Burning River Brigade

06/23/2026

The Albanians are showing us what's still possible, and they're not doing it from a keyboard.

For more than three weeks straight, every single night, Albanians have flooded the streets. This past Saturday, a reported 200,000 of them. They're called the Flamingo Revolution, after the protected wetlands a luxury resort would pave over, and the deal they're fighting has Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's name on it. Tell us if what set them off sounds familiar.

No care for the environment. The project sits on protected wildlands, breeding grounds for flamingos, seals, and sea turtles, with no environmental impact study ever shown to the public.

No money for your average Albanian. The profits flow to luxury hotel brands and the developers. The people who live there get nothing but the destruction of their island.

No oversight. The prime minister appointed himself the sole decider of which investments count as "strategic" enough to bypass the rules. Surprise, his billionaire friends keep qualifying.

Secret deals. No transparency on how any of it came together, which is why a foreign anti-corruption prosecutor is now investigating the land titles. If that smells familiar, it should. It's the same playbook behind the data centers being pushed through here in Ohio under nondisclosure agreements, where residents aren't even allowed to know what's being built next to them until the ink is dry.

So they stayed in the streets. Night after night, until the European Parliament itself told Albania to halt construction or risk its path into the EU.

It's not just Albania. Anger at Trump is boiling over, with protests reported in Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, the UK, Canada, and Australia, plus 20,000 marching in Geneva against the G7. In Germany that anger runs right alongside the fight against the AfD, the far-right party dragging the country back toward its darkest chapter. Same authoritarian playbook, different flag. Here's the kicker: when Trump threatened to seize Greenland by force, even Europe's far-right parties, the AfD included, recoiled from him. When the people who admire you think you've gone too far, the rest of us shouldn't ignore it.

We don't have to look across an ocean to find the same fight. Eleven days ago more than 100 FBI agents fanned out across Ohio and raided a Cleveland voter-registration group. No charges, no public explanation, the warrant sealed. The threat is here too.

We can all learn from Albania. Don't just share about it. Show up. Donate. Organize. Live it.

This summer it's our turn. Seven Days in D.C. runs June 28th through July 4th, a full week of civic action ending with the We the People 250 March on Washington on Independence Day. Congressional lobbying, Know Your Rights training, voter registration, a veterans rally, and every evening live music and comedy at the Black Cat on 14th Street with bands like HUE, TOB and The Honest Politix, BAD STATIC, ALLSTRIKE, RESISTANCE CO, THE MAKA STICKS, PETRICHOR, and the Brock Butler Band. Influencers will be there all week too, including American Opposition, Cats on a Couch, Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge, Gunny Speaks Out, Matt Gordon, Dave TheViking, Rig, Echo Romeo, Owl Media, My Cluck Hut, Twig, Elizabeth Booker Houston, and comedian Cliff Cash.

Come for the week or come for a day. Details, schedule, and how to take part are in the pinned comment.

We the People don't answer to a king.

06/22/2026

Retired Judge J. Michael Luttig keynoted the Election Integrity Summit at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association today. Luttig is one of the most respected conservative jurists of his generation, a Reagan-era appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. You might remember him from the January 6th, 2021 events, as he was the one who advised Mike Pence that the Vice President didn't have the power to overturn an election with fake alternate electoral votes.

He called this moment America's time of testing. In his words, "the 47th President of the United States has all but brought the complete inversion of our nation's positive law, the Constitution and laws of the United States, and our moral law."

On why so few are speaking up: "We've lost our voices because of fear. Fear of ridicule, fear of political reprisal, fear of political persecution." And then the line that should sit with every elected official in this country: "We can be forgiven for our fear, but we will never be forgiven for our cowardice in the face of our fear."

He quoted Dr. King, that in the end we remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. He quoted a 29-year-old Abraham Lincoln warning that if destruction ever reaches America, "it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher."

His charge to the room full of attorneys: you took the same oath I did, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Now honor it. "It will be the rule of law that triumphs over politics, and not politics that triumphs over the rule of law."

This wasn't abstract for the people in that room. Multiple speakers brought up the FBI raid 11 days ago on the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a Cleveland voter-registration group searched by agents who seized devices and questioned staff and volunteers, with no public explanation of what the group is supposed to have done wrong. The threat from within Luttig described isn't coming. It's here, in Ohio.

A conservative judge, in Cleveland, two weeks before the 250th of July 4th, telling us the threat is from within and the cure is courage. His full speech, which I witnessed today, is worth 39 minutes of your time.

06/22/2026

Burning River Brigade in attendance, because democracy matters.

Democracy depends on public trust.

Election Integrity Summit is happening today, bringing together legal, civic, and community voices for a nonpartisan conversation on elections and public confidence.

Join the conversation live at 1 PM.

Livestream available here: https://ow.ly/35Lj50ZfjFk

06/22/2026

Clap on, Clap off, The Clapper!

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is closed. US Central Command says it's open and counted 55 ships through on Saturday.

We're betting it remains closed, for a long time, these peace deals, unfortunately, appear to be nothing more than Peace Pumps, a new version of the Pump and Dump, so he and his friends can keep getting richer and richer.

It DOES seem like he's looking for an off ramp now, but it doesn't look like Israel will accommodate by withdrawing from Lebanon.

What a mess he got us into.

06/22/2026

I've been sharing a different and blurrier version of this for years, but now I found the original woman's post, so made a cleaner version.

Teach our sons not to r**e, to always respect womens' boundaries, so we don't have to teach our daughters to be careful. Clothing is not it, either. Research shows that it doesn't matter what she's wearing.

06/21/2026

The Epstein Files Transparency Act. Four pages, that's it.

For all you crying about "why didn't Biden release them" - shouldn't you now be asking why the Trump Administration isn't releasing them, as per the new law?

This isn't, or shouldn't be, a partisan issue. Release them all, release them unredacted (except for victim and survivor names.)

To this date, not a single man aside from Epstein has faced real consequences in the US. We already know multiple names, we don't have the full files, however. There are no investigations, no charges, it's all forgotten and ignored by the guy that campaigned on full transparent release of all the files.

Release them now. Release them as per the law.

06/21/2026

A new Hebrew University poll: 92.1% of Israelis say Iran won or gained more from the war, including 93.1% of Netanyahu's own right-wing base. 82.9% say Israel's security was weakened.

Even a Trump-donor-owned Israeli paper called it surrender. Israel Hayom, owned by Trump mega-donor Miriam Adelson, ran an op-ed titled "You could have been the greatest president of all, but you failed," calling the deal a "surrender agreement with a murderous and cruel terror regime."

06/21/2026

"I'm just asking questions."

06/21/2026

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

Waugh waugh waugh!

-- J.J. Cafaro, Fake Nano Bubble Guy

06/20/2026

🚨 We commented a few times that Trump's Iran deal wouldn't last even half a Scaramucci. Turns out it didn't even last 1/10th of a Scaramucci. Iran Says It Is Closing the Strait of Hormuz, Citing Israel’s Attacks on Lebanon