Steve Standage

Husband, Father, Pediatric Intensivist, Teacher, and Sepsis Researcher

[Steve Standage @SteveStandage]

Yup.

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

The U.S. has spent billions to lose a war that enriches its oligarchs, impoverishes the citizenry, sabotages its alliances, and strengthens its enemies. Empires have risen and failed before, but to my knowledge no state has ever chosen to kill its own power.
https://t.co/Fv7p6tkzoH

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

The U.S. has spent billions to lose a war that enriches its oligarchs, impoverishes the citizenry, sabotages its alliances, and strengthens its enemies. Empires have risen and failed before, but to my knowledge no state has ever chosen to kill its own power.
https://t.co/Fv7p6tkzoH

[Jeremy Wayne Tate @JeremyTate41]

Ben Sasse’s maiden speech in the Senate back in 2014 broke the Internet, 1000 years from now he will likely be regarded as our Cicero.

[Cyrus Janssen @thecyrusjanssen]

An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today👇

"As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions.

Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation.

So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East.

Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse.

A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

As yet another preemptive war is begun in the Middle East, John Quincy Adam’s words of wisdom still ring true:

“Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.”

Like most Americans I have sympathy for the plight of the Iranian people and all subjected people around the globe, from North Korea to Tibet.

But as Adam’s wrote, America:  “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.

She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.

She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

The Constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely.  

Madison wrote that “the Executive Branch is the branch most prone to war, therefore, the Constitution, with studied care, delegated the war power to the legislature.”

As with all war, my first and purest instinct is wish Americans soldiers safety and success in their mission.  

But my oath of office is to the Constitution, so with studied care, I must oppose another Presidential war.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

The government can absolutely decide not to contract with a company that won’t build the product it wants. That’s normal procurement discretion, and nobody should pretend otherwise.

What’s NOT normal is escalating from “okay, we’ll take our business elsewhere” to “we’re going to brand you a supply chain risk unless you change your internal rules.” That label is supposed to be about genuine security vulnerabilities—foreign control, compromised systems, coerced access—not about an American company drawing lines around what it will and won’t build. Using it as a pressure tactic is a dangerous category mistake.

And right there is where the First Amendment problem starts to come into view—not as some abstract argument about whose viewpoint wins, but as a very concrete free-speech issue: compelled speech. If the government uses extraordinary leverage—blacklisting-style designations, emergency authorities, or other coercive tools—to force a private company to generate outputs it would not otherwise produce, that’s not ordinary contracting anymore. That’s the state coercing a private speaker to speak.

The reported threat to invoke the Defense Production Act takes it into even darker territory. The DPA is meant to prioritize or compel production for genuine national-defense needs, not to function as a “rewrite your model’s rules or else” mechanism. Using it that way would be a breathtaking precedent: the government effectively reserving the power to commandeer the policies of a leading AI company when it doesn’t like the answer “no.”

That should worry anyone who cares about free speech—and about reality-testing. Once the government normalizes coercive pressure to make AI systems behave as it prefers, you’re no longer just talking about procurement choices. You’re talking about government power shaping one of the core tools we increasingly use to understand what the world actually looks like.

[Dr. Arthur Brooks @arthurbrooks]

Your kids won’t become what you tell them to be. They become what they watch you be.

Live as the person you hope your child will become.

[Gérald Caussé @Gerald_Causse]

I was playing the piano when one of our grandsons decided it was time to join in.

In that small, tender moment, I was reminded of the precious blessing it is to help a child learn, grow, and thrive—whether as parents, teachers, leaders, or mentors.

There is no stewardship more sacred, more fulfilling—and yes, more demanding—than that of becoming cocreators with our Heavenly Father, and partnering with Him in guiding children and youth toward their eternal potential.

This divine duty brings deep joy. It also transforms us—stretching and refining us as we strive to become more like the Savior.

[Chris Vanderveen (yep…me) @chrisvanderveen]

I'll let you draw your own conclusions about the legality or potential criminality of the shoot itself

I will be interested in knowing which of the shots was fatal

I would also ask you to consider the written statement from @DHSgov

Does it mesh w/what you've seen?

11/11

[Tim Wu @superwuster]

It may sound unlikely but sometimes game theory helps understand the actions and motives of the Trump Administration.

Many institutions or systems are premised on the idea that they are a solution to a collective action problem (or N-player prisoners dilemma). They are situations where it benefits everyone to cooperate; but where defection leads a short term advantage, if the other side continues to cooperate.

The original prisoners' dilemma has this dynamic. Both prisoners are better off if they keep silent. But if one prisoner rats out the other, he's better off; but if they both tell on the other, that's the worst possible outcome.

The Trump administration has learned it can hit "defect" on several long-established systems of order (the laws of war, for example), and reap short-term gains. It is these short term gains based on rule-breaking that are yielding the victory celebrations.

But the theory also predicts that, in time, other players in the system will stop cooperating and stop playing by the old rules -- and they will start defecting as well (a tit-for-tat strategy). And that will ultimately yield an outcome bad for everyone -- like a real war.

