I caught this on TV the other day while I did a jog. It’s great, not very long.
Author: ali redford
I love dogs and people. I want living creatures to thrive. I love to cook, and share the food, but ya gotta get in line in front of the dog.
Looking At This Week:
The Week Ahead
January 18, 2026
It’s the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s second administration this week. There’s not much to celebrate.
The oath Trump took on January 20, 2025: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” He added, “so help me God” at the end.
Tonight, about 1,500 active-duty soldiers, two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, are under prepare-to-deploy orders for possible action in Minnesota. This means Donald Trump is actively contemplating invoking the Insurrection Act. Absent that, deployment of active duty members of the military is prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act. It bears repeating that the American military isn’t meant to be used for domestic law enforcement against American citizens, barring extraordinary circumstances that simply aren’t present here.
The 11th Airborne, nicknamed the “Arctic Angels,” specializes in operating in arctic conditions. That’s convenient for Minnesota, or perhaps for Maine, where there are persistent rumors Trump plans to surge ICE this week, with an eye to the state’s Somali immigrant community. Governor Janet Mills has said Maine officials have been unable to confirm whether the rumors are true, but she’s said she’s working with the cities of Portland and Lewiston, which have sizable immigrant communities, along with local law enforcement, to be ready. “Maine will not be intimidated,” the Governor said.
Trump seems to be on course to become the first President to direct the use of U.S. military forces against American citizens during peacetime. And he’s doing it in a situation where the “unrest” is mostly peaceful protests resulting from Trump’s efforts to inflame the city. The situation is hardly the kind of insurrection, domestic violence, or conspiracy the Act contemplates, but this is a presidency where the facts don’t matter. This week could become an extraordinary moment in American history.
What exactly does the 11th Airborne Division do? When they were activated in 2022, the General running the show told the troops, “I expect every soldier of this Division to be masters of their craft, of Arctic Warfare.” Arctic warfare—headed for the streets of Minneapolis.
According to their website, “The 11th Airborne Division executes expeditionary operations worldwide, conducts Multi-Domain Operations in the Indo-Pacific theater and the Arctic, and on order decisively defeats any adversary in extreme cold weather, mountainous and high-latitude environments through large scale combat operations.” They are ready to “deploy, fight and win decisively against any adversary.” Presumably, that includes the protestor in a giraffe costume ICE agents forced to the ground last week or the one dressed like a pickle. If the stakes weren’t so high, the whole thing would be ridiculous.
And to triple down on what it’s doing in Minnesota, the administration announced it’s investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and plans to subpoena them. No word on specifics of potential charges or whether the subpoenas will be for documents or testimony. It’s hard to imagine what possible federal crimes the two have committed. Former Attorney General Eric Holder put it best—Holder quips, maybe “felony disagreement?”
DOJ is also investigating the partner of the Minneapolis woman an ICE agent shot and killed, apparently looking into whether Becca Good interfered with the agent. Videotape suggests he wasn’t impeded in any way by her comment that he should go out to lunch, moving without any obstruction to take three shots.
But DOJ is not investigating whether the ICE agent who killed her should be charged in connection with the shooting death of Renee Good. On Fox News Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “No, we are not investigating.” Blanche characterized what happened as the agent “defending himself” and said, “we investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate,” claiming that wasn’t the case here. “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell.
Officer-involved shootings are virtually always investigated, most of them by state agencies, which is where the majority of these incidents occur. But this case isn’t just a “shooting”; it’s a death, and possibly a homicide—a possibility that can’t be ruled out without investigation. There is also video evidence that a doctor who tried to treat Good, who was still alive when paramedics arrived 15 or more minutes later, was refused, which could lead to additional charges. This is the kind of case that demands a thorough, objective investigation.
Beyond that, Blanche’s claim that there are too many shootings every year to investigate—he says over 1,000—is as ludicrous as it is wrong. His argument is essentially that cops are shooting too many people to be bothered to investigate. If anything, high numbers would make investigation even more essential. While exact numbers aren’t available, a 2023 assessment by NBC suggested that between 2018 and 2022, 223 people were shot by officers working for or with the four primary federal law enforcement agencies, and that 151, or an average of 30 per year, were killed. Surely, Blanche can muster the resources to investigate 30 deaths in federal officer involved shootings a year—even if it means pulling a few FBI agents off of their work arresting school children and field workers who are in the country without legal immigration status, but hurting no one. In a moment where it would have shown good faith to conduct an investigation, the administration acted like it had something to hide, instead.
