Happy Labor Day. A major push for justice is finally gaining real momentum on Capitol Hill, with more than 100 lawmakers now backing a discharge petition that could force a vote on releasing millions of withheld Epstein files. Americans are also paying the highest gas prices ever recorded for a Labor Day, with the average household already out more than $741 since the Iran war began driving up costs at the pump and the grocery store. And yet this weekend, instead of addressing either of those stories, the White House spent its energy posting an AI-generated video of Trump as a superhero and a stream of bizarre fantasy images, a distraction that came as officials openly questioned his fitness to serve and some raised the 25th Amendment. It’s hard not to notice the pattern: while survivors wait on accountability and families stretch their budgets further, the response from the top has been cosplay.
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Here’s the news.
A major push on Capitol Hill to get more justice for survivors is growing, as more than 100 lawmakers have now signed Representative Thomas Massie’s discharge petition to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, a bill that would let state attorneys general, victims, and members of Congress sue the DOJ for withholding or over-redacting Epstein-related files. Massie says the department is still unlawfully withholding more than three million files and wants the bill to bring “accountability to the Department of Justice and closure for survivors.” He needs four Republicans to join, including himself, to hit the 218-signature threshold to force a House vote, and so far Nancy Mace is the only other Republican who has both cosponsored the bill and signed the petition. Massie has argued Republicans in competitive districts should sign on before the midterms, telling colleagues to “take credit for it” and “be a hero.” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna said if the effort doesn’t succeed before the end of this Congress, Democrats would “absolutely” continue pushing it next term, though he believes it will get done before the end of the year.
Labor Day:
Gas prices hit a record high for any Labor Day this year, with regular gas averaging $4.15 a gallon, nearly a dollar higher than last year and well above the previous Labor Day record of $3.82 set in 2012. Diesel hit its own all-time record of $5.90 a gallon on Monday, a cost increase that’s rippling through grocery prices and package delivery since trucks and freight systems rely heavily on it. Experts point to the fallout from the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, which sent crude oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz plunging as Iran has refused to reopen the waterway. Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged prices are higher than last Labor Day but pointed to futures markets suggesting gasoline could drop about 35 cents by November. Since the Iran war began, higher gas and diesel prices have already cost the average American household more than $741, according to a tracker from Brown University. It’s not just gas prices, food prices have also risen year over year.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that gas prices will start declining now that Labor Day has passed and summer driving season is ending, despite the ongoing Iran war showing no signs of cooling off after the US and Iran traded strikes on each other’s oil tankers over the weekend. Wright also pointed to the Trump administration’s deal securing 65 billion barrels of oil reserves from Venezuela and eased rules allowing US refiners to produce more gasoline as reasons prices should fall, saying “if I had to guess, they’re more likely to go down than go up.” Gas prices first spiked after the US attacked Iran in February, prompting Iran to effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war, sending Brent crude from $72.48 a barrel to $95.52 by Friday. AAA said the national average for regular gas hit $4.14 on Sunday, a 38% increase since before the war began and the highest Labor Day price ever recorded, well above the previous record of $3.82 set in 2012. Gas prices have become a critical political issue for the Trump administration heading into the midterms, since lowering costs for consumers was a central campaign promise.
The White House shared an AI-generated video on X depicting Donald Trump as the comic book superhero Green Lantern, showing the 80-year-old president using a glowing green power ring to build a border wall, construct a large site, and pose in front of military aircraft, all set to Kanye West's "Flashing Lights." The post came the same weekend Trump launched a broader AI-generated social media blitz, including bizarre images of himself meeting with George Washington in the Oval Office, renaming a New Mexico sign to "New America," smashing a chunk of land depicting Iran with an American flag hammer, and sharing a fake image of Robert De Niro holding a "Trump is my president" shirt. The flurry of posts came as Trump's war with Iran drags into its sixth month with no resolution in sight. Critics mocked the Green Lantern video, with former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger calling it "some of the stupidest crap" he's ever seen and Democratic strategist Jon Cooper saying anyone who still supports Trump "is as crazy as he is."
