Épisodes

  • The White House Betrays Ukraine
    Oct 21 2026

    October 20, 2026

    Elon Musk ordered SpaceX to slow down its Starlink service in Ukraine, It is unclear if Musk operated with or without input from White House officials, The slowdown caused a public uproar, whereupon representatives from SpaceX and the White House coordinated their messaging, Musk’s decision to take it upon himself to reverse US foreign policy for the benefit of Vladimir Putin is reminiscent of Revolutionary War general Benedict Arnold’s betrayal, The White House was happy to endorse Musk’s decision until it blew up in their faces, Venezuelan billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini, who wanted, and received, a pardon from Trump, had hired former Trump lawyer Alina Habba, for a reported $50 million, Trump is considering restoring the press briefing room to its original form as a swimming pool, Trump is attempting to shore up support from farmers by promising $8 billion in aid, but the fund that he plans to use for payments doesn’t have sufficient funds, After a call with Ukraine president Zelensky, Rep Jim Himes is pressing Congress to pass veto-proof legislation that will provide assistance to Ukraine, saying that “[W]e’re going to act as a Congress and override this president’s desire to see Vladimir Putin win."

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    11 min
  • Two Observations
    Oct 20 2026

    October 19, 2026

    Ten years ago, Hillary Clinton, who was running for president against Donald Trump, warned that Vladimir Putin hoped to have a “puppet” in the White House, and that Trump was that puppet, Trump protested, but ten years later he is openly embracing Putin and working to destroy the strongest and most successful alliance in human history, Meanwhile, support for Republicans has fallen to historic lows, Tariffs, the war in Iran, soaring costs of gasoline and diesel, and blatant corruption have meant that firm Republican districts are now up for grabs, Republicans are refusing to hold town halls or debate their Democratic challengers, In Texas, Kansas, North Carolina and South Carolina, and Maine, Republican candidates are being revealed as extremely weak, The Republican Party acts like a dying party that is no longer bothering to compete and is facing a rising one whose candidates are ready and willing to work, It is not unlike the 1850s, when the Democrats were so confident that they assumed they were entitled to their seats, The Democrats were trounced by the Republicans, who would dominate the political system for the next 70 years.

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    9 min
  • Things Have Changed
    Oct 19 2026

    October 18, 2026

    Putin has proposed a meeting with Trump and Xi Jinping to decide the fate of Ukraine, Such a summit would formally acknowledge that the US has broken from Europe and allied with Russia, In just over a week, Trump has lifted sanctions on the sale of Russian oil, i which will send desperately needed money to fund Russia’s war on Ukraine, Additional sanctions that Congress demanded in a recent law named for Lindsey Graham were waived just before they were to go into effect, Outrage over Trump’s actions has come from across the political spectrum, In response, Trump posted a screed on social media suggesting that Ukraine was to blame for the high costs of diesel, and claiming that Ukrainian president Zelensky doesn’t want to end the war, Tom Nichols wrote that a world in which the US was allied with the Kremlin was the “stuff of paranoid fiction…” The Framers of the Constitution thought they had designed a system that would prevent the rise of a tyrant, The Framers didn’t anticipate that senators would put party over country and stand aside as a president captured its prerogatives, And yet, here we are.

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    9 min
  • No Kings: Vote Early
    Oct 19 2026

    October 17, 2026

    People around the US and the world gathered at more than 3,000 No Kings:Vote Early events, Events were designed to encourage people to vote early, Republican dominated state legislatures have restricted access to the vote since 2020, Since the 2024 election, 22 states have passed laws that make voting more difficult, Just at the height of the pre-voting events, Meta took down the No Kings organizing page on Instagram for about 4 hours, Meta claimed the issue was technical, but a report out of Brazil claims that in internal communications, Meta employees acknowledged that the company had restricted the Instagram accounts of Brazilian president Lula da Silva during the country’s recent election while recommending accounts related to his challenger, No Kings organizer Ezra Levin said the shutdown will not stop early voting, and that “No Kings means no kings in the White House,” he wrote, “or in Silicon Valley.”

