Articles & Videos

The space giant is yet to turn a profit, but its revenues have grown exponentially.

Trump insisted the Strait of Hormuz will reopen toll-free on Friday, but many stakeholders remain cautious.

“What exactly is wrong with the wealthy?” law professor John O. McGinnis asks in Why Democracy Needs The Rich. McGinnis thinks the 1 percent have been unfairly maligned by leftists like Bernie Sanders, and are in need of a vigorous defense. The rich, he says, are productive and useful members of society. If we redistribute their wealth, we only impoverish ourselves. Even those of us who will never be rich ourselves benefit from the presence of oligarchs.

Free press advocate Craig Aaron explains the stakes of billionaire-owned Paramount potentially acquiring Warner Bros.

The Republican Party is gung-ho for the second coming of former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, though this time, reaching similar terms will come at a tremendous cost to American taxpayers.In spite of the GOP’s well-worn insistence on federal frugality, some conservative lawmakers are suddenly in favor of the Trump administration’s reported plan to provide hundreds of billions in reconstructive aid to Iran. In an interview with Fox News Monday, Florida Representative Brian Mast defended the expense on the basis that “we destroyed so much.”“OK, maybe they do end up getting $20 billion, let’s say—we’re still $300 to $500 billion ahead considering we destroyed their Navy, destroyed their Air Force, destroyed all those nuclear facilities I already spoke about, their steel manufacturing, their drone manufacturing,” Mast said.“We destroyed all that, and closed their ports,” he added. “We’re pretty far ahead.”Rep. Brian Mast: "Ok, maybe they do end up getting $20 billion, let's say. Let's say we're still $300 to $500 billion ahead considering we destroyed their navy, destroyed their air force ... "(So American taxpayers paid both to bomb Iran and then for Iran's reconstruction ... ) pic.twitter.com/kYNSNs4zhu— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 15, 2026The White House and Tehran have already signed a peace deal, though the exact specifications of the agreement have not yet been revealed (and are still being hashed out). The final draft reportedly proposes the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under Iran’s direction, a commitment from the U.S. not to interfere in Iranian affairs, and a reiteration of Iran’s commitment not to produce nuclear weapons, echoing language included in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, according to a senior Iranian official who spoke with Reuters.The most contentious point of the plan, however, is a reported $300 billion reconstruction fund, as well as billions more in unfrozen Iranian assets and forfeited sanctions—all of which will be bankrolled by U.S. taxpayers.That’s nearly 160 percent of the financial investment that the U.S. has put into Ukraine since Russia attacked it in 2022. That sum hovers around $188 billion, according to the U.S. special inspector general for Operation Atlantic Resolve.

As Americans struggle to afford basic necessities, the country’s billionaire class is flaunting its wealth — and acting shocked by the populist backlash.

President Jimmy Carter putting his peanut farm in a trust to avoid a conflict of interest feels like a long time ago.Financial disclosures submitted to the Office of Government Ethics and dissected by CBS News show that accounts owned by President Donald Trump made 3,642 stock trades from January to March this year.Trump and Israel began a war in Iran during this period. There was civil unrest too, as two American citizens were killed on the street and others died in custody during Trump’s violent immigration crackdown. Many of Trump’s trades coincided with White House policy directives and Trump making public statements about the companies.While the monetary value of the trades depend on how each stock is valued now and in the future, CBS puts the minimum valuation of Trump’s trades at $212 million and the maximum at a whopping $695 million. The disclosures show that Trump’s favorite place to buy and sell stocks is the technology sector, followed by exchange-traded funds and the industrial industry. Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Netflix, Advanced Micro Devices, and Oracle were Trump’s most traded stocks.Politicians trading stocks while in office has been a questionable practice for a long time. Conflicts of interest can easily arise, as politicians can profit by supporting legislation that benefits their investments. The American people, for one, are clear in their opinion: 86 percent think politicians should be banned from trading stocks while in office. Online tools tracking politicians’ trades have also become popular.The most powerful person in the nation trading at such a massive scale presents even more opportunity for corruption. An investment professional told CBS he had “never seen a strategy out there that would warrant that amount of trading.” Another expert said the trading looked to be an attempt to lower Trump’s tax bill. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for an investigation into “potential insider trading” by the president, in response to the disclosures.Trump verbally supported a congressional stock trading ban in February and bashed high-profile Democrats who trade stocks, such as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. But presumably the president thinks he himself should still get to trade as much as he wants.Such insider trading scandals could plague the president once he departs office. Even before then, Democrats could embrace a stronger anti-corruption stance and open investigations into some of his shady dealings if they can snag congressional majorities in November.

May Day, 2024, was a day of celebration for over 3,500 graduate student research and teaching assistants at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn): we had just won our National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election in a landslide and formed the largest new private sector union in Philadelphia in over half a century. By October, we [...]