Thoughts from NSD member Jim Gallagher on a recent substack piece by Paul Krugman. “Step number one in building a cult, identify the non-believers. In Hegseth's ‘military-cult’ it's the little things, like a vaccine shot, that can hurt your military career. “How do you destroy the greatest fighting force on the planet? Hire Hegseth to lead it. “Does anyone really think Hegseth can lead a crusade? He sure is trying.” To read the piece that inspired these comments, click here:

Writes Heather Cox Richardson, Senate Republican leaders are pushing through funding of ICE and the Border Patrol for the next three years using budget reconciliation, a process which does not require any Democratic votes. This would end chances to reform rules for agents’ behavior, and leave in place authorization for them to continue to wear masks and to break into someone’s home without a judge-signed warrant. She also reports that Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD)

In substack yesterday, Robert Reich writes, “The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we’d be permanently immersed in a brutish war in which only the fittest and most powerful could survive.” Since taking office, Trump’s actions have been that of a classic bully. Domestically and abroad he has used his position, threats, and U.S. economic and military power to try and get his way. Recently these tac

Great article on our militarism. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/opinion/graham-platner-forever-war-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.c1A.s9ag.9tyB7GlW4wuF&smid=url-share Photo credit: Mark Peterson for The New York Times

The impact could be devastating if the government doesn’t take steps to control and regulate it. On April 14 at the Sanders Institute, Senator Bernie Sanders, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, and author Naomi Klein gathered to talk about the current and future consequences of AI. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, rapid expansion of unregulated AI would lead to wholesale loss of privacy and massive job loss. There are already unmanned 18-wheelers being tested on American highways, and th

A town of 130,000, Abilene has been overrun and stretched to the limit by the influx of thousands of workers there to build a massive new data center, reports Michelle H. Davis on LoneStarLeft. Rents are sky-rocketing, shelters stretched thin, traffic is a nightmare, and for what? Writes Davis, “The Stargate-linked development in Abilene is tied to a property tax abatement of up to 85%, approved as part of the deal to bring this project to town.” So the city and its residents

The President’s son-in-law is raking in millions from the Saudis while leading diplomacy efforts with Iran - a clear conflict of interest that has been largely ignored by major news outlets. Since 2021, Kushner has raised $2 billion from the Saudi government for his private equity fund and collected more than $110 million in management fees. The Saudis’ position on the war with Iran is no secret - they lobbied Trump extensively both to initiate and continue the war. Yet the

In yesterday’s piece on substack, Dan Rather recounts the slew of broken promises made by our con man in chief, from ending “forever wars” to making America more affordable. Today, Paul Krugman reports that consumer confidence has just hit the lowest point ever recorded in the long-running University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment. It’s not hard to see the relationship between the two. https://substack.com/home/post/p-194458477 https://substack.com/home/post/p-19445

Trump rarely backs down, but he did this time. This image was posted to his Truth Social account on Sunday, then was taken down on Monday. Reprinted from The Washington Post , April 13, 2026 Why the AI-generated meme — which the president posted on his social media platform, then removed — is offensive even to nonbelievers. column by Philip Kennicott There is a frightening urgency in the clumsy, AI-generated image of President Donald Trump posing as a saintly figure, perhaps

Today the Daily Kos reports just one of the shady deals surrounding Trump’s ballroom - a gift of $37 million in steel donated last fall by the world’s second-largest steelmaker, Luxembourg’s Arcelor Mittal. Trump bragged about it in October at a special event just for big ballroom bribers. A few days later, something not-so-surprising happened to the tariff rates the company was paying. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/9/2377135/-Stop-the-steel-Bribe-loving-Trump-strik

Thirty years ago, they (Republicans) didn’t stop at statewide dominance. They simply pivoted downward. They already took the top. Now they’re coming for everything underneath it. Local government is the front line. Michelle H. Davis of Lone Star Left outlines the importance of down ballot, city elections in this informative article and the necessity of our vote and activism to hold the line. https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/taking-back-texas-starts-in-your

In today’s piece Robert Reich explains how countries, organizations, and individuals have gotten the best of Trump. Courage and refusing to cave! It’s a great read! With the stories of how some have won in stand-offs with Trump - from Iran, to Greenland, to Harvard, to comedian Jimmy Kimmel, and more. Reich also relates the sad stories of what’s happened to those who have caved. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-to-defeat-trump-every-time

In his first speech since the war began, Trump’s listless, rambling, lie-filled performance failed to meet even the minimum criteria for a primetime address. Dan Rather reported, “He may be able to fool his base, but the financial world isn’t buying it. As the speech ended, international money markets fell, while oil futures and gas prices rose immediately.” Rather goes on to rebut some of the worst of the President’s distortions and the damage they are doing at home and abro

In a clear effort to intimidate, Trump took a front row seat yesterday for oral arguments in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Trump v. Barbara - the case which he hopes will end birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. It’s the first time that a sitting president has ever done such a thing, reports Heather Cox Richardson today. She goes on to trace the troubled history of the amendment that guarantees the rights of citizenship to people bo

Hot on the heals of No Kings Day, this tribute appeared yesterday on the National Mall. Spray-painted gold and set on a faux-marble pedestal, it’s the latest in a series of protest artworks and installations taking aim at President Donald Trump and his administration. A plaque on each side reads “Throne Fit for a King” and continues, “In a time of unprecedented division, escalating conflict and economic turmoil, President Trump focused on what really mattered: Remodeling the

“In the third quarter of 2025, the 'labor share' of Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. decreased to 53.8%, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was the lowest level seen since the Bureau began recording labor share in 1947 ,” reports Popular Information today. The probable culprit: corporate use of “algorithmic pay” to pay workers as little as possible. The AI algorithms factor in demographics and the willingness of some groups to accept lower wages. New hires ar

Trump’s lack of thought and planning before striking Iran would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. In her letter yesterday Heather Cox Richardson points out some of the failures. Trump claims that “nobody expected” Iran to hit other countries. In fact, previous administrations had gamed out exactly what’s happening. Apparently Trump never checked or chose to ignore the findings. In the DOGE purge the very experts needed to deal with the energy crisis were summarily fired w

Not only is the admin not blocking David Ellison’s possibly illegal takeover of CNN’s parent company, Warner Discovery; its officials are openly lauding it! Daily Kos reports yesterday that Pete Hegseth complained about CNN’s critical coverage of the Iran war, saying “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.” In a second story on the same day, Daily reports that the White House is throwing a fit about the CBS hire of Jeremy Adler, a communications flack

The campaign contributions of billionaires has grown dramatically from .6% of the total in the year 2000 to 19% in 2024 as reported by the New York Times on Monday. For every dollar donated by billionaires to a Democratic candidate or committee, five dollars are spent on the Republican side. They are buying deregulation and favored tax status among other things, from a government that is as corrupt and venal as many of them are. In substack today, Paul Krugman writes about w

Anthropic wants assurances that its products won’t be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. This has enraged Trump officials. As a result, early this month Pete Hegseth banned the use of Claude, not only within his department but also by contractors that do business with his department. Writes Paul Krugman on substack today, “Think of it as the flip side of crony capitalism: while throwing taxpayer dollars at companies it considers friends — esp