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Making Superglue, Death Metal, Shithouses Great Again
Damn but we're tired of a racist, petty, what-about-me child in the White House. For solace: He's hopefully heading for the losingest fail of his long loser's life - and maybe a jail cell please? - and there are many, many people just as tired, with good shticks to match. This week saw some truly stellar trolling from, in turn, Obama, Norway and a heroic guy in South Carolina who managed to foist the Jonestown Massacre on the latest Nazi rally. Well done, all.
There's nothing like hearing Obama at his recent campaign appearances - in Georgia, Michigan, Ohio - to be starkly reminded there are no grown-ups left in the fake-gold-encrusted room of the current regime. Yes we know: he was seriously flawed, and failed to achieve much of what he promised. Still, it was bracing to see him smoothly obliterate the mad child-king, first with his crack about Saddam's Cheesecake Factory, then by skewering a president (sic) who spends his time "doing arts and crafts" in the Oval Office and who, after his just critiques of war, inflation, apocalyptic decline and "unprecedented corruption" chose to "mobilize a whole government response" not to those issues, but to a cheesecake joke: "This is what I mean. These are not serious people."
Next was Norway's gleeful response to Trump's petulant whining (still) about the Nobel prize won by "a woman nobody ever heard of" - Navanetham Pillay, a renowned South African jurist who's spent decades seeking accountability for war crimes, sexual violence and genocide from Rwanda to Gaza at the ICC and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - and not to him, who's "settled 8 (imaginary) wars and I've got 2 more coming." "'What about me?'" he bleated in Michigan of the "disgraceful" choice. "So I’m not in love with Norway. I don't want anybody from Norway. Frankly, Norway sucks. Norway has become a shithouse country, actually.” Thus did a sulky illiterate toddler toss (blond!) Norway in with Haiti,Libya, Somalia, mangling the "shithole" epithet en route.
Norwegian officials, evidently grown-ups, took the picayune insult and ran with it. First, they calmly noted Trump "knows very well" the prize isn't awarded by the government but by an independent Nobel committee. "We have reminded him of that, in case anyone is wondering," said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. Then he took pity on the wretched child. "The president is currently in the midst of an election campaign that perhaps isn't going very well for his party," he calmly added. "That leads him to say a lot of things." At home, Bernie Sanders slammed an "insane" babysitting task. "Norway is one of the most democratic and prosperous countries on earth. Free college, strong democracy, free press," he declared. "We have a mentally unbalanced president."
Norway, with just 5.6 million people, likewise boasts one of the world's highest gross national incomes and top ratings for education and life expectancy, its largest sovereign wealth fund, and for the 10th consecutive year first place in the World Press Freedom index. It also has some of the world's most dazzling landscapes - rugged fjords, thunderous waterfalls, sweeping vistas, colossal mountains along 18 designated Scenic Routes - along with, its tourism bureau happily brags, "some of the world's most spectacular toilets," many of them sleek, award-winning "architectural masterpieces" that combine minimalist designs with breathtaking views. "These toilets are worth a visit," they crow, "both when you really have to go - and when you don’t.”
"Yes, Donald, we are a 'shithouse country,'" proudly proclaims the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, taking Michelle Obama's famous "when they go low" approach under the news headline, "Straight Into the Toilet." Norway is, after all, "the home of the outhouse," they note, which many residents connect to the country's hardy traditions and longtime "cabin culture." Visit Norway, its official tourism board, went further, showcasing its striking "lovely lavatories." "We've heard some chatter about a 'shithouse country.' Well, what can we say? Norway makes shit houses great again!," they wrote, urging tourists to "take your time and enjoy. Yes, Norway has some spectacular scenery. It just happens to have some pretty spectacular toilets, too. With love, Visit Norway."
The site highlights the wave-shaped Ureddplassen toilet on the coast of Helgeland in the north, hailed by designers as the most scenic restroom in the world. Also the solar-powered bog at the Utsikten viewpoint, the elegant Tungeneset loo - “Looks pretty good under the Northern Lights” - and, for "the bully in kindergarten,” the triangular “Golden Toilet,” or “Gulldassen,” at Ersfjordstranda on Senja island, recently paired with a glamorous new silver service building: "If you are a mere mortal like us and can’t afford a gold-plated toilet seat, the Golden loo (on) Senja is the next best thing.” Coming soon: a forest-themed wooden loo made from over 60 trees "for the pit stop of your life." Visit Norway on the "immense" response: "The world needs a little laugh."
Finally, bravely facing off against the horrors of a vengeful, demented, badly-accordion-playing rapist implausibly in power comes "absolute legend" and hero without a cape Tom Hoyle, 57, a South Carolina graphics designer in a bushy beard, baseball cap and t-shirt for heavy metal band Death: "I look like you, but I'm not like you," he says of fortuitously blending into a MAGA mob. "I'm the vampire during the day." A longtime Republican until he wasn't, he runs MadPark Designs, which in recent dark days has done screen printing and embroidery for No Kings rallies, George Floyd protests, LGBTQ-led music org We Rock Charlotte etc. Now, MadPark is "being bombarded by 5-star reviews" thanks to Hoyle's unplanned "25 seconds of fame" at his local Nazi rally.
The backstory: Hoyle has hated Trump since his infamous 1980s attack on the Central Park Five, now Exonerated Five - "I decided, 'You're dead to me, and hopefully to everybody else'" - but what "pushed me over the edge" this week was the GOP calling his shop (wait, they do that?) to urge him to attend Friday's rally for clueless Darline Graham. "We despise that," he says, "so we thought we'd turn the tables on them, do something goofy and make some good trouble," maybe some friendly neighborhood heckling. He slipped in through security by "talking in circles" about heavy metal and his shirt: "Death is the most hardcore death metal. You see somebody in a Death shirt and you know they're interested in humanity." He didn't expect what came next: a Fox mike in his face.
His now-viral wisecrack (see below) was entirely off the cuff, though he recalled seeing memes comparing MAGA to 1978's gruesome Jonestown Massacre, a mass murder/suicide in Guyana wherein over 900 glassy-eyed disciples of Jim Jones drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid to fulfill "a madman’s fever dream." The joke on the difference between Trump and Jones: Trump would charge you for the Kool-Aid before you died. When the Fox guy asked why Hoyle was here, he had his punchline. As he headed to the exit and Secret Service approached, he innocently asked if this was about the concession stand; alarmed, they asked what he'd done there. "Nothing," he said, "but it was closed super early and I was starving." Then he kept walking. He'd like to thank Billy Crystal for his epic timing. We'd like to thank him for his ray of light.
"The devil…the prowde spirite…cannot endure to be mocked.” ― Thomas More
- YouTube www.youtube.com
UN Report Shows How Killing Progress on Climate Pollution Is 'Trump's Real Legacy'
President Donald Trump's pro-fossil fuel agenda not only is "making everyone's lives more expensive" but also is expected to have deadly and destructive consequences far beyond the borders of the United States, as made clear in a global emissions report released Wednesday.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) put out "The Emissions Gap Report 2026: The Point of Return" in preparation for the next UN Climate Change Conference in Türkiye. It warns that the world's chance to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting temperature rise this century to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels "with 'no or limited' overshoot has been lost."