It should come as no surprise that recent polls show Trump slumping as he comes to the end of his first year. 58% of Americans call his first term a failure. A mere 37% say that Trump puts the good of the country above his personal gain. Only 32% believe he’s in touch with the problems ordinary Americans face in their daily lives. Perhaps most damning, “Fewer than half say that Trump has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively, and just 35% call him someone they’re proud to have as president.”
Keep talking with the people around you! The truth still has a way of breaking through when we share it.
Other developments to expect this week:
- On Tuesday, the plaintiffs’ response is due in the temporary protected status case we discussed in this post back on January 10. In Svitlana Doe v. Noem, Judge Talwani restricted the government’s efforts to end parole status for Colombians, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, Hondurans, and Salvadorans with family reunification status. Once briefing is complete, she will decide whether to permanently enjoin the government from ending parole status for these individuals before the time set for it to expire.
- On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who Trump tried to remove. The Court has seemed less willing to let Trump run roughshod over federal appointees when it comes to the Fed than other agencies. It permitted Cook to remain in place during the litigation, in sharp contrast to how it has treated others, including FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who Trump also ousted. Previously, Trump threatened to prosecute Cook for mortgage fraud, using the same flawed arguments that permeated the case brought in Virginia against New York AG Tish James and the investigations involving Senator Adam Schiff and Congressman Eric Swalwell. More recently, he has threatened Fed chair Jerome Powell with a meritless perjury prosecution. Whether the Court will weigh in on that pattern remains to be seen.
- On Thursday, Jack Smith will testify on Capitol Hill, publicly this time, at 10 am. He will remain under restriction from a Florida Judge’s order that prevents him from discussing the details of his report on the Mar-a-Lago indictment.
Also this week, we’ll be on the lookout for developments in the arson at Beth Israel Jewish Synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, that destroyed a significant portion of the temple, including its Torahs. Stephen Spencer Pittman has been charged by both state and federal prosecutors with hate crimes.
The local DA noted the historic nature of the temple:
“Beth Israel Congregation has endured violence in its history, including a 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombing during the civil-rights era, and this case arises amid a documented increase in attacks on houses of worship across the United States, including arson, vandalism, and other acts of target violence,” he said. “Such crimes are intended to intimidate entire religious communities. Violence directed at any place of worship, regardless of faith, will not be tolerated in Jackson, Mississippi.”
Pittman confessed to the attack after his arrest. He referred to the temple as “the synagogue of Satan,” language white nationalists frequently use to denigrate Jews. Jews make up just 2% of the population in the U.S. but are the targets of 69% of the hate crimes in this country, according to FBI statistics. It’s not clear whether the confession means he’ll be pleading guilty.
Finally, this week, just like last week, and the one before it, and the one before that, Trump’s Justice Department is still refusing to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Another Thing We Can Do
and we know they’ll be doing it for us when it’s our turn! This is a partial copy of their page.
https://www.standwithminnesota.com/
Minnesota is under occupation by federal agents from ICE and CBP, and they need your help.
Not just Minneapolis, and not just people protesting. Across Minnesota, ICE continues to stop, harass, and detain people regardless of their citizenship status. Normal life in Minnesota has been interrupted, as schools have been forced to close or go virtual, as people live in fear of leaving their homes or going to work.
Minnesotans are organized and activated to respond to this violence. But they need our help.
This directory of places to donate to all comes from activists on the ground, plugged into the situation. Everything is vetted, with the exception of individual GoFundMes (not everyone is in our networks, and we don’t want to pick and choose who is worthy of help.)
If you don’t have resources to give, please amplify what you are hearing and seeing about Minnesota, across social media, but also to your networks, friends, and family offline.
Read our testimonies and know what life is like in Minnesota right now.
Overwhelmed by the amount of listings here? Donate to the Immigrant Law Center of MN, who is providing assistance to hundreds of people with families detained by ICE, or the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund, a fund assembled by a coalition of Twin Cities Foundations committed to getting assistance out the door as quickly as possible.
Mutual Aid & Materials Purchasing
These funds are administered by neighbors helping their neighbors, not large organizations. This is one of the most direct ways to help and to get cash and resources into people’s hands quickly.
