The $5,000 Trump Imaginary Dividend: Vote Republican to Collect Your Check, and believe in miracles

September 10, 2026

By Yiannis Damellos

Source: USA Today

Poor Donald Trump believes he has discovered a revolutionary new economic theory: if you want people to vote for you, promise them $5,000 — preferably just before Election Day. Apparently, the man thinks a 5th-century B.C. electoral bribe, dressed up as an economic dividend, can somehow rescue his catastrophic tenure in the White House. I’m not sure who qualifies, or how a Trump voter is supposed to prove his Republicanism to the Treasury after the ballot has disappeared into the box. But I do remember one or two of Trump’s previous schemes that failed to deliver a dime, even to the more credulous members of his political volk.

Nixon Promised Peace Was at Hand. Trump Is Promising Peace Is at the Ballot Box

“If you can end the war immediately after the election, why can't you end it immediately?

By Yiannis Damellos 

September 9, 2026

There it was, floating above the entrance like a neon sign outside a Trump Casino: “This war will end immediately after our election.” Donald Trump said it. Not some anonymous diplomat speaking in tongues. The Don himself. Immediately after the election. Which leaves us with one of those beautifully simple questions that tend to make politicians cranky: If you can end the war immediately after the election, buddy, why the hell can't you end it immediately?

Missouri fight over gerrymandered congressional map heading back to US Supreme Court

Courts Election 2026 Election

A second emergency application to Justice Brett Kavanaugh seeks to block the decision of a St. Louis federal judge

By Rudi Keller 

September 9, 2026, 2:24 pm 

Updated 6:25 pm

The question of which congressional district map Missouri will use in November returned to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday after a federal appeals court refused to block an order requiring use of the Republican-drawn 2025 map.

Egypt, Greece and Cyprus back plans to bring Cypriot gas to Europe

Copyright European Union Yorgos Karahalis
By Mohamed Elashi
Published on 09/09/2026 - 16:08 GMT+2•Updated 16:11

Cyprus’ Cronos gas is expected to reach European markets via Egypt from 2028, with Greece offering an onward route into southeastern and central Europe. The three countries renewed their backing for the plan at their El Alamein summit.

Trump administration proposes dramatic overhaul of 2030 census that changes who counts as living in America

The changes would have a dramatic effect on representation in Congress and the expansiveness of data collected by the government

BY BEN JOHANSEN FOR POLITICO 09/09/2026 02:07 PM EDT

The Trump administration proposed a sweeping overhaul of how people in America are counted in the 2030 census on Wednesday, including moving to exclude immigrants in the country illegally from the population totals used to determine political representation and not asking every American about their race and ethnicity.

Ancient Rome’s biggest fresco and mosaic open to public for first time since discovery 3 decades ago

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Updated 8:40 PM PDT, September 8, 2026

ROME (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday unveiled what is believed to be the largest fresco and mosaic complex of ancient Rome, a first-century A.D. depiction of a maritime city in what became the largest bath complex in the world.

Mayor Roberto Gualtieri presented the recently restored “Painted City” fresco and “Great Mosaic” that were discovered in an underground gallery during excavations in the 1990s of the Baths of Trajan on the Oppio hill near the Colosseum.

Pappas, Sununu sweep to victory in U.S. Senate primaries

New Hampshire Public Radio 

By Josh Rogers
Published September 8, 2026 at 8:23 PM EDT
Photos Elena Eberwein
This is a developing story and will be updated as fresh results become available.

New Hampshire voters have selected Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas and former Republican U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu to face off in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. It’s a contest leaders in both parties see as essential to deciding control of the U.S. Senate.

Trump escalates trade war with Canada, moving to ban imports of some motorcycles, dairy and alcohol

As the U.S.-Canadian relationship severely deteriorates, the White House says the import bans will go into effect in about three weeks

Sept. 8, 2026, 6:17 PM PDT

By Steve Kopack

President Donald Trump moved Tuesday to sharply escalate the trade war with Canada, seeking to block imports of some motorcycles, dairy products and alcohol.

Supreme Court rejects Missouri’s request to use congressional map with extra GOP seat

By John Fritze
September 8, 2026
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Missouri’s request to use a congressional map for the November midterm election that would have given Republicans a chance to flip a seat, a rare setback for the GOP’s effort to keep control of the House next year by eking out an advantage from its political boundaries.

New Genetic Evidence of an Ancient Killer Has Surfaced After Being Concealed in Medieval Texts for Centuries

Ryan Whalen
September 7, 2026

The story of a Medieval European plague is coming into focus through historic manuscripts, but not in the way you might think. Instead of providing mere historical accounts, the animal skins from which these Medieval volumes are constructed provide genetic evidence for reconstructing the 3,500-year story of the sheepox virus (SPPV), which decimated European livestock.