While that is a global failure, a key factor is Trump's return to power in the United States last year. After pledging to roll back his predecessor's meager climate action policies if fossil fuel executives pumped money into his campaign, the Republican president has pursued a range of polluting actions, which include abandoning the Paris Agreement, again.
"Most of the climate-related policies from the Inflation Reduction Act have been repealed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the report says, referring to Republicans' 2025 budget package, which Trump signed into law. "Additionally, several long-standing Environmental Protection Agency regulations concerning power plant and vehicle emission standards, electric vehicle support, methane emissions, and renewable energy proliferation have also been rolled back."
It also notes that the Trump administration recently moved to completely repeal limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants, which was criticized as "the largest deregulatory action of the USA power sector in history," though "a significant number of these attempts are in a judicial state of uncertainty, as they are being challenged in courts."
Countries that remain parties to the Paris Agreement develop plans to reduce emissions, called nationally determined contributions. The report explains that "if all NDCs are delivered and similar efforts continue, there is a 66% chance that warming will be limited to 2.6°C by 2100. This is a worse outcome than expected last year, as a result of the formal withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Agreement and revised estimates of historical emissions."
Historically, the United States is the world's worst climate polluter. The publication points out that "currently, the six largest emitters in terms of total GHG emissions are China, the United States of America, India, the European Union, the Russian Federation, and Indonesia."
While the US, Indonesia, and China all had increases in emissions last year, the document details, "in terms of magnitude, the increase in the United States of America (133 megatons of CO2 equivalent, MtCO2e) far exceeded that of all other countries, and was driven by increased electricity demand and a rebound of coal power generation."
Studies show that recent policy changes under Trump "have significantly altered the projections" for the years ahead, the report says, "with 2030 emissions projections now estimated to be almost 0.9 GtCO2e higher than projections based on policies in place under the previous administration."
As The Associated Press reported:
Report lead author Anne Olhoff, director of UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center, said the US policy change will likely add one-tenth of a degree Celsius (nearly two-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) to global temperatures by the end of the century.
"This report shows that America's retreat isn't just a political embarrassment. It has real consequences for the planet and for millions of people around the world,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate organization. "An extra tenth of a degree might sound insignificant, but in climate terms it is enormous. It means more dangerous heatwaves, more destructive floods, more failed harvests, and more lives lost. For vulnerable communities in Africa, already living on the frontlines of the climate crisis, every fraction of a degree matters. These are not abstract numbers. They are human lives."
The Trump administration doubled down on its position, with White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers telling The New York Times that the United Nations was “pushing the woke Green Energy Scam, pressuring countries across the world to jeopardize their economic and national security in order to meet arbitrary climate goals."
Meanwhile, climate advocates and scientists joined Adow in ripping the administration's devastating agenda.
"All governments have a job to do, but in particular it is time for major fossil fuel producers such as the US and Saudi Arabia, which produce 20-25% of fossil fuels globally, to stop playing politics and face the scientific reality," said Bill Hare, CEO of the think tank Climate Analytics. "Right now they are looking at the fire, denying it exists, and pouring more petrol on it, while their own citizens increasingly face searing heat, wildfires, and other impacts."
Scott Forbes, an ecology professor at Canada's University of Winnipeg, said on social media that "America is now the biggest impediment to climate action. Of all the evil that Trump has done, this may top it all."
Consumer Sentiment Data Another Sign Trump 'Affordability Crisis Is Getting Worse, Not Better'
With early voting underway for the midterm elections and Democrats campaigning on how prices have soared under a Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump, data released Friday show US consumer sentiment nearing an all-time low.
The University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers announced that its Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 48 this month, down from 48.1 in September and 53.6 last October. The record low was 44.8, this past May.
Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu noted Friday that "increases in sentiment among Republicans and Democrats were balanced by declines among independents," and also highlighted some of the survey's other findings.
UMich consumer sentiment... 48.0... 2nd-worst in history
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— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT (@mikezaccardi.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 10:02 AM
"While year-ahead business conditions improved about 14%, they stand 16% less than last October's read," she continued. "This month's decline in the Current Conditions subindex was driven entirely by buying conditions for durables, which plunged 18% on the basis of higher interest rates and rising concerns about the affordability of such purchases. Purchasing power continues to dominate consumer views of the economy. Sentiment is now 10% below a year ago and 15% less than February, just prior to the Iran conflict."
"Year-ahead inflation expectations ticked up from 4.6% last month to 4.7% this month," said Hsu, who also put out a related report on inflation. "The current reading substantially exceeds the 3.4% seen in February before the Iran conflict began, along with all 2024 readings. Long-run inflation expectations also stepped up from 3.4% in September to 3.5%, notably higher than their 2024 range of 2.8% to 3.2%. Inflation expectations over both time horizons increased for the second straight month to their highest readings since May."
Data released last week by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics show inflation grew faster than expected in September, partly due to Trump's illegal Iran War, and an online tracker published earlier this month by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, highlights how costs have jumped for childcare, electricity, gasoline, groceries, healthcare, and rent.
Tonantzin Carmona, a former Biden administration adviser who now directs economic policy at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, called the University of Michigan's new consumer sentiment numbers "another sign that the affordability crisis is getting worse, not better."
"High prices and borrowing costs are making it harder for people to afford everyday necessities, and inflation expectations are rising again," she said. "What's more, our research shows that debt payments are eating up more than half of every dollar of real income growth, with debt payments rising more than eight times as fast as take-home income since the end of 2022."
"As inflation outpaces wage gains," she added, "workers are being squeezed from every direction—and October's consumer sentiment numbers, which are the second-lowest on record, reflect just how little families have left after paying their bills."
In 1980, inflation was 14% and unemployment was 8%. Consumer sentiment: 52.In 2026: still 52.Turns out Americans aren't just worried about the economy https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/its-not-the-economy-its-whos-running
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— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) October 21, 2026 at 10:04 AM
In the lead-up to his colleagues updating consumer sentiment figures, University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers published a Wednesday blog post noting that "every couple of weeks, someone on cable TV sits me down, points a camera at me, and asks the exact same thing. Our economic statistics look pretty good, so why are Americans so gloomy?"
"My prime suspect: An overwhelming majority of Americans rate economic policy under Trump as poor—the worst it has ever been—and they worry what this means for their economic futures," Wolfers wrote. He took "the share of people who say the government is doing a poor job" and subtracted "the share who say it's doing a good job," with a higher figure signaling a "harsher verdict."
"In late 2024, the verdict stood at +14. That means 14 percentage points more Americans thought the government was doing a poor job than a good one," he explained. By last May, when the consumer sentiment was the worst on record, "it had hit +66."
Based on his examination of the survey results over the years, Wolfers decided that "the next time someone points a camera at me and asks why Americans are so gloomy when the numbers look fine, here's my answer. They're not misreading the economy. They're reading the people running it. And their verdict today is the harshest on record."