Rent Relief Funds
Mutual Aid Funds
Provide Food Support
Crowdfunding Campaigns
We are only including campaigns which have not met their goals. To get a campaign added please email contact@standupforminnesota.com
For Individuals
Funds for Schools & Students
Funds for Communities
And there is so much more on the page. Please thoughtfully consider what you can do, including simply telling people about this when it comes up (or when you bring it up, maybe?) And thank you!
Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Born in Atlanta, Georgia
on January 15th of 1929. The US, or most of it, observes a day of service and quiet celebration on the 3d Monday of January; this year that’s tomorrow. Because of the good he did while he was alive, I like to mark one or another day over the long weekend with a post about one or another (or more than one!) of the things he did.
Martin Luther King Jr. was the son of a Baptist pastor, and followed in his father’s footsteps. He also became a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement, and also was vocal and visible in the movement to halt the war in Vietnam. About five years after his Letter From A Birmingham Jail, about a year after his address to the Moblization To End The War in Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
I’m guessing we’re all very familiar with Rev. King’s “Dream” Speech. The Letter From A Birmingham Jail found here, The address mentioned above is found here, with snippets below.
I come to participate in this significant demonstration today because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this mobilization because I cannot be a silent onlooker while evil rages. I am here because I agree with Dante, that: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.“ In these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, there is no greater need than for sober thinking, mature judgment, and creative dissent.
In all our history there has never been such a monumental dissent during a war by the American people. Polls reveal more than ten million explicitly oppose the war. Additional millions cannot bring themselves to support it, and millions who do assent to it are half-hearted, confused and doubt-ridden.
Tens of thousands of our deepest thinkers in the academic and intellectual community are adamantly opposed to the war; distinguished church and theological leaders of every race and religion are morally outraged by it; and many young people in all walks of life believe it a corruption of every American value they have been taught to respect. Let no one claim there is a consensus for this war — no flag waving, no smug satisfaction with territorial conquest, no denunciation of the enemy can obscure the truth that many millions of patriotic Americans repudiate this war and refuse to take moral responsibility for it.
Nor can the fact be obscured that our nation is increasingly becoming an object of scorn around the globe. The respect we won when our course was right is rapidly being lost as even our closest allies leave our side embarrassed with our pretense that we are bearers of a moral crusade. (snip)
All of this reveals that we are in an untenable position morally and politically. We are left standing before the world glutted with wealth and power but morally constricted and impoverished. We are engaged in a war that seeks to turn the clock of history back and perpetuate white colonialism. The greatest irony and tragedy of it all is that our nation which initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of this modern world, is now cast in the mold of being an arch anti-revolutionary.
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society.
This confused war has played havoc with our domestic destinies. Despite feeble protests to the contrary, the promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam. The pursuit of this widened war has narrowed the promised dimensions of the domestic welfare programs, making the poor, white and Negro, bear the heaviest burdens both at the front and at home.
While the anti-poverty program is cautiously initiated, zealously supervised and required to be an instant success, billions are liberally expended for this ill-considered war. The security we profess to seek in foreign adventures we will lose in our decaying cities. The bombs in Vietnam explode at home, they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.
It is estimated that we spend $322,000 for each enemy we kill, while we spend in the so-called War on Poverty in America only about $53 for each person classified as “poor.” And much of that $53 goes for salaries of people who are not poor. We have escalated the war in Vietnam and de-escalated the skirmish against poverty. It challenges the imagination to contemplate what lives we could transform if we were to cease killing. (snip)
Let us save our national honor — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us save American lives and Vietnamese lives — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us take a single instantaneous step to the peace table — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us put an honorable peace on the agenda before another day passes — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us be able to face the world with a concrete deed of genuine peace — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let our voices ring out across the land to say the American people are not vainglorious conquerors — STOP THE BOMBING.
During these days of human travail, we must not permit ourselves to lapse into pessimism. We must organize for peace. We all owe a debt to those student body presidents, Peace Corps volunteers and others who have raised their voices to question the war. I would like to urge students from colleges all over the nation to use this summer and coming summers educating and organizing communities across the nation against the war. I have already talked with students who are organizing in this vein from such schools as Harvard University on the banks of the Charles River in Massachusetts and my own Morehouse College in the red hills of Georgia. We must all speak out in a multitude of voices against this most cruel and senseless war. The thunder of our voices will be the only sound stronger than the blast of bombs and the clamor of war hysteria.
