David Chico Pham writes on technology, culture, democracy and power.

They are main vehicle to which people can achieve a middle class life. From the 1950's till the 1980's America saw the biggest expansion in the middle class. Nearly half of the population was in it. It had a lot to do with unions, the power unions brought to the workplace, and earning a fair wage.

Erik Hane describes her now normal routine in monitoring ICE's movements and frustrating them whenever they are making a stop. She remarks the extraordinary courage and collective solidarity of everyday people that has happened in the last few weeks as ICE reigns it's terror onto the public:

Here is something simple and beautiful: the vast majority of the residents of this city agree. In the days since ICE murdered Renee Good, something new has happened. Everyone is activated. Ordinary people—as in, people who don’t normally think that much about politics or where they fit on an ideological spectrum—have looked up and said, “No, what ICE is doing in my city is unacceptable, and I am going to be part of the opposition.” Networks for supplies, groceries, shelter, rides, medical care, and neighborhood patrols have burst forth on the sheer strength of everyone participating.

She ends her beautiful essay with this insight: there is no other choice but to stand up to these thugs:

ICE is feverishly looking for some top-down reason this is happening. They are trying to infiltrate, but you cannot infiltrate a city’s collective character. They want to find the “orchestrators,” the “paid activists,” the political professionals scheming up the city’s response to their crimes. They won’t find any, because there are none. It’s parents worried about the safety of their daycare and schools. It’s neighbors worried about the family down the street. It’s anyone with a conscience—which is to say, it is everyone. And we are going to win.

16. Admitting what you don’t know creates more safety than pretending you do.

Senior engineers who say “I don’t know” aren’t showing weakness - they’re creating permission. When a leader admits uncertainty, it signals that the room is safe for others to do the same. The alternative is a culture where everyone pretends to understand and problems stay hidden until they explode.

I’ve seen teams where the most senior person never admitted confusion, and I’ve seen the damage. Questions don’t get asked. Assumptions don’t get challenged. Junior engineers stay silent because they assume everyone else gets it.

Model curiosity, and you get a team that actually learns.

The most difficult challenge in my career has been admitting, "I don't know". When your intelligence is the currency to which you succeed in school, and at a job, you work very hard to signal to a lot people how you're clever you are. "I don't know" meant weakness of the mind and a level of incompetency, to me.

What I've understand is that, "I don't know", is an invitation to learn, not just for myself, but as a team. I like to say to my colleagues, "we'll learn, together." It's really the best when we figure out something as a team.

It's hard to put into words the level of sadness and disgust I feel. Wednesday Jan 8th, 2026, Renee Nicole Good, mother of 3 and poet died in what can be described as a murder.

Amanda Musa, Omar Jimenez, and Sarah Boxer of CNN had this to say regarding Good:

A mother of three, Good had two children, ages 15 and 12, from her first marriage, The Associated Press reported. Her 6-year-old child’s father died in 2023, according to the Star Tribune. “There’s nobody else in his life,” the child’s grandfather told the newspaper.

Good also was a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger, her ex-husband told the AP. She also loved to sing and participated in a chorus in high school before studying vocal performance in college, he said

ICE agent, Johnathan Ross murdered Renee Good in her vehicle. He drew his weapon and executed her as she tried to leave. She was shot in the face. The vehicle slammed into a pole and a car. The airbag covered in blood, held Good's remains. Mr. Ross, a monster of the State, he left the scene without any sense of remorse. His cruel and unjust actions should be prosecuted to the full extend of the law. I think the state of Minnesota should also reinstate the death penalty for Mr. Ross, if convicted and ultimately found guilty of 1st degree murder.

I had a conversation with my cousin before returning back to home when I went to see my family in Missouri. My sister was present during the discussion. I warned my cousin that she needs to secure her naturalization documents and bring them back to home. My sister rolled her eyes and dismissed my words. "David, ICE is not going to come to a sleepy suburb or a college town in the middle of Missouri."

I swallowed my anger and tried to say to my sister, "you are not paying attention."

This was in October 2025.

I hope Mr. Ross is never welcomed in civil society ever again. He deserves horrific nightmares and ghosts to haunt his every thought. May his life be characterized as only evil and shameful.

Lastly, abolish ICE. It is a gestapo that has no place in American democracy.

Abolish ICE was some sort of radical demand...As it turns out, you can zero out their budget like USAID...we can get rid of ICE

ICE agents, by virtue of them hiding their faces are secret police. They stalk the streets of America, their identities unknown and secret, pretending to be law enforcement. Their goal is propaganda by violence and terror.

ABOLISH ICE.

"Brother, I showed up at a bank at 2am and nobody was there. Should I call the FBI because they're running a fake bank?"

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Companies flipping the expectations on its head will punish workers for doing code by hand or innovative original programming.

I was struck by how Gen AI is the villain multiple times.

1. On Krypton, Kal-El gets bad grades in school for writing original essays instead of using AI to generate them.

2. The evil corporation’s police talk to an AI when writing police reports and it rewrites them to sanitize police brutality.
   
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   — Dare Obasanjo (@carnage4life.bsky.social) January 2, 2026 at 1:00 PM

I don't know. But as companies demand workers to use generative AI in the workplace, I can see a world where these managers start telling engineers to complete projects through generative AI or be evaluated as below average.

In the latest episode to Unclear and Present Danger (A Few Good Men), John Ganz plugged his book, When the Clock Broke as a good gift for a history buff, a political junkie or a sharp teenager. I made a mental note to buy the physical copy of the book. Throughout the year, I read some of Ganz's pieces on Unpopular Front substack and borrowed from my local library an ebook copy.

My wife, daughter and I shortly went over to a real great used bookstore. Lo and behold, on their 2025 recent publications, Ganz's book was there for $8. I was so thrilled to find a used copy of his book.

John Ganz is a real clear thinker to our age of propaganda, neofascism and nativist vibe. Books like his offer history as a teacher and help make sense of our time. At the heart of the book is who gets to be American. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy.

Jamelle Bouie did a video exploring Vance nativist pivot and illustrated Vance as no different from David Duke's own white supremacy views.

To tie it back to Ganz's book, Patrick Buchanan ran on a nativist platform and gained a significant minority support in the Republican party to only be taken up by Trump and now Vance. These ideas don't come from nowhere. They are part of a long stretch of men claiming who gets to be American, and who gets to be prosperous in this nation is one of blood and soil and not one of credo. Vance as a pig man who eats slop and fucks couches for fun is not to be underestimated in his political project to be the successor of Trumpism. He believes he can ride like a klansman, a George Wallace, and a Buchanan and win. He is a David Duke of our time but without the charm and likability.

Oh did I forget to say that him fucking couches is just an internet rumor?

When people tell me that there’s been no resistance to the Trump administration, I wonder if they’re expecting something that looks like a guerrilla revolution pushing out the government in one fell swoop or just aren’t paying attention, because there has, in fact, been a tremendous amount and variety of resistance and opposition and it’s mattered tremendously.

Reminds me an awful a lot of Karis Nemik manifesto. Remember, try.

I found rush coil doing keytar cover on Sonic Green Hill Meadows. I loved his improvisation in the middle of the song. And generally I love when people are into their talents.