Evening Roundup, April 18
Featuring Jen Rubin with Jason Rezaian; Michael Franklin; Liam Scott; Jennifer Schulze; The Democracy Index; Meredith Blake; Ruben Bolling; Marissa Rothkopf; and our Pet of the Week!
Is Kilmar Abrejo Garcia a State Hostage? Jason Rezaian explains
In 2015, Jason Rezaian was unjustly arrested in Iran and detained for nearly a year and a half. Since his release, he has been advocating for other political hostages imprisoned by foreign nations. Now, he joins Jen to discuss the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador and what the Trump administration’s refusal…
‘One hairdresser' is the voice of complicity in 2025
By Michael Franklin
Andry Hernandez Romero and others whose names we don't know are also victims of state-sponsored violence.
Trump Officials Trolling Journalists is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
By Liam Scott
Behind the harassment of individual reporters is a full-scale assault on media freedom.
There’s no vacation from Trump. He’s ruining everything.
By Jennifer Schulze
Your summer 2025 travel itinerary could include raging fires, germy cruise ships, and burner phones.
The Democracy Index
Remember in “Mary Poppins” when Julie Andrews sings, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…In a most delightful way?” How she made us feel like we could get through an unpleasant task with a positive attitude?
Why the “feminist” Blue Origin space flight was an affront to women like Sally Ride
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, comedian Marcia Belsky went viral with a song called “100 Tampons,” about Sally Ride’s history-making trip to space.
Tom the Dancing Bug
Follow Ruben Bolling on Substack here; Join Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive here; and here is the Tom the Dancing Bug website, with information about the new book, “It’s the Great Storm, Tom the Dancing Bug!"
Lemon posset meets Eton mess
“Yet be cheerful knight: thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house;
Where I will desire thee to laugh at my wife.”
—Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 5, Scene 5
This interview was informative, interesting and, for me, hugely important....I feel I know something - at least much more than I did - about how these hostage-taking situations work. To me, the important thing is of course to get Mr. Garcia back as soon as possible but equally important is the return of the others who were taken with him. Mr. Garcia's removal was an "administrative error"; the removal of the others was purposely full and completely illegal....
The Blue Origin photo op was an affront to any of the female pioneers who actually earned their place in history. Jeff Bezos’ space endeavors are a freak show, not to be compared with NASAs achievements. Same for muskrat, although he hires smarter people.