The GOP has a 3 seat edge over the Dems in the House at the moment. There are 4 special elections to go this year. The next one is March 10, in GA for MTG’s seat. Please support former General Shawn Harris. He needs all of us to step up and keep the momentum from this weekend going.

I was unaware of this extraordinary power the govt has to execute a no knock subpoena with zero judicial oversight and fast tracked to make any normal person incapable of taking it on....WP is paywalled but others have access: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Seeing the 1000 times Putin is mentioned w Epstein and watching DOD brass continue to cave to His Orangeness should give everyone pause: in a US vs Russian showdown , whose side will he [and they] choose....?????

Gotta come up with the proper prize for whoever finally tosses their cookies live when the shittler goes yard on stage....

With Stephen Miller and Elon Musk now pulling the strings in Washington, an appreciative remembrance of Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers. by David Brooks

The six “billionaire family fortunes” that dominate the financing stream of fascism:

TENURED YALE PROFESSOR IN AN OP-ED: In our society we have too often accepted the heckler’s veto, allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good and making the refusal to forgive our highest virtue TENURED YALE PROFESSOR IN AN EMAIL: hii jfefrey Can I come to rape party w/a plusone this weekend

All the rich people doing the most evil shit imaginable in a mansion while they lie and tell Elon they’re meeting at 3 am at a golf course right before the sprinklers turn on

Shirley Raines, hero has died too soon - at 58. She lifted so many lives. A community activist, she provided food, clothing, hair & makeup services, hygiene and safety items to thousands of homeless people in Skid Row, LA. Thoughts with her family and friends. Thank you Shirley Raines. God speed 💔

Corrupt enterprises

Cultists have been known to give over their own kids to their cult leaders to rape and abuse. Why would MAGA be any different?

I don't like to talk about stories before they are fully reported, but I am writing on ICE in a Minnesota town that isn't Minneapolis. However bad you think it is, it is worse. It is a campaign of pure terror whose only strategic goal is more terror. There is no strategy other than to break people.

One detail getting lost in the coverage of Don Lemon's arrest? The church at the center of the case has ties to the Christian nationalist movement, including the “TheoBros," a loose network of mostly millennial, extremely online Christian nationalist pastors, podcasters, and shitposters.

Tooze has an upcoming book about China- I think that might be an excellent entry point into some context re a nation that I hear very little about and which I suspect holds some major levers in the very short future....

“You people are a bunch of sentimental schmucks who don’t understand that you lost.” www.theguardian.com/business/202...

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Those of a certain age remember there were a small cadre of men and women who cajoled, prodded, and ,thru example , taught the rest of us to access better, more compassionate versions of our selves. It can be done. We can overcome.

If there's a written history, I get a feeling that "Ukraine, Gaza and Minneapolis" might be a chapter heading.

"In order to build tyranny, you have to open zones where the law doesn't apply... one zone like that is the border. The logic of what they've been doing with ICE is to take the border everywhere." www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuNB...

In tribute for the moment I’d like to direct you to Dan’s work, which remains as alive on the page as ever. defector.com/the-bills-ha...

Dan McQuade, 1983–2026: defector.com/dan-mcquade-...

1. Climbing guide 2. Kayak instructor 3. Framing crew 4. Electrician apprentice 5. Meat cutter

Ummm no real reason to post this....really...Yoon Suk Yeol, the former South Korean president impeached and jailed after trying to impose martial law on the country, was jailed for 5 years ...And now his wife, Kim Keon Hee, is off to jail for 20 months after a corruption conviction.

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Damn, that's correct.

Need some good winter reading? Buy from a real patriot, not Amazon dreamhavenbooks.com

Wait- did Bovino get caught having consensual sex with an adult?

Ray in top notch form here: Sam Darnold Is An Exorcist - defector.com/sam-darnold-...

Ironic isn’t it? Had an ICE thug been hurt at the very same location 5 minutes earlier, Alex would have dropped everything to save his life. But 5 minutes later….

Voting NO on the DHS funding bill is the bare minimum. Backing Kristi Noem’s impeachment is the bare minimum. Holding law-breaking ICE agents legally accountable is the bare minimum. ICE is beyond reform. Abolish it.

A paid agitator is any Dem Pol who keeps this goddamn "immigrant problem" BS alive and kicking. It is NOT a problem. Just a fuckin political pundit driven football out of the same old racist jingoism that thrives on hate. Only now its ultra weaponized. Get some balls and call it out.

We're doing a partnership with Bluesky where a bunch of us will be posting about the conference championship games. Follow everyone at Defector on Bluesky here:

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

Well at least I'll be entertained by the MAGA head explosions as they try to reconcile Dear Leader worship with Ammosexual fetishes...

Yep -if ever the DNC wonders why ppl like me quit supporting them.... this. Exactly fuckin THIS!!!!

Y'know who else gained power as his country descended into warlord mentality and the oligarchs fought to get a piece of every fucking thing not nailed down....? That's right Putin

An Ode to Best Beloved

Your 'hope porn' quote for today: "There are many rational, humane, and widely beneficial choices that we can make to save ourselves and the other species that are currently threatened with extinction by our activities." www.thriftbooks.com/w/homo-ecoph...

Dear Apple- instead of my new phone update moving shit from buttons to swipes or rearranging my camera controls for a zero valid reason maybe just y'know fix text so the cursor actually lands where I target? Too much? Oh golly then.

The guy who called Jack Smith a "deranged animal" today has gone on social media 184 times to publicly called Jack Smith "deranged". Jack Smith has gone on social media ZERO times to insult or comment on Donald Trump. Who sounds "deranged" to you?

From post civil war racism that destroyed black/white populism to Coughlin’s jingoism in the 30’s it’s disheartening that pundits and pols across the political spectrum still go unchallenged re the ‘evils of immigration’. No data supports this- simply an exploitive BS narrative. But here we are.

For anyone who was struggling with the link to our Antarctic jobs yesterday, sorry about that. We're launching a new website next month - our current one is a total maze. Here's a link to the current vacancies page that actually works: www.bas.ac.uk/jobs/vacanci...

Anything less than this from Democratic candidates will not suffice for my vote

I had the immense pleasure of talking about why Pete Hegseth is so bad at working out and what it means to live through the end of an empire with two of my favorite people, @davidjroth.bsky.social and @drewmagary.bsky.social!!!

PSA: You do not, under any circumstances, fund the Gestapo

Or maybe its just a long con so he n his buds get to cash in on various predictable market responses to 'spew-of-the-day'... kinda like no more "narco" boat blowups once the cash [and the nobel prize] are in hand.

So an idea for a story arc: Red stater has had enough and pops one or more icemelons.... now where's all that "flood them w troops/instigate a civil war" strategy gonna go? Just a thought.

A bit over a decade ago. Solo trip to the North Woods to Lake of the Woods actually and the marina owner [also the town's mayor] who sent me out to camp on my own private island. Thanks Mister.