Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid

“It is in downright soul crushing times like these that the little things become lifesaving. I speak as a learned student of several years of intensive trauma therapy when I say that self-care is a martial art when you are this fucked up. I have my chocolate and my candles and my dreary lesbian rock music but, as bizarre as it might sound, when all feels fucked, I prep, and I’m not talking about HIV. When I say I prep, I mean I prep like a millenarian militia fiend with tits during the run-up to Y2K. … amidst all this doom and gloom and camouflage, I find peace or at least something vaguely resembling it.” (10/11/26)

https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-queer-optimism-of-post-apocalyptic.html

Source: The American Prospect
by James Baratta

“Inside the 15th Street Quaker Meeting House on Sunday, October 4, a score of bright-colored paintings depicting Native American heritage and activism were displayed at the center of the worship space. Those paintings, a selection of works by the 82-year-old Indigenous activist and elder Leonard Peltier, drew dozens and then hundreds of people to the venue for an afternoon with members of Peltier’s family, longtime advocates, and friends. Among them was the Church of Stop Shopping’s Reverend Billy, an anti-consumerist preacher personality portrayed by actor and playwright William Talen. ‘This is an event of our lifetime for many of us here,’ he said. Reverend Billy emceed the event, which aired live on the Pacifica Network, and Peltier attended the exhibition virtually from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Peltier’s son and grandson hauled the paintings on display by truck from there all the way to New York City.” (10/12/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/10/12/leonard-peltiers-fight-isnt-over-american-indian-movement/

Source: Liberal Currents
by Anna O Law

“The United States is experiencing constitutional failure. Many of the guardrails of our democracy have given way. At this moment, it requires a feat of imagination to conjure what a new immigration system might look like when liberals regain power. According to the assessment of 500 political scientists (I am one of the respondents) who are regularly queried in the Bright Line Watch survey, the US is currently entrenched in some form of authoritarianism. The first instinct is to stop the bleeding, to stop the slide into complete authoritarianism. Coming up with reforms to heal and strengthen US democracy may be secondary. But liberals need to simultaneously throw sand in the gears of Donald Trump’s attempt at authoritarian consolidation and start thinking about what a replacement immigration system would look like.” (10/11/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/how-to-normalize-immigration-elements-of-liberal-immigration-reforms/

Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“The Donald and others have proclaimed that DEI is dead in the States. Obviously, a lot of people disagree with that. Including a great many powerful and connected businesses in fields like banking and finance, education, and health care. As have many State and municipal regimes. Indeed, many entities are doubling-down on pushing these things (which we prefer to call DIE, here at TPOL: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity as they promote it is seemingly fatal to society and liberty. Indeed, the results often seem to be Division, Insanity, and Erasure. Such is definitely not the case in the United Kingdom, as a recent commentary on the failure of a jury to convict a vandal of a Churchill statue pointed out. His Majesty and His Majesty’s government are pushing DEI strongly: some municipalities even more so.” (10/11/26)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/10/11/the-wonders-of-dei-a-uk-issue-only-hardly/

Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp

“It seems to me that, in order for something to qualify as a ‘scandal,’ it has to allege conduct that’s corrupt beyond the ordinary or expected. The only thing extraordinary or unexpected about the self-enriching conduct of the Trump crime family is that, for the most part, it’s all done right out in the open. From cryptocurrency scams to insider trading to sweetheart contracts, the Donald and his offspring operate their corruption machine in a refreshingly transparent manner. They don’t care if you notice, and don’t consider such things worth the minimal effort of manufacturing plausible cover stories for. … today’s Republicans are dogs compared to modern Democratic cats: Both animals will happily take a dump on your lawn, but only one can be bothered to cover it up.” (10/11/26)

https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20941