When Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff last week in retaliation for their role in the classified documents investigation of Donald Trump, he targeted an elite counter espionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran bit.ly/4r2EFp5
A big part of the authoritarian playbook is war. War takes over the news. War blots out criticism. War divides a nation’s people, subjecting those against it to being called unpatriotic. War grants leaders all sorts of emergency powers. War consumes everything else.
We mustn’t let this war do so.
Remember how Trump's SOTU included a line about how he'd stopped eight wars, including Israel v. Iran?
War with Iran is just a distraction from war with Anthropic.
Quiz – How Well Do You Understand Your Health Insurance? Take this 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of common health insurance terminology, concepts and jargon
www.kff.org/private-insu...
Hard G thank you very much …
Catch & Kill:
Judge Cannon bars release of Jack Smith's Volume II report about the classified docs case.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Only the Lord Saves more than Connor Hellebyuck - congrats USA Hockey
Interesting findings from @pewresearch.org – even in a post Substack universe, just 3% of Americans name newsletters as the platform they prefer for getting news, far behind TV (34%), news websites/apps (21%) and other pathways. And many don’t read most of the newsletters they get buff.ly/ie65cEC
As he rolls back clean-energy initiatives, Trump is getting another trophy today
www.nj.com/politics/202...
Dow was at ~43,500 when Trump took office ...
Prince, 2007: Best. Press Conference. Ever. youtu.be/LjxHZ5Od7zs?...
You do not, under any circumstances, for any reason whatsoever, in any possible scenario, bring American food TO Milan.
When Republicans do it / When Democrats do it
⚡️Update: Russia launches 'most severe' mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since start of 2026.
Local authorities in Kharkiv classified the consequences of the Russian strikes as a local-level, man-made emergency.
"The center’s ambition, articulated by JFK and emblazoned on the wall of the building, was to symbolize a nation “which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.” wapo.st/4r1V9Pk
‘I shouted out….who killed the Kennedy Center…’
i'm afraid i'm going to exhaust my allotment of gift articles pretty soon. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
As the once proud institution is battered by cancellations and boycotts, Trump retreats and announces the Kennedy Center will close for two years for "renovations" buff.ly/UXkenU9
Quiet. We’re busy rebuilding Venezuelan infrastructure. And the Kennedy Center. 🤡
Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins solidly red Texas Senate seat in stunning special election upset. With ballots tallied from all but a handful of voting centers, Rehmet led Wambsganss 57% to 43% tpf.news/6nwno
Like most of the House, Mike Johnson has only been there in the Trump era. It’s not simply that he’s abdicating his power as a coequal branch, it’s that he doesn’t seem to understand that it *is* a coequal branch.
AKA three heavily armed, masked men in an unmarked vehicle attack a motorist …
Investigative Reporters and Editors strongly condemns the arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who covered a Jan. 18 protest against immigration enforcement at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Read IRE's statement: https://bit.ly/4rhavyW
The cost of properly funding The Post would have been a rounding error to Bezos –“Bezos’ net worth increased by $4.8 billion to $254 billion, ranking him the third-wealthiest person in the world, ahead of Brin ($253.1 billion), according to Forbes’ Billionaires list” www.forbes.com/sites/tylerr...
Continuing the deployment (political stunt) for the next year could cost the nation over $1 billion, the estimate found.
wapo.st/4k3Uydf
Once the staunch Second Amendment advocate, now Trump states "You can't walk with guns" - even legally registered ones www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_ NEW: Since yesterday's deadly shooting in MN, I've talked to more than half a dozen federal sources involved immigration enforcement, including several in senior positions, who all tell me they have grown increasingly uneasy & frustrated w/ some of the claims & narratives DHS pushed in the aftermath of the shooting. Specifically, I'm told there is extreme frustration with DHS officials going on TV and putting out statements claiming that Alex Pretti was intending to conduct a "massacre" of federal agents or wanted to carry out "maximum damage", even after numerous videos appeared to show those claims were inaccurate. While they say it was a terrible decision to show up with a gun and inject himself into a federal law enforcement operation, there is no indication Pretti was there to murder law enforcement, as videos appear to show he never drew his holstered firearm. These sources say this messaging from DHS officials has been catastrophic from a PR and morale perspective, as it is eroding trust and credibility - comparing it to when Democrats falsely claimed the border was closed or that Haitians were being whipped at the border. Some of these sources have described DHS’ response to the shooting as “a case study on how not to do crisis PR”, one said they are so “fed up” that they wish they could retire, another said “DHS is making the situation worse”, and another added that “DHS is wrong” and “we are losing this war, we are losing the base and the narrative." These sources all believe this is going to end up being what they call a “bad shoot”, a “shitty” situation that happened in seconds where agents likely heard “gun!”, then the disarmed firearm may have had an accidental discharge that spooked the agents, and they shot. The agents do not have the luxury of multiple slow motion angles - and had to make split second decisions. All of the sources support the mass deportation agenda, but have serious hesitations about the way it is …
Bill Melugin of Fox News may be the best-sourced journalist within ICE and CBP. If he's hearing this, the administration has a real problem.
"Mr. Trump boldly and brazenly says things he knows or has been told are not true and even after being corrected continues to say them again and again."