Calls for 25th Amendment:
Donald Trump’s weekend social media spree, from Space Force uniforms modeled on a fictional fascist regime to a proposal to rename New Mexico, has officials once again openly questioning the president’s fitness to serve. Some have gone so far as to raise the 25th Amendment, the constitutional mechanism for removing a president deemed unable to discharge his duties, though they acknowledge that decision rests solely with the vice president and Cabinet, not with lawmakers. Trump’s new “next generation” Space Force uniform design, inspired by the costumes from Starship Troopers, a satire about a fascist future Earth, drew comparisons to Star Wars villains and mockery from critics across the political spectrum. Meanwhile, his Truth Social post floating a rename of New Mexico to “New America” prompted swift and pointed pushback from the state’s Democratic officials, who called the idea absurd and said the state’s name is not up for debate.
Trump is facing mockery over a new “next generation” design for Space Force uniforms he posted on social media Sunday, which features a charcoal-colored collared jacket, black boots, and a matching cap with the Space Force Delta symbol, explicitly described as “inspired by the discipline and functionality of the Starship Trooper uniform.” Critics quickly pointed out that Starship Troopers, the 1997 film directed by Paul Verhoeven, who grew up in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, is a satire about a future Earth ruled by a fascist regime, while others compared the design to the villains of Star Wars, including the Imperial Army that serves Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. Healthcare advocate Melanie D’Arrigo joked on X that designing the uniforms after “the evil bad guys from Star Wars, who are led by an elderly, power hungry tyrant, who lose, repeatedly” felt “a bit too on brand,” while menswear writer Derek Guy said it was “the kind of design costume designers make to tell you who are the bad guys in a space movie.” Even conservative commentators weighed in, with broadcaster Erick Erickson calling it “a cross between Star Trek in the symbols and Imperial Forces from Star Wars,” and self-described conservative critic Jennifer Zilla acknowledging the design was “the uniform of the Imperial Army from Star Wars... Aka the people Darth Vader works for. Emperor Palpatine’s people.” It remains unclear whether Trump intends to actually pursue the uniform redesign or if the post was simply part of one of his frequent social media posting sprees, and both the Space Force and White House have not yet responded to requests for comment.
New Mexico’s Democratic officials quickly denounced a Sunday Truth Social post from Trump that proposed, visually, renaming the state “New America,” with the White House’s official X account reposting a map showing “Mexico” crossed out and replaced. Trump wrote that “many people suggested” the change for what he called “one of the great vote cheating states of all time,” adding “so much more prestigious and beautiful... Wow, I Love It!!!” The post came after Trump previously renamed Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico by executive order.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation pushed back forcefully, with Senator Martin Heinrich vowing to always call the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario and New Mexico by their real names, and Senator Ben Ray Luján telling Trump “it’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be. Just like how you’ll always be a sinvergüenza and corrupt.”
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said the state’s name “isn’t up for debate, it’s been ours since before the United States existed,” while Representative Melanie Stansbury and Representative Gabe Vasquez both said the state’s name and history belong to its people and are not Trump’s to erase.
Dr. Amy Acton Attack:
Patrick Havas, a 38-year-old man from Canfield, was arrested after forcing his way through the crowd at the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s tent and lunging toward Dr. Amy Acton at the Canfield Fair, knocking down multiple people including an elderly man in the process. The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s executive protection unit quickly detained him, and Acton herself was not injured. Officers found two pistols and a taser in Havas’s possession, though investigators say no weapons were ever brandished or removed from their holsters. He was booked at the Mahoning County Jail on charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of assault. Witnesses, including former Congressman John Boccieri, described Havas as pushing through the crowd as if trying to record himself confronting Acton, and Havas was separately reported to have previously shared an address with a relative who resigned from Senator Jon Husted’s campaign over a past sexual misconduct conviction.
After Havas was detained, Acton, a physician, stayed to help tend to the injured, with witnesses describing her as poised and telling the crowd “we are sick of the hatred.” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine spoke with Acton afterward and said she asked him to share that she is okay, adding that “violence or the threat of violence at political or public events is always unacceptable.” Acton’s campaign, through communications director Addie Bullock, said Acton and her husband Eric were “grateful for the swift and decisive action of law enforcement” and said “this kind of violence has no place in Ohio.”
