I watched the Grammies and saw Bad Bunny, and others, comments against ICE. It was wonderful!!! I don’t like the Super Bowl (sorry, not into sports). However, I watched the halftime show to support Bad Bunny!! Couldn’t understand any of it, but it didn’t matter!!! His name makes me laugh!!!!
Also, people have to be crazy to vote red!!!! However, we do have lots of crazies (sorry, that’s how I see them) who do support Trump, his administration and the GOP. Hopefully, there are much more like us!!!!!!
rachel bitefcofer goes into detail about trump's floor,and how he can still cause damage with 35% approval because he still has strong approval among r's; however, there is some cracking there, as r leaning indies are fed up, and trump can't abandon the rabid base; the more he does to feed them, the more he alienates everyone else. she defends dems in swing districts who don't vote the way we like; the prime rule for every politician is to get re-elected; some dems in safe districts can say and do what they want. guys like tom suozzi can't. and neither can r's like mike lawler.
The dynamic here to watch is the distancing of battleground Rs from the Trump agenda. There are thousands of Republicans running in swing races across the country this year. They cannot run on Trump's agenda and win. It's a huge problem.
I’m watching for it in NJ CD-11. Still unsure who the Democratic nominee will be for the April special election, but buzz is Analilia Mejia will prevail. I read up on the GOP challenger, Joe Hathaway, who cut his political teeth working for Chris Christie. Christie is very vocal about how the NJ GOP is dead as long as they embrace MAGA. Personally I think Hathaway is angling to challenge Sherrill in 2029.
Yes, Laura. For sure. I shared it with Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott in Iowa, who is running for Congress. Sarah also is a Lutheran pastor. She knows a couple of the clergy speaking out in the video clip. She’s 2-0 in Iowa red districts. I expect her to win …
The Mike Tyson MAHA ad was off-the-charts bonkers. First, you call out half the country for being too fat, during a food-centric event known for its extravagant snacks, then launch into some commentary about "processed food" even though that industry is fully supported by the GOP's deregulatory hypocrisy. As one comment I saw on Bluesky summed it up, "I'm supposed to take health advice from Mike Tyson? That guy eats ears." Thankfully, Bad Bunny canceled out all the BS!
Yeah that commercial was bonkers. A weird choice for a health spokesperson. Mike Tyson is one of the few people out there who can make RFK seem coherent.
I don't think it is likely Tyson thinks "ideologically" at all. I would guess he understands someone like Trump and the lifestyle, etc, and is fully onboard with it.
Didn't see the add. But this from the people that criticized Michelle Obama for planting a vegetable garden and encouraged people to have a healthier lifestyle with her Let's Move initiative? To be fair, Melania did keep the garden up. I believe I saw one picture of Melania, in her heals, with a shovel near the garden. She was holding the shovel backwards - Just kidding.
Trump has attacked Bad Bunny’s SuperBowl Halftime Show, which he clearly watched instead of the alternative TP-USA show. Amongst other things, Trump criticized the entertainer’s use of Spanish...
Truth be told, I think more Americans probably understand Bad Bunny’s Spanish, his exuberant music and striking visual show, than Trump’s increasingly-incoherent English ramblings (aka "weaves").
Speaking of hope & data, here's the score of the game within the game:
Bad Bunny -- 130
Trump, Kid Rock -- 6
Not 222-0 (John Heisman's Georgia Tech vs Cumberland), but close....
FOX says Bad Bunny's show "divided" viewers. True, but not in the way they think. It turns out the answer to the question about life, the universe, and everything is 21.7 (130÷6), as in more than 20 times as many people watched Bad Bunny. What can the guy who calls 49.8%‐48.4% the "greatest landslide in history" call 95.6%-4.4%? Normally, it would be the result of a sham election in an authoritarian country, except in this one the dictator LOST! SAD!
The story about the Irishman with a green card I'm sure reflects other cases, and the fact that he's Irish is not central. But how someone could be lock up for months without a Writ of Habeas Corpus is mystifying. He's married to a US citizen to boot... Shocking.
I worked registering voters at a local market in Orlando. I probably was mostly lending support. There were two people registered, and two more who signed up for mail-in ballots. Still always bothers me when you have people who admit to not being registered, and who seem to not care. Mystifying.
