David Cantwell

Glad to see The Naked Spur and Ride the High so high—those are probably my 1 and 2. Would add most (but not all) of Mann’s westerns but would push hardest for Man of the West, Winchester’73 and, if it counts as a western, The Furies. (Also fond of Tourneur’s Stars in My Crown)

Three thoughts.

1. It’s always been about the white nationalism

2. He is returning to the old favorites because his support is waning

3. He dabbled with this trope before but would always leave a hair of deniability. Going straight there also seems like a sign of weakness

very charmed that in its eulogy to mass market paperbacks the NYT found an 18-year-old who uses the word "reckon" www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/b...

We are NOT NEARLY concerned enough!

Seriously, put this on blast - people need to understand what's going to be unleashed in November.

my most right-wing take is loving my spouse, playing with my kids, and letting my favorite sportsball team make me suffer every weekend is a good life bsky.app/profile/nota...

It is so funny that ICE keeps lining up truckloads of officers to just get trapped in traffic, roll up to a house, and immediately be surrounded by a dozen people blowing whistles and telling them their moms don't love them. Imagine waking up at 5AM and your boss assigns you to endure The Daily Hate

But then Adam Smith would be woke in today’s narcissistic death cult of economic thought that we’ve got going .

Hey, remember that time I said that pointing out that AI is giving bad data to ICE is missing the point because ICE doesn't actually care if the data is good? Check out how right I am.

Graph showing a steep decline in the number of people employed by newspapers since 1992

The billionaire class wants to decimate the white collar workforce. Because white collar workers are expensive. And because white collar workers—who historically sided with billionaires—are questioning that alliance. Which makes their knowledge and resources a huge threat to billionaire power.

North Carolina

Anne Applebaum: "There are two purposes to the Georgia Raid. One of them is for Donald Trump to break as many laws as possible and let the courts try to catch up with him afterwards. It's also about creating a narrative, so if they lose the election - they are preparing to say it was stolen."

YES!

Quinnipiac poll | 1/29-2/2 RV

President Trump approval
Disapprove 56% (+2)
Approve 37% (-3)

poll.qu.edu/poll-release...

This is about The Washington Post but it is also about the slow death of movie theaters, of book stores—the rapid integration of AI into schools—the Kennedy Center—the way so many people in power are afraid of art (and wow even sports) for the power it has to give people common language and cause.

one thing the trump era has made clear, i think, is that the american people themselves are far more committed to the values of our founding documents than our elites

Google Disables Search for Book Previews Google has disabled search functionality for preview books on Google Books, leaving users unable to search through pages that remain visible on the platform.

This is a good explainer of Google's latest theft of the commons. THE COMMONS: Not private property. Most of the books and documents are public domain. They could have written a few lines of code and just limited to those. They did not. The long game is to own us.

winbuzzer.com/2026/01/28/g...

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley demanding DoJ investigate anti ICe activists in Minnesota

I guess if you’re Josh Hawley and you’re the kind of person who flees in terror from a riot you started the courage of ordinary people must seem befuddling

All the stars are here: Brantley Gilbert, Brice Bradley, Gabby Babby, Bibb Glibsy, Slab Gabbert, Brice Bryce,

I propose we hereafter refer to tech company surveillance proponents as COINTELBROs.

"I insulted a stranger and they unceremoniously blocked me. Isn't that rude of them?" is one of the most incomprehensible, but also most reliable postures of Web 2.0 discourse.

The Cactus Blossoms are from Minneapolis. There wasn't anything overtly political about their show, but being huddled in a small enough space with a collection of people who all chose to be somewhere on a cold night is to become conscious of community at a moment when we are simultaneously being numbed to the concept of community and witnessing literal communities being invaded and torn apart as they rely on each other for support and survival and resistance. To leave your house to go see a band that mostly plays nice songs about Being Sad About A Girl or Being Happy About A Girl is not protest. But to resist inertia and make efforts for something in which part of the calculation behind the entire payoff is being around people who want to do the same thing? That's an act of some kind. When they mentioned they were from Minneapolis, we all knew how much was needed in a fight that's ongoing. We also knew we needed this. All of us and each of us. There's always been something like this gathering that I'm talking about in each fight forever and ever. Our son needs us in this time that he's struggling. But we can't be there for him the way we need to be if we just let the toll keep getting taken. There's always been music. To soothe you through the long nights.

for this week’s My Time Back i wrote about @dancharnas.bsky.social ‘s Dilla Time and also about Michael 5000 Watts. i also blacked out and wrote about the cactus blossoms and leaving my baby for two hours and all the ways music makes you push when you have to push mytimeback.beehiiv.com/p/dilla-time

“Unconscionable,” Jon thought as he found an email address online for the lead prosecutor, Joseph Dernbach, who was named in the story. Peering through metal-rimmed glasses, Jon opened Gmail on his computer monitor. “Mr. Dernbach, don’t play Russian roulette with H’s life,” he wrote. “Err on the side of caution. There’s a reason the US government along with many other governments don’t recognise the Taliban. Apply principles of common sense and decency.” That was it. In five minutes, Jon said, he finished the note, signed his first and last name, pressed send and hoped his plea would make a difference. Five hours and one minute later, Jon was watching TV with his wife when an email popped up in his inbox. He noticed it on his phone. “Google,” the message read, “has received legal process from a Law Enforcement authority compelling the release of information related to your Google Account.”

A retiree wrote this email to a DHS attorney. Within five hours, DHS demanded Google turn over records for his account.

A Kafkaesque form of domestic surveillance, intimidating Americans for lawful speech.

New from us at the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio... @johnwoodrowcox.bsky.social

Elon Musk claims Christopher Nolan has lost ‘integrity’ over The Odyssey casting Lupita Nyong’o is reportedly set to play Helen of Troy in Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of Homer’s epic poem

The woke scolds are trying to make this about racism. But Musk is right. It's about historical and scientific integrity. When the God of Thunder disguises himself as a swan to seduce and fuck a queen and the resulting baby hatches from an egg, *of course* the baby will be white. It's just science.

NO

Turn It Up - 2/2/2026 Earworms, obsessions, recommendations

Turn It Up with No Fences Review: New music from Sault and Springsteen, Bibb and Blanton, a tribute to Catherine O'Hara and more, plus a load of reading recommendations (W/ @charleshughes2.bsky.social )

Ice out

A historic photo of the Greensboro 4.

Feb. 1, 1960, 4 NC A&T students sat-in at the “whites only” counter at Woolworths in Greensboro. Their defiance ignited a movement led to the birth of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Young people fuel movements. It is inspiring to see that today they still do.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Statement from Portland, OR, Mayor Keith Wilson following today's unprovoked attack by ICE on peaceful protesters.

The image is an excerpt. The full letter is available at www.portland.gov/mayor/keith-...

Raul Malo and the Mavericks: A Love Letter in 16 Songs David with some favorite songs from Malo and his band

Resharing this tribute to the late Raul Malo and his band the Mavericks. Did I make sure to stress Malo's criticism of Trump's policies as "mired in racism"? You better believe it! Did I hear anti-authoritarian messages even in Malo's presumably apolitical dancefloor numbers? Hell yes!

The cast of SCTV

SCTV is on Internet Archive if you'd like to enjoy the early work of Catherine O'Hara and her fellow sketch comedy gods.

S1: archive.org/details/sctv...
S2: archive.org/details/sctv...
S3: archive.org/details/19-m...
S4-5: archive.org/details/66-s...
S6 + Cinemax: archive.org/details/sctv... #TVSky