A sigh of relief. First response to a message and a headline.
"You can't disappear democracy" protest art. John Barrettt, 2025. Yes, I am glad. I am relieved. But I’ve lived too long and seen how, all too easily, havoc can be wreaked further in shorter amounts of time. I received a text message from my sister at 8 a.m. that Texas, at least at the state legislature level, has changed. Before I went to bed last night, I skimmed emails to find that both houses have flipped. I am relieved. I have also not read any follow-ups, analyses or anything of the Republican responses. Not because I want to “bask in victory” or because I feel like all is well in the world. Quite the opposite, by which I don’t mean I’m going to rain on a parade or not celebrate a heartening development, but because all this means is that for the next two months, I suspect the Regime and the Occupier and their enablers the Oligarchs are going to marshal all they can to retard any progress, further dismantle what they can of the rule of law, and do their level bes...