Michael Byrne
@cmichaelbyrne.bsky.social
I’m a retired journalist, labor advocate and communication strategist, now active as a blogger, novelist and Taoist martial and healing arts enthusiast. I love music, movies and college basketball. Looking for allies and fellow travelers.
It's the paycheck, stupid ...
www.ms.now/opinion/infl...
www.ms.now/opinion/infl...
Opinion | Everyone is talking about affordability – and making the same mistake
"As lawmakers grapple with the cost of living, they need to remind Americans – again and again – that pay is a policy choice," Heidi Shierholz writes.
www.ms.now
December 6, 2025 at 3:19 AM
It's the paycheck, stupid ...
www.ms.now/opinion/infl...
www.ms.now/opinion/infl...
The visual of Pilgrims gathering with their native neighbors to celebrate Thanksgiving is trite and deceptive, as if the settlers didn't go on to rout the natives. Historian Heather Cox Richardson explains. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
November 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
The visual of Pilgrims gathering with their native neighbors to celebrate Thanksgiving is trite and deceptive, as if the settlers didn't go on to rout the natives. Historian Heather Cox Richardson explains. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
Surprise! Trump's so-called "peace plan" for Ukraine appears, in part, to be translated from Russian. It's a sweetheart deal to Putin from his eager lapdog, with a Thanksgiving deadline. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
November 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Surprise! Trump's so-called "peace plan" for Ukraine appears, in part, to be translated from Russian. It's a sweetheart deal to Putin from his eager lapdog, with a Thanksgiving deadline. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
First of all, she's sorry for being a MAGA bully. Could she be reasonable? open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Marjorie Taylor Greene and ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
On bloomin’ onions and the importance of being earnest.
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
First of all, she's sorry for being a MAGA bully. Could she be reasonable? open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Nobody cares about pennies, even when there are 300,000,000,000 of those little nothings in circulation.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Pennies Are Trash Now
The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies.
www.theatlantic.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Nobody cares about pennies, even when there are 300,000,000,000 of those little nothings in circulation.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The shocking and bizarre first revelations as the Epstein files trickle out. Here's looking at some intriguing evidence that points to Trump's fingerprints on the Epstein child sex trafficking ring. It was part of his social life. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...
youtu.be/p2AGkaj54fE
youtu.be/p2AGkaj54fE
On Cam: Colombian President Petro Calls US Leaders ‘Clan of Paedophiles’ Amid Tensions With Trump
YouTube video by Hindustan Times
youtu.be
November 14, 2025 at 1:13 AM
The shocking and bizarre first revelations as the Epstein files trickle out. Here's looking at some intriguing evidence that points to Trump's fingerprints on the Epstein child sex trafficking ring. It was part of his social life. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...
youtu.be/p2AGkaj54fE
youtu.be/p2AGkaj54fE
This is what fascist dictators do when in power - build monuments to glorify themselves so they’d be exalted in history. Democracies memorialize their heroes only after they’ve died, with public support. Trump deserves to be remembered — but not as a hero. open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
The Verdict of History
Trump and his fascist glorification
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:35 PM
This is what fascist dictators do when in power - build monuments to glorify themselves so they’d be exalted in history. Democracies memorialize their heroes only after they’ve died, with public support. Trump deserves to be remembered — but not as a hero. open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
AI demand for power is a major reason electric bills are skyrocketing, but AI cultivation by huge tech companies to enrich themselves at our expense is our biggest political challenge. The Professor explains ...
youtu.be/imtkNL4v2ks?...
youtu.be/imtkNL4v2ks?...
How AI Is Taking Over Politics
YouTube video by Robert Reich
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 4:47 AM
AI demand for power is a major reason electric bills are skyrocketing, but AI cultivation by huge tech companies to enrich themselves at our expense is our biggest political challenge. The Professor explains ...
youtu.be/imtkNL4v2ks?...
youtu.be/imtkNL4v2ks?...
