Republicans Claim Following the Constitution is a “Non-Starter” (#116)

Democrats rightly defend the Constitution in the DHS budget fight; the Heritage Foundation’s 250-year plan to eliminate women’s rights; CBS does not allow Stephen Colbert to air an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico; Senator Ron Wyden indicates our spies have done something bad; a fond farewell to Dr. Gladys West, the mathematician who made GPS possible; and the island from which all Olympic curling stones are sourced.

Here we go. I’m glad you’re here.

#1

• ‘Complete nonstarter’: Administration allies say judicial warrants a red line for White House in DHS funding talks as shutdown looms (Myah Ward, Alex Gangitano and Jordain Carney, Politico, Link to Article)
• Democrats have the leverage in the shutdown over ICE (G. Elliott Morris, Strength in Numbers, Link to Article)
• GOP’s Thune rejects ‘unrealistic’ Democratic asks on ICE limits (Laura Davison and Erik Wasson, Bloomberg, Link to Article)
• Democrats’ 10 demands to ‘rein in’ ICE – the full list of proposed reforms (Lucy Campbell, The Guardian, Link to Article)
• Constitution of the United States, Fourth Amendment (Constitution Annotated, Congress.gov, Link to Article)

I celebrate the Democrats’ decision to hold the line and not prevent a partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Democrats, frankly, were not asking for much—just that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol follow the Constitution’s requirements and general best practices of other law enforcement agencies when dealing with the public.

But Republican leaders opened discussions—and continue to claim—that these Democratic demands are a “complete nonstarter.”

That’s a response that explains so much about the present authoritarian crisis.

We live in a country where the Fourth Amendment remains in force, regardless of what any internal Trump regime memo may claim or Stephen Miller’s darkest desires.

To be clear, the Fourth Amendment guarantees:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This isn’t a small thing. Fighting back against the general search warrants issued by British officials to combat smuggling in colonial America was one of the key sparks of the American Revolution. John Adams wrote that “then and there the Child Independence was born” during the 1761 Writs of Assistance case.

Democratic demands that the federal government observe this key right as part of the ongoing negotiations over the Department of Homeland Security’s budget shouldn’t be that controversial, right? Not so during the reign of the Trump regime. As Politico’s Myah Ward, Alex Gangitano and Jordain Carney report:

One of Democrats’ key demands to overhaul President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda is a red line for the White House.

Democrats want to require federal law enforcement officials to obtain a judicial warrant before entering private property, but that’s dead on arrival, according to three people close to the administration and a GOP strategist, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak about private conversations.

“The judicial warrants are the key operational thing that [deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller and the crew do not want to budge on,” said the GOP strategist who focuses on immigration.

One of the people close to the administration described the judicial warrants proposal as a “complete nonstarter for the White House,” as well as for many congressional Republicans.

Thankfully, there is no Constitutional requirement to accept Miller’s fascist demands.

The onus is on the Trump regime to create a policy that is consistent with the Constitution and U.S. law. It may require actually focusing on criminals and not on meeting Miller’s insane quota of 3,000 arrests a day.

Miller has been lying about how many undocumented persons are actually criminals. Given how unpopular the Trump regime’s deportation policies have proven to be, typical political dynamics would suggest that other staff would try to pin the blame on Miller by pointing out these lies to their Dear Leader. Democrats certainly should mention Miller and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as often as possible.

Democrats should continue to be clear that following the Constitution is not debatable. It is the right thing to do. And, increasingly, it is the popular thing to do, as G. Elliott Morris explains:

But now, the leverage is clearly in the Democrats’ favor. An exclusive new poll provided to Strength In Numbers by Data for Progress shows a majority of voters support a Democratic proposal to fund TSA and FEMA while conditioning additional ICE money on major reforms — which they also support. This week’s Chart of the Week is: Voters back a Democratic deal on DHS funding.