Billionaire Trump Cabinet Secretary Spends $43,000 on New Furniture While Gutting Education Department
Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's billionaire education secretary, faced backlash on Wednesday over her plans to spend more than $43,000 of taxpayer money on new furniture for her government office as she works to illegally dismantle the department she leads, harming students across the country.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) wrote in a letter to McMahon that "it is unjustifiable to buy new furniture while students lose access to education services you are illegally dismantling and suffer from painful funding cuts that were not authorized by Congress."
A senior official at the Education Department, whose staff has been gutted during Trump's second term, told The New York Times that the roughly $43,000 in costs "included a new desk, conference table, chairs and other items." The department informed lawmakers that existing furniture can't be "aesthetically integrated into the agency’s new office space"—a privately owned building that housed the US Agency for International Development before the Trump administration shut it down.
Murray and Baldwin wrote in their letter to McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive whose net worth is estimated to be around $3 billion, that "you have asked students, families, and teachers across the country to endure extraordinarily painful cuts in the name of 'fiscal responsibility,' and you have pushed out nearly half of the staff at the department in a chaotic, illegal campaign to fire employees tasked with protecting students with disabilities in the classroom and going after predatory student lenders."
"This year, you have asked Congress to slash funding for important K-12 programs and to cut funding for higher education programs by nearly $5 billion—including by destroying programs like TRIO and Federal Work Study," the senators added. "But it is clear that you do not think that you should have to abide by the same rules you want to apply to others."
The senators noted that as McMahon moves to spend taxpayer dollars on new furniture for her office, other department employees are working in spaces that have been deemed "unsafe and in disrepair, with water leaking from ceilings, mold in kitchens, extreme temperatures from a failing HVAC system, insect traps filled with dead bugs, and live insects in lactation rooms and work areas."
"The American people are sick of the corruption, sick of the waste, and sick of the hypocrisy coming out of all corners of this administration," Murray and Baldwin wrote. "They deserve a full accounting of how and why their tax dollars are being used to buy new office furniture for a secretary whose stated mission is to put themselves out of a job."
McMahon's office makeover plans were revealed days after reports indicated that she planned to remove the Federal Student Aid office from the Department of Education—without congressional approval—and create a new independent agency to manage roughly $1.6 trillion in debt owed by more than 40 million borrowers. The planned move marks the latest step in McMahon's push to effectively abolish the Education Department, fulfilling a Trump campaign promise.
Mike Pierce, executive director of the advocacy group Protect Borrowers, said in response that "changing the name on the agency letterhead will do nothing to lower costs for working-class families squeezed by rising student loan bills and surging college tuition."
"More than 3 million student loan borrowers defaulted on a loan last year, and more than 3 million more are on track to do the same this year," said Pierce. "Due to the Trump administration’s reckless actions, millions have seen their credit scores ruined. As a result, a generation of Americans will be locked out of the mortgage market, denied a typical car loan, and pay far more for a credit card because Linda McMahon cannot be bothered to fix the broken student loan system."
House Dems Press Trump USDA Over Aid Cuts as Seniors 'Struggle to Put Food on the Table'
A group of almost 20 Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday pressed US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to explain the adverse effects of President Donald Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act on older Americans, including the administration's plan to eliminate a program serving nearly 700,000 low-income seniors and expanded food stamp work requirements.
"At a time when Americans continue to face elevated grocery costs, Washington Republicans enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates will reduce federal [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] spending by approximately $187 billion through 2034," 18 House Democrats led by Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) wrote in a letter to Rollins.
"The law expanded SNAP’s three-month time limit and associated work requirements to certain adults ages 55 through 64, restricted states’ ability to obtain geographic waivers from those requirements, and made additional changes to state cost-sharing requirements expected to reduce SNAP participation and benefits," the letter continues.
"These cuts come as the same law provides substantial tax benefits that will help disproportionately benefit the rich, with CBO finding that the law will decrease resources available to households towards the bottom of the income distribution while increasing resources for households toward the top," the lawmakers noted.
The letter decries Trump's stated goal of eliminating the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which the lawmakers described as "the most extensive hunger-relief federal program for seniors and services to nearly 700,000 low-income seniors across the nation."
"The administration justified the elimination of this crucial program by focusing 'on supporting seniors through the SNAP program' as they passed a law to make SNAP more inaccessible for seniors," the letter laments. "Congress has been responsible for keeping the CSFP fully funded and maintained while the administration continues to threaten this critical federal food assistance program."
"Even so, as Americans—particularly seniors—struggle to put food on the table, you have failed to meet the urgency of this affordability crisis, even as the department you lead reports that food prices have climbed another 3% in the past year," the Democrats added.
The letter requests state-by-state figures showing how many adults ages 55 to 64 have lost or suffered reductions in SNAP benefits because of expanded work requirements, as well as how many have received exemptions. The lawmakers are also seeking data regarding the health and financial consequences of eliminating the CSFP and how the administration would ensure seniors retain access to nutritious food. The legislators requested a written response from Rollins' office by November 6.
"You have failed to meet the urgency of this affordability crisis."
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), approximately 5.5 million people, including roughly 2 million children, have lost SNAP assistance since Trump signed the OBBBA in July 2025. This, despite more than 47 million Americans—including 1 in 5 children—living in food-insecure households.
Seniors are experiencing their own unique set of hardships, given that many of them have limited resources.
"Many seniors rely heavily on fixed or limited incomes from Social Security, retirement savings, and pensions, leaving them particularly vulnerable as the cost of living continues to rise," the letter states, adding that "rather than protect older and low-income Americans from rising costs, you and the Trump administration continue to pursue policies that threaten to make it harder for them to afford basic necessities."
After Silencing by NFL Owner, Macklemore Opens 'Free Palestine' Tour With Sold-Out Dublin Show
In a metaphorical middle finger to billionaire NFL owner Robert Kraft's effort to get Macklemore booted from Ed Sheeran’s US stadium tour over his outspoken support for Palestinian liberation, the rapper opened his "Free Palestine" benefit tour Monday with a critically acclaimed sold-out show in Dublin.
More than 13,000 fans packed Dublin's 3Arena, waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs as the crowd repeatedly chanted “Free Palestine" throughout the show.
“I am proud to stand here on stage in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Macklemore told the audience. “We will continue to fight for collective liberation until our last breath."
"Six weeks ago, it was two words. Two words is all that it took. Two words that are rooted in love and liberation. Not against anybody, not divisive, not a call for hatred, but a call to recognize our shared humanity. 'Free Palestine.' I said 'Free Palestine,'" the Seattle native said.
He was referring to his removal from Sheeran's Loop Tour amid pressure from Kraft—who owns the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts—after the rapper condemned Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza and illegal occupation and apartheid in the West Bank during a September performance at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
"While the world debates those words, we see the videos, we see the footage, we see parents pulling their children out of the rubble, families erased, devastation beyond our imagination," Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, continued.
"And somehow," he added, "those words have become more controversial than the suffering that made them necessary."
Kraft's pressure backfired spectacularly as every other opening artist on Sheeran's tour withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore, while the rapper launched his own benefit shows in larger European venues than he had played on his previous tour.
