TLP Weekend Edition (January 17-18, 2026)
What we're reading and checking out.
👨🏻🦯 “Dem Blindness: The False Gloss of Optimism,” by Joe Klein. On his Substack, Sanity Clause, Klein argues Democrats who have drunk the #Resistance and “affordability” Kool-Aid seem to believe they’ve got things figured out and he begs to differ. A bracing polemic.
There is a specter haunting the Democratic Party. It is the fantasy of economic determinism. It is the notion that if the Dems focus on “affordability,” they can get away with ignoring everything else. But by ignoring everything else—especially the identity issues that elected Trump—they are avoiding some of the most essential questions in American history. They are crippling their credibility.
And so you’ve had a series of “whither the Dems” essays and conversations in recent months, with a strong hint of optimism after the 2025 elections. David Plouffe offers a roadmap in the New York Times—without mentioning issues of identity. Elizabeth Warren, as is her wont, offers an entirely myopic remedy where all of America’s problems vanish—poof!—if we successfully make war on the oligarchs. And Zohran Mamdani, more poetic but no less clueless than Warren says, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Which is simply another way of saying that we will replace excellence and the rigor needed for prosperity with the Industial Age chimera of socialism, a failed effort to impose mediocrity by allowing creativity only in those activities delimited by the state. (I give you Mamdani’s efforts to eliminate gifted and talented programs in the schools…And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blocking a new Amazon facility that offered hundreds of jobs for her community.)
Even the brightest lights in the Democratic Party are ostriching reality. How is it that John Heileman can have a big conversation with Ezra Klein about the state of the Democrats and not talk about identity? Now, I do think it’s valuable that the Liz Warren and Ezra Klein wings of the party have an argument about thinning out the regulatory vise that has made energy and housing development near impossible—and I hope Ezra’s Abundance side wins.
But that victory, should it occur—it will be difficult—won’t change the public image of the Democratic Party. Which is the ACLU defending boys in girls sports at the Supreme Court. Which is the nation’s largest teachers union announcing identitarian gobbleygook—and supporting “xeopronouns” like “xe/xem/xyr,”—don’t even ask—at a recent meeting…
Taken together, the National Education Association and the slightly less insane American Federation of Teachers represent the largest single block of delegates at any recent Democratic Convention. Identity extremists constitute another significant bloc.
Bonus: Ruy spoke with Klein and Joe Trippi on their Two Joes podcast about his three-part series on the future of the left.
👁️ “When Narrative Outpaces Evidence: The Minnesota ICE Shooting,” by Mick West. By now, much of the country has now seen video of an ICE agent shooting Minneapolis resident Renee Good. What has been remarkable about the aftermath of the incident is that while people have likely seen the exact same videos, there are two camps forming around two completely different understandings of what happened, each convinced that the videos validate their interpretation of events.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that one side cannot be more correct than the other, but that is a matter for a court to sort out. In lieu of relitigating the details of the incident, we want to share this piece from Quillette, which takes an even-handed look at what the public can conclude about the shooting based on the available videos versus what is more open to interpretation. It’s not going to resolve the debate about what happened, but it may at least be a useful tool for processing the videos that are out there.
🇮🇹 The Red Brigades: The Terrorists who Brought Italy to its Knees, by John Foot. Remember the Weathermen? Well, compared to the Red Brigades, they were pikers. This book is the definitive study of the Red Brigades and their daring, murderous, and amazingly well-organized activities, especially during the 1970s, that battered the Italian state and obsessed the Italian public for more than a decade. It’s quite a tale, and Foot tells it very well.
Drawing their support from the student protest movements of the 1960s, activists and workers radicalized by the ‘hot autumn’ of 1969, the Red Brigades were inspired by terrorist groups from across the world, especially in Latin America. They recognized no rules and authority other than their own, and launched a campaign of murder, kidnap, kneecapping, and intimidation that paralyzed Italy’s justice system and reshaped the political landscape. For a time, they were admired as freedom fighters by the Italian left and commemorated as martyrs.
Through meticulous research, Foot uncovers the true story behind the myths that have grown around the Red Brigades, highlighting the human costs of their actions, as well as their impact on Italian society. He explains how the contradictions inherent in their actions eventually led to their downfall in a series of high-profile mass trials. The Red Brigades sheds new light on the shadowy world of the brigatisti, and highlights their legacy of conspiracy, distrust and bitterness that still lingers in Italy to this day.
☁️ Castle in the Sky, by Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli’s first official animated film is 40 years old now and still brings a smile to your face. The adventure story focuses on two idealistic youngsters trying to escape the bad guys and find a long-lost magical city:
On a cloudy night, brave Pazu, an engineer's apprentice with a heart of gold, discovers Sheeta, the mysterious girl who fell from the sky. Not knowing what to expect, the boy approaches her, drawn by the iridescent, almost mystical light emanating from Sheeta's necklace. But the same gem has already caught unwanted attention. Now, with dangerous sky pirates and the unstoppable agents of a shadowy organisation hot on their trail, Sheeta and Pazu embark on a challenging quest to decipher the meaning of the intriguing crystal amulet. Legend has it that Laputa was a mythical flying island. After all, Pazu's father was confident that he had seen it. Will the young allies unravel the pendant's puzzling secret and the myth of the floating castle in the sky?
Interestingly, the story and animation are partly inspired by Miyazaki’s trip to rural Wales during the coal miners’ strike of 1984-85.
🎹 Entrance Music, by Okonski. These nine piano-based tracks from the Asheville-based composer Steve Okonski and his compadres Aaron Frazer on drums and Michael Montgomery on bass make a lovely companion on a cold weekend night.
From the rippling notes of the pastoral opener, “October,” Entrance Music is lush with anticipation, both band and listener feeling the tension in the tranquility—where the interplay of jazz improvisation and boom bap beats never shortchanges the musicianship but the talent is ever in service of the song.
While the band does not play together as often as they would like, not much time is needed for the three to lock in. Montgomery’s bass opening to “Passing Through” bends and moves with a singular meditative grace before piano and percussion joins the daylight filling a room with breath and light…
“It’s definitely age, environment, and family—all of that does come through in the music.”
The music is beautiful!