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Programming note: On June 8 at 7pm ET, Mona Charen and Mark Hertling will kick off the Bulwark Book Club with a live chat about Mark’s book, If I Don’t Return: A Father’s Wartime Journal. This livestream is for Bulwark+ subscribers on Substack and YouTube.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

School’s out for summer… And one great way to kick off summer is with some baseball. It was a perfect night in Florence, Kentucky on Friday to watch some Frontier league baseball. The Florence Y’alls defeated the Schaumburg Boomers 17-4 in a game with the home team amassing 24 hits(!), followed by an excellent fireworks show. I hope there’s some great baseball in your future.

I Tried to Sell My House With a Chatbot… Over five frantic days, the NYT’s Stuart Thompson gambled his family’s life savings on a hunch that A.I. could outperform a real estate agent. 🎁

“Garbage intrudes upon our mirages, puts everything on equal footing, and tells the whole story—if you know how to listen.” On my flight back from California last week, I read with great interest Simon Paré-Poupart’s Harper’s cover story on the lives of trash collectors in Montreal. Make some time for it this weekend.

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LIVE FROM CALIFORNIA1

🚨OVERTIME🚨

What a whirlwind tour we just had. Thank you all for coming to be in the meat space with us in San Diego and Los Angeles. It was such a treat to talk with hundreds of Founders, Navigators, members and guests, including many Clevelanders: despondent about the Cavs and happy for the Guardians’ recent streak. The Cavs have done it before.

After I get settled returning from our live show trips, I do an inventory of who I need to reach out to, and it is a lot of people.

Los Angeles set a record for the largest pre-show mixer to date, and while it disappoints me there isn’t time to have a conversation with everyone, I sure tried. Thank you to those kind souls who brought us gifts, be they food, shirts, hats or political knicknacks. And a special thanks to those who heeded the call for homemade JVL “you did that!” stickers, of which I have a small collection, and a robust repository of. Our people are the best.

The suggestions were many of the ones I appreciated most. Each event is a new adventure for us, and we’re constantly learning, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing. Your feedback is what makes every show better than the last. We try new things every time, and we genuinely appreciate hearing what worked, what could be improved, and what you’d love to see us put together in the future.

As Sarah reminded us, getting tired is the authoritarian playbook. My biggest takeaway, personally, is that these live shows are restorative: the real life reminder of why we do this. Because it is a two way street: you keep us sane, too.

Have a memorable Memorial Day.

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Respect at USS Arizona

By Mark Hertling

The American Battle Monuments Commission is one of the smallest but most sacred institutions in the U.S. government. Most Americans have never heard of it. Yet this agency silently supports hundreds of thousands in its care who are laid to rest among the rows of white marble crosses and Stars of David above the cliffs of the Normandy beaches, near the sands of the Sicily-Rome landing sites, in a grand and expansive park in the city of Manila, beneath the memorial walls at Tunisia and Cambridge, and at dozens of other sites.

I know this organization well, because several years ago I was appointed by the president to serve alongside other commissioners as members of the governing board of the ABMC. It was one of the greatest honors of my life.

Congress created the commission in 1923 after General John J. Pershing recognized that America needed more than temporary wooden battlefield markers to honor those who died overseas in World War I. He understood that the nation owed its fallen who had fought in battles overseas something dignified and enduring. The ABMC stewards that promise, maintaining twenty-six cemeteries and thirty-one large memorials around the globe honoring Americans who died far from home.

The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor is not technically an ABMC site (it’s administered by the National Park Service), but it is an equal to the other sites because of those who rest below the surface. The memorial platform spanning the sunken battleship is not merely a historical attraction; it is the viewing platform of a sarcophagus. Below that white deck lie 1,102 sailors and Marines, entombed inside the ship where they died during the attack on December 7, 1941. Oil seeps slowly from the wreckage beneath the water’s surface. The sight of these “black tears” becomes an emotional memory for those who visit the site.

Which is why the recent reports of FBI Director Kash Patel conducting a “VIP snorkeling excursion” near the wreck has struck so many veterans, military families, and citizens of our nation as deeply inappropriate.

