The Boy From Swakopmund March 22, 2026 Jim Stewartson on Palantir: The Pentagon is integrating Peter Thiel’s surveillance software throughout the military. Be very afraid. . . . Thiel’s Naziphilia has been clear for a very long time. And there is a reason for that. Thiel was raised in the most Nazi town on Earth in the 1970s: Swakopmund, in apartheid-controlled SW Africa (now Namibia). Thiel’s apartheid Christian school—and the town itself—used “Heil Hitler!” as a normal greeting, just as they did in Nazi Germany. Thiel’s father Klaus moved his family to Swakopmund when Peter was a baby to develop a secret uranium mine outside of town—which fed apartheid South Africa’s illegal nuclear weapons program. . . . Imagine what it was like to be a young gay boy growing up in a Nazi-soaked apartheid town in southern Africa, and being brought back to the U.S. at ten years old. Peter Thiel has reportedly described the early part of his childhood as being formative in his thinking—about who should have power and who should not. This supremacist belief that the world should bend itself to your will because of your genetics alone was a feature of apartheid-era education—just as it was in Nazi Germany. This background is why both Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are among the most racist people to ever gain fame or power. The apartheid system was designed to produce people like Musk and Thiel—people who believe they are entitled to make the world safe for those who are privileged and white, and to enslave or kill everyone else. . . . By 2015, Thiel was heavily involved with Jeffrey Epstein, the Russians, and a who’s who of neo-Nazi propagandists, hackers, and fellow fascist billionaires in a plan to make sure Hillary Clinton did not become president. The Epstein files make it clear: Epstein, Thiel, and the Russian government conspired to smear Hillary with Epstein’s child rape crimes. I hope this is overdone — I only fact-checked the Swakopmund part — but it’s worth your consideration. Not all Trumpers are racist! (Though most racists are Trumpers.) Still . . . some who expected prices to come down and Russia’s brutalization of Ukraine to end “on day one” are getting restless. Some are even Leaving MAGA. They may like having lightly trained, heavily armed masked agents ripping families apart without due process. But seeing billionaire wealth rise by more than trillion dollars while they struggle to make their own ends meet? And some of them would like to see the Epstein files released in full without unnecessary redaction. And wonder why he “wishes Ghislaine Maxwell well” and sells pardons and . . . well, it’s a long list, when they start to look closely. Joyce Vance: Decency Died Along With Bob Mueller: When the Mueller report was finished during Trump’s first term in office, Trump‘s Attorney General, Bill Barr, claimed it was a total exoneration. That, of course, was not the case. Once the entire, albeit redacted, report became available, it was clear that it was a stunning indictment of a sitting president—but one that respected constraints on prosecutors that prevented an actual indictment of a sitting president. It should’ve been a roadmap for Congress to impeach and convict, but they did not take up Muller’s invitation. Trump shared his comments on the passing of an American hero this morning: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” Join Indivisible. Buy your sign. Support the opposition.
Voter Fraud! (And A Word From God) March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 VOTER FRAUD Carl believes millions of noncitizens vote illegally — Trump says they do! — risking prison and/or deportation to do so — just as a dear friend of mine believes he has communicated with aliens and flown on one of their spaceships. (Seriously. They picked him up at Mt. Shasta.) I’m pretty sure both of them are mistaken. Voter Fraud What You Should Know in under two minutes. There is voter fraud — and surely more than leads to convictions. But even if only one in 100 perpetrators is caught — so that the 1,620 cases cited in that video are really 162,000 cases spread over those 43 years — 3700 a year — it’s still effectively zero. All the more so because of what our friends on the red team fail to acknowledge: It is at least as often their voters and operatives who commit the fraud, not ours. WHERE TO GIVE Rob N.: “With so many candidates deluging us with requests, can you give advice on KEY races that would have the most impact?” For talking back the House, A House United was built exactly for you. Though I would argue that, now, while there’s still time for it to make a difference, much of your money should go to the “infrastructure” that all 8,000+ Democratic candidates rely on. My favorite in that area is the much-maligned, much-misunderstood DNC. Give here. WHAT TO GIVE John G.: “I just received my tax refund and it reminded me to suggest that you encourage your readers to use this windfall to make a contribution to the DNC. There is no more critical time than the present.” → Full disclosure: I do not know John. Nor have I invented him or paid him in any way to send that note. I just love him madly — as I will you, if you follow his lead. The best form of polyamory. BOROWITZ God Formally Notifies Mike Johnson That he is Going to Hell.
