Brian Mulligan

Here’s the situation in the Twin Cities:

Random Bovino-style tear-gassing: Way down

Relentless persecution of immigrants: Unchanged

Thuggish violence against observers: Way up

two people, their heads touching as they laugh and smile

Nina Simone and James Baldwin, 1965.
www.anothermag.com/design-livin...

“Good afternoon. My name is [redacted] and my wife and I have been at OMDC since April 15 2025,” reads a handwritten note, wrapped around a lotion bottle that was thrown by a man held captive inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center (OMDC) on Sunday. “It’s cold here all the time and the food is poor,” the missive continues. “For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”

“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”

Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.

Steeple
Syre, MN

Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.

Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees

Former Washington Post journalists have launched a GoFundMe to help repatriate fired staff members who are effectively stranded in foreign countries.

One of the richest men in the world fired them from the paper and didn’t even pay to ensure they got home.

Abolish the billionaire class:

Let’s walk back to where we started. What motivates Trump? The answer is simple: racism. You might also say ego and raw self-interest, but the two are connected. Racism, among other things, is a kind of chauvinism, a belief in one’s inherent superiority, based on nothing other than a meaningless accident of birth. It’s an ideology that papers over feelings of inadequacy, that tells you that — no matter what you have or have not accomplished in your life — you’re still better than someone, some group. Let’s suppose you’re the spoiled son of a self-made man. Let’s suppose that, despite your flash and bravado, you’ve failed at virtually everything you’ve tried. You’re the laughingstock of polite society, a punchline for the privileged. You think you’re superior enough to be the president of the United States — the highest honor in your country — but the actual president is a man of humble origins, a minority of the kind your family didn’t even rent to when you were in the landlord business. And he is claiming power that rightfully belongs to you. He’s even mocking you, ridiculing you for all the world to see. For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career — from his embrace of birtherism to his hatred of birthright citizenship — cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism.

Please take the time to read this superb @jamellebouie.net column. It establishes a baseline of truth for anyone who wants to think, talk, and write honestly about Trump. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...

Hokkun is a minimalistic orange mascot from Shimonoseki City, inspired by the oranges and sunsets there.

By the way, for those of you not in MN: Homan’s strategy was to withdraw some agents, so it felt like we were in the denouement of the crisis, and then escalate hard against observers. They’re being incredibly aggressive with observers now. National media may not want to check out just yet

Eliminating ICE is the modern equivalent of opposing the Iraq War, and right now there are two types of Democrats: those who can see where the ball is moving and go to it, and those who will be swept away because they refused to do so.

Just unspeakably cruel

"This is why people don't like Democrats. The Democrats are constantly going, 'How can we talk to Republicans?'... Your attitude needs to be 'How do we beat Republicans?'"

The one and only Jennifer Welch on the 'We're Not Kidding' podcast with me today.
zeteo.com/p/jennifer-w...

Finneas and Billie

Finneas is better at political messaging than 99% of the Democratic consultants in DC.

Federal judge: "The presumption of regularity that has previously extended to [the United States Government] that it could be taken at its word—with little doubt about its intentions and stated purposes—no longer holds."

This is in a case where the Trump admin sued Oregon.

Trump wants Penn Station, Dulles Airport named after him in funding deal with Schumer, sources say Sources told ABC that Schumer rejected Trump's offer.

This is a mix of accelerating cognitive decline/disinhibition combined with Trumps continuing compensatory response to severe ego injury over his mounting unpopularity. It’s accelerating the collapse of that popularity. abcnews.go.com/amp/US/trump...

🧵The biggest cheerleaders for Trump’s nominee for Fed Chair? Big Bank CEOs.

Why? Follow the money – Warsh helped orchestrate the Wall Street bailouts back in 2008 while people were losing jobs left and right.

1. It was not an accident.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

ICE agents can't make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there's a risk of escape, US judge rules A judge says U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless they are likely to escape. U.S.

ICE are not the police,They are not the FBI, They are not US Marshals , they are not DEA, they are border enforcement agents tasked to protect our border & to uphold our immigration laws- the are not empowered to do anything else or to defy or break our laws doing it- apnews.com/article/immi...

Despite? Or because there is no surer indicator that something is a scam?

I can’t overstate that nearly every good headline coming out of Minnesota has been followed up by retaliation by the Trump administration—which tends to get a lot less attention.

This is infuriating and devastating.

The president constantly lying about stolen elections, after staging a coup attempt, & now threatening to federalize & steal future elections, should be the primary news story in the country 24/7 & on every front page until he is impeached & removed next week.

As the World Turns

I think it should probably be a bigger story that the president of the United States is a raving lunatic

Madness reigns

Southern view of the planet Jupiter, with countless turbulent storms visible across the pictured area.

A bit of #Jupiter (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / John Downing)

Jeff Bezos’s wealth has increased an average of $70 million every day of 2026, meaning that he could have offset The Post’s losses with what he’s made since Monday.

THAT is a Moment

If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff.

Democracy dies in oligarchy.

Redistricting did not turn out how Trump wanted. So, now he is resorting to political prosecutions, ballot seizures and the threat of federal paramilitary to steal the 2026 midterms. He is normalizing the idea that his administration will take over ballot counting. We cannot let that happen.