Military memorials and cemeteries are not ordinary public spaces. They carry unwritten rules of conduct grounded in humility and respect for our nation’s fallen. At ABMC cemeteries overseas, visitors are constantly reminded that these places exist first for the dead and for families who mourn them—but they are also for the living who visit to pay their quiet respect.

When anyone, but especially officials, visit these sites, the focus is usually a solemn act of remembrance. Wreath laying is quiet and somber, ceremonies are restrained, and senior VIPs avoid turning such visits into performative moments centered on themselves rather than on the dead.

Perhaps Patel intended no disrespect during his adventure. Intention matters at such places, but so does judgment. Rank, celebrity, or office does not exempt anyone from that understanding. If anything, senior officials should model greater awareness of the symbolism attached to these places. Because memorials are not about the living: They are about those who sacrificed for their country.

During my time with the ABMC, I often became emotional watching visitors pay their respect at the graves of the fallen. Family members would kneel beside a marble cross; veterans would stare at the names and ponder the loss. At Normandy, some would bring sand from the beach and rub it into the carved name on the cross or the Star of David on the tombstone, turning the memorial gold. Most would stand silently for minutes, sometimes hours, unable to speak. The ABMC staff at these sites understood their role was to preserve not only the grounds, but the dignity of those moments.

That same sense of reverence should apply at Pearl Harbor.

The USS Arizona Memorial, like the sites overseen by the AMBC, is sacred ground. It reminds us that freedom was purchased by young Americans who never came home. And it deserves a level of humility and respect from visitors—especially public officials—that befits the sacrifice commemorated there.

General Pershing once said of America’s fallen, “Time will not dim the glory of their deeds.”

It is our responsibility to ensure that spectacle—or officials using the roles they have been entrusted with to gratify themselves—is not allowed to diminish it, either.

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THE BULWARK ON SUNDAY…

This Sunday at noon, BILL KRISTOL will be joined by ROB FLAHERTY to discuss his recent feature-length article, “Here’s What I Told the DNC Autopsy.” Watch it on Substack or YouTube!

If you haven’t made some time for the piece, spend some time today before tomorrow’s show. It’s going to be an interesting discussion!

Comment Discussion: What would you like to hear discussed by Bill and Rob about the piece and what’s next for Democrats?

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! My Cleveland teams may have had a rough Friday, but if you’d told me last Saturday we’d still be talking about the Cavaliers season? I would’ve expressed some doubt. Alas, game 7 it is! Come on CAVS!

As the school year comes to a close, I hope you’re able to enjoy the last days of Spring… without too much in the way of allergies!

Inside The Bulwark… We’re doing a series on LinkedIn where Bulwark staff answer some questions for people to get to know us a little better. Here’s my contribution. Come for the answers, but stay for the surprise doppelganger a reader picked out in the comments. I’ll take it! And follow us there, and be sure to scroll back a little to read the contributions from my colleagues.

California, here we come! We are packing up for our traveling shows next week in San Diego1 and Los Angeles. If you have a ticket and are coming, we look forward to seeing you! And if you see me in my Cleveland Guardians hat, I hope you’ll say hello! If you are local and want to come, we still have some tickets available.

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COME JOIN US IN CALIFORNIA!

May 21: Bulwark Live in Los Angeles at the The Novo featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam along with 🆕 special guests Jane Coaston, Van Lathan, Jon Favreau, Erin Ryan, and Brian Tyler Cohen.

May 20: Bulwark Live in San Diego at the Balboa Theatre featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

COMMUNITY MOMENT OF THE WEEK

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to check out one of our new formats above: The Triad Mailbag! Lots of members love it:

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! It’s a wonder to me that the school year is almost over (just as the Cavs’ season almost is, too, unfortunately…) Time flies! But at least with summer comes baseball.

About a year ago, our friend Jay Nordlinger started his own site, Onward & Upward, which I often link to here. It’s celebrating its first birthday and I hope you’ll got over and enjoy Jay’s reflections on a year and consider signing up.

The Super Bowl FCC Complaints are in… And boy are they depressing.

