Human Translation

We never get clean casualty numbers in real time. Because numbers don’t just measure war, they sustain it. Vietnam. Korea. Afghanistan. Iraq. Iran. Behind every “unclear” number is a person we stopped seeing as one.

@AaronBlake The word mistake isn't strong enough.

61% of Americans say the Iran war is a "mistake," per new WaPo-ABC poll. In Iraq, it took more than 3 years to reach that high. In Vietnam, it took 6 years.

@washingtonpost Senators don’t unanimously agree to limit themselves. Optics nonsense and nothing more.

Senators voted unanimously to ban themselves from participating in prediction markets as Congress tackles the ethics of the novel platforms. The ban does not apply to the House or the federal bureaucracy. wapo.st/422T7DE

@MorePerfectUS This tweet makes it sound like accountability, but it’s optics. It targets a niche while the real advantages stay untouched, and people struggling don’t feel any of that change.

BREAKING: The Senate just unanimously banned Senators from trading on prediction markets, effective immediately.

@politico It received too much negative publicity and senators never want to give up power. So they huddle up and find a short extension and hope you won’t notice.

The Senate passed a short extension of a key government surveillance program ahead of a Monday deadline, after attempts at a long-term renewal failed amid GOP clashes in the House. The measure now heads to Trump for his signature. politico.com/news/2026/04/1…

@DearS_o_n “Founding Fathers”

Name a huge scam that has been normalised?

@RelearningEcon At this point, “the state” is a corporation.

"The State is a sovereign body of which the purpose is to promote the greatest good of the whole." -John Maynard Keynes

@Reuters We don’t have separation of church and state. We have power using both when it’s convenient.

Hegseth compares 'Trump-hating' reporters to enemies of Jesus reut.rs/4sDrADo reut.rs/4sDrADo

@BostonGlobe They’ll talk about this like something changed, but it didn’t. One person leaves, someone else steps in, and it keeps going. Families aren’t feeling a resignation, they’re dealing with separation and uncertainty.

ICE acting director Todd Lyons, a key executor of President Trump’s mass deportations agenda and a South Boston native, will resign at the end of May, federal officials said. trib.al/lKLbQtS

@DarrigoMelanie She’s right. Citizens United unlocked unlimited outside spending, and PACs turned influence into a legal pipeline. Politicians don’t need direct bribes, they need millions to stay in office, and that money comes with expectations.

Citizens United and Corporate PAC donations to politicians.

@JamesSurowiecki Correct. You can learn civics and go to law school. You’re unlikely to learn that the government fears direct democracy. Systems fear people. If 63 percent of people support something, they want direct democracy. Republics and empires aren’t all that different.

There's no good civic argument for the electoral college. It was arguably necessary to ensure the ratification of the Constitution, but it's an anti-democratic device that gives some American citizens far more voting power than others, based purely on where they live.

@MajorityDems The only versus that should matter is people versus government.

Elissa Slotkin on Democratic division: "The whole debate doesn’t split down lines of Moderate vs. Progressive. It splits down lines of Fight versus Flight… and I am on Team Fight every single day of the week.”

@WhiteHouse The Strait of Hormuz is about 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and the Navy is backed by a defense budget exceeding $800 billion. But don’t you dare miss the April 15 tax deadline. I guess highways and healthcare can wait. 🙄

"Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz." - President Donald J. Trump

@WaqarVick If every person spent a day in custody they would understand how powerful this statement is.

Your average public defender is working a significant number of overtime hours, each one of which is not paid, not “billable,” and might not be rewarded in any way whatsover. But they still do it for the cause of representing their clients.

@davidsirota @DarrigoMelanie Excellent observation. People treat Citizens United like the whole story. It isn’t. What looks like a sudden shift is really the continuation of a long trend where legality tracks the system’s tolerance for money shaping outcomes.

@shannonrwatts Very well said.

If your argument is that Eric Swalwell shouldn’t resign because plenty of Republican predators refuse to resign, you’’re putting politics over principle. The goal is to improve democracy by demanding better leaders; not lowering the standards on both sides.

@rushicrypto This resonates because people can feel the gap between what’s possible and what actually happens. The system isn’t failing to produce. It’s organizing outcomes in a way that protects certain interests.

It actually bums me out… We have the resources to fix our society, stop our reliance on fossil fuels, and feed every person in the country. But we don’t… because it would mess with the money of a tiny group of people. Like… millions struggle so a handful can stay comfortable. That’s insane when you really think about it.

@davidfrum The problem is that most people think there’s a difference between a republic and an empire. Neither provide the direct democracy needed to put people first.

Something very late Roman about the triumphal arches growing bigger and gaudier as the triumphs themselves grow scarcer and more dubious.

@politico @adamwren This exchange turns disagreement into personal offense and then uses that to avoid the conversation itself. Access gets filtered through comfort, so the harder questions never get airtime. The conflict becomes the story, and the substance disappears.

Elissa Slotkin hit back after Hasan Piker criticized her for going on Bill Maher's show but not his livestream. "He calls me stupid like every other week," she told our @adamwren. "What normal human being would choose to go on a show when someone calls you stupid every 10 days."

@RandPaul Calling it “God-given” turns a policy choice into something beyond debate. Guns are human-made tools shaped by law, technology, and context. The framing elevates the claim, but it sidesteps the modern human consequences.

No American should have to beg the government for permission to exercise a God-given right. The National Constitutional Carry Act would restore full recognition of the Second Amendment across all 50 states.

@dbongino Same sentence moving across accounts at the same time. The message is synchronized, but nothing is being explained. Repetition is carrying the weight that substance never does.

I support President Donald J. Trump.