Hello and As-Salaam-Alaikum to each of you. We are now the #2 trending news platform on all of Substack, but we are ranked 13th in paid members. To continue our work, please consider chipping in and becoming a monthly or annual member, OK? 🙏🏽 Home from surgery, healing, thankful for you Family, I’m back home after surgery on my hand and arm. Recovery won’t be easy, but I will not stop this work. Shaun King Sep 9 🙏🏽 Home, Healing, and Thankful for You 🚨 Family, I just got home from surgery to repair severe nerve damage in my right hand and arm. The pain has been brutal, and typing has been nearly impossible, but the doctors say this procedure was necessary to give me a chance at healing. This work — my writing, our community, the fight for truth — only survives if we keep building it together. Please, right now, become a monthly, annual, or founding member today. The North Star with Shaun King is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Recovery and Resolve Family, I won’t sugarcoat it: surgery is tough. I’ve already had two major surgeries this year and have one more scheduled for next month. My body is tired, and recovery will take time. But my mind is sharp, and my commitment to this work has never been stronger. For months, the nerve damage in my arm and hand has made it nearly impossible to type. Every word you’ve read from me lately has been written in pain, with voice-to-text, or in short bursts. This surgery was my best chance to restore function and relieve the pain. And now, as I begin healing, I want you to know that I will not stop. The truth about Gaza, about Epstein, about power and injustice — it will keep coming. I promise to not overdo it, but I will work the most I can while still focusing on recovery. Gratitude I am soooooooooo grateful for every prayer, every message, every act of solidarity. I feel them. They help sustain me. I am grateful for this community — not corporate, not billionaire-funded, but built by people who care about justice, who care about truth, who care about each other. Together, we are proving that independent, fearless journalism can survive. Why Membership Matters Family, as I heal, I need you with me. The stories I write — exposing genocide, corruption, hypocrisy — they are free for all, but they are not free to create. If you believe this work must survive, if you believe we cannot let silence win, then I’m asking you — please become a monthly, annual, or founding member. Together, we will keep pushing truth into the light. Love and appreciate each of you. Your friend and brother, Shaun FYI: Please read, learn, comment, share, and subscribe. Here are three recent free pieces I wrote: 💔 Israel and America Killed All of These Kids Today. And I'm Going to Make You See Them. Shaun King · Sep 7 💔 Family, today’s piece will break your heart. Israel and America killed so many children in Gaza over the past 24 hours and I refuse to let their deaths be erased or hidden. This work only survives if we face this truth together — please become a monthly Read full story 🚨 BREAKING: Trump’s Snuff Film May Have Killed Migrants, Not Traffickers. Trump administration keeps changing their story. Shaun King · Sep 5 Read full story 🔥 Israel’s History of False Flags: Assassinations, Massacres, and Blame Shifted to Arabs and Muslims Shaun King · Sep 2 Family, if you value fearless journalism that exposes what the powerful want buried, I need you standing with me. Please become a member today — monthly, annual, or founding — so we can keep telling the truth together.The North Star with Shaun King is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or p… Read full story

The Week Ahead September 7, 2025 Joyce Vance Sep 8 As we look into the week ahead, the omnipresent threat to our country continues to come from the president. In the past week he threatened to “go to war” in Chicago in a social media post referencing Vietnam. He also ordered a strike on a ship allegedly carrying Venezuelan gang members running drugs. That ship could have been interdicted instead of destroyed, likely sparing the 11 lives that were lost. Multiple facets of the imperial presidency will eventually make their way to the Supreme Court. There are numerous theories about what is happening there, ranging from total capture by Trump to strategic preparation for a last stand for democracy. Heading into the week, we have some fresh insight into how the Chief Justice views the Court’s role. Robert Michael Dow Jr. was appointed to a federal district judgeship in the Northern District of Illinois by George W. Bush in 2007. Ironically, that is the court likely to hear first-line challenges if Trump moves into Chicago. But Dow won’t be among the judges any cases go to there. In October 2022, John Roberts tapped Dow for the role of Counselor to the Chief Justice, a full-time responsibility taken on by a judge who serves as the Chief’s chief of staff, performing “such duties as may be assigned to him by the Chief Justice.” On occasions when the Counselor speaks publicly, it’s worth paying attention, because