Category: Substack Articles

Summaries of our latest commentary, explainers, and action step notes. Each summary includes a direct link to read the full article on Substack, where you’ll find grounded analysis and practical tools for civic engagement.

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Ted Cruz and the Texas Flooding Tragedy: Who He Is

The devastating flash floods that struck central Texas over July 4th weekend have killed at least 120 people, with more than 170 still missing. Among the dead are 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic summer camp, with 5 campers and 1 counselor still unaccounted for. As the tragedy unfolded, troubling details emerged about the timing of federal budget cuts and political decisions that preceded the disaster.

This article covers the devastating Texas floods over July 4th weekend, federal budget cuts, and political responses.

Continue reading “Ted Cruz and the Texas Flooding Tragedy: Who He Is”

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Suffocation and Recovery

Navigating Accelerating Change

One drop of oil can suffocate an entire pond. Accelerating change can suffocate democratic communication. At the same time, we’re gaining unprecedented adaptability, new forms of collective intelligence, and expanded possibilities for cooperation. We can choose values-based navigation to steer through constant disruption and build new forms of human flourishing.

 

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have lived in an ecosystem of accelerating change. This article explores how rapid technological and social disruption fragments democratic communication, what we gain and lose in the process, and how values-based navigation can help us preserve what matters most while adapting to permanent change. Includes practical frameworks for choosing shared values and rebuilding communication systems.

 

Read the full post here

 

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The Next Leap

On Lewis Thomas, human superpowers, and communication

On Lewis Thomas, human superpowers, and communication. AI feels like the next great leap in human communication – from language to writing to printing to the internet. But as small towns get poisoned by data centers and wealth concentrates upward, we’re racing through changes faster than we can adapt. One lifetime: party line to artificial intelligence.

 

AI feels like the next great leap in human communication. But as small towns get poisoned by data centers and wealth concentrates upward, we’re racing through changes faster than we can adapt.

 

Read the full post here

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The Propaganda Machine Has Hijacked Our Brains

We are being played, and we are losing the game.

We are being played, and we are losing the game.. The propaganda machine has hijacked our brains. It keeps us fighting each other while the powerful rig the system against us. We need to see what’s happening—and take our minds back.

 

Propaganda is dividing us and destroying our democracy. See how it works, why it’s so dangerous, and how we can get America back on track.

 

Read the full post here

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Part 4: Lessons from American History

Reclaiming Democracy from Manufactured Confusion

Learn proven strategies from American history for challenging captured institutions and corporate control. Discover how the Populist Movement of the 1890s, Labor Movement, and Civil Rights Movement successfully built independent power through economic disruption, parallel institution building, and cross-coalition organizing. Essential playbook for modern democracy reform, political organizing, and grassroots activism against monopolies and special interests.

 

How Americans Beat Captured Political Systems: Historical Lessons from Populist, Labor & Civil Rights Movements to Utilize for Modern Democracy Reform

 

Read the full post here

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Trump’s Distraction Playbook: This Week’s Violence Is No Accident

The pattern is clear, and it’s escalating dangerously.

Trump has a documented three-step playbook when facing bad news:

  1. DENY the problem exists
  2. DIVERT attention to manufactured drama
  3. DISCREDIT anyone who calls him out

This week, he faced a perfect storm of catastrophic news:

  • GDP growth projections CUT IN HALF (2.8% to 1.6%)
  • 40% recession risk according to J.P. Morgan
  • Approval ratings collapsed to 39% – underwater on EVERY issue
  • $22 billion feud with Musk threatening national security
  • Federal courts struck down his tariff policies as ILLEGAL
  • Canada relations in freefall with retaliatory tariffs

read Substack summary here

full analysis / article (long) here