Why authoritarian language always precedes authoritarian rule… Every president and most members of Congress have known for the past two centuries that having the ability to wield the power of government is a serious responsibility that carries with it real obligations for self-control. The reason is simple and obvious, although our media appears to not realize it when they act like Trump's and Miller's rhetoric is normal: Government can legally kill you, imprison you, and take everything you own. Fox "News" and other commentators can't.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — What if Tyler Robinson isn't a leftie? — Stop asking America to mourn the makers of hate. — Will Republicans "own the shutdown" if Democratic senators refuse to vote to break a filibuster before the end of the month? — Bolsonaro Behind Bars: What Brazil's Democracy Got Right and America Still Won't. — Trump Admits 'I Couldn't Care Less' When Pressed on 'How Do We Fix This Country?' Say What?! — Senators Merkley and Van Hollen visited Israel recently, and compiled a damning report that calls out the Netanyahu government for "ethnic cleansing" in explicit terms. — Another city with a Black mayor, another raid by the National Guard is on the way. — Trump again chooses to suck up to Putin; what does Vlad have on him? — Bob Kennedy is getting ready to scare the crap out of America's parents, and Trump's down with it. — Hunter in a Farmer's World: Can We Reframe What Medication is Actually Doing for the Hunter's Mind? — Wisdom School: Deep Listening: In Relationships, it Can Be a Lifeline

Scalia's Heller ruling — and the decisions that followed — didn't just reshape gun laws; they transformed political disagreements into open-season assassinations… "I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational." — Charlie Kirk Republican Charlie Kirk is dead. So is former Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. Two clearly political assassinations in the past four months.

Senator Schmitt's words show fascism isn't lurking at the edges — it's leading from the center… Senator Eric Schmitt took the stage at the National Conservatism Conference this past weekend and declared that America is "a nation and a people." With those five words he threw aside the pluralism that has defined this country since before its founding and embraced an ideology rooted in blood and soil, in exclusion and hierarchy. He put it in context: "That's what set Donald Trump apart from the old conservatism and the old liberalism alike: He knows that America is not just an abstract 'proposition,' but a nation and a people, with its own distinct history and heritage and interests… "When they tear down our statues and monuments, mock our history, and insult our traditions, they're attacking our future as well as our past. By changing the stories we tell about ourselves, they believe they can build a new America—with the new myths of a new people. But America does not belong to them. It belongs to us." It's not new to hear Republicans peddling this kind of racialized "us versus them" rhetoric, but it's still shocking to see a sitting United States senator parrot phrases that would be more at home in the speeches of European fascists or Confederates in the years leading up to the Civil War than in the halls of Congress.