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It is a cruel irony that their misguided belief led them to support a man, and a regime, who genuinely does give cause for exactly those feelings.

More ironic still is how, after fully a decade of insisting that the Left makes everything about race, did their President do EXACTLY the same thing… except he made everything racist.

As defined by the Trump regime, whiteness is a sick combination of sadism, bastardization, and mediocrity. They seem to insist, even as they prioritize whiteness in nearly every policy they make, rob the country blind, and betray the country’s allies and their own voters, that white people are still the biggest victims… as long as you agree with everything they say.

In making themselves both sides of the conversation, they shut everyone else out of their own little world. The vast majority of Americans simply don’t have a federal government anymore. We’re not even part of the conversation.

While they weave fairy tales of restoring American values and ridding the world of “woke,” they spend their time blatantly basking in the seven deadly sins, before our eyes, on a daily basis. They insist anyone bold enough to identify their hypocrisy, out loud with their mouth, is an enemy of the regime (and sometimes the country).

Trump and his second administration have made whiteness feel gross. They stand as the American representation of what they want whiteness to be, and what have they shown us?

Entitlement. Corruption. Delusion.

Chaos.

The bottom ninety percent [90%] of our country suffers what they must so the top 0.001% can fund a life so far removed from normal human experience, they no longer feel themselves even to be part of humanity.

My anger comes from the stupidity of it all.

“When a society can no longer distinguish between truth and lies, it loses the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.”

- Hannah Arendt

I’m a regular white person in America. My eyes are blue; My hair went from blonde to light brown over the years, but this skin has bubbled and blistered many times from the sheer lack of melanin.

I can trace six generations in this country, at least. Ancestry.com is trippy, that’s for sure, but it’s the best glimpse I’ll ever get into my family history because (frankly) families in poverty don’t keep great records, in my experience.

My blood is Scottish, Irish, and Choctaw. I’m a sovereign member of an indigenous nation that outdates this country… but besides that, the vast and overwhelming majority of my bloodline had white skin, and so do I.

None of them were ever able to build up wealth. None of them passed on especially rich traditions. Many of the men died in wars, many of the children died young.

My family is huge.

My Nana and Papa, on one side of my family, both have 10 siblings each. I have more cousins than I can name…. But what I can testify to is what I saw with my own eyes; The lifestyle, history, and testimony of my own family members, up through my great-grandparents… all of them American, all of them white.

They instilled beautiful values in me. They were honest and hardworking. They believed in freedom, chivalry, fair-dealings and helping one’s neighbor. Family was everything, and they never raised their noses to a soul around them.

They were also deeply uneducated. Their parenting knowledge was outdated, and often harmful. They struggled with addiction, emotional unintelligence, and a lifelong lack of resources.

Abuse has been present in some branch of every single generation of every single side of my family, from verbal to emotional, physical to sexual, neglect to adultery and beyond.

All of them American. All of them white.

And still, despite all that, I was never ashamed of my whiteness. Because I **ALSO** watched my Papa hitch a chain to the tail of his truck to pull a brown man’s car to the gas station so he wouldn’t have to push it there, neither one of them speaking the other’s language. And because despite their upbringings, nobody in my extended family ever discouraged me (or seemed bothered one bit) from my having a black best friend; If anything, they applauded it.

They always taught me to define myself by how I treat other people, and how well I keep my word.

They may have had biases they didn’t examine in time. They may have allowed themselves to be manipulated into voting for policies they will come to regret.

But they were the people who raised me to believe that we are all created equal.

I am angry with my family for not believing me. I will never understand why I was their first phone call for building their resumé, or writing an important letter, but so immediately dismissed when I spoke of politics. Even as they gushed with pride about how smart I was, cheered with pride at my college graduation and gushed about how I wrote so well and was such a nerd… Still, I felt them grow more and more unaccepting of any views outside of their own. I could not convince them to lend the same consideration to my knowledge that they gave to the influencers and commentators on their screens.

And when the time finally came, when I told them this country could truly be in danger… even them… they could not, or would not, hear me.

They will learn soon enough (if they haven’t already) that nothing about this jives with their values. But what I’m describing is a relational wound, not a political one; I’m hurt that my loved ones didn’t trust me with this topic, or even give it the time of day, the same way they trust me with others… But I’m not angry with people who voted for Donald Trump, as a whole.

Normal Americans are so stunningly and remarkably outmatched by the sheer resources of powerful entities who want to manipulate our minds:

• Algorithms that reward divisive content

• Elimination of shared reality

• Fox still being allowed to call itself “news”

• Manipulation of video traffic to slow the spread of certain ideas

• Shadow banning

• Ad-driven model allowing the rich to buy influence normal people can’t afford

• Citizens United making political donations dark and muddier

I cannot find anger in my heart for people who were fooled by incredibly powerful entities who wanted to fool them. In a teeny, tiny way, they are victims themselves. As people of color have been screaming from the rooftops for decades, white supremacy ultimately hurts white people too.

It convinces the white people who are easily fooled, narcissistic, or lacking in resources and education to direct their (otherwise justified) anger at a distraction, rather than at the people who could actually affect real change in their lives.

Racism was invented.

It’s a great way to trick people into believing that, at the very least, they have it better than some other people. It’s an easier enemy than the societal structures keeping us boxed in this way of life that has us sick, depressed, overworked, dying earlier, and falling behind other developed countries.

I know damn well there was, is, and will be racist views somewhere in my family line, maybe forever. But my own little story is the exception; My parents made damn sure I got an education, and that was my ticket out… and I also had a black best friend growing up, and tons of black and brown friends in general. I’ve come to understand that my views on race are rare within white communities.

But many, many, MANY branches of my extended family continued the traditions that stem back as far as I’ve been able to see on ancestry.com. More addiction. More poverty and food stamps, unfinished schooling and early pregnancies. Boatloads of abuse and neglect, speckled with divorces and deaths.

I say all this to ask… what about whiteness should I be proud of?

My soul is trying to accept that the USA has entered an era of surplus suffering because a huge swath of white people (and American society, as a whole) must once again answer that question laid before us some 165 years ago; It’s a question we forced ourselves to answer with blood, and war, and broken families and massive economic cost the first time around, so I can’t help but express some disappointment that we face the debate yet again…

Are We The People all created equal?

It is not a question for me. I will never be able to convince myself of something I don’t know to be true, never mind that my whiteness does not protect me in a world where powerful figures deny our equality.

I have lived in these United States with my white skin for 35 years. I was raised by white people, taught by white people and I have a lot of white friends.

But I’ve also been blessed my whole life with rich friendships with people who don’t look like me. I don’t like texting them more frequently because I’m worried about their safety. I don’t appreciate that they might be made to feel like they’re less than, when they’re absolutely not.

It wouldn’t feel like America, to me, without them.

If future society expects white Americans to give up their freedom and values in exchange for a lie that they’re better than people with more melanin, the least they could do is give whiteness some decent qualities.

Because this regime’s definition of whiteness is nothing to be proud of. All bluster and ego, flexing power over the weak and cowering to the strong, hypocritical, selfish and entitled and betraying their own beliefs, making stupid-ass, embarrassing careless mistakes and sinning bigly all the while… and utterly childish when confronted with fact or truth.

Whiteness is ugly in Trump’s America, and it’s not rational to take pride in being ugly.

I worry it’s naive, hoping that answering the question of whether we’re all created equal might be less bloody this time around…

But hope is audacious, and we all must be now.

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Arbella Rodriguez Marquez is a legal resident who has lived here for 25 years. Her friends call her Yari. She's had a green card for two years, and she has no criminal history. Her best friend says she's never had a traffic ticket.

I wrote about Yari back in April to make a written record of just some of the people whose rights have been violated by the masked douchebags. At the time, I felt like it was deeply unjust because two months of detention would cause the loss of one's job, getting evicted...

But here's the thing: that was FIVE MONTHS AGO, she's still not out, and now, she's *actually* in mortal danger. See, Yari has Leukemia and they haven't let her see a specialist. She hasn't gotten the care she needs, and there's no answer on when or if she will be let out.

In July, it was reported she had lost 55 pounds since being detained, and had bruises on her body.

Two days ago, U.S. Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) reported Yari is coughing up blood, can barely walk, and has bruises all over her body.

She's been told that detainees can't drink the water because of the chlorine, they're given used underwear so they're getting UTI's, they report racist and dehumanizing language... And I can't stress this enough, Yari is here legally.

In the last month, two people in Arizona have died in ICE custody... All paid for by American tax dollars.

Call your representatives, especially if they're Republicans, and tell them that if All Lives really do matter, now would be a great time to prove it.

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White House, August 28, 2025:

Every day, my Administration is restoring the dignity of labor and putting the American worker first… This Labor Day, we renew our pledge to protect American jobs and defend the dignity of American labor — and we proudly acknowledge the vital role that our workers play in our past, present, and glorious American future.