I see he did post bail and then wasn't released... again this is absurd. So there was a hearing, I guess a Writ of Habeas Corpus. But the whole detention itself seems unlawful, so it's hard to understand why he even had to post bond. It seems like again more of DHS ignoring court orders and violating the law.
Well aren’t people entitled at least to a public defense attorney? This seems a case where he should be immediately released. If all the facts are true, he should never have been detained at all.
It seems that legislation can require DHS to immediately bring home all the innocent people they've illegally detained. Everyone who has not been given due process (pretty much everybody) needs to be immediately released because they are presumed innocent and immigration is a civil matter, not a crime. The cost of transporting everyone home by air travel would be a fine use of DHS funding.
I called my members of Congress about the 10-point list of demands regarding ICE funding and the importance of speaking out about the concentration camps.
The Guardian's article on the Munich Security Conference report is an important read, I believe:
"Europe has come to the painful realisation that it needs to be more assertive and more militarily independent from an authoritarian US administration that no longer shares a commitment to liberal democratic norms and values, a report prepared by the Munich Security Conference asserts. . . .
"The MSC report accuses Trump of having a lust for destruction and of siding with Vladimir Putin. 'Most of Europe is watching the United States’ descent into ‘competitive authoritarianism’ with rising concern or even horror, wondering how resilient US democracy really is,' the report says."
I know I should not, but I despise every single Trump voter, ever, but especially the 2024 ones. This evil and insanity and corruption and stupidity and horror IS what they ALL signed up for. Our people are too cruel or too ignorant or too brainwashed or all of the above to have a functioning democracy in this country. It was clear to any sentient human being that a choice between Trump and literally any other person on the planet was clear. I knew Trump would destroy us this time, and he has. Sorry, I know you are correct, Simon, Hopium is right, but I will never get over watching multitudes I know personally and thought were reasonable and decent human beings, choose evil and then do it again and again, even as the evil becomes more clear. THAT has shaken me to my core, destroyed my faith in humanity(which was pretty low to start with), and even my faith in God. MANY of my fellow Christians that I know personally now literally support murder and child rape. How do you engage with that? However, please keep up your good fight, though, I know you are right. Thank you for your voice.
The last ten years and the mass delusion and gaslighting and alternative facts and alternative truths (35%+ of the country really believes the 2020 election was stolen with ZERO facts to support that) has just about wiped out this 72 year old……
When there is no shared reality, how can there be community or a functioning society? Sorry for the rant, but this era has been beyond surreal and frightening.
So inspired by last night's halftime show (GAGA, y'all!), the American athletes in Italy who did not let Orange dampen their competitive spirit and support of their fellow athletes, Sen. Ossoff's tremendous speech, and the fantastic, hard-hitting ad from the badass survivors. Dr. King said it best: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." MAGA can't handle joy -- they don't know what to do with it -- and it threatens them in a profound and fundamental way.
Today I'm going to make my calls in the spirit of optimism that pervaded last night's broadcast.
My ResistBot letter for Feb 9: A Fifth Circuit ruling just turned deportation into mass incarceration. Congress must act now to stop indefinite detention without bond. Use this link to send letters to your members of Congress.
Trump is doubling down on the racism/sexism/culture war nonsense, mostly because that's all he has to give his base. But the more he doubles down on it, the further away he pushes other Americans. In Virginia last November, the Republican ran almost exclusively on culture war blather -- some transperson in some locker room, etc. -- and lost by 15 points. I expect Republicans to do the same this November and think it will likely have similar results.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about Trump's declining mental capacity and the need for Democrats to make that a regular talking point. I'm writing postcards to NC voters today.
Wrote my R rep in the latest in our ICE thread. His letters make me crazy. Corrected his misstatement of my position to rein in ICE as defund ICE. Encouraged the reforms he stayed he supports, added new ones, including reducing ICE appropriations, and suggested he use the Constitution as his guide in this endeavor. Encouraged him to work for immigration reform which he says is needed and use the bill drafted by Josh Hawley as a starting point, which Trump killed before being elected. I call him a lot, too. Donated to Mary Peltola and Ohio.
I think this is the bill you are refering to Eileen:
The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024, often referred to as the bipartisan border bill, was primarily written by Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Introduced in February 2024, this negotiated package aimed to reform asylum processes and increase border security
contacted reps as usual. No DHS funding without meaningful and verifiable ICE and ICE gulag reforms. I also thanked MA Senator Markey for his recent participation in a video (with AG Campbell, Gov Healey, and other MoC's) that explained our First Amendment rights in the face of ICE intimidation.