The Sound He Thought Was a Tank Was a Skateboard… A Japanese Photographer’s Ukraine. (United24Media)

A new kind of van life: $180 to camp for seven months – and a real taste of freedom (The Guardian).

Philip Caputo, RIP. Our former colleague Marc Caputo remembers his one-of-a-kind father.

The Devil Wears MAGA… Twenty years later, we’ve changed -- and not for the better, argues Matt Labash.

A back of the napkin analysis… Of the policies in the movie The American President, courtesy of Ben Dreyfuss.

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COME JOIN US IN CALIFORNIA!

May 21: Bulwark Live in Los Angeles at the The Novo featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

May 20: Bulwark Live in San Diego at the Balboa Theatre featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! It was a big night for playoff Overtime last night, with my Cleveland Cavaliers falling to the Toronto Raptors and the Montreal Canadiens to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both series go to game 7. Congrats to the Buffalo Sabres for advancing past the Bruins. With my Blues not making the playoffs, I’m rooting for this gritty team. Go Sabres!

Tim Miller joins Linda Chavez on her podcast Older and Wiser at the Renew Democracy Initiative to talk about Hasan Piker.

David Baer will join Bill Kristol on The Bulwark on Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern to discuss the lessons of Hungary (and his piece).

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COME JOIN US IN CALIFORNIA!

May 21: Bulwark Live in Los Angeles at the The Novo featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

May 20: Bulwark Live in San Diego at the Balboa Theatre featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Behind the scenes in Columbus… Earlier this week, there were a few details that did not make it into my story. There was the whole saga of… getting in.

TPUSA has a history of denying The Bulwark access to its events, dating back to our earliest days, so I took some precautions. Still, I didn’t hide my identity. I wore a Bulwark hat to the show! But I came registered as a citizen, since there was no press registration. Just… nobody asked.

Meeting up with my pal D.J. Byrnes (The Rooster) and heading into the venue in a line filled with very few students…. we stuck out. If they denied us entry, well, that would’ve been the story. But we got in, only to run right into Rep. Gary Click, a frequent statehouse subject of Byrnes’s reporting. Naturally, D.J. immediately turned on the camera and started asking questions.

I thought we’d gotten lucky until a TPUSA staffer quickly picked up on the fact that we were not your typical attendees. She got on the phone and shadowed us through the lobby while we milled around. We’re cooked, I thought.

D.J. ordered some popcorn for $6, as one does at the circus, and then we calmly made our way inside and picked a spot. We were prepared to be escorted out of the same auditorium (where my sister graduated) at any moment. Obviously, that didn’t happen.

Suspiciously, a guy who didn’t clap was positioned in our row. He didn’t stand, didn’t cheer, didn’t show emotion: he just stared straight ahead. We didn’t clap either, so perhaps he was writing a story, too. I kid.

And of course, since it was mentioned, the White Castle went on the expense report.

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Tulsi Gabbard’s Dangerous War… Trump’s hatchet woman is weaponizing classified intelligence like never before, writes David Corn at Mother Jones.

A Ghastly Alliance, &c… Jay Nordlinger on North Koreans in the Ukraine war; the Donald Trump exemption; a mayor’s demagoguery; and more!

Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.

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May 20: Bulwark Live in San Diego at the Balboa Theatre featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

Bulwark Live San Diego

May 21: Bulwark Live in Los Angeles at the The Novo featuring Tim, Sarah, and Sam

Bulwark Live Los Angeles

On The Bulwark on Sunday, NYU law professor Ryan Goodman joins Bill Kristol to discuss how surveillance powers could be used—and abused—by the Donald Trump administration. Plus, a broader look at Trump’s escalating clashes with the rule of law and what, if anything, Congress can still do to push back.

Watch on Substack or YouTube at Noon Eastern on Sunday.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

The best free restaurant bread in America… Come take a journey with Caity Weaver at The Atlantic, as she finds the best free restaurant bread in America. (I’ve had it! It’s good!)

Joe Rogan’s down on Trump and MAGA — but he’s still hardcore MAHA… “The influential podcaster continues to spread RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine gospel — and a new poll shows more Americans are growing comfortable with having measles back…” writes Anthony Fisher at MS NOW.

