Just realized that with Abolish ICE at +11, it's polling over 30 percentage-points ahead of Trump approval. Guess that means if the media wants to be representative, it should give at least like 40% more airtime to people who support abolishing ICE to Trump supporters

Exclusive | Trump Administration to Drop Defense of Law Firm Sanctions The Justice Dept. plans to abandon its defense of the president’s executive orders that targeted Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Perkins Coie, and Susman Godfrey.

Okay, so, the firms that rolled over and showed Trump their bellies ended up humiliating themselves for nothing, and the firms that showed even a little bit of fight ended up winning. I think there is a lesson to be learned here!

Whether a party is “in touch” or “out of touch,” we found, is a product of more than just ideological perceptions. In our survey, U.S. adults call Democrats weak (48%), ineffective (47%), and out of touch — but also empathetic (54%) and principled (49%). They call Republicans extreme (60%), elitist (57%), and cruel (51%). Both parties have brand problems. But the kind of problem is fundamentally different from what most people are assuming — and that difference matters enormously for 2026. Today’s Chart of the Week: Americans — including swing voters — say Democrats should fight harder, not moderate. Republicans, in contrast, have a major extremism and cruelty problem. I sit down and actually do the math on how many votes Democrats could flip by messaging on ideology versus fighting for what members believe in.

@gelliottmorris.com: "Both parties have brand problems. But the kind of problem is fundamentally different from what most people are assuming."

"Americans — including swing voters — say Democrats should fight harder, not moderate." www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-d...

“The flag that flies when an American athlete wins a gold medal isn’t Donald Trump’s flag. It’s ours. The anthem that plays isn’t Donald Trump’s song. It’s ours. If we refuse to celebrate what’s great about our country because of the people trying to ruin it, they’ve already succeeded.” Amen.

Connor Hellebuyck made a PADDLE SAVE on Devon Toews 😱

#MilanoCortina2026

= Hollywood REPORTER SUBSCRIBE Yes, you were inspired by history books, including the use of pretext. Yeah, it's the same shit all the time. Get rid of truth, get rid of a free press, destroy communities, nationalize the businesses, find an arbitrary enemy that you can elevate and false flag them through propaganda. Flood the zone with as much gak and atrocity as you can so that nobody can pay attention to what just happened, and pray that you have an overwhelming majority of sheep that will follow you. It's just tragically and sadly familiar. It's on them; it's not on us.

Hollywood SUBSCRIBE REPORTER they have that kind of game. Everyone's wondering, "Why is Silicon Valley going along with all this? Why hasn't anybody raised their hand?" And I think that there's a much more terrifying tech reich that's lurking in the background of all of this. That is actually sophisticated, and I don't think the Trump people are in control of any of that.

🎯

Incredible opinion. It holds that the common ICE tactic of jumping out of an unidentified rental vehicle and seizing suspected noncitizens while masked violates the Fourth Amendment because the *manner* of the seizure is incompatible with a free society governed by the rule of law.

Alysa Liu’s Olympic run came with terms. Her choreographer helps her express them Liu is the best U.S. hope for an Olympic medal in women's figure skating, which would be the country's first in the competition since 2006.

“When Liu, 20, decided to return to skating, she did so with conditions. She’d wear what she wants. Dance to the music she wants. Eat what she wants. Take breaks when she wants…. [Skating] would be the vehicle through which she displayed the real Alysa.”

she did it! her! way!!

Trump Ramblings on Epstein Take Revealing Turn as MAGA Fury Boils Over As Trump insists he’s “totally exonerated” in the Epstein scandal amid mounting MAGA rage over it, a historian of the right explains how all this is exposing deep rifts inside MAGA—and what will happe...

On the pod historian Nicole Hemmer nails it on Epstein and elite impunity.

"Across the world, elites are going to jail or losing their positions. That’s not happening in the US. People want to understand: Why isn’t it happening here?"

Hemmer is great all throughout:
newrepublic.com/article/2068...

Political cartoonist Mike Lukovich. Right side shows Prince Andrew being taken away with the caption “JUSTICE”. Right side shows an ICE agent taking away a child, with the caption “JUST ICE”.

Political cartoonists are on fire in this era 🔥 If only we had a real government or you know, a much bigger national strike that isn’t on a weekend.