Apparently, I’m An Idiot March 19, 2026March 18, 2026 I War-Gamed Iran for Obama. This Is the Worst-Case Scenario. Uh, oh. Hoping for the best — but worried. There’s something about great speeches. I’ve posted this (real) one several times — Ronald Reagan’s farewell remarks (4 minutes). As apt today as 27 years ago. And I’ve probably posted this (fictional) one, as well: America Is Not the Greatest Country Anymore — But We could Be (5 minutes). Truer, sadly, than ever. BONUS On the off chance you haven’t seen this: “Apparently, I’m an idiot” (19 seconds). Join today’s Indivisible call — 3pm Eastern. Support the opposition.
Remember Human DJ’s? March 18, 2026March 18, 2026 PRKR The trial was postponed again. If I hadn’t seen the Seinfeld “Serenity Now” episode so many times, this might have sent me over the edge. But like the refugees stuck in Casablanca desperate for exit visas, what can we do? We just wait. And wait. And wait. AI DJ In the meantime, the capability of our future overlords just continues to explode. This, I’m told by someone smarter than me, is real: Live AI DJ takes calls. I’m taking the rest of the day off.
Putin + Epstein / Your Money / Florida! March 17, 2026 PUTIN + EPSTEIN Tom Hartmann: Staggering evidence trove shows who put Trump in the White House — and controls him still. → No Trump supporter will read this; but refusing to makes it no less damning. YOUR MONEY Richard Bookstaber: I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse. → Who knows whether or when, if ever, we’ll have another financial collapse — we are, arguably, overdue — but I’d sure rather have some cash on the sidelines than be investing on margin. PRKR Pre-trial conference Wednesday, jury selection Thursday, trial begins Friday and should last about a week. This could be the beginning of a cascade of good news; the beginning of the end; or something in between. With 200 million or so shares outstanding, vastly more than we first nibbled at this speculation, the dream of a $10 stock, let alone higher, seems fanciful. But neither am I selling here at 30 cents. FLORIDA! Three months after a Democrat won the Miami mayoralty — for the first time in more than 30 years — a Democrat did it again in Boca Raton, also for the first time in 30 years. The tide is turning: Alex Vindman could be Florida’s next senator; David Jolly, its next Governor. In Miami, Eileen Higgins won by a mile. It was a blow-out. In Boca, Andy Thomson won by just five votes. November will see a giant Blue Wave from Florida to Alaska if each of us acts as though our involvement just might make that five-vote difference. Join Indivisible. Buy your sign. Support the opposition. We can’t let Stephen Miller, Putin and the Proud Boys win.
E Pluribus, Unum March 15, 2026March 15, 2026 Before you read Tom Friedman’s wonderfully uplifting, hopeful, inspirational piece, take 3 minutes to watch How Trump is Turning DC into Pyongyang. Okay, now: Tom Friedman: Why Minnesota Matters More Than Iran for America’s Future Join Indivisible. Buy your sign. Support the opposition.
Looking For Listens? March 13, 2026March 12, 2026 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT I’ve listened to three life stories this winter that I’ve really enjoyed. They not be for you — or you may prefer to read with your eyes (what a concept!) — but for your consideration: 1. Lance Black — Mama’s Boy, read by the author, whose polio-disabled mom would never be able to have children but had three, and who . . . well, her story is amazing. Lance’s, too. Turns out, if you can win an Oscar for writing a screenplay (Milk), you can also write a pretty compelling book. 2. Jeffery Seller — Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir. You’ve heard of Hamilton? You’ve heard of Rent? 3. Lorne Michaels — Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. Need I say more?* Cheaper on Kindle, but hard to read with your eyes while you’re power-walking or cleaning the house. And not cheaper on Kindle if you have a monthly Audible subscription. Cheaper still if your local library offers free audio book rentals. THIS IS NOT Oil Shock Sends Tremors Through World Economy: ‘This Really Is the Big One’ If you see your glass as half empty, pour it into a smaller glass and stop bitching. — Anon *Okay, I can’t resist a little more. The narrator does a good job, but here and there it’s so funny. She’s young. The world is old. She clearly has never heard of a mimeograph machine — she pronounces it “MIME-graph” — or of Bulova watches — she pronounces them “bull-LOW-va” — and the same for the names of some famous people she never heard of. It’s no big deal; and, of course, she knows much we boomers don’t. But I got a kick out of it.