I have tried to be honest today. To be honest is to confront the truth. To be honest is to realize that the ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and moments of comfort, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy. However unpleasant and inconvenient the truth may be, I believe we must expose and face it if we are to achieve a better quality of American life.
A few weeks ago, the distinguished American historian, Henry Steele Commager, told a Senate committee: “Justice Holmes used to say that the first lesson a judge had to learn was that he was not God … we do tend, perhaps more than other nations, to transform. our wars into crusades … our current involvement in Vietnam is cast, increasingly, into a moral mold … it is my feeling that we do not have the resources, material, intellectual or moral, to be at once an American power, a European power and an Asian power.”
I agree with Dr. Commanger, and I would suggest that there is, however, another kind of power that America can and should be. It is a moral power; a power harnessed to the service of peace and human beings.
All the world knows that America is a great military power. We need not be diligent in seeking to prove it. We must now show the world our moral power. It is still not too late for our beloved nation to make the proper choice. If we decide to become a moral power, we will lead mankind in transforming the jangling discords of this world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. If we make the right decision, we will be able to transfer our pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace. This will be a glorious day. In reaching it we can fulfill the noblest of American dreams.
Copyright © Martin Luther King, 1967.
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Whew. Well, now here is a timeline of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, from the Peace & Justice History newsletter:
Since 1986, the third Monday in January has been designated a federal holiday honoring the greatness and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A chronology:
April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. Shortly thereafter, U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) introduced legislation to create a federal holiday to commemorate Dr. King’s life and work.
January, 1973 Illinois became the first state to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday.
January, 1983 Rep. Conyers’s law was passed after 15 years
January, 1986 The United States first officially observed the federal King Day holiday.
January, 1987 Arizona Governor Evan Mecham rescinded state recognition of MLK Day as his first act in office, setting off a national boycott of the state.
January, 1993 Martin Luther King Day holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
It Really Did Happen!
I slept in a bit today. Not only that, but:
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2026 January 17
Apollo 14: A View from Antares
Image Credit: Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14, NASA; Mosaic – Eric M. Jones
Explanation: Apollo 14’s Lunar Module Antares landed on the Moon on February 5, 1971. Toward the end of the stay astronaut Ed Mitchell snapped a series of photos of the lunar surface while looking out a window, assembled into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar Surface Journal editor Eric Jones. The view looks across the Fra Mauro highlands to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed their second and final walk on the Moon. Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter, a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples. Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed Turtle rock. In the shallow crater below Turtle rock is the long white handle of a sampling instrument, thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell. Mitchell’s fellow moonwalker and first American in space, Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six iron to hit two golf balls. One of Shepard’s golf balls is just visible as a white spot below Mitchell’s javelin.
Tomorrow’s picture: infrared Jupiter
Some Stuff I’ve Run Across This Week
A jumble, of a sort.
Josh Johnson is up for an NAACP Image Award for The Daily Show.Take a look, and vote! Right now!
Also he’s hosting The Daily Show next week, T-Th nights. 🙂
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxX7xdrgo6C73tJ3UlZKTEAPyRmpTcEsB7?si=qZ4LDDE713mt-7yx
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In their words: Greenlanders talk about Trump’s desire to own their Arctic island
U.S. President Donald Trump has turned Greenland into a geopolitical hotspot with his demands to own it (Note: there is a video of this report on the page, if you prefer; click the title just above -A)
By EMMA BURROWS AP european security correspondent January 16, 2026, 12:17 AM
In their words: Greenlanders talk about Trump’s desire to own their Arctic island
(Snippet:)
NUUK, Greenland — U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the Arctic island of Greenland into a geopolitical hotspot with his demands to own it and suggestions that the U.S. could take it by force.
The island is a semiautonomous region of Denmark, and Denmark’s foreign minister said Wednesday after a meeting at the White House that a “fundamental disagreement” remains with Trump over the island.
The crisis is dominating the lives of Greenlanders and “people are not sleeping, children are afraid, and it just fills everything these days. And we can’t really understand it,” Naaja Nathanielsen, a Greenlandic minister said at a meeting with lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament this week.
Here’s a look at what Greenlanders think:
Trump has dismissed Denmark’s defenses in Greenland, suggesting it’s “two dog sleds.”
