Another Reason He’s Skipping The Super Bowl February 5, 2026 BEZOS I don’t much care about the Washington Post sports or metro sections. Neither is a national trust. But sapping the strength of its national and international news desks? That just sucks. And why would Bezos do it? As Peter Baker noted: Net increase in Bezos wealth since buying the Post: $224.2 billion Last reported annual losses of Post: $100 million Number of years Bezos could absorb those losses with what he makes in a single week: 5 BILLIONS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged that if Trump won his lawsuit against the IRS, $10 billion would be transferred from the pockets of American taxpayers straight into his. He’s fine with that. Americans struggle to make ends meet while the Trump family has raked in an estimated $2.25 billion since his re-election. Not counting the crypto stuff. NAME CHANGE Bill D.: “Let’s stop calling them the #EpsteinFiles and start calling them the #PedoFiles.” → Yes! The PedoFiles — in which Trump’s name appears more than 38,000 times. Plus whatever may have been redacted or withheld. COLBERT Wednesday’s monologue killed. If you can’t spare the full 12 minutes, start here as he and Pope Leo take on House Speaker Mike Johnson and put “Romans 13” into historical context. ANOTHER REASON HE’S NOT GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL From StarLife Documented Donald Trump basically destroyed an entire football league because he was desperate to get into the NFL’s exclusive club. In September 1983, when Trump was 37 years old, he bought the New Jersey Generals of the brand new United States Football League for a few million bucks after the team’s original owner from Oklahoma got tired of flying back and forth to New York every week. The USFL was designed to play spring football to avoid competing with the NFL, and honestly it was working pretty well with decent TV ratings and growing enthusiasm after its first season. But Trump immediately started pushing his fellow owners to move the entire league’s season to the fall so they’d go head to head against the NFL, famously saying if God wanted football in the spring he wouldn’t have created baseball. Trump’s real plan wasn’t to build a successful spring league, it was to force the NFL to merge with the USFL so he could finally own an NFL franchise, something he’d been trying to do for years but kept getting rejected. He convinced the other owners to file a massive 1.7 billion dollar antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in 1984, claiming the NFL had monopolized television contracts and blocked competition. The trial happened in 1986 and Trump testified personally, but the NFL’s lawyers were brilliant because they made the whole case about Trump instead of monopoly issues, painting him as an arrogant real estate developer who just wanted to bully his way into their club. The jury actually agreed the NFL was technically a monopoly, but then awarded the USFL exactly one dollar in damages, which got tripled to three bucks under antitrust laws. The USFL collapsed immediately after that verdict and never played another game, with Trump’s push for fall football and his disastrous lawsuit widely blamed for killing the whole thing. One juror later said Trump was extremely arrogant and obviously just trying to play a game to get an NFL franchise, and she didn’t believe anything he said on the witness stand. The league ended up $160 million in debt, and hundreds of players and employees lost their jobs because Trump convinced everyone to bet it all on a lawsuit that won them literally three dollars. OK, that’s probably not the reason. He just doesn’t want to be booed. Though it does remind us that, as one Republican strategist has explained, Everything He Touches Dies. Join Indivisible. Support the opposition. Enjoy the game.