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine… Read Noah Shachtman and Robert Silverman’s amazing cover story at WIRED.

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First of all, thanks to all of you last week for your kind comments and notes about Shane DiGiovanna. Your kind comments, emails, and donations to his charity mean a lot. As longtime readers know, I wear quite a few hats here at The Bulwark. Among my favorite things, aside from writing profiles, is being in the “meatspace” with our people.

A few times a year, we actually get together… at live shows in person, or online for livestreams and at Founders town halls. We’ve got one coming up Monday night. Will we be celebrating the end of Orbánism, among other things? I hope.

These Founders Town Halls are a small thank-you to the folks who pay a little (or a lot) extra to help us make The Bulwark available to anyone, regardless of ability to pay. It’s not top-secret stuff… more a preview of what’s coming, plus a chance for people to ask granular questions and nerd out about how this all works.

At its core, the program is pretty simple: people who can afford to pay a bit more get a few small thank-yous like access to the Founders Lounge chat and invites to Bulwark Live pre-show mixers and these semi-annual Town Halls. Their extra support helps to fuel our growth and cover the cost of the free memberships I give out every day to folks who write in.

Through emails and at live events, I meet a lot of readers who’ve needed that free access, sometimes for a short stretch, sometimes indefinitely. We’re happy to provide it. But what stands out is that many of those same people, the moment it’s within reach, want to pay.

It’s a point of pride, and it says a lot about the kind of community we’ve built. If you’re reading this and need a free membership, just reply to this email. Please.

And if you’ve been thinking about doing more to support the mission, I hope you’ll consider joining before our Town Hall on Monday. We archive them, so if you can’t make it live, or decide to join later, you can always watch it later.

If you’re interested in upgrading but have a tax bill in the mail, hit reply on this email to let us know you’d like to upgrade to a $300 Founders or $1200 Navigators membership on monthly basis. We’ll set this up for you and charge the card on file.

Upgrade to Founders

[Founders and Navigators: Remember to leave us a question or comment here so we know what’s on your mind and to help inform our program for Monday night.]

ICYMI:

🚨OVERTIME🚨

The Deleted Scenes… Our friend and colleague Addison Del Mastro’s Deleted Scenes is celebrating its fifth anniversary. It is one of my favorite sites, probably because Addison and I share a few interests, among them: what did that place used to be? In the latest edition, Addison explores a longtime cheesesteak place in my old Alexandria neighborhood and uncovers a neat untold story of fast food history. If this sort of thing also piques your interests do consider subscribing!

Joakim Noah Faces Cleveland… The retired Chicago Bull spent some time in the Forest City to see if, now that he wasn’t competing with the Cavs, if he could view it in a different light. Worth the quick watch.

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Congrats to… Chris Wilbur, Steve Snyder, and Max Motherway for finishing first, second, and third in the Overtime NCAA Bracket: each had Michigan winning it all. Also, a nod to Jonathan Cohn’s Wolverines (who beat my Billikens) and Sam Stein’s UConn Huskies in a dominant run.

It’s Masters weekend. Will you be watching?

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This week’s Overtime is going to be a bit different. Come with me on a brief journey to remember our friend Shane DiGiovanna.

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SHANE DIGIOVANNA WANTED to be an astronaut. From the time he was a child, reading Cosmos at age 7, Shane was captivated by the same sense of wonder that has driven generations of explorers—from NASA scientists to backyard stargazers.

As I sat on the couch Wednesday in Cincinnati to watch the launch of Artemis II with my daughters—watching them watch in wonder—I couldn’t help but hide a tear or two, as I knew Shane had the best seat in the house. He died Monday, March 31, at the age of 27 and a half.