Unfortunately that's where it looks we are heading: a world that is ultimately worse for everyone in it.

[John Kasich @JohnKasich]

We’re drifting toward a dangerous idea: that might makes right.

We’ve seen this before. When the strong dominate the weak, whether in a town or on the world stage, it may look powerful at first, but over time it drags everyone down. We tried the law of the jungle in the last century, and it gave us world wars and devastating loss.

America was founded to lead by example, not by intimidation. Right is right. And how we use our strength will determine whether others see us as a partner or a threat.

[Holden Culotta @Holden_Culotta]

Thomas Massie is going NUCLEAR on Trump’s regime change war in Venezuela.

“How did it work out in Cuba, Libya, Iraq, or Syria?”

“Do we want another Afghanistan in the Western Hemisphere?”

“This is about oil and regime change.”

“Previous presidents told us to go to war over WMDs, weapons of mass destruction, that did not exist.”

“Now it’s the same playbook, except we’re told that drugs are the WMDs.”

“James Madison warned us that in no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war and peace to the legislature—not the executive.”

“The framers understood a simple truth: to the extent that war-making power devolves to one person, liberty dissolves.”

“By escalating toward war, we would predictably create countless refugees.”

“Are we prepared to receive swarms of the 25 million Venezuelans who will likely become refugees?”

@RepThomasMassie @MassieforKY

[Steve Standage @SteveStandage]

Not a fan of MTG, but I think her words here are pretty accurate.

[Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 @FmrRepMTG]

I’ve served on the Homeland Security Committee for the past three years. I’m 100% for strong safe secure borders and stopping narco terrorists and cartels from trafficking deadly drugs and human trafficking into America.

Fentanyl is responsible for over 70% of U.S. drug overdose deaths and fentanyl comes from Mexican cartels made with chemical precursors from China and trafficked across the U.S. Mexico border.

Mexican cartels are primarily and overwhelmingly responsible for killing Americans with deadly drugs.

If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?

And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America? Ironically cocaine is the same drug that Venezuela primarily traffics into the U.S.

The next obvious observation is that by removing Maduro this is a clear move for control over Venezuelan oil supplies that will ensure stability for the next obvious regime change war in Iran.

And of course why is it ok for America to militarily invade, bomb, and arrest a foreign leader but Russia is evil for invading Ukraine and China is bad for aggression against Taiwan? Is it only ok if we do it? (I’m not endorsing Russia or China)

Regime change, funding foreign wars, and American’s tax dollars being consistently funneled to foreign causes, foreigners both home and abroad, and foreign governments while Americans are consistently facing increasing cost of living, housing, healthcare, and learn about scams and fraud of their tax dollars is what has most Americans enraged. Especially the younger generations. Boomers and half of Gen X will cheer on neocon wars and talking points, but the other half of Gen X and majority on down see through it and hate it.

Americans disgust with our own government’s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going.

This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end.

Boy were we wrong.

As the baby boomers slip away both in votes and power, the electoral future will be decided for candidates that focus on American economic populism and promising prosperity for Americans only.

As of right now, neither party is offering the solution.

[Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar]

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and other top executives and editors sent a memo to CBS News employees today stating:

“No amount of outrage—whether from activist organizations or the White House—will derail us. We are not out to score points with one side of the political spectrum or to win followers on social media.”

More Here: https://t.co/Q7lj1r97TJ

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

Yes.

Writing is not a second thing that happens after thinking. The act of writing is an act of thinking. Writing *is* thinking.

Students, academics, and anyone else who outsources their writing to LLMs will find their screens full of words and their minds emptied of thought.

[Cincinnati Children’s Research @CincyResearch]

Pediatric ICU rates linked to housing quality, income, education. Study @accpchest led by Carlie Myers, MD, MS, @CincyChildrens: https://t.co/pJVFiirYGF Read new Healio article: https://t.co/o5ilgh7cNi

[Liz Cheney @Liz_Cheney]

The framers of our Constitution knew that our republic would endure only if our presidents have the character and honor to put duty ahead of self interest. President Biden deserves our gratitude for his decades of service to our nation and for his courageous decision today.

[Ezra Klein @ezraklein]

The Democratic "elites" got here long after the voters. What the debate did was to make it impossible for them to ignore what the voters already believed.

I take nothing away from those who wanted Biden to stay in. Everyone here was acting in good faith, under difficult conditions. But the voters were clear all along — they were just being denied a real choice of candidates or real information about Biden's capacity to campaign. The debate broke that, and that fractured the unity of the elites, and moved more of them towards the position that voters had long held. https://t.co/fq0H2qDY3J

[Cincinnati Children’s Research @CincyResearch]

Congrats to @MihirAtreya and team for publishing this important step forward in pediatric #sepsis research! #criticalcare #pedsICU https://t.co/nWN3a01fuD

[Steve Standage @SteveStandage]

Yes!

[Patrick Lahni @PatrickLahni]

@JDVance1 Getting convicted of doing actual crimes isn’t weaponization.