Democracy Is Dead and Jim Crow Is Alive

Plus: Super Bowl WAGs, celebrity colonizers, and the tender embrace of suicidal empathy

Feb 06, 2026

It’s Friday, February 6, 2026

We regret to inform you that the celebrities are at it again. Gen-Z pop star Billie Eilish made headlines at the Grammys by—get this—denouncing a Republican administration. “No one is illegal on stolen land,” the multimillionaire proclaimed with unyielding courage. “F— ICE is all I want to say.” Eilish owns a $3 million gated mansion in Los Angeles that sits on the ancestral lands of the Tongva tribe, whose members said the singer has yet to reach out to discuss the return of their stolen property. Given that Eilish’s award for Best Song was administered on stolen land, in recognition of a song she recorded on stolen land, it doesn’t seem fair for her to keep that, either. As a wise man once said: “You didn’t build that.”

Eilish wasn’t the only celeb brave enough to speak out against immigration enforcement. Music producer Jack Antonoff wore an “ICE Out” pin on his leather jacket, but does not seem to have considered the possibility that someone would ask him to explain what it means. “This is terrible, you know?” he said in response to a Variety reporter’s softball question. “It’s time to—for every reason you could imagine, I would think. But, um, yeah, I’m a bit speechless trying to even talk about it... I don’t know, it’s just a really good time for, uh, people to come together and figure out how to move through this.”

It brings to mind Ricky Gervais’s timeless advice at the 2020 Golden Globes: “If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a political platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”

Crucial context: Antonoff’s rambling nonsense notwithstanding, he still deserves credit for orchestrating one of the greatest relationship upgrades of all time. He started dating his wife—actress Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell—in 2021, less than four years after breaking up with his longtime girlfriend Lena Dunham. Congrats!

You have got to be f—ing joking: It really is starting to feel like 2020 all over again. Black country singer Shaboozey also caused a stir while accepting an award at the Grammys. After making history and finally realizing a lifelong dream, the singer was forced to issue a statement in response to online lunatics who denounced him for saying “immigrants built this country” during Black History Month. No, we are not making this up. “To be clear, I know and believe that we—Black people, have also built this country,” he said. “My words were never intended to dismiss that truth.” Alas, Shaboozey neglected to mention the contribution of Native Americans or affirm that nothing can truly be “built” on colonized land. Get it together, man.

Speaking of 2020: Here’s a real example of something Joe Biden’s digital team wanted him to tweet from the official campaign account after George Floyd’s death, according to a former aide. The extent to which the Democratic Party is run by internet-addicted theater kids is widely known, but still underappreciated.

Democracy exhumed, murdered again: The Washington Post laid off a third of its staff this week in an effort to stop losing $100 million a year. Journalists flooded their social media feeds with heartbreaking lamentations and accusations of fascist cruelty. Former Post reporter Ashley Parker fought back tears while hugging a stranger on the D.C. Metro; she was still coming to terms with the “murder” she had witnessed. New York Times columnist Nikole Hannah-Jones offered a stark assessment. “We are in the midst of a racial reckoning,” she wrote. “This one purging all the gains of the former and then some.” She was referring to 2020 (obvi).

Many recalled democracy’s prior death in 2024, when the paper’s owner—Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—ended the (pointless) practice of endorsing presidential candidates. It died again in 2025 after Bezos spoke out in support of “personal liberties” and “free markets.” Now it’s even deader. In the meantime, our esteemed journalists—noble guardians of the pillars of unvarnished truth—should be just fine. If America’s coal miners and factory workers can learn to code and get retrained to build solar panels or mop the floors at AI data centers, there’s hope for everyone. Good luck to all!

Jim Crow 4.0 (on steroids): Democrats are really doing this again. They’re denouncing Republicans for trying to pass wildly popular voter ID requirements. More than 80 percent of Americans—including 71 percent of Democrats—support the measure. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has once again accused the GOP of pushing “Jim Crow-type laws” to advance their racist agenda. So, let’s recap:

Jim Crow 1.0 (1877-1965): A system of legally codified racial segregation, often backed by violence, and laws restricting the rights of black Americans to vote.
Jim Crow 2.0, aka “Jim Crow on steroids,” aka “Jim Eagle” (2021): The state of Georgia passed a law expanding access to early voting and rolling back emergency measures implemented at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Black turnout surged as a result.
Jim Crow 3.0 (2023): The state of Florida refused to accept an AP African American studies course that it considered rife with progressive ideology and superfluous sections on “queer theory,” among other things.
Jim Crow 4.0 (2026): Republicans want to pass a law mandating ID requirements for voting nationwide, which the vast majority of Americans support.

These are not serious people. There’s a reason they keep losing to Donald Trump.

Speaking of unserious people: Former CNN host Don Lemon was arrested last week for tagging along with a group of anti-ICE protesters who stormed a church in Minneapolis. Lemon’s new YouTube channel is going gangbusters as a result (in case the Washington Post needs ideas for how to thrive in this media environment). Lemon’s defenders have even less shame than the man himself. Most of them just compared it to slavery. Joy Behar, co-host of The View, went even further. She said arresting Lemon was akin to arresting an American journalist for taking pictures of Nazi concentration camps. Seriously.

The warmth of collectivism: Here’s a list of things New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has managed to accomplish in recent days while his city remained covered in snow and garbage:

Launch a “Global Oppression Working Group” to highlight the “genocide” in Gaza.
Source a customized Carhartt jacket to wear at press conferences.
Celebrate World Hijab Day to honor the “powerful symbol of devotion.”
Promote the city’s hotline offering free legal support to Haitian immigrants.
Visit a man in the hospital who was shot by police after charging at an officer with a knife.

The tender embrace of suicidal empathy: New York was nice while it lasted.

Related: Read Aaron Sibarium’s report about how the Democrats in Prince George’s County, Md., let a drug-infested homeless encampment destroy a local condo complex and made life miserable for its residents. In the name of being “compassionate,” county officials are suing to evict condo owners who complain about the squalor—most of them poor and non-white—while local police refuse to get involved to avoid “criminalizing the unhoused.” It’s insane.

Speaking of Democrats: The Epstein files aren’t doing them any favors.

Super Bowl scouting report: The big game is this weekend. As with most athletic contests, it’ll most likely come down to who can score the most points. That said, one should never discount the role that WAGs (wives and girlfriends) play in propelling their respective teams to victory. Go Seahawks!

Natalie Lock (Seattle QB Drew Lock’s wife)