The Public Service Announcement was released by World Without Exploitation (organization fighting against human trafficking) https://www.worldwithoutexploitation.org/
on Superbowl Sunday before the game, online and via social media. It was too expensive to air during the game -- $10.6 million to $13.3 million. It can be viewed on youtube, facebook, pro-democracy media, all over the internet, etc.
I like this strategy (quoting BIll Kristol and Andrew Egger):
Senate Dems should "make clear that they have no problem with funding the non-problematic parts of DHS—the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration, and so on. They should propose separating those out and funding them now.
Such legislation could be passed before Friday, when the continuing resolution expires. And if Republicans balk, shutting down the respectable parts of DHS would be on them. That would leave only the proposed $10 billion of 2026 funding for ICE and $6 billion for the Border Patrol unappropriated. Good. There’s no reason to appropriate any of it. The less new funding that goes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, the better."
I watched the Grammies and saw Bad Bunny, and others, comments against ICE. It was wonderful!!! I don’t like the Super Bowl (sorry, not into sports). However, I watched the halftime show to support Bad Bunny!! Couldn’t understand any of it, but it didn’t matter!!! His name makes me laugh!!!!
Also, people have to be crazy to vote red!!!! However, we do have lots of crazies (sorry, that’s how I see them) who do support Trump, his administration and the GOP. Hopefully, there are much more like us!!!!!!
rachel bitefcofer goes into detail about trump's floor,and how he can still cause damage with 35% approval because he still has strong approval among r's; however, there is some cracking there, as r leaning indies are fed up, and trump can't abandon the rabid base; the more he does to feed them, the more he alienates everyone else. she defends dems in swing districts who don't vote the way we like; the prime rule for every politician is to get re-elected; some dems in safe districts can say and do what they want. guys like tom suozzi can't. and neither can r's like mike lawler.
The dynamic here to watch is the distancing of battleground Rs from the Trump agenda. There are thousands of Republicans running in swing races across the country this year. They cannot run on Trump's agenda and win. It's a huge problem.
I’m watching for it in NJ CD-11. Still unsure who the Democratic nominee will be for the April special election, but buzz is Analilia Mejia will prevail. I read up on the GOP challenger, Joe Hathaway, who cut his political teeth working for Chris Christie. Christie is very vocal about how the NJ GOP is dead as long as they embrace MAGA. Personally I think Hathaway is angling to challenge Sherrill in 2029.
This profound and powerful message from Lutheran clergy in Minnesota amplifies Simon’s emphatic message about reining in ICE
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GDqbwDHvB/
Wow fantastic!
Yes, Laura. For sure. I shared it with Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott in Iowa, who is running for Congress. Sarah also is a Lutheran pastor. She knows a couple of the clergy speaking out in the video clip. She’s 2-0 in Iowa red districts. I expect her to win …
💃🏻❤️🙏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks, Gary! Sharing! :)
Tom.. it’s come down to a choice between good and evil. Simon does a wonderful job connecting the dots. These clergy leaders put an !! on the issue.
Simon, there are probably so many people being brutalized by our country. I’m grieved,
Please see this. I contacted my representative in TX. I’m calling Abbott. This traumatizes
anyone who cares about people.
https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2026/02/09/absolute-hell-irish-man-with-valid-us-work-permit-held-by-ice-since-september/
The Mike Tyson MAHA ad was off-the-charts bonkers. First, you call out half the country for being too fat, during a food-centric event known for its extravagant snacks, then launch into some commentary about "processed food" even though that industry is fully supported by the GOP's deregulatory hypocrisy. As one comment I saw on Bluesky summed it up, "I'm supposed to take health advice from Mike Tyson? That guy eats ears." Thankfully, Bad Bunny canceled out all the BS!
Yeah that commercial was bonkers. A weird choice for a health spokesperson. Mike Tyson is one of the few people out there who can make RFK seem coherent.
I think he needs the money more than ideologically agreeing with MAHA
💯
I don't think it is likely Tyson thinks "ideologically" at all. I would guess he understands someone like Trump and the lifestyle, etc, and is fully onboard with it.
Mike Tyson was convicted and imprisoned for rape. Imagine choosing that guy as your messenger.
