politics

Last week was the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision enshrining the idea that money in politics is not corruption, but constitutionally protected speech. States and cities across the US are battling the rotten legacy of that decision.

The next phase of ICE’s big ramp-up: a nationwide network of vast detention facilities. But guess what? Even parts of Red America are saying no.

President Trump’s extraordinary comments were the latest iteration of his unsubstantiated claims that U.S. elections are rigged as Republicans face potentially big losses this fall.

*DNC’s Local Listeners initiative will target one million ‘infrequent’ voters in battleground districts*

About 2,000 personnel will be left in Minnesota, where President Trump’s immigration crackdown has generated outrage.

Federal agencies are delaying approvals for renewable energy projects on both federal land and private property at a time when electricity demand is going up.

*Dismantling rules will make children vulnerable to chronic diseases ‘make America healthy again’ wants to eradicate*

*Bills mandate ICE cooperation, school status checks and criminalize information release, testing constitutional lines*

Wonder how Indiana’s law would comport with the Constitution’s full faith and credit clause (basically how gay marriage came about) when a transgender person born outside of Indiana but has updated their birth certificate relocates to Indiana. Birth certification is a power reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment. So, SCOTUS can’t set an interviening rule about how birth certificates are to be written if a dispute arises between the states on this.

Letitia James, the state’s top law official, said staff members from her office would serve as “neutral witnesses” amid outrage over President Trump’s deportation campaign.

These attempts at meme-based relevance go hand-in-hand with all the unsuccessful pivots and impersonations that people in the Trump orbit have tried to look cool, culturally relevant or even, God help us, badass: Katie Miller’s excruciatingly dull fascist wine mom podcast, say, or Pete Hegseth’s American flag-lined suit, camo ties, and ongoing impression of Slim Pickens‘ atomic bomb-riding cowboy character in Dr. Strangelove. There’s also JD Vance pretending he enjoys the Internet jokes about him having sex with a couch. All of these gambits try—and fail—to serve the same purpose: to make these people look cool, funny, or with it while they advance a profoundly unpopular agenda.

With the deadline to file for reelection a little over a month away, two of Utah’s Republican members of Congress are asking a federal court to block the use of new U.S. House districts that could significantly boost Democrats’ chances of winning a Salt Lake City area seat in November.

“I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep,” Le said. “The system sucks, this job sucks, I am trying with every breath I have to get you what I need.”

*Exclusive: Trump endorsed national intelligence director’s sweeping review by sending her on Georgia raid last week*

A federal judge appears likely to side with Mark Kelly in the Democratic senator’s case alleging the Pentagon is violating his First Amendment rights through its effort to punish him over his urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders.

A newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch delivered a sharp warning to President Donald Trump after a high-profile Republican loss.

Lil Mike needs some knee pads and jaw ointment for the work he’s doing.

I do not feel bad for this lady AT ALL, as humorous as this is. She should quit with the rest of her office.

Paywall removed:

Michelle Goldberg Feb. 3, 2026

Minnesota and the two Twin Cities are among the jurisdictions that have “sanctuary policies” restricting state and local law enforcement assistance to federal immigration enforcement operations. Sanctuary jurisdictions have, for good reason, concluded that their law enforcement resources are better used to combat violent and property crime, rather than helping deport undocumented immigrants. As Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey puts it, “The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws. I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to [Minneapolis] & is from Ecuador.” The latter actually have much lower crime rates than native-born citizens, and many of those the administration seeks to deport have no criminal records at all. Local and state participation in deportation efforts also makes it more difficult to combat crime by poisoning relations between law enforcement agencies and minority communities.

President Trump and the White House regularly circulate imagery that has been manipulated by A.I. But the photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong was different.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) slammed Republicans for trying to politicize the investigation into late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s associates.

It’s hard to imagine viewers who end up tuning in to the new hagiographic Melania Trump documentary, Melania, having a reaction other than “time to sharpen our guillotines.”

Jan. 31, 2026

When Donald Trump looks like he’s gearing up to meddle in an election, still-raw history suggests he should be believed.

*The White House says the president is ‘not involved’ in running his businesses. Ethics experts remain concerned*

“Having made no significant gains on the ground, the enemy is intensifying strikes from the air. The previous monthly maximum was recorded in October 2025 – 5,300 bombs.”

President Trump and the White House regularly circulate imagery that has been manipulated by A.I. But the photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong was different.

What is the task of the intellectual at a time when, at the heart of liberal democracies, genocide is normalized and protest suppressed?

“The top ten metropolitan areas, including Seattle’s, generate an astonishing 90 percent of the US GDP, and 88 percent of its employment. The modern economy would collapse without them. Without this kind of economic power, you don’t have an Idaho, or a Wyoming, or a Montana. You don’t have a billionaire class. Yet cities are now under violent attack from the GOP, the party that represents the ruling class, because they’re too blue, because they have policies that are supposed to protect the rights of immigrants, and so on. Yet ICE has only one mission: make the lives of city people miserable. This is the paradox of all American paradoxes and it has seemingly backfired.

The comments, made on a conservative podcast, follow a string of moves from his administration to try to exert more control over American elections.

*Commissioner to file motion requesting return of property unlawfully taken during raid related to 2020 election*

Billie Eilish joined Bad Bunny in speaking out against ICE during her acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards, slamming the organization after winning song of the year for “Wildflower.”

“We speak with Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman about the shocking FBI raid on an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia. Federal agents were seeking records related to the 2020 presidential election, which President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim he won despite his loss to Joe Biden that year. During his efforts to overturn the election results, Trump pressured local officials to “find” him an additional 11,780 votes. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was on the scene Friday despite having no domestic law enforcement authority. The raid comes amid an ongoing federal probe into the 2020 election.

Trump on Monday declared that the Republican Party should “nationalize the voting” in the US and take away individual states’ power to administer their elections.

“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over — we should take over the voting — the voting in at least many, 15 places,’” Trump told Bongino in the interview. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

A federal judge on Monday ruled that an offshore wind project aimed at powering 600,000 New York homes can resume construction, the fifth such project put back on track after the Trump administration halted them in December.

He must really hate the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. You know that document he “swore” to support and defend?

And to be clear: ICE was so indiscriminate that they were firing chemical weapons through the windows of occupied apartments.

archive article: https://archive.is/vpCD7

Jon Queally Feb 02, 2026

Lake Mead is two-thirds empty. Lake Powell is even emptier.

“Teachers slipping to work under cover of darkness. The windows of a school building papered over to stop onlookers from peering in. Classrooms more than half-empty in an eerie echo of the pandemic five years ago.

with its subtitle of “The Weaponization of Entertainment for Partisan Propaganda,” the report is tailored for the MAGA base. Full of talking points and and mentions of Stranger Things, the Lena Dunham produced Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste, the controversial Cuties docu from 2020, and the Obamas produced American Factory, the 47-page report takes repeated swipes at any expansion of the streamer and its library of “leftwing and progressive” content. The report continues, “the consistency of this programming suggests there may be intentional coordination with activist organizations and alignment with progressive political objectives.”

The show, put on by the conservative organization to compete with Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance, will feature performances by Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert and Lee Brice. Gabby Barrett, 2021 winner of new female artist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, will also perform.