In reality, the second Trump administration has shown a level of disdain for American labor that I can only describe as shocking.

That the President genuinely seems to believe he can paint himself as some pro-worker man of the people, while simultaneously gutting our protections and making our lives harder… it’s rather disgusting, at least to me, and remarkably detached from reality.

So, let's walk through all the ways that Trump 2.0 has shat all over labor laws and protections… because the only thing he should be saying on Labor Day to American workers is the truth: “I betrayed you. Deal with it.”

Hiding the History

The entire administration’s inclusion of (and capitulation to) the interests of billionaires and big business shines through, even in their depiction of the history surrounding this holiday. Consider these two records:

History of Labor Day | U.S. Department of Labor

Labor Day 2025: Facts, Meaning & Founding | HISTORY CHANNEL

I copied and pasted both of the above articles into ChatGPT and asked it: How do these two sources tell the story of Labor Day differently?

The full text is here if you're interested, but the LLM summarized it like this:

Department of Labor tells a story of commemoration and honor, focusing on legislation, state adoption, and workers’ positive contributions to national strength.

History.com tells a story of struggle and conflict, connecting the holiday’s creation to industrial exploitation, strikes, and the government’s attempt to pacify labor unrest.

It's hard to understand exactly how workers are supposed to feel seen and understood if the cabinet can't even acknowledge that workers have fought tooth and nail for every right we have.

In This Year Alone

Just shy of eight (8) months into his administration, Donald Trump has made damn clear that workers are on their own:

Minimum Wage

Center for American Progress, August 27, 2025: “The administration has already cut minimum wage protections for hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers and halted plans to require companies to pay disabled workers at least $7.25 per hour; this Labor Day, it will advance plans to eliminate federal minimum wage protections for millions of child care and home care providers.”

Overtime

KHOU Houston News, August 8, 2025: “President Trump’s "no tax on overtime" law is now in effect but many workers are discovering they won’t get the full break they expected.”

Department of Labor - Enforcement Abilities

Economic Policy Institute, June 6, 2025: “In just a few months, the Trump administration has demonstrated its willingness to abandon workers and undermine their wages and working conditions. This includes repeated attacks to the Department of Labor (DOL)—the federal agency that oversees federal wage and hour laws, worker safety, workforce development, and employee benefits protection programs. Anti-worker nominations to key DOL positions—currently under Senate consideration—pose future risk to workers’ rights.”

Occupational Safety & Health Administration

• Employers must provide a workplace free from serious recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

Bloomberg Law, August 25, 2025: “The Trump administration is attacking its own agencies’ regulatory power on at least two fronts by invoking an argument companies raise in anti-government lawsuits. The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected its own authority to regulate greenhouse gases in a bid to loosen emissions standards by pointing to the US Supreme Court’s major questions doctrine. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the doctrine in identifiying a gap in its ability to require employers to provide safe workplaces, in an attempt to ease oversight.”

Equal Employment Opportunity Act

• Protects discrimination in employment process

• Provides a process for addressing violations

• Prohibits retaliation for addressing violations

New York Times, July 31, 2025: “Under Ms. Lucas’s direction, the agency has reversed its traditional enforcement of transgender discrimination claims, dismissing cases it had previously filed on behalf of transgender employees and withholding state funds to process transgender discrimination claims. On Tuesday, legal groups filed a lawsuit against the E.E.O.C., alleging that the agency unlawfully refused to enforce federal workplace protections for transgender employees.”

30 Examples in the First 100 Days

One of the articles I cite most often in my work comes from the New York Times, where they tracked All of the Trump Administration's Major Moves in The First 100 Days.

I've gathered thirty (30) examples from that article, where the Trump administration made moves regarding labor and employment, or moves that affect workers broadly. As you read it, ask yourself how valuable workers should feel:

• Made it easier for the president to fire federal employees — 1/20/2025

• Halted civil rights work — 1/22/2025

• Fired Democratic E.E.O.C. commissioners — 1/27/2025

• Fired N.L.R.B. general counsel and Democratic board member — 1/28/2025

• Blocked enforcement of environmental justice laws — 2/5/2025

• Started firing probationary employees at the Education Department — 2/12/2025

• Laid off dozens at the Office of Personnel Management — 2/13/2025

• Laid off >1,000 at the Department of Veterans Affairs — 2/13/2025

• Fired >2,000 probationary workers at the Interior Department — 2/17/2025

• Fired 243 probationary T.S.A. employees — 2/20/2025

• Laid off ~6,700 I.R.S. employees — 2/20/2025

• Fired another 2,000 U.S.A.I.D. employees — 2/24/2025

• Fired hundreds at N.O.A.A. — 2/27/2025

• Began firing newly hired C.I.A. employees — 3/6/2025

• Fired ~19 at N.A.S.A., including the chief scientist — 3/10/2025

• Eliminated E.P.A. environmental-justice offices — 3/11/2025

• Fired >1,300 Education Department workers — 3/11/2025

• Cut and closed offices at S.A.M.H.S.A. — 3/12/2025

• Abruptly canceled >$12B in state health grants — 3/26/2025

• Announced 25% tariffs on imported cars and parts — 3/26/2025

• Moved to strip labor protections from civil servants — 3/27/2025

• Fired nearly all U.S.-based staff at the Institute of Peace — 3/29/2025

• Said he “couldn’t care less” if tariffs raise car prices — 3/29/2025

• Fired thousands of federal health workers — 4/1/2025

• Fired >100 employees at Fannie Mae — 4/8/2025

• Moved to dismantle AmeriCorps — 4/17/2025

• Made tens of thousands of federal workers easier to fire — 4/18/2025

• Resumed collections on defaulted federal loans, including wage garnishment — 4/21/2025

• Made it easier to fire probationary federal employees — 4/24/2025

• Proposed a budget cutting billions from federal programs — 4/25/2025

On a personal note, I have one more point to make:

The way Trump has treated federal workers this year is/was abusive, disgusting, likely illegal… and tells you everything you need to know about Trump's feelings toward workers. He wanted to reduce government bloat, yada yada, that's fine; He didn't have to kick them on their way out.

He didn't need to let a billionaire asshole torment them publicly. He didn't need to accuse them of being lazy and wasteful. Every single one of those public servants were still constituents of his… to celebrate about their loss of livelihood so publicly, with such glee, is something I'll never be able to forget.

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Acting Against American Values

Some of the worst, most egregious examples of the straight disrespect to workers (and America at large) come from the policies the administration has enacted, and the stances they’ve taken, knowing the vast majority of us want the opposite.

Unions

68% of Americans approve of labor unions (Gallup, Aug 2025).

55% of Americans say labor unions positively affect the country, while 41% say they have a negative impact (Pew Research, Feb 2024).

They did it anyway.

Cutting Food Assistance

Reducing federal funding for food assistance to low-income households (23% support) and spending about $45 billion to build and maintain migrant detention centers (24%) are the least popular provisions of the bill, out of those included in this poll (Ipsos, Jun 2025).

They did it anyway.

Billions for Detention Centers

Reducing federal funding for food assistance to low-income households (23% support) and spending about $45 billion to build and maintain migrant detention centers (24%) are the least popular provisions of the bill, out of those included in this poll (Ipsos, Jun 2025).

They did it anyway.

Tax Policy

Differences in attitudes toward tax cuts hold across partisanship. For example, most Democrats support extending the 2017 tax cuts for individuals with incomes under $100k (71%), while 17% support extending these tax cuts for individuals with incomes above $400k. Republicans (80%, 46%) and independents (72%, 28%) also feel similarly (Ipsos, Jun 2025).

They did it anyway.

It's hard to fathom how Americans will see the President as a representative of the people, if he continues to disregard policies we widely agree on. More on that later.

Investing Against Workers— Literally

The industries that the Trump administration has placed the most public investment in since taking office are (1) AI, which will absolutely replace workers, and (2) detention centers, which seem (to me) like part of a larger plan for a steady supply of sub-minimum wage workers. Neither are friendly to the concepts of humans or labor.

Data Centers

AI is fueling high demand for compute power, spurring companies to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure. But with future demand uncertain, investors will need to make calculated decisions (McKinsey & Company, Apr 2025).

The rising number of data centers being built across the U.S. is expected to drive up electricity bills on average by 8% nationwide through 2030, according to a new analysis from N.C. State University and Carnegie Mellon University (Axios, Aug 2025).

So-called “AI Action Plan”

Fifteen (15) different scholars came together at the Brookings Institution to offer their interpretations and the possible implications of the plan. I STRONGLY encourage reading the full article, but here are some highlights:

Plans to interfere with AI-generated speech are not neutral

The AI Action Plan states a goal of encouraging “freedom of speech” as AI is increasingly used to generate and shape how we communicate. This is an important goal, yet, what follows in the document is instead a plan to interfere with private company design and development decisions about speech by ensuring “…AI procured by the Federal government objectively reflects truth rather than social engineering agendas.”