Winter Olympics 2026: Eileen Gu won a silver medal in freeski big air. The better story is Canada's Mighty Meg, who won gold Megan Oldham's Olympic dreams began by skiing off the roof of the family garage.

As usual, Eileen Gu was the center of attention for the Big Air finals. But the unmatched toughness of “Mighty Meg” Oldham turned out to be the story of the night.

Column for @yahoosports.bsky.social

sports.yahoo.com/olympics/art...

How to register to vote and check your registration status For the 2026 primary elections, NPR has collected deadlines and information on how to register to vote — online, in person or by mail — in every U.S. state and territory.

Eligible voters of the United States!

The @npr.org voter registration guide has been updated to help get you ready for the 2026 primary elections.

You can find deadlines and the links you need to register and check your registration status at npr.org/vote

We can't fall into right-wing populism’s lie that the most vulnerable in society are to blame for wealth inequality in our countries. We need to build movements that tell the truth: the story of wealth inequality is not a cultural one, but a class one.

a man wearing a red ninja headband and glasses slides a curling stone

USA men's curling is underway less than 24 hours after the mixed doubles gold medal match and I AM READY TO BE HURT AGAIN

image from today's hearing

Epstein survivors raise their hands to signal they've been ignored by Trump's DOJ as AG Pam Bondi refuses to look at them

(Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty)

What if we had an entire foreign policy based on the petty resentments and insecurities of mediocre weak men?

Like 75% of the US Olympic curlers are from Minnesota. A lot of them curl out of two clubs in Saint Paul, one club is in Frogtown, a neighborhood that has been very heavily targeted by ICE. These curlers are good neighbors.

Anthropic and Google now seem to get that the primary value people get out of AI is doing annoying work they don't want to do (coding, basic research, drafting emails, etc), OpenAI/XAI/Meta seem to still think image/video slop and search replacement are the future

How TrumpRx drug prices compare to generic alternatives Patients could save more buying non-branded copycat drugs, even if they don't have insurance.

More than half the drugs on the TrumpRx site have a cheaper generic version on the market.

Pristiq, an antidepressant, is available with a TrumpRx coupon for ~$200 for a 30-day supply.

A generic version is on GoodRx for less than $30 and Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs for $16.65.

the fact that early-stage automated vehicles that still occasionally require remote operation assistance are like several orders of magnitude safer than the average American driver should be the real wakeup call here, not the idea that these vehicles still sometimes need remote operation assistance

Seth Harp @sethharpesq X.com Ross Douthat @DouthatNYT challenged me to a debate on foreign policy. We recorded a 90-minute segment for his show, Interesting Times, on 1/15/26. But I defeated him so decisively that he refuses to air the footage. What an absolute coward. Today 11:41 AM Hi Is the NYT still planning to publish the interview I did with Ross three weeks ago? Today 1:01 PM Hey Seth, we've been working through the edit and it's looking like we aren't going to be able to make it work. We were kind of pummeled by the news cycle in the last 6 weeks and are going to pivot away from this story. Thanks for the time you put into it and for your expertise. Unbelievable cowardice on Ross's part and a giant waste of my time. I'm going to make it known what actually happened: Ross challenged me to a debate on foreign policy, got crushed, and doesn't have the intellectual or journalistic integrity to air the footage. Delivered

Seth Harp @sethharpesq. •6h Five days after we recorded, an editor of mine asked me how it went. I told her that @DouthatNYT was surprisingly unprepared to defend his point of view, and I suspected even then that they would spike it. From To seth.harp@protonmail.com * T Jan 20 凹 了 介 → It seemed to go just fine from my perspective although it did get a little heated towards the end when we debated foreign policy. I was somewhat surprised that Ross wasn't better prepared defend his point of view. They may still decide to spike it, we'll see. SH Sent with Proton Mail secure email. ••• On Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 11:41 AM, wrote: That's great —how did the interview go? {7 54 • 1.3K ill 38K

Seth Harp @sethharpesq. 5h I also told an editor at Harper's, on 1/30/26, that I suspected the NYT would spike the interview rather than publish video of me dog-walking @DouthatNYT and making a mockery of his defense of US regime-change wars ... Friday 12:35 PM It's been more than 2 weeks since I was interviewed for Ross Douthat's show. I murdered him in our debate over foreign policy and was genuinely surprised that he wasn't better prepared to defend his point of view. Now I'm concerned that he will spike the episode. Do you have a sense of how far ahead they usually record? Also I really hope I get to hear this My sense was that it was about a week Suspicious 4 17 44 • 1K thl 32K 贝 企 Seth Harp @sethharpesq. •5h Ross @DouthatNYT was unprepared to take on a subject matter expert, floundered around, and became irritable and sarcastic towards the end. But spiking the episode is ten times worse for his journalistic credibility than simply losing a debate, which happens to us all.

