January rambling: American Hegemony

Rebecca Jade sings the Beatles

Mark Carney Warns “American Hegemony” Is Destroying World Order in Candid Speech

World to exceed 1.5°C heating threshold by 2030

FBI puts the final nail in the coffin of free speech

Philadelphia is suing the regime over the decision to remove an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park depicting the factual history of slavery in the United States.

FOTUS’s  second term delivers massive gains for billionaires as working Americans face cuts and rising costs

Study Reveals Who Is Paying 96% of Regime Tariffs

New CDC guidance could revive childhood meningococcal disease, a rare but deadly disease

Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ)

The RootsTech 2026 schedule is live. The world’s largest family discovery event will be taking place March 5-7. Register to hear inspiring speakers, watch exciting keynotes, and get expert help discovering your family story.

The Dangerous Power of Predictive Markets

Also

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Releases 2026 Child Vax Schedule, No Longer Endorses CDC’s Version

Dealing with a sudden death or loss

Bruce Bilson Obituary: Director on The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Hogan’s HeroesPlease Don’t Eat the DaisiesThe Doris Day ShowThe Odd CoupleLove, American StyleB.J. and the BearBarney MillerThe Fall GuyHotelDinosaursThe Sentinel and Viper, among others

Forty years ago, they slipped the surly bond of earth

Baseball HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2026: Center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, and second baseman Jeff Kent.

The Trial of the Century: On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes.

New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident

Element Ball: Letter Gothic

Now I Know: Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste So Awful? and Why Isn’t This Tennis Ball Bouncing? and The Meal That Makes You See Tiny People? and The Panhandle That Failed and Not The Frisco Kids and The $3 Grocery Bag That Became a Global Status Symbol and Every Rose Has Its … Jalen?

ICE

Video Contradicts DHS Claims About Killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Heather Cox Richardson: “Video from the scene shows Pretti directing traffic on a street out of an area with agents around, then trying to help another person get up after she had been pushed to the ground by the agents. The agents then surround Pretti and shoot pepper spray into his face, then pull him to the ground from behind and hit him as he appears to be trying to keep his head off the ground. An agent appears to take a gun out of Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, then turns and leaves with it. A shot then stops Pretti’s movements, appearing to kill him, before nine more shots ring out, apparently as agents continued to fire into his body.It looked like an execution.” 

As William J. Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove noted: “Alex Pretti was killed by people who celebrated his death. They do not need better training. They demand a moral movement to disarm them and reconstruct democracy.”

Legal scholars and political scientists say the regime’s escalating ICE operation, National Guard brinkmanship, and Insurrection Act threats in Minnesota closely resemble conditions identified in civil war simulations, raising alarms about constitutional collapse and violent state-federal conflict. “We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants.”

A photo taken during a protest in south Minneapolis after federal agents killed Alex Pretti encapsulates a story unfolding on America’s streets.

Nurse Alex Pretti’s Death and the Symbolism of the Human Body

Fact Checks

“…when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” — Audre Lorde

Legal Eagle: Unbelievable ICE Memo Just Leaked

Six steps for researching the corporate enablers of ICE

To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers

Why FOTUS Is Finally Waving A White Flag In Minnesota

Pete Buttigieg believes The Ground Is Shifting

Three songs:

Streets of Minneapolis – Bruce Springsteen

ICE, F**K You – A Protest Song for Minneapolis – Scared Ketchup

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent
— often attributed to Thomas Jefferson

MUSIC

Got To Get You Into My Life and Roll Over Beethoven -Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade from the All You Need is Love album, which you can buy individual tracks or the album here

For No One – MonaLisa Twins

Coverville 1564: The New Order Cover Story IV and 1565: The Flaming Lips Cover Story and 1566: The Bob Weir Tribute

From the CBS Sunday Morning archives: The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir

K-Chuck Radio: A moment of Midnight Oil memory (Rob Hirst)

J. Eric Smith on Bob Weir and Rob Hirst

She’s Not Blind – Roberta Flack

It Ain’t Necessarily So – Ella Fitzgerald · Louis Armstrong

Piece of Denmark – Marsh Family parody of “Piece of My Heart” by Erma Franklin re Greenland/FOTUS

John Fogerty: Tiny Desk Concert 16 Jan 2026

Poseidon and Amphirite: An Ocean Fantasy by John Knowles Paine

I Zimbra – Talking Heads
Third movement from Bach’s Partita No. 3 for solo violin
More music
These Are The Days – the cast of All In The Family (1975)
Stand By Me – The Buzztones
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover– Postmodern Jukebox

Da Doo Ron Ron – the Crystals

Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel

The Man I’m Supposed To Be – Bill Callahan

Popular – Lemon Squeezy with a song from Wicked

Mercedes Benz – Mari Gazen  (Janis Joplin cover)

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da –  The Police

I Just Might – Bruno Mars

That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne and Friends (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder)

J. Eric Smith’s Genre Delve #9: Hip-Hop/Rap and #10: Reggae

Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

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Ramblin' with Roger
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