By saying that, Trump is “undermining us as a people,” Mari Laursen told AP. (snip-MORE)
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(It’s like another world inside my state, which is sorta nice. -A)
‘This is what you built’: Kansas workers rally in solidarity at the Statehouse
By:Sherman Smith-January 14, 20262:11 pm
TOPEKA — Union leader Jake Lowen told the hundreds of workers who gathered Wednesday in the first floor rotunda of the Statehouse to look around and take in “the house that labor built.”
He referenced the stonemasons who cut every piece of limestone in the walls. The iron and steel workers who raised the dome, with the help of operating engineers who ran the hoists built by machinists. Plumbers, boilermakers and electricians brought light, heat and water.
Lowen, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Kansas State AFL-CIO, said some of the workers who started building the Statehouse, which took 37 years to construct, never saw it finished. At least seven gave their lives in the process, he said.
“The work was hard and the price was high, and yet they persevered,” he told the crowd that was gathered for an annual “solidarity day” labor rally.
He said the workers were building a Statehouse by day and a movement by night. In 1890, the year they raised the Statehouse dome, workers formed the Kansas State Federation of Labor, he said. (snip-MORE)
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Update about Minnesota ICE reporting
Ben Werdmuller
16 Jan 2026 — 1 min read
After today’s post, Seth Larson let me know that the Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, has established a portal for sending in evidence of ICE activity.
I’ve updated the web version of the post, but I wanted to send out an email update too so that readers on the ground in the Twin Cities are aware of the resource.
I’ll republish Governor Walz’s quote for emphasis:
“Tonight, I want to share another way you can help: Witness.
Help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities.
You have an absolute right to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct their activities.
So carry your phone with you at all times.
And if you see ICE in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.
Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans – not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution.”
If you are local to the Twin Cities, and feel safe and able, this is a concrete way in which you can help.
Here’s that link to the submission form again.
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One of those young Democrats I keep writing about. We can help her get elected.
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Some humor:
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A Must-Read And Share:
Snippet:
🌿This note has struck a chord and gotten some attention, so I just wanted to say that anyone who wants to share from this note, please feel free, in any way you like :)🌿
Last week, I wrote to my Senator, Angus King, asking him to please focus on three priorities in the new year: 1) Stop foreign invasions 2) Release the Epstein files 3) Restore ACA subsidies.
Senator King wrote me back, because he’s actually really good about answering constituent correspondence. And one of the things he said is that he is increasingly concerned with the “growing gulf between the left and right and the shrinking middle.”
I see this argument a lot, actually, from all these avowed “centrists.” And I will tell you, it pisses me off. It’s an entire mischaracterization of this moment in history.
This is what I wrote:
Senator King,
Thank for your recent response. One of the concerns that you expressed was regarding the “growing gulf between the left and right and the shrinking middle.”
I want to re-frame this, because it’s a mischaracterization.
When we talk about political ideology, the center of the spectrum in the United States is meant to be the Constitution and the rule of law. That is the standard, the baseline, the bare minimum of agreement against which the full right-to-left spectrum of policy negotiations and compromises must ultimately be tested. (emphasis mine)
The gulf that has developed today is not about polarization. The left and right are not migrating further apart. The right has launched off the edge of the chart into violent authoritarianism. There is no corresponding leftward lurch towards social revolution.
The overwhelming and growing public reaction, these thousands and millions of protestors flooding the phones and taking to the streets to demand that the law and the Constitution be followed – we ARE the center!
I tried to explain this to Congressman Jared Golden, too. He really, really wants me to be a far-left activist extremist. But I’m just a wife and a mom living in a cabin in the Maine woods. We chop firewood for heat, we harvest maple syrup tree by tree, our kids work on local shellfish farms. We are deeply ordinary.
But our most basic and fundamental civil rights and liberties are increasingly under assault. If an ICE agent doesn’t like the way I follow their instructions, they will shoot me in the face, call me a f****** b****, and the President will say that according to his own morality in his own mind, that was legal and I deserved it.
As I asked Jared months ago, just how far right do you have to travel to start believing that asking elected officials to follow the Constitution and the rule of law is Progressive Activism?
We are not far left extremists becoming increasingly polarized. We are masses of Americans asking for adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law. We are asking for the bare minimum.