he, as much as anyone, has a bead on the Chief’s views when it comes to the Court. Last week, Dow spoke at a meeting held by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Among the points he made: The Chief Justice, who many people thought was referring to Donald Trump when he mentioned an attack on the judiciary in an end-of-the-year message, was actually pointing to the “long-term trend of eroding esteem for the judiciary.” He discussed potential threats of violence over unpopular rulings, saying, “This isn’t the first time that we’ve had to navigate times similar to the times we’re in now. It doesn’t make it any less scary for all of us who have to navigate that.” He continued, noting that the Chief Justice is “very aware of these threats.” The judiciary is the least powerful branch of government under the Constitution, albeit the one with the ability to declare acts by the other branches unconstitutional. Dow suggested that “the chief justice is wary about being pulled into political struggles where the judiciary is at a significant disadvantage compared to the White House and Congress,” rather than focusing on the power the judiciary holds. Dow’s assessment of the power differential is a concerning one, given the times we live in: “The problem for our branch is that we have a very tiny megaphone, and if we use our megaphone too often, we risk losing what I would say is the long game, and the long game is to preserve our independence.” It appears that the Chief Justice is largely removed from the moment the rest of the country is living through—a moment where democracy, not just the reputation of the judiciary, is at stake. There was one interesting development, though. Dow suggested judges might want to engage more with the public to help them understand how the judicial branch works. That level of transparency and understanding can work both ways and is long overdue in a branch of government that can be cultishly opaque. A little transparency would go a long way. “This may be a wake-up call for all of us to rededicate ourselves to get out there in the world and not be isolated judges, and make sure that people understand what we do, why it’s important, and the value over the long term for our country that we continue to have a strong, robust, independent judiciary that’s free from violence and intimidation and whose rulings are respected,” Dow said. The lower federal courts are frantically signaling presidential overreach, but none of that seems to have permeated to the attic level of the judicial branch, the Supreme Court. The judiciary isn’t the only branch of government the public holds in low esteem. Trump is seeing some of his worst poll numbers. A new NBC poll shows that 57% of Americans disapprove of the president. The poll shows “strong support” for vaccines, as HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. does his best to end their use. Only 39% approve of how Trump is handling inflation. That number increases 2 points to 41% when the questions was about trade and tariffs. But despite all of this disapproval, 4 in 10 Americans still approve of Trump’s job performance. When questions turned to immigration, almost half of Americans approved of the job Trump was doing on immigration and border security, but that number dropped to 43% when deportations were raised. You can see why Trump might need to distract Americans with the threat to Chicago that we discussed last night. It remains to be seen whether Trump is serious about bringing what he characterized as “war” to Chicago, and if he is, whether the distraction will work. But he has another major problem on his hands this week: Trump may not have released the Epstein files, but Congress is about to get its hands on more of them. Trump’s Justice Department, grasping at straws, asked a judge on Friday to reject a request from NBC News to unseal the names of Epstein associates who received large payments from him in 2018, as reporting on him in the Miami Herald was getting underway. Those names are already more or less known through public reporting and government pleadings in the Epstein case. But DOJ cited “privacy concerns” and declined to make the names public. There is every appearance of kowtowing to the usual audience of one. NBC will have to file a response with the judge Friday on its views, now that DOJ has asserted privacy concerns to bar releasing the names. But the House Oversight Committee will receive items from Epstein’s estate on Monday, including the "birthday book" the New York Times confirmed back in July contained a contribution from Trump, although Trump denied it. And the discharge petition that, if it succeeds, would force a floor vote in which all members of the House would have to vote for or against public release of Epstein materials seems to be back in play. Although it hasn’t picked up the two more Republican votes it would need, the Daily reported Sunday afternoon that vacant seats about to be filled by Democrats in special elections would provide the final votes. Appearing on ABC