Pro-Choice, Pro-Democracy, Anti-Bullshit

Was Deep State before it was cool. Veteran. Attorney. Former AF JAG. Longtime federal agency staffer. Nature lover. Science fangirl. LGBTQ ally. Fact based.

[Pro-Choice, Pro-Democracy, Anti-Bullshit @herdebness]

My moment of zen today near Buena Vista, Colorado. Perfect day. Perfect hike.

[Rep. Jack Kimble @RepJackKimble]

The Islamic Republic of Japan is now threatening to block The Strait of Hormuz following hostilities with the United States.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

NATO, including the US, has a major interest in helping Ukrainians stop Russias army in Ukraine so we are not dragged into a war with Russia in Lithuania, Estonia, or Poland. It’s that simple.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

There's often a misperception that Ukraine is in our debt. In fact, as @yarotrof suggests, we owe Ukraine for its courage and success in degrading Russia's military and in sending a message worldwide that aggression may be more costly than it first appears.

[Anonymous @YourAnonNews]

The right-wing plan is simple: keep you broke, scared, angry, distracted, and blaming everyone except the rich bastards robbing you blind.

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

JUST. FUCKING. WOW. The humility, decency, and integrity of Jack Smith came across loud and clear. This career prosecutor is an American hero. Jack Smith is the antithesis of the depravity, corruption, and moral bankruptcy of Trump, Todd Blanche, the DOJ, and Kash Patel.

Here is a synopsis of Jack Smith's first televised news interview since he criminally charged the most corrupt president in American history, Donald Trump.

Core Pillars of the Interview

ㆍ The Fragility of the Rule of Law: Smith warned that the rule of law is under an unprecedented attack, declaring it is "different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime." He explained that democratic systems do not run on autopilot and rely entirely on the good-faith commitment of people inside public institutions to uphold them.

ㆍ Consistency Over Politics: He reiterated that a healthy democracy requires investigating cases by focusing strictly on the facts and the law, applying the exact same standards regardless of political affiliation.

ㆍ Defending Career Public Servants: Smith spoke passionately about the career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff who are being "demonized for doing their jobs" by political figures. He expressed that he feels "terrible" about how they are being treated.

ㆍ The Call to Support Them: He emphasized the moral necessity for regular citizens to stand up for these civil servants, stating, "It's really important that we stand up for them and let them know that there are a lot of people out there who back them and who are with them."

ㆍ The Danger of Lost Trust: Smith noted that the loss of institutional trust has a dangerous "cascading effect" on the legal system, warning that when judges and the public lose faith in prosecutors, the Justice Department loses its ability to perform basic functions.

Warnings About Upcoming Elections

ㆍ Deeply Concerned for the Future: When asked directly if the country is witnessing a real-time assault on the upcoming election cycle, Smith explicitly stated, "I'm very concerned of what's going to happen in the next election, absolutely."

ㆍ Bad Actors Have Adapted: He warned that individuals who attempted to subvert the 2020 election have likely learned from past failures, adapting their strategies to be more effective next time.

ㆍ State Attorneys General Must Step Up: Smith emphasized that the federal apparatus cannot be the sole line of defense, noting that state attorneys general now have a massive responsibility to enforce the rule of law within their own state borders to protect voting integrity.

Anticipating Personal Retaliation & Indictment

ㆍ Expecting Retaliation: Wallace asked Smith point-blank if he expects to be criminally indicted by the current Trump administration.

ㆍ A Distinct Possibility: Smith acknowledged that an indictment "could happen," given the administration's vocal hostility toward him and the likely use of the Justice Department to target him directly.

ㆍ Refusing to Back Down: Despite the threat of prosecution, he declared, "I am not going to be intimidated. We did our work, pursuant to department policy... I'm not going to pretend that didn't happen because they are threatening me."

How Legal Experts & Media Analysts Reacted

ㆍ An Extraordinary and Historic Moment: Commentators and legal analysts noted that a public media tour by a former Special Counsel defending the DOJ's integrity against a sitting president is entirely unprecedented in modern political history.

ㆍ Nostalgia for Institutional Norms: Media figures reacted strongly to the broadcast, expressing a sense of nostalgia for a time when the Department of Justice operated under strict, non-partisan legal norms. Smith was praised as a rare, authoritative voice willing to publicly champion rank-and-file civil servants.

ㆍ Composure Under Extreme Pressure: Legal observers highlighted Smith’s calm, professional, and articulate demeanor during the broadcast. Analysts noted that his refusal to get defensive or angry stands as a model for how public officials should handle intense political weaponization.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Q: What did Trump fail to do before launching the Iran strikes?