Shoot for the moon, the saying goes, and you’ll end up among the stars. Shane’s epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a lifelong incurable condition that causes incredibly fragile skin, made becoming an astronaut impossible. But it never stopped him from reaching for it anyway. He experienced more space-related activities than most people ever will: weightless flights with his family; seeing the Mars rover Curiosity in the clean room; meeting the people who built it; standing alongside astronauts Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan at 14 for a press conference announcing the launch of a children’s health fund created in honor of Neil Armstrong at Cincinnati Children’s, the very place that helped make Shane’s extraordinary life possible. Whenever he could, Shane put himself as close to the center of that universe as possible.

Shane wrote: “Star Trek showed me a world where anyone can explore the stars, no matter who you are. It made a big difference to me when I was growing up. I would (and still do) distract myself during my bandage changes and dream of being a Starfleet captain.”

I first met Shane in person after he emailed last spring to mention he’s a big-time Bulwark reader and a fellow Cincinnatian. He told me that space was his “passion,” an early and enduring fascination that clicked with his love of language, learning, and the big questions about how the world works. Whether it was space, politics, political maps (a subject area he was known for commenting expertly about on Twitter), or wanting to selflessly help those afflicted by EB, Shane’s intelligence and passion for life always shined through.

Shane and his mother, Patsy, sat down with me last year for a profile. They gave nearly three hours to me and my friend, Bulwark reader and photographer Aaron Bludworth. Shane was clear-eyed about his health; in addition to his EB, he had been dealing with cancer treatments for a few years. He knew his time was limited. But he wanted to spend his remaining days fighting RFK Jr., Elon Musk, and DOGE, not just for himself, though there was real concern about what their depredations meant for him, but for others like him. Shane carried himself like a Starfleet captain, looking out for his fleet: people with a long road ahead.

We also did a video interview so his fellow Bulwark fans could see his face and hear him speak.

Then, last fall, Shane entered hospice—and took the opportunity to throw himself an amazing celebration of life while he was still in shape to do it. People came from all around the pale blue dot to be there. Despite us all knowing the reason we were there, it was hardly somber; hell, it was more fun than most weddings I’ve ever been to. (You can read Shane’s speech here.)

But Shane was still not done: In the last months of his life, he worked with our congressman, Greg Landsman, on legislation (H.R. 7877) to help others with EB. He got to become texting buddies and zoom with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Greg said that what stayed with him most from their conversations was simple: “Just do the right thing. Always do the right thing.”

If you’d like to read Shane’s obituary and see the memories from his loved ones, that’d be a great way to honor Shane. And if you’d like do something more concrete to honor his memory, there are two things you might consider:

First, you can donate to his endowment at Cincinnati Children’s: Doggie’s Friends.1 Shane helped start Doggie’s Friends, an effort to get comfort items to children facing the kinds of long, isolating hospital stays Shane knew well. The idea, he said, was to focus on “the kids who are dealt a really bad hand from the beginning”—not the routine injuries, but “the 5-year-old who is in their twenty-seventh surgery . . . and desperately needs a friend to cuddle with and to talk to.”

The other thing you could do doesn’t cost anything: Get your member of the House to cosponsor his namesake bill, H.R. 7877, the Shane DiGiovanna Act.

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IN THE YEAR OR SO I GOT TO KNOW SHANE—in fact, from the very first email he sent—I knew heartbreak was on the horizon. But neither that reality, nor the condition that debilitated Shane, diminished him. Most notably, Shane had his own gravity: He pulled you in. You had no choice if he wanted you in his orbit.

“A short but well lived life” a friend and fellow Bulwark reader observed. “Incredible, the gifts we receive when we finally open our eyes.” Indeed.

Like all who were pulled into Shane’s orbit, either by chance, fate, or luck, I will miss our friend, and won’t forget him. The Bulwark community is richer for having him as a shining part of its tapestry.

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If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today: get the next year of Bulwark+ for just $80—that’s through election day 2026 and beyond. This offer ends Sunday night.

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Read on for what’s going on around The Bulwark this week and some thoughts on growing this community, No Kings and the present moment.

FIRST UP TODAY: JVL, Andrew, Catherine and others are going live at 2 p.m. ET on Substack and YouTube. If you can’t make it to a No Kings Rally, join us online and see what we’re seeing and what members are sharing from their rally!