Didn't see the add. But this from the people that criticized Michelle Obama for planting a vegetable garden and encouraged people to have a healthier lifestyle with her Let's Move initiative? To be fair, Melania did keep the garden up. I believe I saw one picture of Melania, in her heals, with a shovel near the garden. She was holding the shovel backwards - Just kidding.
Totally! I don't see how watching his scary mug take a bite out of an apple is going to encourage people to eat healthier.
Trump has attacked Bad Bunny’s SuperBowl Halftime Show, which he clearly watched instead of the alternative TP-USA show. Amongst other things, Trump criticized the entertainer’s use of Spanish...
Truth be told, I think more Americans probably understand Bad Bunny’s Spanish, his exuberant music and striking visual show, than Trump’s increasingly-incoherent English ramblings (aka "weaves").
I don't understand Spanish well enough to follow his lyrics, but his message was loud and clear!
Speaking of hope & data, here's the score of the game within the game:
Bad Bunny -- 130
Trump, Kid Rock -- 6
Not 222-0 (John Heisman's Georgia Tech vs Cumberland), but close....
FOX says Bad Bunny's show "divided" viewers. True, but not in the way they think. It turns out the answer to the question about life, the universe, and everything is 21.7 (130÷6), as in more than 20 times as many people watched Bad Bunny. What can the guy who calls 49.8%‐48.4% the "greatest landslide in history" call 95.6%-4.4%? Normally, it would be the result of a sham election in an authoritarian country, except in this one the dictator LOST! SAD!
Wow-- great references!! GT-Cumberland in college football and Douglas Adams! Well done, my friend!!
💯
The story about the Irishman with a green card I'm sure reflects other cases, and the fact that he's Irish is not central. But how someone could be lock up for months without a Writ of Habeas Corpus is mystifying. He's married to a US citizen to boot... Shocking.
I worked registering voters at a local market in Orlando. I probably was mostly lending support. There were two people registered, and two more who signed up for mail-in ballots. Still always bothers me when you have people who admit to not being registered, and who seem to not care. Mystifying.
I see he did post bail and then wasn't released... again this is absurd. So there was a hearing, I guess a Writ of Habeas Corpus. But the whole detention itself seems unlawful, so it's hard to understand why he even had to post bond. It seems like again more of DHS ignoring court orders and violating the law.
I guess the bigger picture is most folks can't afford legal support, and the aid lawyers are swamped. UGH.
Well aren’t people entitled at least to a public defense attorney? This seems a case where he should be immediately released. If all the facts are true, he should never have been detained at all.
It seems that legislation can require DHS to immediately bring home all the innocent people they've illegally detained. Everyone who has not been given due process (pretty much everybody) needs to be immediately released because they are presumed innocent and immigration is a civil matter, not a crime. The cost of transporting everyone home by air travel would be a fine use of DHS funding.
that's what I meant by aid lawyers. :)
I called my members of Congress about the 10-point list of demands regarding ICE funding and the importance of speaking out about the concentration camps.
The Guardian's article on the Munich Security Conference report is an important read, I believe:
"Europe has come to the painful realisation that it needs to be more assertive and more militarily independent from an authoritarian US administration that no longer shares a commitment to liberal democratic norms and values, a report prepared by the Munich Security Conference asserts. . . .
"The MSC report accuses Trump of having a lust for destruction and of siding with Vladimir Putin. 'Most of Europe is watching the United States’ descent into ‘competitive authoritarianism’ with rising concern or even horror, wondering how resilient US democracy really is,' the report says."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/09/europe-us-munich-security-conference-report
“Lust for destruction” is vivid and apt.
Thanks much for sharing this. We desperately need dem pro-democracy leadership coordination on the national security front!
See Anne Applebaum – on our Historic Betrayal of Ukraine and Allies: https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/the-ukraine-war-grows-deadlier
Also see the Concis - the Free Democratic World is moving to secure itself: https://www.theconcis.com/p/why-autocrats-had-a-very-bad-monday
I know I should not, but I despise every single Trump voter, ever, but especially the 2024 ones. This evil and insanity and corruption and stupidity and horror IS what they ALL signed up for. Our people are too cruel or too ignorant or too brainwashed or all of the above to have a functioning democracy in this country. It was clear to any sentient human being that a choice between Trump and literally any other person on the planet was clear. I knew Trump would destroy us this time, and he has. Sorry, I know you are correct, Simon, Hopium is right, but I will never get over watching multitudes I know personally and thought were reasonable and decent human beings, choose evil and then do it again and again, even as the evil becomes more clear. THAT has shaken me to my core, destroyed my faith in humanity(which was pretty low to start with), and even my faith in God. MANY of my fellow Christians that I know personally now literally support murder and child rape. How do you engage with that? However, please keep up your good fight, though, I know you are right. Thank you for your voice.
