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1. A glimpse of water framed by trees. 2. Only being halfway through an excellent novel with time and a cup of tea by your side. 3. When a joke lands exactly the way you thought it would in front of a sold out house.

The ICE surge in Minnesota cost $280M to detain 4k people. Of those- only 30 were accused of violent crimes. $9 million per capture of the "worst of the worst". Renee Good and Alex Pretti were unavailable for comment….

Life lesson: a roasted chicken takes as long as a roasted chicken takes

I met a traveler from an ancient land…

ICE is running a “conveyor belt” of illegally detained Minnesota families. Agents are arresting entire families with legal status and immediately shipping them off to Texas to deny them legal representation and avoid the federal courts in Minnesota. The cruelty is endless.

Sheldon Patinkin used to tell a story about someone telling Andrea Martin how much they liked her on SCTV and adding that they loved the other three women on the show with her. All of those three women were Catherine O'Hara. Brilliant, funny, able to be over the top and simultaneously vulnerable.

In case anyone was wondering how it’s going over on American Girl doll Instagram

Alex Pretti "used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians. He bought me coffee when I had a really bad day as an intern...I laughed alongside him daily. He made a point to teach medical residents without judgement, but with a smile on his face and a joke."

Former special counsel Jack Smith offered a robust defense of his derailed efforts to prosecute Donald Trump, telling lawmakers in his first public testimony that the president “willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold.” https://wapo.st/4qFjsSX

But when I asked an organizer what they wanted to see out of press coverage, they told me they wanted people to see the beautiful things they are building here, and not just the worst stories of the worst of ICE's crimes. What people are doing here is beautiful. It's a tragic beauty, but a real one

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

In improv, there’s an adage “play the scene you’re in” I think we’d all like to be in a world where the left could argue over minor points of policy. But this moment demands that we all work together to bring our country back from the move to fascism.

whats missing from all the coverage is that the president is using the military to harass, brutalize and punish areas of the country that didnt vote for him

For those keeping score, Bellingcat, The New York Times Visual Investigation Team, & Washington Post's Visual Forensic team have all published analysis showing the ICE shooter wasn't in the path of Renee Nicole Good’s vehicle when he shot her, contradicting statements by the President & his cronies

Excellent, damning analysis of the video of the killing of Ms Good, from the NYT, including a quick debunking of the “evidence” the President showed other Times reporters last night. www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

As you listen to DHS and ICE offer their excuses and justifications for murdering an American mother in cold blood, a quickly-forgotten reminder from Chicago: www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Important context for claims that the Nicole Renee Good was obstructing/assaulting officers before she was shot & killed: The last time immigration agents shot a woman (Marimar Martinez, Chicago) they made similar claims. Prosecutors have already dropped the charges www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

The right wants to talk about fraud? Somali fraud? Okay, give me 60 seconds.

Like there is also a huge media-based pipeline of content designed to get men to gamble on sports but no one is postulating that this was a demand-driven phenomenon of men with "having excess money" problems.

(From Pratchett's "I Shall Wear Midnight") I hope, oh, do I hope, that I do not have to wait until 2026, or 2030, or until I die, for the rough music to begin to play for Trump et al.

I genuinely don't know if this is a "Minnesotan" thing or an "old guy of a certain age" thing but in case it's Minnesotan and people need an anger translator: this guy is so angry he could just about set something on fire with his mind.

Pretty sure that one of my students pitched this exact thing for five ish years ago for an Onion headline assignment

How about we worry less, as a society, about whether individuals might be cheating to get a disability accommodation or some help buying food, and more about whether extremely wealthy people and corporations are paying their fair share of taxes?

“You may not believe me, but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield,” the incredulous driver said on the recorded 911 call. “It absolutely shattered my windshield.” The dispatcher calmly responded, “OK. I do believe you, honestly,” then laughed.

If you start by saying how many people you are going to arrest, the entire operation should be enjoined. That’s not how anything should work.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as well. I keep landing on the level genuine disgust and contempt in the way he used the term. I can’t think of another time a president has spoken to a citizen of any kind in this way.

In the past month, a serial child rapist has murdered 100 people in the Caribbean, destroyed the East Wing of the White House, neutralized our Congress, & stolen food from 20% of American children. We pay him, house him, drive him, fly him, and pay for his bodyguards. Call your reps 202-224-3121

Let's scrap Lean In. The career advice book I want to write for the women: You, Not Them. Working your ass off? Do it for you, not them. Standing up for yourself? GOOD. Do it for your dignity, not their approval. You can't guarantee you'll impress anyone else. Impress yourself.

A 14-word replacement for most op-eds, substacks, etc about this moment. The GOP could stop ALL of this, right now—if a handful of Sens or Reps could step outside the cult. It would take four in the Senate, four (maybe five) in the House, to change history. Until then, they're all to blame.

or, in the words of the Nac Mac Feegle: “Free Men! Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!”

Ummm… spilled beer, the ghosts of cigarettes from the 90s, basically the Second City MainStage around 11:30pm

New Book Recommendations (or Werner & Ayun & Anne) #bookish #newbook #author #comedy @alibera.bsky.social

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

FREE LIVE PODCAST TAPING AT SECOND CITY TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF @alibera.bsky.social new book "FUNNIER." Book signing follows the taping: www.paperlesspost.com/go/VKK4GJxtk...

Justice Kavanaugh: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”

"We will not vote to finance a war against Americans." "We will not be complicit in the abductions of neighbors, the stealing of healthcare from elders, and the snatching of food from kids."

My trans students (and former students) are funny and nerdy and brilliant and boring and hardworking and anxious and occasionally lazy. In other words, they are exactly like all of my other students. Human and lovable and worthy of that love. I love you all.

Discworld QOTD, from A Hat Full of Sky “You couldn’t say: It’s not my fault. You couldn’t say: It’s not my responsibility. You could say: I will deal with this. You didn’t have to want to. But you had to do it.”

Advance copy just arrived in the mail!!!! This book has been a long time coming- doesn’t feel real.

On Thursday, NPR invited CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp to pay tribute to his friend, Charlie Kirk, which he did, at length.. But he ended up getting angry and cutting the interview short. This is what angered him: www.npr.org/2025/09/11/n...

Because people in 2025 place a lot of value on their leadership attending formal dances

I would like to take this opportunity to remember Melissa Hortman, a serving Democratic politician assasinated by a right-winger.

I think it is always worth mentioning that Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed with their beloved dog Gilbert: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...