…

The overall approach of conditioning ICE funding on reforms is popular with a clear majority of Americans. Voters think ICE is too violent, too indiscriminate, and has generally “gone too far” in enforcing Trump’s agenda of mass deportations. They want Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller out of positions of power, and they agree with Chuck Schumer, who said Wednesday: “If [Republicans] don’t propose something that’s strong, that reins in ICE, that ends the killing — don’t expect our votes.”

The American people don’t want violent paramilitary forces occupying our cities. If Miller won’t admit this because of his white supremacist fantasies, Democrats must continue to be the voices of reason.

#2

• ICE’s Masks Are All a Lie (Garrett Graff, Doomsday Scenario, Link to Article)

This week, Congress is debating what reform might be acceptable for the masked fascist secret police currently occupying major American cities in Democratic-run states — a supposedly civilian law enforcement agency that, in any other country, US journalists wouldn’t hesitate to label breezily “a right-wing paramilitary militia loyal to the regime that is staging a terror campaign against separatist regions led by key figures of the political opposition.”

…

Nothing is more fundamental to the myth that working for ICE is a dangerous, high-risk occupation than the lore of the masks. The masks, we’re told, are a critical part of protecting the identity of ICE and CBP officers, protecting them from the vague threat of “doxxing,” which presumably could lead to their assault or attacks against their families.

Except, as Philip Bump so thoughtfully and carefully investigated, “A review of DHS and ICE press releases since January 2025, though, indicates that this theoretical scenario has never actually occurred. At no point in time has an officer been seen conducting his work, identified and subsequently attacked.”

Moreover, it’s worth pointing out that up until last year, ICE officers didn’t routinely cover their faces — it’s only been with their rise in aggression and violence on America’s streets that they now operate in such a state of fear that they say they need to be masked. It’s a remarkable and troubling statement about how ICE and CBP have lost moral legitimacy in the eyes of the nation, so much so that agents now fear anyone ever associating themselves with being employed by ICE or CBP. (Plus, as Adam Serwer has argued at The Atlantic, it seems like the masks, more than anything, are a license for impunity and brutality: “Face coverings may work less to protect federal agents from danger than to make it easier for them to do unconstitutional things.”)

It should go without saying that if you can’t police in a free society without hiding your face, the problem is with the policing — not the public.

Speaking of lies coming from Miller and others in the Trump regime, the idea that ICE and Border Patrol officials are in such a dangerous job that they need to protect their identities is one of their most egregious.

As Graff explains, working for ICE “is actually less dangerous than being an elementary school student in America.” Working for ICE is also less dangerous than being detained by ICE.

We must not accept any secret police in the United States. If you want that taxpayer-funded paycheck, you have to be identifiable. Adam Serwer’s point in the quoted excerpt must be emphasized: allowing paramilitary members to wear masks creates a culture that allows officers to do unconstitutional and violent things to people.

The most effective way for ICE and Border Patrol members to stay safe and not face social media scrutiny is to stop acting like a violent fascist secret police force. They could do so voluntarily. If not, Democrats must force them.

#3

• Democrats’ Demands for ICE Accountability Could Be Effective—If They Can Be Enforced (Sam Feineh, Taja Mazaja, Sam Raim, Vera Institute of Justice, Link to Article)

While Democrats are heeding public outrage for more accountability, early signs suggest they are not fighting to cut funding—the most obvious way to rein in ICE. The robust list of demands, including some that are nonstarters for Republicans, demonstrates that they are unified and serious about standing up to Trump on ICE. However, they appear to be relenting already on the most basic of changes, like prohibiting federal law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings. And Democratic leadership has studiously avoided any talk of cutting funding—despite this being an appropriations fight.

Most of the demands from Democratic leadership are effectively asking DHS to simply follow the law and existing guidelines. ICE already knows—and disagrees—about the need for judicial warrants. They already have a use-of-force policy and body cameras. So, what will make them change now? In a ruling filed at the end of January, a federal judge wrote, “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.” This is not an agency interested in following the law or reforming itself; so much depends on how lawmakers can put real teeth on these policies (beyond existing, ineffective mechanisms).

