Latest posts
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The Red Scare Remix: Why “Democratic Socialism” Is Not Communism, and Capitalism Was Never Pure
There’s a certain irony in the fact that Americans can’t define “socialism” but they can sure yell it. It’s our national reflex: hear a policy that sounds vaguely public-minded, grab the nearest flag, and shout “Communism!” as if Khrushchev himself were hiding under your Medicare card. So let’s do something rare for this political century—define
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Mar-a-Washington: How Trump’s Epstein Ballroom Became the White House Tear-Down
There’s a deeply surreal moment when the president of the United States signals that the people’s house is also his personal club—then backs it up by tearing it open with excavators before answering the paperwork. That moment is now, courtesy of the reported teardown of the East Wing of the White House to build a new
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Watchdog? More Like Watchdogged: The Tanking of Trump’s “Nazi-Streak” Nominee
You’d think after a year of government face-plants, someone in Trump’s orbit might nominate a watchdog who didn’t actively bite democracy. Instead, the White House delivered Paul Ingrassia—a 30-year-old law school graduate with the résumé depth of a TikTok bio—to run the Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency designed to protect whistleblowers and keep
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Grift Nation: Inside the Cash Streams of a $0 Paycheck Trump Presidency
He brags he doesn’t take a salary, then turns the presidency into a cashback card with no limit—platform settlements, sovereign “gifts,” crypto windfalls, donor dinners, family funds, and hotel invoices humming like slot machines—daring the country to mistake a press release for ethics. He wants the zero to glow like a halo. He holds it
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The Commander in Brief: How Trump v. Illinois Might Create A Trump Army
It’s a strange moment in the American experiment when the question before the Supreme Court is whether the President can send troops to Chicago because someone held up a sign too close to an ICE office. But here we are: Trump v. Illinois, a case that could turn the National Guard into the president’s personal
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Law and Disorder Portland Edition: The Boots Are Coming From Inside The Country
There’s a subtle tremor in civil society when the uniformed hand that writes the citation also carries the deployment order. A divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has quietly given the green light to Donald J. Trump to federalize the Oregon National Guard—for now—and deploy it into downtown
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Trump Tariff Tantrum: How “Make It Here” Became “Pay More There”
It’s a strange feeling to live inside a macroeconomic cautionary tale while your grocery receipt doubles as documentation. From North Carolina’s Walmarts to Oregon’s farmers’ markets, the new national pastime isn’t baseball—it’s comparing the price of eggs like it’s insider trading. Somewhere between the auto aisle and the frozen section, America’s grand experiment in “decouple-by-diktat”
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Ceasefire on Tap: How Gaza’s “Pause” Turned Into a Sistema of Suspended Violence
There’s a baffling rhythm to modern war: the violence pauses, the cameras blink once, and the scoreboard resets—but nothing actually changes. On October 17, after Israeli officials claimed Hamas fighters killed two Israeli soldiers near Rafah and breached the U.S.–brokered truce, Israel launched what it called its heaviest wave of post-ceasefire airstrikes—targeting tunnels, weapons sites,
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The Potemkin Peace: When Israel and Hamas Gaza Ceasefire Maps Become Rorschach Tests
Somewhere inside the air-conditioned quiet of Foggy Bottom, a handful of diplomats are trying to sell the world on an illusion that’s fraying faster than the paper it’s printed on. The U.S. State Department, ever the dealer in optimism laced with caveats, has warned allies that it has “credible reports” Hamas is preparing an imminent
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Trump’s Failing Ceasefire That’s Cosplaying As A Peace Plan
At the midpoint between “mission accomplished” and “please hold,” the Gaza ceasefire now lives in the liminal space where optimism is just fatigue wearing better clothes. Cameras caught the handshakes, the solemn statements, the flags arranged like theater props—but now the applause has faded, and the work has begun to creak under its own paperwork.