16° and Cloudy
Texas vote gives hope
A Democratic victory in a Texas State Senate seat is again a bellwether for those who support the Constitution and the separation of powers it represents. Locally, that means the sort of coattails that may benefit the sort of candidates who traditionally seem like they are tilting at windmills but might now stand a chance in facing down the elites. The Express will strive to give equal coverage to everyone running, but that Texas race proffers hope for Democrats in traditionally red districts like Nate McMurray against Republican Becky Wydysh for State Assembly, Alyssa Ellman for congressperson against Republican Claudia Tenney and even Matt Chavez and Johnny Parks for County Legislature against Republicans Russ Petrozzi and Chris McKimmie. No matter whom I personally support, there seems to be a groundswell of regular people upset about affordability and the persecution of immigrants, including asylum seekers and green card holders. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-score-big-typically-red-texas-dis…
‘History is rhyming again’
This morning, she draws a parallel between the White House’s Stephen Miller’s white supremacist rhetoric and those of the Democrat Sen. John Henry Hammond, S.C. who talked about Black people as “mudsills” meant to support the working class. Miller talks about modern day immigrants in the same fashion. History repeats itself. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-31-2026
Sleazy Epstein file allegations
If this is the level of depravity already released from the Epstein files, what do you suppose they are hiding? https://www.tmz.com/2026/01/30/trump-accused-of-forcing-underage-girl-t…
Lemon gets squeezed
It was just more than 10 years ago, Short Take, in its early iteration, was a reactionary place for people to discuss what was going on in the national political forum. MAGA was a fresh idea. Before the Democratic primary, Bernie signs dotted the countryside. Then Hillary won. Bernie signs came down and Trump signs went up. People didn’t care how but they wanted to fuck shit up, in the words of since-retired Buffalo State professor Michael Niman. Short Take was a circus. I was ringmaster. One day, fraternity Brother Bill George accused me of watching CNN and parroting the words of Don Lemon. We didn’t have cable and I had no idea who he was talking about. I hadn’t thought about Lemon again until now. Our political discourse has become about performative theater. Consider the images of January 6 or ICE in Minneapolis or the coverage of AntiFa in Portland.
The current administration is not about law enforcement but about creating images it can use to rile its base and sell a narrative to keep us divided.
Don’t mention the lack of action on health care. Don’t mention the alienation of our allies. Also, there is nothing going on in Ukraine and our President deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for ending 8 wars.
Alex Pretti was a violent predator intent on mass murder. ICE victims acted in self defense halting the impending massacre.
It’s all bullshit. Our country has become a joke on the international stage. The economy sucks so badly that real statistics are being censored. Oh and please, choose whether you would like to preserve your First or Second amendment rights. You can’t have both. Here’s CNN’s online coverage of Lemon’s persecution. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/30/politics/don-lemon-custody