This Vera Institute of Justice report provides a useful analysis of the Democrats’ 10 demands for ICE/Border Patrol accountability, and the enforcement mechanisms required to ensure they are effective.

I think Democrats are right to seek to codify in law the guidelines the Trump regime is ignoring. But the authors of this analysis rightly point out that law enforcement agencies often ignore or work around the law unless accountability measures are also in place.

The Trump regime has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted. Democrats must not agree to any compromises that lack clear requirements and accountability measures.

And Democrats should start talking about reducing the funding these out-of-control agencies receive. They won’t be able to abolish ICE while Trump and the Republicans control the executive and legislative branches. But now is the time to prepare voters to embrace the idea of creating an immigration system that is humane and meets the public’s priorities.

#4

• In 2026, you are going to lose more freedoms (Lyz Lenz, Men Yell at Me, Link to Article)

Early in the new year, the Heritage Foundation released a special report titled “Saving the American Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years.”

The document lays out the argument that marriage is the foundation of American society and that when marriage is allowed to fail, America fails. Marriage, as the foundation defines it, is between one man and one woman. And once entered into, it should not be allowed to end.

The report makes the case that the refusal of women to marry and the rise of single-parent homes are leading to the degradation of society. These trends, it claims, are the root of crime, poverty, drug abuse, and so much more.

The document itself isn’t groundbreaking. These are the same tired arguments that have been regurgitated like a noxious cud for centuries. Documents like this aren’t designed to be widely read. Rather, their purpose is to provide an intellectual cover for the policies and programs they target. They’re for politicians to use to help them justify cutting school lunch programs, SNAP benefits, and summer food assistance. 

But I took a week and dug through the plan, and in it I read a warning: If you are a woman, your freedoms are at risk. (emphasis in original)

So, just as they did with Project 2025, the insane religious white supremacists at the Heritage Foundation have announced to the world plans to use the federal government to change the culture.

I wish more people, like subscriber David H., had taken the opportunity to read through Project 2025 before the election to see what the Trump regime’s plans were.

Now we all have a second chance. Let’s take it.

As Lenz argues, Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years makes clear that the ultimate goal is “limiting the freedom of women.”

This is related to why so many Republicans and tech broligarchs like Elon Musk are talking about the need to raise the birth rate (of white people). Ending no-fault divorce, revising alimony rules, pushing women out of the workplace, and requiring people follow traditional gender roles is not a subtle program.

There is no excuse for being surprised again. Please read the document and share it.

#5

• Colbert Says CBS Pulled Guest Amid FCC Scrutiny, Posts Interview on YouTube Instead (Matt Webb Mitovich, Late Nighter, Link to Article)

FCC chair Brendan Carr’s threatened revisiting of the Equal Time rule has come to fruition, forcing CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to not air an interview with Democratic politician James Talarico.

…

It was then that Colbert revealed that his interview with Talarico would see the light of day—albeit on The Late Show‘s YouTube channel. “The network says I can’t give you the URL or a QR code, but if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it.”

Colbert went on to note, “at this point, [Carr has only] released a letter that says he’s thinking about doing away with the exception—but my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had. But I want to assure you, this decision is for purely financial reasons.

“And this doesn’t just affect interviews,” he explained. “The rules forbid any candidate appearance, including by voice or picture”—leading him to point out that the photo of Talarico appearing over his shoulder was, in fact, a stock photo.

“So I can’t interview James Talarico, I can’t show any pictures of James Talarico, and I’m not even sure I can say the words ‘James Talarico,'” Colbert recapped. “But what I can show you is what we always show when we have to pull material at the last minute–this tasteful nude of Brendan Carr.” [Cue a mock-up of a nude Carr with his bits covered by a (small) cactus.]

FCC Chair Brendan Carr has now successfully censored a broadcast interview. The correct response from CBS’s lawyers to Carr’s fascism should have been to let Colbert show the interview.

But that’s not how things work in 2026. Especially when we learn this morning that CBS’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, has been given another opportunity to make its best offer to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery.

