Catherine Lutz
@cathylutz.bsky.social
Writer, anthropologist, live wire. Co-Founder of CostsofWar.org. Author of Homefront, Reading National Geographic, Carjacked, Schooled.
The latest Costs of War report, on exclusive to the NYT, on the reckless, illegal US bombing of civilians in Yemen. U.S. Airstrikes Targeting Houthis Killed Scores of Civilians in Yemen www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/u...
U.S. Airstrikes Targeting Houthis Killed Scores of Civilians in Yemen
nytimes.com
@cathylutz.bsky.social and I traveled for a book tour from Stamford, CT to Vancouver, Canada one summer without getting into a car, stopping at and exploring Chicago, Milwaukee, Whitefish, MT, Portland, and Seattle. It was a delight.
An East Coast Summer Vacation, All by Public Transportation
A self-described transit romantic set out to visit prime summer destinations using only public transportation. Would getting there really be half the fun?
nytimes.com
I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Tell Enterprise: No Cars for ICE Cruelty!. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
Tell Enterprise: No Cars for ICE Cruelty!
Since Renee Good’s murder, ICE has escalated their operations in Minnesota, causing many immigrants and communities of color to live in fear. Meanwhile, thousands of detainees are suffering in ICE det...
actionnetwork.org
Costs of War co-founder @cathylutz.bsky.social and contributor Linda Bilmes talk to @kalwradio.bsky.social about the consequences of ever-higher military spending, and who profits. "There's so much missing from the public conversation." www.kalw.org/show/your-ca...
The Authoritarian Playbook: Companies, politicians profit from US wars
The big five military contractors – which receive about a third of the DOD’s annual contracts – are making billions from Trump’s attacks on Iran and other countries.
kalw.org
"When fear rose in the ranks about Trump’s damning presence in the Epstein files, ... suddenly some of trafficked children MAGA had been so keen to protect were reclassified as not actually children at all." nobody-wants-this.ghost.io/maga-wants-y...
MAGA Wants You to Stop Seeing Teenagers As Children
Erasing adolescence and treating (most of) them like adults serves its goals
nobody-wants-this.ghost.io
Understanding how the car has led to wars for oil, death & injury, & environmental harm helps us understand how AI will do similar damage. Great analogy to think and resist with. We Reshaped the Landscape for Cars, Not People. Will We Do the Same for AI? nobody-wants-this.ghost.io/we-reshaped-...
We Reshaped the Landscape for Cars, Not People. Will We Do the Same for AI?
On a gobsmacking interview with Nvidia's CEO
nobody-wants-this.ghost.io
www.de-icecitizensbank.org/take-action Not With Our Money, Citizens! Are you a Citizens Bank accountholder? Instead of simply closing your account, you can increase your impact by pledging to move your money elsewhere before you go. These options are owned by customers: Mutual Banks Credit Unions
Take Action | De-ICE Citizens Bank
See how you can take action to call on Citizens Bank to end its financing of ICE detention companies CoreCivic and GEO Group.
de-icecitizensbank.org
Our Costs of War research study by the fabulous Jennifer Greenburg and team in today's USA TODAY. #costsofwar #pentagonbudget #jennifergreenburg #iranwar www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Most Americans say $1.5 trillion for Pentagon is too much, poll finds
Four in 10 Americans think the record Pentagon budget of $1.5 trillion is "much too high," while 19% see it as "somewhat too high," the poll found.
usatoday.com
So important. When @cathylutz.bsky.social and I interviewed teachers across the country and conducted other research for Schooled, school budget and other state and local austerity measures were (already) having a huge impact.
Alex Rikleen formerly for Senate@rikleen.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe frustrating part of this conversation to me: Drops began in the early 2010s - right after years of nationwide cuts to education budgets. What was happening to ratios? To para staffing? To admin support? It's rarely considered as a possible factor, but seems an obvious potential cause.
"Although many authoritarian regimes expand access to education, it is often used as a means of control and a tool for manufacturing loyalty." In the US, this is called "school choice" and vouchers, which go primarily to fund Christian schooling.
How authoritarian regimes use education as a political tool
Governments can spread their ideas and principles through the processes and organisations they use to maintain power. This includes education.
theconversation.com
Please sign this petition to Citizens Bank to stop financing ICE's private prison corporations: sign.moveon.org/petitions/ci...