Take Heart! (Part 2) February 5, 2026February 5, 2026 We have a great chance of winning both the House and Senate. And flipping governorships and state legislative chambers. A famous Democratic strategist at a closed-press thing I attended last week saw a path to 56 senators. His on-stage counterpart, a famous journalist long associated with a Republican-leaning publication, saw 54. Needless to say, even 51 would change everything. It will take an enormous effort . . . that — take heart! — is underway. You’ve seen the Texas state senate seat we won last week by 14 points in a district Trump won by 17. Results in low-turn-out special elections exaggerate the results we can expect in November, but we don’t need anywhere close to a 31-point swing to produce a big blue wave . . . and we have remarkable people stepping up to ride that wave. A small sampling: > Democrat David Jolly, whose speech I highlighted last week (7 minutes), will be the next governor of Florida. > Democrat Alexander Vindman (2 minutes) will flip the Senate seat currently occupied by Marco Rubio’s appointed replacement whom neither you nor 95% of Floridians can name. I couldn’t either until I looked it up. > Democrat Rob Sand will be the next governor of Iowa. He’s already been elected statewide and saved the state a ton of money; become a little famous (The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America’s Biggest Lottery Scam); and rocked this episode of the wildly popular MeatEater podcast (2 hours) describing something that makes me cringe (I “lean vegetarian”) but that measured 209 inches from antler to wherever hunters measure these things. > The hugely personable Scott Colom, district attorney, will be the next senator from the potentially great state of Mississippi. > The radiant Mary Peltola is going to be the next senator from the great state of Alaska! > Roy Cooper will win in North Carolina! > Either Janet Mills or Graham Platner has a real chance to beat Susan Collins in Maine! > Either James Talarico or the equally amazing Jasmine Crockett could be the next junior senator from Texas. Both have blown me away up close; the reason I hope Talarico wins the nomination is that his message — there’s nothing “Christian” about Christian nationalism — would be heard nationwide, which could help guide thousands of voters back onto the path of kindness and decency. > I’ve told you about the son of two Baptist ministers Chris Jones, with his two advanced degrees in physics and rocketry from MIT, who will flip an Arkansas seat blue . . . and my pal retired Space Force Colonel Bree Framm who will be winning a seat in Virginia . . . and my firefighter/JFK air traffic controller/Black Hawk helicopter pal Chris Gallant, who can flip a seat on Long Island. There are dozens more. With much of the country roused to help sweep them to victory! Join today’s 3pm weekly Indivisible call! Block out March 28 to join next entirely peaceful NO KINGS protest! (I never protested before either, but the three I’ve attended have been fun! So c’mon. Grab a friend or two and have at it!) BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Supreme Court lets California use congressional map that favors Dems. Take heart! They may not always bend the knee to Trump. New York Times Added 1.4 Million Digital Subscribers in 2025. Take heart! More and more people are paying attention. Conservatives are stepping up. Take heart! Liz Cheney was the first and bravest, but there are more and more. “Resisting tyranny used to mean something in this country,” says this one (2 minutes you will want to share). The Epstein files just won’t go away. More than 38,000 references to Trump in more than 5,300 separate files. Watch him say they prove he’s innocent . . . just as he had the largest inauguration crowd in history . . . won 2020 by a landslide (“everybody knows” it) . . . just as the 30,000 lies and misstatements in his first term weren’t lies and misstatements . . . and E. Jean Carroll was “not his type” so he couldn’t have raped her as the jury found he did) . . . it’s just one hoax after another. No president in history has been so badly treated. And anyone who disagrees is either a deranged lunatic (“low IQ,” to boot, if not white) and/or a paid radical domestic terrorist. Just look at Alex Pretti. Congressmen Ted Lieu begs to differ. Watch him call Trump out for those 38,000 Epstein file references (2 minutes). Take heart! The fever is breaking! The wave is building! Spread those clips and, if you can, help fund the infrastructure that will boost all our Democratic candidates — now, when few do and we need it most. You can rent lots of buses in the last weeks of a campaign; but you have to start now if you want to build the bridges they’ll need to ride over.
Take Heart! February 2, 2026 I attended a thing last week that confirmed my high hopes. Democrats have a terrific “bench” for 2028 and — in the crucial meantime — a really good shot at taking back the House and Senate. Tomorrow, I hope to get into some specifics, but while I pull that together . . . WHAT PRESIDENTS SHOULD BE LIKE Remember civility? Comity? Comedy? Barack Obama and John McCain modeled the kind of behavior we’d want our kids — and the world — to see (2½ minutes). It’s going to take a while, but we’re gonna get back to that. TAKE HEART! “They want us to lose hope, but we won’t,” argues Ben Meiselas, citing everything from our big Texas win Saturday . . . picking up a deep-red Senate seat by 14 points in a district Trump won by 17 — a 31-point swing (in a race of which Trump claimed to be totally unaware, despite having endorsed the loser three times) . . . to the effective shutdown of the Kennedy Center for “at least two years after his attempt to co-opt it completely failed. Performers canceled. Staff quit. Audiences stopped showing up. Authoritarianism doesn’t mix well with culture, and that failure matters.” Read it and be buoyed. SO ORDERED Marie B.: “Have you read this? It should be read out loud in every classroom in America.” It should indeed: Before the Court is the petition of asylum seeker Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son for protection of the Great Writ of habeas corpus. They seek nothing more than some modicum of due process and the rule of law. The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children. This Court and others regularly send undocumented people to prison and orders them deported but do so by proper legal procedures. Apparent also is the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence. Thirty-three-year-old Thomas Jefferson enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation. Among others were: “He has sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People.” “He has excited domestic Insurrection among us.” “For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us.” “He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our Legislatures.” “We the people” are hearing echoes of that history. And then there is that pesky inconvenience called the Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and persons or things to be seized. Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer. Accordingly, the Court finds that the Constitution of these United States trumps this administration’s detention of petitioner Adrian Conejo Arias and his minor son, L.C.R. The Great Writ and release from detention are GRANTED pursuant to the attached Judgment. Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned. Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place. Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: “Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?” “A republic, if you can keep it.” With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED. SIGNED this 31st day of January, 2026. Fred Biery UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FINALLY . . . . . . On the off chance you haven’t seen these 6 minutes from Saturday Night Live, have fun! Here’s to all our Trump friends, in the hope that we can find “off ramps” for every single one of them; or at least the large majority (I believe), like Carl, who are fine folks . . . just reluctant to see the Trump family, Stephen Miller, et al, for who they really are.