Many of us may follow generative AI to slip into relationships with bots, just as we were lulled into submission by algorithmic feeds and the glow of the smartphone screen. The anti-social-media era transformation is already underway. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The Age of Anti-Social Media Is Here
The social-media era is over. What’s coming will be much worse.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Many of us may follow generative AI to slip into relationships with bots, just as we were lulled into submission by algorithmic feeds and the glow of the smartphone screen. The anti-social-media era transformation is already underway. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Interesting story about Abigail Stanberger's journey from CIA agent to governor of Virginia. Her daughter made her do it ...
wapo.st/43aRhBB
wapo.st/43aRhBB
Spanberger’s unlikely journey from the CIA to Va.’s first female governor
The former House member ran a centrist campaign focused on affordability, health care and education, providing a potential road map for other Democrats.
wapo.st
November 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Interesting story about Abigail Stanberger's journey from CIA agent to governor of Virginia. Her daughter made her do it ...
wapo.st/43aRhBB
wapo.st/43aRhBB
Sure, he opposed Donald Trump and the ignorance of MAGA, but he led the United States down the imperialist path of self-righteous military adventurism. I cannot celebrate him or his legacy.
open.substack.com/pub/timshorr...
open.substack.com/pub/timshorr...
HAWKING THE EMPIRE: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the Origins of Pete Hegseth's Dangerous Strategy of Assassination Warfare
How the former Vice President and Secretary of Defense cleared the way for "net-centric warfare" and the murderous air strikes carried out today by Trump's Department of War. A Hidden History.
open.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Sure, he opposed Donald Trump and the ignorance of MAGA, but he led the United States down the imperialist path of self-righteous military adventurism. I cannot celebrate him or his legacy.
open.substack.com/pub/timshorr...
open.substack.com/pub/timshorr...
Democrats win everywhere all at once. Look at the numbers! We're still a year away from the midterms, but MAGA got kicked in state after state. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...
November 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Democrats win everywhere all at once. Look at the numbers! We're still a year away from the midterms, but MAGA got kicked in state after state. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...
"The United States is now a nation run by public servants who behave no better than internet trolls, deflecting criticism with crassness and obscenity ... displaying their incompetence as they flail about in jobs ... for which they are not qualified."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
A Confederacy of Toddlers
The Trump administration is a regime of troubled children.
www.theatlantic.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:55 PM
"The United States is now a nation run by public servants who behave no better than internet trolls, deflecting criticism with crassness and obscenity ... displaying their incompetence as they flail about in jobs ... for which they are not qualified."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
If you missed the 60 Minutes interview with President Trump, you will want to catch up with it. Good questions, no answers. Just bluster, dissembling, insults and talking over Nora O'Donnell, who doesn't back down. youtu.be/wQPTUa8vxRU?...
President Donald Trump: The 2025 60 Minutes Interview
YouTube video by 60 Minutes
youtu.be
November 3, 2025 at 4:37 AM
If you missed the 60 Minutes interview with President Trump, you will want to catch up with it. Good questions, no answers. Just bluster, dissembling, insults and talking over Nora O'Donnell, who doesn't back down. youtu.be/wQPTUa8vxRU?...
"It’s hard to exaggerate how grotesque this is — a president hosting a champagne orgy of nostalgia for the Roaring Twenties while recreating the exact class divide Fitzgerald wrote about. It’s not 'The Great Gatsby' anymore. It’s 'The Great Gaslight.' ”
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
THE GREAT GASLIGHT
You couldn’t script irony this sharp if you tried.
open.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 6:35 PM
"It’s hard to exaggerate how grotesque this is — a president hosting a champagne orgy of nostalgia for the Roaring Twenties while recreating the exact class divide Fitzgerald wrote about. It’s not 'The Great Gatsby' anymore. It’s 'The Great Gaslight.' ”
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
Can we save our democracy? It may depend on what we do over the next midterm election cycle. The effort to silence our voices is underway. Here's a roadmap for action offered by David Graham in The Atlantic.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Donald Trump’s Plan to Subvert the Midterms Is Already Under Way
Our election system is reaching a breaking point.
www.theatlantic.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Can we save our democracy? It may depend on what we do over the next midterm election cycle. The effort to silence our voices is underway. Here's a roadmap for action offered by David Graham in The Atlantic.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
"When we slow down, when we really inhabit the present moment, we hear things we couldn’t hear before. The Universe doesn’t shout. It whispers. ... in the pattern of rain on windows, in the pause between heartbeats, in the way light falls across your desk at 3pm."
open.substack.com/pub/mikimett...
open.substack.com/pub/mikimett...
Presence is Power. The Quiet Victory of Right Now
The Crack in the Sidewalk
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:42 PM
"When we slow down, when we really inhabit the present moment, we hear things we couldn’t hear before. The Universe doesn’t shout. It whispers. ... in the pattern of rain on windows, in the pause between heartbeats, in the way light falls across your desk at 3pm."
open.substack.com/pub/mikimett...
open.substack.com/pub/mikimett...
