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.)
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”* Yesterday, I slept until after sunset. However, I had been up until almost sunrise, and Saturday night I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep. I’m not kidding when I say that I’m not a morning person. That quote is from Act II of “The Tempest” where it is also a quote – Ariel is telling Prospero what the first guy said who jumped from the king’s ship when he (Ariel) made it sink in the storm. No one died in that storm, because it sank so close to shore the drew and passengers could practically walk to the shore – but it was still scary to them. We, on the other hand, have seen people die, and have seen the devils who pulled the triggers.
I can’t improve on Robert Reich. He has the facts and he explains them more clearly (and with more evidence) than I could.
I think Malcolm Nance makes a valid point here. Not that I’m certain where exactly we need to be going with it.
I have a quote here from the 19th which I cannot link to because it was just in the newsletter, and there’s no link to it, or any indication that it’s in an article at the 19th or elsewhere, but it struck me as significant:
A local doctor remembered him on social media as someone who “used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians … he made a point to teach medical residents without judgement [sic], but with a smile on his face and a joke.”
BTW, Renee Good was from Colorado. Alex Pretti’s parents live in Colorado. I am beginning to take this debacle personally.
From Rocky Mountain PBS. This is a great idea, although I am far from certain that federal Courts will uphold it, particularly in the cases of Federal Agents – who are the only kind of law enforcement likely to attempt it (unless there is another pandemic, which heaven, karma, and the cat goddesses forbid.)
Yesterday, Rethuglicans in the House defeated even so much as a toothless rebuke to the Saffron Sauron over Venezuela. I blame gerrymandering – polls show that well over half of us are strongly opposed to his unconstitutional and otherwise despicable actions there, and if we were truly proportionately represented in the House, Rethuglicans would not be able to do that. Also yesterday, the prediction for snow today had disappeared – they are still predicting some for tomorrow, but only an inch. Well, we’ll see.
Joyce Vance summarizes the year 2025. Not that there’s anything we don’t know, but there is so much that we may have forgotten some things. Personally, I think the month of January 2026 was “a very long year.”
Y’all probably don’t need any incentive from me or from Common Dreams to be upset with Democrats. (My rep isn’t a Democrat, so I am upset with him all the time anyway.) But – in case you did – here it is.(Apparently only 7Dems did vote with the Rs, but that was more than enough. Now it’s in the Senate.)
Robert Reich on axioms applying to the Apricot Antichrist. I like his use of the word “axiom” – something there’s no need to prove because it’s self-evident, nd can therefore be used to prove other things. So many similar words, like “postulate” and “assumption” are much weaker.
This with Heather Cox Richardson is long – but then, as she says, it was a fire hose of a day – and iI could find it all in writing (from different sources, too),I’d probably still be looking.
Yesterday, The Root had a trivia piece on MLK Jr which went deeper than I’ve ever seen before. You might enjoy it. TomCat was a close enough friend of his the he might have known all or most of it – even I knew some of it, but a lot of it was news to me. With four articles today, I’m skipping the political video – but not the animal video. Also, Trinette was by to help me take out trash (and recyclables.)
Joyce Vance discusses the Insurrection Act, including how to recognize bait when we see it, and why we should not take it.
Robert Hubbell addresses specific misconceptions about the Insurrection Act (and there are many floating around.)
Wikipedia lists every time the Insurrection Act has been invoked, both legally and illegally. It appears to me – and feel free to disagree – that every time it has been invoked, the civil rights of vulnerable people were being attacked – and the sometimes the invocation intervened on the right side, and sometimes on the wrong side. If the Saffron Sauron invokes it, it is certain to be on the wrong side.
Robert Reich addresses what can be done about it, who can actually do that. and what we can do to help, mostly by adding pressure.