ON THE SECRET PODCAST THIS WEEK…

JVL and Bill Kristol (filling in for Sarah) discuss escalating Iran conflict, the risky push toward a wider war, and why the real damage may outlast the fighting. They also get into the global fallout—from threats to the petrodollar system to the collapse of U.S. alliances—and what a rushed exit might look like.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

I’m not going to be able to watch our livestream today and for good reason: I’ll be at the Cincinnati No Kings march downtown myself!

As The Bulwark has grown, newer folks might assume we’ve been livestreaming like this all along. Nope. I remember being behind the scenes, and sometimes on camera, for our early forays. We called it “Thursday Night Bulwark.” It felt like a big production at the time, and honestly, it stressed me out each week, as plenty could go wrong.

But tomorrow? I’m genuinely excited. What I’m most excited about is our ability to feature you and what you’re seeing. That’s something we couldn’t easily do back then, when the whole livestream operation felt like it was held together with tin cans, string and duct tape. If you’re showing up in the streets tomorrow, please send us what you’re seeing, what message you’re sending, and, if you’re willing: a picture of you. We’d love to feature it on our livestream and social.

» 📸 Share pictures in our Members Only Chat 📸 «

In 2026, as we’ve grown here on Substack and on YouTube (where we recently passed one billion views for our work), it’s a near-daily occurrence and not a fire drill.

We go into today’s No Kings fresh off of our four shows in Minneapolis, Dallas, and Austin. The members we met, the stories they told us: harrowing and heartfelt? There is a lot of wind in our sails. If you haven’t, go check out what Sarah wrote yesterday about what motivates us each morning.

And if you’ve been to one of our shows, Sarah often closes with this message: authoritarians want us exhausted. What better way to put wind in your sails (and ours, and others) than by going to a No Kings march, or joining us online?

We’ve always had a strong community, and it’s growing. A lot. And this growth has enabled us to bring more great Bulwark articles and shows to you, and with our ever-growing reach, thanks to you, we’re getting pro-democracy voices into the feeds of our fellow Americans who didn’t even know they were our people.

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ICYMI: At the end of JVL and Tim’s livestream with Katie Couric this week, JVL thanks Katie for helping to give his father-in-law a few more years. If your family has a history, consider getting your colon checked!

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OUR LIVE SHOWS, DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! While I’m glad to be home to watch my Saint Louis Billikens1 take on Goliath Michigan (we’re coming for you, Jonathan Cohn!), I’ve got plenty of wind in my sails after our live shows in Dallas and Austin this week.

As Sarah reminded us, that’s what authoritarians want: to wear you down. I had the chance to chat with a couple hundred folks—and I left, as I hope you did, with a renewed sense of vigor. And a lot of snacks from Buc-ee’s.

As is usually the case at our events, I got to see old friends. People traveled from Florida and as far north as Lake Superior in Wisconsin, road tripping the whole way with treats in tow. I also got to make a whole bunch of new friends. And I learned that fan merch can be the best merch. (Seriously: Go see why Tim brought Shelby on stage in Austin.)

Whether we’d corresponded on email over an account issue, or we’ve chatted on social media but never met, the best part for me at these is putting a face with a name. Thanks to all who came and said hello.

If you haven’t been to one of these, don’t worry: we’re planning more shows in the near future. We hope to see you!

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Discussion Prompt: Who busted your bracket? For me? Ohio State. Though, as I landed in Kentucky, the Wildcats tied it at the last second to send it to… Overtime. My favorite!

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! I spent last evening with Martin Sheen and the Cincinnati Pops, performing Peter Boyer’s American Mosaic. Highly recommend.

Both Boyer and Joe Sohm, whose visual work was featured, were in attendance, making the evening all the more special—led by the effervescent John Morris Russell in celebration of America’s 250th. The recording will be released at a later date. You can stream it for free tomorrow afternoon, in fact! Want a sizzle?

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March Madness is here… And boy am I glad I missed the first half of the SLU-GW game! Want to enter the Overtime bracket competition? Let’s see who has the best picks!

The Last Republican… The long-awaited Adam Kinzinger documentary is free to watch. I know nobody likes reliving January 6th, but it is important. Watch it. Share it.