Sunday Tidbits February 1, 2026 They ‘Had Done Everything Right.’ ICE Detained Them Anyway. “Dozens of refugees with valid status were sent from Minnesota to Texas to be re-vetted, prompting a lawsuit. Those released had to pay their way back.” What it’s like to be Mexican-American these days. Heartbreaking to think this is Carl’s America. He keeps telling me that Biden let “millions” of murderers and rapists into the country. Well, they’re not doing a very good job of murdering. These days, Americans should be more afraid of being murdered or raped by masked government agents (Joe Rogan likens them to the Gestapo) than by asylum seekers. Yes, Trump has hung a photo of him and Putin in the White House. In the war for freedom and democracy, Trump has switched sides. The Hartmann Report: Trump’s New Grift: A $10 Billion Demand for “Reputational Harm” After his Income Tax Avoidance Was Exposed. Seriously. A man is now serving a 5-year prison sentence for leaking Trump’s tax returns to the press in 2018, and he wasn’t even a federal employee; he worked for a contractor. But Trump still thinks his embarrassment when we learned he’s been a tax cheat most of his life is, Trump says, so severe that the American government must give him and his two oldest boys a massive pile of cash. This family never saw a grift it couldn’t embrace… Fareed Zakaria: Why unchecked state power — not immigration — threatens the West The Trump administration has declared war on civil society — media, universities, nongovernmental institutions, law firms and even private businesses. The Justice Department’s plans to investigate organizations like George Soros’s Open Society Foundations — with the president describing it as racketeering — signals something dark: the criminalization of disfavored groups. It is the logic of Hungary and Russia imported into American politics: You do not rebut critics; you investigate them. So worth reading in full. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition! Tomorrow (or soon): Take Heart!
Minnesota: Fort Sumter In Reverse January 31, 2026 But first . . . WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE INCOMING FED CHAIR Paul Krugman: Ronald Lauder’s son-in-law is a political animal unqualified for the job; but fortunately, he will not control a majority of the votes. Read it here. 12 SECONDS OF FUN In hot pursuit of a provocative office chair. 12 MORE Anti-immigrationists. WAS TRUMP SENT BY GOD? Yes, he has a different style than the last guy. One said: “turn the other cheek”; the other: “I’d like to punch him in the face.” One loved the poor; the other, billionaires and the poorly educated. But some people sincerely think so. (No need to watch in full.) THEY JAILED MY FRIEND . . . . . . for his coverage of a loud-but-peaceful protest. Plus, he’s black, so he was already on thin ICE. You can determine for yourself — Don Lemon arrest sparks First Amendment debate after Minnesota church protest — whether he’s worth your tax dollars to arrest and prosecute (not an inexpensive undertaking), even though three judges refused to issue an arrest warrant. Anything to distract from the Epstein files, only 200,000 of which are being withheld. But seriously: it’s OK to storm the Capitol and attack police — that warrants a presidential pardon. But reporting on a peaceful protest is a bridge too far? This is America? And now . . . STEPHEN MILLER, ET AL, DECLARE WAR You may find this over-the-top — but, boy, is it a perspective worth considering: Minneapolis Is Fort Sumter In Reverse.