Yesterday, Adam Klasfeld along with Vicki Ward did a live broadcast and saved it as a video which can be seen here. I’m not telling you to watch it, because it’s a full hour, and I know not everyone can. But it covers everything. They start with the Mangione cases (did you know there were two, a federal one and a state one in Pennsylvania? I didn’t), and also discuss the Maduro case and the murder in Minnesota, and Lindsey Halligan (whose deadline to explain to the judge is today) and Jerome Powell, and Judge Hellerstein, and I’m probably leaving something out. That is a lot to cover in an hour. (P.S. Here‘s the follow-up on Halligan)
Archived from the Washington Post, referred by Talking points Memo, here is an overview of all the ways the Saffron Sauron is looking to ratfuck the midterms. I have no idea how this got past Bezos, but apparently, it did. And I’m citing it – all of it (and it has chapters, sort of.) Perhaps every state (and territory, if applicable) should assign their own National Guard right now to monitor elections in November. I would suggest calling in UN observers, but ICE would probably deport them.
Mary Trump discusses how to navigate the floods of discouraging and increasing overreach from the Executive Branch and how to avoid giving them what they want
Matt Kerbel (who, along with Chris Bowers, comprises Bowers News Network) discusses “Consent of the Governed.” and why, despite havin won the election (by a sliver) this “President” doesn’t have it.
Yesterday, as I am pretty sure everyone knows, an ICE agent shot a woman in the back of the head three times while she was in her car, attempting to get away/out of the way. She died instantly. The car continued to move (Malcolm Nance described this as “Dead Woman Driving”) and crashed into some other vehicles. The air bag inflated and was covered with blood. I can now confirm she was a US citizen. The Root shared her name and a link to a very moving obituary, as well as a slow-motion video with labels of what happened when. Nameless saw this before I did, and posted a comment with three NSFW headlines quoting the mayor of Minneapolis on yesterday’s OT to which I responded with everything I knew at the time. Tim Walz has now given a statement on public safety, together with the Director of Public Safety and the Colonel of the Minnesota National Guard.
This from The 19th reminded me that fairly recently I saw that someone (I assume a male MAGA) was complaining that anyone who says “toxic masculinity” is really saying that all masculinity is toxic. I thought “Yeah, right – just like saying “counterfeit money” is saying that all money is counterfeit.” I suppose that not even all male ICE agents enjoy toxic masculinity, but there surely seem to be a lot of them.
From Common Dreams. The nerve of Stephen Miller saying that we have to act like thugs in order to support “the free world.” The U.S. can’t support the free world in any way when we aren’t even a part of it any more.
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, I had set my alarm for earlier than I got up on Monday. I plan to set it earlier each day to try to ease into the weekend so that I can at least expect to arise in daylight – which is now moving the right direction for me, if only by a few seconds every day. I did that last week, though I didn’t start as soon, and it seemed to help.
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/if-the-market-were-working-well-we
My local radio station has added a Sunday night show to its lineup – it’s been on for a while now, maybe even more than a year – called “Broadway Rhythm.” Some episodes will run through a full musical, others will follow the career of a composer. Some will focus on the careers of divas (or divos.) A theme might be a particular time period, or musicals which made cultural change – limited only by the host’s creativity. Last Sunday the theme was songs from musicals which became standards. Included was “If I Were A Rich Man” from Fiddler On The Roof. One line in particular caught my ear: “And it won’t make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong. When you’re rich they think you really know.” Isn’t that the truth – and how the heck do we (and by we I mean the entire human race) get our collective heads out of that septic tank?!?? The only think you can be positive a rich person “really knows” is how to cheat without consequences.
Heather Cox Richardson on the SCROTUS decision which was favorable to us for a change. I may be seeing things. but it has me wondering whether the fascist justices have an organized system of taking turns being the one who gets the be the one who writes a sane opinion, so that when we get the chance, we won’t know whom to impeach. I hope I’m wrong.
This is from All Rise News, which is run by Adam Klasfeld. I only recently heard of him – this is only the second time I have seen him – but both Harry Litman and also Joyce Vance swear by him. Both Harry and Joyce look at any kind of court case which catches their attention, but Adam concentrates on high profile (or should -be-high-profile) DOJ cases. This one concerns Kilmar Abrego Garcia and how it appears that the gang that couldn’t shoot straight has shot themselves in the foot again.
