Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
February 8, 2026
Brian Tyler Cohen HUMILIATES Republican defending Trump: "You don't have to do this"
February 8, 2026
(Michigan Advance) U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said Friday she is urging the nation’s top intelligence leaders to confirm in writing that no intelligence personnel, tools or resources are being used to surveil or target Americans, raising alarms that the Trump administration may be illegally using national security capabilities against U.S. citizens.
In the letter dated Wednesday, directed to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and several other leaders in the intelligence community, Slotkin said she fears the intelligence community is being drawn into domestic political conflicts, “in violation of our laws and the Constitution.”
“I write today with my deep concerns that the Trump Administration is using our intelligence community to target American citizens and to request your assurances that you have not and will not focus the organizations you oversee on the American public,” Slotkin wrote. “As you know, the IC exists to defend the United States against foreign adversaries — not to monitor, investigate, or target Americans.”
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, added that abusing those tools “would not only be illegal but would undercut longstanding American values of a right to privacy and ability to speak out against our government without fear of retribution.” .............................(more)
https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/slotkin-presses-intelligence-chiefs-for-assurances-that-spy-agencies-are-not-targeting-americans/
Slotkin presses intelligence chiefs for assurances that spy agencies are not targeting Americans
(Michigan Advance) U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said Friday she is urging the nation’s top intelligence leaders to confirm in writing that no intelligence personnel, tools or resources are being used to surveil or target Americans, raising alarms that the Trump administration may be illegally using national security capabilities against U.S. citizens.
In the letter dated Wednesday, directed to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and several other leaders in the intelligence community, Slotkin said she fears the intelligence community is being drawn into domestic political conflicts, “in violation of our laws and the Constitution.”
“I write today with my deep concerns that the Trump Administration is using our intelligence community to target American citizens and to request your assurances that you have not and will not focus the organizations you oversee on the American public,” Slotkin wrote. “As you know, the IC exists to defend the United States against foreign adversaries — not to monitor, investigate, or target Americans.”
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, added that abusing those tools “would not only be illegal but would undercut longstanding American values of a right to privacy and ability to speak out against our government without fear of retribution.” .............................(more)
https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/slotkin-presses-intelligence-chiefs-for-assurances-that-spy-agencies-are-not-targeting-americans/
February 8, 2026
MAGA’s war on “woke” has a long history — like 400 years
Trump and Stephen Miller don’t just want to erase the 20th century. Their dream is much bigger than that
By Andrew O'Hehir
Executive Editor
Published February 8, 2026 6:45AM (EST)
(Salon) One explicit goal of the second Trump administration, if not its defining mission, is to undo the recent past and rewrite history to fit its own master narrative. By now it’s axiomatic that making America “great again” has never referred to any fixed point in the actual American past; it’s more like a mashup or highlight reel of random images taken from eras before any living American was born. We can see that vision embodied with startling literalness in the propaganda posters recently concocted by the Labor Department, such as the depiction of a whites-only church picnic apparently taking place in Uncanny Valley. If the rise of Donald Trump preceded the advent of AI slop, it may also have conjured it into existence: Never in cultural history have form and content been so perfectly matched.
We already know that Trump and his inner circle — which mostly means Stephen Miller and Russ Vought, the high priests of MAGA ideology — want to erase the gains of the civil rights movement, LGBTQ equality and feminism. But their true goals are far more ambitious, if less easy to define. This is a fake presidency devoted more to creating viral memes than shaping policy, and there’s no coherent or consistent narrative at work. Honestly, that’s less a flaw than a feature: The wholesale rejection of reality is central to the brand.
....(snip)....
But the question we should ask is how far these fantasies go. Reversing nearly all the immigration of the last six decades? Absolutely. Overturning Brown v. Board of Education? Probably, but on the DL. Rolling back the entire New Deal and all the labor reforms of the 20th century? Hell to the yes. Undoing women’s suffrage and birthright citizenship and the Civil War and most of the Constitution? Yeah, maybe,. Let’s change the subject.
....(snip)....