Republican Senators, Take Note January 30, 2026January 28, 2026 Trump Ally Warns European Leaders: President’s Mental State “Dangerous” The most damning indictments often come from unexpected sources. Last week in Brussels, Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister and one of Europe’s most vocal Trump supporters, pulled aside his fellow European leaders to share what he’d witnessed during a private meeting with the American president. The word he used to describe Trump’s demeanor? “Dangerous.” Let that sink in for a moment. This isn’t coming from some liberal European bureaucrat or a member of the so-called “deep state.” This is a man who spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference praising Trump, who’s consistently defended the president’s approach to Ukraine, and who proudly posted about his access to Mar-a-Lago on social media. When someone who’s been in your corner starts warning others about your “psychological state,” you’ve crossed a threshold that should terrify us all. . . . It’s past time for Republican senators to put country — and world — ahead of party and personal power. Which is actually a lot to ask, but their chance to be heroes. So far, they’ve been mostly cowering and — cue the historical echo — “just following orders.” Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Leaving MAGA — Part II January 29, 2026January 28, 2026 Yesterday I ran the Facebook post of a longtime conservative evangelical Christian pastor who now speaks out forcefully against his old Republican Party.. Today — Rick Logis, who wrote, just a few years back: “The Democratic Party is the most dangerous group in the history of our republic, foreign or domestic — more than the Islamic supremacists, more than the Nazis.” But that was then. He embraced Donald Trump, and then abandoned him. How did he do it? asks, and answers, the Tampa Bay Times. Worth sharing. And the perfect opportunity to remind you of the group he founded, Leaving MAGA, and of his FREE handbook of the same name: Leaving MAGA I. Why I Gravitated To MAGA II. Why I Left MAGA III. Empowering Others to Leave MAGA You can also download his FREE Friends & Family Guide . . . or take 5 minutes to watch him here . . . or read his open letter: Dear MAGA Americans, I was a devoted member of MAGA nation for seven years; it made me feel I was part of something important: a movement that was trying to save American democracy. But starting in 2021, I realized I had been mistaken. It took me a full year to finally break away. During that time, I came to understand that MAGA is sustained by a series of myths that are intended to create perpetual feelings of desperation and panic. Succumbing to these predatory myths does not mean you are unintelligent, weak, or lack good character and morals. I have a Bachelor’s degree; have been a working professional my entire life; am a family man; and consider myself a relatively honest and intelligent person. I think the same about you. I understand the reasons you have for supporting MAGA. And I know many of us traveled different paths to get there. I gravitated to Donald Trump because I have always been suspicious of our two-party system, and I saw him as the right man at the right time. I have a sense that some of you have quietly left MAGA already, or are increasingly regretful, confused and scared. All of this can be doubly upsetting, since some of your sincerely-held beliefs may have alienated you from friends and family. That certainly happened to me. It’s perfectly OK to feel this way; leaving MAGA was a tumultuous roller coaster of a process for me. It may be one of the most difficult endeavors you embark upon. In the end, it brought me an inner peace, and a newfound clarity about what is happening in our beloved country. I founded this organization, Leaving MAGA, because I wanted to create a safe, non-judgmental community for those who leave MAGA, as well as for those who are having doubts about, or remorse over, their devotion to Trump and MAGA. Our Leaving MAGA community will celebrate how acknowledging mistakes empowers you and America. It’s difficult for a democracy to function well when millions are estranged from those closest to them. You do not deserve to have your anxieties about change exploited. You deserve to know the truth. And with Leaving MAGA, you don’t have to feel you would be alone if you leave the movement. Leaving MAGA is possible. Recognizing that we were wrong, and acting on that knowledge, makes us all more invested in democracy and in the continued work of perfecting our union. Sincerely and humbly yours, Rich Join Indivisible! Join today’s weekly Indivisible call at 3pm Eastern. Support the opposition! Stay warm!