Sunday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) confirmed the votes were there. Speaker Mike Johnson opposes holding the vote. We often discuss here the importance of planting seeds that may help Trump supporters begin to see the truth. These are some large seeds that we should plant frequently and wherever possible this week. Trump is not as strong as he tries to appear to be. Never forget it. He’s just one bad moment away from it all unraveling. While he continues to try to keep as much information as possible about Epstein secret, even loyal MAGA, like Marjorie Taylor Green, seem to have persistent questions. And, if Trump is lying to people about Epstein after promising openness, what else is he lying about? Keep asking that question. If thoughtful analysis that cuts through the noise matters to you, I hope you’ll find a home here at Civil Discourse. The goal here is simple: to give you the tools to see clearly through the noise. We’re in this together, Joyce

F   Watch now   Surrender Not War, Trump Rebukes Kennedy On Vaccines, Rep. Dan Goldman Shares His Thoughts On Where We Are Now (Resend) Leader Schumer to challenge Senate Rs on Trump's terrible tariffs Simon Rosenberg Sep 6 Afternoon all. I end the week convinced that indeed the political landscape did change over the late summer and the fall is now one of opportunity for us. I lay out my case in my new weekly video and post, in a new Deep State Radio discussion with David Rothkopf and Tara McGowan and in this lively conversation with Stuart Stevens of Lincoln Square. (It’s come to our attention that not everyone received this post today. So I am re-sending, and apologize to those who have received it twice. It is a good one so am excited to share it again!) To sum - Trump was knocked off course by Elon’s emasculating attacks on him in early June and despite three months of desperate and manic efforts to right the ship and restore his POWER, STRENGTH and MANHOOD, he and his agenda remain remarkably unpopular and the intensity of the opposition to him has grown. Look at this poll tracker from G. Elliot Morris - Trump was recovering in late May then started declining in early June and has just stayed down, despite the LA and DC occupations, the bombing of Iran, the insane tariffs, the impulsive firing of leaders of the BLS/DIA/the Fed, the passage of the big ugly. Nothing has worked to get it (him) up. Trump’s political team sees all this data. They see our overperformances in the special and local elections that are currently outpacing their last midterm blowout in 2017-2018. They see their retirements and our top tier recruits. Trump’s team sees the terrible economic data; know the ACA subsidy cuts are going to cause intense pain for tens of millions of people in a few months; have reconciled themselves that the Trump-Epstein affair will continue to damage him despite all their efforts; and are aware that Trump has not delivered on his any of his foreign policy promises and that Putin continues to toss their boss around like a chew toy. Eight months in this Trump thing simply isn’t working, and it is clear that there are voices inside agitating for a course correction. We saw it with their rebranding of the big ugly bill this week, and Thune’s new openness to delaying the ACA subsidy cuts. We saw it with Trump’s pollster going to the weekly lunch of the Senate Rs this week and telling them Kennedy was leading them astray on vaccines. We saw it in the brutal treatment Kennedy got from Republican Senators on Thursday, and we saw it late yesterday afternoon when Trump, shockingly, defending vaccines and seemed to throw Kennedy (and DeSantis too) under the bus. Watch this: As we say here little cracks can become big cracks, little wins can become big wins, and courage can become contagious. This thing just isn’t working as they planned; they know it and struggling to find a new path; and we need to be very, very aggressive now for in their flailing is opportunity. Central to their struggle is the challenging they are having in the packaging of Trump as a strongman “Commander-In-Chief.” He has failed to impose his will on the Ukraine and Gaza wars. His “90 trade deals in 90 days” was an extraordinary failure, and his destructive tariffs have dramatically weakened both him and the US across the world. In this remarkable post yesterday our leader acknowledged what a catastrophe his foreign policy has been. The public rejected his LA occupation and are deeply unhappy with his mass deportation strategy. The DC occupation was branded as “fighting crime” but that too has been rejected by the American people. So where we seem to be heading this week is to directing our military to the only place where Trump still has support from the public - border security and “protecting the homeland” - despite the historic increases in funding the part of our government ALREADY RESPONSIBLE for this - DHS - will be receiving in the coming years. A new story in Politico, Pentagon plan prioritizes homeland over China threat, helps explain what is going on: