After fleeing the Taliban, they felt safe in America. A shooting in D.C. changed everything. The Trump administration’s backlash against refugees has sowed fears of prejudice, rejection or even deportation among Afghans in the U.S. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The last decade or so resulted in me really understanding the lead up to WW1 in a way I hadn’t before

While Becky Pepper-Jackson sounds like any teen navigating school assignments, friends and a demanding practice schedule, the transgender girl has also been carrying the weight of a national cultural and political battle. https://cnn.it/4jD5M8c

I think this is delusional. The core value of the military is a commitment to civilian control. Some will try to deflect or slow roll, but most will follow orders. There will be no groups of senior leaders going to the White House to tell the president they will resign in mass, like we saw with DoJ.

The National Portrait Gallery removed a swath of text that mentioned President Trump’s two impeachments and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as it swapped out a prominent photo of him this week.

Two-thirds of Montana’s private land is in the hands of a few thousand owners montanafreepress.org/2026/01/06/m... #mtpol

"We must never be shy about characterizing the university as one of the key means of realizing the human need to know, to understand, and to search for truth. It must be repeated endlessly and with all the infinite variations that will come over time."

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery removed wall text that referred to Trump’s two impeachments — language that had upset the White House — when the museum recently replaced a portrait of him in its “America’s Presidents” exhibition. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/a...

Social media monitoring systems, cellphone location tracking, facial recognition, remote hacking tools — now being turned on Americans by ICE to target protesters. bit.ly/3Kq348R

Federal funding uncertainty puts Missouri senior services at risk as deadline approaches missouriindependent.com/2026/01/06/f...

Missouri abortion regulations go on trial Monday. Widespread access is at stake missouriindependent.com/2026/01/09/m...

"In every society fallen to authoritarianism, the state goes after the press first+ closes in on universities next. All of us who live, work,+learn within the university should think of our institution as part of the larger constitutional structure of the nation." www.chronicle.com/article/univ...

Missouri Democrats vow to fight any push to increase taxes on sales or services  missouriindependent.com/2026/01/07/m...

NEWS: Five transgender service members from four branches Trump forced to retire were honored in a historic ceremony led by retired 4-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal. “We need the talent that shares the courage, commitment, and character to serve,” he said about them. www.advocate.com/news/transge...

The message I'm hearing from the Administration isn't that the officer who shot Renee Good deserves due process and a full hearing of the facts. What I'm hearing is that certain people who they find annoying or "aren't like us" do not deserve the protection of the law.

This story is full of gems. Read the whole thing. Here's just one:

Or what Bin Laden would say about a Zero Unit veteran killing a National Guardsman on the street in DC

Just some bangers from the COIN Manual that informed so many of our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. The level of restraint we expect from our soldiers and Marines, even in a COIN environment, is remarkable. Such professionalism should be expected of every American we trust to bear arms.

Families of Slain Idaho Students Sue the University the Killer Attended www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...

NPR's Juana Summers spoke with Greenlandic politician Naaja Nathanielsen in February 2025 about the Trump administration's push to acquire the territory.

Mexico's daily murder rate fall 40% under Sheinbaum, officials say reut.rs/49xRocQ

Happening now: Congresswoman Sarah McBride is addressing five transgender members of the U.S. military who are retiring (against their will), with their families and friends in the audience. Gen. Stanley McChrystal will preside over the ceremony.

I'm almost done with this, and I'm absolutely blown away by it. A must-read for liberals who want to rethink the possibilities of fundamental change in our political system. Also just really rich history.

NEW: The FAA predicted Elon Musk’s Starship would cause “minor or minimal” disruption. Then the rockets exploded twice in three months over busy airspace. Flight data reveals how many planes scrambled to protect passengers and avoid burning debris.

