President Trump’s heavily touted agreement to purchase 300,000 tons of Russian diesel, violating federal sanctions to support Vladimir Putin’s war, will do nothing to change U.S. gas and diesel prices. Simple math reveals why this policy is purely theatrical. The announced purchase of 300,000 tons of diesel amounts to just over 2 million barrels. Because the American economy consumes roughly 4 million barrels of distillates daily, Trump's grand deal equals a mere 12 hours

In yet another instance of performative diplomacy, President Donald Trump is celebrating a "historic" new agreement with Denmark and Greenland. Claiming it gives Washington permanent control over the Arctic island's security, it really serves as a distraction from the issues of affordability, the war of choice in Iran and the Epstein files. While the announcement provides a convenient “political victory” at a time when Trump’s poll numbers approach record lows for any moder

During another rambling free speech, Donald Trump promised a $5,000 cash “dividend” to every American if Republicans win in November. Trump has provided no detailed funding plan. But with roughly 350 million adult U.S. citizens, the price tag could approach $1.75 trillion, money that would have to come from somewhere. It certainly won't come from corporations or the ultra-wealthy under a Republican administration. Corporate tax revenue for 2026 is projected at a paltry $400

Pittsburgh hosts one of the largest Labor Day parades in the country. It is only fitting then that today’s post focuses on a new report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign finds that America added more than 411,000 union members in 2025, the largest one-year increase since 2008. The growth was driven overwhelmingly by Democratic legislatures that protect, restore, or strengthen collective bargaining rights. That sta

President Trump’s announcement of the “BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” is not a victory for American diplomacy. It is a masterclass in raw, institutionalized corruption. Behind the all-caps bravado is an imperial smash-and-grab that trades America’s moral authority and constitutional limits for black gold. The corruption begins with the players. To move the oil, the administration partnered with Alejandro Betancourt, who built his fortune under the very Venezuelan regime

Pennsylvania has reported its first measles death in 35 years, two unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County. This tragedy should be a wake-up call: vaccines save lives, and measles is preventable. Instead, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sowing doubt and conspiracy theories. Kennedy refused to call Pennsylvania’s two measles fatalities deaths, referring to them as “casualties,” and claimed without evidence that “deaths may even have been altog

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Trump’s war on vaccines is putting our children at risk. At the time, Westmoreland County had no measles cases. That changed August 26 with its first case since 2000, when measles was eliminated in the U.S. County Commissioner Ted Kopas urged residents to follow vaccination recommendations. Commissioner Chew called the news “concerning,” while Commissioner Kertes remained silent. Statewide, cases have surged from 310 to more than 400 in jus

Right-wing pundits routinely portrays progressive Democrats as fringe, anti-American radicals, using the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as a stand-in for the entire progressive movement. But DSA’s roughly 120,000 members represent only a small fraction of the nation’s 45 million registered Democrats. Fox News engages the most provocative DSA voices and portrays them as representing the broader Democratic coalition. The purpose is to create a false narrative that dis

We are only 45 days into the conflict in Iran, yet the mounting toll of President Trump’s "forever war" is already staggering. What was pitched as a swift action has spiraled out of control that has already cost 13 American lives and more than 300 casualties. With the initial phase of already crossing the $50 billion mark, the administration is now demanding an immediate $200 billion infusion. Trump is also demanding a 50% increase to the Pentagon’s existing trillion-dollar

Donald Trump has treated the presidency less as a constitutional office and more as a monarchy. The actions of this would-be king include: · Openly disregarding the rule of law · Obstructing justice · Undermining judicial independence · Disrupting trade relationships across the globe · Using the Department of Justice as a political instrument, rather than as a guardian of impartial justice Nearly 250 years ago, similar grievances were leveled a

On his February 11 podcast, white supremacist Nick Fuentes said: “Our number one political enemy is women because women constrain everything, every conversation, every man, everything.” His solution? “Women get sent to the gulags first, obviously… All women. Every woman and girl is sent to the gulags. We will determine who the good ones are after the fact.” According to Fuentes women are the real enemy because “They are the ones that are hurting the fertility rate. They’re

Donald Trump says the U.S. will run Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” There’s no plan for nation-building beyond handing the keys to American oil companies like Chevron. If that doesn’t set off alarm bells about cost and incompetence, it should. It will take years and tens of billions of dollars to restore Venezuela’s crumbling oil fields. But Trump insists that won’t come from taxpayers because “the money coming out of the g

Was Trump’s speech last night a desperate cry for help? Thom Hartmann posed that question, and it’s worth asking. But those around him are afraid to accept an uncomfortable truth. Trump is no longer is in control of himself, lacking the mental capacity to govern. What we witnessed wasn’t leadership but was a meltdown. This wasn’t confidence; it was insecurity and paranoid delusions wrapped in cruelty and intolerance. For twenty minutes, Trump raged at the nation, red-faced

Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins captured a brutal truth when she warned of a “politics of trickle-down hatred” coming from the federal level. You can hear it in hate-filled rants of Donald Trump that normalized prejudice. But the politics of trickle-down hatred didn’t arise spontaneously. It was cultivated and amplified by Trump, media platforms that profit from outrage, and institutions that reward division. When Trump use inflammatory language to demean immigrants, Muslims, LG

Strike against unarmed civilian boats and the pardon of Honduran President and narco-terrorist Juan Orlando Hernández appear to be in conflict. On one side, Trump orders air strikes on small boats they claim, without presenting evidence, are drug-smuggling vessels. On the other side, Donald Trump has vowed a “Full and Complete Pardon” for Hernández, a man convicted in U.S. courts of conspiring to ship staggering quantities of cocaine into the country. The contrast is jarrin

When MAGA Republicans invoke “constitutional order,” they claim to defend America’s founding principles. Their actions say otherwise. Project 2025 is MAGA’s ideological foundation, an unquestionable doctrine where loyalty to a leader eclipses loyalty to the Constitution itself. And It conveniently aligns with the interests of a new economic elite like Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel, who gain from a system that concentrates authority and weakens public accountability. Yet e

As hurricane season begins, a chilling reality looms over millions along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts: FEMA may not come. Under the Trump...

Political scientist Steven Levitsky warns that America has entered an era of “competitive authoritarianism” – a system where leaders...

What you may have missed this week (read more at the New Resistance Review): Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act Reform undermines state...

The U.S. stands on the brink of a new nuclear arms race with Russia. In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal but,...