Lucas Leverett

08/17/2026

Your white nationalism at home is doing nothing for the troops, MAGA. Read it and weep. The truth hurts.

BREAKING: CNN's Pamela Brown Goes Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and Tells the Truth Trump Doesn't Want You to Hear

Pamela Brown did what good journalists do. She showed up.

While Trump told reporters the deployment hasn't gone on "nearly long enough" and Pete Hegseth insisted that every critical story about the USS Abraham Lincoln was a lie, Brown secured rare access to the aircraft carrier and spent three days aboard it talking to sailors. Not Pentagon spokespeople. Not administration officials. Sailors.

What she found was more human and more damning than any single headline. Sailors dealing with black mold, food so bad that crew members were losing weight, and no idea when they were going home. The ship has been deployed for nearly nine months. Multiple sailors have attempted to jump overboard. And the number one issue crushing morale wasn't the mold or the food. It was the silence. No end date. No clarity. No honesty from the people who sent them there.

One sailor put it plainly in a message to Brown. What started as a two-week combat operation became seven months with a shifting justification every few weeks. First it was to help Iranian protesters. Then to denuclearize Iran. Then to support a blockade. Nobody could tell them why they were still there or when they were coming home, while their families had their lives on hold waiting for them.

Hegseth called coverage of the Lincoln "completely misrepresented." Brown wrote that sentiment "did not go over well" with the sailors she's been talking to. That is as politely as a journalist can call a defense secretary a liar.

Thank you, Pamela Brown, for getting on that ship and letting those sailors be heard.

08/14/2026

Pete gets it. And he lays it out well in this video. We all want the same things. We all deserve the same things. Yes, I've been "in the ring" (or the mud pit, rather, given this MAGA hellscape and the hateful bullies who deserve to be met on their own level, in the muck). But the argument for Progressive reality and what we all want in our country is perfectly reasonable, when you take the whackos out of it.

Well said, Pete.

08/10/2026

As a Grand Rapidian, it is a little hard to imagine this kind of care and compassion being put into practice by the Grand Rapids Police Department, given their penchant for escalation and over-response, and tendency to apply the wrong tools and resources to almost any situation. But in my hometown, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department set a really great example last month in their response to this incident.

I don't know what it's going to take to get our cops here in GR to evolve and rise to the occasion of where we should be as a society. But it cannot happen soon enough. It is long overdue. And, no, the answer isn't to keep throwing more money at them and to keep buying them more implements of urban warfare.

08/09/2026

I've had a lot of discussions with neighbors and community members who are concerned about the prevalence of AI and how it shows up in our lives. This recent promotional piece from West Grand Neighborhood Organization for the National Night Out event was deeply concerning to myself and those I have spoken with.

As Vice President of the Board at our Neighborhood Organization, I will be ensuring this is a topic of discussion, as we examine the most ethical and responsible ways to weigh the tools available to our hard-working staff against the deeply damaging impact AI has on regular working people (and the overall workforce as a whole), those less fortunate in our community, and concerns about our environment. I appreciate those who've spoken with me about this issue, and I assure you that I will advocate for the right thing here.

Negative feedback about AI infesting our community at the local level is a generally universal and unifying notion, as well. We saw this just recently in a post from We Are Westsiders. (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FMcminUbg/) Also, note how they all look the same as each other and the same as the Night Out flier.

That said, I cannot speak for our Board or organization. This is simply my pledge to keep this issue in the conversation. I know that intelligent people already know that my positions are my own, and not representative of a vetted POV from any vote held in our Board, but I will always fiercely defend my ability to speak as VP about my individual views and values—especially when those align with representing the concerns of the community members who have my ear.

I want to further be clear about what this is about: it's not about cops. I wouldn't care what event this "art" (it's not art) was for. It's about the AI. This is not about formatting, though as a Marcom and design expert, I understand how poorly this images served the purpose of an event cover image. And this is not at all about placing burden on the incredibly hard-working staff our non-profit, all-volunteer Board is lucky enough to have.

This is about the evils and exploitations of AI, but approaching it with balance that considers the redeemable utility it can offer, on occasion. I am looking at this with gratitude on all sides, and hope to see others join in good faith to examine this and assure that the most local of operations, closest to those most affected by these larger trends, do right by The People.

So stay tuned, and thank you to those who brought this to my attention.

08/09/2026

PERFECT. No notes. Another excellent turn of phrase from Abdul El-Sayed to clap back at the state of American Politics and a prime example of the principle that you have to punch bullies in the nose to shut them up.

This is the kind of guts I've been waiting for from the Democrats, most of my adult life, but especially the last decade. When people try to criticize me about my more no-holds-barred approach to political pugilism, and I hold my ground, this is an example of why. We need to normalize hitting back. Normalize meeting them on their level.

Bless Michelle Obama's heart for trying that "we go high" thing, but it was never going to work. When you try to act like you're above the state of things, you just end up becoming another victim. That's why I've never shied away from getting in the ring, instead of trying to lecture people on "decorum" and other useless ways to avoid making a stand for what's right.

Around here, West Michigan Nice™ is a specifically sharp example of how this folly becomes part of the Toxic Positivity that turns leaders into losers. People have real needs. People are facing true horrors. We don't beat back the perpretators of all that by being nice and pulling punches, or kissing the ring of a tyrant—or the ring of our own party's establishment.

Abdul gets that.

And don't sleep on the sheer brilliance of the off-the-cuff double-entandre of his comeback. It refers specifically to the scatological humor of the moment, and the overall drivel and hate that spews out of Trump and MAGA right inside the Oval Office.

Keep it up, Abdul.

08/09/2026

Here’s a little Sunday School for you.

And to answer a couple of Tim’s questions: Yes. It’s who they’ve always been. No. They’re not Biblical at all.

Happy Sunday. 🫡

08/07/2026

Brilliant advertising isn’t impossible, it just takes vision. Another cool example from Netflix!

08/07/2026

It's not the work. We all love seeing the public's money at work for the things our communities need. It's the horrible management, communication, and curation gaps which are failures of The City of Grand Rapids leadership. It's the lack of oversight. It's the stodgy and uncreative thinking. The acceptance of "oh well, that's just the way it is" or "I just work here" or—the worst one—"well, we've always done it that way."

And instead of making change and doing better, we have leaders who'd rather tone-police, or lecture people on how they manifest their frustrations.

It cannot continue this way. Great cities don't successfully complete the evolution happening in GR right now, by this malaise, status-quo acceptance, and arguable recklessness. Some of us have been pushing for better and speaking up. Maybe it's time more people in City Hall were listening. Or at least listening to those of us who aren't billionaires, or don't protect their egos or feelings by sugar-coating. Small businesses deserve better.

A rebuilt streetscape on Cesar Chavez Avenue near Clyde Park is com...