Citizens Bank: Stop financing CoreCivic and The GEO Group.
CoreCivic and the GEO Group have seen skyrocketing profits in the last year as a result of their direct involvement in Trump’s violent deportation agenda. CoreCivic saw a nearly 70% increase in net in...
sign.moveon.org
Lucia was transported to an emergency room in shackles — only after losing enough blood to need a transfusion. Read her story and learn about Citizens Bank’s role in financing private ICE detention. #deicecitizensbank www.de-icecitizensbank.org/impact/lucia
Community Impact: Citizens Bank and Private Prisons
After delayed medical treatment in the for-profit ICE detention facility where she was being held, Lucia* suffered a miscarriage—and she isn't alone. Read Lucia's story.
de-icecitizensbank.org
The US budget has been trending this way forever but the new proposed budget takes 80% of your federal income tax and gives it to men with guns -- the Pentagon, weapons contractors, ICE agents, veterans of war. A society made by the use of fear and force. A people disgusted and resisting.
Trump’s budget for 2027, a breakdown
Polygraph | Newsletter n°339 | 13 Apr 2026
open.substack.com
Our co-founder @cathylutz.bsky.social joined the @quincyinst.bsky.social’s Always at War podcast to talk about democracy, media and forever wars. www.youtube.com/watch?v=76f9...
The REAL costs of America's wars | GOING DEEP with Catherine Lutz
YouTube video by Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
youtube.com
The Pentagon wants $200 billion more for Trump's War. That $ will NOT: *Bring back the 1000s killed already *Heal the wounded *Return millions of refugees home *Make the war legal *Erode military companies' power *"Support the troops" *Lower gas prices Call your reps & take to the streets March 28
Well, here's a good one: Melber on MSNow outraged about threats to press freedom right after an Iran story in which he says this is the first war fought without giving a reason: Afghanistan because of 9/11, he says, and Iraq because of WMD "whether or not that was true." What an ill-informed dope.
Living like Kings in the Pentagon while killing school girls in Iran: Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab newrepublic.com/post/207555/... via @newrepublic.com
Teachers open up worlds. A short piece by my sister @cathylutz.bsky.social about one who did that for her.
the bug — Blood+Honey
by Catherine Lutz “Winter has had its way with the bush on which the berry hangs, denuding it of its leaves and stripping the fruit of any seeming life.”
bloodhoneylit.com
Tell your Members of Congress to rein in ICE NOW act.indivisible.org/sign/ice-out...
Tell your Members of Congress to rein in ICE NOW
On January 24, federal forces with the Department of Homeland Security killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. This was just over two weeks after the killing of Renee Nicole Good. These killings are a dire...
act.indivisible.org
The Companies Behind Ice: Mapped Here is the data to help us know and protest the ICE budget profiteers in our states. readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
The Companies Behind ICE
Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.
readsludge.com
Costs of War co-founder @cathylutz.bsky.social talks to @reedgalen.bsky.social about how popular opinion is against forever wars. “Popular opinion is one thing, but it’s when that popular opinion gets mobilized that we have any hope of something changing.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9GE...
The Costs of War with Brown University Professor Catherine Lutz
YouTube video by The Home Front
youtube.com
High Pentagon spending has boosted inequality and paved the way for authoritarianism, writes Costs of War co-founder @cathylutz.bsky.social and @lutzfernandez.bsky.social. www.commondreams.org/opinion/auth...
Authoritarianism Feeds on a Bloated Military Budget | Common Dreams
Squeezed domestic spending and extravagant military spending have widened inequality, with dire consequences for democracy.
commondreams.org
Reminder: ICE has a budget bigger than most militaries around the world. It has increased its spending on weapons by 700% since Trump took office. Trump is building his own personal military to terrorize American cities, trample on civil rights, and intimidate his opponents.
Many journos & pundits feel obliged to praise--even as they critique the purpose(s) of the Venezuela war--the competence of the military operation. How does that not make it *worse*? It seems quite bad that we a highly competent, gigantic, overfunded military ready to serve these chaos agents.
Combine militarism and the lawlessness and ignorance of Donald Trump, and this is what you get. Many Venezuelans died last night and many more lives are at risk as a consequence. Impeachment now.