Political figures across the aisle condemned the attack, including Acton’s Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, whose campaign called it “completely unacceptable” and said candidates should be able to meet voters “without having to worry about threats or violence.” Republican Senator Jon Husted said he and his wife were “disturbed by the attempted attack” and that “there is no place for this kind of behavior,” while former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown thanked law enforcement for their “quick and professional response.” Acton is currently locked in a tight race with Ramaswamy to succeed term-limited Governor DeWine in November.
Other news:
The Trump administration is retooling the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which has traditionally sent election monitors to polling sites to protect voters from discrimination, to instead focus on voter fraud. Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican who co-chaired Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 election and now leads the division, has emailed employees asking them to help staff roughly 1,000 monitors for the midterms, a number that has never been reached before for this kind of effort. Many career employees have reportedly been replaced by conservative hires, some of whom back Trump’s false claims about winning the 2020 election. NBC News spoke with a half-dozen Justice Department veterans, some of whom worry the monitors could be used to undermine public confidence in the elections if Trump is unhappy with the results.
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing the interior department to consider stripping Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves and to explore making it easier to authorize killing them, giving Interior Secretary Doug Burgum three months to determine whether gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves have recovered enough to be de-listed. Gray wolves remain protected across most of their range in the lower 48 states under a 2022 federal court order, with the main exception being Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, where states already manage wolf populations. Mexican gray wolves, a rare subspecies reintroduced to New Mexico and Arizona in 1998, only just crossed the population threshold needed to begin the de-listing process, and advocate Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity warned that premature de-listing would face legal challenges given the subspecies’ lack of genetic diversity. The order drew sharp criticism from environmental groups, with WildEarth Guardians’ Leia Barnett accusing the administration of trying to bypass the framework Congress built to keep species recovery decisions insulated from political pressure. At the signing ceremony, Trump repeatedly suggested the order would make it easier to shoot wolves, telling one rancher “you’re allowed to go and take care of it,” even though most wolves remain federally protected and killing one is still a crime in most cases.
The Department of Health and Human Services released a report linking “gender ideology” to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence, a study scientists are calling poorly conducted and “nakedly political.” Epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz called it the most obviously political study he has come across, pointing to a survey that essentially measured party affiliation rather than authoritarianism and questions on political violence that focused only on violence against conservative figures. Legal scholars Daniel Aaron and Craig Konnoth said the report, which was never peer reviewed, likely violates federal regulations requiring peer review for influential government science and appears aimed at undermining mainstream medical organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics. Report coauthor Colin Wright of the Manhattan Institute disputed that framing but acknowledged the language could have been tightened, saying the study dropped earlier than planned after a draft leaked. HHS did not respond to questions about whether the report was formally commissioned or whether it complies with federal rules on scientific information.
Every week, a Philadelphia nun named Sister Rose Kuhn drives to immigration court in Harlingen, Texas, to sit beside unaccompanied migrant children, some as young as four, as they face a deportation judge without a lawyer or a parent present. This week, an undocumented migrant facing imminent deportation called Sister Kuhn his “angel” for her presence and support. Her work comes as Catholics across the country, inspired by Pope Leo XIV, are increasingly pushing back against the White House’s immigration policies. Sister Kuhn’s routine highlights both the vulnerability of unaccompanied children navigating the immigration system alone and the growing role religious figures are playing in resisting current deportation practices.
Union membership in the US grew by 411,000 workers in 2025, the largest increase since 2008, with nearly triple the growth rate in states that protect collective bargaining compared to “right to work” states, according to a new report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. States with bargaining protections added roughly 305,000 union members last year versus about 107,000 in right-to-work states, and workers in protected states now earn 8% more on average after accounting for cost of living. The gains coincide with high public approval of unions, with a Gallup poll finding 71% of Americans approve of labor unions and an AFL-CIO poll finding more Americans trust unions than either major political party. AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler tied the trend to economic frustration, noting that four out of five workers say their paychecks aren’t keeping up with costs while CEO pay has climbed to 312 times the median worker’s. Nineteen states also passed 88 new worker-protection laws in 2025, including paid leave in Virginia and a near-total ban on non-compete agreements in Washington.
