Super Bowl Sunday was four days ago, as I write this, but so much happens so quickly it seems a month ago.

Starting with The Game, let’s recap:

• In a game aptly described as “boring,” the Seattle Seahawk’s defense obliterated the Patriots, even as the Patriots’ defense kept the game close for a while. Most agree the best part of the game was the half-time show by Puerto Rico rapper Bad Bunny, which fittingly, drew higher viewership than the game with 135 million.
  

  ANGELO LYNN

Conservative groups, spurred on by Trump, created their own alternative show with lip-syncing Kid Rock, which was widely panned as a dour dud garnering 5-6 million viewers.

While Trump had claimed Bad Bunny was a “terrible choice” for the half time show, and said the program would “sow hatred,” the exact opposite was true.

Delivered mostly in Spanish, the theme of the rapper’s program was “to be yourself,” describing his own journey from being a grocery store clerk 10 years ago to global rock star today. The other musical numbers depicted Puerto Rico and the Latin American culture embracing all of the Americas. The final message on the giant screen, in English, stated: “The only thing stronger than hate is love.”

Bad Bunny’s message referenced his Grammy Awards acceptance speech from the week before, in which he said: “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans. The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.”

That Trump and his MAGA allies went to such effort to spread hatred and disrespect is itself a message telegraphed to all Americans.

• That same Sunday, organizers of the 2026 Munich Security Conference, Europe’s main forum on defense, wrote in unusually blunt terms that President Trump was destroying the postwar international order “in an era of wrecking ball politics.”

“Ironically,” the Security Report wrote, “the president of the United States — the country that did more than any other to shape the post-1945 international order — is now the most prominent of the demolition men. As a result… the postwar international order is now under destruction. Under Donald Trump, the United States has largely abandoned the role of the ‘leader of the free world.’”

(Note to Donald: Not sure the Nobel Peace Prize Committee will be impressed with that on your resumé.)

• Speaking of the Nobel Prize, “the city of Minneapolis and its people” were nominated by The Nation magazine just ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline. The nomination cites the residents’ “extraordinary nonviolent resistance” and “courage and solidarity”, often in sub-zero weather, in response to a federal operation involving thousands of heavily armed agents. If awarded, it would be the first time in history a municipality and its citizens have received the prize.

Here’s the key paragraph from The Nation’s nomination: “The people of Minneapolis and their elected leaders have demonstrated an extraordinary and sustained commitment to human dignity and to the protection of vulnerable communities. They have exemplified the desire for democracy and equality and the celebration of difference. The moral leadership of the people and city of Minneapolis has set an example for those struggling against fascism everywhere on the face of a troubled planet.” (It’s worth a few minutes to read The Nation’s nomination letter.)

• Closer to home, 11 Vermonters, including several from Addison County, were peacefully arrested during a protest at the Williston facility ICE uses to track citizen’s speech on social media. A police report is published in today’s Independent. What’s not said in the police report, but stated in a VtDigger story, is that part of the intent of the protestors was to demonstrate that Vermont State Police and local officers could peacefully handle the protest and remove the protestors from the location without incident. No combat-ready, masked agents with AK-47s, pepper spray and gas masks were needed.
• Also in Vermont, the towns of Sutton, Burke, Sheffield and Wheelock — all in the Northeast Kingdom — learned this week that FEMA’s new policies under Trump mean the federal government won’t allow them to recoup any federal disaster aid caused by flooding in July 2025. Gov. Phil Scott had personally requested the $1.85 million in aid, writing in an appeal letter the flooding had brought the towns “to the brink of financial disaster.” Still, FEMA said no.

Those towns will now have to consider how to pay for the significant costs to their communities, including by raising taxes.

Eric Forand, director of Vermont Emergency Management told VtDigger the state was “trying to work with FEMA to get some clarification on what that might mean… But it’s a little bit opaque right now. We don’t have a lot of information coming from the federal government… We’re just trying to figure out what the new norm is.”

(Facts to consider: In 2025, FEMA withheld $10.9 billion in planned reimbursements to 45 states, diverted $4 billion from FEMA’s pre-disaster mitigation funds, reduced FEMA staff by 9.5% between January and June of 2025, and cancelled $4.5 billion in pre-disaster mitigation grants. Meanwhile, Trump put $170 million for Trump’s mass deportation agenda, more than doubling ICE’s and CBP’s budgets in 2024.)

• On the national scene, Congress comes to loggerheads this Friday over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees funding for ICE and CBP. Democrats are refusing to fund the agency unless Republicans join with them to pass restrictions on ICE and CBP tactics, such as requiring federal agents to no longer wear mask; wearing body cameras nationwide; using judicial warrants (not administration warrants), among others. While Friday is the deadline, Republicans are stalling for more time. One caveat: when Congress passed Trump’s big bad bill, it included $170 billion border enforcement provision… meaning ICE and CBP can continue operations regardless of whether funding for DHS is approved.
• 2026 Olympics: OMG, Ben Ogden. After 50 years, Ogden is the second American male (Bill Koch medaled in 1976) to win an Olympic medal in a Nordic event. That the two families are friends, hail from the same part of the state, and the Ogden family is legendary in the state’s Nordic scene make it an idyllic Olympic story. Ditto Ryan Cochran-Siegle with his silver medal in the super giant slalom, continuing the Cochran family legacy.

Thrilling also to see other American athletes, whose names aren’t as well-known, rise to stardom. Breezy Johnson and her amazing gold medal in the downhill, and Jacqueline Wiles and Vermont’s Paula Moltzan, placing third in the Women’s Combined (downhill and slalom.) The US Women’s hockey team has been amazing to watch as has the US Ice Skating Team. There are so many amazing athletes to honor, and to admire, the games truly are a spectacle that has the potential to unite, not divide.

— Angelo Lynn