Doug Thompson

Political Reporter and Enterprise Editor for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. [email protected]

[Doug Thompson @NWADoug]

Unsolicited scandal management advice:

At least try to sound more concerned about the substance of the dirty deed than on how it came to light.

[Chad Pergram @ChadPergram]

WH’s Miller on Fox:
The President is the whistleblower here. The president of the United States is the whistleblower. And this individual is a saboteur trying to undermine a democratically elected government.

[Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney]

JUDGE MILLETT: If the govt decides very quickly to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, the people whose ancestors — that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the govt moved too fast — nothing can be done?

DOJ: I think that’s right, yes.

[alex kershaw @kershaw_alex]

D-Day is underway. Some would argue that what's happening right now is the most daring and ultimately successful operation in the history of military Alliances.
Note: the majority of troops are friends of the US from eight countries. Eisenhower has been told that three-quarters of the 23,400 airborne troops will be lost. He's hoping that the prediction will be wrong.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

It is well-documented how excesses on the far political wings strengthen the opposite fringe. MAGA and the DSA both consider their worst enemies to be not each other, but the moderates in their own parties. My latest on last night's primaries:

[Bridgewater Police (Massachusetts) @BwtrPolice]

05/23/2026 10:40AM Caller from South/Pleasant Street reports male party wearing camo clothing and possibly carrying a bazooka in the area. Officer reports male is landscaper with leaf blower.

[Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien]

The Ukrainian decision to double down on drone warfare, from the battlefield, to mid range and long range strike, and not to draft all of its young men to make infantry, will be seen by historians as one of the most important decisions in 19th-21st century warfare.

[David J. Bier @David_J_Bier]

According to the anti-immigrant CIS, every year for the last 2+ decades, immigrant arrivals have been more educated than the US-born population, yet you'd never know it listening to the debate over immigration.

[Doug Thompson @NWADoug]

@JLRIII @playbookdc Just to show how right you are: Hammer's margin in Saline Co. -- 2,051 votes.

Hammer's margin statewide, including Saline Co. -- 918 votes

[Patrick De Haan @GasBuddyGuy]

Can't overstate the impact that's coming down the pipeline to truckers, farmers, logistics, and beyond- the U.S. economy runs on diesel with several states setting new all-time highs for diesel, while others are seeing largest monthly increases of all time:
AZ +67%
NV +58%
NC +58%
TN +56%
LA +56%

[RS Archer @archer_rs]

Astonishing statement from General Carsten Breuer, chief of the German defence staff.

"Germany no longer regards the USA as a reliable defence partner. We are assuming conflict with Russia in the next few years is inevitable, we are re-arming.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

She accidentally described one of the most replicated findings in behavioral psychology.

Harvard and Duke researchers found in 2011 that people value things they build themselves 63% higher than identical pre-assembled versions. They called it the IKEA effect. Labor alone, even assembling a standardized box from instructions, is enough to make people overvalue their own creations.

Gardening runs this effect at full intensity. You chose the seeds. You dug the holes. You watered daily. By harvest, your brain has priced that tomato at roughly 10x grocery store rates, and the math feels completely justified.

Now stack Kahneman and Tversky's loss aversion on top. Losses register at approximately 2x the emotional intensity of equivalent gains. One of the most replicated findings in behavioral economics.

So the aphid eating her garden is triggering both simultaneously. She built something her brain values at 163% of objective worth. She's watching it get destroyed in real time. Her nervous system is processing that destruction at double intensity.

The grocery store tomato being out of stock? Mild annoyance. Zero labor investment means zero IKEA effect, means proportional emotional response.

The garden tomato carries months of accumulated effort justification. The aphid isn't eating a $4 tomato. Her brain priced it at $40 and is processing the loss at $80.

Gardening is the only common hobby that combines the IKEA effect, loss aversion, and a live adversary that reproduces faster than you can respond.

The violence tracks.

[Dan Go @CoachDanGo]

The greatest skill you can learn in life is showing up. Don't want to hit the gym? Show up. Don't want to do that task? Stop trying to be motivated and just show up. You'll get ahead of 95% of people when you don't rely on your feelings to show up for the things you gotta do.

[Arkansas Times @ArkTimes]

UCA will host Pulitzer Prize finalist Jerry Mitchell, whose investigative reporting put several white supremacists in prison for some of the most infamous murders of the Civil Rights era, at the end of March as an artist in residence. https://t.co/fQgePMa1Zy

[Freyy @Freyy_is]

dear apple, the iPod needs to come back. not for nostalgia. for the parents who want their kids to love music and audiobooks without a browser, social media, and the whole internet attached to it

[Pew Research Center @pewresearch]

A total of 348,219 people quit, retired, were laid off or otherwise left federal employment last year – up 80.8% from 2024.

[Gov. Asa Hutchinson @AsaHutchinson]

“We will remember Lou Holtz as one of the best college football coaches in our lifetime; but Lou was much more. He was a person of devout faith, he showed courage in his leadership & he inspired everyone he met to reach higher and to do what was right. Thanks Coach! “

[Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney]

Trump taps Sen. Mullin to replace NOEM

https://t.co/yqJmqsLKeL

[Larry Sabato @LarrySabato]

NEW: Politico is reporting Trump has ousted Kristi Noem as DHS Secretary and chosen US Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to replace her.

[Doug Thompson @NWADoug]

Misha McQuillen Gardner of Fayetteville has arrived safely in Houston after the mayhem in Mexico. She just posted on Facebook.

[Fr. Dwight Longenecker @dlongenecker1]

It is the time to hear second graders' first confessions. One year I had a seven year old boy confess to committing adultery. When I asked if he knew what that was he said, "Pretending to be a grown up?"

[Nikki Haley @NikkiHaley]

This year, federal debt will exceed the size of our economy.

We need to fix entitlements, spend less, and grow more.

Every politician should have to answer for this in the next election.