Good Morning, Friends! 
We have officially made it to the middle of the week, although "hump day" feels a bit heavier than usual these days. When the news cycle is this relentless, I find that I have to intentionally carve out space for things that are slow and predictable. For me, that usually means turning to the stove.
I decided to make spaghetti sauce last night. Not the jarred stuff, but the real deal, the kind that simmers for six hours until the tomatoes break down into a deep, velvety red and the house smells like a memory. This recipe is special to me because it connects to a project I have been carrying for over twenty years.
I am finally close to finishing my book, "Serpents and Saints," which tells the story of my grandmother. She lived through four years of Nazis occupying her village, and her actual house, in Italy.
Cooking her sauce feels like a way to honor that survival. It reminds me that even when monsters are sleeping in the next room, you still have to feed the people you love. It is a quiet act of defiance in the face of fear. Speaking of monsters and defiance, let’s get to the news.
In a move that perfectly encapsulates the "Warlord Era," President Trump granted a full pardon to Democrat Henry Cuellar today. But this wasn't justice; it was a power play. Trump explicitly cited a "heart wrenching" letter from Cuellar’s daughters as his motivation, treating the federal justice system like a personal favor bank. In the same breath, he endorsed Cuellar’s opponent, Judge Tano Tijerina, calling Cuellar "weak" and "stupid." He saved the man’s life only to own him publicly.
The internet never forgets. Today, a 2019 tweet from DNI Tulsi Gabbard demanding the U.S. "stay out of Venezuela" went viral alongside her new statement praising the "flawless execution" of the raid that kidnapped Maduro. It is the definitive proof that the "Peace Candidate" has fully morphed into the administration's War Hawk, trading her principles for a seat at the table.
While Washington burns, democracy held the line in Virginia. Democrat Mike Jones won the special election for the State Senate, ensuring that Governor elect Abigail Spanberger will have a Democratic "Trifecta" when she takes office. This is a massive strategic victory, cementing Virginia as a fortress against federal overreach.
The administration has opened a new front in its war on Blue States. Citing vague "fraud concerns," HHS is withholding federal child care funding from California, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, and Colorado. This is collective punishment, plain and simple, starving toddlers to punish Democratic governors.
The White House website has been updated to officially label the January 6 insurrectionists as "peaceful patriotic protesters" while blaming Democrats for "staging" the event. This revisionism was paired with Trump’s terrifying "joke" to House Republicans that they should "cancel the election" because "we have the right policy." He is saying the quiet part out loud: he views voting as an unnecessary risk.
We now know the real price of the Venezuela raid. Trump announced he is seizing 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, explicitly stating the proceeds will be "controlled by me." It is an act of state sponsored piracy, stripping a sovereign nation of its resources to feed the U.S. treasury (or the President's discretion).
Despite Trump’s constant claims of inheriting "carnage," new economic analysis confirms that Joe Biden left office with the economy in historic shape, low unemployment, high energy production, and plummeting crime rates. The "disaster" Trump claims to be fixing is a myth he invented to justify breaking the machine.
The "Donroe Doctrine" is expanding fast. Trump issued threats to Colombia ("Cuba is ready to fall") and Mexico ("get their act together") today, signaling that no neighbor is safe from intervention. Meanwhile, the standoff over Greenland continues to threaten the stability of NATO.
I want to close today by reminding you of the power of memory. Writing "Serpents and Saints" has taught me that authoritarians rely on us forgetting. They rely on us forgetting what freedom felt like, or rewriting the past to suit their present. But just like my grandmother remembered the truth of her village, we have to remember the truth of ours.
Hold onto that truth. Write it down. Share it with your neighbors. As long as we refuse to accept their lies as reality, we are winning the most important battle of all.
Enjoy your spaghetti, hug your families, and let’s get some rest. We have work to do tomorrow.
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