Patriot games
Weekend Reads For February 7, 2026: Notes on the week that was
Happy Saturday, Ink readers! Like many of you, we’ve spent the week poring over the latest Epstein file release (and we’re going to keep doing that), so we’ve pulled together a few things for when you want to read up on everything else. In today’s edition of Weekend Reads:
On America’s 250th, who’ll control history?
MAGA’s vision of art without artists
What do you find in yourself as you search the Epstein files?
Ian McKellen pleads the stranger’s case
Can an amateur planespotter find the disappeared?
Is Trump using Epstein’s emails to win the attention war?
Mothers, sons, and the fraying social safety net
Why you should hang out more
Bad Bunny’s America
The difference between freedom and free speech
Is it possible to disconnect from Big Tech?
And music from the Maria Schneider Orchestra
If you’re in the Northeast, stay warm — and take some time out to read with us.
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Bulldozing history
Under the pretense of stamping out “woke” ideas and promoting patriotism, the White House is attempting to mandate uncritical acceptance of its own take on the American story, one that celebrates the martial feats of mostly white men and an imagined religious and ideological conformity that minimizes the fights, tribulations, and dissenters who have defined the country. It’s an effort that flies in the face of American ideals—and reality. [Mother Jones]