In addition to Macklemore—who rose to prominence in 2012 with his multiplatinum hit "Thrift Shop"—the concert featured performances by Irish artist Hozier, trio Kneecap, and folk band Beoga; Palestinian singer Lina Makoul; Palestinian American DJ Habibeats; and US political hip-hop duo Dead Prez.d
Actors Mark Ruffalo and Cynthia Nixon and Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas also appeared via video messages.
Macklemore has paid more than just lip service to the Palestinian cause, pledging $1 million to aid groups. Children's educator and YouTube star Ms. Rachel subsequently vowed to match the donation, declaring, “We have a moral obligation to use our privilege and platforms to protect children and human rights.”
The proceeds of the "Free Palestine" tour—which also has scheduled shows in London and Paris—will support organizations providing Palestinians with medical care, humanitarian assistance, education, and community services.
The tour's opening show garnered rave reviews, with The Guardian calling it a five-star "triumph," and The Irish Times giving the concert four stars and praising the “courage of Macklemore's convictions.”
With Trump in Office, 'Corruption' Becomes Key Issue for Midterm Voters
Voters across party lines "rank government corruption among their top concerns, believe Trump puts his own interests ahead of the country, and connect his self-dealing directly to the costs hitting their budgets."
As US voters contend with an affordability crisis under President Donald Trump and a Congress controlled by his Republican Party, polling released Friday shows that with next week's midterm election looming and tens of millions casting their ballots early, many people are worried about not only the cost of living, but also government corruption.
Since Trump's first term, which concluded with his supporters storming the US Capitol after he failed to cling to power in the 2020 election, he has been condemned as the "most corrupt president in our lifetimes" and "most dangerous criminal in US history."
Trump won the 2024 election after not only campaigning on a slew of right-wing policies but also making clear that he would serve the interests of the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry and Big Tech. For his latest inauguration, the president surrounded himself with some of the richest people on the planet—the event was dubbed "a coronation of our country's descent into oligarchy."
The president has spent the past two years enriching himself—annual disclosures from July show he pocketed at least $2.2 billion during his first year back in the White House—as well as relatives and rich allies, including by waging an illegal war on Iran that has boosted the profits of fossil fuel companies, in which he's invested, while everyday Americans feel the pain at the pump.
According to the new Harris poll, conducted for The Guardian October 22-24, "The rising cost of living is still expected to drive the election, with 36% of voters saying it is the single most important issue to how they plan to vote in the midterms."
However, it is followed by government corruption, at 12%. After that are immigration (9%), healthcare (7%), and taxes (5%).
Democrats running for office this cycle have focused heavily on affordability as they try to win majorities in Congress, but they've also pledged that if they succeed, they'll "hold the crooks accountable," and even teased possible impeachments.
However, the new polling shows that it's not just Democratic voters who are concerned about corruption. The newspaper reported:
Nearly nine out of 10 Americans said that government corruption... defined as elected officials putting their own or their donors' financial interests ahead of the public's, is a problem, according to the survey.
Three-quarters (76%) of voters said that elected officials care more about enriching themselves than improving the economy for ordinary people. Voters were more likely to say that government corruption (65%) is more concerning than corporate power (29%). Just under 10% said that neither concerns them.
The Harris poll is not an outlier. The Not Above the Law coalition—made up of more than 150 organizations focused on protecting democracy and fighting for the rule of law—noted Friday that "voters rank government corruption among their top concerns, believe Trump puts his own interests ahead of the country, and connect his self-dealing directly to the costs hitting their budgets. That alarm crosses party lines, with Republicans, independents, and even Trump's own voters rejecting this administration’s corruption."
The coalition highlighted various recent surveys in a statement:
- Corruption tops the list, alongside grocery prices. In the CNBC All-America Economic Survey (October 14-18), 36% of registered voters named government corruption as their top issue, narrowly ahead of food costs at 34%, with protecting democracy and gas prices each at 23%.
- Six in 10 voters are extremely concerned. The Fox News Poll (October 9-12) found government corruption led all voter concerns, with 60% extremely concerned, ahead of inflation (58%) and gas prices (50%).
- Perceived corruption is at a record high. According to Gallup (May 1-June 10), a record 89% of Americans say government corruption is widespread, the highest level in 20 years and a 10-point jump from last year.
There was also a Financial Times/Focaldata poll from October 16-18, which found that 69% of US voters are concerned about corruption, self-dealing, or conflicts of interest in the current administration.
"When a family reads a story about presidential crypto profits at the same time as they are deciding whether they should put off their expensive doctor's appointment, they see that the system is working for someone—just not for them," Columbia Business School professor Jeremy Ney told the Financial Times.
"Voters can tolerate some economic pain, as long as they believe it is shared," added the professor. "But when that pain only flows in one direction, discontent boils to the surface."
'Pain in My Mind and in My Soul': Christa Pike, Who Survived Botched Execution, Speaks Out
"I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and I'm deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position."
Christa Pike, whose twice-botched execution in Tennessee last month has renewed calls for abolishing the death penalty in the United States, spoke out about her experience on Friday, a month after she had "walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend men's prison prepared to die."
"I had made my peace," Pike said in a statement dictated by her legal team. "I had told the people who loved me, supported me, and stood by me through the years I was grateful for them. I had also told the people in the room, and who were there to witness my execution, that I was leaving them in loving kindness. Several days later, I woke up alone in a hospital, confused and in pain."
Despite an ongoing legal fight stemming from the pervasive abuse the 50-year-old suffered throughout her youth, the US Supreme Court let Tennessee move forward with its plan to kill her on September 30. Pike, who was sentenced to death over the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, survived two injections of pentobarbital from a doctor involved with an earlier botched execution at the maximum security prison in Nashville. She was taken by ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
"There hasn't been a moment since that night when I haven't been in pain," Pike said Friday. "My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn't just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul. I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and I'm deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position. I continue to think about my victim's family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured. I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay."
"Since that night, I have been largely isolated in the prison's medical ward, away from other people and the human connections that mean so much to me," she continued. "That isolation brings its own kind of pain. I spent 28 years in solitary confinement, and much of what I am experiencing today is a repeat of that condition. I am searching for meaning in what happened to me. One thing that has given me strength is the extraordinary love and support I have received from people around the world. I am overwhelmed by the kindness and prayers of people I have known for years and complete strangers who have never met me."
"To know that so many people care about me, that they see me as a human being whose life matters, is something I cannot fully put into words," Pike said. "It is humbling, and it has touched me more deeply than I can explain. I also want to thank the first responders, doctors, nurses, and everyone at the hospital who cared for me. They treated me with compassion, dignity, and respect. I will never forget their kindness. I also want to thank my attorneys and everyone who has fought for me, stood beside me and refused to give up on me."
She added that "I don't know why I survived that night. I don't know what comes next. Some days, finding hope is harder than others. For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time. And I am holding on to the love and kindness of so many people who have reminded me that I am not alone."
clicks.wdsu.com/f/a/ZdWHrZpX...End the death penalty.
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— Bill K - NO DEATH PENALTY (@really-mad.bsky.social) October 30, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Gov. Bill Lee—who declined to commute Pike's sentence before the failed injections—has since halted executions in Tennessee through the end of the year, but the Republican suggested Thursday that the state may try to kill Pike again.
