FYI: Dems in the senate can't defund ICE. ICE is funded by the Big Ugly Bill. Shutting down DHS on this vote wouldn't touch ICE, but it would shut down FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, etc. Shutting down ICE requires taking back Congress in the midterms. Dismantling DHS requires the White House in 2028.

They are never, ever going to win in Minnesota.

Cannot see the end of it.

🗓️ Today in one sentence for Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Day 1822: "Turn the temperature down."

Go Seahawks!!

My latest. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/trum...

Target: dead to me.

Democrats need to realize ICE isn’t just—or even primarily—a mass deportation force. ICE is also Trump’s most loyal internal security force which will be used to attack regime opponents and try to steal the election. They should defund his authoritarian capabilities.

@schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @jayapal.house.gov @cantwell.senate.gov @murray.senate.gov Please create a shadow cabinet and hold daily press briefings to provide organized, discerning views of events & implications. Otherwise, GOP tactics of overwhelm & distraction succeed.

Rather than interpretive responses to major crisis after major crisis by Dem leaders, alternatively: create a shadow cabinet & conduct daily press briefings (by a shadow press secretary) to provide organized, systematic, coherent oversight & insights about what is happening. Just a thought.

Daily press reports from Dem leaders can help us to track: ICE East Wing Tariffs Epstien Files Healthcare Venezuela CDC Elections NATO Pardons FEMA Universities Project 2025 Etc. Dem leaders can help sustain clarity of impacts to systems and elements.

This is a vetted fundraiser for the family of Renee Good, the woman who was killed by ICE in Minneapolis. www.gofundme.com/f/support-fo...

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered,” Paine wrote in that fraught moment, “yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly ….” Thankfully, Heather Cox Richardson is our modern Thomas Paine.

Yes!!!! A great win!!! Go hawks!

Maria Shriver, niece of JFK: He was a man interested in the arts, culture, education, language, history... It is beyond comprehension that the president has sought to rename this great memorial. C’mon my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny... It’s downright weird.

An atrocious new low. 25th Amendment, please.

As we mourn Rob Reiner, don’t skip this: he was, pretty much, personally responsible for overturning California’s Prop 8 banning same sex marriage. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

With 2025 closing out, a quick word of congratulations to my Walden U. Social Work doctoral students who completed their degrees, coursework and/or residencies. Bravo! Thank you for your hard work and commitments to social change for good.

A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...

To all military branches and Peace Corps vols -- thank you for your service!

One can also stop watching Morning Joe. Simple consumption rules TWFM — no TV before 5:30pm and not after 9:00pm. And no macro news; local news sparingly. Be wary of Corp TV news biases. See Jerry Mander’s famous books: “8 Arguments for the Elimination of TV” & “In the Absence of the Sacred.”

Goddamnit, you chickenshit, turncoat Democrats. The voters gave you a mandate and a spine on Tuesday and you're about to blow it. NO!. This is your one chance to protect healthcare. Stop!

Via NYT -- Shaheen (D, NH) and King (I, ME) to vote yes on ending shutdown without health care subs. Democratic Defectors Relent on Shutdown, Backing Bill to Reopen www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...

Senate Dems, do not cave. Ensuring healthcare premiums don’t surge is an 80-20 issue. They want to gut the ACA because their disdain for Obama far outweighs their concern for anyone’s health.

How the Trump Administration Is Giving Even More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...

From yesterday’s Election Day post by HCR: “… today voters resoundingly rejected Trump and Trumpism, and tomorrow, politics will be a whole different game.” Word.

The word for the day — landslide.

Holland strikes back!! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/w...

Obamacare Prices Become Public, Highlighting Big Increases www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/h...

Via HCR: “The latest Gallup poll shows that Americans now think Democrats, rather than Republicans, are the better party to keep the country prosperous, by a margin of 47% to 43%. This is a shift of 18 points in just over two years.”

Perhaps Congress could require notice for such actions? Seems odd that tariffs can be applied without approval (by law). Trump Announces Tariff Increase on Canada Over Reagan Ad Spat www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/w...

Wow! FYI -- www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Current events remind me of a paper I wrote 10 years ago. Unfortunately, its message remains relevant. Rural Community Transition and Resilience: What Now for Social Work? digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/cgi/viewcont...

Via HCR: “National security scholar Tom Nichols commented on today’s strike: “The president is establishing the principle that he can order the murder of anyone he deems a threat. And Congress is letting it happen.”

Higher Obamacare Prices Become Public in a Dozen States www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/h...

FYI -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=00GM...

Via Heather: “As J.V. Last of The Bulwark laid out clearly last night, there is no crisis in Chicago that makes it necessary for the administration to send in National Guard troops.” Not surprising. Wary of 2026 elections similarly being declared an emergency. Also wary of US AG complicity.

Via HCR: “This year’s cuts to the government workforce will mean the loss of at least 275,000 workers, the largest decline in civilian federal employment in a single year since World War II.” @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov @jayapal.house.gov Press events everyday. Align efforts.

HCR wrote an excellent Letter yesterday, noting that “… we have not only the power, but also the passion, to reinvent our nation.” Indeed, though we do not seem have a plan to beat Project 2025. Dem leadership: Hold a daily press conferences; Claim media time; Make a bold plan; Align around it.

Really nice, and it's for sale. In Hanalei, Kauai.

Great resource -- check it out.

Authoritarians thrive on your silence — be loud — for America.