The action plan adds fuel to the sovereign AI fire

As the leader in AI research, development, and investment, America has a lot to sell. But the AI stack order may make this sell harder. It envisions picking industry consortia that put together “a full-stack technology package”—including compute, data systems, models, and applications—that will be eligible for U.S. government promotion abroad.

AI's role in financial markets

The AI Action Plan does little to address concerns about implementing AI in financial services, particularly credit underwriting.

Gutting the NSF undermines America’s AI strategy before it starts

The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan signals a troubling shift away from safe, accountable AI toward rapid, private-sector-driven deployment. It touts openness, innovation, and American leadership, while simultaneously gutting the very agency it relies on to deliver those goals: the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Trump’s AI Action Plan needs agile governance

Its lack of focus on accountability, ethics, and transparency creates real risks and consequences when it comes to protecting the public from unregulated AI systems, erosion of privacy, algorithm bias, polarization, misinformation, exploitative surveillance, unchecked corporate control over critical technologies, unintended consequences on democratic governance, national security threats, and more.

Detention Centers

American Immigration Council, Jul 2025:

“Altogether, this marks the largest investment in detention and deportation in U.S. history; a policy choice that does nothing to address the systemic failures of our immigration system while inflicting harm, sowing chaos, and tearing families apart.”

Brennan Center for Justice, Jul 2025:

“President Trump’s budget bill will codify much of his immigration agenda, drastically changing the landscape of enforcement and detention. Significantly, the bill funds a giant immigration detention apparatus that would likely be difficult to dismantle under future presidents. This new money comes as the administration is thwarting attempts at congressional oversight of detention conditions — and alongside new levels of cruelty directed at undocumented immigrants.

The legislation makes U.S Immigration and Customs and Enforcement the largest federal law enforcement agency, giving it $45 billion for building new detention centers in addition to $14 billion for deportation operations. It also includes $3.5 billion for reimbursements to state and local governments for costs related to immigration-related enforcement and detention.”

Vera Institute, Jun 2025:

“But this expansion—indeed, immigration detention as a whole—is entirely unnecessary. The federal government’s own data shows that detention does not deter migration, and detention is not necessary to ensure that people appear in court for immigration hearings. As the United States has one of the highest incarceration rates globally, combatting civil immigration detention is inextricably linked with addressing our country’s mass incarceration crisis.”

TOTALLY UNRELATED FUN FACT:

There are 771,480 homeless people in the U.S.

Let's say the average rent is $2000/month, just to make the math easier.

So, the U.S. government could pay the rent of every single homeless person in America for two (2) FULL years, and it would cost them $37 billion.

They chose to do this instead.

Speaking of which…

If He Wanted To, He Would

Here's the most maddening part to me, as an ordinary American worker and voter:

There exist several policies where we WIDELY agree, by a lot, and they would have a HUGE positive effect on workers lives. But this administration hasn't touched them, and they aren't likely to in future:

80 percent of Americans polled by YouGov say new parents should have some form of paid leave, while half think they should get 12 weeks or more (Newsweek, Jan 2025).

Among ordinary Americans, more than 86 percent of both Democrats and Republicans support banning stock trading by members of Congress (The Hill, May 2025).

79% of Americans support raising the minimum age for gun ownership to 21 years (Pew Research, June 2023).

83% of adult U.S. citizens support preventing people with a history of mental illness from owning a gun. 74% of adult U.S. citizens support creating red flag laws that allow a court to temporarily remove guns from people that are believed to pose a danger to themself or others (YouGov, Oct 2023).

Partisans agree that health insurance companies have too much influence on debates about health policy – 71% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats say this, including those who lean to each party (Pew Research, July 2025).

We've watched over and over as Donald Trump tells his party to jump and they ask how high, so why can't he open his mouth for the policies that poll so high for Americans (particularly us workers) that politicians get jealous of their support?

I don't know the man. I can only guess, but I have some theories:

• Sounds like real work

• Requires tough conversations with billionaire buddies

• The left supports it too, and their happiness is unbearable

• Trump dgaf about workers

Could there be, perhaps, some truth in all those options? Only he knows for sure.

Workers Should Tell Trump to Shove His Labor Day Wishes Up His A**

More than 900 “Workers over Billionaires” Labor Day protests are set to take place nationwide tomorrow. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.

Donald Trump’s second administration can dress itself up in pro-worker speeches all day long, but the record is undeniable: he’s spent this year stripping away labor rights, gutting protections, and mocking the very people he claims to champion.

From minimum wage rollbacks to attacks on unions and workplace safety, the pattern is consistent; a government openly serving billionaires while leaving ordinary Americans unprotected. This Labor Day, workers don’t need empty, meaningless words; we need leaders willing to fight for us instead of against us, and until that happens, every one of us should remember the truth:

Trump didn’t honor labor — he betrayed it, and he’s daring us to accept it.

I don’t.

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I'm sure it will be fine… since he's so determined to live in the “hottest” country anyway, he might find Hell to his liking.

If this goes as far as the administration wants it to… would my MAGA family protect me?

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Amazing Articles

We Are Tech Privacy Reporters. Our Music Habits Got Doxxed.

By Mike Isaac and Kashmir Hill - August 24, 2025

WOW was this article fascinating! There’s a 23-year-old engineer who wanted to draw attention to the vast amounts of data that different apps make public, so he scraped the Spotify data of ~50 politicians, company owners, journalists and more (some were not correctly identified; many of the exposed did, however, come forward to confirm their playlists). The findings were harmless, overall; some playlists needed to be made private, and we all learned that JD Vance really likes the Backstreet Boys. But the fact that the engineer chose to name the project the Pentagon Playlists (a fun twist on a real, much larger, more serious leak) gently reminds us all that the amount of information out there, even for tech privacy reporters, is worth taking seriously.

How Trump Used 10 Emergency Declarations to Justify Hundreds of Actions

By Karen Yourish and Charlie Smart - Aug. 22, 2025

THIS. IS. WORTH. READING. Trump has already declared nine national emergencies and even a “crime emergency” in D.C., all in just seven months. That’s more than most presidents manage in four years, and he’s using them as a cheat code to ram through everything from tariffs on dozens of countries to militarizing the border to federalizing D.C.’s police force. If you think this sounds boring or technical, I promise you it’s not… this is how democracy gets gutted in broad daylight. It’s absolutely worth your time to read the full piece, because the New York Times did the receipts work: every single action traced back to these so-called “emergencies.” Don’t skip it.

A Letter to Emmanuel Macron

By Charles Kushner - Aug. 24, 2025 1:36 pm ET

Charles Kushner’s open letter to President Macron in the Wall Street Journal warns that antisemitism is surging in France, accuses French leaders of emboldening extremists by criticizing Israel, and insists that anti-Zionism is simply antisemitism by another name. He points to Trump-era crackdowns and security measures as proof that governments can protect Jewish communities if they act with sufficient will. I believe Kushner’s alarm over rising antisemitism is warranted, but his claim that anti-Zionism automatically equals antisemitism is not a widely accepted fact — many Jewish voices, scholars, and institutions strongly reject that conflation.

Trump Looks to Chicago Next in Federal Crackdown

By Jennifer Calfas - Aug. 23, 2025 1:43 pm ET

From the article: “Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Friday that city leaders haven’t heard from the Trump administration about the possible deployment of federal law enforcement. Johnson pushed back on the president’s comments and said crimes, including homicides, robberies and shootings, have declined in the city over the past year.

“There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,” Johnson said.

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Thought-Provoking Podcasts

Deep Reads: A last lifeline in ‘detention alley’

Post Reports - August 23 2025

Narrative journalism always gets me, because it’s a cross between two of my favorite things; factuality-based reporting, and the real-life humans affected by said reporting. This one was good… hope you enjoy!

Tommy Vietor: Trump's Security State

The Bulwark Podcast - August 22 2025

I probably looked like the world’s biggest nerd when I saw the title of the podcast episode yesterday; I quite like Tommy Vietor, who is normally co-hosting Pod Save America. It was interesting to have the hosts I listen to on a regular basis mix it up like that!

How Openly Partisan Gerrymandering Is Becoming Normalized

The NPR Politics Podcast - August 22 2025

Heavily important topic discussed by balanced, well-informed journalists. NPR Politics Podcast rocks!

Trump pursues control of voting, teases a third term

Left, Right & Center - August 22, 2025

I’ve recommended this podcast before, and I might never stop because I am consistently impressed and refreshed by the civilized, yet provocative debate that covers views from multiple sides.

Is This Martial Law?

Political Gabfest - August 21 2025

This is a podcast I’ve just started listening to! They describe themselves like this: The Gabfest is hosted by Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz. Listen for the debates, stay for the cocktail chatter. The podcast is created by Slate; I’ve found the episodes really insightful!

