Wasserman on Cook Political Report live is confident yes will win

More ridiculous framing from @nytimes. How does Trump threatening to do a completely stupid thing put pressure on Iran? Now they're going to cave?

Yes, it will actually reduce the odds of the two republican scenario. Fewer Democratic candidates = more votes for the top two.

NYT had similar framing.

Maybe something to say for people doing their constitutional duty even though it has no immediate consequences. Not sure, though.

Agree talk of 25th is pointless. Would you say the same thing about impeachment? Obviously, impossible to convict in the Senate even if Democrats squeak out a majority in November, but maybe worth having House Dems campaign on it and then do it in 2027?

or driven beyond the Mississippi. They will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them."

Trump is uniquely deranged, but he is not the first U.S. president to threaten genocide. Jefferson threatened leaders of an Indigenous resistance movement: "If we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down til that tribe is exterminated ...

5/ In 1863 General James Carleton instructed Kit Carson to threaten Navajos that they must “go to the Bosque Redondo, or we will pursue and destroy you.”

4/ In the early years of the California Gold Rush, U.S. treaty commissioners George Barbour and Oliver Wozencraft told Miwoks that if “they continued in their depredations” the “inevitable result” would be the “entire annihilation of their whole tribe.”

3/ After taking over New Mexico in 1846, General Stephen Kearny threatened Jicarilla Apaches that if they did not “desist from all robberies,” he would “send his soldiers among them and destroy them from the earth.”

2/ While trying to subdue Indigenous resistance on the Columbia Plateau, in 1858 General George Wright threatened Native leaders that if they did not surrender, “war will be made on you this year and next, and until your nation is exterminated.”

1/ In 1855 Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens threatened Native leaders that if they did not sign a treaty ceding the vast majority of their lands, they would “walk in blood knee deep.”

U.S. military and political leaders often threatened massive violence---indeed, genocide---against Indigenous peoples to force them to comply.

Five examples from volume 2 of SURVIVING GENOCIDE (to be published in late 2026/early 2027):

Cherish the Strait, grab it and cherish it.

Sandra Wong, the great granddaughter of Wong Kim Ark, is preparing to march at the #NoKings Rally in San Francisco. Today is the 128th Anniversary of the SCOTUS decision affirming birthright citizenship.

Chinook salmon are hatching in Upper Klamath for first time in a century The Klamath Tribes are celebrating evidence of Chinook salmon spawning in Klamath River tributary.

Some good news for a change
www.klcc.org/environment/...

Poor academics, hardships of getting reimbursed for giving talks.

All this bullshit about 47 years of being at war with Iran, does anyone remember that the Reagan administration illegally sold weapons to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua?

All charges against Nick Tilsen have been dropped! Tilsen, who is Oglala Lakota and the founder of NDN collective, was facing criminal charges that he allegedly accelerated his vehicle toward a South Dakota cop in 2022.

US defends Israel against South Africa's allegation of genocide filed to top UN court The United States will intervene in the genocide case against Israel at the U.N.’s highest court, according to a filing obtained by The Associated Press.

U.S. denied its own genocide of Indigenous peoples, so I suppose it makes sense it will deny Israel's genocide of Palestinians.

apnews.com/article/worl...

ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony

Opinion | Iran’s New Supreme Leader Represents a Choice: Defiance Iran’s new supreme leader has been selected not to break with the regime but to preserve it.

“The selection of Mr. Khamenei makes one thing clear: Rather than compelling Iran to change course, the president’s war plan is pushing it to dig in,” Vali R. Nasr writes.

Being Commissioner of Indian Affairs Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry It was news to me that George W. Manypenny, who served as Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Franklin Pierce, had published a memoir twenty-five years after he left the Bureau.  During …

On the disappointment that comes from reading a retired Commissioner of Indian Affairs’ memoir.

michaelleroyoberg.com/native-ameri...

Marc James Carpenter, "The War on Illahee: Genocide, Complicity, and Cover-Ups in the Pioneer Northwest" (Yale UP, 2025) - New Books Network

This interview is a must-listen for history lovers. Marc James Carpenter, author of THE WAR ON ILLAHEE, gives an in-depth look into the settler-Native wars that shaped the Pacific Northwest. 

Genocide was a bipartisan project in the 19th century; supporting it in 2023-2026 is also bipartisan, it pains me to say.

MEMORANDUM OPINION February 16, 2026 “All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place.” George Orwell, 1984' As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984 now existed, with its motto "Ignorance is Strength," this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not. The President's House is a component of Independence National Historical Park that commemorates the site of the first official presidential residence and the people who lived there, including people enslaved by President George Washington. On January 22, 2026, the National Park Service ("NPS") removed panels, displays, and video exhibits that referenced slavery and information about the individuals enslaved at the President's House. Plaintiff City of Philadelphia ("the City" filed this lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act ("APA") against the Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum…

CONCLUsION For the reasons stated above, the Motion for Preliminary Injunction will be granted. The preliminary injunction will remain in place pending further litigation in this matter. There can b no prejudice to Defendants' restoration of the status quo as of January 21, 2026, which requires that Defendants reinstall all panels, displays, and video exhibits that were previously in place. Defendants shall further prevent any additions, removals, destruction, or further changes of any kind to the President's House site, except in the event that a mutual written agreement is reachec between Defendants and the City of Philadelphia. An order will be entered.

Federal court orders Trump administration to restore historical panel exhibits at President’s House in Philadelphia.

Happy Presidents Day.

For Presidents’ Day, I thought I’d put together a thread of *other* Presidents talking about George Washington and slavery. Away we go! 🧵/1

Also overlooks Rana's Constitutional Bind, more in tune with Lepore's rather bleak view but from a far more expansive angle of intellectual history and social/political context.

The Invasion of America YouTube video by eHistory.org

But even if they are right about Manhattan, almost all of the land currently within the United States was acquired by unjust treaties (later broken) backed by genocidal violence.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJxr...