Dan Miller
@dan--miller
Writing @populareducation.bsky.social
If only Venezuela had been allowed to keep the $13 billion generated by its own oil exports. Instead, after the earthquake, the U.S. has offered just $300 million in "humanitarian aid."
One thing stands out about the Iran war: Despite the familiar pro-war messaging that often accompanies military interventions, a majority of Americans opposed it from the outset. The usual "Rally Around The Flag" effect didn't materialize.
Weird coincidence that a newspaper owned by one of the world's richest people keeps publishing arguments against redistributive policies.
The intervention in Venezuela was framed as "Democracy Promotion." In reality, it was about control over a developing country's most valuable resource. Now, Venezuelan oil revenues flow to the U.S. instead of being invested back into Venezuela.
The U.S. has spent months pressuring developing countries like Venezuela to end their Cuban doctor programs, despite knowing many lack enough physicians to replace them. Then an earthquake strikes, exposing an under-resourced healthcare system made even less prepared for the crisis.
Notice how the media will argue that workers should accept smaller raises to fight inflation, but rarely suggest corporations accept smaller profit margins to lower prices.
After failing to block a UN General Assembly debate on the U.S. embargo against Cuba, we're suddenly inundated with headlines portraying Cuba as a "National Security Threat." It's an attempt to bury the fact that the U.S. position on Cuba is overwhelmingly rejected by the international community.
The irony is remarkable. The WSJ invokes the struggle against apartheid to argue for regime change in Cuba, ignoring that the U.S. backed South Africa's apartheid govt while Cuba helped defeat it. Cuba's military intervention in Angola led to Namibia's independence & the collapse of apartheid
Americans are reading less than they used to. They're also spending more of their leisure time on things like sports betting, social media, and other forms of instant entertainment. Books increasingly have to compete with industries built to capture and monetize attention.
The account tracking Donald Trump's stock trades has been suspended by Twitter. Funny how Elon Musk is a "free speech" absolutist until the speech is inconvenient for the politicians he supports.
Sports betting resembles the early days of the opioid epidemic. Legalize an addictive product. Saturate a vulnerable population with predatory marketing. Normalize it through everyday culture. The industry profits, while society inherits the social costs and consequences.
If you're wondering why the Supreme Court sided with Trump and expanded his power over federal agencies, the answer is Unitary Executive Theory. It argues the president has total control over the executive branch, undermining agencies Congress designed to be insulated from presidential control.
The phrase "sanctions" sanitizes what is actually happening. In Cuba, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. Essential medicines are becoming unavailable, infant health outcomes are worsening, and more families are struggling to secure adequate nutrition.
Regardless of whether your politics align with the Ellison family or not, everyone should be concerned by the principle of one family owning such a large share of the media. In the past year alone, the Ellison family have captured CBS, CNN, and control of the TikTok algorithm.
For decades, the dominant development model imposed on poor countries has been: Open your economy to foreign capital. Sell off public assets. Export raw materials. Compete through cheap labor. Cuba pursued a different path by investing heavily in social development through healthcare & education.
"Donald Trump could save Cuba." The headline reflects a familiar media framework: U.S. sanctions on Cuba are presented as a form of liberation, while the human costs of these sanctions are treated as secondary or ignored altogether.
This chart is absurd. Bush, Clinton, Obama, Biden: millions. Trump & family: $3.4 billion.
The graph is a visual representation of class power. The bottom 50% barely moved. The top 0.1% increased 501% When the wealthy fund campaigns, hire armies of lobbyists, and shape economic policy, redistribution upwards is the result.
One of the most depraved aspects of U.S. policy towards Cuba is the effort to coerce developing countries into expelling Cuban doctors. Ending these programs not only punishes Cuba, but it also harms some of the world's poorest and most medically underserved people.
Ray Washburne, a Trump ally with ties to U.S. military and intelligence circles, just bought control of Sherritt, a Canadian company operating in Cuba’s nickel industry. Does this signal that well connected political insiders expect Trump will definitely launch an invasion of Cuba?
A story in three parts: 1) Trump's new sanctions push Sherritt to dissolve its Cuba venture. 2) Sherritt suddenly halts plans to leave Cuba. 3) A firm linked to a former Trump adviser buys a controlling stake in Sherritt
This is how the blockade on Cuba works in practice. Not just punishing Cuba directly — but intimidating shipping companies, banks, and foreign businesses into cutting ties with the island out of fear of US sanctions or lawsuits.
Media bias is often less about outright falsehoods and more about framing. Calling Cuba a “regime” instead of a government subtly delegitimizes it, while saying Cuba “rejected humanitarian aid” erases the possibility that the dispute was over the political conditions attached to the aid itself.
Conservatives: “Mail-in ballots can’t be trusted because the USPS is too unreliable and corrupt.” Also conservatives: “Yeah mailing handguns sounds fine actually.”
64% of Americans oppose a U.S. war with Cuba. Only 15% support it. There’s a massive gap between what the public wants and what the Trump Administration is pursuing in Cuba.
U.S. sanctions on Cuba have material consequences: A report from Center for Economic and Policy Research finds Cuba’s infant mortality rate jumped from 4.0 (2019) to 9.9 (2025)—a 148% increase. If rates held at 2018 levels, ~1,800 fewer babies would have died.
“Why don’t people trust the media anymore?” Meanwhile: A billionaire media owner is hosting Trump at a private dinner, while seeking approval for a $111B megamerger and CBS executives are literally at the table with him.