Seth Harp @sethharpesq. 5h ... Ross @DouthatNYT's producer blames their decision to spike our foreign policy debate on the crazy news cycle. But the last three episodes they've aired have been on Roe v. Wade, Covid-19, and young men's church attendance. OPINION Interesting Latest Feb. 5, 2026 Interesting Times with Ross Douthat The first draft of our future. Mapping the new world order through interviews and conversations. Every Thursday, from New York Times Opinion. Q Search Why Ending Roe Wasn't Enough for the Pro-Life Movement Activists won the legal battle. Are they losing the culture war? By ROSS DOUTHAT Jan. 29.2026 A Plan to Restore Trust in Science From a 'Fringe Epidemiologist' Jay Bhattacharya, the N.I.H. director, says authorities broke the public's trust in the Covid era. Now it's up to outsiders to restore it. By ROSS DOUTHAT and SOPHIA ALVAREZ BOYD Jan. 22,2026 No, Young Men Are Not Returning to Church All the religious trends you're wrong about. By ROSS DOUTHAT and ANDREA BETANZOS 18 17 75 1.5K ill 38K Seth Harp @sethharpesq. 1h I'm hearing that prominent guests are cancelling scheduled appearances on @DouthatNYT's show due to his lack of journalistic integrity. Why would you spend hours, days, or weeks prepping for an interview when you know the show is rigged to ensure that you don't show up the host? 3 223 ill 4.4K 贝

👀 Apparently, Ross Douthat invited Seth Harp to debate him on Douthat's "Interesting Times" NYT podcast. Harp says that the episode was recorded, Douthat got crushed, and RD/NYT decided not to publish it.

What? x.com/sethharpesq/...

again we do not really do a good job of explaining how wealthy people like Jeff Bezos are

his net worth is $253.2 billion.
so he could take one million dollars, and just light it on fire
and then do it again tomorrow
and again the day after that
and then do it every day for 693 years and 8 months

(RIDICULOUSLY REGAL-SOUNDING TRUMPET NOISES)

IT'S YOUR 2026 WINTER OLYMPICS PRIMER FROM SPORTS! EXCLAMATION POINT!

A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE IMPORTANT STUFF TO KNOW IN SPORTS YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IN FOUR YEARS!

🎺 DAAAA-DAAAAAAAAA DA DUM-DUM-DUM etc. etc.

A screenshot of a tweet by Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA), verified, posted about four hours earlier. The tweet claims he overheard several college women at an OrangeTheory gym talking about “Melania” after a workout. He writes that they admired the First Lady’s “class, humanity, and business acumen,” and includes quoted dialogue using slang like “Period sis” and “Slay queen,” saying they were surprised by her intelligence and talent. The tweet continues with a quote claiming the women said President Trump is a good husband and a gentleman and that the media lies about him. It concludes with the author asserting that the film he references has secured the female vote for the GOP in the midterms.

Of all the things in the history of the world that definitely did not happen - this is the pinnacle.

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live Mom Confession - SNL

This is the sharpest political skit I’ve seen on SNL in quite some time. youtu.be/-wQhY5CMMl4?...

The great e-bike crackdown has begun New Jersey just approved a wildly out-of-step new law that restricts all e-bikes, regardless of speed or power capabilities. Will other states follow?

"Forcing someone who owns an e-bike without a throttle that can’t go faster than 20mph to register their bike with the DMV, acquire a license, and buy insurance ... will absolutely harm efforts to encourage more sustainable transportation" -@andyjayhawk.bsky.social
www.theverge.com/column/86621...

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

Snap

“When I see Gavin Newsom, what I see is... is... an imperfect understanding of where winning elections comes from.”