by Ryan Teague Beckwith | Jul 26, 2026 | Business, Congress, Opinion
Residents of Washington, D.C., don’t have voting members of Congress, so we have no say in what happens on Capitol Hill. And if DoorDash gets its way, we will have even less say at City Hall.
The San Francisco-based company, worth about $73 billion, objected to a 20-cent fee on food deliveries that the D.C. Council recently enacted.
But rather than make its case to the district’s elected leaders or persuade voters the fee was a bad idea, DoorDash went nuclear, publicly backing Republican legislation that would require Congress to approve any future local taxes or fees in the district.
I’ve never used DoorDash, but this decision made me wish I’d signed up just so I could dramatically cancel my account.
I’ve never used DoorDash, but this decision made me wish I’d signed up just so I could dramatically cancel my account. As a D.C. resident, I don’t have much power to do anything else.
Congress already exercises sweeping authority over the district. Under the 1973 Home Rule Act, it can block laws passed by the D.C. Council during a review period through a joint resolution. Even after that period ends, Congress can still overturn local laws through ordinary legislation or — more commonly — by attaching riders to must-pass appropriations bills.
Over the years, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly used that power to block policies supported by D.C. voters, including needle-exchange programs during the AIDS crisis, medical marijuana and funding for abortions for low-income women. Congress has even barred D.C. from using its own funds to lobby for statehood.
(To be fair, former President Barack Obama agreed to restrictions on D.C. abortion funding during budget negotiations,
by Sydney Carruth | Jul 25, 2026 | Business, Iran, News, White House
As his new tariffs went into effect and gas prices climbed on Saturday, President Donald Trump said he’s not ruling out a full-scale war.
In a phone interview with French journalist Sonia Dridi, Trump said he’s “absolutely” considering resuming full-scale war with Iran if the U.S. doesn’t “get 100% of what we want.”
The president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday the U.S. is “talking” to Iran, adding that he believes Iran is “getting more and more serious as the days go by” but “that doesn’t mean we get there.” Friday night was the first in 13 consecutive nights that the U.S. did not strike Iran.
The national average gas price rose slightly Saturday to $4.11 a gallon as Trump’s newly imposed tariffs on goods from more than 80 countries threatened to heap further financial strain on Americans ahead of the midterms. The reporter said when she asked Trump whether he would follow through with his threat to levy “substantial” new tariffs on the European Union, which he has accused of “robbing” American tech companies, he declined to comment.
The tariffs, which took effect Friday and have already been challenged in court, could cost American households an extra $1,100 annually, according to an analysis by The Budget Lab at Yale University. That comes at a time when consumers are already shelling out more for necessities, including gas and groceries, as the Iran war drives inflation and energy prices upward.
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Politico: 46% say high gas prices will impact their vote
July 24, 2026 / 06:43
Gas price averages in the United States surpassed $4 a gallon on July 20 for the first time in more
by Zeeshan Aleem | Jul 24, 2026 | Business, Opinion, White House, World
The Strait of Hormuz remains at a virtual standstill because of President Donald Trump’s foolish war, and now, in what represents a new global energy price nightmare, Houthi militants in Yemen have begun to block a separate corridor that is critical for global oil shipping. On Thursday, oil surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May in response to the news that the war with Iran is on the brink of expanding to a new front. And Trump’s promise to bomb the Houthis should they continue is unlikely to improve the situation.
Those Houthi militants, who are allied with and supported by Iran, announced Monday that they would were enacting a blockade in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis said their blockade is retaliation for airstrikes against a Yemeni airport intended to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing. (Yemen’s Saudi-backed government claimed credit for the attack.) On Thursday, the Houthis said they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers and successfully warned 10 more to turn back. (Saudi Arabia’s official news agency confirmed at least one tanker was hit.)
Should the Houthis continue to attack ships, Trump ought to be concerned; his record fighting the scrappy militia is not impressive.