Bolton: He didn't prepare the American people. Didn't brief Congress. Didn't brief NATO allies. Didn't brief the Gulf Arab states. Didn't brief Japan, South Korea, or Australia. And most important, made no contact with the Iranian opposition.

Didn't ask about their plans, capabilities, whether they needed weapons, money, communications. The regime was at its weakest since 1979 — economy flat, 40,000 massacred in protests, half the population under 30 rejecting the system, women rejecting the Ayatollahs' fundamental legitimacy.

The latent support for regime change was enormous. And he simply didn't do anything.

[Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien]

The US Government has become a bank from which the Trumps can write unlimited checks to themselves.

https://t.co/Ew9FIJELA3

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

McRaven writes that throughout his career as a senior officer, he never once hesitated to provide his best military advice even when it contradicted the secretary or the president. He never feared that candid advice would end his career. He describes that honest engagement as the mechanism that kept senior leaders from making poor military decisions.

The firings of Donahue, George, Brown, Franchetti, and the others dismantle that mechanism. They send a message to every officer still in uniform: the cost of honest advice is your career. Hegseth says he is trying to "revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military." McRaven - who has more warrior ethos in his service record than Hegseth has had in his career - says the opposite is happening. The experienced voices the president needs to avoid military miscalculation are being shown the door. No explanation. No congressional notification until Democrats wrote it into the budget. No accountability.

[Richard Stengel @stengel]

As anyone who has ever worked with the military can tell you, you have no idea what party an officer is a member of. This politicization of the military, plus the demotion of officers of color and women, is weakening one of the only truly meritocratic institutions we have. https://t.co/WnsGw7GmfW

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Sen. @PattyMurray shades GOP Sen. Susan Collins:

Every single Republican in the Senate helped enable this horrifying reality. You don't get to act surprised the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade when you voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. You are going to own the suffering and pain you've inflicted on the women in this country.

[Tim Hannan @TimHannan]

MAGA will believe the Reflecting pool was vandalized with no video proof but deny an insurrection happened when it was on live television. These people are cult fanatics.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

A brand new bridge between Detroit and Canada is finished and ready to open. It would speed up traffic for millions of trucks, cut delays for American businesses, and help the auto industry that employs people in every state. There is just one problem.

Donald Trump won’t let it open.

Here is why.

The family that owns the old bridge stands to lose business when the new one opens. So in January, they gave one million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Weeks later they met with Trump’s Commerce Secretary.

He called Trump.

Hours after that, Trump announced he would block the new bridge. The opening was set for June 12. It got canceled the day before. The bridge sits there finished and empty.

Now here is the part that should make every taxpayer angry.

Canada paid for the entire bridge.

Every dollar. And the United States already owns half of it for free. Trump is holding up a bridge we got for nothing, to protect a donor who wrote him a check, while picking a fight with our closest ally and biggest trading partner.

This is corruption in plain sight.

A billionaire pays, and the President delivers. American workers and businesses pay the price.

Open the bridge. A government should work for the people, not for whoever writes the biggest check.
https://t.co/9o9Gz9UrBo

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

"Do everything you can to make it NOT look like total surrender "

"OK. Where are we gonna sign it?"

"Versailles"

[Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson]

A nuclear Iran with long range ballistic missiles and complete dominance in the Gulf will be Trump’s legacy.

Congrats, MAGA.

[Angry Staffer @Angry_Staffer]

Republicans are attacking the administration’s awful Iran deal.

The administration is attacking Israel.

Israel is attacking the administrations awful Iran deal.

The reflecting pool has leprosy.

I was told there would be winning.

[Angry Staffer @Angry_Staffer]

Now Trump says Iran deserves to have ballistic missiles because everyone else has them, we were going to run out of oil if he didn’t end the war, and you shouldn’t care about Iran because the stock market is at a record high.

Absolute clown show.

[Joe Walsh @WalshFreedom]

He started it.
He fucked it all up.
He lied & lied & lied & lied about it.
He made them stronger.
He made us weaker.
He surrendered.
He lost.
And then he gave them billions & billions & billions.

MAGA, MAGA.

[Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 @cmclymer]

In summary: the entire War in Iran was pointless. Iran is now stronger. We are not safer. Our service members died for no good reason. And Trump is now proposing a $300B fund with our money to the Iranian regime, so that he can end his colossal embarrassment.

[Jamie Bonkiewicz @JamieBonkiewicz]

JD Vance promoting his book about finding his way back to faith while helping manage Situation Room meetings on how to cover up for pedophiles is about as Republican as it gets.

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Mehdi Hasan: “Some people say Bari Weiss will be fired because the ratings are going down and the chaos. That misunderstands what’s going on here. She’s not there to make CBS win in the ratings. She’s there to make CBS a safe place for Trump and MAGA”