August 21, 2025 – PBS News Hour full episode

PBS News Hour - August 21 2025

I just love public media, so I'm gonna slide my favorite episode from the week in whenever I can! This episode covers Trump getting out of his civil fraud fine, the DNI slashing her agency's workforce, and Canada's foreign minister discussing tariffs.

No Deal in Alaska | Interview: Tim Mak

The Dispatch Podcast - August 18 2025

Promise, I won’t wax poetic about the Dispatch again! I’ll just say they continue to impress me, and that you’ll probably enjoy this episode!

TikTok Playlists

Worth Watching: 8/17-8/24

This week’s playlist only has 12 videos, but they pack a punch. You’ve got Liz Oyer, explaining how Ghislaine Maxwell ended up with a cushy deal in a minimum security prison, Boston’s mayor giving a rousing response to an unlawful request from the Justice department, and much more. Lots of it is heavy, some of it’s just anecdotal, but none are likely to make you feel like you’ve wasted your time.

Fun & Funny - 8/17-8/24

I kid you not, there’s been some kind of glitch on the TikTok playlists; I must have added a couple dozen videos to this playlist throughout the course of the week, but it only saved 7. I even went back and tried to add them before linking the playlist today, and for reasons passing understanding, NO more videos are allowed on this particular playlist?!? Anyway, I personally think the 7 videos are pretty good, so I hope you like them too.

You know what we say on Sundays:

Kick ass this week, and be kind to your neighbors.

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There’s just one problem: the MAGA movement, of which Johnson himself is now a leader, is openly and repeatedly betraying every single one of those principles.

The 7 Core Principles Johnson Lays Out

1. Individual Freedom - In America, we proclaim the self-evident truths that all of us are created equal and granted by God the same inherent freedoms, such as the natural and unalienable rights to life, liberty, conscience, free speech and the free exercise of religion, and the ability to pursue happiness, own property, build wealth and defend ourselves and our families. The purpose of government is to secure these rights, and the ideas we advance should always aim to maintain and increase the liberty of the American people.

It sounds great on paper, doesn't it? Unfortunately, individual freedoms have most definitely been under attack since Trump returned to office. You've got the administration's wide-ranging crackdown on freedom of speech by targeting student protestors, lawyers and the press. Back at the end of April, Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA stated "One hundred days into his second term, President Trump has led with cruelty and chaos, creating a human rights emergency that has affected millions of people by suppressing dissent, undermining the rule of law, and eroding norms and institutions essential to the protection of human rights."

2. Limited Government - When applied as written, our incomparable Constitution provides important safeguards against government encroachment, a vital separation of powers, and a necessary system of checks and balances. Federalism, decentralized authority, and the elimination of unnecessary regulations and bureaucracy help ensure that government serves the people, and not the other way around. The best protection against government largesse is an engaged and informed electorate.

Now, Mike Johnson is not my Congressman. I don't live in Louisiana, nor am I conservative, so it's not wholly surprising that I disagree with lots of his views. What has always bothered me about Mike Johnson is the sense of betrayal he gives me, as an American citizen.

He has a Juris Doctor degree: He's a literal DOCTOR OF LAW. He was a constitutional lawyer before entering politics.

HE. KNOWS. BETTER. And to have proof that he DOES believe that the separation of powers is vital, while watching him fail to exercise said powers, is painful for freedom-loving citizens to stomach.

3. The Rule of Law - Ours is "a government of laws and not of men," and the rule of law is our foundation. To maintain ordered liberty and a civilized society, public and private virtue should be encouraged and justice must be administered equally and impartially to all. Each branch of government must adhere to the Constitution, and the judicial branch must not be allowed to assume or exercise legislative or executive powers. Transparency and accountability are keys to good government, and Congress must faithfully perform its constitutional responsibility of oversight.

If conservatives really believe this, then WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!?!? Justice is NOT being administered equally! The law is NOT being applied impartially! You know DAMN well that each branch of government is NOT adhering to the Constitution, and seeing the assertion IN WRITING that "Congress must faithfully perform its constitutional responsibility of oversight" is indeed one of your core principles, I find myself asking again... where the hell are you?!?

4. Peace through Strength - We are not “the world’s police force,” but because America serves in a natural role of moral leadership in an increasingly dangerous world, and weakness invites aggression, we must remain the strongest military power on earth—fully prepared and capable of defeating any adversaries, tyrants or terrorists, under any circumstances, at any time. This requires maintaining sufficient investments in our air, land, sea, nuclear, and cyber capabilities to deter foreign aggression, and properly training, equipping, and supporting our troops and their families, as well as our veterans and wounded warriors.

Sure, you've adhered to your belief of fully-funding the strongest war machine there is, but pissing off all our allies and aligning ourselves with the strongmen dictators of the world doesn't sound very peaceful. It was also surprising to hear that America serves in a natural role of moral leadership? That's news to me... it looks a helluva lot like our country has no morals at all; we're denying due process, violating human rights, treating citizens differently based on the color of their skin... the second Trump administration has all but obliterated any claim America may have once had to moral superiority.

5. Fiscal Responsibility - Because government has refused to live within its means, America is facing an unprecedented debt and spending crisis. Federal debt now exceeds $33.5 trillion, and our current fiscal path is unsustainable and dangerous,jeopardizing our nation's economic growth, stability and the security of future generations. Congress has a moral and constitutional duty to resolve the crisis, bring spending under control, balance the federal budget, reform and modernize entitlement programs, eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, pursue continued pro-growth tax reforms and permanent tax reductions, and restore regular order and accountability in the budget and appropriations processes.

NEVER AGAIN. Never again will the Republican party, its MAGA wing, or conservatives in general be able to bitch, whine or moan about the nation's debt. For everything the Trump Tax (OBBBA) takes away from citizens, it *also* piles on trillions more in debt. Y'all showed your asses.

Mike Johnson wrote these principles in 2018 when the debt was $33.5 trillion; Fox Business reported yesterday that it's now topped $37 trillion.

6. Free Markets - We believe competition should be encouraged, and government intervention and regulation should be limited. The people are better qualified to make decisions about their own lives and finances than bureaucrats, and the private sector will outperform the public sector in virtually every scenario. The free enterprise system rewards hard work and self-sacrifice, and is the basis and genius of the American economy.

Mmhhmmm, totally... but then, why isn't Mike Johnson and every member of Congress pushing back on tariffs? Is MAGA pushing back against the Trump administrations' plans to have the United States take an equity stake in Intel, or pointing out to constituents that the President has no business telling a private company who their CEO should be? It's hard to imagine Joe Biden or Barack Obama having done something like this during their tenure without the Freedom Caucus going utterly apesh*t about the looming threat of socialism...

7. Human Dignity - Because all men are created equal and in the image of God, every human life has inestimable dignity and value, and every person should be measured only by the content of their character. A just government protects life, honors marriage and family as the primary institutions of a healthy society, and embraces the vital cultural influences of religion and morality. Public policy should always encourage education and emphasize the virtue of hard work as a pathway out of-poverty, while public assistance programs should be reserved only for those who are truly in need. In America, everyone who plays by the rules should get a fair shot.

We've seen so much hypocrisy from this White House, such blatant cruelty, so many impeachable offenses, that one could understandably overlook the crimes of inaction currently being committed by the U.S. Congress... if not for this final, most precious principle.

The stunning lack of basic human dignity is perhaps the defining characteristic of the second Trump administration. If Mike Johnson (and conservatives at large) *genuinely* believed that all men are created equal and in the image of God, then Mike Johnson (and conservatives at large) would have turned on the Trump administration the moment they sent hundreds of Venezuelans to a torture prison in El Salvador without a trial. They would have heeded the scores of Christian groups (including white evangelicals, mainline protestants and Black church leaders) who all noted that the OBBBA hurts poor Americans more than anybody else.

Main Point:

By their own written standards, Mike Johnson and conservatives once defined the “7 Core Principles of Conservatism” as bedrock American values. Yet under MAGA leadership, every single one of those principles has been violated—from freedom and limited government, to fiscal responsibility and human dignity. What Johnson once put to paper as a guidepost has become an indictment: MAGA has abandoned conservatism itself, and with it, the very American ideals they swore to defend.

Conclusion:

This is not conservatism. It is not patriotism. By shredding their own values and betraying the Constitution, MAGA leaders have proven themselves to be something else entirely—anti-American. If you campaign on liberty, dignity, and law but govern with cruelty, chaos, and corruption, then you are not protecting this nation. You are betraying it.

And by Mike Johnson’s own definitions, that makes the MAGA movement not defenders of America, but traitors to it.

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There’s a pair of metrics from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) that I find my thoughts straying back to often;

This pie makes sense to me; and of course it does! Each class is named after the amount of households, after all, so it matches perfectly. Notice how very, very tiny the actual number of Top 0.1% households…

…And this pie hurts to see, because there’s no getting around the facts:

• 90% of the country holds 32.8% of the wealth.

• 10% of the country holds 67.2% of the wealth.

