https://www.thenation.com/?post_type=article&p=585166

Wow. *The Nation* slices David Brooks to *ribbons*.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/29/shutdown-spending-deal-trump-00756372

«the main sticking point appears to be Sen. Lindsey Graham’s decision to block a quick vote on the deal because it includes a House-passed provision undoing a law that allows senators to receive cash payouts if they had their phone records seized by former special counsel Jack Smith.»

Man, that Serwer can write.

«Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. …

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.»

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/the-neighbors-defending-minnesota-from-ice/685769/?gift=ly-h2TZGdDJyaoFv6n-KaTNHLYmwBDFCebMfkrdvTIE&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share (gift)

I feel like there’s a quiet civil war or revolution happening in China right now.

https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinas-top-general-accused-of-giving-nuclear-secrets-to-u-s-b8f59dae?st=HgEbuC&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

We all know by now, right? 🙄

(Yes, some of us knew decades ago. Sorry some of us are just catching up.)

Where are the Second Amendment people?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/01/25/minneapolis-shooting-video-gun/

Looks like some of them are waking up:

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/25/gun-groups-challenge-minneapolis-shooting-pretti

After all that crap about “All the sensible people are moving from California to Texas because the liberals have raised taxes too high”:

https://fortune.com/2026/01/22/texas-leads-states-in-most-people-moving-out-census-bureau/

(Actually a pretty decent article. Hopefully not paywalled.)

I just can’t get this out of my mind.

«Before the election, France’s Europe minister said that “We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every four years.” Or as Jonathan V. Last wrote in the Bulwark yesterday, before Carney’s speech happened, “Europe must consider any pause in America’s attempt to annex Greenland as temporary and subject to renewal whenever 40,000 Wisconsinites are aggrieved about the price of eggs.”»

https://www.wonkette.com/p/canadian-pm-mark-carney-declares

The sad state of the world. No shade on you Wisconsin, but… you were the swingiest, it seems like. I used to think of you as solidly blue, but I guess you just couldn’t muster the energy this time. Will it be the same next time? Michigan? Pennsylvania?

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-18-2026

«People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left.

Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what.»

🥹

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/17/trump-greenland-tariffs-nato.html

How are there people in this country who think this is a good move?

Also: honestly, how are there people in this country who can’t decide or don’t care?