Pentagon officials are proposing the department prioritize protecting the homeland and Western Hemisphere, a striking reversal from the military’s yearslong mandate to focus on the threat from China. A draft of the newest National Defense Strategy, which landed on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desk last week, places domestic and regional missions above countering adversaries such as Beijing and Moscow, according to three people briefed on early versions of the report. The move would mark a major shift from recent Democrat and Republican administrations, including President Donald Trump’s first term in office, when he referred to Beijing as America’s greatest rival. And it would likely inflame China hawks in both parties who view the country’s leadership as a danger to U.S. security. “This is going to be a major shift for the U.S. and its allies on multiple continents,” said one of the people briefed on the draft document. “The old, trusted U.S. promises are being questioned.” The report usually comes out at the start of each administration, and Hegseth could still make changes to the plan. But in many ways, the shift is already occurring. The Pentagon has activated thousands of National Guard troops to support law enforcement in Los Angeles and Washington, and dispatched multiple warships and F-35 fighter planes to the Caribbean to interdict the flow of drugs to the U.S. A U.S. military strike this week allegedly killed 11 suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang in international waters, a major step in using the military to kill noncombatants. The Pentagon also has established a militarized zone across the southern border with Mexico that allows troops to detain civilians, a job normally reserved for law enforcement. In a new must-read article in the Atlantic Anne Applebaum aptly uses the word “surrender” to describes this new strategy of pulling back from challenging Russia and China and defending democracy - and American interests - throughout the world. Just so we connect with the strategic confusion, desperation and idiocy here at the very time the Trump regime is attempting to pull back our military from the global stage to “protect the homeland” Trump is changing the Pentagon’s name from the Department of Defense (protecting the homeland) to the Department of War (against whom? 11 unarmed guys in a boat?). Look at this new Twitter post from DHS. Now ICE is fighting the drug war? Try to make sense of all this. It’s a dangerous and unacceptable level of buffoonery. I tried to make sense of all this yesterday and stumbled on this article in the right-leaning magazine The Spectator, Inside Trump’s war on the cartels, that generated this fascistic ICE image, above. As background it is worth a read, but these two paragraphs were my favorite as they turn our ongoing efforts to surrender to Russia and China into a “strategic doctrine” - Ryan P. Williams, president of the California-based Claremont Institute, echoes this view. “This is about reflexive Jacksonian values. Our hemisphere has been the central focus of American foreign policy going back to a more responsible era when our statesmen were better educated by eighth grade than our leaders today,” he says, comparing the moment to John Quincy Adams’s defense of Andrew Jackson’s conquest of Florida. “If you have sovereign control over territory and you lose it, and violence comes from that which hurts our citizens, it’s our right to fix a situation if you can’t or won’t, including with force.” This is the one war MAGA believes is worth starting. “The bureaucratic institutional culture in Washington at places like the State Department thinks of problems as something to be managed and under no condition ever disrupted,” Williams says. “But a big course correction when it comes to Mexico has been long overdue, and the threat of a quasi-failed state run by cartels, with regular incursions over our southern border by drones and other forces, with drugs flowing into our streets fueled by Chinese materials – we should not put up with this any longer.” Ah yes, that glorious 19th century Trump so often wistfully talks about, an era with no income taxes but lots of tariffs, no vaccines, when men were men, blacks enslaved, those Mexicans were in Mexico, and women knew their place. This stuff, which apparently is really driving the emerging foreign policy of the United States of America, is as delusional, fanatical and dangerous as Kennedy’s attempt to unravel our nation’s vaccine regime; and we, my friends, will have to fight it as just as hard as we the terrible tariffs, Kennedy, and their war on science, higher education and public health. For what America is getting from Trump is not war but surrender. Leader Schumer Commits To Challenge Trump’s Terrible Tariffs This Fall - From The Hill: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed Friday that Democrats “will force votes” on President Trump’s tariffs after a subpar jobs report showed fewer jobs were added during August than expected. Schumer said in a