You may have thought that deal was basically done, with Warner Bros. Discovery accepting a bid from Netflix. Well, Trump wants his allies, David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison, to win. So what a coincidence it is that the FCC and CBS’s lawyers are stepping in now to ignore a long-standing precedent exempting comedy shows from the equal time rule. CBS and Paramount Skydance want to keep Trump and his henchmen happy.

Here’s Colbert explaining what happened, something CBS’s attorneys apparently was advised not to do.

And here is the interview CBS would not air last night. It sure would be a shame if this interview received millions more views than typical because the FCC chair didn’t want you to watch it.

This event adds to the momentous few days CBS has experienced, as Media Matters Matthew Gertz explains in this Bluesky post:

The former Tiffany Network has fallen far and quite fast. That’s what happens when rich people decide to obey the regime in advance—just as businesses did in Italy and Germany.

#6

• Ron Wyden Only Talks Like This When The Spies Do Something *Real* Bad (Spencer Ackerman, Forever Wars, Link to Article)

I say all that to say this: The vaguer Ron Wyden is, the worse things are. And [earlier this month], Wyden released maybe the vaguest warning I've ever seen him release.

It's a short letter. It's a letter about a letter. Specifically, it's a letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe to alert Ratcliffe to a classified letter Wyden also sent. Now, that's not quite right. It's not really a letter to Ratcliffe. It's a public record that can be released to you, via reporters like me, noting that Wyden sent a classified letter to the CIA director about the "deep concerns [he has] about CIA activities."

…

All I can tell you is that Wyden's record of warning that there is deep and constitutionally-serious dirt being done by the intelligence agencies in secret is unblemished. Never once in the many years I have been reporting on Wyden have I ever encountered a warning of his to be hyperbolic, let alone baseless. Wyden is the only senator on the intelligence committee I have consistently found trustworthy and appropriately focused, even when I disagree with him. Whatever he means here may not be known for years. But I have never known Wyden to point to smoke that doesn't emerge from a five-alarm fire.

When Spencer Ackerman is worried about something regarding national security or the intelligence community, I worry.

We do not know what Senator Wyden’s concerns are. But something—or, as Wyden suggests, somethings (plural)—have happened. And whatever these activities were are serious enough to get him to send a classified letter to the CIA Director and a short and vague letter to the public, so CIA Director John Ratcliffe cannot claim he didn’t know about it.

#7

• How an 82-Year-Old Great-Grandmother Became a Master-Class Dem Shitposter (Lauren Egan, The Bulwark, Link to Article)

The conventional wisdom has been that this is all part of a generational shift, one sparked by young politicians like Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two charismatic thirtysomething New Yorkers whose aura-farming skills are self-evident. But in recent weeks, it’s been an octogenarian Democrat with no national footprint who has been making some of the biggest waves online: Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas.

As the Democratic party has raced to keep up with Donald Trump’s mid-decade redistricting scheme, the 82-year-old Lucas, president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, has played a leading role in state Democratic lawmakers’ efforts to pass a new map—one that favors their party ten to one, which would be a significant shift from the current breakdown of six Democrats to five Republicans.1 And Lucas has been making her case on X, shitposting about other Democratic-controlled states that have dragged their feet on redistricting and talking trash about her GOP opponents.

Throughout the redistricting fight, she’s made memes of herself as Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones (or, in this case, congressional districts). She’s trolled her Republican rivals, as with this meme making fun of GOP Rep. Rob Wittman for reportedly complaining in private about the redistricting effort (Wittman will likely lose his seat if the new map is approved). Although the Dark Brandon meme felt cringe by the end of the Biden administration, the beaming red laser eyes somehow work for Lucas. She’s shown remarkable fluency in internet slang—from “cuck” to “OOMF”—especially for someone who was born before D-Day.

Last week, Lucas made national news for hitting back at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz after he complained about Virginia Democrats’ proposed new map, posting: “You all started it and we fucking finished it.” It’s that willingness to punch back that has earned her praise from national party figures, including Ocasio-Cortez and Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle, who told me that he was a “big fan of the toughness and tenacity of Louise Lucas.”

