Barth Keck

Hypocrisy, thy name is “MAGA.”

“This is not a preemptive war. It is a war of choice, a discretionary war. It is a war for regime change. Many of Iran’s 92 million people want the regime removed. But it is far from certain that this will be the outcome.”

No worries. The unlicensed “health influencer” who never finished her medical training will fix it. 🙄

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5756339-trump-ex-surgeon-general-jerome-adams-casey-means-senate/

OP-ED | America’s ‘Miracle On Ice’ Still Teaching Lessons 40 Years Later | CT News Junkie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYscemhnf88 BARTH KECK A malaise has cast its pall over the nation. Middle East conflicts, Afghanistan military

Gold medal 46 years to the day after the Miracle on Ice! I wrote this op-ed on the 40th anniversary — still resonates today:

https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2020/02/18/20200217_op-ed_americas_miracle_on_ice_still_teaches_lessons_40_years_later/

Football Chronicles 2026: What Today’s Coaches Can Learn from the Architect of the Miracle on Ice Author’s note: This is the 4th installment of “The HK Cougar Football Chronicles” for the new year (2026). As an assistant coach, I share…

My latest "Football Chronicles" essay, inspired by the winter Olympics and memories of 1980:

"As I look back now as a coach myself — albeit as a 20-year football coach — I wonder what I might learn from Herb Brooks, the architect of the 1980 Gold Medal hockey team."

medium.com/@barthkeck/w...

Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren

“The strategy demonstrates a sophisticated grasp of how to try to unravel more than 100 years of progress in protecting children from deadly pathogens.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/health/rfk-school-vaccine-mandates.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.

From the Ministry of Truth. (George Orwell would be impressed.)

“The administration ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks.”

https://mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/medgar-evers-killer-trump-says-stop-calling-him-racist/

If not for this one industry, the U.S. labor market would look a lot worse Without health care, the United States would have nearly 400,000 fewer jobs than it did a year ago, according to Labor Department figures through January.

“That steady growth — driven in large part by an aging population — became even more pronounced after the pandemic.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/14/health-care-industry-fuels-employment/

When the Two Sides of the Culture War Meet Turning Point USA’s halftime show had some surprising overlap with the performance it was meant to protest.

“If the people participating in the Bad Bunny backlash slowed down and looked a little closer, they might find that they actually have a great many values in common with him.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/02/culture-war-bad-bunny-turning-point-usa-super-bowl/685939/

Thanks so much, Pete. I appreciate your thoughtful words. Means more to me than you know.

Opinion | The Most Unfit Man To Occupy the White House – Ever | CT News Junkie Columnist Barth Keck says he fears that the typical “level-headed” and “reasonable” manner journalists and politicians have typically taken when analyzing the behavior of Donald Trump ignores what is ...

“The man is a cruel and selfish boor unfit to lead any country in the world, let alone the United States of America.”

https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/09/opinion-the-most-unfit-man-to-occupy-the-white-house-ever/

"It’s just culture-war stuff, an effort to stoke his base’s sense that something is changing in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable. In a way that makes him feel uncomfortable."

Opinion | The Most Unfit Man To Occupy the White House – Ever | CT News Junkie Columnist Barth Keck says he fears that the typical “level-headed” and “reasonable” manner journalists and politicians have typically taken when analyzing the behavior of Donald Trump ignores what is ...

My latest op-ed:

“The typical ‘level-headed’ manner many typically take when analyzing Trump ignores an obvious fact: The man is a cruel and selfish boor unfit to lead any country in the world.”

https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/09/opinion-the-most-unfit-man-to-occupy-the-white-house-ever/

The definition of patriotism.

Opinion | A Lament for the Washington Post The most powerful capital in the world has no major fully functioning newspaper. That’s a huge absence.

“I fear that few people really care about journalism, but we are dead without it. Someday something bad will happen, something terrible on a national scale, and the thing we’ll need most, literally to survive, is information.”

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-lament-for-the-washington-post-a5509d63

It’s all performative bullsh*+ to keep the MAGA base happy. Such a crock.

Manufactured Rage: Political Operatives and the Culture Wars The latest salvo in America’s culture wars involves Cracker Barrel’s logo transition from a folksy image to a minimalist design. Back in…

As the MAGAverse eschews Bad Bunny and tunes in to Kid Rock this weekend during Super Bowl halftime, I’m reminded of this essay I wrote last summer. Denouncing Bad Bunny is just the latest b.s. distraction cooked up by the Trump cult.

Trump Admin Too Harsh On Immigrants, 60% Of Voters Say In QPoll | CT News Junkie Six in 10 voters think the Trump administration is being too harsh in its treatment of undocumented immigrants and more than half think Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be ...

Who would think this? Maybe Evangelical Christians?

“…and 7% said they think the Trump administration is being too lenient in its treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States.”

https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/05/trump-admin-too-harsh-on-immigrants-60-of-voters-say-in-qpoll/

And all along, I thought the MAGAverse stopped watching the NFL way back when Kaepernick took a knee. Wouldn’t that make this “alternative programming” during halftime of the Super Bowl unnecessary?

Great video! Mass action is required to make any real headway, as she says. Question is, how do we make that happen ... CAN we make it happen?

I’m also interested in his ideas.

Opinion | This Is Not a Drill

“A president who doesn’t care about the law, who commands an obedient Congress and is supported by a radicalized base of tens of millions of people who believe his lies, represents a threat to the next election.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/opinion/midterms-election-influence-trump.html

Football Chronicles 2026: Even High School Coaches Know Belichick Was Robbed (Chapter 2) Author’s note: This is the 3rd installment of “The HK Cougar Football Chronicles” for the new year (2026). As an assistant coach, I share…

My latest:

"Call him churlish, grumpy, heartless — whatever you’d like. Bill Belichick also deserves to be called 'Hall of Fame Coach.' No question whatsoever."
medium.com/@barthkeck/f...

He makes that point, essentially: Businesses can reallocate profits into employee benefits; nonprofits such as school systems obviously lack the same cash flow. So, as you say, it's all about where US citizens place their societal values.

Why Do Teachers Have Such Lousy Parental Leave? From March 2019

"No single policy [other than parental leave in the US] more clearly demonstrates that we value the sovereignty of the business owner, the financial impact on commerce, more than we value children and the women who give birth to them."

open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

You're right. But even so, French concludes thusly:

"If you think MAGA believes that its fury and rage will cripple its ongoing bid for ever-greater power, think of the lesson it took after Jan. 6: Trump could trigger what amounted to an attempted coup and still return to the Oval Office."

Indeed, there’s much we can learn from this essay, including this main point:

“Protests make MAGA mad. Journalism makes MAGA mad. Accountability makes MAGA mad. The anger keeps building until a single sentence starts to spread across the breadth of Trump’s base: ‘Invoke the Insurrection Act.’”

Opinion | What MAGA Sees in the Minnesota Mirror

“The right’s echo chamber is so powerful and so hermetically sealed that even serious conservatives can fall for the administration’s disinformation.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/opinion/truump-ice-minnesota-noem-miller.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IVA.FR3o.oyvRn0t8dR2m&smid=url-share

It’s all part of the “flood the zone with shit” strategy.

Do Teachers Have Free Speech? CT Panel Grapples With The Issue At Education Summit | CT News Junkie State Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said teachers shouldn’t have to choose between basic American freedoms and their career.

“We’re in a moment where teachers are facing that risk that 15 years ago they didn’t face.”
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/01/28/do-teachers-have-free-speech-ct-panel-grapples-with-the-issue-at-education-summit/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook