Medical professionals are well aware of this. When I was checking in to rehab in ’23 and was asked whether I had “Advantage,” I said something like “I wouldn’t have Advantage if they paid me to take it,” And the response was “Oh, you’re smart.”
ICE and CBP are just the tip of the iceberg in Minnesota. MAGA has always been full of vigilantes. Does anyone besides me wonder why, if they actually believe and trust the Saffron Sauron’s Keystone Cops, they think they have to handle it themselves?
I wholeheartedly agree with the business owner who says the “law and order” is not what is happening. But I disagree that it isn’t politics, because all politics is moral (or immoral.)
Yesterday, We did get some snow – not a lot, but some. And we’re due to get more today. After the opera, I’ll need to go out and look at it, and maybe try to brush or scrape some off before overnight. Not that the predicted temperatures are in my favor, but anything I can manage to do to alleviate it has got to help.
Common Dreams addresses ICE’s use of children as “bait” to trap their parents, and then keeping the children detained anyway.
Robert Reich posts the photo of one child (Liam, aged 5) alluded to above. He then discusses the responses to some questions he asked readers about what the most effective strategy would be to resist.
Joyce Vance discusses the Fourth Amendment and the blatant violations of it which ICE is committing. Sorry I don’t include any of my own opinions with these articles – but they wouldn’t be printable.
Yesterday, I didn’t see any news big enough to supersede the killing of Renee Nicole Good (although the fact that the House passed Jeffries’s discharge petition on ACA subsidies – and then passed the bill – deserves a mention. Now it goes back to the Senate – which today advanced a war powers resolution.) I did watch what I could of a Substack video with Malcolm Nance, Michael Cohen, and JoJo from Jerz (and isn’t that a lineup!) which kept locking up. But what I could see and hear was cathartic. I do want to share something about this death which bothers me. Renee’s six-year-old was born from her first marriage to a soldier who died. She was now married again, to a woman. Her late husband’s father is, I gather, on his way to Minneapolis to collect the child. I am concerned that a custody battle, if it becomes a battle, or if it doesn’t, just taking him away from the only parent he knows could harm him as much or more than the loss of his biological mother. Heather Cox Richardson‘s remarks on what happened are well worth listening to if you can spare the time.
Archived from The Washington Post (referred by The Daily Beast), it is IMO a good sign that someone else – particularly someone who has been making money from the regime, is finally fed up. I might add that it required a whole lot of ordinary people to push Avelo to this point. So we do have a voice – at least some of the time.
A Pro Publica investigation found that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is producing enough debris to seriously endanger commercial flights of conventional aircraft. Is anyone surprised?
The top image for this article from The Conversation was (For me) reduced to a miniscule line of type, with the top half cur off. But by right clicking on that line, I was able to open the image in a new tab, and refreshing the page also worked. This, frankly, scares me as much as and maybe more than ICE.
Yesterday, La Befana (I’m a day late with her because I always thought she came on Epiphany, but no, it’s Epiphany Eve.) But seriously – here’s a link to a roughly 22 minute video with Joyce Vance and Senator Mark Warner, who says as much (unclassified) quiet part out loud as he can. And it is chilling. Also yesterday, it appears that Minnesota has been Joe-Bidening Tim Walz, who has just dropped his reelection campaign.
