We're NOT Doomed: Feb 18, 2026

When civilians rebel

Whenever I bring up the DNC, I inevitably have comments about the post mortem that Chair Ken Martin never released.

I have avoided talking about this, but I had three comments about it yesterday, so let’s talk about it.

The way I see it, 2024 was a lifetime away, at this point. The voters are different, the reasons people vote for Democrats are different, the candidate promises are different.

What would a post mortem do except rehash the worst of the infighting that lead to us losing in the first place?

Does it matter why we lost? What can that teach us about this new world?

And what if the answer isn’t what you want it to be. What if it’s not “didn’t listen to leftists” but rather “didn’t talk about the economy enough,” which isn’t even true.

What then?

What would that help?

And what would it help if it IS about leftists? We are in a different world now. Trump has literally razed Gaza and is turning it into a literal resort. Who cares what certain people thought Kamala would do? How does knowing that the false message they spread lost her the election help us?

There is no circumstance where knowing what happened in 2024 makes us more capable of fighting in 2026.

Not to mention, the DNC that was around — when we lost the election — was a different DNC. In 2024, just like every year a Democrat is in the White House, it was an arm of said White House. Jaime Harrison is phenomenal, but he had very little power.

Ken Martin is Chair in every sense of the word. And he is running it as the progressive organizer he has been his entire life. He is on the ground weekly across the country talking to people. People who vote, people who don’t, people of every identity in red dots and blue dots finding out what their needs are.

And he’s succeeding. His tactics might not work on you, but we are watching them work across the country. We are seeing wins in races we could have never dreamed of, and over performances virtually everywhere else. What would it help to know why we lost in 2024?

Not to mention, we barely lost. Yes, it looks like a lot because of how the electoral college works, but we lost the House, if I remember correctly, by about 7000 votes and the presidency by about 200,000 votes. That’s why I say your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower. If just a few less people hadn’t let perfect be the enemy of good, we wouldn’t be here.

And that will always be my post mortem, messaging is a powerful thing and when we don’t do our own research and trust people who don’t do theirs, or do, and chose to lie anyway, we lose, every single time.

Kamala had 107 days and she did really fucking well for that. Sure there are little tweaks that could be made, but would that have made a difference, I don’t know. What I do know is those tweaks, whatever they are, say nothing about where we are here and now in 2026, so why waste our time and energy and precarious unity to dissect them?

Let’s work on moving forward, and, instead of a post mortem figure out how to reach the most people while our Democracy is still alive and breathing. So far, given our track record in elections to date, we’re not doing such a bad job.

St James Parish, Louisiana

Mon, Feb 9 - The area is called “Cancer Alley” for a reason. The area is used by many industries with harsh chemicals that cause cancer. It is mostly populated by Black, low income families, and, to be blunt, the Parish just doesn’t care if they live or die.

Or, that’s the argument Black residence have made in a lawsuit against the Parish that a judge just ruled can proceed.

The parish tried to argue that the location of these plants is not based on race. And therefore the lawsuit should be thrown out.

Clinton appointee, Judge Carl Barbier didn’t agree, saying in the ruling:.

The extensive history of land use decisions that Plaintiffs recount in their thoroughly researched complaint, when taken as true, may very well represent one of those rare cases in which “a clear pattern, unexplainable on grounds other than race,” provides sufficient evidence of discriminatory intent.

Gail LeBoeuf and Barbara Washington, Founders of Inclusive Louisiana, the plaintiffs in this case, praised the decision:

For generations, our community has lived under a racist land use system that placed polluting industries in our backyards while ignoring our health, history, and human rights. The court’s decision to allow every one of our claims to move forward affirms what we have long known: environmental racism is real, and it must be confronted.

For a court to believe that, and let this case move forward, that makes me feel less Doomed.

Progress IS still being made, even though it’s not coming from the top.

Portland, Oregon

Fri, Feb 13 - Portland is going for malicious compliance — when it comes to ICE. Back in September, after following through on public complaints, they found that ICE had violated its land use agreement at their South Portland facility. The agreement stated they couldn’t hold anyone for more than 12 hours, and, naturally, they have broken that.

ICE tried to fight back, but last week Portland Permitting & Development upheld the violation. ICE now has until March 16 to comply or they will be charged just shy of $1k a month.

It’s not much and they can easily afford to pay it, but it is doing something. It’s Portland using the tools they have to call ICE out and show where they, as a city government, stand.

Also, it only happened because of public complaints. This was a government that listened to its residents. Most things come back to regular everyday people doing what they can to fight back.

No matter how little this will slow down this facility, seeing people and governments doing what is in their power to stop this, reminds me that We’re NOT Doomed.

North Carolina

Mon Feb 16 - The DNC and RNC reached a settlement that will keep over 70,000 people on the voter rolls. These voters did not yet have all their information on file —cause it wasn’t required when they registered in the first place — when Republicans tried to steal the Supreme Court race in 2024.

Ken Martin celebrated the victory saying:

The DNC has put Republicans on notice: If you attack voting rights, the DNC will be there to defend Americans at every turn. While the RNC has waged an all-out assault on voters in North Carolina, we have been fighting like hell to protect the sacred right to vote — and we will never back down.

We hear so many stories about voters being removed from the voter rolls, it makes me feel less Doomed to hear one about the exact opposite. We are fighting like hell, and we are winning so many more of those fights than many realize.

And the more we realize it the more fights we will win

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So I hope these stories reminded you why We’re NOT Doomed and how much of it has to do with our own resolve to fight back!

Remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!