Hi friends!
A funny thing happened while looking for articles to include in today’s newsletter. Not “ha ha” funny, but something I definitely found unusual — in a good way.
Dave posted a video last week referencing how “masked ICE agents continue to kidnap people in the U.S.” When I typed the word “ICE” into Google News to find related coverage, I expected to find terrifying news articles about this very thing. Instead, I found stories about people fighting back against ICE’s occupation of Chicago, where I live.
I think a lot about fear’s role in news coverage. As journalists, our job is to tell you about the world as it is. That inevitably means sharing stories about scary stuff, like ICE agents kidnapping people. But it’s easy to do that and never interrogate the effect it has on our readers, how it creates a dynamic in which we make our livelihoods off of scaring the wits out of you, or how it might make you feel hopeless — even when the platonic ideal of journalism often means getting people more civically engaged, not less.
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So, how do we mitigate that while also acknowledging the terrifying reality of authoritarianism? I think some of the coverage I’m seeing of ICE provides a model. Yes, there are stories of agents kidnapping children, allegedly assaulting the people they detain, and ensnaring U.S. citizens in their crackdown (not that these things are any less horrific when they happen to non-citizens). There are also stories of protests, mutual aid, and judges trying to ensure accountability and uphold the rule of law.
In a profession that often avoids taking sides, telling you what’s “good news” can be risky business. I don’t know if it’s my job to tell you what to feel hopeful or hopeless about. But I do know that LNI hasn’t been afraid to call a spade a spade — we know kidnapping when we see it, and authoritarianism has a dictionary definition we can point to. I also know that when I’ve covered issues like this in the past, I often get comments from people asking what they can do, or comments just despairing over the state of the world. Hopefully, this helps.
With that, let’s dive in to the news Dave has covered in the past week.
Watch me try to seamlessly tie three news stories from this video into one blurb
In a group chat first reported on by POLITICO, leaders of Young Republican groups across the U.S. used racist slurs and descriptors against Black people, discussed putting political opponents in gas chambers, talked about SAing their enemies, expressed support for slavery and praised Hitler. Many of the chat’s members — including one state senator, Samuel Douglass in Vermont — work in government or party politics.
While many Republicans have condemned the messages, Vice President JD Vance defended the chat’s members. He also criticized recently resurfaced texts from Virginia’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, in which he wrote that the then-leading Republican in the state house should get “two bullets to the head.”
The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to police speech it doesn’t like. The State Department announced it revoked visas for six people, citing remarks they made after the killing of Charlie Kirk. This comes amid the administration’s mounting efforts to surveil people’s activity on social media, and its mounting efforts to kick people out of the U.S. because of their stances on issues like Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Trump’s role in bolstering white supremacy.
Ceasefire updates
Israel is demanding that Hamas uphold its obligation to return the bodies of all 28 hostages who died. Hamas says they have handed over all the bodies they can recover. Meanwhile, the Israeli government hasn’t approved the entry of heavy equipment to Gaza needed to search for missing bodies. Gaza health officials say Israel has returned 120 bodies of Palestinian prisoners, and doctors say many of the bodies show signs of torture.
While President Donald Trump has taken credit for the ceasefire deal, he’s using his own military and federal agents against people in the U.S. He’s considering sending the National Guard to San Francisco as a federal judge dealt another blow to his efforts to deploy the National Guard in Portland. Various forms of resistance against National Guard troops and ICE in Chicago also appear to be working.
Readers respond:
A billionaire threw an end of the world party
Billionaire Peter Thiel recently delivered four lectures on the Antichrist. He pointed to multiple people he believes could be “legionnaires of the Antichrist,” including climate activist Greta Thunberg, and he said AI regulations could be harbingers of armageddon.
Thiel is an influential force in Silicon Valley who pushed Trump to pick JD Vance as his vice president and has poured nearly a million dollars into Republican incumbents’ 2026 reelection campaigns. Thiel’s company also won a huge contract with Britain’s National Health Service a couple of years ago.
Why does it matter what one guy thinks about the Antichrist? To quote an editor from The Guardian, “you can read what this wacky billionaire has to say, and you can judge it compelling or lacking. Once informed, you may hold him accountable. Do you feel comfortable that this person has a great deal of sway over your vice-president if you’re in the US or your healthcare system if you’re in the UK?”
What is COLA?
It’s not just the thing I order at bars on Saturday nights when I’m up past my bedtime and need a caffeine boost. It stands for cost-of-living adjustment, and the Social Security Administration announces one every year.
They decide the size of the increase based on inflation. The idea is to raise Social Security payments to keep up with the cost of things like housing, food, clothing, transportation and medical care. On average, it’s an annual increase of 2.6%.
This year, the government shutdown has delayed the cost-of-living adjustment announcement. The Social Security Administration now expects to announce the adjustment on October 24.
This video is part of Dave’s partnership with Free the Facts, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that empowers young Americans to learn and lead.
Each week, after running through the news Dave has covered in the past week, I turn things over to him for some analysis. But Dave is sick this week, so I’m turning things over to a special guest.
Hi friends! Micah stepping in here for Dave who is a bit under the weather. You may remember me from such episodes as Q&A with Micah and numerous “I hope Micah approves the expense report for this costume” Tweets.
I’m going to use my brief takeover of Dave’s Corner to ask if you’re enjoying this unleashed version of Dave? I know I am. I think it’s important to call out fascism, white supremacism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and all of the other terrible things that are happening in this country. And Dave just couldn’t do that in his old job.
I’m also really glad Dave isn’t forced into a false construct of giving equal weight to all sides of an argument. There’s no good argument for supporting the behavior of ICE agents in Chicago and Portland and we shouldn’t pretend that there is.
When I first became a journalist, let’s say a short time ago, one of the things I took for granted was statements from officials were given in good faith. Well that was certainly stupid of me then, and it’s even more wrong of journalists now. That’s why I get angry every time a news organization prints or airs a statement from the Department of Homeland Security like it’s gospel. Kristi Noem shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt and Dave is rightfully calling that out.
It’s also angering to see Republicans try to paint this weekend’s “No King’s” rally as anti-American. What’s more American than protesting your government? By the way, if you’re going to a rally this weekend, send us your pictures. We’d love to see them.
OK, thanks for the space Dave! He’ll be back with a new video tomorrow and in your inboxes Sunday night or Monday. Back to Chris…
Before we let you go, we have a few usual fixings at the end of this newsletter. First up is a pet picture from our loyal readers. This week, we have Lieutenant Whiskers (contemplating her latest case while staring out the window) and her sister Luna (staring directly to camera).
Lieutenant Whiskers’ black coffee and cigarette are laying just out of frame.
Each week, I also hide one non-news related link in the body of this email and reveal what it is down here. Did you find it? It’s a link to an article about what kind of van the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo is. To ring in spooky season, I checked out a DVD set of ‘The New Scooby Doo Movies’ from my library and it’s been the perfect way to turn my brain off.
Until next week!
Chris
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