It’s October 14, 2026. We’re halfway through the week. Let’s get right into today’s headlines:
September’s inflation came in HOT, HOT, HOT, wiping out any wage gains
SpaceX throttled Starlink for Ukraine’s military, and Zelenskyy says the U.S. betrayed him
A container ship sank in the Strait of Hormuz as oil flows collapse
Saudi Aramco’s headquarters was badly damaged in a Houthi attack
Hegseth got called a war criminal while on stage by multiple protesters
Trump posted multiple videos of people being mauled to death by animals, followed by an AI video of himself wrestling a tiger
MAGA world is reportedly panicked about a rumored “burn book” by Kimberly Guilfoyle containing Trump family secrets
A MAGA Rep.’s freakout over a journalist asking him basic questions
MORE leaked Ken Paxton audio
And much more…
NOTE: We are now LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY from the release of our book, WTF America: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. If you’ve been considering pre-ordering, go ahead and order your copy now!
Inflation Is HOT, HOT, HOT
Let’s start with today’s inflation report. There’s no way to sugarcoat this. The September CPI report is ugly. Headline inflation jumped to 3.7% year over year, above the 3.6% expected. Core inflation hit 2.6%, above the 2.5% forecast and up from 2.4% in August. This is the third highest inflation reading since September 2023. Rate hike expectations are climbing.
Now let me do some simple math. Wages grew on average 3% over the last year. 3.7% inflation means that real wages have actually DECREASED. Any gains have been completely wiped out, and then some. Real earnings fell 0.5% in September. Fuel oil is up 74% from a year ago and gasoline is up 34.2%. Mortgage rates are creeping toward 7.5%. The Golden Age!
Even Fox Business couldn’t spin this one. Anchors admitted inflation is accelerating and outpacing wages, then panicked over 45% offs of an October rate hike from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh just before the midterms. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.263%, crude climbed, and Dow futures slipped.
Trump and Musk Pull the Plug on Ukraine
SpaceX imposed a speed cap on StarShield, the military-grade version of Starlink, and Ukraine was given zero warning. Ukrainian tech expert Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov first confirmed a 100mph limit that disrupted several missions. Then the cap tightened to 60-70km/h (around 40mph). That completely kills connectivity for Ukraine’s medium-range kamikaze drones, the FP-2, Darts, Hornet, RAM-2, and others, which hit Russian air defenses and logistics in Crimea and border regions. It also hobbles the interceptor drones Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian Shaheds. This comes just days after Elon Musk warned on X that Zelenskyy had “gone too far.”
(See update at bottom: Ukraine says connectivity is now being partially restored.)
It’s unclear whether the order came from Musk, Trump, or the Pentagon, since StarShield is embedded in the U.S. military. The result is the same either way. And remember, European allies help pay for this service.
Zelenskyy, in the UK, told Piers Morgan he feels betrayed by Trump and that people will die due to this decision, saying SpaceX and the U.S. knew exactly what they were doing when they blocked access at 1 a.m. Overnight, Russia launched 39 ballistic missiles and over 120 attack drones at Ukraine’s energy grid, one of the largest combined strikes of the war, causing major blackouts in Kyiv. Zelenskyy says Ukraine is no longer getting the early warnings it relied on from the U.S.
And it just keeps getting worse. Semafor reports the White House is weighing cutting intel sharing with Ukraine entirely, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly opposed.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon has had enough, as I reported for MeidasTouch News. He called Trump an “apologist” for Putin, said Putin is playing Trump like no U.S. president before, condemned the Starlink and intel cuts as aiding Russia’s invasion, and warned Trump’s agenda in Congress could collapse as a result.
Europe is responding. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski asked Musk publicly if he’s playing politics with his products again, reminding him European consumers are watching. UK PM Andy Burnham welcomed Zelenskyy to Downing Street to applause, pledged the UK’s support will never change, and said Britain is speeding up air defense deliveries. Countries everywhere are now asking whether buying Starlink means handing Trump and Musk a kill switch. I think the answer should be obvious by now.
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The Strait Keeps Getting Worse, and CENTCOM Keeps Lying
This morning, the UAE-owned container ship GFS PRIDE sank in the southern corridor of the Strait of Hormuz, carrying around 2,500 containers. It had been running with its tracking transponder off for around 10 days. Iranian outlets released footage claiming it struck a mine.
UKMTO logged multiple vessels struck by unknown projectiles on Tuesday, and satellite imagery shows only about 3 ships even attempting a daytime crossing today. Iran is also going after ship-to-ship transfers involving very large crude carriers in the Gulf of Oman.