Perhaps it’s just me, but America doesn’t really look all that “great” when the richest 134,578 households have like 6X more money than the poorest 67,118,406 households. Since less than half of employees negotiate their salaries, trying to argue that 67 million households should simply “find better jobs” doesn’t work here.

And here’s the thing; these numbers are from Q1, meaning this statistic hasn’t been much affected by Trump 2.0 yet.

Americans have been screaming from the roof tops about the cost of living for years. Time and again, the economy was the number one issue to voters in the 2024 presidential election.

The Trump administration loves to wax poetic about the “mandate” they received, but they only refer to it in discussions of immigration and wasteful government spending… it’s such a shame they don’t show the same dedication toward their mandate to make life more livable for the VAST majority of Americans; that’s the issue we all could have come together on.

Instead, by many credible accounts, life in America is about to get much more expensive.

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Reports Across Sectors are Worrisome

My readers know I’m a regular, blue-collar gal who just enjoys news and nerd-stuff… I’m no economist. Still, it felt urgent to write this article because I’m seeing warnings of higher prices coming out of a variety of industries; a variety wide enough to merit a touch of concern. I’ve gathered my sources together here and I’m sharing the snippets so you have an overview:

Health Insurance

KFF Health System Tracker - For 2026, across 312 insurers participating in the ACA Marketplaces from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, this analysis shows a median proposed premium increase of 18%, which is about 11 percentage points higher than last year. [Aug 6 2025]

***Fortune Magazine - Layered on top of that is a looming policy shift: the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits enacted in 2021 as part of pandemic relief. If Congress lets these subsidies lapse at the end of 2025, monthly out-of-pocket costs for subsidized enrollees are projected to jump roughly 75% on average. That hike is on top of, not instead of, insurers’ base premium increases. [Aug 13 2025]

Electricity

New York Times - Recent reports expect data centers will require expensive upgrades to the electric grid, a cost that will be shared with residents and smaller businesses through higher rates unless state regulators and lawmakers force tech companies to cover those expenses. [Aug 14 2025]

Automotive

Claims Journal - Roughly 44% of OEM parts used in collision repair are produced outside the United States, and many of these non– United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement-compliant parts are now subject to tariffs. As a result, OEM retail prices rose 2.1% from Q1 to Q2 2025, compared to a 1% increase during the same period in 2024. We have not seen the increase in parts pricing for aftermarket or recycled parts as of yet. [Jun 30 2025]

Kelley Blue Book - [New Car] Prices remain about $10,000 higher than five years ago. [Aug 15 2025]

Pets

NBC News - In Arizona, animal shelter operators are finding pets abandoned in parking lots or on the side of the road. In Virginia, an over-capacity shelter has taken to social media to call for adoptions urgently. And in Tennessee, one shelter said it is “drowning” in rescue dogs, forced to stack kennels on top of each other to provide space. …The price of pet care has risen dramatically. A Bank of America Institute report found that since 2019, prices of services like veterinary care and grooming have gone up 42%, with the cost of goods like food and treats surging 22%. Pet insurance is expensive, too. [Jul 28 2025]

Housing

Forbes - The fact that many prospective home buyers remain on the sidelines even with these improving conditions signals they’re holding out for more clarity on the economy and their own financial situations… Meanwhile, mortgage rates staying stuck in the upper 6% range isn’t helping to ease the affordability challenges buyers face, a strain that experts predict will persist for at least the remainder of 2025. [Aug 6 2025]

Car Insurance

Newsweek - In the first half of the year, rates remained steady nationwide and fell in 27 states, according to data by Insurify. However, experts say rates are likely to go up again as a result of President Donald Trump's economic policies. [Aug 12 2025]

Grocery

The Hill - Coffee prices sharply rose 25 percent over the past three months, according to inflation data released Tuesday. [Aug 17 2025]

CBS News - Food prices on the rise: The U.S. economy has a case of food-flation. Wholesale prices for fresh veggies soared by a record amount last month while grocery costs were up 2.2% compared to last year. Lisa Rozner reports on how consumers are dealing with rising costs. [Aug 17 2025]

Student Loans

Center for American Progress - The OBBBA eliminates all four of these [Biden-era] plans and offers borrowers only the RAP, which would dramatically increase payments, especially relative to SAVE. One analysis found that a typical borrower with a college degree would pay an additional $2,929 per year in student loan payments under RAP. [Jul 3 2025]

Working Class Ouch

The whole reason he won is because America believed he would lower prices. It’s rather treasonous, in my opinion, to enact policies that do the very opposite of what you know voters want… lower prices.

America’s biggest issue, however, is rather obvious, right? We saw it at the very start of the article:

We don’t have anything left to give.

It’s not in a we’re exhausted sense, and it’s not a vibe of we just don’t trust you anymore (though we are and we don’t):

You saw the pie. Ninety percent (90%) of the country has less than a third of all the wealth.

The Trump Tax (my forever name for the OBBBA) is all-but guaranteed to suck even more wealth from bottom to top, and I find that to be evil in ways I don’t even have words for.

I have no idea what that pie will look like a year from now, but I’m not optimistic. I fear the vast majority of America is about to have a lot less pie.

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I confess that I’ve been struggling these last few weeks; it’s beyond disheartening to see the leaders of my country acting in ways that are so antithetical to the values I was raised with. It’s even harder to reckon with the amount of capitulation I’m seeing from fellow citizens, and even in myself.

On a personal level, my finances and my future have never felt more precarious; I currently have no car, and with more than half my income going to rent (even with 2 roommates), it’s a PAINSTAKINGLY slow process to save up the money to acquire transportation. I’ll have to pay in cash because a car payment won’t be possible after having my credit destroyed by a $594K hospital bill from having emergency back surgery with no health insurance.

This won’t be forever; I’m actively applying to higher-paying jobs, and my lease is up in December so I’ll be able to pay lower rent. Still, the simple truth of not being able to see even six months into my future with any level of certainty is a frustrating, scary place to be.

Even as I admit all that, part of me feels guilty for talking about myself at all; in the grand scheme of things, I’m still pretty damn blessed compared to some of my fellow citizens. When you compare my story to the reality of actual families being ripped apart in these United States, my struggles seem insignificant. When we’re hearing about concentration camps on U.S. soil, it’s rather hard to feel sorry for onesself.

If you find yourself a bit lost these days, I’m sorry to report I haven’t yet found a way out of this feeling… but I can absolutely confirm you’re not alone.

Anyway, here are the nuggets from the last two weeks that were SO GOOD, I felt compelled to share them all. I hope you love it <3

Awesome Articles

Democracy Will Survive Trump

Mark Mansour - America’s Fractured Politics - August 17 2025

There is so much to worry about these days, and it’s exceedingly easy to despair and lose hope; That’s why this is the first source I’m sharing today. Read this if you need a bit of resolve.

August 16, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson - Letters from an American - August 16 2025

Letters from an American is one of my favorites because it’s typically less than 15 minutes long, employs EXCELLENT citations and sourcing, and (Richardson being a historian by profession), weaves in elements of American history with every letter. I highly recommend it!

More National Guard Soldiers Head to D.C. and Prepare to Carry Weapons

Vera Bergengruen, Lara Seligman and Micah Maidenberg - Wall Street Journal - August 17 2025

After being told by defense officials earlier this week that soldiers would not be carrying weapons, this is a troubling development. I think we all need to take a moment and reckon with the reality that America’s citizens are being treated like insurgents, and what that means for our future.

America’s Largest Landlord Makes Deal WIth DOJ to Settle Price-Fixing Claims in RealPage Case

Heather Vogell - ProPublica - August 12 2025

ProPublica’s Vogell writes: “The DOJ’s moves against RealPage — and its landlord customers — for using shared data and technology were seen as an indication that authorities were willing to wade into a fraught corner of federal antitrust law. In the past, collusion happened with “a formal handshake in a clandestine meeting,” federal prosecutors wrote in one filing. “Algorithms are the new frontier.”

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Thought-Provoking Podcasts

I have to admit, the podcast section this week packs the biggest punch in terms of informative sources and hard-hitting journalism. I plan to listen to every one of these a second time just to make sure they stick!

Trump's battles with data, DC, and world trade

Post Reports - Washington Post - August 8 2025

After Bezos’s moves with the Post in this last year, I’ve stayed away from the publication AND all things Amazon, expecting their coverage of this administration to be tempered, forgiving… Post Reports (Washington Post’s flagship podcast) has proven me wrong time and again; their coverage of the Trump administration has been thorough and hard-hitting, and I’m really impressed with this show.

We the People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Throughline - NPR - August 7 2025

TUNE INTO THIS ONE, Y’ALL! NPR’s Throughline has been working its way through a series called “We the People,” where they dive deep on a different Constitutional amendment each week. Considering the current administration feels some parts of the Constitution don’t require adherence, it’s a VERY good time to brush up on our rights.