Admittedly, even the most articulate MAGA ideologues — not that there are many — haven’t gone that far. But that’s where the collective brotastic idiocies of Peter Thiel and Jordan Peterson and Curtis Yarvin and Andrew Tate and Pete Hegseth and whomever else all converge: Somewhere in the recent or distant or mythical past, everything totally ruled and “we” (a term of art, I hasten to add) never felt bad about any of it. Guys were guys and women were hot and there was lots of feasting and stuff. There was no wokeness, no political correctness, no gender-neutral bathrooms. Nobody used pronouns or talked about inequality or intersectionality or was gay (except sometimes in the locker room) or tried to make us ashamed for being awesome. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2026/02/08/magas-war-on-woke-has-a-long-history-like-400-years/
MAGA's war on "woke" has a long history -- like 400 years
MAGA’s war on “woke” has a long history — like 400 years
Trump and Stephen Miller don’t just want to erase the 20th century. Their dream is much bigger than that
By Andrew O'Hehir
Executive Editor
Published February 8, 2026 6:45AM (EST)
(Salon) One explicit goal of the second Trump administration, if not its defining mission, is to undo the recent past and rewrite history to fit its own master narrative. By now it’s axiomatic that making America “great again” has never referred to any fixed point in the actual American past; it’s more like a mashup or highlight reel of random images taken from eras before any living American was born. We can see that vision embodied with startling literalness in the propaganda posters recently concocted by the Labor Department, such as the depiction of a whites-only church picnic apparently taking place in Uncanny Valley. If the rise of Donald Trump preceded the advent of AI slop, it may also have conjured it into existence: Never in cultural history have form and content been so perfectly matched.
We already know that Trump and his inner circle — which mostly means Stephen Miller and Russ Vought, the high priests of MAGA ideology — want to erase the gains of the civil rights movement, LGBTQ equality and feminism. But their true goals are far more ambitious, if less easy to define. This is a fake presidency devoted more to creating viral memes than shaping policy, and there’s no coherent or consistent narrative at work. Honestly, that’s less a flaw than a feature: The wholesale rejection of reality is central to the brand.
....(snip)....
But the question we should ask is how far these fantasies go. Reversing nearly all the immigration of the last six decades? Absolutely. Overturning Brown v. Board of Education? Probably, but on the DL. Rolling back the entire New Deal and all the labor reforms of the 20th century? Hell to the yes. Undoing women’s suffrage and birthright citizenship and the Civil War and most of the Constitution? Yeah, maybe,. Let’s change the subject.
....(snip)....
Admittedly, even the most articulate MAGA ideologues — not that there are many — haven’t gone that far. But that’s where the collective brotastic idiocies of Peter Thiel and Jordan Peterson and Curtis Yarvin and Andrew Tate and Pete Hegseth and whomever else all converge: Somewhere in the recent or distant or mythical past, everything totally ruled and “we” (a term of art, I hasten to add) never felt bad about any of it. Guys were guys and women were hot and there was lots of feasting and stuff. There was no wokeness, no political correctness, no gender-neutral bathrooms. Nobody used pronouns or talked about inequality or intersectionality or was gay (except sometimes in the locker room) or tried to make us ashamed for being awesome. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2026/02/08/magas-war-on-woke-has-a-long-history-like-400-years/
February 8, 2026
Will a ‘Trump slump’ continue to hit US tourism in 2026 − and even keep World Cup fans away?
Published: February 6, 2026 8:39am EST
Frédéric Dimanche
Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
Kelley A. McClinchey
Teaching Faculty, Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
(The Conversation) With an upcoming FIFA World Cup being staged across the nation, 2026 was supposed to be a bumper year for tourism to the United States, driven in part by hordes of arriving soccer fans.
And yet, the U.S. tourism industry is worried. While the rest of the world saw a travel bump in 2025, with global international arrivals up 4%, the U.S. saw a downturn. The number of foreign tourists who came to the United States fell by 5.4% during the year – a sharper decline than the one experienced in 2017-18, the last time, outside the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that the industry was gripped by fears of a travel slump.
Policy stances from the Trump administration on everything from immigration to tariffs, along with currency swings and stricter border controls, have seemingly proved a turnoff to travelers from other countries, especially Canadians – the single largest source of foreign tourists for the United States. Canadian travel to the U.S. fell by close to 30% in 2025. But it is not just visitors from Canada who are choosing to avoid the United States. Travel from Australia, India and Western Europe, among others, has also shrunk.
....(snip)....
Economic and safety concerns
Economic policies pursued by the Trump administration appear to be among the main reasons visitors are staying away from the U.S. Multiple tariff announcements – pushing tariffs to the highest levels since 1935 – along with tougher border-related rhetoric and an aggressive foreign policy have contributed to a negative perception of the U.S. among would-be tourists. ........................(more)
https://theconversation.com/will-a-trump-slump-continue-to-hit-us-tourism-in-2026-and-even-keep-world-cup-fans-away-274244
Will a 'Trump slump' continue to hit US tourism in 2026 − and even keep World Cup fans away?