On July 22, 1950 a little known FSO on the State Department policy planning staff named George Butler wrote a 24 point memo almost describing verbatim every inflection point in the Korean War in the coming months. So why did his insights have so little influence over policy? My first piece of 2026⬇️

The FBI sniper at Ruby Ridge was prosecuted by Idaho. The federal district court initially dismissed the charges but was overruled by the Ninth Circuit, allowing it to proceed. The case only ended when a new district attorney was elected and decided to drop it.

Grok will become the core AI platform of the Pentagon. www.war.gov/News/Release...

Emblematic of defense illiteracy, almost every single paragraph in this article has something wrong with it. www.wsj.com/world/the-gr...

Emergency Second Breakfast is live! We’re talking Venezuela, international law, implications for Taiwan and NATO, and more: @uticaeric.bsky.social has the opening monologue open.spotify.com/episode/1ies...

WHOA: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) stands next to image of Jan 6 plaque on Senate floor.. and is noting the pardoned rioters who have been arrested again Tillis: "We let bad people go" Re: plaque Tillis says he'll seek unanimous consent to get approval for THIS version of plaque to be hung

BREAKING: The Ravens have fired head coach John Harbaugh, per source. Harbaugh won Super Bowl XLVII and six division titles with Baltimore in 18 seasons.

A teachers’ union in Texas sued the state’s education agency over its investigations into educators who criticized conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his death.

Jan. 6, 2021: Sherrod leaving for D.C. at 5:09 a.m. No amount of presidential pardons & shameful attempts to rewrite history will change what I remember about the violence on our Capitol that day. For nearly 45 minutes, we could not determine Sherrod’s whereabouts, or whether he was even alive.

Hard to pin down a worst”or most shameless part of the WH J6 anniversary propaganda page, but describing these three people as having been “killed” that day is wild (they died of an amphetamine overdose, heart disease, and heart disease, respectively) www.whitehouse.gov/j6/

our fourth risk for 2026: europe under siege in france, germany, and the united kingdom, the political center is failing while the european union finds itself between major adversaries: russia and (increasingly) the united states

the donroe doctrine is our third risk, and this weekend, you saw why. trump is reasserting power over the western hemisphere not just to deter adversaries like china, but to assert american primacy. the consequences here--across the region and for the world--should not be underestimated

our number 2 risk might surprise you: overpowered. the defining technologies of the 21st-century economy run on electrons, and that includes ai. china has mastered post carbon tech. the united states is ceding its leadership. in 2026, that divergence will become impossible to ignore.

the number one risk this year is the us political revolution. trump is systematically dismantling checks on his power and weaponizing government against his enemies. (as he and his supporters believe they have weaponized it against him)

top risks 2026 is officially out after 28 years of analyzing geopolitical risks this year is the tipping point:

One thing I’ve noodled with but haven’t had time to pursue is the distinction b/w types of professions. The military does not fit the classic physician/accountant model but is more like clergy. There too the institutional monopoly impedes the self-policing function.

"Ukraine has used these autonomous systems effectively to substitute for other capabilities that it lacks, like artillery and infantry mass." Where pretty much all of these types of articles collapse is their presumption that NATO has such capabilities.

Slain lawmaker's children urge Trump to remove post with false claims about her death www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

if Cuba had killed 32 Americans in the process of abducting the head of state of some third country, we’d empty the magazine of the USS RHODE ISLAND into Havana

We are SO psychologically unprepared for a peer conflict.

“The law probably won’t matter in court” seems a pretty accurate headline right now

My whole life, advocating war has been fed to me as “the adult position,” akin to drinking your coffee black or reading the business section of the newspaper. Let’s be very clear — war is the childish nonsense of impulsive destructive idiots playing baby-brained video games with real human lives.

honestly wild that I, a citizen of the United States, do not know if we have conquered Venezuela or not, and I have no confidence that the print or broadcast media are capable of telling me the answer

scrawny 18-year-old about to fall out of an army helicopter over tehran: this is so epic. this is totally sigma, right babe? AI e-girl operated by a balding intelligence officer in virginia: that's right baby, Iran is totally cringe

Both groups held hostage by the priority of access over analysis