Hurricane Lowell, a major Category 3 storm with 115-mph winds, approached western Hawaii early Monday, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue a hurricane warning for Kauai, Niihau, and parts of the vast Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Forecasters expect the storm’s center to pass just west of the main Hawaiian Islands Monday night before gradually weakening, though it’s expected to remain a hurricane as it moves past the island chain. The storm could dump up to 14 inches of rain on Kauai and up to 12 inches on the Big Island, raising the risk of significant flash flooding and mudslides, along with a storm surge of up to 3 feet in Kauai County and life-threatening surf and rip currents across the islands. The hurricane center also warned that several tornadoes could form near Kauai and Niihau Monday afternoon into the night, with a few additional twisters possible elsewhere across Hawaii.
At least five people died and five more were injured when an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane overran the runway while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, striking multiple vehicles and erupting into flames. The Boeing 767, operated by 21 Air and arriving from Puerto Rico, trapped its pilot and copilot in the cockpit, and more than 60 fire rescue units responded to a fuel leak that crews were still battling hours later. The crash forced a full ground stop and runway closures at one of the busiest airports in the country, delaying roughly 250 flights, while the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation and scheduled a briefing for Monday. Amazon confirmed the crash involved one of its contracted planes and said it was “heartbroken” over the deaths, offering condolences to victims’ families. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned travelers in the area to expect significant delays and possible cancellations as authorities continued assessing the scene.
I only covered three of the five stories in that paste. Here are the other two:
A former Louisiana mayor, Misty Roberts, has completed her 90-day jail sentence for raping a 16-year-old boy while she was still in office and been released from custody. The 44-year-old had faced up to 17 years in prison after a jury convicted her in March of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a minor, stemming from an assault at a pool party at her home in July 2024. Judge Kent Savoie publicly acknowledged he made a mistake basing her lenient sentence on a list of cases resolved through plea deals, unlike her case, which went to trial, though he said he would not punish her for exercising her right to a trial. The short sentence drew significant backlash in her hometown of DeRidder, with residents calling it “an insult” and saying the fullest extent of the law should apply when children are victims. Roberts must also register as a sex offender, pay $5,000 in fines, undergo drug screening and therapy, and serve two suspended five-year sentences if she violates her release conditions.
Israel’s air force carried out two airstrikes early Monday on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rumman, killing at least nine people, including a child and two women, and wounding others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. One strike hit a residential building, killing eight and wounding 11 others, while a separate strike hit a car, killing a paramedic with the Lebanese Islamic Risala Scout Association and wounding two more. The attack came amid a new round of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah despite a truce reached more than two months ago, and just days after Israel’s military said it had taken “operational control” of a strategic hill overlooking the region. Residents described living in constant fear as strikes crept closer to the town center, with one man vowing to stay in his home despite the destruction. A US-brokered framework deal signed in June called for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament, but implementation has stalled, with Hezbollah refusing to disarm north of the Litani River and Israel refusing to withdraw until it does.
A new UN World Meteorological Organization report finds that worsening heatwaves and wildfires driven by climate change are undoing progress on global air quality. Regions that had reduced pollution from cars and industry are now facing new health threats from wildfire smoke, while rising temperatures are driving up ground-level ozone, which the report links to nearly one in five COPD deaths in heavily polluted regions. The pollution these events generate is itself worsening climate change, creating a feedback loop, since particulates like black carbon settle on snow and ice, darken the surface, and accelerate melting and warming. A tripling of wildfires since the 1990s has contributed to nearly 100,000 deaths a year between 2010 and 2018, according to one study cited in the report. WMO scientist Lorenzo Labrador said air quality and climate must be addressed together, arguing that cutting greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel burning would simultaneously improve air quality worldwide.
See you soon.
— Aaron