"As it relates to a particular individual like Christa Pike and her crime, she is still incarcerated under the laws of the state of Tennessee," Lee said Thursday. "I suspect her sentence will be the same as it was before unless determined otherwise by the courts."
While a review of Pike's execution attempts is underway, and Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada has already announced he will step down, opponents of capital punishment are demanding more. Amnesty International USA said earlier this month that "Tennessee’s botched attempt to execute Christa Pike, as witnessed by her attorneys, demonstrates why the death penalty truly is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment."
"All execution methods are inhumane and unacceptable," the group declared. "The death penalty must be abolished, everywhere."
'Absurd and Outrageous': UK Bars Entry to Climate Scholar, Palestinian Rights Advocate Andreas Malm
"This is a drift toward authoritarianism that didn't begin with me, and it's not going to end with me either."
The United Kingdom's Labour government has barred Swedish climate scholar and Palestinian rights advocate Andreas Malm from entering the country, without explanation, just days before he was scheduled to speak at a conference that will also feature a cofounder of Palestine Action—an organization banned by the UK government on highly dubious grounds.
Malm, an author and associate professor of human ecology at Sweden's Lund University, said Friday that he was "dismayed" by the UK Home Office's decision this week to cancel his Electronic Travel Authorization, noting that he has "been going to the UK for decades—this is where I did my archival research for my PhD dissertation and lectured at dozens of universities and participated in even more conferences."
Malm said the UK government's move was "nothing short of scandalous," and he linked the decision to his scheduled appearance at the conference organized by the socialist magazine Tribune. The event was billed as a discussion of "domination and resistance in the age of [US President Donald] Trump," featuring Malm and Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori.
"This is a drift toward authoritarianism that didn't begin with me, and it's not going to end with me either," Malm told Al Jazeera. "If I'm now being deemed a threat to the public good because I'm supposed to have a conversation with someone from Palestine Action, this is guilt by association."
Verso Books, Malm's publisher—including of his 2025 book The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth—said in a statement Friday that it is "shocked and disturbed by the Labour government’s decision to ban one of our leading authors."
"Never in over 55 years of publishing has a British government revoked the right of one of our authors to enter the country," said Tariq Ali, the chair of Verso's board of directors. "We can only assume, since no reasons have been given for banning him, that Andreas' positions on Palestine, no different from the [International Criminal Court] and UN commissions, is the cause."
"Verso Books condemns the silencing of critical voices and stands in support of writers and scholars who continue to speak out about important issues and contribute to open intellectual discourse," Ali added. "We urge the government to restore Andreas Malm's electronic travel authorisation immediately and allow him entry into the country."
Jeremy Corbyn, the former UK Labour leader who now serves as the Your Party MP for Islington North, joined the chorus denouncing the cancellation of Malm's travel authorization.
"This is an absurd and outrageous decision," Corbyn wrote on social media. "What kind of society are we living in where world-renowned authors and campaigners are treated as enemies and threats? The real threat is this government’s assault on freedom of expression."
"This is not an isolated incident—and the government should know that it is gaining a bad reputation for censorship and repression," added Corbyn. "We know why the government has taken this decision: because it wants to silence criticism of Israel, as well as its own complicity in genocide. It will not succeed."
'He Cannot Undo the Cruelty': Ramaswamy Stops Airing Vile Attack Ad After Over a Week of Outrage
"Vivek Ramaswamy should never have run his despicable ad in the first place, and it’s totally unsurprising that he took it off the air in the most cowardly way possible."
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Thursday that his repulsive attack ad featuring his Democratic opponent's estranged biological mother will no longer air on television after more than a week of nationwide outrage.
Ramaswamy did not apologize for running the ad, in which Donna Arthur calls her daughter, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, a liar. The ad doesn't mention that Arthur lost custody of Acton and her brother after their stepfather—Arthur's husband—was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.
Ramaswamy’s campaign initially planned to spend $4 million airing the ad in Ohio, but tracking data shows it spent just a quarter of that total.
"It ran to completion, and we've put up four other ads," Ramaswamy, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, said during a campaign stop in Vandalia on Thursday.
Addie Bullock, a spokesperson for Acton's campaign, said in a statement on Thursday that "Vivek Ramaswamy should never have run his despicable ad in the first place, and it’s totally unsurprising that he took it off the air in the most cowardly way possible, without even the hint of an apology to Dr. Acton, her family, or to the people of Ohio."
Others said that discontinuing the ad doesn't reverse the damage inflicted by Ramaswamy, who—according to polling commissioned by a Republican group—has fallen further behind Acton in the days leading up to next week's midterms.
"Vivek Ramaswamy may have stopped airing his vicious attack on Amy Acton, but he cannot undo the cruelty of creating it," said civil rights attorney Areva Martin.
The ad began circulating on social media on October 19, without paid-for disclosures required by federal law. Ramaswamy confirmed two days later that his campaign was behind the ad, and announced plans to spend millions airing the spot even as it sparked bipartisan backlash—including from Ohio's outgoing Republican governor.
But US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended the ad, with Trump encouraging Ramaswamy to keep it on the air and dismissing Acton's account of childhood sexual assault.
“The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good!” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Who wouldn’t use such an Ad?”
The White House's public defense of the ad stands in contrast to the message Ramaswamy received privately from "multiple Republicans" before the spot aired, according to Zeteo.
“It’s siding with the rapist protector mom,” an unnamed Trump adviser told the outlet of Ramaswamy's ad. “This was never a good idea."
NEW on @zeteo_newsSources say Amy Acton's mom seemed mentally unwell when Ramaswamy's ad was filmed & she had trouble keeping a coherent narrative on the past.Some wanted to vet her more but *Ramaswamy himself* pushed ahead.@JSweetLI & Swin Suebsaeng:https://t.co/2yl7Vh0K5P
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) October 28, 2026
Ramaswamy's ad led the editorial board of Ohio's largest newspaper, The Plain Dealer, to reverse its recently announced policy against endorsing candidates in major races and publish an endorsement of Acton.
"A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party," the editorial board wrote. "We are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it."
"And our endorsement of Acton rests on more than Ramaswamy’s failure to meet a basic standard of decency," the editorial added. "She has earned consideration on her own record, her preparation, and her commitment to the people she seeks to serve."
Debt After Death: How Unchecked Corporate Power Even Makes Dying More Expensive
"No one should be forced into debt just to bury a loved one, but as corporations exploit families," said Groundwork Collaborative's leader, "loved ones are being driven to the brink to pay for a dignified death."
Americans are struggling with the soaring cost of living—and dying, according to a Groundwork Collaborative report released Thursday.
The think tank's associate director of policy and advocacy, Zoe Butler, analyzed data on related topics, from life insurance to funeral expenses, and explained how deaths—especially unexpected ones—can affect US households.
As "Death, Debt, and Paperwork: How the Business of Dying Is Burying American Families" details, "the average funeral now costs $7,726, before cemetery plots, headstones, and other add-ons that can push the total above $10,000."