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    6 min
  • Making Voices Count
    Oct 17 2026

    October 16, 2026

    Chaos reigns in the Trump administration with the resignation of new pick for WH press secretary after 5 days. Trump has walked back from braodcasting the execution of Nidal Hasan, The debilitation of Ukraine’s military defenses by SpaceX has led a bipartisan group of senators to demand answers from the Department of Defense, Trump claims that neither he nor Elon Musk are responsible, but it appears that they both were in on the decision, Musk has donated $158 million in September to a super PAC backing Ken Paxton, Trump is waiving more sanctions on Russia, defying congressional intent, Trump’s DOJ is demanding that California review a list of people it suspects are not citizens, California will not conduct this review and the administration is suing election officials and threatening election workers, The No Kings events on Saturday will be about boosting voter participation and making sure every eligible voter has a plan and know their options and is ready to make their voice count.

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    11 min
  • Corruption as a Driving Force
    Oct 16 2026

    October 15, 2026

    The idea that when a democratic system is taken over by a single party it quickly becomes corrupt describes what is happening in Trump’s orbit, In the last few days, multiple examples of corruption have emerged, Kimberly Guilfoyle was forced to resign from her post after allegedly trying to extract money from a donor, In response that donor is suing her for defamation, Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba is claiming that Richard Grenell wanted to divert a donation from her husband intended for the Kennedy Center, Paolo Zampolli, appointed by Trump to be a special envoy at the State Department was accused of trying to get custody of his son by asking ICE to deport his son’s mother, and he has now been fired, Trump's new press secretary describes herself as a general counsel, but she appears never to have passed the bar, Rhein Amacher who started the rumor that James Talarico had been hospitalized in Ohio for mental health issues, is backing off that claim, The majority of the funds donated for Trump's ballroom have come from companies and individuals with interests before the federal government, The White House is claiming that conversations about plans to renovate the Kennedy Center are covered by executive privilege and can be kept secret, a dramatic expansion of the concept of executive privilege, All of this corruption is affecting voters, Corruption tops inflation and high prices as their primary concern, Growing numbers of Republicans are backing Democrats in the midterms.

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    15 min
  • Taking Authoritarianism Out For a Spin
    Oct 15 2026

    October 14, 2026

    Ukraine’s military relies on two satellite systems related to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and last night SpaceX restricted speed limits, debilitating Ukraine’s drones even as Russian forces launched strikes against the country’s infrastructure, President Zelensky noted that Russia’s strike, one of the largest attacks of the war, was deliberate and demonstrative, SpaceX is a defense contractor for the US givernment, SpaceX’s undermining of Ukraine supports Trump’s effort to help Putin fund his attacks on Ukraine, There was an outcry about the failing communications service that left Ukraine vulnerable to Russian attacks, Musk blamed Trump, The White House claimed it had no control over SpaceX, blaming Musk, The Pentagon is required to inform Congress if it pauses or downgrades intelligence sharing with Ukraine, but it has not, Trump asked European countries to thaw Russian assets and transfer them to a vehicle controlled by the US, a request they declined, The administration appears to be looking for a way to strip Rep Ilhan Omar of her US citizenship, Numbers from the BLS show inflation at 3.7% in September, ahead of August, and much higher than 2024, Trump is courting foreign actors to invest in his meme coin, US District Court Judge Kelly, ruled that Trump cannot bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, noting that both free speech and due process are protected by the Bill of Rights. The Justice Department plans to appeal.

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    15 min
  • Desperate for Distraction
    Oct 14 2026

    October 13, 2026

    The attacks on James Talarico were likely an attempt to get ahead of another damaging story about Ken Paxton, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paxton spent New Year’s Eve in Dubai partying along with two fugitives from US Justice, While the administration claims to be cracking down on fraud in the SNAP program, criminal syndicates are stealing millions of dollars from more than 990,000 households, a theft that could be stopped with digital microchips but Congress and the Trump administration are not addressing the theft, Diesel prices have jumped in spite of Trump’s move to lift sanctions on Russia, A bipartisan group of senators is pushing back on the lifting of sanctions, Zelensky said Ukraine got no warning about Russia’s strike, raising concerns that Trump is not sharing intelligence with Ukraine, Trump’s new WH press secretary debuted, apparently having been appointed over the objections of Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, After being asked by the administration to resign after her shakedown of a donor was revealed, Kimberly Guilfoyle stepped down, Almost 6 in 10 Americans say they believe Trump is either illegally profiting from the presidency or doing something unethical but not illegal.

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    9 min