Barbara Didrichsen

Pete Hegseth, Moral Failure, and the Erosion of Military Legitimacy Congress needs to find out if any laws were broken and who is responsible.

"After long periods of war or political strain, the greatest danger is not the enemy. It is the erosion of the values that distinguish the U.S. military from armed groups it confronts."

Tariffs trickle into cost of Thanksgiving dinner, jilting consumers and farmers • Ohio Capital Journal Collin Tuthill, president of one of the country’s largest canned and frozen food importers and distributors, said the current state of the U.S. food industry is “like we live in some kind of alternate...

“Every increase means tough choices,” Dodd said. "We should be making it easier for family farms to survive, not harder.” @piperformissouri.bsky.social

A call to action ‘We Ain’t Buying It’

Vote with your dollars.

The Trump Trade is Unraveling Tells from the crypto crash

As far as I'm concerned, crypto is just another term for kryptonite. No way I want to put any of my own money in this scheme that's frequently involved in crime and grift.

Russian Unreality and American Weakness Notes from a bizarre moment of diplomatic history

"What we are reading is a demand for capitulation by a country which is not doing well in a war that it began. It could never gain anything like the terms of this agreement on the battlefield. It needs Americans for that."

"Quiet Piggy!" Subscribe to Civil Discourse and become part of a community that believes we have the power to save democracy, and that we don’t have to obey a president who wants us to give up our rights so he can b...

“Quiet Piggy.”

All you need to know about how this president thinks about --and treats -- women (and girls).

Arrested for Following the Rules The danger of ICE’s strategy of targeting immigrants fulfilling their legal responsibilities.

Remember how Republicans have been saying for years that they’re fine with immigration as long as people are following the rules?

An Accidental Month Without Driving Or, Bozeman, Montana on foot

It's the stop and start nature of driving that drives the kind of impatience I never feel when I'm walking.

Woke ain't dead, it just took a couple shots Republicans took a beating in School Board races across Ohio, which could signal trouble for its chosen 2028 gubernatorial candidate,

Everybody's celebrating NYC, NJ and VA results.

But look what happened in Ohio, even in reliably red districts!

To understand what happened yesterday, we need to look further than the elections that national media paid the most attention to.

Rereading The Poisonwood Bible Back where it all began

"We can’t fix this whole broken world, but we can take its pieces and make something else. We will make different mistakes, but perhaps the damage will be more contained. We will write new fables, but maybe they will be slightly closer to the truth."

Inside the Ohio Democratic Congressional heist Ohio Democrats walked away with a deal that would have seemed impossible as little as month ago. They can thank a "small group of people."

This is nothing to celebrate for Ohio Democrats. But it also delivered a blow to Republicans, who were angling to get even more seats in this round.

Between now and the 2030 census, I hope we can resurrect a nonpartisan redistricting commission so this forkery ends in 2031.

"Art Cullen managed to see what I see every day. He captured the goodness of the people he knows. The people I know.

"He tells a hard story, but one with hope. There is still hope in Iowa. In the Heartland. Things can change, and the state is at a tipping point."

Whimsy The lighter side of travel

I've been in England for over a week now. We're having a great time. A fun piece about the signs and sights I've seen that appeal to my droll side.

Dear Microsoft... And I pay good money for this

@microsoft I'm so frigging frustrated with you.

What about your community? I know you've said it's been Trump territory. Is that still true?

@microsoft.com I am about to go ballistic over an account issue, which has me locked out for 30 days. I'm about to leave the country and need access to my account. I've tried every method possible to reach SOMEONE. You've defied everything I've tried. Please contact me.

Reporting From the Ground Over their skis

"From the slight shunning of my Congressman, to the State Senate seat in Iowa, to the former Trump voter seeking me out, I feel like we can recognize that things in the heartland aren’t what they were. Things are changing."

I'm with Jess Piper, whose writes "The View from Rural Missouri" Substack. I'd like to see you do a similar talk with people like her and David Pepper in Ohio, who are doing great work in Republican-dominated states. Let's just say -- it's not about running antiabortion candidates.

Trump is destroying America. Are his voters starting to realize that? Democrats are on the right track by picking a shutdown fight over cruel Republican health care choices.

"Trump voters and people who didn’t bother to vote need to learn for real that elections have consequences. The question is, what price the rest of us are willing to pay...because given all the rest of what Trump is doing and may yet do, his miserable economy could very well be the least of it."

What if the decision you make behind the wheel of your car today saves the life of a total stranger? www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHp1...

Speak truth to power And other thoughts about a difficult week in the US

"The reason we have freedom of speech is to speak truth to power. Lies coming from power are not essential to freedom of speech."

Four and a half minute video from historian and author of "On Tyranny," Timothy Snyder.

ICEing the U.S. Economy Mass deportations will hurt more than people realize

When this nightmare ends, ICE must go. Reform won't be enough -- it needs to be eliminated.

I wish the cruelty were enough to persuade people that this cannot continue, but that hasn't worked so far. Maybe the economic pain will pierce the fog in a way that calls to our shared humanity does not.

They Can't See What I See Because they aren't from where I'm from

My frustration with the Democratic party, in a nutshell. I can only imagine how much greater that frustration is in rural parts of my state and others.

Will Work for Food The price of groceries

"My neighbors would assume I was drunk if I knocked on their door and talked about Epstein’s Island in an attempt to get them to vote for Democrats, but they would all nod in agreement if I talked about the price of hamburger meat. Focus on groceries and housing and insurance and child care."

We've got one foot in autocracy, and the other one is getting a pedicure Bifurcated lives

“I wish the good people of Bibb County would start connecting dots and looking at big pictures. They, too, have one foot in autocracy and the other one getting a pedicure, they just don't realize it. They are fixated on the chips in their toenail polish while their entire foot is being sawed off.”

Thanks for posting this. The writer is a friend of mine who does a lot of good work bringing issues related to policing to light.

Very disturbing. My son served 3 of his 11 years in the Coast Guard in the Great Lakes. I was proud to be a CG mom; they're an amazing (and severely underfunded) service corps. I'll be watching to see the outcome of the investigation.

The Regime Doesn’t Fear Your Rage. It Fears Your Absence. Political journals are too afraid to touch it: why mass non-cooperation is more dangerous than protest.

"Silence is not surrender. This isn’t a plea for passivity. It’s a strategy of intentional absence. Walkouts, not speeches. Work slowdowns, not slogans. Strategic disobedience, not symbolic outrage."

What Happens When Housing Prices Go Down (because they are)? A reflection on affordability, finance, and the deep contradictions we struggle to face.

"In theory, we can build our way to affordability. In reality, the way we go about financing housing will never let us."

I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the #1 issue Trump supporters have raised strong objections to isn't cruel immigration tactics, defying judicial orders or trashing the Constitution -- it's not releasing the Epstein files.