Data from 2023 shows that "funeral homes charge a nondeclinable basic services fee of $2,495 for both cremation and burial, along with $395 to transfer the body to the funeral home," plus additional charges for using facilities for services. The report notes that "even lower-cost options still carry added fees, including about $400 for cremation and $295 for an urn."
"For burial, costs increase further with additional required services," the publication continues. "These include over $1,000 for embalming and other preparation of the body, as well as $2,500 for a casket. Burial also introduces a separate set of expenses outside the funeral home, including $1,000 to $3,000 for a headstone, around $1,000 for a burial vault, and $1,000 to $2,500 to open and close the grave."
"Prices have surged 310% since 1986, far outpacing overall inflation of 193%," Butler highlighted. "As prices increase, more families are going into debt to cover funerals, with the share rising from 14% in 2024 to 37% in 2025."
Deaths can also mean navigating probate, "the often costly legal process of settling a loved one's estate," she wrote. Probate fees can take 3-8%, so "even modest estates in probate can lead to thousands of dollars in legal and administrative expenses."
"For example, a family inheriting a $250,000 home may have to pay $7,500 to $20,000 in probate-related expenses," the document says. "Fewer than 1 in 4 Americans have a will, and just 13% have a living trust, one of the few tools that lets assets pass to heirs without going through probate."
Some families dealing with a relative's death are assisted by life insurance, but "coverage is uneven and increasingly inadequate," the report stresses. "Nearly half of Americans do not have life insurance, meaning many families cannot cover funeral expenses or manage immediate costs after a loss."
"Access to employer-sponsored coverage is also highly unequal," according to the analysis. "While 77% of full-time workers have access to employer-provided life insurance, only 14% of part-time workers do. Just 20% of workers in the bottom tenth of wages have access to coverage, compared to 91% of top earners."
Additionally, 40% of new policies "are term-limited rather than permanent, meaning coverage can expire before a person dies," the report explains—so some "families may spend years paying into life insurance policies that ultimately provide no support for funeral expenses or other end-of-life costs."
It not only catalogs the costs of death in the US, it also points out that "median household savings are roughly $8,200, meaning many households have little cushion to absorb these costs."
The publication also offers "a path forward," urging Congress to cut prices and boost transparency with legislation that would "require funeral homes to provide standardized and itemized pricing online, including all fees and third-party costs," as well as "prohibit hidden fees and forced bundling of services."
Other actions Congress could take include expanding the Social Security Death benefit and creating a basic life insurance program administered through the Social Security Administration. There are also several probate-related proposals for states and localities.
"No one should be forced into debt just to bury a loved one, but as corporations exploit families at their most vulnerable moments, more and more grieving loved ones are being driven to the brink to pay for a dignified death," said Groundwork president and CEO, Lindsay Owens in a statement.
"Funeral companies are raising prices, hiding costs, and taking advantage of a system that gives grieving families no time and no transparency," she added. "Policymakers must act to bring down prices, increase accountability, and ensure families can access what is already theirs without delay."
Before Citizens United, Corporations Spent $12.8 Million on 2010 Elections. In 2026? $737 Million
"This election cycle shows beyond any doubt that we desperately need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United," said the co-president of a prominent consumer advocacy group.
Data published Thursday by a leading consumer watchdog group revealed that corporate spending on US elections has soared by more than 5,000% since an infamous 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates of outside political contributions—a staggering increase that critics said underscored the need for major campaign finance reform.
Public Citizen released an analysis of newly filed federal campaign finance data showing that corporate political spending has grown exponentially since the 2010 midterm election cycle, the first of the Citizens United era.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission affirmed corporate personhood and that unlimited political spending by corporations, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, and other groups is a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment that government cannot restrict. The decision ushered in the era of super political action committees (PACs)—which can raise unlimited amounts of money to spend on campaigns—and secret spending on elections with so-called “dark money.”
According to the data studied by Public Citizen, corporate spending totaled $12.8 million for the 2010 election cycle. By the 2012 cycle, it had surged to $84.9 million. During the 2016 cycle, it spiked to $117.9 million.
NEW from @publiccitizen.bsky.social:Corporate money in the 2026 midterms has reached an unprecedented $737 million, October filings show.Full report: www.citizen.org/article/corp...
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— Rick Claypool (@rickclaypool.bsky.social) October 29, 2026 at 10:55 AM
For 2026, spending this cycle—over $737 million—accounts for "40% of the $1.8 billion corporations have spent on federal elections" since 2010," Public Citizen said.
"Cryptocurrency, online betting, and Big Tech interests—including companies involved in [artificial intelligence] and data centers—have collectively contributed $391 million toward the 2026 elections," the group noted. "This accounts for more than half of corporate political spending reported this cycle."
The analysis shows that the 50 largest donors and organizations had collectively contributed $2.77 billion, with Republican-aligned contributors accounting for roughly 60% of that amount.
Elon Musk—the world's richest person and first trillionaire in history—led the pack, giving over $445 million to conservative candidates and causes. This, after the tech titan and former de facto head of the short-lived Department of Government Efficiency poured more than a quarter billion dollars into the campaign coffers of then-former President Donald Trump's successful reelection bid and Republican congressional candidates during the 2024 cycle.
“Corporations are exploiting Citizens United to drive their political spending to unprecedented levels,” Robert Weissman, Public Citizen's co-president, said Thursday.
“These corporations aren’t investing this money because they are civic-minded or want to advance a particular viewpoint," he continued. "They are spending to buy influence, determine outcomes, and shape policy. This election cycle shows beyond any doubt that we desperately need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and put the people, not corporations or the super rich, back in charge of elections."
Democrats are trying to do just that. Last year, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) led more than two dozen lawmakers in introducing the We the People Amendment, a constitutional amendment that would reverse Citizens United.
The following month, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) led 39 upper chamber Democrats plus Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Angus King (I-Maine) in reintroducing the Democracy for All Amendment. The proposal would allow Congress and state legislatures to impose some limits on money raised and spent to influence elections, distinguish between people and corporations, and prohibit corporate election spending.
But it might not take a constitutional amendment—something that is exceedingly difficult to pass, by design—to undo Citizens United.
Mother Jones reported Thursday that Montana could become a testing ground for a new legal strategy to reverse the effects of the ruling without having to overturn the decision. Instead, Montana is challenging corporations’ legal powers under state law rather than targeting their constitutionally protected political "speech" in the form of spending.
The strategy, known as the Montana Plan, will be put to voters on Election Day in the form of Initiative 194, which would prohibit corporations, nonprofits, labor unions, trade associations, and other special interests from spending money to support or oppose candidates, political parties, or state and local ballot measures. Violators could forfeit their state-granted privileges, including limited liability.
If approved, it could provide a model for other states seeking to curb corporate political spending and anonymous campaign financing.
Other efforts include a Sanders-led push for the Democratic Party to ban super PAC and dark money spending in its primaries.
"We cannot allow billionaires and powerful corporate interests to continue undermining democracy by injecting unlimited amounts of money into the political process," Sanders and seven Senate backers of his proposal asserted last year.
'They Are Terrorizing Us': Video Shows ICE Agents Slashing Tires of Lawful Observers
"We hope that sharing our story will bring attention to their reckless and unconstitutional attacks on our communities.”
