I don’t advertise it when I’m overseas but I just got back from almost 6 weeks in Chile and Bolivia. Sea level to 15000 feet, megacities to middle of nowhere, Patagonia, Atacama, Altiplano, Death Road, deserts, mountains, snow, jungle, canyons, colonial villas, birds, beaches, and more. Wow.

The Drug War has increased prices of drugs, which increases profits, which increases criminal motivations, which increases violence. Drugs win. Legalization, taxation, and treatment, which have been tried elsewhere, lead to better outcomes.

The guy who posted the racist meme stood at the podium to slobbering cheers from his party like this was North Korea, not the United States. The guy who correctly pointed out the racism was thrown out. America, 2026. It’s on all of us to fix this. Vote.

So Mexico is hosting several World Cup games this year. Security experts differ on how this might play out.

Better not tell Don.

For myself at least, this changes the primary dynamic significantly.

This is why satire is dead.

Major companies are clawing back. As they should. Hopefully smaller importers will go class action so they can afford the legal costs. Unfortunately those of us who paid at the cash register will never get a dime back. This is going to drag on for years. Woo-Hoo! Liberation Day!

Thanks to @shanahstone.bsky.social for the initial share. An analysis of today’s events in Mexico. The cartels need to be obliterated, but it won’t come without major cost. Also, a timely reminder that most narco trafficking comes through ports, not the border. The administration ignores this.

My Garmin always tells me I’m sleep deprived. For decades I’ve stayed up late, sometimes well after 12, and am back up before 7. Despite that habit plus chronic insomnia, I can run on <6 hours perfectly well. Fortunately I only get sleep shamed by technology, not my spouse. But a lot of people do.

How did I miss this when it was published? Gifted article.

It’s too late for me to return to the fold now, I’ve spent too much time in countries that follow other faiths to believe in the exclusive truth of just one. But if I’d had a minister like Cremer, I probably wouldn’t have run so fast for the exit. He sees the hypocrisy I saw.

Back in the 80s during my brief dalliance with right wing Christianity we were were told to support Israel at all costs so they would start the war of the Apocalypse, Christians would be raptured, Jews would go to Hell, and everyone would die, fulfilling God’s plan. Now it’s more of less US policy.

For some Alaskans every day is Bike to Work Day. Even at -40.

Another one. #NotADragQueen

Some good news for a change.

Prepare for more Trumpflation. We weren’t using our Constitution anyway.

Stopping and staring at your smartphone when you reach the top of an escalator is not helpful behavior.

Three of our Supreme Court justices have once again ruled against the Constitution. The power of taxation is held by Congress. This is very clearly stated. But Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh don’t care. They don’t serve the Constitution. If they did it would have been 9-0.

Just another day in America.

Quit what you can. It needn’t be all of them (I have decades of family and work history stored on Gmail & iCloud and can’t just drop either). The idea is to deprive Trump friendly tech businesses of money. If enough of us cancel subscriptions, valuations plunge and the market dips.

They’re coming for us, fellow Alaskans. And Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is helping them. She’s running for governor this year. You all know who not to vote for when you get your ballots.

Brain Drain. America has surrendered its role as the global leader in science.

This is why we have science.

The media is devoting 24 hour coverage to Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. Meanwhile, not one word about this.

More preventable deaths are on the way courtesy of the pro-life party of Jesus. Probably millions.

Waiting for RFK Jr. to tell parents that lead injections for their children will prevent measles.

The power to levy tariffs is held by congress. It’s in the Constitution. Sullivan and Begich swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Both have placed our nation’s founding document second to their loyalty to Donald Trump. Both have broken their vows.

That moment when it gets bad enough that you lose the Wall Street Journal.

I feel safer now.

Republicans. Will they ever grow up?

When ICE sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with them. They’re bringing drunk driving. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And none, I assume, are good people.

One critic suffered through the entire thing and walked away with this conclusion: “It’s the lowest circle of the culture war: not just bigoted, but bigoted and terminally dull.”

Sen. Scott Kawasaki’s Freedom to Read bill, which will block library censorship efforts in Alaska, goes into the Education Committee for its first legislative hearing this week. @lgtobin.bsky.social is fully behind it and you should be as well. Contact your legislators. #Alaskasky #Alaska

Can’t deny this one.

Immigrants comprise much of the home care workforce, performing elder care among other things. It’s physically and emotionally demanding work for low pay. Most Americans won’t take these jobs. No one will replace the deportees. Elderly and disabled Americans will be left without needed aid.

Read this. All the way through.

The man responsible for seven deaths in the Manley Hot Springs massacre, as well as his Fairbanks neighbor and a State Trooper, is buried honorably in a veterans’ cemetery. A present day trooper is working to have him disinterred. It appears he might be successful.

The reality is, Russia might get away with it. Especially because the Trump Administration likes Putin and hates NATO.

MAHA killed another child. Completely preventable.

Admittedly I’m sharing this on social media, but, well…

These lists are always subjective, and everyone will have a missing favorite (the absent David Lindley should be in the top ten, but he never gets the love he deserves). Still, some unexpected but worthy choices. And placing Prince and Sister Rosetta Tharpe at 1 & 2 respectively is on target.

Winter is far from over, but hopefully the most severe part is. Here’s a recap of what happened during that long frigid December and January grind from everyone’s favorite far north weather data assembler and purveyor, @alaskawx.bosky.social.

Remember how, after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed, citizens of Eastern Bloc nations tore down statues and signs bearing the names of Stalin and Lenin and smashed them into rubble? One day that’s what freedom loving Americans will do to everything labeled with Trump’s name.

I grew up in Seattle. Where the Kingdome was built at public expense to house the Seahawks and Mariners and then was imploded at public expense so that separate stadiums could be built at public expense for the Seahawks and Mariners. All for billionaire team owners. The unhoused got nothing.

Disaster narrowly avoided.

Spotted in the wild.

The shutdown showdown is Friday. Let’s get it trending. Defund the Department of Homeland Security #DefundDHS It never should have been created in the first place. Any fool at the time knew it would create an agency that would be turned against America.

“I have no intention of marking the first anniversary of Trump’s Inauguration. That would be like marking the anniversary of testing positive for herpes.” - Andy Borowitz

Then God said, “And behold, when the fourth seal was opened, there arose four upon the crest of the storm: pipes skirling doom, bellows wheezing famine, strings twanging conquest, drum thundering regret. Power given to afflict the earth with cursed reel forever.”