Now let’s look at some of the oil numbers. Kpler data shows just about 10 million barrels cleared the Strait over 3 days combined, from October 10-12. The pre-war baseline was at least 17 million barrels a day. Iran has struck 27 vessels this month alone. Yet CENTCOM posted that U.S. forces helped ship more than 19 million barrels through the Strait in a single day, and that the U.S. controls the Strait with ships able to move freely and unimpeded. These are all easily verifiable lies. Not to mention, if oil were flowing at record levels, diesel and gas wouldn’t be at the prices we are seeing. CENTCOM has unfortunately become a MAGA troll account, and that’s a disgrace.
Saudi Arabia Under Fire
Reuters reports that Saudi Aramco’s Dhahran HQ suffered extensive damage in a Houthi attack last night, with fire spreading across several floors and still burning into this morning. In Riyadh, Saudi state TV says shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile injured a resident and damaged a home and a car. THAAD interceptors run about $11 million each and are typically fired in pairs, so think like $22 million to stop just one Houthi missile. Saudi Arabia is pounding Sanaa in response. Russia also struck 2 vessels off the coast of Bulgaria, and North Korea has been firing off ballistic missile tests.
Hegseth Called a War Criminal on Stage, Over and Over Again
At the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting, Pete Hegseth was interrupted roughly 5 times during a panel on Project Agincourt, the Pentagon’s autonomous warfare push. Protesters called him a war criminal and shouted that children in Gaza are starving.
Trump’s Grotesque Posts
Last night, Trump posted multiple videos of animals mauling humans to death on his social media platform. Are we so desensitized to this as a society that we treat this like it’s normal behavior? One of the clips was footage of the fatal tiger attack at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in England that killed 23-year-old William Chapman, captioned “Don’t ever mess with nature!” South Yorkshire Police and Chapman’s family had begged people to stop sharing the footage. Then, Trump posted an AI video of himself wrestling and hugging a tiger to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” Even Piers Morgan called it appallingly tasteless and told him to delete it. Trump also posted more fake news, claiming “Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!” First off, it’s not “our” Greenland. This is how predators speak. And of course, like clockwork, Greenland’s deputy mining minister said they are very far from the “massive” exploration Trump claimed. In other words: Trump lied.
Inside the White House Mess
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr.’s former fiancée who was just forced out of her ambassadorship in Greece over multiple corruption scandals, is now reportedly terrifying Trump world. The Daily Mail reports she kept a “burn book” on the Trump family, nicknamed “The Devil Wears MAGA,” with insiders saying she “knows where the bodies are buried.”
Katie Zacharia, the new press secretary who had a…let’s just say rough…start yesterday, now faces questions about her background and her husband. Her husband reportedly helped expand Schulze Global Investments into North Korea, where the firm made loans to North Korean mining companies in 2008 and a $1 million loan to a North Korean conglomerate in 2011, while sanctions were in effect. Zacharia, who says she is a lawyer despite no record of passing the bar, was asked yesterday where she has practiced. Her answer, though hard to hear over noise, seemed to be that she did legal work while living in China.
Press ban blocked: A federal judge late last night extended the block on Trump’s White House media ban, letting CNN and MS NOW keep their passes indefinitely.
Also tracking: Trump officials reportedly told the CFTC to stand down from investigating suspicious oil trades placed minutes before Trump’s market-moving posts. And Trump is backing out of his own deposition in the $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the BBC, claiming he’s too busy. The BBC is asking the judge to demand that Trump commit to a date.
Midterms: 20 Days Out
In Maryland: After a debate with Democrat Dan Schwartz, House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris invited reporters into a room, then threatened Capital News Service reporter Cat Murphy with prosecution for recording, told staff to take her camera, and called for her to be arrested. He claimed that he had not consented to being recorded by her, which is not a thing in public press conferences. These people are as stupid as they are fascist.
Texas: Lordy, there are MORE tapes. Leaked audio from a September 24 lobbying event caught Ken Paxton admitting that even Greg Abbott is struggling against Gina Hinojosa, and acknowledging that he is having a tough time in his race against James Talarico.
Pennsylvania: State data compiled Wednesday shows Democrats have returned 243,560 mail ballots to Republicans’ 74,709, a lead of nearly 169,000 that grew by about 26,000 in a single day. Democrats also lead requests 745,228 to 271,108.
Keep voting, keep sharing, and one more thing: our book WTF America?! comes out next week. 6 days from now. If you’re planning to grab it, now’s the time to pre-order. Thank you so much everyone for your support.
UPDATE: After this piece was published, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced that Starlink connectivity is being restored at speeds of up to 160 km/h, about 100 mph. Fedorov said removing StarShield’s speed cap entirely is now critical for Ukraine’s defense. He thanked Elon Musk and said Ukraine hopes for his continued support. So for now, Ukraine’s ability to defend itself still depends on whether Musk and Trump decide to keep the connection on. We’ll keep you posted.
I don't know which war criminal I hate more? Elon? Trump? Putin? Hegseth? Bibi?
This is why technology like Starlink and SpaceX should not be controlled by one man or small group. It gives them way too much power over country's national sovereignty.