Evening Roundup, May 19
True American identity, Musk v Altman, late night religion, the 2026 gameplan, casualties in war on Iran, public servants 2.0, and The Pod
Spotlight Story
Widening Our American Identity
As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, I think about the ancestral stories my children will inherit about the country they belong to. The story of their great-great-great Jewish grandmother who escaped the pogroms in Ukraine; their great-grandfather from Ireland who entered America as a whiskey merchant; their refugee Palestinian family rendere…
Hot Mic
The Musk v. Altman Verdict Leaves the Biggest Questions Unanswered
Three weeks ago in Oakland, Elon Musk and Sam Altman began a bitter trial to decide the fate of OpenAI, a company the former friends had co-founded in 2015. Technically at stake was whether Altman had deceived Musk in converting the corporation from the non-profit they had agreed to when Musk initially invested. The clash of egos entranced Silicon Valle…
How Stephen Colbert Brought God into Late Night TV
When Stephen Colbert signs off from The Late Show on Thursday after 11 years and 1801 episodes, it will be a loss for comedy fans, for people who believe in free speech, and for the 200 or so writers, staff, an…
Election Epicenter
Here's How Dems Win the 2026 Midterms
Detrimental power grabs. Dismal economic outlooks. Widespread corruption.
Missing From The Headlines
Civilian Deaths Still Shadow Precision Warfare
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command overseeing military operations against Iran, was asked about reports of civilian casualties resulting from the American air campaign. Cooper told senators that among more than 13,600 U.S. strikes conducted during the conflict, his comm…
Executive Dysfunction
The Right Path to a New Generation of Public Servants
The Trump administration last year arbitrarily jettisoned thousands of young employees and eliminated successful programs to bring both early-career and technology specialists into the government. It now has suddenly reversed course, announcing new initiatives to prioritize these two vital talent cohorts.
Media Center
The Road to Winning the Midterms, 2028, and Beyond
The Midterms are quickly approaching with one of America’s best opportunities to stand up to Trump’s authoritarian takeover.
Jen, Norman and the rest of the team. You all know that to win the midterms, undeniably, we must have a massive turnout. I’m a member of Indivisible Evanston(IE) and I have been attending zoom meetings of several organizations that are dedícated to registering, educating and Turning out voters. I’m attaching a link to our IE newsletter of a post I created which highlights and promotes these organizations. Please check out their websites and see what they are doing. You may even be aware of some of them.
My ask is to get some of these folks on your Substack live intervews. We must get the word out to a large audience. The purpose is to support them. I call it “The Best Bang for our Donation Bucks”
I’m hoping you will give this some thought. Thanks for all you do to get the word out to those of us doing all we can to save our democracy and defeat this regime.
As Joyce Vance says “we are all in this together.”
Steve 😊♥️
https://www.indivisibleevanston.com/post/donating-to-win
What you can do to fight Trump's corrupt slush fund: File an Inspector General complaint. Treasury OIG handles Judgment Fund disbursement issues. File at oig.treasury.gov/report-fraud-waste-and-abuse DOJ OIG handles AG misconduct.
File at oig.justice.gov/hotline & #VoteBlue! https://mitchthelawyer.substack.com/p/trumps-1776-billion-anti-weaponization?r=aexlz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email