The first AI election is here… Phil Edwards explains.

A Second Heart… Twenty-One Years of Borrowed Time and Earned Life, by Dave Kitzinger.1

IN SEARCH OF BANKSY… “The British street artist’s identity has been debated, and closely guarded, for decades. A quest to solve the riddle took Reuters from a bombed-out Ukrainian village to London and downtown Manhattan — and uncovered much more than a name.” At Reuters, an impressive investigation by Simon Gardner, JamesPearson, and Blake Morrison.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! Thanks to all of you who joined me in pre-ordering Sarah’s new book. It’s moving up the ranks thanks to you all. If you haven’t ordered it yet, think of it as a way to help the cause and help make Sarah’s birthday great!

The New Bulwark App… And thanks to all of you who sent kind notes and helpful feedback for our new app, available on Apple and Google Play stores.

Come Join us in Austin! There are still tickets if you’d like to join us in the Lone Star State.

March Madness… Next week in Overtime, we’ll launch the Overtime March Madness Bracket. Congratulations to Miami University on their perfect season! My Saint Louis Billikens won the A10 season, going 27-3. In the chat: Who is going to win the tourney?

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ICYMI: Here are links to each newsletter section so you can quickly get back to that edition you may have missed this week.

Morning Shots - Triad - Huddled Masses - Press Pass - Bulwark Goes to Hollywood - The Opposition - False Flag - The Breakdown - Receipts

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! Hope early spring weather is coming to you. Go out and enjoy some sports or fun activities if you can.

Why Amazon is full of crap… Phil Edwards takes a deep dive on a problem of Jeff Bezos’s own making.

Fishing The Dung Stream… Matt Labash on withstanding our politics and our turd water, which are often one and the same.

American Culture, Cont… Jay Nordlinger on the Bradys, all-beef patties, merry Oldsmobiles, and more.

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THE MINNESOTA SHOWS

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! Is this un-liberation day? Is that what we’re calling the post-ruling pause on Trump’s unconstitutional tariffs? He seems intent on doubling down on it, and bold strategy! Let’s see if it pays off for him.

We’re back from Minnesota and our two sold out shows. It was amazing. Inspiring. Eye opening. Beautiful. Especially the snow on Wednesday. It came quickly but so did all of you. The house was packed both nights.

I really appreciated the conversations with Founders in the lobby before the show, and meeting folks in the aisles afterward. While packing up, it occurred to me that I could probably start a small Bulwark Reader Gift Museum at this point. (Though I’m not sure how I’d preserve the trail mixes, award-winning cookies, and other baked goods.)

I left with art, artisan chocolates, a minor league baseball hat, and an impressive supply of home-made Rebel Loon stickers and buttons.

Personally, I love the snow and it made the trip all the more beautiful, but I’d also like to come back again during baseball season in the spring. These trips always put the wind in my sails, but the generosity and hospitality were next level. Thank you all for making it special, friends old and new. Thank you for letting us be with you and see you, and for coming to spend time with us.

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Basketball update… As March approaches, the Miami Redhawks remain undefeated at 26-0, and while my Saint Louis Billikens dropped one to Rhode Island, their comeback win over VCU came with a possible risk of suspension. The Madness is perhaps here early. (And we’ll have a bracket: stay tuned!)

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Valentine’s Day… We hope that if you celebrate, you have a safe, fun and enjoyable holiday!

And with March around the corner… I am pleased to report that my Saint Louis University Billikens are now 24 and 1, and nearby Miami University remains undefeated at 25-0.

A few tickets remain… For our Minneapolis show on the 18th, and more are left for Dallas and Austin. I hope to see you there!

Trump tanked his own polling by not focusing on violent criminals for deportation… Americans supported going after “the worst of the worst.” But less than 14% of the more than 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE have been charged with or convicted of a violent crime, writes Anthony Fisher at MS Now.

Winners and Losers, &c…. Jay Nordlinger on patriotism, sedition, music, Valentine’s Day, and more.

World’s Dumbest People… Think They Can Solve the Nancy Guthrie Ransom Case With Grok. (Matt Novak, Gizmodo).