Moses And Jesus January 28, 2026January 28, 2026 But first . . . HE ALONE IS FIXING IT His people are “doing a helluva job” (30 seconds). Americans’ confidence in the US economy falls sharply in January to lowest level since 2014. But c’mon — why so glum? Corporate profits are strong and billionaires have never done better! Isn’t that enough? And now . . . MOSES International Holocaust Remembrance Day prompted Noa Tishby (Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth) to co-author this New York Post essay yesterday: Hatred of Israel is the new antisemitism. You can hate what Netanyahu and Israel have done to Gazans, as many Israelis themselves do . . . but should hate even more, I would argue, what Hamas has done to Gazans and Israelis. Either way, no one should hate Palestinians or Israelis per se — or Jews. Yet so many do. Almost all of whom vote MAGA. This deeply personal Newsweek essay linking Trump to antisemitism was written before the 2024 election. JESUS “I’d like to punch him in the face.” — Jesus, Two Corinthians There is a modest but real chance for Democrats to win John Cornyn’s Texas Senate seat in November — not least because he faces a tough primary of his own — and two outstanding Democrats are vying for that chance. Jasmine Crockett blew me away on a recent Zoom and would make a fine Senator. Texas is not known for electing persons of color (though it’s had two female governors and, from 1993-2013, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson) . . . but a majority of the state’s eligible voters are themselves persons of color — and she’s terrific. James Talarico is, too. He has blown me away with clips like this one (2 minutes), asserting with a seminarian’s authority that “there is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism.” They’d both be great, so the only thing that matters is which one has the best chance of winning. If it does not become clear which one that is, then I’d like to see Talarico get it — and here’s why. The race is likely to get loads of national attention. And getting that word out to Christians around the country — that if they are real Christians, it’s time to think hard about which party they should call home — could make a difference in races nationwide. This man has done that hard thinking: I am a straight, white, cisgender, very obviously privileged man in my early forties. I have a beard that is turning gray. I wear flannel. I wear trucker hats. I wear Carhartt pants. I took up fishing this past year. If you passed me in a parking lot, there is a solid chance you would assume I am either very angry, very conservative, or about to complain loudly about something on Facebook. Fair assumption. I look like THAT guy. I grew up in a home with firearms. Firearm safety was taken seriously. I was taught how to handle them, where the safety was, how to shoot, and how to respect the responsibility that comes with all of that and I understand that culture because I lived in it. I was also a conservative evangelical Christian pastor for 15 years. As a senior in high school, I attended meetings for the Young Republicans. I registered to vote as soon as I could and voted for George W. Bush the first time I was eligible in 2000. I voted for him again in 2004. That was normal where I was. That was expected. That was the air I breathed. Then something inconvenient happened. I started thinking… and I didn’t like the smell of what I was stepping in. In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama. I was still an evangelical Christian pastor. I did not tell anyone. In 2012, I voted for Obama again. I was a worship pastor and youth pastor at a very conservative baptist church in a very conservative small coastal town in Northern California near Crescent City. After Obama won reelection, I posted on Facebook that “everything was going to be okay”. That was it. One sentence. I was called into the pastor’s office and grilled about who I voted for and where my politics stood. The same pastor had previously grilled me for allowing a young queer girl to attend overnight church trips. He also took issue with me saying Christians should care about social justice. Apparently loving your neighbor was fine until you meant it. I share all of this because I did not arrive here accidentally. I lived in that world. I led in it. I preached in it. I defended it. Most of my friends, family, and community thought exactly the way I did at the time. I attended a conservative Christian Bible college and I graduated. After I left evangelical Christianity, I went back to school and earned a second degree from a local very liberal state school in digital cinema. But at the state school, no one there indoctrinated me. I didn’t catch any woke mind virus. No one tried to change me. What they did do was put me in rooms with people I had been taught to fear. LGBTQ+ students. Immigrants. Artists. Humans. A large reason I left evangelical Christianity and my career as a pastor was because LGBTQ+ kids kept showing up to our youth group. The elders of my Church complained that the youth group did not feel welcoming to church kids anymore. What they really meant was that it felt too welcoming to everyone else and all the kids who went to Christian school, and came from Christian homes, and who were in church the first Sunday after they were born, felt uncomfortable. The LGBTQ+ students came because they felt safe. We did not preach at them. We ate pizza. We played dumb youth group games. We gave them a place to exist without being fixed. That was apparently a problem. There are a thousand others reasons I left that world, but that one still sits heavy. Here is why I am speaking up… I have the ability to move between worlds. I can walk into a Sportsman’s Warehouse in flannel, Carhartts, sunglasses, and a big beard, grab some tackle, and no one would ever guess I had just come from a rally supporting public lands or standing against hate and authoritarianism. That matters. People who look like me are often assumed to be safe, neutral, or on the other side. That gives me access. And access comes with responsibility. It is more important than ever