Saturday, I saw Nameless’s Friday image representing the court at the Hague, and insignificant as this sounds, I started a search to find out whether orange jumpsuits are ever used outside the US (the answer is seldom, and in some nations, never.) But that rabbit hole also took me to The Hague – and I learned there are, not one court, but two international courts there (Lona probably already knows this.) The one which bears the nickname of “The World Court” is the International Court of Justice, which was established in 1920 by the League of Nations and adopted by the United Nations. Every member of the United Nations (there are 193) is automatically a party to this court. But it does not try criminals. It considers cases where there is a disagreement between member nations. So in that way it is more like a civil court. The other court, also at The Hague, is the International Criminal Court, authorized under a treaty called the Rome State in 1998, entering into force in 2002. 125 nations are parties to this court as of a year ago. The United States is not one of them. Venezuela is one of them – in fact every country south of out border is except maybe Costa Rica (the map ia a bit tough to read, even compared with a more labelled map.) The Court tries four crimes: (I) Genocide, (II) Crimes against humanity, (III) War crimes, and the (IV) Crime of aggression. The only immunity the ICC recognizes is that of being a juvenile at the time the crime was committed (i.e. younger than 18.) I quote from Wikipedia” “The issue of immunities from the jurisdiction of the ICC has become recently relevant, when the Court issued arrest warrants for Russian and Israeli national leaders, since their immunities are granted from states which are not parties to the Rome Statute. States which have ratified the statute have waived the immunities of their officials with respect to the jurisdiction of the court by accepting the provisions of Article 2.” The U.S, did sign the Statute once, but never ratified it, and has subsequently withdrawn its signature. This is the Court in which most of us would like to see multiple U.S. officials prosecuted.
From Common Dreams. There are only 337 (rounded) million people in the US. There is no way we could handle the loss of 30% (rounded) of our population and survive as a nation.
I mentioned Adam Klasfeld last week in connection with Joyce Vance. Now here he is with Glenn Kirschner. At this point, I don’t know whether he is himself a lawyer, or a law student, or what, besides a journalist – it’s clear he is strong on legal vocabulary (unlike the CC). And that he is the guy that sits in the courtroom and takes notes so that the actual former prosecutors don’t have to because he can share it with them. The video with this (and yes, there is a transcript – I haven’t looked at it, but if it’s from the CC, and they usually are, there will be some far-fetched spelling errors.) The video is only 15 minutes.
Yesterday, I learned that on New Year’s Day Zohran Mamdani had been sworn in twice. The first time was recorded in the video I posted yesterday with Tish James, and that was the official one. The second one was with Bernie Sanders, which was purely ceremonial, but which also included his (roughly 25 minutes) inauguration speech. Just in case anyone wants to hear it, I’m sharing the link. There isn’t a lot right now to generate enthusiasm, but this appears to be one – to judge from the audience responses. )Don’t scorn it because it’s Fox – it’s not Fox corporate, it’s a local fox affiliate, and they can be surprisingly rational and even honest.)
So this is what Keith Ellison is doing now. Good for him, though I could wish he didn’t need to. One thing the current regime has done which, if they realize that they have done it, I’ll bet they wish they hadn’t – is to make it very, very obvius how important to a state its Attorney General is. Democratic AGs seeking reelection in 2026 will have a lot to campaign on.
Robert Reich on some things that some of us can do in 2026 to help make things better for all of us.
TC used to enjoy joking about how Andy was no satirizing but instead reporting straight news – and it often seems as though he could be dong just that. But in this column, he’s being serious (though it isn’t news at all.) He is following up on a previous column about surviving 2026 by sharing reader comments and additions. I’m sure not everything here will work for everyone – and possibly not anything will work for everyone. But, even though there is repetition, it’s highly likely that there will be something that may stand out and be worth remembering.
Yesterday, as usual on Monday, I slept late. I still managed to take in and put away a large grocery order, though. And even do a little knitting (while waiting for the delivery.)
I learned about this Sunday evening. All the sane people on the ‘net are reminding all of us that we have very few confirmed facts yet, and that we harm ourselves more than any one else if we speculate – especially out loud – and I 100% agree. So why does the headline read like a confession to me? Also, Mary Trump responded to the Orange Ogre’s garbage – she is clearly angry but accurate. John Pavlovitz responded “Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Real. He and His Supporters Have It.” which I have also been thinking for some time. Joyce Vance also had words – and also provided the meme I have placed below the videos – quite a contrast.
Yes, this is a Colorado story. And I hope and pray it stays that way. Because if it makes it to our current SCROTUS, there will to pay throughout the nation.
