If the War Is Going So Well, Why Does Trump Need to Sell It?

IRAN WAR

October 1, 2026

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

Once again, Donald Trump is Using Taxpayers' Funds to Sell a Failed Project to the American Public

Donald Trump is spending more taxpayer money to promote a war that remains unfinished, while the military and diplomatic record of the forces he commands shows depleted munitions, resentment from allies except Israel, abandonment of strategic locations and outposts, destabilization in the Middle East, and strategic and economic objectives that remain unresolved. This is the story of Trump's life and career in one paragraph, and with so much failure running through his veins, it's a wonder that he still remembers how to breathe, lie, and deceive you.

The family of Renee Good files lawsuits over her death during Minneapolis ICE raids

IMMIGRATION

October 1, 20264:15 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

Meg Anderson

3-Minute Listen

Transcript

The family of Renee Good, the 37-year-old killed last January by a federal agent during the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, filed two civil lawsuits against the federal government Thursday.

What happened in the failed execution of Christa Pike - and what next?

1 hour ago

James FitzGerald and Kayla Epstein

What we know after Christa Pike survived two lethal injections

US convicted murderer Christa Pike is in a critical condition in hospital after Tennessee authorities failed to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyer says. The case of Pike, whose attempted execution on Wednesday had already been the subject of a high-profile legal battle, raised a number of questions, including what went wrong? And what happens next?

Crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz hit prewar levels, but fuel shipments remain constrained

Energy
Published Wed, Sep 30, 2026 1:59 PM EDT

Updated Wed, Sep 30, 2026 4:16 PM EDT

Spencer Kimball, Deena Zaidi

Key Points

• Crude oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were at prewar levels as of Monday, according to data provided by Kpler.
• But the rebound is uneven as refined product shipments from the Middle East remain constrained.
• The world is facing a fuel crisis with diesel prices at or near record highs, which poses a major threat to the health of the economy.

Crude oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz have basically returned to levels normal before the Iran war, as U.S. military escorts have boosted shipments and pipelines have redirected flows.

US Supreme Court allows execution of Christa Pike to go ahead

45 minutes ago By Sareen Habeshian

The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for death row inmate Christa Pike to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years

The justices overturned a last-minute reprieve that was granted by an appeals court on Wednesday morning about an hour before Pike, 50, was due to be put to death.

A Reuters EXCLUSIVE: Anthropic's IPO pitch embraces AI's promise and peril

Reuters
By Echo Wang, Greg Bensinger and Sabrina Valle

September 30, 2026 12:52 PM PDT

Updated 1 hour ago

Summary

• Filing says advanced models may resist shutdown or manipulate information
• Prospectus says stronger AI is needed for safety, even as capability heightens misuse risks
• Risk section spans nearly a third of prospectus, exceeding business-description pages

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Anthropic is planning what could be the largest initial public offering in history. But if AI continues on its current trajectory, humans may not be around much longer to enjoy it.

The Emperor Penguins Are Telling Us Something We Don’t Want to Hear: Half Could Be Gone by 2080 — Because of Us

September 30, 2026

By Mars Strangelove Jr. and Yiannis Damellos

The oceans are warming, the Antarctic ice is disappearing, and an extraordinary species is losing the habitat it needs to survive. We are watching what is happening to their world in real time. We know why. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

There is something almost obscene about watching a catastrophe unfold when the victims cannot possibly understand what is happening to them. The emperor penguin did not cause climate change. It did not burn coal, drill for oil, build highways, or fill the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. It simply evolved in one of the most demanding environments on Earth and learned, over thousands of generations, how to survive there. Now the environment itself is changing beneath its feet.

Millions of Americans are losing SNAP benefits: "It feels as though people are being punished"

By Aimee Picchi, Mary Cunningham

Updated on: September 30, 2026 

12:38 PM EDT / CBS News

Lori Covelli, 53, an unemployed social worker in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who last year was collecting $760 per month in food stamps, recently lost all her benefits after failing to find a job and running afoul of the program's work requirements. She had hoped to regain that aid on her 54th birthday, when she would age out of those restrictions, but then learned that a new federal law had extended the program's work requirement to 64.

Iran confirmed it has received a U.S. counterproposal over a 7-day ceasefire plan previously turned down by Trump

By Yiannis Damellos

Date: September 30, 2026

Iranian authorities have announced that they are currently reviewing a U.S. counterproposal to a recent Iranian offer for a seven-day ceasefire. This latest diplomatic effort comes after continuous tensions marked by a seven-month war, with Iranian officials reiterating that the hostilities will only cease should the U.S. acknowledge its defeat and withdraw its forces from the region.