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

ICYMI: I was up in Springfield, Ohio, earlier this week, where locals are relieved but clear eyed. If you missed my dispatch in Morning Shots, it’s here. If you missed my video dispatch, you can catch it here.

I’ll have more to report as news happens, but the best place you can donate to help locally there is here, the Haitian Support Center.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! And GO BILLIKENS! My alma mater’s basketball team, currently ranked #21, trounced A10 rival Dayton last night in Saint Louis.

What’s a Billiken, you ask? Well, it’s a kind of weird iteration of a once lovable, if slightly creepy mascot dating back to the 1904 World’s Fair. Here’s an archive of my 2016 take on the rebrand, which haunts alumni to this day.

Suffice to say: These Billikens are good. How far can they take it into March? Sound off in the comments: Should we have an Overtime March Madness Bracket?

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The Best of Moira Rose… So many great roles played by Catherine O’Hara, and her work on Schitt’s Creek I think is something I will forever quote. Just had to fold that in there.

In local news… Our recent snow storm brought America a feel good story involving an ODOT snow plow driver and a baby in need of intense medical care. With a happy ending right out a movie.

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Trump’s America is a secret policeman’s paradise… The federal government is rejecting independent investigations into federal agents killing Americans in the streets, while branding observers and dissenters as “terrorists”, writes Anthony Fisher at MS NOW.

A Prayer For The Unjust… Let the hard rain of justice fall, says Matt Labash.

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Substack on TV 📺: Read on for details about how you can watch your favorite Bulwark content on your Smart TV.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Substack TV… Last year when we started ramping up our video content, we heard from Bulwark+ members looking to get our shows on their TVs. We relayed this to our friends at Substack and at long last, Substack TV is here for smart TVs connected to Apple TV (set top box) and Google’s Play Store.1

Use your Bulwark+/Substack profile to sign in and watch all your favorite Bulwark+ content on your TV from the comfort of your couch. Our videos will show up in the TV app as they are published on the site so you can watch them at your leisure, ad-free. Bulwark on Sunday and other livestreams will also be available live through the app, too.

Substack has written a handy “How to” for subscribers explaining how you can find the Substack TV app and how to get logged-in. Be sure to have your phone or computer handy so you can link your account to your TV.

We’re told more features are coming and more platforms, too. Let me know in the comments how the set up experience goes for you. On Monday, January 26th at 3:30 pm Eastern, I’ll be doing “Office Hours” in the Bulwark Members Chat. My plan is to take your technical Substack / Bulwark questions there for an hour or so.

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The Curious Cult of Aldi… How an 80-year-old German discount chain became America’s hottest grocer. (Businessweek.)

Stop sanewashing Trump’s incoherent monologues… Just read Trump’s actual words and try to ascribe any intelligence to “the weave” argues Anthony Fisher at MS NOW.

‘The Object Of The Game’ to premiere in February… A high school classmate of mine has a 3-part documentary on Amazon about football as seen through our alma mater’s legendary coach, Chuck Kyle. (Deadline).

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The Bulwark on Sunday

Can things get even crazier? Back by popular demand, White House Correspondent and Morning Shots co-author ANDREW EGGER joins BILL KRISTOL at 1:00 PM Eastern Time live on Substack and YouTube.

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ICYMI: Here are links to each newsletter section so you can quickly get back to that edition you may have missed this week.

Morning Shots - Triad - Huddled Masses - Press Pass - Bulwark Goes to Hollywood - The Opposition - False Flag - The Breakdown - Receipts

Join now

🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Saturday! Good Luck to my neighbors in Indiana in the National Championship!

Trump could be close to unleashing the state violence he’s always wanted… President Trump suggested on Thursday that unrest in Minneapolis might prompt him to invoke the Insurrection Act. He’s wanted to do that for years, writes Philip Bump at MS Now.

Is America Too Dumb For Democracy? Why we shouldn’t give up on what we no longer deserve, argues Matt Labash.

The Ugly American… Trump makes a stereotype appallingly real, observes Jay Nordlinger.

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.