A video taken from the car of two legal observers in the Portland, Oregon area shows an unmarked vehicle with emergency lights flashing, following close behind their car on a street in the suburb of Hillsboro.
About 15 seconds into the video, both cars stop and two masked people get out of the unmarked vehicle and approach the other car, with one carrying a sharp object that they use to puncture the back tire. They approach a second time a few seconds later, slashing the tire again.
Both of the masked people are wearing vests emblazoned with the name of their government agency: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The people who filmed the attack, identified as AP and MP in an administrative complaint filed with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday, had been observing and filming the agents in a Safeway parking lot in Hillsboro, and had used whistles and honked their car horn to alert people about ICE's presence, before the officers started following them.
Filming ICE agents and other federal officers who have been deployed to carry out President Donald Trump's mass deportation operation is legal under the First Amendment, as top DHS officials were forced to admit under oath last February.
At the time, people across the nation were reeling from the killings by DHS agents of two legal observers, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
Numerous videos were posted on social media of federal agents threatening people and demanding that they stop exercising their constitutional right to film immigration enforcement operations, with one officer in Maine telling a woman her name would end up in a "nice little database" if she didn't stop recording him and that she'd be considered a "domestic terrorist."
In the administrative filing, the legal observers in Hillsboro emphasized that "what happened to us is not unique, and that is what is so terrifying."
“We observe and record public ICE activity in order to shine a light on their abusive behavior and to create a record of what our government is up to," they said. "Because of that, they are terrorizing us and anyone else who dares to exercise their First Amendment right to hold our government accountable. We hope that sharing our story will bring attention to their reckless and unconstitutional attacks on our communities.”
In the administrative complaint, filed by the ACLU and the ACLU of Oregon, the legal observers and their attorneys demanded that the DHS investigate the October 7 incident and discipline the agents who slashed the tire.
"In addition, we request that your offices undertake a comprehensive investigation of the pervasive pattern of ICE agents unlawfully retaliating against individuals who observe, gather information about, and record ICE agents performing their duties in public," reads the complaint. "We urge you to make recommendations for institutional changes to ICE training, oversight, and accountability consistent with your findings in order to prevent further abuses by ICE personnel. More specifically, we strongly urge ICE to adopt policies and implement training and instruction consistent with the First Amendment right to observe, gather information about, and record law enforcement officers performing their duties in public."
The ACLU has represented several observers who have been surveilled, intimidated, and harassed by federal agents for filming enforcement operations. In Memphis, Tennessee, the group has represented observers who have recorded the operations of the Memphis Safe Task Force, which is made up of more than 30 federal, state, and local agents who have spent more than a year "carrying out mass traffic and street stops and breaking into homes."
"Task Force agents are systematically retaliating against those who record them, including threatening to arrest them, stopping and questioning them without reasonable suspicion of any crime, sitting outside their homes, and even using excessive force against and arresting them," according to the ACLU.
The Hillsboro incident took place as DHS was threatening to target so-called "sanctuary" cities like Portland, where local police are restricted from participating in immigration enforcement operations.
“Masked federal officers have no business coming to Oregon to injure or intimidate people,” said Kelly Simon, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon. “Oregonians have the right to support their neighbors and communities by filming and documenting government abuses, and Oregonians should not have to fear retaliation when they exercise their right to record law enforcement.”
Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said that "the right to record publicly visible law enforcement activity is fundamental to our democracy."
"Like many people across the country, our clients have been observing and recording ICE activity in their community," she said. "These videos have proven critical to exposing ICE’s abuses. If we cannot see and document what our own government is doing on our streets, we cannot hold it accountable for running roughshod over our rights.”
Not Just Food and Fuel—Inflation Numbers Show 'Worrying Trends' as Midterms Loom
With inflation climbing to 3.6%, "instead of focusing on delivering lower prices, Trump is touting Big Oil's Iran War windfall."
Less than a week before the US midterm elections in which voters may end Republican control of Congress, the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday released inflation data highlighting the nation's persistent affordability crisis under GOP leaders, including President Donald Trump.
In September, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index rose 3.6% from a year ago, up from 3.4% in August, according to the BEA. Core PCE strips out food and energy prices, the latter of which has soared as Trump has waged an illegal war on Iran. That increased 3.1%, up from 3% the previous month.
The "bottom line," said Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long, is that "inflation is back near a three-year high."
"It's largely due to war in Iran, but there's legitimate concern that inflation is spreading beyond energy," the economist explained. Referencing the "core" figure, she noted some "worrying trends."
Long pointed to a "big rise in goods prices" that "is largely driven by Trump's tariffs (big move up since 2025) and now war."
The expert also noted that "service sector inflation is picking up again."
She further observed that "rent prices are no longer improving" and housing inflation is "moving sideways."
The inflation update comes just days after the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers announced last week that its Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 48 this month, nearing the record low of 44.8 from this past May, and Trump celebrated fossil fuel industry profits from his war during a weekend campaign rally in Georgia.
Trump told the crowd he was advised against highlighting how the industry—which helped him get elected two years ago and in which he is significantly invested—is "making hundreds of billions of dollars," given that "people are paying a little higher" for gasoline and diesel.
"I can just see the fake headlines," he said. "President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. That will be the headline. But I said, I don't give a damn, I'm going to say it: We're making a freaking fortune."
As of Thursday, the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $4.23 and $6.33 for diesel. The Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University estimates US residents have paid at least $81.1 billion more for gas and $65.9 billion for diesel, or a total of $147 billion. That's over $619 per household, for just gas.
Some estimates are even higher. A Monday report from Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee states that US households "have now spent an additional $101 billion on gasoline since the start of the Iran War, or an average of $856 in gas costs per family."
Meanwhile, oil giants Shell and TotalEnergies announced their sizable third-quarter profits on Thursday, and companies such as BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil are expected to follow suit on Friday.
"Inflation remains high, working families are paying $4.23 at the pump, and meager pay raises aren’t keeping up with rising prices," Alex Jacquez, a former Obama administration official who is now senior vice president of policy, advocacy, and research at Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement.
"Instead of focusing on delivering lower prices, Trump is touting Big Oil's Iran War windfall," Jacquez stressed. "Skyrocketing prices and economic growth largely driven by AI spending do not add up to an economy that works for working families."
Democrats in Congress have seized on cost-of-living concerns ahead of the midterms, including Sen. Ed Markey, who is up for reelection in Massachusetts. He said Thursday that "inflation is up. Margins are tighter."
"Prices are skyrocketing—and small business owners are on the frontlines of Trump's war on Main Street," Markey added. "Small businesses and workers should not have to bear the costs of Trump's reckless economic policies."
This article has been updated to credit the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University for its fuel cost tracker.
'Who Will Bomb Me Next?': As Israel Awaits Election Results, Palestinians Brace for the Worst—No Matter Who Wins
"Israeli policy will stay the same," said one woman in a Gaza refugee camp. "It's the policy that the Israeli state was founded on."
As Israelis await the results of this week's elections with a sense of uncertainty, Palestinians are certain of one thing—that their suffering will continue regardless of who emerges victorious.