Will a ‘Trump slump’ continue to hit US tourism in 2026 − and even keep World Cup fans away?
Published: February 6, 2026 8:39am EST
Frédéric Dimanche
Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
Kelley A. McClinchey
Teaching Faculty, Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
(The Conversation) With an upcoming FIFA World Cup being staged across the nation, 2026 was supposed to be a bumper year for tourism to the United States, driven in part by hordes of arriving soccer fans.
And yet, the U.S. tourism industry is worried. While the rest of the world saw a travel bump in 2025, with global international arrivals up 4%, the U.S. saw a downturn. The number of foreign tourists who came to the United States fell by 5.4% during the year – a sharper decline than the one experienced in 2017-18, the last time, outside the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that the industry was gripped by fears of a travel slump.
Policy stances from the Trump administration on everything from immigration to tariffs, along with currency swings and stricter border controls, have seemingly proved a turnoff to travelers from other countries, especially Canadians – the single largest source of foreign tourists for the United States. Canadian travel to the U.S. fell by close to 30% in 2025. But it is not just visitors from Canada who are choosing to avoid the United States. Travel from Australia, India and Western Europe, among others, has also shrunk.
....(snip)....
Economic and safety concerns
Economic policies pursued by the Trump administration appear to be among the main reasons visitors are staying away from the U.S. Multiple tariff announcements – pushing tariffs to the highest levels since 1935 – along with tougher border-related rhetoric and an aggressive foreign policy have contributed to a negative perception of the U.S. among would-be tourists. ........................(more)
https://theconversation.com/will-a-trump-slump-continue-to-hit-us-tourism-in-2026-and-even-keep-world-cup-fans-away-274244
February 7, 2026
"it also seems to have been an attempt to use racism to break the growing coalition against him"
February 6, 2026
Heather Cox Richardson
Feb 07, 2026
Late last night, President Donald J. Trump’s social media account posted a video full of debunked claims about the 2020 presidential election that included an image of former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama with their heads attached to the bodies of apes.
Predictably, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt derided the “fake outrage” over the image, but as Tim Grieve of NOTUS explained, when Republican senators Tim Scott of South Carolina, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi called out the racism behind the post, the president deleted the video and a White House official said that a “staffer erroneously made the post,” as if somehow a staffer could post random racist videos from the president’s account in the middle of the night. As soon as they could blame the post on a staffer, Republicans rushed to condemn the post’s racism.
Later tonight on Air Force One, Trump said that he had posted it himself. When a reporter asked if he would apologize, he said, “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
While the post exhibited both the president’s vile racism and his failing impulse control, it also seems to have been an attempt to use racism to break the growing coalition against him. As when they arrested Black journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort as well as Black protesters at a church while leaving white protesters free, Trump and his allies are hammering on racial fault lines. As with the ape trope, the White House went so far as to digitally alter a photograph of church protester and civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who appeared to be quite composed during her arrest, to make her look blacker and as if she is sobbing in terror. ........................(more)
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-6-2026
February 7, 2026
TikToker Gray Davis (@gray.davis) recently made waves with a series of videos highlighting the way it's "raining iguanas" in Florida thanks to the cold weather.
"Since iguanas are cold-blooded and sleep up in the trees, when they get too cold, they no longer can hang on and they end up falling to the ground," he explained, showing various lifeless-looking reptiles.
Despite their appearance, he says that they usually do just fine once they're warmed up. However, green iguanas are considered invasive to Florida, and because of the weather, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) temporarily allowed residents to remove and dispose of cold-stunned iguanas without a permit.
Making iguana tacos
Davis, who is known for his TikToks exploring how to legally and safely turn Florida wildlife and plants into sustenance, decided to take a fairly unique approach to this problem.
"Whenever we have these cold fronts and they start falling down, a lot of people will go out and collect them to help control the number in the population," he said. "But they do have the nickname 'chicken of the trees' because they're absolutely delicious. So rather than let this one go to waste, we're going to make tacos." .................(more)
https://dailydot.com/florida-man-makes-iguana-tacos
"21 souls in one meal is crazy": Florida man makes iguana tacos as cold-stunned reptiles fall from trees
TikToker Gray Davis (@gray.davis) recently made waves with a series of videos highlighting the way it's "raining iguanas" in Florida thanks to the cold weather.