Canada's New Tariffs: Businesses Are Bracing for Higher Costs but Shoppers May Barely Notice I CBC News

Jeff Lagerquist · CBC News

Canada's new tariffs 

Are small businesses 'cannon fodder' in the trade war?

Posted: Sep 07, 2026 9:01 PM PDT · Last Updated: 36 minutes ago

At 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Canada hit $28 billion worth of U.S. imports with new dollar-for-dollar tariffs.

Canadian businesses are opening Tuesday for the first time under the federal government's new dollar-for-dollar tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. imports. As many owners brace for higher costs and supply-chain issues, experts say consumers may not notice much impact.

Alternative for Germany's state election victory a 'serious moment in Europe'

By global affairs editor 

Laura Tingle

Topic: World Politics

Posted about 1h ago, updated about 1h ago

Europe has witnessed a steady series of incursions from the far-right of politics in recent years, from Austria and Hungary to France, the UK and Italy

From an Australian perspective, these incursions seem to reflect the same trends we see in Australia with the resurgence of One Nation: a populist far-right party, trading particularly on anti-immigration sentiment and long-running simmering resentment over stalling living standards. But the weekend win by Germany's AfD (Alternative for Germany) party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt has sent particular shivers across the continent and points to a political landscape that is much darker than the one being promised by One Nation.

Trump threatens Bombardier, Canadian dollar as counter-tariffs set to roll out

By Sean Previl 

Global NEWS
Posted September 7, 2026 1:30 pm
4 min read

Canada’s counter-tariffs against the U.S. are set to take effect Tuesday in response to President Donald Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs, even as the president continues to ramp up his anti-Canadian rhetoric.

Hundreds of goods are set to be hit with counter-duties, roughly equal to the value of Canadian goods that fall under the scope of Trump’s own tariffs.

‘Uncharted territory’: The $40 trillion U.S. national debt just got uglier as interest payments rise to $1.25 trillion a year

By Sasha Rogelberg, Reporter
September 7, 2026, 3:00 AM ET

BankingDebt

In a rare move, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced last month the Treasury would double the number of long-term bonds it buys back.

The federal interest burden has reached a new height, exceeding even the 1991 record, but analysts warn the risks associated with servicing the ever-growing national debt today are much higher than they were 35 years ago.

The War "Nobody Planned" May Be Building a World Nobody Wants

By Yiannis Damellos

September 7, 2027

Illustration: IntellAIgence

The bombs are falling on tankers now, and International Trade is taking the hit. So, who benefits if the global economy becomes more fragmented? 

What is this battlefield coming to? Tankers have now become retaliatory targets. That goes far beyond the Strait of Hormuz. A missile fired at a tanker does not stop when the smoke clears. It travels through people's grief, to begin with, and also through insurance rates, freight costs, oil prices, factory costs, and supermarket shelves, before it reaches your living room. Brent is already approaching $100 a barrel, diesel prices have reached record highs, and shipping through Hormuz has fallen sharply as operators reassess the risk. This is the domino effect of modern war: attack a ship, disrupt a route, raise the cost of moving energy, raise the cost of moving everything else. But there is a larger question here. What happens to globalization when the world's most important trade routes become potential battlefields? And who benefits from the world this war is creating?

Relax, "New America" is just a post, he hasn't renamed New Mexico yet

Written by Yiannis Damellos

September 7, 2026

And who cares anyway? When we get rid of him, we will bring back the old names and make more jokes about it.

There is an almost delicious historical paradox in “New America,” for obvious political reasons: New Mexico itself is already the product of centuries of colonial naming. So replacing it with “New America” does not remedy the malaise of colonial history. Instead, it adds another layer of post-colonial naming on top of it. Which is so Trump! But really, don’t you know this is simply his way of provoking his opponents and generating headlines? New Mexico’s governor has treated it as an unserious distraction.

Major pieces of Post Office’s mail voting rule missing while Justice Department presses Supreme Court to move it forward

News / Election Administration / 

Litigation / Voting
By Brentin Mock
September 6, 2026

The Justice Department’s (DOJ) various court filings defending the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) new voting restrictions remain mum on when important components of the rule necessary to comply will become available, even as states start sending out ballots.

The Justice Department is pressing the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to lift a lower court block and allow the rule to take effect, arguing the states shouldn’t have problems complying despite the missing components.

Iran-US war latest: Tehran attacks ships in Strait of Hormuz after US strikes Iranian oil tankers

The latest exchange of attacks followed an escalation in the past week which threatens to deepen the conflict

Dan Haygarth 

Monday 07 September 2026 01:00 BST

Photo: US strikes three Iranian oil tankers in response to attacks on warships

The US and Iran have traded strikes on ships, the latest round of attacks since the conflict flared a week ago after a period of relative calm.