Hammers, Predators, and Pharisees

March 25, 2026 — Five dispatches from the edge of the American experiment.

The Rapturous Predator Eyes Cuba

Re: Will President Trump act on his threat to take Cuba? — NPR

Good grief. This rapturous predator has a hole in his character which can not be filled. He consistently takes more and more actions. Will he send troops to invade Cuba? The answer will not be a surprise.

Cuba is bankrupt, its power grid failing, its people fleeing. Trump sees weakness and calls it "honor." NPR's reporting paints a nation already on its knees — and a president who has never once hesitated to kick downward.

When You're a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail

Re: Canadian woman held with daughter by ICE warns all immigrants to 'lie low' — The Guardian

When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. This "solution" is anti-humanitarian, anti-human and unconstitutional. But the fears of others is so powerfully gripping the MAGA and their Dear Leader that this gets lost immediately. ICE is not the answer to any of the problems in the USA. MAGA and its simpleton racist and isolationist principles — it's hard to call them principles — are the biggest problem we face. Also how about those Epstein files?

A Canadian woman with valid papers, married to a US citizen, detained with her autistic seven-year-old daughter at a checkpoint in Texas. This is what the machinery produces when you feed it fear instead of policy.

Security by Theatre

Re: The TSA is broken — is privatization next? — The Verge

I have long held the position that the TSA is security by theatre and is really a chokehold on the population that does not benefit the population.

Now the theatre is collapsing on itself: 50,000 TSA officers working without pay for the third time in six months, five-hour lines stretching into parking garages in Houston. The system was built on the premise that visible inconvenience equals safety. It never did.

The Escalator Ramps Upward

Re: Military Families Once Again Brace for a Knock — The Atlantic

I hope I am wrong. I really do hope that we do not go through the inevitable escalator conflict that appears to be ramping upwards. But it does appear to be ramping upwards. Swiftly.

Thirteen American families have received the knock at the door since the war in Iran began. Tyler Simmons, who used to watch planes take off with his father, was killed in a crash over Iraq. Captain Savino died doing what she loved most — flying. These are not abstractions. These are the first American combat deaths in a foreign war since Afghanistan, and the escalator only goes one direction.

Modern Pharisees in the Modern Temple

Re: Democratic rising star extends 'love' after Hegseth pastor prays for his death — The Guardian

The Biblical character who is called Jesus would have plenty to say about the modern Pharisees who claim to be acting as his followers. I am sure that more than tables would get tossed in the modern temple.

Pete Hegseth's pastor prayed publicly for the death of a Democratic state representative — a Presbyterian seminarian, no less — on a Christian nationalist podcast. The representative responded with love. The pastor responded with theological gymnastics. The distance between these two responses tells you everything about who is actually reading the book they claim to follow.

The Thought Police is a periodic editorial series. All commentary represents the views of the author.