"Since iguanas are cold-blooded and sleep up in the trees, when they get too cold, they no longer can hang on and they end up falling to the ground," he explained, showing various lifeless-looking reptiles.
Despite their appearance, he says that they usually do just fine once they're warmed up. However, green iguanas are considered invasive to Florida, and because of the weather, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) temporarily allowed residents to remove and dispose of cold-stunned iguanas without a permit.
Making iguana tacos
Davis, who is known for his TikToks exploring how to legally and safely turn Florida wildlife and plants into sustenance, decided to take a fairly unique approach to this problem.
"Whenever we have these cold fronts and they start falling down, a lot of people will go out and collect them to help control the number in the population," he said. "But they do have the nickname 'chicken of the trees' because they're absolutely delicious. So rather than let this one go to waste, we're going to make tacos." .................(more)
https://dailydot.com/florida-man-makes-iguana-tacos
February 7, 2026
The Epstein files reveal that a vast global conspiracy actually exists – sort of
J Oliver Conroy
(Guardian UK) The millions of Jeffrey Epstein files dumped last Friday by the US Department of Justice will provide journalists, conspiracy theorists and interested members of the public with months of reading. And what they will read is enraging.
What makes these files so infuriating, however, is not just Epstein’s horrific predatory behavior, which is well-known, but the more mundane examples of elite conduct that the documents continue to expose. They vividly illustrate a world whose existence many everyday people, whether fevered with visions of the Illuminati or just jaundiced by banal anti-establishment cynicism, already suspected exists: an informal global club of powerful, ultra-rich people who all seemingly know each other, help one another out, and protect each other from the consequences of their depravity.
....(snip)....
Yet the files, especially Epstein’s typo-filled email and text-message correspondences, are fascinating – and ultimately grim – in what they show of how elites act in private, among themselves. At the least, many of Epstein’s powerful acquaintances remained friendly with him years after the notoriously lenient sweetheart bargain, in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, and as survivors continued to accuse Epstein of further crimes.
Donald Trump’s own decades-long friendship with Epstein is already well known, and seems to have ended in a falling-out sometime around 2004; the new files do not appear so far to implicate him in wrongdoing. But they do highlight Epstein’s social ties with other members of the US president’s coterie, including the current US secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick. According to the files, Lutnick may have visited Epstein’s private island in 2012. (Lutnick disputes this, and recently told the New York Times: “I spent zero time with him.”) ..................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/epstein-files-global-conspiracy
The Epstein files reveal that a vast global conspiracy actually exists - sort of
The Epstein files reveal that a vast global conspiracy actually exists – sort of
J Oliver Conroy
(Guardian UK) The millions of Jeffrey Epstein files dumped last Friday by the US Department of Justice will provide journalists, conspiracy theorists and interested members of the public with months of reading. And what they will read is enraging.
What makes these files so infuriating, however, is not just Epstein’s horrific predatory behavior, which is well-known, but the more mundane examples of elite conduct that the documents continue to expose. They vividly illustrate a world whose existence many everyday people, whether fevered with visions of the Illuminati or just jaundiced by banal anti-establishment cynicism, already suspected exists: an informal global club of powerful, ultra-rich people who all seemingly know each other, help one another out, and protect each other from the consequences of their depravity.
....(snip)....
Yet the files, especially Epstein’s typo-filled email and text-message correspondences, are fascinating – and ultimately grim – in what they show of how elites act in private, among themselves. At the least, many of Epstein’s powerful acquaintances remained friendly with him years after the notoriously lenient sweetheart bargain, in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, and as survivors continued to accuse Epstein of further crimes.
Donald Trump’s own decades-long friendship with Epstein is already well known, and seems to have ended in a falling-out sometime around 2004; the new files do not appear so far to implicate him in wrongdoing. But they do highlight Epstein’s social ties with other members of the US president’s coterie, including the current US secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick. According to the files, Lutnick may have visited Epstein’s private island in 2012. (Lutnick disputes this, and recently told the New York Times: “I spent zero time with him.”) ..................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/epstein-files-global-conspiracy
February 7, 2026
(Guardian) Donald Trump set off alarm bells earlier this week with comments that his administration should “take over the voting” in some states in the run-up to the 2026 midterms, which followed an unprecedented FBI raid on an election office in Georgia. Although election experts say it’s clear the president doesn’t have authority over elections, they warn the president’s corrosive rhetoric leaves little doubt about his intent.