statement that Friday’s jobs report, which showed that only 22,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, was “worse than the already low expectations.” He also labeled it a “blaring red light warning to the entire country that Donald Trump is squeezing the life out of our economy.” “Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs, failed policies, and fake trade deals have slowed job growth and continually raised prices on American families. The pressure is pushing working families closer to the breaking point,” Schumer said. “Hiring is down, prices are up, and families are paying thousands more a year because of Donald Trump’s tariffs,” Schumer continued. “The pain America is experiencing will only worsen as Republicans ignore the warning and continue cowering to Donald Trump. The first step is to admit the truth that Donald Trump’s economic experiment has failed and reverse course.” “In the coming weeks, Senate Democrats will force votes to reverse Donald Trump’s damaging tariffs and we will see whose side Republicans are on,” he added. “I hope Republicans will choose wisely.” Can we all say Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More on this encouraging development soon. My New Interview With Rep. Dan Goldman - I sat down yesterday with one of our most compelling emerging Congressional leaders, Rep. Dan Goldman of New York. A recording and transcript is above. It is a wide ranging discussion, touching on Trump’s global retreat, the slowing economy and House Dem optimism about the mid-terms. We also spend time diving into a law suit Rep. Goldman and other House Dems have brought against DHS for denying them access to ICE detention facilities across the country. Get to this one when you have time. It is a great window into our current moment from a thoughtful Member on the front lines of so many battles right now. Watching Rep. Goldman in TV these last few years I’ve become a fan, and I think you will too. Now, Let’s Go Win The Fall Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Support Our November, 2025 Candidates Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $64k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Rep. Sherrill Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $181k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger Support Our 2026 Candidates Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $31,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interviews with Gov. Cooper and NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $57k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $193k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents Our updated fundraising goals are now for the end of the year, December 31st, except for the 2025 races, which are now for Election Day, 2025. For more on Hopium’s approach to elections check out 1) the many important wins we had together last cycle 2) my big recommendations to the family coming out of the 2024 elections about what we need to do now 3) my latest thinking on where we are and the path forward for the Hopium community. Take Action, Express Your Love Of Country Through Good Works - We are prioritizing two actions today. You can get our full list of recommended actions here. Let’s get to it: 1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our our emerging four part agenda. Demand that your reps work to Roll back Trump’s terrible and illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, and alienating governments and people throughout the world Block the expansion of ICE and the use of the military on our streets including DC End Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; stop the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; demand the removal of extremist Robert Kennedy from HHS - yes we need to FIRE HIM Stand with Ukraine and block Trump’s ongoing efforts to sell out the US 2 - Bring “Resolutions Of Condemnation” To Your Community - Inspired by the tactics of our Founders learn about how Hopium members are advancing “Resolutions of Condemnation” in their communities across the country and consider bringing this initiative to your state, country or city/town. Be sure to check out our new discussion with Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner who have passed resolutions in New Mexico and Boston, and offer advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community. Remarkably, members of this community are now advancing 75 (!!!!) resolutions projects in 23 states +DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election? Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Keep it up!!! As we get ready for what is going to be a very intense fall of politics let’s take inspiration from those famous words from Robert Frost that “the best way out is always through.” Means we just have to put our heads down and do the work everyone! - Simon Thank you for your financial support of our wonderful Hopium community. This support allows us to do our work, and keep most of our content free for others to learn from and enjoy.