Melissa R. Michelson

New on MS NOW:

The war with Iran is costing the U.S. an estimated $1 billion a day, according to two congressional sources with knowledge of the matter.

Based on that estimate, the U.S. has spent at least $5 billion on the war since it began on Feb. 28.

“Strangely”?

That’s who he is.

Pentagon tells Congress no sign that Iran was going to attack US first, sources say Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff on Sunday that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first, two people f...

Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack US forces first, two people familiar with the matter said reut.rs/46ybyTg

#OperationEpicFail

A Directionless War Meets a Constitutional Crisis Welcome to the new era of Trumpism.

Hegseth: “We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it.”

The truth: We did start this war two days ago. And now, apparently, we're not going to finish it in a way that will make it worth fighting. And we have a constitutional crisis.

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Every senator who voted to confirm RFK Jr owns this tragedy. Every single one.

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

They spent billions on regime change in Venezuela and left the Maduro's head of torture in charge.

They are now spending billions on regime change in Iran, knowing the most likely outcome will be harder line leadership.

We do not have serious people running our country.

Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say In the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would likely be replaced by hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), two sources briefed on the intelligence said.

Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say reut.rs/4l9SCAs

To paraphrase the late, great Carrie Fisher, things are getting worse faster than we can lower our standards.

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t

I can't fucking believe we're doing this again.

Impeach

Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros., Paving Way for an Ellison Takeover

The richest man owns X.

The second and third richest men control Google.

The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post.

And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros.

See the problem here?

historical detail I can't help but bring up: by some accounts, the event that instigated the British soldiers to open fire on Crispus Attacks and the rest of the crowd in the Boston Massacre was a soldier being hit by a snowball

This is clearly blatantly intentional voter suppression and any claim otherwise is completely unserious

@wcps.bsky.social welcome to Bluesky! 🤩

I’m a proud member of the Onionati

If the Trump administration needs help bringing them all back, I’ve got receipts. gillianbrockell.ghost.io/tracking-all...

I don’t want to hear the handwringing over what Trump or SCOTUS might do next. Take a moment to enjoy the win

Omg SCOTUS struck down the tariffs!

Screenshot of a YouTube video posted by NBC Sports titled, "Alysa Liu's FABULOUS gold medal-winning free skate, Winter Olympics 2026."

This is the Alysa Liu performance everyone is talking about, and yes, you should watch it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCrF...

Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by *the British monarchy* is an incredible “America at 250!” achievement

look at my country man, we’re getting out-No Kings’d by the fuckin’ british

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislature

I can see why they tried to suppress this #Colbert interview. #Talarico might just flip the Texas Senate seat youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...

There’s no President Barack Obama without Jesse Jackson. It just doesn’t happen.

I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is

“Cut ICE’s budget to restore federal health care funding” is an extremely popular message www.politico.com/f/?id=000001...

The end of DOE’s grid work in Puerto Rico The Trump administration has canceled all eight of the remaining awards devoted to distributed energy on the island.

Just a few weeks ago, the administration cancelled all remaining department of energy grid resilience projects in Puerto Rico. All of them. www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-end...

That halftime show is what people mean when they say "joy is an act of resistance."