The center is not supposed to be negotiated ever rightward into fascist dictatorship. The center is supposed to be uncompromisingly anchored in the Constitution and the rule of law. This is supposed to be the line of absolute principle.
That is why I am disappointed every single time you vote with the regime. It’s not because I’m polarized. It’s because you’re negotiating with people who don’t believe in the center at all. You are negotiating with terrorists.
What you are witnessing today is not a shrinking middle. The center is actually growing in a rising tide. Millions of Americans are suddenly deadly aware that every Constitutional right that they thought was firmly enshrined is threatened by one single group of far-right, power-hungry, violent rogue extremists.
So if the center is really what you stand for, I have good news for you. Now is your time! The center is the largest it has ever been! Millions of dead-center Americans are as awake, as alert, as active as they have been in a generation. We are demanding the absolute center of political ideologies, and the bare minimum of governance – the restoration of Constitutional democracy. So join us! But understand this about the center. It is not the place for compromise.
Snip-please go read the rest at Annie’s (I didn’t leave a lot out here, so that won’t take long;) and then quickly but thoughtfully join people who are working hard to retain our democracy, and fix the holes. Not doing anything is really simply asking for these very bad things to continue, and history has shown how that ends. Thank you!
Better Than Republicans Now!
Links within, and everything. Give it a read-especially the letter!-you’ll enjoy it. -A.
Hillary Clinton May Finally Get Lock-Her-Upped For Refusing Stupid Subpoena From Dipsh*t James Comer
Hell yes, and welcome to the resistance, guys.
So far, the Justice Department has released only about one percent of the files it has on Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump’s involvement with the serial child molester, and the government’s failure to hold Epstein accountable. It’s the sort of thing Congress should be demanding action on, but the House Oversight Committee was instead planning to spend this week grilling Bill and Hillary Clinton about their long-ago contacts with Epstein, because that would take the spotlight off Trump.
Yesterday, the Clintons sent a scathing four-page letter (New York Times archive link) to committee chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) telling him why they wouldn’t be playing along, arguing that instead of demanding the Justice Department comply with the law requiring release of the Epstein Files, Comer and the Oversight Committee “have prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government’s role.”
You should definitely give the full Clinton letter a read, because it lays out not just why the Clintons won’t go along with Comer’s attempt to shift attention away from Trump and the DOJ’s foot-dragging, but also why this government’s corruption must be resisted wherever possible, from the streets to closed-door hearing rooms. The letter, not from their attorneys but from the Clintons themselves, starts by laying out the unprecedented attacks on the rule of law by Trump’s government, and sums up:
Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences.
For us, now is that time.
The letter also notes, again, that Bill Clinton has repeatedly called for the DOJ to release every last bit of information about him from the Epstein Files, which isn’t exactly what somebody trying to hide something would say. As opposed to, let’s say, a president who has fought every single attempt to release everything.
Separately, the Clintons’ attorneys sent Comer a more conventional letter explaining why they consider the committee’s subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable,” which may be useful if Comer follows through on his threat to charge the Clintons with contempt of Congress. But the Clintons’ letter, like Comer’s attempt to drag them before the committee for show, is openly and unabashedly political.
In what may have been a deliberate throwback, the Clinton letter is in good old-fashioned typewriter text (or a digital recreation of it), not a more obvious laser-printed Times New Roman or Arial, as if to suggest that in contrast to a clumsy Twitter message or a random email blast, the IBM Selectric is an elegant communications device for a more civilized age:
While Comer accepted sworn, written declarations from eight other people the committee subpoenaed, he’s only demanded that the Clintons show up in person to be grilled behind closed doors. But no thanks, they write, we aren’t going to help you create a sideshow that detracts from the administration’s stonewalling on releasing the files:
We have tried to give you the little information that we have. We’ve done so because Mr. Epstein’s crimes were horrific. If the Government didn’t do all it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work — to learn why and to prevent that from happening ever again. There is no evidence that you are doing so.
Predictably, Comer is now rattling on about charging Bill Clinton with contempt of Congress for not appearing Tuesday, and Hillary as well, since there was little chance she’d show up for her scheduled deposition today. Anticipating that, they basically tell him in the letter, BRING IT:
Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment. This is not the way out of America’s ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves.
Indeed, bringing the Republicans’ cruel agenda to a standstill while you work harder to pass a contempt charge against us than you have done on your investigation this past year would be our contribution to fighting the madness.
