This week I marked the end of another summer by spending as much time as I could on the water. In the low fall light, paddling past the rock pier I’ve known my entire life, I saw something that made me appreciate the masons’ artistic ability even more than I always had. It seemed they made the rocks take flight. Here’s hoping the next year brings us all entirely new ways to look at the world. Shar

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So now, after more than a decade of pretending that he is not associated with Russia and that he would honor the U.S. national security position of support for Ukraine and our European allies, Trump is openly backing Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. Asked today by a reporter about concerns that his dropping of sanctions against Russian oil yesterday would funnel money to Putin’s war on Ukraine,

Late Wednesday afternoon, Dana Mattioli, Drew Hinshaw, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Joe Parkinson of the Wall Street Journal reported on the tawdry grifting of Kimberly Guilfoyle, former fiancee of Donald Trump Jr. and now Trump’s ambassador to Greece. Panicked about how much money she owed on her American Express credit card, Guilfoyle reached out to Eric Deters, who wanted the administration’s help wit

Watch today’s live recording here . Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Get full, free access to Letters from an American here . You can also find Heather: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok

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On October 8, 1871, dry conditions and strong winds drove deadly fires through the Midwest. The Peshtigo Fire in northeastern Wisconsin and parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula burned more than 1.2 million acres (4,860 square kilometers) and 17 towns, claiming between 1,500 and 2,500 lives. The Great Chicago Fire burned 3.3 square miles (8.6 square kilometers) of the city, destroying the wooden str

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On October 7, 2016, in the run-up to the 2016 election, the Washington Post broke the story of the so-called Access Hollywood tape, a video from 2005 in which Donald Trump told television host Billy Bush about his approach to women. “I don’t even wait” to start kissing them, he said. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.... Grab ‘em by the p***y. You can do anything.” O

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Judging from his social media posts, Trump is panicking. Shortly after noon yesterday, he posted that it was “no longer the Strait of Hormuz” driving up gasoline prices, but Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s refineries. In fact, some oil tankers have indeed been passing through the strait but, as Spencer Kimball of CNBC explains, “only due to a major U.S. military commitment and at a high cost to the

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Get full, free access to Letters from an American here . You can also find Heather: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok

Watch today's live recording here . Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Get full, free access to Letters from an American here . You can also find Heather: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok

To read this letter, click here: Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok

Last night, on October 4, U.S. Southern Command posted that it had struck another small boat in the Caribbean, killing another four people it called “narco-terrorists.” This brings the number of strikes to more than 70, and the number of people killed in the strikes that began a year ago to more than 230 people. The administration’s justification for the strikes has not been made public. It has cl

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On Friday night, just before 11:00, Trump announced that his administration “will, immediately, begin sending ‘Checks’ of nearly $100 to over 20 MILLION wonderful Seniors to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums, which we have already reduced by significant amounts. This money will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, a pointless ‘Slush Fund’ that has only been used by Dumocrats in Congr

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On Saturday, October 3, the Power to the People festival, organized by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, took over the stage at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. On two stages were rock, alternative, and hip hop royalty, joining together to remind Americans of their agency to change the future and reclaim American democra