Trump’s Authoritarian Instincts | Roundtable

The Dispatch Podcast - The Dispatch - August 15 2025

Personally, I’ve always felt it important to seek out and listen to those opinions which are different from mine; That said, I do not entertain viewpoints that are based in nonsense. This simple criteria of fact-based information rules out A LOT of Trump-supporting publications. The Dispatch is one of the few places Americans can go for good-faith conservative viewpoints that are actually based in reality. I don’t know if they actually support Trump, but I do know that this podcast has a knack for making me see issues in new ways.

Trump’s Strongman Summit is a Gift to Putin

Pod Save the World - Crooked Media - August 13 2025

Ben Rhodes was the former Deputy National Security Advisor under President Obama, and Foreign Policy magazine named him as one of the top 100 global thinkers in 2015; I find Pod Save the World fascinating because Rhodes lends real-world insight to how the sausage is made behind the scenes, and as someone who used to occupy some of the very positions that the Trump administration seems determined to change now, his viewpoints have been essential for processing the sheer scale of how much is changing in our country.

When Is It Genocide?

The Ezra Klein Show - New York Times - August 13 2025

I wish everyone in America could listen to this episode, because it’s journalism in its very best and most effective form. Ezra Klein, who is Jewish himself, fully admits he was skeptical of employing the word “genocide” to describe what’s happening in Gaza. He goes on to say “But over the last year, I have watched a slew of organizations and scholars arrive at the view that whatever Israel’s war on Gaza began as, its mass assault on Palestinian civilians fits the definition of genocidal violence. This is a view now held by Amnesty International, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and the president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, among many others.” So, he sits down with Phillipe Sands, a lawyer specializing in genocide cases and scholar of genocide in international law, and they walk through every possible definition and argument from both sides. Each person is left to draw their own conclusions at the close of the episode, but you leave with a profound sense of being well-informed and hearing a good-faith viewpoint from both sides. I SO wish this was required listening!

2X Longer TikTok Collections

This week’s TikTok collections cover from August 4th to the 17th, so there are a few more videos this time around!

Worth Watching - 8/4-8/17

Twenty-two (22) videos this week covering a whole BEVY of topics from the ongoing nationwide protests that nobody is reporting on, to the reality student loan borrowers are facing, and even to an interesting non-traditional economic indicator. Plus, Steve Vladeck is on TikTok now, y’all! Give him a follow!

Fun & Funny - 8/4-8/17

And since we have two weeks’ worth of videos, you’ll find FORTY-TWO (42) videos in this week’s playlist for clearing your palette and having a laugh. Heaven knows I just gave you a boat load of heavy and important material, so the least I can do is give you something to wash it all down :)

Which resource do you find most helpful? Are there any media types or topics you’d like me to cover? Please let me know in the comments! For now, I’ll end with the sendoff that I’ve grown quite fond of:

Kick ASS this week, y’all, and be kind to your neighbors <3

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If you were hoping for a quiet week or thinking maybe the administration was ready to slow down, I'm sorry to disappoint you:

Katie Rogers - Aug. 11, 2025, 10:42 a.m. ET33 minutes ago

Trump says the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. will be placed under federal control. He is referring to a section of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act that grants him the authority to take over the police department when there are “special conditions of an emergency nature.”

As New York Times' Shawn McCreesh points out: "There is of course crime in Washington but President Trump is describing a Mad Max-like hellscape version of the city that many people who live here are unlikely to recognize. “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people,” he said.

One thing that strikes me as I read through the New York Times live updates of this press conference is just how often the reporters' have to correct what Trump is saying in real time. McCreesh notes: “I’m going to Russia on Friday,” President Trump says at the news conference. He’s actually going to Alaska to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia." One can't help but notice how much leeway his supporters seem to grant Mr. Trump when they'd likely have been all over former President Biden for a gaffe like this.

So we've started the week with a formal declaration of a public safety emergency in Washington D.C., which attorney general Pam Bondi will oversee, despite no evidence to support this supposed emergency. They'll be conducting a federal takeover of the city's police forces and are also deploying National Guard members as well; 800 soldiers to start, with more if they feel it necessary.

The administration has not provided an answer for what they plan to do with the homeless people that President Trump is ordering kicked out of the city, but he did have time for discussing more important issues, like the $200 million ballroom they're working on.

"If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty," says President Trump at the press conference.

I've been trying to find words for why this press conference seems so icky to me, and I think it's the President's tendency to demonize the folks who are struggling the hardest; Like, even if you could somehow manage to look past the made-up emergency and the racist dog whistles, the fact remains...

We have an affordability crisis in America, and record homelessness as a result.

The Trump administration has elected to "solve" this problem... by criminalizing the homeless.

It's the kind of policy plan you can only put forth with a straight face if you don't believe we're all created equal.

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Trump’s Power Flex in D.C.: “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together…”

President Donald Trump has ordered a federal law enforcement surge into Washington, D.C., beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday, in what he claims is a response to “out of control” youth crime. Never mind that violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low and down another 26% in 2025. Facts? Nah, we prefer fiction here in America…

The deployment will pull agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, U.S. Marshals, DEA, and twelve other agencies, and place them in “high-traffic tourist areas and other hotspots” — which conveniently includes most of the city. These officers will be in full gear and “highly visible,” as if the militarization of public space is supposed to calm people down.

This is not about crime. This is a game of optics, fearmongering, and control. The beating of a government employee by teenagers earlier this week provided the White House with the perfect viral fodder. The President responded with an old Trump classic: blame the youth, threaten a federal takeover, and drop the phrase “they’re not afraid of Law Enforcement” like it’s a horror movie tagline.

Brie’s Take:
This is vintage Trump… overstep your bounds, lie about the stats, and deploy force as a show of strength. And yet, it’s still unclear whether they even have the manpower for all this posturing. He keeps making decisions like he’s got a thousand-person army just chilling in a bunker somewhere, waiting for orders. Maybe he does, but I doubt it. Either way, it’s another page ripped out of the authoritarian playbook: create a problem, scream about it, then play the “strongman” with a solution nobody asked for.

Gaza Takeover: The World Condemns, Netanyahu Pushes Ahead

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, Israel's Security Cabinet approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City — a move that’s already being labeled a “new war crime” by Hamas and heavily condemned by world leaders and the UN.

This latest step is part of Israel’s five-point plan, which includes:

• Disarming Hamas

• Returning hostages (dead or alive)

• Demilitarizing Gaza

• Establishing Israeli security control

• Installing a civilian administration that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority

Let me say that last one again for the folks in the back: the new administration would be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. So... who exactly is running this show? Netanyahu vaguely told Fox News he’d hand Gaza over to “Arab forces,” but didn’t clarify who. Jordan and Egypt, the most obvious candidates, have already said hell no to occupying Gaza on Israel’s behalf.

World reaction has been swift. Germany halted all arms exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza. The UK’s new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, called the move “wrong” and likely to “bring more bloodshed.” Even Israel’s military officials are raising eyebrows and reportedly fighting with the Cabinet over this plan.

Brie’s Take:
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again; it’s hard to look at the body count and not see cruelty in the math. Four hundred killed in a single strike, for five Hamas officials. Gaza City is a graveyard. I get that Israel wants to dismantle Hamas, but let’s not pretend that this doesn’t look a hell of a lot like ethnic cleansing. When Netanyahu claims he doesn’t want to govern Gaza — just control it, demilitarize it, displace the people in it, and dictate who runs it — that’s occupation, no matter what you call it.

What These Stories Have in Common

Here’s what links these two stories: control, narrative, and optics.

Trump’s D.C. surge is a domestic example of authoritarian aesthetics. It doesn’t matter that crime is down; he’s built a presidency on fear and spectacle, and this is just the next installment. Deploy the feds, stoke panic, and paint Democrats as soft on crime. Repeat.

Israel’s Gaza operation, on the other hand, is a geopolitical time bomb built on the same logic. Even after bombing the city into dust, even with 75-88% of Gaza already under Israeli control, they’re moving forward. The “handover to Arab forces” language is window dressing. The message is: we’ll control this place, and we don’t super care what you think about it.

If This Is the Plan, We’re Screwed

Let these two stories serve as a perfect case study in how authoritarianism thrives — by mixing theater with brute force. If this country still values democracy, we’d better start acting like it. We need more than outrage, more than memes, more than “get out the vote” campaigns.

We need a vision. A plan. Something that isn’t just a reaction to Trump or a polite scolding of Netanyahu. If these are our leaders… the strongman in D.C., the conqueror in Tel Aviv, and the silent bystanders in Congress… then the rest of us had better find the courage to say out loud what’s become increasingly clear:

This isn’t freedom. This is a show.

And the curtain’s closing fast.

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No soliloquies for your Sunday evening; just the most thought provoking, memorable, infuriating, adorable, informative sources I saw this week, in no particular order. Hope you enjoy!!!

