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DISPATCHES FROM THE CULTURE WARS — JANUARY 13, 2026
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January 13, 2026
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_ There’s anger in the land _
Protesters attended a demonstration in downtown Bowling Green KY
Saturday night to denounce the execution of Renee Good in
Minneapolis., Derek Parham | WKU Public Media
* Mamdani, Islam and Socialism
* Renee Good: The Great Backlash
* How ICE Blitz Changed Chicago
* MAGA’s Cultural Agenda Enforced at Smithsonian
* Fear of “Feminization”
* Educators Fight Back
* LGBTQ Showdown in Pennsylvania School District
* Disability Justice
* Stand Up and Challah
* At 250, “Common Sense” Still Matters
MAMDANI, ISLAM AND SOCIALISM
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By Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, _CounterPunch_
Mamdani faces a herculean task, to sustain a movement while governing
the city. Here, I believe, lies the core of the kind of socialism that
Mamdani needs to remain committed to. A form of socialism that refuses
to worship the instruments of power and sustains the spirit of a
movement that has given rise to it.
RENEE GOOD: THE GREAT BACKLASH
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By John Yang and Lisa Gilbert, _PBS News Weekend_
This week’s series of shootings by federal agents enforcing
Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration have sparked a weekend of
protests. Voices of anger and outrage were heard at rallies and
demonstrations across the country. John Yang speaks with Lisa Gilbert,
co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group that
helped organize Saturday’s protests, for more.
HOW ICE BLITZ CHANGED CHICAGO
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By Francia García Hernández and Madison Savedra, _Block Club
Chicago_
Federal agents arrested thousands during an unprecedented immigration
mission in Chicago. They also killed a man, shot a woman five times,
tear-gassed a 1-year-old, separated families and brutalized people
across the city, claiming it was all to make Chicago safe.
MAGA’S CULTURAL AGENDA ENFORCED AT SMITHSONIAN
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By Charlotte Higgins, _The Guardian_
On 27 March an executive order was published, claiming that the
Smithsonian had “come under the influence of a divisive,
race-centred ideology” that “promoted narratives that portray
American and western values as inherently harmful and oppressive”.
The executive order was titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American
History.
FEAR OF “FEMINIZATION”
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By Clara Bingham, _The National Memo_
“The Great Feminization” makes the case that women have damaged
workplace culture because of their feminine personality traits, like
back-biting, gossiping, and over emoting. It relitigates the excesses
of #MeToo and identifies women’s recent ascendency in some
white-collar professions as the principal cause of the horrors of
“wokism.”
EDUCATORS FIGHT BACK
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By Jesse Hagopian, _Truthout_
Even in a year defined by escalating repression, 2025 delivered
something unexpected: cracks in the censorship machine. Many
universities mounted an important resistance to the Trump
administration’s attempt to coerce ideological compliance by
conditioning access to federal funding on the adoption of so-called
“patriotic education” frameworks that ban discussions of race and
gender.
LGBTQ SHOWDOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS
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By Kathryn Joyce, _In These Times_
A legal challenge brought by a Christian Right law firm, the Thomas
More Society, is challenging the authority of Pennsylvania’s civil
rights commission to apply anti-discrimination protections to trans
students in public schools. Now the Education Law Center is arguing
that Trump’s executive orders are not the law itself and cannot
supersede case law supporting the rights of LGBTQ students.
DISABILITY JUSTICE
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By Marianne Dhenin, _Truthout_
Disability justice advocates and organizers from across the U.S.
explain what’s at stake for disabled people in Trump’s attacks on
voting rights, education, the climate and Indigenous land stewardship,
health care, and trans rights. They also shared where they’re
finding hope and how you can join the struggle for disability rights
and justice as it continues into the second year of Trump 2.0.
STAND UP AND CHALLAH
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By Kelly Rissman, _London Times_
The aroma of babka, challah and chocolate rugelach wafts out of Breads
Bakery’s location in Midtown Manhattan. But on January 2 Breads’
staff declared they were unionising over unsafe working conditions,
minimal pay and — unusually — its ties to Israel, a pointed
complaint given the bakery’s owner was born in Israel, as was its
chief executive.
AT 250, “COMMON SENSE” STILL MATTERS
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By Edward J. Larson, _Salon_
At a time when absolutist regimes ruled most of the globe and
threatened to engulf the rest, “Common Sense” called for popular
governments with frequent elections to assure “their fidelity to the
Public will.... [M]onarchy and succession have laid (not this or that
kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes,” Thomas Paine
wrote.
* Zohran Mamdani
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* islam
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* socialism
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* Renee Nicole Good
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* Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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* protests
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* Lisa Gilbert
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* Public Citizen
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* chicago
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* Make America Great Again
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* Smithsonian
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* feminization
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* Donald Trump
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* educators
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* LGBTQ
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* Pennsylvania
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* public schools
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* Education Law Center of Pennsylvania
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* disability rights
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* Breads Bakery
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* Union
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* Israel
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* Thomas Paine
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* Common Sense
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT
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