for people who look like me to speak up. To speak out. To say clearly that hate and discrimination are not acceptable. To say that just because you do not understand someone does not mean they have less value or dignity. To say that LGBTQ+ people are not threats. They are people. Who have dignity worth and purpose and just want to live their lives in peace. If you grew up conservative evangelical, I see you. I know how deeply this stuff runs. I know how much of it is shaped by church, family, community, and media echo chambers. A lot of people were not taught to hate intentionally. They were taught who to fear. That does not excuse harm. But it does mean change is possible. I am living proof of that. And if you are liberal, I would gently suggest remembering that people do not usually change because they are screamed at by strangers online. Again, I know this because I am standing here. It was honestly the love and compassion of the LGBTQ+ community that began to lead me out. They asked me sincere questions about my beliefs, my faith, about who I was as a person. I soon learned, “hey… they’re pretty cool!” So if you are conservative and angry right now, pause and ask why. Who taught you that anger. Who benefits from it. Who gets hurt by it. What is happening right now is not normal. It is not okay. And I am not going to stay quiet just because silence is comfortable for people who look like me. If my flannel and beard help someone listen who otherwise would not, then I will use that. Because compassion, dignity, and justice are not radical ideas. They are human ones. Oh, and they’re also the ones Jesus taught. “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” — Matthew 25:35–40 Sorry to go on so long. (The comments following his post are great, too.) Tomorrow — more on this topic, and on leaving MAGA. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
The Speech Every Democratic Candidate Needs To Watch January 26, 2026January 26, 2026 But first, take 30 seconds: A young man asks: when is enough, enough? And now (7 minutes): The Speech Every 2026 Candidate Needs to Watch . . . . . . by former moderate Republican congressman David Jolly, the next Democratic Governor of the great state of Florida!
Lies And Lawlessness January 26, 2026 Sorry for the strong language, but these 90 seconds make pretty much nail it. Q: Why not let the people of Minneapolis deal with threats to their safety, unless they ask the federal government for help? A: Because the idea is to replace our democracy with Putin-style one-man rule. Timothy Snyder explains how: The Camps, the Executions, and the Future . . . The country stops at the border. And so the law stops at the border. And so for the tyrant an obvious move is to extend the border so that is everywhere, to turn the whole country as a border area, where no rules apply. Stalin did this with border zones and deportations in the 1930s that preceded the Great Terror. Hitler did it with immigration raids in 1938 that targeted undocumented Jews and forced them across the border. And just what is Trump doing now? By his own admission, as well as by the admission of cabinet members, he is using ICE, nominally a border authority, to enforce his own whims on an American state of his choosing. It is not legal to attack a city because its policies work. It is not legal to threaten a state to gain information about its voters. The border becomes the pretext to undo the law everywhere, at all times, and against anyone. It is the crack that can be opened. The wedge is the lie. The lies begin as clichés, memes that are pounded into our heads by the government and by those in the media who repeat them, mindlessly or with malice. One of these cliches is “law enforcement,” which is uttered over and over like an incantation. “Law enforcement” is not a noun. It is not a thing in the world. It is an action. And action is something that we have a right to see and judge for ourselves. People enforcing the law do not wear masks. And people wearing masks who trespass, assault, batter, and kill are not enforcing the law. They are violating it. It is indeed the job of some local, state, and federal authorities to enforce the law. It is a disservice to them when federal employees carry out public executions. It is a greater disservice to them when such actions are defined as “law enforcement.” The lies continue as provocative inversions, as what in On Tyranny I called “dangerous words”: these are, precisely, “terrorist” and “extremist.” These two words are known to us from history as those used by tyrants. And these are the words used by the Trump people to defame those killed by their polices. This is their “messaging,” their banality of evil, as Hannah Arendt called it. Or the evil of banality, as Václav Havel said. Words turned into reality with the complicity of those who hear them. Those who actively lie are directly complicit in the deaths that just happen and in any deaths to come. But those in media who choose to treat propaganda as the story, to begin from lies rather than from events, are also complicit. The border is the crack, the lie is the wedge, and the wedge is made up of people — of us. Words matter, uttered first or repeated. They create an atmosphere, they normalize — or they do not. We can choose to see, to call things by their proper names, to call out people who lie. We have to. The moral horror of those killings is enough. But there is a political logic as well. And the two are connected. Those who resist the lawlessness and the lies are doing right. And they are giving a second chance to the endangered American republic. . . . “The president should be impeached and convicted,” argues Snyder, “as should everyone responsible for these outrages.” Worth sharing in full. A Stark Warning About the 2026 election — it’s not too late to listen to this New Yorker interview with neoconservative policy analyst Robert Kagan. You can skip the first couple of minutes until they introduce him — and perhaps listen at 1.2X or whatever suits you — but listen. And share widely if it strikes you as it has me. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!