Virginia Senate President pro tempore L. Louise Lucas has been doing great work for quite some time. She was a constant thorn in the side of former Governor Glen Youngkin (R), but she absolutely has taken it to a new and inspiring level with her work on redistricting.

Democrats want to see their leaders fight. Lucas has been doing that tough work and often appears to be having quite a good time while doing so. Her take-down of Senator Cruz not only won the internet, but it made a vital point: Democrats didn’t start this mid-decade redistricting battle. President Trump did when he demanded Texas find him five more Republican representatives.

Fighting back and making it clear why they are doing so are strategies I hope national Democrats decide to make a habit.

I would prefer our nation had independent redistricting commissions in each state and an explicit ban on partisan gerrymanders. But that shouldn’t happen until Republican states agree to go along. I am done with Democrats playing by the rules while Republicans get to act as if no rules matter.

The only way to get to that result is to make Republicans pay a price for playing this political game. Democrats clearly surprised Trump and GOP leaders with their aggressiveness.

Now I hope Democrats will engage with Republicans who lost seats around the country to build pressure for bipartisan reform that would make partisan gerrymandering a thing of the past.

#8

• Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95 (Mary Wadland, Zebra, Link to Article)

Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away Saturday, surrounded by her loving family. She was 95.

Her story began far from satellites and supercomputers. Born into poverty on a Virginia farm during the Jim Crow era, West grew up in a segregated South where opportunity was scarce. Through determination and extraordinary academic talent, she graduated first in her high school class and earned a scholarship to Virginia State College (now Virginia State University). She received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1952 and went on to earn a master’s degree in 1955.

In 1956, West began working as a mathematician at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia. She was only the second African American woman hired at the base and one of just four African American employees at the time. What followed was a career that would quietly change the world.

At Dahlgren, West devoted herself to solving one of science’s most complex challenges: accurately modeling the shape of the Earth. Her painstaking calculations and programming helped transform raw satellite data into precise geodetic models, enabling reliable satellite-based navigation. That work ultimately became the backbone of the Global Positioning System (GPS) — now essential to aviation, shipping, emergency response, smartphones, and daily life worldwide.

We should thank the National Center for Women’s Innovations (NCWI) for all their efforts to inform people about the work Dr. West did to make GPS possible. I am glad she was able to live long enough to see her efforts celebrated.

#9

• All Olympic curling stones come from this Scottish island. Here’s how they’re made (Matt Slater, The Athletic, Link to Article)

Every stone you will see gliding along the ice at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium over the next couple of weeks will have been quarried from one uninhabited Scottish island, shaped and polished at an old factory in a small town on the mainland, and signed off on by a guy who has handled every stone thrown at an Olympics since 2006.

The island is Ailsa Craig, the factory is owned by Kays Scotland, and the production supervisor is John Brown, a 60-year-old craftsman who does not even play the game.

I love behind-the-scenes stories like this one. I like watching curling, but I had no idea how the Olympic stones were made.

Now, if we can just get everyone to take a deep breath about the controversy surrounding some teams illegally touching the stone after it crosses the hog line. This is supposed to be a genteel sport, after all!

Post-Game Comments

Today’s Thought from my Readwise collection:

“And, more significantly, makes it clear why the Department of Justice has no interest in doing things like following the law or properly obtaining warrants and stuff. They simply do not have the time or the personnel to run a full-blown ethnic cleansing operation in a single city let alone across the country.

Which is to say, the bad guys can't sustain this shit. They'll do their level best to keep it up, and a lot of people are going to die or be hurt or be deprived of their civil and human rights in the process, but they can't win. There are more of us than them and they don't have the numbers or the will to beat us.

Or, as a wise man once said: “Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.”—Craig Calcaterra, Cup of Coffee, February 4, 2026

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Craig Cheslog (@craigcheslog.com)

GenXer against fascism. Talking politics, women’s soccer, WNBA, Manchester United men and women, USWNT, USMNT, Green Bay Packers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Cubs, and Taylor Swift. (he/him/his) My newsletter: https://thelongtwilightstruggle.com/.

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