An apparently deeply troubled man with finger on the trigger: DOD Secretary "Hegseth’s 'paranoia' about Army Secretary Dan Driscoll taking his job fueled the firing of the Army’s top general....'driven by the insecurity and paranoia that Pete has developed'" nypost.com/2026/04/03/u...

Trump’s ‘Stone Ages’ threat against Iran harks back to a notorious Vietnam War declaration [by Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who] "inspired the characters of Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) and Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) in... Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Some kind of Freudian slip, or another indicator of cognitive problems? "Trump warned that 'hell will reign down' on Iran" That's rain, I think. Reign is to hold royal office www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

For most Christians "the misappropriation, distortion and weaponisation of faith to justify death and destruction, sow divisions, excuse war crimes and bomb Iran 'back to the stone ages' is deeply saddening" Leaders should be "voluble...anti-war, pro-justice" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Making military theocratic: DOD leader Hegseth’s Pentagon held a Protestant-only Good Friday service at its in-house chapel...no Catholic Mass scheduled" excluding "Catholic service for the first time". Employee: "I guess so the Catholics know their kind ain’t welcome" www.yahoo.com/news/article...

DHS-ICE: Making of a Paramilitary Force "hiring and training system that would produce the most psychologically volatile, constitutionally illiterate federal law enforcement officers possible...would look almost exactly like what the DHS is building today" steadystate1.substack.com/p/dhs-ice-th...

Going Deeper: Trump’s Corrupt Pardons, Cash, and Favors "Trump’s pardons, favors, and payments are personal. They are tawdry, corrupt, transactional exercises in raw power. He does it because he can, and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it" www.adamkinzinger.com/p/going-deep...

Former cultist "MAGA gave...purpose, belonging, and community...came with a shared grievance and a shared enemy. Outrage...was central....movement rewarded intensity, conformity, and total allegiance" Rage provided "energy, clarity, and a rush of purpose" steadystate1.substack.com/p/icymi-leav...

Why Autocrats Need Bunkers "putting your name on everything is also what dictators do.... the leader must be omnipotent and omnipresent" But when they feel power slipping away, they fear "people hating them, turning against them, conspiring to take them down" lucid.substack.com/p/why-autocr...

Trump's Venezuela attack: When autocrats start wars to consolidate their power, follow-up is "incoherent" In Venezuela: "no transition framework...election timeline...fragmented opposition...consolidating regime", 100s imprisoned" oil money going to Trump steadystate1.substack.com/p/from-carac...

History shows that military disasters occurred when leaders "had this atavistic, anachronistic belief that warfare is all about muscles" not minds, and "they are just generally anti-intellectual, anti-education" Sounds like Trump, Hegseth et al? paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-psycho...

Fixing democracy post-Trump: "not theater, not spectacle, but methodical, principled, relentless work" because "country where the rules only apply to some people is not a country. It’s a racket" To stop cynicism that causes, we need to hold powerful accountable www.adamkinzinger.com/p/day-one-ho...

"Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 Jan 6 defendants in a single executive order. No background checks...risk assessments... individualized review" leading to "pipeline of harm running straight through American communities" He's "what the founders warned us about" dekleptocracy.substack.com/p/how-blanke...

Summary of "Russia interference campaign and...Trump’s long relationship with the Soviet Union in the 1980s...Russia... since", starting with Trump's newspaper ad in 1987 which "strongly attacked U.S. foreign policy" and "parroted then Soviet disinformation" steadystate1.substack.com/p/robert-mue...

NATO 2019 summary of goals of Russian active measures against US predicted Trump, said to be a Russian asset by ex-KGB agents actions "top of Putin’s wishlist is destroying NATO and now his big dog, Trump, is attacking NATO" while "giving shout outs to Putin" www.bettedangerous.com/p/the-show-m...

Advocating violence against political protesters, acting DHS general counsel, now deputy commissioner of CBP, on LA protest: "They should have...just started hitting the rioters and arresting everyone that couldn’t get away" www.latimes.com/politics/sto...

👇👇

'Senior Army officers reacted with anger...to the news of General George’s dismissal' The reason for the dismissal? Gen. Randy George disagreed with Hegseth blocking the promotions of 2 women and 2 black Army officers. Arguably the more consequential firing today. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

Be all that you can be? Not with racists and sexists in charge "Hegseth has also clashed... with General George and Mr. Driscoll over the defense secretary’s decision to block the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals" 2 Black and 2 women www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

Today's purging of Gen George, Gen Hodne & MG Green Jr. as "woke" holdovers is political theater, not NatSec. By replacing seasoned leaders with loyalists mid-conflict, the admin signals a shift toward a protracted, ideological war with Iran that prioritizes partisan purity over a swift resolution.

Another step in Trump & Hegseth’s relentless effort to politicize the military. By the time this stuff gets the attention it deserves it will be too late. But I will keep talking and writing about it.

[Trump regime loses in court again] Judge Blocks Deportation of Man Who Was Detained by ICE After Exoneration- set to be freed after his murder conviction was overturned.... ruling that he could remain in the United States is a blow to...Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

The Unraveling of the Justice Department- Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion. “Our job wasn’t to engage in fact-finding investigations; our job was to find the facts that would fit the narrative.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

"The death of a nearly blind refugee from Myanmar who was found on a Buffalo, N.Y., street in February — five days after U.S. Border Patrol agents left him outside a Tim Hortons — has been ruled a homicide" So who could have killed him, other than Border Patrol? www.cbc.ca/news/world/u...

Can states still regulate medical practice? SCOTUS said conversion therapy is "free speech" and can't be regulated, even though plaintiff not required to show evidence it works, and there is "almost no" data supporting its effectiveness or safety" www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/01/o...