For months, the Trump administration has stoked doubts about the integrity of American elections largely through lawsuits designed to create the impression states aren’t doing enough to keep ineligible voters off the rolls. That effort escalated significantly last week when the FBI raided the election office in Fulton county, Georgia and seized ballots, along with other materials, related to the 2020 election. Shortly after the raid, Trump escalated his attack even further, saying the federal government should take over elections.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he said during a recent interview with Dan Bongino, the former deputy FBI director who has returned to hosting a podcast. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many – 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
Democracy experts believe there is no longer any doubt about Trump’s desire to interfere with this fall’s elections.
“We should not be waiting for the next shoe to drop,” said Wendy Weiser, vice-president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice. “There is a full-blown effort to seize control of some of the mechanisms of our elections and to lay the foundation for interfering in upcoming elections.” ...................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/trump-interference-voting-midterms
Alarm bells sound over Trump's 'take over the voting' call
(Guardian) Donald Trump set off alarm bells earlier this week with comments that his administration should “take over the voting” in some states in the run-up to the 2026 midterms, which followed an unprecedented FBI raid on an election office in Georgia. Although election experts say it’s clear the president doesn’t have authority over elections, they warn the president’s corrosive rhetoric leaves little doubt about his intent.
For months, the Trump administration has stoked doubts about the integrity of American elections largely through lawsuits designed to create the impression states aren’t doing enough to keep ineligible voters off the rolls. That effort escalated significantly last week when the FBI raided the election office in Fulton county, Georgia and seized ballots, along with other materials, related to the 2020 election. Shortly after the raid, Trump escalated his attack even further, saying the federal government should take over elections.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he said during a recent interview with Dan Bongino, the former deputy FBI director who has returned to hosting a podcast. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many – 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
Democracy experts believe there is no longer any doubt about Trump’s desire to interfere with this fall’s elections.
“We should not be waiting for the next shoe to drop,” said Wendy Weiser, vice-president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice. “There is a full-blown effort to seize control of some of the mechanisms of our elections and to lay the foundation for interfering in upcoming elections.” ...................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/trump-interference-voting-midterms
February 7, 2026
Federal and state authorities are taking a 2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion
Published: February 6, 2026 8:41am EST
Naomi Cahn
Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Sonia Suter
Professor of Law, George Washington University
(Salon) Anti-abortion conservatives have long sought to force Planned Parenthood’s clinics to close their doors and to make it harder, if not impossible, to get abortion pills as part of a two-pronged approach to limit access to abortion.
First, undermine Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by questioning their credibility and block their funding. Second, try to ban mifepristone – a drug used in more than half of all abortions – in part by saying it’s unsafe.
....(snip)....
Attacking Planned Parenthood
Opponents of abortion rights are attacking Planned Parenthood because its clinics perform hundreds of thousands of abortions, in addition to more than 9 million other procedures, every year.
....(snip)....
Conservative-led states are taking aim at the nonprofit with both litigation and legislation.
For example, the attorneys general of Missouri and Florida allege in 2025 lawsuits that Planned Parenthood’s website “lies” about the safety of mifepristone. ...............(more)
https://theconversation.com/federal-and-state-authorities-are-taking-a-2-pronged-approach-to-make-it-harder-to-get-an-abortion-271378
Federal and state authorities are taking a 2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion
Federal and state authorities are taking a 2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion
Published: February 6, 2026 8:41am EST
Naomi Cahn
Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Sonia Suter
Professor of Law, George Washington University
(Salon) Anti-abortion conservatives have long sought to force Planned Parenthood’s clinics to close their doors and to make it harder, if not impossible, to get abortion pills as part of a two-pronged approach to limit access to abortion.
First, undermine Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by questioning their credibility and block their funding. Second, try to ban mifepristone – a drug used in more than half of all abortions – in part by saying it’s unsafe.
....(snip)....
Attacking Planned Parenthood
Opponents of abortion rights are attacking Planned Parenthood because its clinics perform hundreds of thousands of abortions, in addition to more than 9 million other procedures, every year.
....(snip)....
Conservative-led states are taking aim at the nonprofit with both litigation and legislation.
For example, the attorneys general of Missouri and Florida allege in 2025 lawsuits that Planned Parenthood’s website “lies” about the safety of mifepristone. ...............(more)
https://theconversation.com/federal-and-state-authorities-are-taking-a-2-pronged-approach-to-make-it-harder-to-get-an-abortion-271378
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit, MI
Member since: Thu Oct 28, 2004, 11:18 PM
Number of posts: 79,442