I'm so down for it!

Every round of “a deal is close” talk has, so far, produced a market reaction and then a walk-back. The underlying toll in lives and dollars keeps climbing regardless of who's optimistic on the news that week.

The Strait of Hormuz "Deal"

A Timeline of False Starts and What It Actually Costs

open.substack.com

And now for today's proof of life 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ruh-roh! "I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

The fact that Emily Moreno's allegations haven't resulted in criminal conviction/full loss of custody says more about how the system handles domestic violence claims than it does about whether the abuse happened. “If these accusations were true, I would be in jail,” - the data says otherwise.

Max Miller: “If these accusations were true, I would be in jail” Doesn't Hold Water

Accused of Domestic Violence, He's Not Stepping Aside

open.substack.com

Some days I don't have the time or the energy. But I keep showing up. Not for me, but for the people who can't fight now, and for the ones who don't care yet but will be the ones paying for it later. I don't think we're angry enough. I'm not angry enough, some days, under all the exhaustion.

These are the people mad at Dr. Fauci because he told them to wear a mask during a deadly pandemic.

I love my country, but loving it now feels like loving someone who's hurting you, watching the Trump admin tear at everything I thought was load-bearing, and realizing no one is coming to save us. That's what scares me most. Not the chaos itself, but the silence where the rescue was supposed to be.

What Germany Taught Me About the Country I Can't Quit

Staying Is the Hardest Thing I've Ever Loved

open.substack.com

Is it just me? Since the Trump regime began, thoughts of leaving my country have crept into my head nearly every day. Not vacation-leaving - permanently. I've seen enough of the world firsthand to know how much better many governments function for their people than ours ever has, even before Trump.

What Germany Taught Me About the Country I Can't Quit

Staying Is the Hardest Thing I've Ever Loved

substack.com

Shame on the NYTs article "Why Mitch McConnell Isn’t Giving Up His Senate Seat" And other "news" sources reporting that he did not attend the traditional Fancy Farm Picnic political gathering due to being in rehab. Mitch is dead... that's the story MSM needs to cover. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Trump and his fascist regime are shredding it.

The Feminist Lens: Period blood is the only type of blood not spilled by male violence, yet it is the only type of blood that society are most disgusted by.

The Feminist Lens (@lettersfromafeminist)

Period blood is the only type of blood not spilled by male violence, yet it is the only type of blood that society are most disgusted by.

substack.com

The most disturbing yet not surprising poll result here is the 78% white evangelicals who outright admitted they will vote for Ken Paxton who gave a plea deal to a pedophile charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy... the plea deal was just one day in jail.

Partial list of people indicted/investigated by Trump admin: James Comey, Jack Smith, John Bolton, Letitia James, Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, Jerome Powell, Adam Schiff, Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, John Brennan, E. Jean Carroll List of people in the Epstein files investigated by Trump admin: None

In 2025, the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against Capital One alleging the accounts were closed because of the bank's woke beliefs and desire to benefit after the J6 insurrection. Now the truth comes out...

Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money-laundering review

Disclosure from 2021 investigation marks first time a bank has formally tied money-laundering concerns to Donald Trump

theguardian.com

According to tracked data, 980 out of every 1,000 rapists walk free. But the conversation is about the 2% to 8% of women who might be lying instead of the 92% to 98% who aren’t. False accusation fear was never about math. It was about silence. And silence has always been the point.

False Sexual Assault Accusations: The Math Doesn't Match the Myth

What We Actually Know

open.substack.com

I see dead people.

Troy Jackson's first general election ad in Maine Senate race against Collins. The 30-second spot, narrated by Jackson, is backed by a seven-figure buy slated to begin airing statewide next week.

Fifth

YouTube video by Troy Jackson for Maine

youtu.be

True accountability: get hacked, then get blamed for getting hacked, by your own government, while towns are stuck running water systems by hand because nobody funded the IT upgrades. Nothing to see here. Just national security by vibes.

Minnesota not Iran to blame for state's water issues, says Trump

His own intelligence agencies suspect Iranian cyberattacks

open.substack.com

Great news! The $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund," the one designed to cut checks to the insurrectionists of J6, is officially dead. So dead that Trump spent a Cabinet meeting publicly mourning it like a fallen war hero, "This is over" like announcing "I wish it weren't."

Man Who Says Anti-weaponization Fund Is Dead

Also Says He Wishes It Weren't. And Is Confused Why Nobody Trusts Him

open.substack.com

Feds arrest Olympic canoeist for "violently" touching pool liner, hold him 5 hrs, charged him with a felony. Today they dismissed the case because... actually it was Trump's $14.6M no-bid contractor's botched rush job the whole time.

#MeToo changed norms without changing statutes in most workplaces. Roe was constitutional precedent, and even that proved reversible. The pattern is retreat by attrition, not a single reversal, but several quiet ones: a hiring decision not made, a DEI report no longer filed, a clinic closes.

The Backlash

Women's Rights Since #MeToo

cjeanmartini.substack.com

Trump: "HISTORIC complete disarmament of Hamas!" His officials: It's conditions-based. Hamas & Israel: No confirmation. No response. Fine print: 7-8 months of steps neither side has done yet. "Major milestone" = he posted about a plan for a plan. Ask again in 8 months. Or wait until tomorrow.

Perhaps the only way to take back our government is a r-e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n

Mesopotamia is the earliest known civilization... the cradle of human history, the origin of patriarchy... which today is Iraq and parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. Will it end where it started?!

Canadian bacon recalled due to Trump being all fucking pissy because Canadian leaders will not obey him, do not respect him, are smarter than him... and now they're sending their natural gas and oil exports to Europe instead of us. 🇨🇦🇨🇦 Listen here, BUDDY! #FDT

I'm watching "Squatters" on A&E and these people have no fkn empathy, no conscience... they're narcissistic, manipulative and take advantage of a situation. Like Trump... he's nothing but a fkn squatter in our White House.

I mean… that Governor Beshear's only way to communicate with Mich is via letters tells us all we need to know. Mitch is dead.

I discuss topics shaping our political climate, directly or by catching the vibe. What you won't find is more spin like CNN/FOX. There's enough people trying to control the narrative. It's how we sleepwalked into a timeline with the Trump administration as a recurring plot twist nobody asked for.

Why empathy matters

Critics on the right argue empathy has been weaponized

cjeanmartini.substack.com

Real or AI, I can't get enough of these political banners. This one wins the internet today. 🤣🤣

The strongest version of the pro-empathy pushback isn't that empathy has no downsides, but instead it's that suicidal empathy reframes a real, older debate (heart vs. head) into a culture-war weapon aimed at specific groups, while its most visible messengers don't apply the standard to themselves.

Why empathy matters

Critics on the right argue empathy has been weaponized

substack.com