Evening Roundup, March 25
Featuring Amy McGrath; Tom Malinowsky in conversation with Jen Rubin; Liam Scott; Brian O'Neill; Nick Anderson; and this week's Word or Phrase we Could Do Without...
The Real Harm in DOD’s Revisionist History
Silencing the stories of non-male, non-white service members is not only an affront to our best and bravest—it’s also a military liability.
By Amy McGrath
Tom Malinowski and Jen Rubin on free media and a Signal slip
Last Friday, six Voice of America employees sued the Trump Administration claiming that it had violated the Constitution after placing 900 full-time network employees on indefinite leave and firing 550 contractors. Jen Rubin interviews Tom Malinowski to discuss the importance of maintaining a network that provides news to over
For Democracy Activists Around the World, VOA Represented Hope
By broadcasting to the world’s most censored populations, Voice Of America offered a window to the rest of the world.
By Liam Scott
When OPSEC is just a word
The Atlantic shows how Trump’s national security team blurred strategy with spectacle.
By Brian O’Neill
War plans
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist whose cartoons have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post and elsewhere. Find him on Substack at nickanderson.substack.com.
And in case you missed it this morning…
Words & Phrases We Could do Without
Twenty years ago, the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, propounded on the concept of “academic freedom.” He explained, “Academic freedom goes to the heart of the university, to the rights and responsibilities of faculty and students, to the nature of teaching and scholarship.”
See you tomorrow, Contrarians! Thanks for being with us.
Thanks to the GOP, America is getting a big civics lesson. We're comparing two governments. One US government run by a president who was a great administrator, created new programs to help all Americans, rebuilt our alliances around the world to stand up to our traditional anti-democratic enemies and soft landed the COVID economy.
The second government is run by a reality TV star communing with his inner Zeus. Now we get daily and sometimes hourly Zeus episodes. Which seem to have the same themes. "America is a crime ridden dung heap being destroyed by pet eating immigrants." "The Federal government is a bloated, fraudulent enterprise that needs to be blown apart with Zeus' thunderbolts." "I've appointed the finest bunch of superhero demigods to clean up all the messes". And "I have a super rich hatchet man who understands that government FRAUD means Any Government Expenditure (except for Skylink and SpaceX)" and he is getting rid of WASTE!!." "But don't worry. Zeus will save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from the hatchet man's hatchet" (just like the price of eggs came down on day one).
And the NYTimes is giving Zeus all it's available ink.. maybe the paper will open a new section titled "Zeus and the return of Mt Olympus Gods." just to help us keep up.
But rather than keeping up, we should LEAD. We should replace the April 5 national marches with a national strike. Everywhere.
Discussion of specific (highly classified) operational details in a (Signal) group chat with the highest levels of the admins intelligence & defense officials & a journalist, just hours before U.S. troops attack terrorist targets, is an egregious breach of national security & violation laws to prevent such disclosure & maintain official records. NYT reports that the admin denies the obvious classified level of the details discussed, & btw Dems are not united on appropriate sanctions.
MSM continues platforming of Trump admin blatant lies: "Top Officials Reject Responsibility" (& the media &/or Biden are to blame)
Dunning–Kruger effect doesn’t touch this level of bat shit crazy arrogance & incompetence.