Awesome Articles

The F.D.A’s Panel on Antidepressants During Pregnancy Was Alarmingly Biased

by Jessica Grose - July 30, 2025

To be honest, the Opinion section of the New York Times is not a place I used to visit on a regular basis; yet here we are, two weeks in a row now.

The author describes her own experience to vividly illustrate the seriousness this topic should require, and also to illustrate just how insulting it is to have your own lived experiences downplayed by folks who are supposed to serve the people. It was superb writing.

Senate confirms former Fox News host Pirro as top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital

by Associated Press - August 3, 2025

Jeanine Pirro, whose lies about the 2020 election played a part in Fox’s forking over $787 million for defamation, whose husband was pardoned by Trump in his first term, is now the top federal prosecutor in D.C.

Trump destroys our source of information about jobs. This is beyond irresponsible.

by Robert Reich - August 3, 2025

You probably heard about Trump firing the head of BLS; well, Robert Reich used to serve as labor secretary for Bill Clinton. His take on Dr. McEntarfer’s firing gives you a real sense of just how far we’ve strayed from anything resembling normal.

The Boy Genius Who Killed 14 Million Poor People

by Jonathan V. Last - July 31, 2025

This is a Bulwark article that asks a pretty deep question; What is the moral weight of responsibility for the men who carried out DOGE’s work? Spoiler: the answer is ultimately up to We The People.

I’ve become a huge fan of the Bulwark this last year or so, precisely because of conversations like these. Nebraska may not be my state, but I found Dan Osborn’s ideas mirrored my own pretty well in most areas, and that was a bit surprising!

Thought-Provoking Podcasts

Dan Osborn: Connecting with Working People

The Bulwark Podcast - August 1 2025

I’ve become a huge fan of the Bulwark this last year or so, precisely because of conversations like these. Nebraska may not be my state, but I found Dan Osborn’s ideas mirrored my own pretty well in most areas, and that was a bit surprising!

Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement

The Ezra Klein Show - August 1 2025

This conversation was uncomfortable, and it was not particularly fun to listen to; that said, it’s helpful to understand the ideologies driving the people in power.

US Green Beret Veteran Tony Aguilar Details the Shocking War Crimes He’s Witnessing in Gaza

The Tucker Carlson Show - July 31 2025

I want to make crystal clear; Tucker is an unbelievable douche and I will NOT be recommending him on a regular basis. Still, in this one case, I give credit where it’s due. THIS particular audience needs to hear these stories most.

New and Revised Job Numbers Show Softening Labor Market

RealClearPolitics Podcast - August 1, 2025

It is my humble opinion that Left, Right & Center is political debate and discourse at its’ very best. This week they discuss the ongoing battles the Trump administration has been waging on media companies.

This Week’s TikTok Collections

Worth Watching - 7/28-8/3

One of TikTok’s greatest strengths is its ability to spread information from regular, credible people. I hope you enjoy these 15 videos from the week!

Fun & Funny 🤣 - 7/28-8/3

Here are 15 videos that caused smiling, laughter, and a general lighter feeling. My personal favorite was the baby; I haven’t laughed that hard in a MINUTE!

Kick some ASS this week, y’all, and be kind to your neighbors <3

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This past Sunday, The Brie-fing introduced our new Sunday series called Worthy of Brainspace, but we’re not done there! I’d love to formally introduce our new Tuesday series, Initial Impressions!

The purpose is a simple one: We know that the Trump administration aims to keep us distracted and overwhelmed by the news, so Initial Impressions is your once-weekly WIDE-RANGING headline coverage to make sure you’re all caught up.

You’ll see the headline (linked to the original story for your viewing) along with a very quick impression from me. Ideally, you’ll have heard or read about these stories already, but there may be one or two you’ve missed… that’s what we’re here for!

So, without further ado, here’s what’s happening:

New York Times: What We Know About the Shooting in Midtown Manhattan

This is the deadliest mass shooting in NYC in more than two decades. It appears the gunman was heading for the National Football League, but went to the wrong floor. He turned the gun on himself after taking four lives; preliminary details indicate that he believed he was suffering from CTE.

New York Times: Marjorie Taylor Greene Is First Republican Lawmaker to Call Gaza Crisis a ‘Genocide’

Perhaps I’m just searching for hope in a situation that feels hopeless lately, but this feels like a big development. I could not have predicted Greene, of all people, to be the leading Republican on this view.

New York Times: E.P.A. Plans to Revoke the Legal Basis for Tackling Climate Change

In case this doesn’t sound like a huge deal on first impression, just know that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin says ““The proposal would, if finalized, amount to the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.” Effectively, this move eliminates the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and the ramifications are VERY wide ranging.

Wall Street Journal: JPMorgan Chase Nears a Deal to Take Over Apple’s Credit-Card Program

Apple may be nearing an end to their two-year search for a firm to take over Goldman’s role in their credit-card program. Slowing them down is a high number of subprime borrowers (who have a credit score lower than 660) within the portfolio.

Wall Street Journal: AI Is Wrecking an Already Fragile Job Market for College Graduates

One of the cruelest ironies of being a Millennial or Gen-Z American: You’re told your whole life that you have to go to college if you want to make decent money… but then, this big new invention steals all the entry-level jobs that college graduates typically fill. Young adults will be up against the wall as AI advances further.

Wall Street Journal: A Divided Fed Eyes Future Rate Cuts but Won’t Move This Week

President Trump is sure to talk some shit once the Fed officially announces that the rates won’t change this week, but he has nobody to blame but himself; When the year started, the U.S. was poised for growth and lower interest rates. Trump’s tariffs reversed that trajectory.

BBC News: PM: UK will recognise Palestinian state unless conditions met

It should NOT have taken this much. We should NOT have gone this far. Still, it’s a step in the right direction.

CBS News: Immigrant kids detained in "unsafe and unsanitary" sites as Trump administration seeks to end protections

At issue in this case is the Flores agreement, in place since 1997, and it established requirements for safe and sanitary detention facilities, access to clean water, appropriate food, clothing, bedding, recreational and educational opportunities, sanitation, plus appropriate medical and mental health care for migrant children. The Trump administration is seeking to end the Flores agreement.

BBC News: IMF upgrades global growth forecast as tariffs ease

The world seems to be breathing a sigh of relief as the estimates are updated to something less catastrophic than was predicted earlier this year. Still, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF's chief economist, notes “The world economy is still hurting, and it's going to continue hurting with tariffs at that level, even though it's not as bad as it could have been."

Military Times: Government shutdown talk starts early ahead of a tough funding fight

The Big Beautiful Bill (which should be formally noted, imho, as the Trump Tax) was completed through a process that only requires a simple majority of 51 votes. The problem is, the budget bill needs 60 votes… meaning they have to get at least 7 democratic senators to vote with them.

Psychology Today: Can AI Chatbots Worsen Psychosis and Cause Delusions?

Just a quick heads up: be careful about what you’re telling your chatbots!

CNN: Judge rails against last-minute bid by Trump ally to open Federal Reserve interest rate meetings to the public

CNN Notes: Azoria (the company who filed the lawsuit) said the practice violates the “Sunshine Act,” a Nixon-era law requiring open access meetings by government agencies. US District Judge Beryl Howell rejected the investment firm’s request since the FOMC is not a government agency, and therefore is not subject to the Sunshine Act.

The Hill: GOP bill seeks to rename Kennedy Center for Trump

Rest assured, folks; the GOP is hard at work tackling the real issues affecting our nation.

Fox 5 Washington DC: Several Maryland lawmakers denied access to Baltimore ICE facility: 'This is a cover-up'

Despite giving advanced notice of their visit, and despite warning ICE that denying them access is a violation of federal law, Maryland lawmakers were denied access anyway.

AP News: Maine police chief says Jamaican officer arrested by ICE had cleared federal check for work in May

From AP: “ICE said in a Monday statement that Evans had legally entered the U.S. in September 2023 and violated the terms of his admission by overstaying his visa. But Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Elise Chard said in her own Monday statement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S. in May of this year.”

The Hill: Sydney Sweeney ‘good genes’ ad courts controversy

I’ve watched the ads myself, several times… all I’m gonna say is this; American Eagle has more than 1,000 locations with nearly 50 years of business under their belt… they knew exactly how this would be interpreted.

Fortune: Lawyers say ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees are being held ‘incommunicado, with no ability to access the courts’

Just one more report detailing the ongoing violation of due process and human rights on American soil.

CNBC: Trump Organization says Amazon, Walmart, eBay sellers are hawking knockoff shirts, hats, mugs

I’m no expert, but this story has an unprecedented sort of feeling to it; three of the largest corporations in America have just become defendants against a company owned by the President of the United States, WHILE he sits in office.

Raw Story: 'Stunning error': Records show LA protest charges collapsed because of agents' lies

This story covers an analysis by the Guardian finding multiple false statements made by the Department of Homeland Security when charging protesters. It’s a rather stunning story, and I encourage you read this one entirely.

