“European lawmakers from three left-leaning parties said Wednesday the EU should investigate TikTok over allegations of censorship [sic] in favor of the right. One of TikTok’s new owners as of late January is a Donald Trump ally, Oracle’s Larry Ellison. Users say that since the change in ownership, the platform has censored [sic] hot-button issues in favor of the president and his political camp, according to reports — including limiting posts about the Epstein files and protests against U.S. border agents in Minnesota. TikTok said some users have experienced disruption due to technical issues.” [editor’s note: TikTok is not a government and has no power to censor, just to control how its own property is used. It will be interesting if a government “nudged” them, though – TLK] (02/04/26)
“Republicans enjoy using the Jim Crow-era Democratic Party’s support for segregation as proof that their embrace of white nationalism is not worth mentioning. It’s bothsidesism as a ‘get out of racism free’ card. There was a time post-September 11 when the GOP’s bogieman du jour was from somewhere vaguely Middle East or Muslim. We were coached to become a nation of bedwetters convinced that bearded men with long, curved knives were coming to kill us all in our beds. We packed heat and opened fire on anything that went bump in the night either at home or abroad. Now it’s anyone nonwhite.” (02/04/26)
“As the national debt is a few months from reaching $39 trillion, and perhaps $40 trillion by the end of this year, it is puzzling how unperturbed the political class is. Or perhaps not. Writer and political agitator Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) said: ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.’ Or pretending not to. A bipartisan congressional consensus, more alarming than partisan rancor, is: There are no long-term fiscal gains without intense short-term political pains. So, because today’s congressional careers do not yet seem likely to coincide with coming dire consequences, let them come. In 2016, a budget expert was allotted 20 minutes to brief Donald Trump on those possible consequences. After five minutes, Trump said, ‘Yeah, but I’ll be gone.’ He was perfectly in sync with the political mainstream he professes to supplant.” (02/04/26)
“The man accused of ambushing two West Virginia National Guard members in a shooting in the nation’s capital, killing one and wounding another, has pleaded not guilty to nine charges. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in federal court on Feb. 4, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia confirmed. Prosecutors have steadily added new charges since the shooting unfolded on Nov. 26 near the White House, and told Judge Amit Mehta they plan to pursue more charges that would make Lakanwal eligible for the death penalty.” (02/04/26)
In our surveys assessing university student tolerance for hypothetical controversial speakers, most students have not wanted to allow most speakers on campus. You can almost hear someone saying, ‘These kids today are too soft. Send ‘em to boot camp!’ The funny thing is, that might actually help.” (02/04/26)
“Theodore Roosevelt came of age and rose to prominence in the late 1800s and, arguably, launched what Time magazine publisher H. R. Luce would later call the ‘American Century.’ As the Gilded Age faded, Roosevelt shaped America’s entry into world affairs and created the impetus for a robust America First foreign policy and hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. By sheer force of personality, he enlarged the stature of the presidency and the executive’s role in shaping public policy. No stranger to controversy and conflict, Roosevelt spoiled for a fight and delighted in lacerating his enemies with calculated comments and ridicule. In short, Roosevelt would be equally at home in both the early twentieth and twenty-first century American politics.” (02/04/26)
