Something to keep in mind about Minnesotans protesting unarmed with guns being pointed at them is that they more or less ALL have access to a gun, but are choosing not to bring one. Bravery isn't holding a gun. Bravery is standing up to other people holding a gun.

Obama: "The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy... Our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault. The President & current admin officials seem eager to escalate the situation while offering public explanations.. that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence."

Watching Greg Bovino on CNN. While nothing this administration says or does can shock us anymore, Bovino's naked and prolonged sandbagging of the American public is staggering. There are no words, and none are needed.

Pretty irritated at Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah and would-be midwife for Iranian democracy. The situation there is desparate and after 45+ years, I don't consider him so tainted by his father that he could not play a constructive role. But just now on CNN, while dodging a question . . . 1/3

No one can be watching this Davos speech and reach any conclusion but that the President of the United States is mentally disturbed and that something is deeply wrong with him. This is both embarrassing and extremely dangerous.

A standing reminder: a small handful of Republicans in Congress could stop this chaos tomorrow. They simply choose not to.

“Our current president has issued no statement this year in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This administration’s only notice of the day was when it announced that it had eliminated this holiday from the list of days with free entry to national parks.” www.thebulwark.com/p/celebrate-...

cAllies are not ornaments. They are force multipliers. They are how America projects power without exhausting itself. They are how we avoid fighting alone, paying alone, bleeding alone. Undermining them in a moment of global tension is not toughness—it is sabotage. open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...

It's actually a good thing that previously apolitical normies are finally getting angry and starting to speak out. We need the numbers in the streets and at the polls. If your response to them is "no, fuck you, too late," then you don't actually care about stopping Trump. You're just preening.

ICE is now systematically targeting and attacking Native Americans, apparently because they are not white enough.

It’s getting so the only safe place to be is in the Epstein Files. 🔄

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: sign.moveon.org/petitions/am...

It’s old-fashioned to defend mainstream journalism these days but some of the most reliable reporting from people actually on the ground will be the AP and Reuters the next 24 hours. Your Substack journalist writing takes will be using frontline reporting from them.

America’s K-12 schools are failing students. Understanding the problem is the first step toward fixing it. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/29/d...

The Finnish FM

This is what Presidential Leadership looks like at the time of an unfathomable American tragedy. #BarackObama

JB Pritzker: “We’re a nation mostly of immigrants — that is who we are fundamentally at our core. We ought to always be that, it’s what’s made our country great — Immigrants are the most entrepreneurial. Immigrants are the most grateful & patriotic”

Immigrant entrepreneurs are powering local economies across the country. "In fact, the New American Economy’s 2019 study found that immigrant-led businesses 'employed almost 8 million American workers and generated $1.3 trillion in total sales'" ✍️ @tusk81.bsky.social

Not sure the point of deporting hard working people who fled awful conditions in their own countries and are caring for the sick, elderly, and paralyzed, not only harming our own economy, but vulnerable people who rely on this assistance.

One thing I really like about donating blood to the Red Cross (aside from guilt-free cookies) is that you can track your blood and see where it ends up. You don't know WHO it goes to but you do know which hospital gets it, and that is really cool.

"For decades, most Americans professed to support an immigration system that encouraged and rewarded people who followed the rules...Now the signal is being sent that following the law will put you in harm’s way." www.thebulwark.com/p/arrested-f...

Chicago.

Through the luck of the draw I’m not dependent on SNAP to eat and so one thing I’m not going to do is sit under my roof with a full belly and demand the shutdown go on indefinitely. And stop screaming about Dems caving and being cowards. You and I have NO idea what’s happening in private.

When I was on SNAP I was working every shift I could get and applying for better jobs every day. It got a lot easier to job hunt when I wasn’t hungry anymore. Congress is full of millionaires who have never relied on the programs they are gutting. I intend to change that.

Why are we doing this to each other? Why? #foodinsecurity #workingpoor #classinequality

No one is above the law. The public deserves transparency & accountability from government leaders. We'll be in court to get answers.

The end of due process for immigrants is the end of due process for citizens. Few understand this.

This is a fundamental point that 99% of higher-ed coverage, and 100% of immig coverage, have missed.

I'm attending Citizen Action/Illinois's event, “IL CD-9 Candidate Forum” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/citizenactio...

The Toronto Blue Jays held a moment of silence prior to the start of tonight’s baseball game vs the Minnesota Twins. Canada is a good friend. 🇨🇦

I'm honestly not sure what to do about the media consensus that Democratic politicians are responsible for everything ever said at an obscure academic conference but Republicans are not responsible for the rhetoric of Republican presidents

I’m sorry Ukraine. I’m sorry he’s in the White House. I’m sorry he’s not with you. I’m sorry he loves Putin. I’m sorry Ukraine. Even though that traitor in the White House opposes you, most Americans support you. We really do.🇺🇦

This is appalling. Civilized countries look at us and are rightly horrified that this idiocy and cruelty is sanctioned by--encouraged by--our government. (I originally wrote "Other civilized countries look at us..." But do we any longer count in their ranks?) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Wow. Stunning.

The Social Security Adminstration has sent an email applauding the BBB's tax relief to Social Security beneficiaries. Even if that were the whole story (it's not), this is another example of how this bill burdens young people, who will bear the costs of the added debt burden and cuts to Medicaid.

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

“In the last week, more than 200 veterans have volunteered to attend immigration hearings with Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the 20-year war in Afghanistan…”

An Afghan man who worked as a translator for the U.S. military during the war was detained by ICE after showing up for a hearing inside of a federal courthouse in San Diego, his attorney says. He fears that if he returns to Afghanistan, he would be tortured or even killed, @nbcsandiego.com reports.

You can't call immigrants lazy moochers looking for government handouts and then round them up at Home Depots where you know they are looking for work. You can't say immigrants don't follow the rules and then round them up in courthouses where they are following the rules. Get your lies straight.

Fucking despicable. This is not who we are. Thread.👇

Los Angeles school worker shares frustration over parents having to leave their children’s graduation ceremony because ICE raided an elementary school’s graduation today

This is staggering. bsky.app/profile/atru...

The RFK Jr. version of health, where health creates health and healthy people don't get sick and the thing that keeps you healthy is /living the right way/ is very seductive to a lot of people. It also places the burden of illness back on the ill, which decreases the value of human life.

1/4 In a letter to Harvard, our Secretary of Education writes that "The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars." So why is she and the rest of the adminstration obsessing over a private institution?