Federal News Network: Federal employees get more leeway to express religion at work

Step by step, day by day, the separation of church and state grows ever-more challenged.

Al Jazeera: Trump administration pressed to address starvation in Gaza

What we’re seeing in Gaza doesn’t happen in a few days, or a few weeks; the crisis which humanitarian groups warned about for over year is here, and the world is poised to watch thousands of people starve to death unless conditions change immediately.

What did you think? Do you find this new format helpful? Any stories catch you by surprise? Lemme know in the comments please!

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I spent the better part of 6 hours curating/linking/designing this newsletter called Worthy of Brainspace: It’s a weekly set of the most shareable stuff I laid my eyes on, and I’m so excited for you to see it!

…Except I was today years old when I learned that Canva’s embed links do NOT work for Substack, and if I upload them as images, all the links disappear.

We’re learning on the fly, folks… So here’s the deal, just for this week, until I get it figured out:

THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT TO THE FULL NEWSLETTER WITH LINKS:

FULL NEWSLETTER WITH LINKS

And below is the newsletter in its entirety, but WITHOUT LINKS.

Despite the lil’ tech hiccup, I’m quite proud to introduce this series! I believe readers will find Worthy of Brainspace a valuable addition because I’m an average American plugged in at a pundit level: Each week, I’ll deliver a range of lists, learning & laughs from a range of media types so you can skip to the juicy stuff.

I hope you love it as much as I loved putting it together!

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If you made it this far, I’d love to know your thoughts! I hope your week is productive and peaceful :)

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Back pain wasn’t new; A cheerleading accident in high school and ballooning past 300lbs in adulthood made it a fact of life. It was extra concerning this time around for two reasons; (1) It wasn’t going away this time, to the point that my hair was matted because I couldn’t stand in the shower long enough to wash it, and (2), I had lost 110 pounds, which (according to the half-dozen doctors I had talked to about my back in the previous 5 years) meant that my back pain should be dissipating, not increasing.

I got to try morphine for the first time…

About five minutes after taking this picture, the doctor brought in the results of my CT scan.

Slipped disk. Risk of nerve damage. Transfer to a bigger hospital with specialized doctors.

The morphine helped me stay cheery through my first ambulance ride, but as the night wore on and I realized I wasn’t going home, it started to sink in that a big, scary thing was happening.

A medical team assembled like the Avengers the next day; two of my discs were completely ruptured with one causing a 95% blockage of my spinal canal (meaning that every single movement, no matter how small, was plucking my nerves like a guitar string). Beyond the extreme, unrelenting pain, the surgeon said that the condition put me at risk for Cauda Equina syndrome, which would result in bowel and bladder dysfunction.

Ultimately, we decided on surgery.

Fate smiled down on me: We caught it in time and, health wise, my recovery has been miraculous. Unfortunately, the fallout wasn’t just physical.

When all this happened, I was already living through the worst year of my life. Some of it was bad luck, but lots of it was ME… calling it wrong, making bad calls... By the time I lost the ability to sit, stand, or walk, I was already in the middle of a financial crisis, and a crisis of self-worth… and I was unemployed at the time of the surgery, meaning I had no health insurance. I was already behind in rent with hundreds of job applications submitted to employers, but no prospects.

Never in my life have I felt more lost; both figuratively and literally, I had fallen down and could not get back up.

Meet Sushi & Christy: They Saved My Life

Sushi and I have been best friends & roommates for the better part of a decade. He and Christy dated years back and reconnected in March 2023; Eventually, she moved in too, and I was blessed with a second best friend.

Here’s the thing; I was NOT a good friend last year.

It’s one thing to help & support someone for a back surgery; that’s expected and common, though no less generous. But you have to understand, I had already become a burden before my back got bad. I couldn’t find a job, and they were floating all my expenses.

I’m an adult. They’re adults. We share no blood.

THEY. OWED. ME. NOTHING.

They carried my weight anyway.

Sushi & Christy put off buying a house last year because they covered my rent. They struggled with the bills because, out of nowhere, they found themselves with an extra mouth to feed. They held me up even when they had no expectation of repayment or reward. THEY paid, quite literally, a hefty price for MY personal issues… and they chose to love me still.

In every definable way, they are my heroes.

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What if I Didn’t Have a Christy & Sushi?

I smell bankruptcy in my future…

Sushi & Christy have put in an offer for a home; I’m filled with gratitude that their dreams weren’t derailed entirely, but it’s still hard to look in the mirror knowing how much I still owe them… and how long it will take to make them whole again.

At the very least, I’m proud to report that my personal life has achieved some semblance of stability in 2025, albeit with a new poverty-chic vibe. My body is in good health, and I’m employed… Still, my life is forever changed by this period.

One’s worldview is permanently altered by the experience of helplessness; You realize, in an instant, that we are all SO MUCH MORE vulnerable than we care to admit. The vast majority of Americans need only miss one or two paychecks before spiraling down into a situation like mine, and most of them won’t have a Sushi & Christy. Their family might not be able to bear their weight when they fall.

Unfortunately, at the same time our country is gutting social safety nets, we’re criminalizing homelessness.

Executive Order

Yesterday, July 24, President Trump signed a new Executive Order titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” In stating their rationale for the policy: “Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe,” the EO reads. “The Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats.”

If you’re not a fan of political speech, let me give you the TL;DR version:

Homeless People = Drug Addicts & Mentally Ill = Unsafe Cities

Then, they lay it out plainly:

“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order. Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety.”

Long story short: The Trump Administration intends to reduce homelessness by involuntarily committing them. Stripping them of their freedom… for being homeless. For struggling. For needing help.

Other notable excerpts from the EO include:

• Ending “harm reduction” and “safe consumption”

• Ending “housing first” policies

• Adding substance use treatment or mental health services as a condition for receiving housing or assistance

Axios reports that we’ve tried this before, and we stopped doing it because it frequently violated Fourteenth Amendment rights of due process. Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, notes “These executive orders ignore decades of evidence-based housing and support services in practice… “[the orders] represent a punitive approach that has consistently failed to resolve homelessness and instead exacerbates the challenges faced by vulnerable individuals."

Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, states her views more bluntly: “This order represents the most harmful policy proposal on homelessness in my career.”

The Audacity of This Move in This Economy

We should be clear about what life is like for the vast majority of Americans… here are just a few facts to consider:

• The top 1% of Americans hold roughly the same amount of wealth as the bottom 50%.

• The median home price in 2025 is more than $400,000.

• The minimum wage has not been increased in 16 years.

• In 2023, 52% of renters paid more than 30% of their income on rent, while half of those renters paid more than 50% of their income, according to Pew Research.

• The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness notes: “As many as 40%-60% of people experiencing homelessness have a job, but housing is unaffordable because wages have not kept up with rising rents. There is no county or state where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest apartment.”

These were the realities as Donald Trump took office for the second time; since then, he’s taken a wrecking ball to many of the social safety programs that helped people get back on their feet… let alone enacting tariffs that are raising the price of everything.

And now this.

It’s cruel. It’s heartless. It’s inhumane.

It goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for.

MAGA’s War on the Working Class

As a working-class American, this feels like the type of policy that could only be written by a bigot or a billionaire; So thoroughly devoid of basic humanity, lacking even a shred of consideration for the economic reality of most Americans, that it seems comically villainous.

But then you remember; They're serious.

The Trump Administration appears determined to recommend mass imprisonment (and violating the Constitution) as the apparent solution to all our country’s problems. It was simply hypocritical back in the day to call ourselves The Land of the Free; now, it feels like a bold-faced lie.

There is so much that worries me about MAGA politics. It preys on the poor and uneducated at large, and white Americans in particular; people who were otherwise kind, productive, valued members of society… but powerful people had powerful tools and unlimited budgets to identify & stoke their bias, then manipulate them with it. MAGA is intentional distortion of reality, it bastardizes American history, erases American values, and it’s so blatantly, disgustingly, openly racist. But none of that is what worries me most.

America the Ugly

We’ve always had a hypocritical slant to our values, but we could admit it out loud; part of America’s story was the continued striving to embody the ideals we were founded on. Freedom and Liberty, where all people are created equal. An endless striving for better. Now, it feels like we’ve abandoned them entirely.

I can’t imagine what on Earth should make us proud of our country right now.

The thing is, being a giant dictatorial asshole doesn’t make you great. It never has, and it never will. Only monsters believe that. To the rest of the world, you just look hateful. Cruel. Impossibly selfish, and uncivilized.

What worries me most is how ugly the soul of America is becoming, with every passing day of this hateful regime.

I believe it was Gandhi who once said, “you can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members,” or something to that effect…

If this is our plan for dealing with homelessness, then we have no right to be surprised when our country is judged harshly. We’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

This doesn’t make us great. It makes us ugly.

Being human is not a crime. Being cruel is not cool.

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