Remembering Mike Flynn March 12, 2026March 11, 2026 TYRANNY America is still blue — as only 23% of the world is. (You go, Mongolia!) Let’s keep it that way. Join Indivisible. Support the opposition. INSANITY Wars start over perceived slights. Look at someone wrong in certain circles and you could get killed. Mock someone at a Gridiron dinner or call them “deplorables” at a fundraiser and you could wind up with the unthinkable situation we find ourselves in today. Kill someone’s evil father and shoot off his legs (or whatever we did) and he might not be amenable to your idea of a “quick excursion.” Did Trump not know about the strait of Hormuz? Or that the millions of unhappy but defenseless Iranians are no match for 200,000 heavily armed killers? I don’t see how this ends well, or soon, for anybody except the Russians and Chinese. Putin wins again. RUSSIA MAGA believes the Russia stuff is a hoax because Trump tells them that it is. Trump believes Russia didn’t interfere with the 2016 election because Putin told him so. As a patriotic American, he claims to have more faith in Putin than in the CIA and FBI. (Not that he doesn’t know the truth, of course.) Witkoff believes Russia isn’t helping Iran fight us because Putin told him so. When there’s too much evidence — the 400-page Mueller report, for example — it can simply be dismissed. Who would ever read anything so long? Shorter — though no more likely to be read by MAGAns — was Jim Stewartson’s post yesterday. There you had Mike Flynn sitting next to Putin in Moscow — as haven’t we all? — and later being appointed National Security Advisor in the first Trump administration — and later being pardoned by Trump after pleading guilty of lying to the FBI — and out of all this came a defamation lawsuit against Stewartson that MAGA eagerly backed with millions of dollars. Stewartson has won, but you know the old curse: “May you be party to a lawsuit in which you are in the right.” It’s an interesting story. ARE WE NOW THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD ORDER? The first lesson of war is ‘know your enemy’ – and Britain’s enemy now is Donald Trump, argues Simon Tisdall.
The Dictator’s New Shoes March 11, 2026March 11, 2026 AT ROOT: INEQUALITY Robert Reich: Why do Americans hate each other while Canadians love each other? Before he entered the White House, 47 percent of Republicans and 35 percent of Democrats said people in the opposing party were “immoral.” By 2022, after years of Trump’s venom: 72 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of Democrats called people in the opposing party “immoral.” Since he’s been back in the Oval, it’s got even worse. . . . As Barack Obama said at Jesse Jackson’s memorial, “Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all.” . . . But I can’t help wonder: How much of our distrust and resentment is the byproduct of something more fundamental that’s been unfolding in America for over four decades — something Trump took exploited but that would have invited a hateful demagogue like Trump eventually: the increasing concentration of wealth and power in fewer and fewer hands? Trump took advantage of anger and distrust that had been building for years — at a system increasingly seen as rigged against most of us. Join the Patriotic Millionaires if you are one; their Money Agenda if you are not. THE DICTATOR’S NEW SHOES Trump demands his subordinates wear the same footwear. “All the boys have them,” one female White House official told the Wall Street Journal, and another added that “everybody’s afraid not to wear them.” Join Indivisible! Wear sneakers! Support the opposition! SILT ACCUMULATES Suggested here a whole bunch of times, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) is being acquired at $17 on April 1. Hardly much reward after 20 years for some of us, mostly at prices ranging from $3 to $6, but better (as they say) than a kick in the head.
I Love This Proposed Ad March 10, 2026 But first . . . A.I. From Business Insider: A Preview of the Next Big Power Struggle: Democracy Vs. AI CEOs “It does not sound crazy to a Silicon Valley executive that maybe they could be in charge instead of you,” AI alignment researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky warned politicians during the dispute. “If they actually could control superintelligence, they’d discard you like used toilet paper.” TSA Please may we pass the bill Democrats have offered to fund Home Security (TSA, FEMA, etc.)? All of it, that is, except for ICE until ICE adopts the same practices all our other law enforcement agencies respect. And — most import — until they agree to truly target “the worst of the worst” without quotas and bonuses for rounding up the 98% of their current victims who they find at Home Depot. Ronald Reagan was right in his final address to the nation . . . and in the amnesty he approved. And now . . . May we please see the Epstein files? The House has forced Hillary Clinton, who’s not in them, to testify under oath — how about forcing Trump, who’s in them more than 38,000 times, to do the same? The brilliant Peter S. proposes this social media post / TV / radio ad: When asked about Ghislaine Maxwell Donald Trump said (video clip): “I wish her well, I just wish her well.” News report video clip: “Donald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche met privately with Ghislaine Maxwell today.” News report video clip: “Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison today.” Trump in multiple short video clips saying he thinks the Epstein thing is a hoax, people should stop talking about it, move on to other things, etc. News report video clip: “Donald Trump is mentioned over 38,000 times, just in the pages of the Epstein files that have been released.” V.O. asks: “What is revealed about Donald Trump in the other 2.5 million Epstein pages that have not been released?” News report video clip: “Pam Bondi says no more Epstein pages will be released.” V.O.: “Have you ever wondered what he and his team are hiding?” What do you think? Can one of you get A.I. to create it?