BREAKING NEWS: Execution of US murderer Christa Pike halted shortly before it was due to happen

20 minutes ago

Stephanie Hegarty, World Service correspondent 

and Grace Eliza Goodwin

The execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike has been halted just over an hour before it was due to happen.

Pike, 50, has been awaiting execution since she was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer.

Independent Football Regulator chief: Man City guilty verdict 'raises serious issues'

Sep 30, 2026 

10:34 AM ET

Manchester City's guilty verdict for breaching Premier League financial rules "raises serious issues," according to the chair of English football's independent regulator.

An independent commission has concluded City "clearly intended to circumvent Premier League rules" by inflating revenue and hiding costs over a nine-season period.

Spain proposes ban on evictions as ousted 87-year-old accepts offer to return home

Hundreds of people remained camped in one of Madrid’s main squares Tuesday to protest Maricarmen Abascal’s removal from her home on a stretcher last Wednesday

Sept. 29, 2026, 4:49 PM PDT

Source: Reuters

MADRID — Spain’s coalition government said it had agreed to proposals including banning evictions until 2030 to address the country’s housing crisis, as the 87-year-old woman whose forced removal last week triggered protests accepted an offer to return home.

A Metaphysical Hegemony is Like a Wish Sandwich

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

September 30, 2026

According to Elwood Blues in the song "Rubber Biscuit," a wish sandwich is made of two slices of bread, and you wish you had some meat (to put between them). Logistically speaking, America has found itself in a similar quagmire since Trump started the Iran War. It may still possess the world's most formidable military machine. The question is whether it can still afford to keep that machine physically present everywhere its interests demand. If the answer is no, like in Iraq these days, then “American hegemony” is clearly metaphysical and by all means not a grand strategy anymore, just an adaptation to a constraint. Like a Wish Sandwich.

How Trump Became Mob Boss of the United States

The most corrupt president in American history has been preparing his entire life to co-opt the government for personal gain

Sean Wilentz/Rolling Stone

29 September 26

On the evening of May 22, 2025, Marine One lifted off from the South Lawn of the White House and flew 25 miles northwest to Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., the president’s private club in Sterling, Virginia, overlooking the Potomac River. Donald Trump landed shortly before seven. He had come to dine with the top holders of a cryptocurrency bearing his name. More than a hundred protesters had gathered outside the club. They held signs that read “Stop Trump’s Crypto Corruption,” “America Is Not for Sale,” and “Release the Guest List.” Inside, more than 200 guests were waiting for him. They had qualified for admission by buying the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency.

Trump announces vague ‘morally binding’ AI deal among tech CEOs for ‘tremendous self-policing’

US president also issues an executive order officially rebranding ‘artificial intelligence’ 

as ‘superintelligence’

Nick Robins-Early

Wed 30 Sep 2026 00.21 BST

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a “morally binding” agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. He announced the deal, called the Joint Commitment On Frontier Responsibilities, following a White House luncheon with top tech executives.

Jack Smith clashes with senators over Trump probes, says he will not be silenced

Courts & Law

The former special counsel defended his scrutiny of the president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and handling of classified documents. Republicans are pressing for a Justice Department inquiry of his conduct

September 29, 2026 at 2:46 p.m. EDT

By Jeremy Roebuck

Former special counsel Jack Smith forcefully defended his derailed efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump on Tuesday, telling lawmakers he would not “be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the president.

Why Did Netanyahu Fly to Abu Dhabi to Chase an Old Warning?

September 30, 2026

By Mars Strangelove Jr. and Yiannis Damellos

Three years after October 7, 2023, a strange trail has led back to the beginning

It starts with an article in Haaretz. On Sept. 8, the Israeli newspaper reported that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu roughly 10 days before the Hamas attack and warned him that Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation. According to the report, the Emirati leader warned that the attack could cause bloodshed, destabilize the region and damage the Abraham Accords. Netanyahu, Haaretz reported, reacted calmly and said Israel was prepared for possible scenarios, while apparently believing any major threat was more likely to emerge from the West Bank. Netanyahu’s office called the story an “absolute lie,” saying he had not spoken with Sheikh Mohamed during that period and had received no warning from him. That might have been the end of the story — one explosive allegation, one emphatic denial — had Netanyahu not quietly boarded a plane.

Laurie Anderson’s Farewell to Lou Reed: A Rolling Stone Exclusive

'For 21 years we tangled our minds 

and hearts together'

By Laurie Anderson

November 6, 2013

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed. Guido Harari/Contrasto/Redux

Rolling Stone pays tribute to Lou Reed, the outsider who changed the course of rock & roll, on the cover of our new issue. In an exclusive essay for RS, Laurie Anderson reflects on her 21-year relationship with Reed and his final moments.