCOTUS says it’s too soon for courts to consider the challenge by the 23 states + D.C. because the order has not yet been carried out and thus states have not yet suffered the sort of injury to allow the lawsuit to move forward.

A separate, more pertinent ruling by the same judge in a case filed by a different set of plaintiffs remains in effect for now. That ruling, SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe writes, prohibits the US Postal Service from implementing one provision of the EO anywhere in the US.

•••

That Was D-Day? – Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent’s “Economic D-Day” on Iran Monday was more a show about nothing but continued sanctions, renamed – because the Trump White House likes this sort of thing – Operation Economic Outcast. 

Operation Economic Outcast included sanctions on more than 60 entities, including Chinese firms but not any sanctions with teeth barred at China itself, which buys most of Iran’s oil. The Chinese government warned that such economic warfare will heighten tensions, The Wall Street Journal reports. China said it would safeguard its rights and interests.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – It seems Economic D-Day might have had some positive effect on gas prices at the pump. Unleaded regular fell 0.3 cents per gallon Tuesday to $4.0969 per gallon, according to AAA’s national average. That’s $1.2807 per gallon costlier than on February 27. Diesel is up, however, by 0.65 cents from Monday and by $1.868 over late February, to $5.6199 per gallon. –TL

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MONDAY 8/24/26

Uh Oh, Canada – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney won’t back down in the trade war President Trump is waging on his country. After negotiations between the US and Canada broke down Saturday over Trump’s earlier threats of 50% tariffs on such goods as lumber, concrete and ice hockey equipment, Carney threatened to retaliate on those tariffs “dollar for dollar.”

Trump raised the stakes further on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50%,” the president Truth Socialed.

Carney had said in a 22-minute address to Canada on Saturday that US trade representatives had thrown last-minute curveballs including a demand that his country comply with US diktats on tariffs on its trade with other countries, The New York Times reports. US negotiators demanded changes that “included threats on French language and culture and Canadian culture that would never be acceptable for that reason,” Carney said.

Trump’s trade war on Canada threatens the economic health of both nations. For Carney, Trump’s demands represent a major step toward the president’s demands to make Canada the 51^st US state.

“We cannot accept what they offered and we will not give what they asked,” Carney said in his address. “We were not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries.”

•••

‘Economic D-Day’ on Iran – Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent promises to announce Monday afternoon new economic sanctions on Iran meant to end the war in lieu of the deals that have not been reached since late February. Earlier Monday, Iran threatened fines or confiscation on dozens of ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reports. 

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority set up by Iran said on X-Twitter that 46 ships had violated “Iranian protocols” for transiting the Strait.

•••

Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Monday is $4.0991 per gallon, off 1.01 cents from Friday and up $1.2837 over February 27. Diesel is $5.6134 per gallon, up 3.7 cents over Friday and +$1.8615 versus late February.

•••

Ballroom Blitz -- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Friday issued a temporary order staying US District Judge Richard Leon’s order that put on-hold construction of President Trump’s pet ballroom project (SCOTUSblog). Roberts’ administrative stay allows construction to continue for now, which is good news for the president no matter what, as the ballroom is “65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion,” US Solicitor Gen. John D. Sauer told the court.  –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 8/24/26