If that’s the direction Comer goes, the letter warns, get ready, because while they’re still willing to testify in a public hearing, the Clintons will also “defend ourselves in the public arena and ensure this country knows exactly why you are doing so, instead of helping the American people who need this Congress’s work and protection.”
The letter closes with another warning, with a nice jab at MAGA obsessions with the perfectly legal and cromulent use of autopens on official documents, which is fun to read in a letter that looks as if it came from a typewriter. (Are the signatures here digital or handwritten, and does anyone care?)
![Screenshot of Clinton letter: 'Continue to mislead Americans about what is truly at stake, and you will learn that Americans are better at finding the truth than you are at burying it. Continue to pursue autopens instead of penning laws Americans need, and you will learn that you are signing away any remaining chance of being on the right side of history. Continue to abet the dismantling of America, and you will learn that it takes more than a wrecking ball to demolish what Americans have built over 250 years. Sincerely, [signatures] Bill Clinton / Hillary Rodham Clinton'](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_WOJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6516cc3d-9699-4259-9e53-77fab75b5f17_747x548.jpeg "Screenshot of Clinton letter: 'Continue to mislead Americans about what is truly at stake, and you will learn that Americans are better at finding the truth than you are at burying it. Continue to pursue autopens instead of penning laws Americans need, and you will learn that you are signing away any remaining chance of being on the right side of history. Continue to abet the dismantling of America, and you will learn that it takes more than a wrecking ball to demolish what Americans have built over 250 years. Sincerely, [signatures] Bill Clinton / Hillary Rodham Clinton'")
It’s a hell of a read, and it matters because unlike all the ways Trump and his sycophants have thrown norms (and the law) under the bus, this letter makes clear that the Clintons are defying the subpoenas not out of contempt, but to highlight that the GOP “investigation” is itself a political act aimed at intimidating Trump’s enemies. This isn’t an attempt to escape answering tough questions — they’ll happily do that in the open and in a sworn written statement. It’s civil disobedience, because this is a goddamned emergency.
Rebecca Solnit writes that we need to see more of this from people whose privilege usually protects them. They could testify in private and ride out the political screeching (neither would be at any risk) but they’re instead saying hell no and courting a contempt charge because it would bring attention to Trump’s crimes:
It’s significant that they’ve come out fighting. This is specifically about James Comer’s attempt to force them to testify about all things Epstein, even as this administration covers up for Epstein’s best friend, refuses to release 95% of the Epstein files, etc. What’s striking here is that the Clintons articulate it’s all of a piece with all the other appalling and lawless things the Trumpists are doing. That these supremely status quo/high status people see themselves as under attack in illegitimate ways and are now fighting back with broad accusations matters, not least because it may shake up some other people with high status/status quo positions, including high up in the Democratic Party.
We also wholeheartedly endorse Solnit’s caution that “I don’t really want or need to hear about why you don’t like the Clintons,” because yes, that conversation has been ongoing for 35 years, but this is something new, and because hey, did you notice the whole building is on fire?
For Science! And For Species Protection & Diversity, Too
New study reveals that 1,300 new species have been added to the global mammal count
Jan 12, 2026 1:24 PM
According to a new study published in the Journal of Mammalogy, the number of living mammal species has increased by 25% since 2005 — meaning that more than 1,300 new species have been added to the scientific record.
Just a few mammals in that crowded class include new creatures like the mouse opossum (Marmosa chachapoya) of the Peruvian Andes, the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina) of Ecuador, and the dwarf shrew (Crocidura stanleyi) of Ethiopia.
“Our recognition of 25% more mammal diversity now than 20 years ago indicates an overall improvement in our understanding of how global mammals interact with their environments,” Dr. Nathan Upham, lead researcher and Arizona State University professor, told A-Z Animals.
“Each species is genetically unique, not interbreeding with their close relatives, and thus presumably doing something unique on the landscape — specializing in different food or habitat type or location of activity,” he explained.
Upham’s research centered on a series of mathematical equations.
Since 2005, the Mammal Diversity Database has listed an additional 1,579 species.
Of those new species, 805 were newly described and 774 were “splits,” or offshoots, of what was originally thought to be a single species. 226 species were also merged after new evidence came to light.
