Lee Drake

This is a hot culture war, and not just because of ICE/CBP violence.

Counterpoint: The story of the Trump era is in part a story of the collapse of any idea of public civic virtue, and the left needs to respond by reclaiming the language of character and morality. For many, this moral language is going to come from religion, and we need to be comfortable with that.

02/18/2026 11:51:34[TWT] Diego Areas Munhoz @Dareasmunhoz News: @BrendanCarrFCC says CBS could have done "exact interview he wanted to air" with Talarico, but NOT in a station in Texas. He added rule applies only to primaries right now, NOT general election. Indicates candidates not facing primaries may go on talk shows at this stage Sent via Twitter Web App. View original tweet.

FCC making stuff up on the fly I see.

This is the kind of thing white supremacists have been doing to Emmett Till’s memorial for decades.

It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.

They market themselves as defenders of western civilization. But they censor books (even Plato!), disregard rights, terrorize children, and want to substitute “rule of law” with “warrior ethos”.

They really make Substack unusable. I had to sign in three times with a password, twice with a passcode, only to still not be able to read the thing (all passwords/passcodes entered correctly)

Isn’t the whole point of Substack to make it easier to read the thing? Or have I begun my boomerfication?

Who among us hasn't misidentified foraminifera for cosmic impact indicators!

This is performance art: Leveraging your job as state AG to get a publicly funded state university to pay you an extra $100,000/year to teach a 2-credit class called "Executive Power." Indeed.

www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

J.I.B.C. is 19-years-old and has pending applications for Special Immigrant Juvenile status and asylum. (J.I.B.C. Decl. ¶ 1.) On January 13, 2026, he was leaving TMobile when another car struck his own. (Id. ¶¶ 3–4.) Agents surrounded him, opened the car doors, and wrenched him out. (Id. ¶ 4.) J.I.B.C. offered to show the agents his immigration documents, but the agents said they did not need to see them. (Id. ¶ 6.) When he pulled out his cell phone, the agents

threw him to the ground. (Id. ¶ 5.) The immigration documents were left inside his car. (Id. ¶ 6.) Several hours after arriving at Whipple, J.I.B.C. was allowed one phone call. (Id. ¶¶ 8, 12.) There was no privacy—it was a shared phone, located in a hallway between cells with agents nearby. (Id. ¶ 12.) J.I.B.C. told his girlfriend he had been detained; she said she would find a lawyer. (Id. ¶ 13.) Agents told J.I.B.C. to tell her that he was going to El Paso, Texas. (Id.) That day, J.I.B.C. was transferred to Texas. (Id. ¶ 15.) During his weeklong detention, he was allowed only two calls. (Id. ¶ 22.) Officers pressured people to sign voluntary self-deportation papers; many did. (Id. ¶ 23.) Agents told J.I.B.C. that he would be detained longer if he fought his case. (Id.)

ICE agents crashed directly into a 19-year-old refugee's car, pulled him out from the wreck, threw him on the ground, then rushed him off to detention before he could locate the immigration papers in his car that proved he's here lawfully. democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...

This is being appallingly undercovered

His name was Seaman Bryan K. Lee, 23, of Rancho Cordova, California, he was reported missing from the National Security Cutter Waesche. He is presumed dead after Noem called off his search!

Yes.

Staph infections were fatal so often that we distinguished them by what part of the body they attacked first. "Childbed fever" is a term for a variety of post-birth complications that killed a lot of women. There are reasons wet nurses used to be so common. (And they're not all class-based.)

one of the indicators that the republican party has come completely off the rails internaly is that their coordinated talking points are not very well coordinated anymore

BREAKING: I read the new version of the “Save America Act” (S. 1383) so u don’t have to. Here’s my summary. Point 1 is new. It requires that all 50 states send their voter rolls to the DHS to run thru DHS’s faulty “SAVE” voter purge program. Points 6 & 7 are new too. Tell ur Senators #NoOnSAVE 1/

On January 10, 2026, while driving back to work after getting lunch with his father and cousin, a car quickly passed O., sped up, then stopped in front of him. (Id. ¶ 3.) A few men in civilian clothes stepped out of the car and asked for his identification. (Id.) The men threatened O.—if he did not get out of the car, they would force him out. (Id.) O. exited the car and was told he was under arrest. (Id.) The men handcuffed him and did not allow him to bring his phone. (Id.) O. felt like he was being kidnapped. (Id.) The men detained O., his father, and his cousin, taking them all to Whipple. (Id. ¶ 4.) At Whipple, there was “food scattered on the floor, the floor was sticky with mud, and everything stuck to your shoes.” (Id. ¶ 5.) The space was so cramped that sometimes there was no space to sit on the floor. (Id.)

The horror stories rolling in from Minnesota are just the tip of the iceberg. This 20-year-old, who's lawfully present in the country, was arrested for being Latino, then jailed in a filthy cell where he couldn't even sit down. 18 days of illegal detention. democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...

Mia Valentina Paz Faria A 7-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Austin, Texas Detained for 70 days “I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

UPDATE: Staff at the ICE concentration camp in Dilley, Texas have begun raiding the dormitories of kids and their parents to confiscate and destroy letters from the children. This is in response to the ace reporting by @micarosenberg et al for ProPublica:

“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.

Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

Fetterman/Sinema

It's also interesting that they did this to Talarico, whose sincerity, authenticity, and inclusive Christianity is winning over people like Rogan, and who seems particularly threatening to the vengeful, grifting evangelicalism that dominates MAGA.

Jesus Christ these people are monsters.

“The authors claim these are spherule fragments identified as cosmic impact indicators. During expert consultation, these have been identified as marine foraminifera.”

💀

FBI Interviewed Trump Accuser, Epstein Files Show Trump was credibly accused of sexual assault in the Epstein files. It's unclear what became of the DOJ's investigation.

This is a bombshell: One of Epstein's victims accused Trump of sexually and violently assaulting her when she was "13 to 15" and the FBI deemed her credible enough to warrant an interview.

I know this makes me an extremist but I think our baby concentration camps should be abolished.

“[James Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert said.

“Confidential” Agreements Show Trump Administration’s Plans for States’ Voter Data At least 10 states have handed over their full voter files to the Justice Department.

The DOJ has asked states to agree to sign a secret agreement “in connection w/ handing over their full voter files.” The agreement says that “the DOJ will ‘test, analyze, & assess states’ [voter rolls]’ & send each participating state a list of voters who must be removed within 45 days.” 2/5/26 …1/

Depressingly common anecdotes about medical care at Dilley and an example of why so many of us have fought against family detention since 2014.

I mean, that would be fine if it were true. Obeying the Constitution makes it unfeasible to do certain things, and that’s fine—indeed, it’s sort of the point. But it’s also sort of absurd to act like getting a warrant to execute a home arrest is some crazy insuperable barrier.

So you're saying ICE is incompatible with the rule of law as practiced in this nation from the founding?

Think I see a pretty easy solution here, champ.

Gonna have to create more administrative subpoenas

Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?

I know I keep coming back to this, but even the centrist Democrats who don't like the phrase "Abolish ICE" should be asked how in the ever loving hell they expect this agency to do "good" immigration enforcement under a non-fascist president after it has nuked all forms of public trust.