Chris Sikich

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

Ted Lieu: “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands and thousands of times. In those files, there are highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children … of Donald Trump threatening to kill children. So I encourage the press to go look at these allegations.”

BREAKING: The Epstein survivors are releasing this ad on this Super Bowl Sunday to send the message that they will not “move on” from the largest sex trafficking scandal in the world. #standwithsurvivors

PORTLAND MAYOR WILSON:

“.. To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave. … you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame.”

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

This is the question history will ask us.

This can’t be repeated enough. Not only won’t they investigate, they may never even tell us who did this.

Think about the message that sends to the next ones. Nobody is safe.

Two former presidents felt compelled to comment publicly

Wow — @tnhousegop caucus chair @RepFaison rebukes Kash’s (and Noem’s) comments about showing up at a protest with a legal firearm 👇🏽

Not something we see every day around here

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

For those saying “oh but the cabinet are all sycophants.” Yes. We know.

It’s called PRESSURE. You pressure the system until something gives. Micro cracks in the wall until some bricks start to come loose.

DAN KOH: “$30 BILLION for 10,000 more ICE agents… that would cover all the ACA subsidies for a year. It would eliminate all medical debt. Trump is making it easier to kill people than keep people alive.”

Senate Democrats absolutely have to shut the govt down to stop this ICE insanity in the Twin Cities. This is not sustainable & cannot be normalized. Any Democratic vote to provide money to the thugs who are brutalizing this community is a grave betrayal to the people here. Accountability can't wait.

AOC: I want everybody to understand that the cuts to your health care are what’s paying for this. You get screwed over to pay a bunch of thugs in the street that are shooting mothers in the face.

Screenshot of a post on X by Matt McDermott (@matt…) reading: “Kamala Harris at her final campaign rally:” followed by the quote: “Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him.” Below the text is a video still of Kamala Harris speaking at a podium with the U.S. vice presidential seal, with American flags behind her. A “cc” icon and a speaker icon appear on the video thumbnail.

She warned us. Like Hillary, Kamala was right about everything.

Disrespect is now punishable by death.

Brilliant thread. Worth a read (and a try)...

Lucy reading up on Tibet in case Donald Trump decides to invade.
#TwinPeaks

Stephen Colbert Speaks The Truth

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

A poem by Amanda Gorman: They say she is no more, That there her absence roars, Blood-blown like a rose. Iced wheels flinched & froze. Now, bare riot of candles, Dark fury of flowers, Pure howling of hymns. If for us she arose, Somewhere, in the pitched deep of our grief, Crouches our power, The howl where we begin, Straining upon the edge of the crooked crater Of the worst of what we’ve been. Change is only possible, & all the greater, When the labour & bitter anger of our neighbors Is moved by the love & better angels of our nature. What they call death & void, We know is breath & voice; In the end, gorgeously, Endures our enormity. You could believe departed to be the dawn When the blank night has so long stood. But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone, When they forever are so fiercely Good.

Amanda Gorman wrote and posted this:

There is no moral equivalence between bullies and the bullied, between tyranny and democracy, or between brutality and decency. No individual can be free in a society devoid of justice. There can be no liberty where brutality reigns.

Screenshot of a post on X by Brian Tyler Cohen (@brian…) quoting Pete Buttigieg. The quote says an ICE agent should have been trained not to stand in front of a vehicle or shoot into a moving vehicle, and claims this happened on Kristi Noem’s watch. It adds that the point of Homeland Security is to make the country more stable and safe, and argues the opposite has occurred under the administration. Below the text is a video thumbnail showing Pete Buttigieg speaking directly to camera indoors, seated in front of a framed picture and a lamp, with a 0:27 timestamp and a speaker icon.

Pete Buttigieg is absolutely correct. We must hold Noem accountable for what happens in her department.

An illustration of a comet hitting an ice cube that says "ABOLISH ICE" with "No human is illegal" in the bottom left corner

Renee Good’s wife Becca: “We had whistles. They had guns… the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”

Full statement: www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

I’m glad to see Bill say this. But when after a century of just the type of abuse we saw today - relentless and cruel, ensnaring our children and intimidating our communities - young Black people said in frustration, anger, and demand for change “defund the police” - so many of you denounced them.

a chant I can 100% endorse

Make it viral.

We failed to hold the right-wing oligarchs accountable for the coup on January 6th, Russian interference, the subprime housing crisis, the WMD lie, Iran Contra, Watergate, and the confederacy. Elect people who will.