Trying to make him look normal "WH appeared to delete video...online from an Easter event where...Trump mused about being king, insulted European leaders, encouraged Charlie Kirk’s widow to sue her critics and was compared to Jesus by his spiritual adviser" www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

For Hegseth, "Iran war is ...a cosmic showdown between good and evil, where bullets are instruments of divine will, and fallen foes are condemned to eternal hellfire" undermining separation of Church and state, alienating non-Christians, supercharging conflict www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

[Resistance broadens] Suburbanites embrace anti-Trump resistance before No Kings protests, saying, ‘This is our fight’ "roughly two-thirds of more than 3,000 planned demonstrations will be held outside urban areas" apnews.com/article/dona...

Some Declaration of Independence Charges Against King George Apply to...Trump "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures...protecting them … from punishment for any Murders which they should commit" washingtonmonthly.com/2026/03/31/d...

Trump Lifts Sanctions on Russian Ship "Trump using US policy to hand Putin exactly what he wants.... continues to govern as if Russia’s interests are a priority, delivering Moscow win after win...treating America’s allies like the enemy" olgalautman.substack.com/p/trump-lift...

US directs embassies to team up against foreign ‘hostility’ – and use X to ‘counter anti-American propaganda’ -suggests staff work with Pentagon psychological operations unit [extending pro-Trump propaganda viaUS government sources using far-right social media] www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Right-wing media are calling for ICE to “surround the polls” [but] "agents at polling stations...could intimidate voters into staying away and have a 'chilling effect' on elections due to ICE’s history of racial profiling and harassing and detaining US citizens" www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-...

Never forget.

Trumps kids are being pulled into all sorts of schemes on the assumption that the government will provide favorable treatment, which could be loans or regulatory treatment. Jr is also an advisor for both Kalshi and Polymarket which are barely being regulated open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

One thing that amazes me is that two of the three American astronauts on board Artemis II graduated from public universities: Christina Koch earned three degrees from NC State, and Victor Glover was a defensive back on the Cal Poly football team. We are not going anywhere without public education.

oh so there *were* sexual predators at the border, they were just going the other direction

Do they all have...sexual issues? "The national chief of the Border Patrol, Michael Banks, was known among colleagues for taking regular trips abroad to engage in sex with prostitutes, according to six current and former Border Patrol employees" www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investi...

Trump pardoned Jan 6 insurrectionists. Critics warned that this "would embolden the rioters by signaling that crime has no consequences" It seems likely that "people who commit a violent act and are absolved of any punishment might become repeat offenders" www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/o...

DOD Secretary Hegseth nullified "Army investigation into the unauthorized helicopter flybys of...Kid Rock’s estate and anti-Trump protests" licensing soldiers to freelance as Trump propagandists, generating moral injury for those who object on ethical grounds? www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

[Once again sounding like a Russian asset, as ex-KGB officers have alleged he is] Trump says he is ‘absolutely’ considering withdrawing US from Nato [Demolishing NATO has been a Russian goal since it lead the Soviet Union] www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Spotted in Fort Lauderdale: "TX Sen Ted Cruz...seen at a Spring Break hotspot after members of Congress were sent on recess amid the ongoing government shutdown" At least he didn't flee the country to Mexico this time www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Too crazy for even Truth Social: Gregg Phillips, who leads the FEMA Office of Response and Recovery under Trump, complained that Truth Social wouldn't let him post about being teleported to a Waffle House www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Trump regime seems to specialize in war crimes? "US military’s decision to move troops away from bases under Iranian attack to hotels and office spaces in civilian areas may amount to violations of international humanitarian law and the US military’s own laws of war" www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/u...

Robert De Niro says it out loud: “When the crowds are cheering ‘No Kings,’ what I’m really hearing is, as we all know, is ‘No Trump’…He must be stopped—and he must be stopped now…It’s time to say no to Donald Trump. We’ve had enough.” www.americaamerica.news/p/the-necess...

Note: how Twitter and FB got started “Two Russian state institutions with close ties to...Putin funded substantial stakes in Twitter and Facebook through an investor who later acquired an interest in a Jared Kushnerventure", ie "technology magnate, Yuri Milner" www.bettedangerous.com/p/crime-pays...

Trump rejected Ukraine’s cheap battle tested interceptors "is reportedly even blocking Ukraine from selling them to our allies in the Gulf, where Iran is targeting US servicemen and women" So his sons can "buy the same interceptor technology and resell it?" dekleptocracy.substack.com/p/the-1000-d...

Trump "will bomb Iran, Venezuela, Yemen...pick fights with Canada and Denmark and Australia...will not say one hard word about...Putin under any circumstances. Not when Russia helps Iran target our troops...undermines our own foreign policy....Why?" www.adamkinzinger.com/p/words-are-...

[Reminder: It was no hoax] Hackers, Bots, Trolls, and Things- Over the last few weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, evidence of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign finally surfaced--but it was buried repeatedly by Trump and Russian active measures. craigunger.substack.com/p/hackers-bo...

Return of Long-Ago Debunked Claims that WiFi Radiation Causes Health Problems "from Children’s Defense... founded by...RFK Jr.... known for its anti-vaccine advocacy...falsely claiming that wireless radiation has caused health problems for 26M" www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/rfk-jr-gro...

The fact that Trump is going to oral arguments to pressure the justices to acquiesce to his attempted nullification of a constitutional amendment and create a stateless class for the first time since the civil war, illustrates what is really at the core of the Trump project and it isn’t tariffs.