Are they haunted by the Newsweek headline: “Epstein Victim Was Contestant in Donald Trump’s Teen Beauty Pageant”? Is that what Speaker Mike Johnson is working so hard to cover up?
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
Trump’s Elite Pedophile Protection Program: Who are they Protecting?
Amy Wallace says the FBI and DOJ have the list. Twenty abusers. Zero accountability. How long will we tolerate this cover-up?
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Are they haunted by the Newsweek headline: “Epstein Victim Was Contestant in Donald Trump’s Teen Beauty Pageant”? Is that what Speaker Mike Johnson is working so hard to cover up?
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
Trump is demolishing the East Wing of the people's White House to build a fancy ballroom without authority other than his own regal highness. And he wants to soak taxpayers for $230 million in "restitution" for being rightfully prosecuted for serious crimes.
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
Trump: Is He the Thief in the Ballroom?
The fight isn’t between left and right anymore: it’s between oligarchy and the people, between those who hoard power and those still brave enough to believe in democracy...
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Trump is demolishing the East Wing of the people's White House to build a fancy ballroom without authority other than his own regal highness. And he wants to soak taxpayers for $230 million in "restitution" for being rightfully prosecuted for serious crimes.
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
Oh, hell, yeah! A Drop Kick-ass rally in D.C. with Irish punk rock and a crowd echoing millions of voices: REMOVE THE REGIME. The weekend before Thanksgiving. I'll dance and sing to that. How about you?
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
LOUDER THAN FASCISM
DROPKICK MURPHYS ARE COMING TO WASHINGTON, D.C. ON 11/22.
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Oh, hell, yeah! A Drop Kick-ass rally in D.C. with Irish punk rock and a crowd echoing millions of voices: REMOVE THE REGIME. The weekend before Thanksgiving. I'll dance and sing to that. How about you?
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
Reporters have left the Pentagon, deprived of access to the brass by a Fox News blowhard now screwing up the military on behalf of our clown "king." The media won't quit, and the problems with Hegseth are a big part of the story they have to tell.
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
The Last Days of the Pentagon Press Corps
I’ve been evicted from a building I’ve covered for 18 years. I’ll keep doing my job anyway.
www.theatlantic.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reporters have left the Pentagon, deprived of access to the brass by a Fox News blowhard now screwing up the military on behalf of our clown "king." The media won't quit, and the problems with Hegseth are a big part of the story they have to tell.
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
Trump's GOP is resurrecting the old Confederacy, dressing it up in trappings of modern politics and media. Strip away the slogans and tweets, it's the same oligarchy instead of democracy, hierarchy instead of pluralism, rule of the white wealthy few over the many.
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
Are the Streets of Chicago Showing Us the Future of American Democracy?
When federal agents turn weapons on citizens, it’s not just a local scandal — it’s a national reckoning.
open.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Trump's GOP is resurrecting the old Confederacy, dressing it up in trappings of modern politics and media. Strip away the slogans and tweets, it's the same oligarchy instead of democracy, hierarchy instead of pluralism, rule of the white wealthy few over the many.
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
The unmasking, and payback, of a cruel clown. Alex Jones is dismissed by the Supreme Court.
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
THE PRICE OF LIES
Alex Jones Finally Got the Bill for His Empire of Cruelty
open.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 5:01 PM
The unmasking, and payback, of a cruel clown. Alex Jones is dismissed by the Supreme Court.
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
Telling indictment not only of the criminal Don, but also our culpability in promoting this peculiar symbol of American vanity. We did this to ourselves, and now we MUST fight back.
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
THE IDOL OF ROT
America built this monster together — now it’s time to tear him down piece by rotting piece.
open.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Telling indictment not only of the criminal Don, but also our culpability in promoting this peculiar symbol of American vanity. We did this to ourselves, and now we MUST fight back.
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
Absolute Power: The Trump axis is following a Third Reich script to disable democratic guardrails and take total control. Will the Roberts Supreme Court abandon its historic mission and let the republic fall?
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
Plenary Power: The Final Step in Trump’s American Autocracy
How the Insurrection Act could become the 21st-century Enabling Act, with six justices and the GOP standing by…
open.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Absolute Power: The Trump axis is following a Third Reich script to disable democratic guardrails and take total control. Will the Roberts Supreme Court abandon its historic mission and let the republic fall?
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...