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One of the biggest independent newspapers in Russia just exposed Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin with a bombshell that is being heard around the world! 
Attorneys General Fight Back4.23.25Happy Wednesday evening and welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. Trump upset Zelensky won’t surrender Ukrainian territory despite U.S. signing treaty to protect Ukraine's territorial integrity… Trump may not be aware of this, but the U.S. signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 promising to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for the then-newly freed former Soviet republic giving up its nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, Trump went on a rant today in which he called for the opposite of what the U.S. signed. CNN reports, “President Donald Trump slammed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday for his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t recognize Russian control of Crimea, calling the remarks ‘very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia,’ …he posted on Truth Social. His comments came a few hours after a meeting in London aimed at bringing about an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine had been downgraded after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he wouldn’t attend.”
Trump’s words blasting unions that don’t support him come to focus before federal judge likely to reject his union-busting executive order… Politico reports, “U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman appeared skeptical during a hearing Wednesday of the administration’s arguments that a little-known provision in federal labor law allows it to exclude several agencies from unionization rights because their work is primarily focused on national security… President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month purporting to end union contracts and public workers’ rights to collectively bargain with the federal government over their job terms and conditions. But the order relied on the obscure provision to strip rights from workers at a slew of agencies that aren’t typically engaged in military defense, intelligence or diplomacy. Trump’s order covers the departments of Agriculture, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services, among other agencies. Friedman, a Clinton appointee, added that Trump’s own words suggest that the true motivation was retaliation…” Democratic attorneys general sue Trump over tariffs… NBC News reports, “Twelve states filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the legality of President Donald Trump's broad tariff agenda, arguing it unlawfully undermines Congress' constitutional authority to regulate foreign commerce. The legal challenge, led by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, seeks to halt the enforcement of the global tariffs Trump levied that invoked a wartime law granting presidents the power to oversee trade if the United States is in a state of emergency. ‘By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,’ said the complaint Democratic attorneys general filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.” Question: Where is the Republican congress… The folks who have supported free trade their entire careers until Trump took office, now just letting the economy suffer. They have the authority to stop these tariffs but they’re afraid of MAGA’s wrath, so they do nothing.
Once a grifter, always a grifter: Trump’s MAGA worshippers freely give their money away for chance to have dinner with Trump… CBS News reports, “President Trump's meme coin, which had slumped 88% from its most recent high, got a boost Wednesday after its website invited the top 220 holders of the digital token to an ‘intimate private dinner’ with the president. After the dinner offer was posted on the $TRUMP meme coin website and X account, the value of the meme coin surged as much as $5.32, or 58%, to $14.32 on Wednesday afternoon. That gain only partially erased the meme coin's decline in value, which hit a peak of $75.35 on January 19 the day before Mr. Trump's inauguration. The dinner offer promises $TRUMP coin investors the opportunity to ‘Hear close-up, from President Trump, about the future of Crypto!’ Mr. Trump, who has vowed to turn the U.S. into the cryptocurrency capital of the world, has also pushed his own ventures into the realm of digital products, issuing everything from NFTs billed as "Trump digital trading cards" to a cryptocurrency platform called World Liberty Financial. RELATED: FBI says online scams on the rise… also per CBS. Today’s Furry Friend Ginger took a while to trust a human offering help. She gave her trust just in time for her 10 puppies to be born… Today’s Buzz Hunger Games is returning with ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ prequel – here are the lead cast members… The Hollywood Reporter writes, “Joseph Zada will play Haymitch Abernathy, with Whitney Peak playing Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird. The prequel story is focused on fan favorite Haymitch, who later acted as a mentor in the Hunger Games to heroine Katniss Everdeen. (Woody Harrelson played Haymitch in the original Hunger Games films.) Francis Lawrence is back in the director’s chair for the film, while screenwriter Bill Ray is back to pen the story. The bestselling book of the same name (1.2 million copies sold in the U.S. during the first week of release) takes place in Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell, when Haymitch competes.” The release is tentatively set for November 20 of this year.
Thank you for reading. Check back in tomorrow evening for the next edition of Common Sense. |
"Democracy Dies With the First Amendment"A president who jails authors, attacks media, and bullies truth-tellers isn’t defending America—he’s dismantling it, one silenced citizen at a time. I was the first, but sadly, I will not be the last!