The Houthis’ blockade is a huge deal. Before the Iran war, about a fifth of the world’s oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Now it’s effectively closed. Saudi Arabia, which had transported the bulk of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, started moving oil west through a pipeline. From there, Saudi Arabia was sending its oil out through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea
by Ja'han Jones | Jul 18, 2026 | Business, Opinion, White House
A dozen states are suing to thwart a merger that would give Paramount Skydance executives ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery – and effectively give outsize media control to the pro-MAGA Ellison family.
On Friday, a judge heard arguments as the case kicked off, with Variety reporting that the judge “suggested at one point that Paramount had conceded that it will not suffer harm if a temporary restraining order is granted, which would put the merger on hold for up to 28 days.”
Paramount has been central to President Donald Trump’s authoritarian visions of wielding media control. And that’s necessary context for any potential approval of this merger.
Paramount agreed to pay $16 million last year to settle a bogus lawsuit Trump filed over a “60 Minutes” interview involving his 2024 presidential opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount platforms have been used to promote the president’s cryptocurrency ventures, and Trump has boasted about MAGA-friendly changes instituted at CBS after his administration approved the Paramount-Skydance merger.
In addition, the overtly pro-Trump chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr — who authored a chapter in the far-right playbook Project 2025 — has even depicted Paramount-Skydance’s control of CBS as one of Trump’s “wins” over the media.
Trump even seemed to allude to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger last weekend, when he snapped at CNN’s Jake Tapper: “We’re trying to have CNN go on a normal path. And we’ll do that.”(CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)
From the proposed merger’s likely negative impacts on quality and competitiveness in the media to its brazen usefulness to a corrupt administration, there’s plenty not to like about the deal. And the ethics, or lack
by Akayla Gardner | Jul 17, 2026 | Business, News, White House
Trump Media & Technology Group, a company owned by President Donald Trump, is offering Wall Street firms access to a new speciality service that rapidly delivers and curates market-moving posts from the president’s preferred social media platform.
Truth Social, which launched in 2022, has become the platform where the president offers high-impact statements and announces major decisions. Among those statements, Trump has frequently unveiled changes to U.S. tariff policy; discussed meetings with world leaders, like Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin; and, in recent months, provided updates on the ongoing war with Iran.
The service, announced Thursday, has been dubbed “Truth API.” An API, or application programming interface, allows software applications to communicate with each other.
“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” said Kevin McGurn, interim chief executive offer of TMTG, in a statement. “As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.”
Trump is the majority stakeholder of Trump Media, which positions him to profit from the company’s new revenue stream. The White House has said that while he is in office, Trump’s assets are held in a trust that is managed by his children.
While the company says the new service will include posts from high-ranking accounts, Truth Social is mostly an echo chamber for the president, his allies and his supporters. Aside from Trump’s own profile, other accounts rarely produce impactful news or information. That raises questions about whether the president will weigh how the service could benefit him financially when he posts on the platform.
The White House and TMTG did not respond to MS
by Ja'han Jones | Jul 8, 2026 | Business, Opinion, White House
A public hearing began this week as the Trump administration looks to reinstate one of the most widely hated policies of the president’s second term.
Democratic officials are calling the whole thing a sham. And for good reason.
Tuesday marked the opening of a three-day hearing at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the administration’s proposal to hit dozens of countries with new tariffs on grounds that these countries have failed to combat forced labor. The Trump administration adopted this approach after the archconservative Supreme Court overruled its previous rationale for tariffs.
The administration outlined its newly proposed tariffs in a report last month, accusing numerous countries of hurting American workers by inadequately fighting the scourge of forced labor. Several of these countries and the European Union have denied the claims.
As I explained at the time, there’s ample reason to question the administration’s true commitment to stemming the crisis of forced labor and human trafficking — in part because of the whole Epstein files thing, as well as the fact that many federal programs that fight forced labor and human trafficking have been gutted in President Donald Trump’s second term.
In other words, these new tariffs seem like a ploy to restore Trump’s old tariffs, which polling showed Americans broadly detested and said had cost them money.
On Monday, 22 Democratic state attorneys general submitted a public comment to Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, that all but assures the tariffs will face a legal challenge if the Trump administration tries to impose them. The officials — including AGs from New York, California, Arizona and Michigan — said the tariffs unlawfully use “sham” unfair