In total, that means 1,353 species have been discovered since 2005, amounting to an average of 65 new mammal species being introduced to the scientific record every year.
In his interview with A-Z Animals, Upham emphasized that species are not evolving at a faster rate; they are simply becoming easier to find and identify.
“Next-generation DNA sequencing technologies have dramatically lowered the cost of obtaining DNA across the genomes from hundreds of individuals simultaneously,” Upham said.
Upham’s spotlight on mammalian research is supported by a larger, separate study published in Science Advances by John Wiens, a professor in the University of Arizona Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Together with his fellow researchers — Xin Li, Ding Yang, and Liang Wang — Wiens estimated that 16,000 new species are discovered each year.
“These thousands of newly found species each year are not just microscopic organisms, but include insects, plants, fungi, and even hundreds of new vertebrates,” Wiens told the University of Arizona.
In 2025, Wiens also spearheaded research on the rate of species extinction and found that it lags significantly behind new species identification.
“Our good news is that this rate of new species discovery far outpaces the rate of species extinctions, which we calculated to about 10 per year,” Wiens said.
“Discovering new species is important because these species can’t be protected until they’re scientifically described,” he added. “Documentation is the first step in conservation – we can’t safeguard a species from extinction if we don’t know it exists.”
Photograph of a newly discovered mammal, the Bassaricyon neblina, or “Olinguito,” taken in the wild at Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Ecuador. Header image via Mark Gurney / Wikimedia Commons (C. C By 3.0)
You may also like: This mammal vanished from Ohio nearly 200 years ago. Trail cameras just captured footage of it
Taking Joy In Ourselves
21 Inspiring Quotes from Transgender Activists
Supporting and learning from trans people is essential in fostering an inclusive and compassionate world. Members and allies of the trans community recognize the unique struggles and challenges that trans individuals currently face: discrimination, marginalization, and dangerous legislation.
By actively supporting and learning from trans activists and leaders, we can better understand these challenges and work together to create an environment where everyone is treated with respect and dignity, regardless of their gender identity.
We’ve compiled a list of impactful quotes from trans activists to foster understanding and appreciation for the trans community.
Please share and utilize these quotes to promote support for trans people and create a more inclusive, respectful, and supportive environment for everyone.
Explore inspirational transgender quotes and captions — to help celebrate trans liberation & fight for trans rights
“I’ve never been interested in being invisible and erased.”
— Laverne Cox
“Trans people are extraordinary, strong, intelligent, persistent and resilient. We have to be. And we will not stand for the picking and choosing of rights. We still have hope.”
— Grace Dolan-Sandrino
“Despite the constant hatred we face as the LGBTQ+ community, we must stand united and strong in spreading our message of love.”
— Jazz Jennings, in a tweet
“I think trans women, and trans people in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms.
A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you’re supposed to be to live a more authentic life.”
— Laverne Cox
“They can try to ban us. They can try to get rid of our health care. They can try to deny us housing, credit, and public accommodations. They can try to shame us. They can try all they want to erase us, but at some point, they will realize the trans community is never going away.
Trans people are everywhere.
Every country, every race, every ethnicity, every religion, every socioeconomic level, every period of human history — we are everywhere. We are natural. You can’t rid of what’s natural. I think they know that, and it terrifies them.”
— Charlotte Clymer
“I want to make a difference in the world by speaking out and spreading hopeful messages. I want to send the message of “you are not alone and you are safe” to other transgender kids.”
— Rebekah Bruesehoff
“I don’t know what I am if I’m not a woman.”
— Marsha P. Johnson
“We have to be visible. We are not ashamed of who we are.”
— Sylvia Rivera
“Being transgender is not just a medical transition. … [It’s about] discovering who you are, living your life authentically, loving yourself, and spreading that love towards other people and accepting one another.”
— Jazz Jennings
“We have to remain visible. They have to see us, they have to know that we’re not going [nowhere], that we’ve been here ever since God made man and woman, and they have to get over it.
I don’t need their permission to exist; I exist in spite of them. I want you to train and teach and love on and create families within my community and gender non-conforming people, so that we can understand that we have a culture, we have a history, we have a reason to be here.
We have a purpose.
We’re entitled to be loved, and seek happiness, and share that with the people that we care about.”
— Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
Snip-There are a few more, and some graphics with the quotes that we can snag and share, too.
https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/transgender-quotes
Scottie's Playtime 