Guest article by Michael Cohen
“I’ve never seen such a clause in 21 years of being a judge.” That’s not hyperbole. That’s not a political pundit’s take or an MSNBC talking head getting dramatic. That’s U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, during a teleconference ruling in my own case; the moment when the federal government under Donald J. Trump tossed me back into prison—not for committing a crime, but for writing a fuckin' book. Let that sink in. Judge Hellerstein continued: “I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory, and it's retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others.” Retaliatory. Because I exercised my constitutional right to speak. The judge called it unprecedented. He said it plainly: the Trump administration’s actions were an attempt to coerce me into silence, essentially telling me, “You toe the line about giving up your First Amendment rights, or we’ll send you to jail.” And they did. This isn’t North Korea. This isn’t Iran. This isn’t Russia. This is the United States of America—allegedly. Because under Trump, that sacred First Amendment, the very heartbeat of democracy, is nothing more than an obstacle to bulldoze. And now, once again, the Trump camp is gearing up to bring it all back—only this time, if we don’t pay attention, it won’t just have been me. Don’t believe me? Just look at what they’re already trying to do: Start with Voice of America—a U.S. government-funded news outlet broadcasting factual, uncensored journalism across the globe since 1942. A symbol of American ideals and freedom, used to puncture authoritarian disinformation. Trump and his cronies tried to turn it into their personal Pravda. The courts, again, had to step in. But what happens when the courts stop holding the line? The banning of press credentials. The open lawsuits against ABC, CBS, and 60 Minutes. The legal intimidation of Ivy League schools for “radicalizing” students. The targeting of protestors labeled “illegal” for speaking out. Trump’s war on speech isn’t metaphorical; it’s a live wire, and it's burning through every institution that used to safeguard truth. He even went after law firms—not because they broke laws, but because they dared represent clients he didn’t like. Chris Krebs, who told the truth about the 2020 election, got fired and slandered. Myles Taylor, who penned an anonymous op-ed calling out Trump’s recklessness, got harassed. These weren’t political disagreements; they are acts of war against dissent. What happens as Trump seeks to increase the power of the presidency—this time using the judiciary he packed with loyalists instead of constitutionalists? What happens when there’s no Judge Alvin Hellerstein to say, “Enough is enough”? I’ll tell you. You lose your ability to protest. Your press gets gutted. Investigative journalism becomes espionage. Student protests become terrorism. Books are banned—or worse, never written. The line between "illegal speech" and "unflattering truth" disappears. A satirical tweet? Jail. And the First Amendment? It becomes a memory. A relic of a once-great democratic experiment. What follows is not democracy—it’s Trumpocracy. One where he is judge, jury, and algorithm. One where loyalty to him replaces loyalty to the Constitution. One where fear, not freedom, controls speech. Imagine a country where every newspaper reads like Truth Social. Where comedians are charged with treason. Where journalists must register with the state to be “approved.” Where students are investigated for “un-American ideologies.” Where your group chat becomes evidence, and your silence is assumed guilt. This is not a movie script. This is where we’re headed if this keeps going. Because when the First Amendment dies, the Second doesn’t protect you. Nor the Fourth, the Fifth, the Fourteenth. You cannot defend democracy if you are forbidden from speaking about it. This is not alarmism; it’s history repeating itself, wearing a red hat and holding a Sharpie. This is real—I lived it. Lived it in solitary confinement. So ask yourself: When the courts can no longer stand between your voice and Trump’s vengeance, what will be left of America? Nothing but the echoes of a failed republic. And we let it happen. Unless we speak. Loudly. Now. While we still can. (Kindly consider supporting this platform and all independent journalists here on Substack. Plus, the first 240 Founding Members to this platform receive a rare, signed, numbered edition of my NYT Bestseller “Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized The U.S. Department Of Justice Against His Critics.” Join now!)
IMPORTANT MESSAGE: I am also asking every one of my Substack subscribers to help us grow this community to become the voice of power. Please help by sharing this account with your family and friends. Ask them to read and watch all my Substacks, to join the conversation, to share their commentary, and be a part of this community. United we stand!
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