Systemic Error Podcast

What happened AlterNet, citing Washington Post reporting, says emails show how consultant Rick Canny expanded his authority at the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump’s takeover of the institution. Canny was subsequently named artistic director “in a designated executive consulting capacity,” rather than becoming a regular employee. In a March 30 email to then-chief financial officer Donna...

What happened AlterNet reports that Department of Homeland Security agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence as part of a potentially criminal inquiry into whether her father put incorrect information on naturalization documents years ago. Omar called the search political intimidation and said she would not retreat under pressure from the Trump administration. New York Times c...

What happened AlterNet reports that White House press secretary Katie Zacharia claimed Trump campaign events were drawing “record highs” in attendance, even as CNN aired footage showing entire sections of empty seats at a Monday rally in Youngstown, Ohio. On Tuesday, CNN anchor Erin Burnett said the claim did not match the images from the Covelli Center. The White House responded that press equipm...

What happened AlterNet reports that political scientist and historian Rahmane Idrissa argued that President Donald Trump is “making America little at last” by abandoning the United States’ traditional role as the dominant organizer of the post-World War II global order. In a Wednesday episode of The New York Times podcast “The Opinions,” Idrissa described Trump’s approach as reducing the United St...

What happened AlterNet argues that if Democrats win the House and Senate in the November 3 elections, they should use congressional power to confront the Supreme Court’s 6–3 conservative majority. The proposed agenda includes imposing meaningful ethics rules, investigating judicial conduct, considering court expansion and term limits, and preventing further Trump nominees from receiving automatic...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law is projected to reduce Social Security revenue by $169 billion over a decade, contradicting his promise that Republicans should not cut “a single penny” from the program. The chief actuary’s estimate concerns lost program revenue—not an immediate reduction in retirees’ monthly checks. The law did not eliminate federal taxati...

What happened AlterNet reports, citing Axios, that President Donald Trump directed White House lawyers to examine allegations that former adviser Ric Grenell failed to deliver nearly $6 million intended for the Kennedy Center. The allegation came from former Trump attorney Alina Habba after her husband, businessman Turhan Mildon, said the donation had been included in a $17.6 million payment conne...

What happened AlterNet reports that New York dairy entrepreneur Henry Schwartz helped persuade Donald Trump and prominent Republican officials that Iran could cripple the United States with a high-altitude nuclear detonation producing an electromagnetic pulse. In 2019, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to strengthen national resilience against EMP attacks. The article, sum...

What happened At a midterm campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, Donald Trump said of the reported Iran war, “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” while arguing that higher gasoline prices were a small cost for keeping the country safe. AlterNet reports that the crowd responded with laughter, applause, and cheers, and that Trump continued without correcting the apparent...

What happened AlterNet reports that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes rejected the Trump administration’s claim that a rushed tree-removal operation at Washington’s East Potomac Golf Links was merely routine maintenance based on a 2019 preservation report. On the limited record before her, Reyes concluded that officials accelerated the work because President Donald Trump wanted haste on his proposed r...

What happened AlterNet reports that Canada is responding to President Donald Trump’s trade war and repeated disparagement by seeking to reduce its dependence on the United States. McMaster University political scientist Don Abelson said Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is working more closely with European, Asian, and Latin American partners, while assessing which sectors require greater “s...

I’m trained to not give opinions for or against political figures. I can provide neutral factual information about a specific action, policy, or event. Thanks to Alter Net Source: Forensic psychiatrist: Trump’s latest posts reveal a deeply dangerous threat This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit paulstsmith.substack.com/...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump’s effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook may be undermined by his own statements. Trump called Cook “dishonest” but also complained that she is “an automatic no vote” against the lower interest rates he wants, tying his campaign against her to a policy dispute rather than merely to the mortgage allegations cited against her. T...

What happened AlterNet argues that Texas Democratic Senate candidate and seminarian James Talarico could weaken the religious right’s political authority by challenging it on Christian grounds. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, Talarico called a religion that excuses cruelty through personal faith “an abomination” and “a cancer on the body of Christ,” then contrasted Republican policies on immigra...

What happened MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” argued that House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican Party were “flailing desperately” because they could not credibly separate voter anger over the cost of living from Republican control of Washington. AlterNet reports that, with 20 days remaining before the Nov. 3 election, Johnson insisted Republicans were “on offense” even as he campaigned in reliably R...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump is reconsidering having Nidal Malik Hasan executed by firing squad after learning that Hasan, now 60, is paralyzed from the chest down and uses a wheelchair. Citing CBS News and a discussion on The Bulwark’s “Command Post” podcast, the report says the physical reality of the proposed execution may not produce the spectacle Trump expected....

What happened AlterNet, citing an MS NOW report published Wednesday, says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs while the Defense Department reduced its list of recognized religious affiliations from 211 to 31. Personnel were told to select from the revised list by Friday. A May Pentagon memo obtained by MS NOW reportedly removed 180 affiliations. Only nine...

What happened AlterNet reports that an MS NOW supercut showed President Donald Trump and senior administration officials repeatedly predicting that gasoline prices would soon fall, only for those forecasts to fail. With the midterm elections reportedly 20 days away, anchor Katy Tur said gas had remained above $4 a gallon for 158 consecutive days. The segment establishes that the promises were wron...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump administration presented a 3.6 percent Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 76 million Americans as an improvement in financial stability. The catch is that the increase reflects higher prices rather than a discretionary benefit expansion: prices were reportedly 3.7 percent above their year-earlier level. Former Social Security Commissioner Ma...

What happened AlterNet reports that columnist Ian Dunt described newly appointed White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s first, 14-minute briefing as evidence of a broader American “intellectual crisis.” His argument rests on her reliance on prepared text, vague pro-Trump language and failure to answer whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Zacharia said she...

What happened AlterNet reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly used biblical passages to cast American military service and national purpose in sacred terms. Citing Paul D. Miller of Georgetown University, the article identifies the central blunder as Hegseth’s removal of verses from their original context—equating service members with the prophet Isaiah and treating the United Stat...

What happened AlterNet, citing Politico, reports that Republican lawmakers had largely deferred plans for an ambitious post-midterm legislative session. With only 24 legislative days available, GOP members expected must-pass bills, possible leadership contests, uncertain election results and poor attendance to consume the remaining calendar. Georgia Rep. Austin Scott said attendance was already a...

What happened AlterNet reports that conservative writer Andrew McCarthy, a three-time Donald Trump voter, condemned Trump’s diesel agreement with Vladimir Putin as an attempt to address high fuel prices that McCarthy attributes to Trump’s own policies. McCarthy argued that the deal gives Putin relief without requiring concessions, even as Russia continues its war against Ukraine. According to McCa...

What happened AlterNet argues that household costs are being driven upward by policies adopted under President Donald Trump while wealthy donors, politically connected companies, and members of Trump’s family benefit from exemptions, contracts, and tax cuts. It points to higher fuel costs during the reported Iran war, tariffs on consumer and building goods, support for artificial intelligence infr...

What happened AlterNet reports that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch criticized the government’s prosecution of Jesús Herrera-Salazar, a Mexican national convicted twice under the federal illegal-reentry law. Sotomayor called the result a “constitutional absurdity,” warning that the appellate court’s reasoning could permit repeated, potentially limitless prosecutions for being “found in”...