Featured

Trump: Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader, but I said no thanks

Trump’s “Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader” joke at an NRCC fundraiser uses a real, deadly leadership crisis in Iran to normalize assassination-as-policy and blur what’s confirmed about the war and succession.

Mar 26, 2026

Featured

‘Men need to be perp-walked’ after Epstein files release, Massie tells BBC

A GOP lawmaker says the Epstein document releases are still falling short—because redactions and withheld material may be blocking accountability and survivor-centered justice.

Mar 25, 2026

Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

Mar 5, 2026

Featured

The Trump gold coin is not normal : Consider This from NPR

A federal design panel OK’d a Trump portrait for a commemorative gold coin, but the key question is whether Treasury can legally bypass long-standing limits meant to keep living politicians off U.S. money.

Mar 23, 2026

Featured

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move

A $580 million burst of oil-futures selling minutes before Trump’s Iran “talks” post raises a basic public-interest question: did anyone trade on advance knowledge of a market-moving national security decision?

Mar 24, 2026

Norms Impact

New A.C.A. Plans Could Increase Family Deductibles to $31,000

By rewriting marketplace plan rules without Congress, the administration is trading guaranteed coverage protections for cheaper premiums, normalizing executive-driven erosion of health insurance risk safeguards.

Executive

Feb 26, 2026

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/health/obamacare-health-insurance-rollbacks.html

Summary

The Trump administration proposed new rules that would allow Affordable Care Act marketplace plans next year with far higher deductibles, potentially reaching $31,000 for families. The change uses executive rulemaking to reshape coverage options without new legislation, shifting the program’s effective financial protections through plan design. Families could face thousands more in out-of-pocket medical costs before insurance coverage begins, even if monthly premiums fall.

Reality Check

When executive rulemaking shifts costs onto families while advertising “affordability,” it sets a precedent for hollowing out statutory protections through design choices that most people won’t understand until a crisis hits their household. Nothing in this record suggests a clean fit for federal bribery or extortion crimes, but the conduct still pressures democratic accountability by using administrative levers to achieve policy outcomes Congress has not authorized. If the practical result is that insurance “kicks in” only after tens of thousands in spending, we are letting technical rule changes function as a backdoor rewrite of the social contract embedded in the Affordable Care Act.

Detail

The Trump administration proposed new rules for next year’s Obamacare plans that would permit the introduction of new marketplace options with lower monthly premiums and much higher deductibles.

Under the proposal, people using Affordable Care Act coverage could select plans that reduce premium payments but require them to pay thousands of dollars more in medical expenses before insurance coverage starts.

The administration is pursuing these changes through rulemaking because major changes to the program would require congressional legislation. The proposal is described as one of the few available methods to reduce premiums without Congress. In a State of the Union address, President Trump criticized the Affordable Care Act’s health care costs and advocated redirecting payments directly to Americans, a change that would require legislation.

Republican-aligned policy advisers argue the proposal increases consumer choice and keeps premiums low by expanding lower-cost plan options.

Norms Impact

Dr. Oz Invited Jeffrey Epstein to Palm Beach Valentine

A sitting federal health-agency chief is tied by email to a post-conviction social invitation for Jeffrey Epstein, eroding the baseline norm that public trust requires clear distance from convicted child sex offenders.

Executive