What We Don’t Say Out Loud

Hey Small Biters,

It’s the weekend. Across the country, families are out, inboxes are quiet, and headlines are already slipping from memory. But moments from this week remain — each one saying something about where this country is heading, and who it’s choosing to serve.

1. The head of FEMA asked: “What’s a hurricane season?”

David Richardson, appointed without emergency management experience, now leads the agency responsible for federal disaster response. He made the comment in a staff meeting, later framed as a joke. But this week FEMA also confirmed it would not roll out new training plans and has lost over 2,000 staff since January. The official start of hurricane season was June 1.

2. House Republicans pushed forward a Medicaid work requirement bill.

Speaker Mike Johnson defended the policy by saying people who lose coverage “choose” to do so by not complying. But under similar policies in the past, people lost coverage due to administrative hurdles — not laziness or fraud. The CBO estimates over 5 million could lose access. Many won’t know they’ve lost it until it’s gone.

3. Elon Musk and Donald Trump are now in open conflict.

Their falling-out went public this week, as Musk blasted Trump’s signature legislative package and hinted that Tesla and SpaceX were being politically targeted. Trump responded by calling Musk selfish and disloyal. Musk’s companies now face scrutiny around federal contracts. Behind the headlines: a raw power struggle between wealth, loyalty, and control of the public narrative.

4. Kilmar Abrego Garcia returns to the U.S. to face charges.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March, despite a court order prohibiting his removal. He was detained in a Salvadoran prison before the U.S. Supreme Court mandated his return. Now back in the U.S., he faces federal charges related to human smuggling. His attorneys argue that the charges are an attempt to justify the administration's earlier error, while the government asserts that he was involved in a decade-long smuggling operation. The case has sparked significant legal and political debate over due process and immigration enforcement practices.

Each of these stories reveals a different layer of the same question:
What are we willing to let slip by? Who are we willing to let slip through?

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✍️

Some losses are not loud.
Some choices are not made — they’re accepted by silence.
But every moment we look away,
someone else decides what comes next.

“Not every door slams shut with force,
Some just close when no one's near.
Not every injustice marches in,
Some arrive through side doors cleared.”

“There is no neutral path through power.
There is only the path we make by noticing.”

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🍽 A Small Bite to Carry

• An untrained leader heads FEMA as risks rise.

• Healthcare is reshaped again, quietly and bureaucratically.

• Two billionaires clash in public, with real-world consequences.

• A deportation error leads to a complex legal battle over justice and due process.

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If Small Bite helps you notice more clearly, I hope you’ll become a paid subscriber. It helps me keep doing this work — writing, watching, holding up what’s being decided quietly and quickly, before it settles in for good.

Until then, rest when you can. Stay awake when it matters. And if this moved you, I hope you’ll stay with me—not just as a reader, but as a supporter. Your backing makes deeper dives, broader stories, and slower truths possible.

Warm regards,
Small Bites

Have a great weekend!!

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