The last ten years and the mass delusion and gaslighting and alternative facts and alternative truths (35%+ of the country really believes the 2020 election was stolen with ZERO facts to support that) has just about wiped out this 72 year old……
When there is no shared reality, how can there be community or a functioning society? Sorry for the rant, but this era has been beyond surreal and frightening.
So inspired by last night's halftime show (GAGA, y'all!), the American athletes in Italy who did not let Orange dampen their competitive spirit and support of their fellow athletes, Sen. Ossoff's tremendous speech, and the fantastic, hard-hitting ad from the badass survivors. Dr. King said it best: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." MAGA can't handle joy -- they don't know what to do with it -- and it threatens them in a profound and fundamental way.
Today I'm going to make my calls in the spirit of optimism that pervaded last night's broadcast.
Side note: On Wednesday afternoon, ProPublica is hosting a webinar updating us on the impact of the demolition of USAID. Register here: https://events.propublica.org/USAID/newsletter3
Keep going!
My ResistBot letter for Feb 9: A Fifth Circuit ruling just turned deportation into mass incarceration. Congress must act now to stop indefinite detention without bond. Use this link to send letters to your members of Congress.
Text SIGN PUOZIA to 50409 or go to: https://resist.bot/petitions/PUOZIA
Signed and shared. Thank you!
Simon, thank you for the uplifting post!
Trump is doubling down on the racism/sexism/culture war nonsense, mostly because that's all he has to give his base. But the more he doubles down on it, the further away he pushes other Americans. In Virginia last November, the Republican ran almost exclusively on culture war blather -- some transperson in some locker room, etc. -- and lost by 15 points. I expect Republicans to do the same this November and think it will likely have similar results.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about Trump's declining mental capacity and the need for Democrats to make that a regular talking point. I'm writing postcards to NC voters today.
Wrote my R rep in the latest in our ICE thread. His letters make me crazy. Corrected his misstatement of my position to rein in ICE as defund ICE. Encouraged the reforms he stayed he supports, added new ones, including reducing ICE appropriations, and suggested he use the Constitution as his guide in this endeavor. Encouraged him to work for immigration reform which he says is needed and use the bill drafted by Josh Hawley as a starting point, which Trump killed before being elected. I call him a lot, too. Donated to Mary Peltola and Ohio.
I think this is the bill you are refering to Eileen:
The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024, often referred to as the bipartisan border bill, was primarily written by Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Introduced in February 2024, this negotiated package aimed to reform asylum processes and increase border security
contacted reps as usual. No DHS funding without meaningful and verifiable ICE and ICE gulag reforms. I also thanked MA Senator Markey for his recent participation in a video (with AG Campbell, Gov Healey, and other MoC's) that explained our First Amendment rights in the face of ICE intimidation.
Where did the Epstein survivors video play? It didn't run during the Superbowl
The Public Service Announcement was released by World Without Exploitation (organization fighting against human trafficking) https://www.worldwithoutexploitation.org/
on Superbowl Sunday before the game, online and via social media. It was too expensive to air during the game -- $10.6 million to $13.3 million. It can be viewed on youtube, facebook, pro-democracy media, all over the internet, etc.
Thanks .m8 had a feeling that was why it didn't air.
Microsoft News talks about it here. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/epstein-survivors-release-powerful-super-bowl-ad-demanding-truth-from-bondi/ar-AA1VWwym?apiversion=v2&domshim=1&noservercache=1&noservertelemetry=1&batchservertelemetry=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1
I like this strategy (quoting BIll Kristol and Andrew Egger):
Senate Dems should "make clear that they have no problem with funding the non-problematic parts of DHS—the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration, and so on. They should propose separating those out and funding them now.
Such legislation could be passed before Friday, when the continuing resolution expires. And if Republicans balk, shutting down the respectable parts of DHS would be on them. That would leave only the proposed $10 billion of 2026 funding for ICE and $6 billion for the Border Patrol unappropriated. Good. There’s no reason to appropriate any of it. The less new funding that goes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, the better."