"We don't care about their elections in any way. Gaza is in the same state. Their elections change nothing here," one elderly Palestinian woman told The Specter on Wednesday from a refugee camp in the obliterated strip, where three years of US-backed Israeli genocide have left 250,000 people dead or wounded, nearly 2 million inhabitants displaced, and the territory in ruins.
A younger woman in the camp told the outlet that "things in Gaza won't change, and they will get worse" if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reelected.
"The first thing he'll do is pick up where he left off, displacing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank... and from the Gaza Strip," she continued.
If former lawmaker and ex-Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot wins, "things may unfold a little differently," she predicted, but Israeli policy will stay the same. It's the policy the Israeli state was founded on."
Like Netanyahu, Eisenkot emphatically rejects Palestinian statehood, calling the two-state solution “a mistake" and "delusional," given the October 2023 attack led by the militant resistance group Hamas—whose animus was fueled by over a century of Zionist usurpation.
With around 90% of ballots counted as of Thursday, Israeli media projected that Netanyahu’s right-wing and ultra-Orthodox allies would capture 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 48 for the opposition led by Eisenkot.
The Knesset has 120 seats, so 61 are needed for a parliamentary majority. The candidates' shortfall means either side would likely need support from Arab parties to emerge victorious—a prospect rejected by many Jewish political leaders.
Netanyahu would remain caretaker prime minister throughout any negotiations to form a new coalition.
Palestinian American fashion designer Alana Hadid—the half-sister of models Gigi and Bella Hadid—said in a video posted to social media that "it's important for people to understand that the intention of an election in Israel to make you think that there will be change. And of course, there will be some change in that there will be a different brand of Zionism."
"Zionism is universal across Israelis," she added, "so whoever wins this election, the change will be in name only."
Haaretz, Israel's oldest daily newspaper, on Thursday published an article in which Gazans mostly shrugged off the Israeli elections.
"Honestly, I don't feel anything about the results. As someone from Gaza, I'm just waiting to see who will bomb me next—the right or the left," a young man named Mahmoud said. "In the end, the bad will go, and the worse will come. They're two sides of the same coin, and both support your killing as a Gazan."
"I think people in Gaza will be happy to see Netanyahu fall, not because of Eisenkot, of course, but because they experienced Netanyahu and saw what he did," he added. "They hope Eisenkot will deal with Gaza differently, or that there will be some relief. But, as I said, even though the two are against each other, both want you killed."
‘Their Plan Is Insane’: Senator Issues Grave Warning About Post-Election Assault on Iran
If carried out, says Sen. Chris Murphy, the attack Trump and Hegseth are plotting "will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law."
US Sen. Chris Murphy disclosed Wednesday that he was among the members of Congress recently briefed behind closed doors on the Trump administration's discussions of a possible post-midterm assault on Iran, and he came away with a startling assessment: "Their plan is insane."
Murphy (D-Conn.), who recently traveled to Gulf countries to survey the extensive damage Iran has inflicted on American military installations in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's illegal war, said during an event hosted by the Middle East Institute that he and some of his colleagues got the chance during a classified briefing "to have a fairly detailed conversation about what the war plan would be if we restarted military operations."
Without disclosing specific details from the briefing, the senator said administration officials told lawmakers that a renewed assault would be a "short-duration plan"—a common narrative from an administration that pledged shortly after launching the war that it would be over in a matter of weeks.
"It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law," Murphy warned of the administration's post-election plan.
Asked to elaborate, he said that "there's been open reporting as to what we may be planning and the civilian infrastructure that we may be targeting."
"They've been asked by the president to develop a plan," Murphy continued. "The plan that they have developed will lead, in my view, to a prolongment and an escalation of this war that would be devastating for our security interests."
Watch:
Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), called Murphy's remarks "a chilling warning that underscores the need to end the Iran war immediately."
In recent days, major media outlets including The Associated Press, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal have reported that the Trump administration has notified Middle East allies of a potential new military assault on Iran following next week's elections in the US.
According to the Journal, the US "has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign" in Iran following the midterms.
Citing unnamed officials, CNN reported that "Trump has not made up his mind on what he will do after the midterms but that he appears to be leaning toward ordering major action." The outlet noted that "leaders in US Central Command and the Pentagon have been developing a wide-ranging target list, which includes Iranian energy infrastructure, military sites, and nuclear facilities."
Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, said Thursday that he increasingly believes "some level of infrastructure warfare between the US/Israel and Iran, on a scale we haven't yet seen, is inevitable."
"With that said, I wouldn't expect such an infrastructure war to last long, or reach catastrophic levels, largely because I expect Iran would retaliate on a scale that would compel the US to stop quickly," Toossi continued. "Yet if that doesn't happen, the consequences could be disastrous for all sides. The destruction of critical regional energy infrastructure would greatly exacerbate the existing energy crisis, likely push many economies, including the US, into recession, and deal a devastating blow to the rest of Trump's presidency and his legacy."
"Whether that prospect has already deterred him, however, remains quite unclear," he added.
Trump himself has floated a possible attack on Iran while campaigning for Republicans in recent weeks. At a rally in Lubbock, Texas earlier this week, the president told a crowd of supporters: "You'll see Iran in a couple of weeks, if you don't mind."
"There is a way forward, but it can only materialize once the US administration genuinely accepts that it has no military options."
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance—widely viewed as the leading choice to succeed Trump at the top of the Republican ticket in 2028—has reportedly reached out to a leading Iranian official in a bid to revive diplomatic talks.
The Journal reported on Wednesday that Vance, with Trump's approval, "sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, and previously Iran’s longest-serving commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."
"Vance is testing whether Tehran and Washington could find enough common ground to persuade Trump not to give a final order for a short, intense attack on Iran in the coming weeks," the Journal reported. (Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to "annihilate" Iran, publicly denied that he directed Vance to try to revive peace talks with Iran.)
Costello of NIAC said in a statement Thursday that "while the desire to pursue an off-ramp is positive, Trump needs to walk the walk."
"Thus far, there is little to indicate a new approach and a serious desire to end the war," said Costello. "There is no military solution to the conflict with Iran, yet Trump still seems to think there is and that he’ll get to decide when the next round of fighting pauses. These are wrong-headed and dangerous conclusions to hold."
On the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a Financial Times op-ed last week that while Tehran is "firmly committed to seeking a dignified peaceful resolution to the conflict, we are also fully prepared to defend ourselves."
"President Donald Trump entered this war on the basis of fundamentally erroneous assumptions about Iran’s fortitude. It appears that he continues to be wrongly told that our armed forces are unprepared to defend the homeland, despite all evidence to the contrary," Araghchi wrote. "To state the obvious, we have no trust whatsoever in the sincerity of the US administration’s professed desire for peace with Iran."
"Given that the White House has shown no willingness to reach an understanding on the way forward, while also threatening more violence, there is little reason to expect progress now," he added. "In spite of all this, as a career diplomat, I am obliged to do my utmost to give diplomacy a chance, even when hope of success is scant... There is a way forward, but it can only materialize once the US administration genuinely accepts that it has no military options."