There’s no link for this story – it was an email from Tim Walz’s reelection campaign. It made me laugh. It’s short, so I’ll just quote the text in full (without the donate page):
“Normally, when someone is going through a fast-food drive-thru, they’re eagerly awaiting a delicious burger and some crispy french fries. Not Mike Lindell though. When he’s going through a drive-thru, he’s getting his phone seized by the FBI.
“You read that right.
“Mike Lindell’s conspiracy theories caught up to him in 2022 in a Mankato Hardee’s drive-thru, when his phone was seized in relation to a federal investigation into his acts to undermine the 2020 election.
“We can say this for sure: Governor Walz has not had his phone seized by the FBI in a Hardee’s drive-thru. Have you?
If you’re with Tim, and haven’t been surrounded by FBI agents in a fast food drive-thru because you’re being federally investigated — chip in $5 to keep someone who has from becoming governor of Minnesota.”
Yesterday, with the announcement of, among other things, a 100% tariff on pharmaceuticals, I think it’s time for me to share this article and the website it cites. I don’t use it myself because I don’t need to, on account of my HRA, which is tied to my keeping a Part D with a specific carrier, and which pays the premiums for it. An HRA is essentially free money, so I can’t really complain if they claw a little back – I still have a bundle left to use. But I’m sure most people don’t have HRAs. But I digress. I don’t use this but besides the original post (and I don’t think Mark Cuban is an idiot or a grifter), there are plenty of comments from people who do, and since I belong to DU and know how it works, I know these are all real people, real Democrats, just sharing what they know with like-minded people. Also, Tim Walz emailed that Mike Lindell (the pillow guy) is “taking steps” to run for governor of Minnesota. And Sinclair will be broadcasting Jimmy Kimmel again starting Friday.
I think I would have said “mobsters” before Gestapo myself. But really, is there even an English word for this level of evil?
I don’t really know what to say about this from Robert Reich. Except maybe, he’s right, you know. I’m actually less worried for myself than for those who go to and from work, shopping, or whatever. The danger appear to me mostly of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Much of the killing appears to be based on whims of the moment.
Heather Cox Richardson kind of sums up the week. If you get too depressed reading it, don’t stop, but do skip to the last couple of paragraphs. Hopefully, that should help.
Yesterday, the radio opera (although for the rest of the season, starting yesterday, I’ll be listening on line. Not surprising. Broadcasting these costs local stations money which they now do not have) was another double bill – this one more conventional than the previous one this season – it’s so standard that Opera lovers often just call it “Cav and Pag.” The “Cav” is Cavalleria Rusticana, and the “Pag” is I Pagliacci. Both are from the “verismo” school, which means they are about ordinary people, no nobility or divinity allowed. And they are generally fairly violent. In Cav the violence occurs off stage, but in Pag it is right on stage – and the killer gets the last word – “The comedy is over.” Both include some absolutely gorgeous music, such as “Vesti la giubba” from Pag, which at least used to be very well known way beyond the circle of opera lovers. I don’t know whether it still is..
“Martini Glambassador” is a fan, not an employee of Wonkette. But every day, seven days a week, she provides a .gif file for its “TABS” newsletter. Sometimes they are cute and funny – sometimes just funny – sometimes just cute. I took a screenshot from this one because I wasted to say, “Just look at that tail!” Snow leopards’ tails are distinctively thick, particularly when compared to the tails of other felines. They are also long, but you can’t really see that anywhere in the .gif. The snow leopard who showed off for me in the Pueblo Zoo made a point of showing me the length of his/her tail as well as its girth.
I’m not trying to push Wonkette – I do realize its style is not for everyone – but this certainly appeared to fit into the category of good news. And, yes, I am envious. I don’t have a clue how hard it is for a sentence to hold up in Brazil – but st least they have arrived at one, which is certainly more than we can say.
Of all states which sometimes show up in the news cycle for leading the way – let’s just say New Mexico appears less often than some others. But today, here it is – and a really important way to be leading. I expect this will radically improve the economy of the state. If it spills over into neighboring states, I hope we are one.
This story is courtesy of our Mitch. And I received it just in time for today. Many thanks, Mitch
John D. Cundle is a Canadian doing his best to help us.
