On 16th March, 1968 Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jnr was flying helicopter recon for a US attack on My Lai, an alleged Viet Cong-controlled village in Vietnam. But as the attack developed below, Thompson realised he was witnessing something something else: A massacre. He decided to act. 1/28

Trump is in over his head. A particular segment of US Evangelicals just want the “end times.” Which is absolutely gross from both theological and moral perspectives.

John Calvin, preaching on Deut. 15, said Israel’s rescue from harsh Egypt should teach mercy: remembering our own deliverance, we must hear the groans of the poor. Yet today the complaint itself is called “naughty.” Calvin’s question lingers—will we listen?

Beyond the glaring, genocidal antisemitism here, it’s also worth saying this: If you don’t believe in human right even for people whose views you find abhorrent, then you don’t believe in human rights.

In another life I would work in a religious archive. I honestly think it’s part of the reason I have so many books and a smaller amount of art and artifacts in my professional library.

Normally I’d be starting the worship service at this time on a Sunday morning, but today I’m sipping coffee and watching the snow fall with my cat on my lap.

First time at my state senate district convention. Lots of good resolutions. Here’s hoping that a lot of them make it on the party platform and into law!

When a federal judge (finally) put ICE officers under oath, they admitted that they are given daily detention quotas and rely heavily on a Palantir-supplied AI tool to select targets, without warrants and without enough evidence to obtain one. They simply go into neighborhoods and round people up.

F*cking evil.

If LEGO made Baba Yaga’s house a set I’d totally buy it.

My heart grieves. We have learned nothing about our imperialist wars. Get ready for them to prop up the Shah’s son like we are in the Middle Ages. If you don’t think that Islamophobia is playing a big role in this Christian nationalist government’s foreign policy, you are asleep at the wheel.

A message from the Wonderwall

If Trump gets his war with Iran he might try to use that as the emergency under which he takes power over elections since he and the GOP aren’t looking hot in the poles.

We had a deal with Iran to ensure limits on its nuclear capacities. Trump ended that deal. Now he says that sending our young people off to fight and potentially lose their lives for this country is just a ‘cost of war.’ This is the cost of his broken promises. No war with Iran.

There is no reason for this besides the persecution of trans people. This is evil.

Why does it tell the story of America and not the story of Republican governance?

Pritzker demands a $1,700 refund per family for the people of Illinois after Trump's tariffs were ruled unconstitutional. Dems, pay attention. This is your midterms message.

Reduction of forces does not promise an end to tactics. Reduction of forces does not promise safety for immigrants and others harmed by ICE. Reduction of forces does not promise justice for immigrants and others harmed by ICE. Reduction of forces in MN doesn’t mean they won’t do this elsewhere.

I see many people sharing Trump’s recent post and calling out the obvious racism in it. While it is absolutely disgusting, it is not at all surprising. Trumps racism (and misogyny, ableism, transphobia) have been on full display since before he was ever elected (the first time).

Abolishing ICE is not enough. All of DHS needs to be abolished and all the people apart of it need to be prosecuted. DHS and ICE come out of post 9/11 racism, so attacking black and brown people is in the institutional DNA.

Lord, be with us this day— within us to purify us; above us to draw us up; beneath us to sustain us; before us to lead us; behind us to restrain us; around us to protect us. Amen. —Based on a prayer of Patrick of Ireland

What we are experiencing in the US right now is not a new American version of Nazi style fascism. What we are experiencing is the continuation and grown the home grown White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism.

Please pay attention to the dissonance between Trump’s praise and support of protests in Iran and his discussion of calling in the military on protests in Minneapolis and Minnesota. In both cases people are protesting authoritarian government.

youtu.be/TaKrm5txGCQ?... A show for our times.

In Minneapolis

On Wednesday, Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent. Becca Good, her wife, shared the following statement with MPR News.

Schumer & Jeffries were asked by The Independent if they would cut ICE funding should they take back the House in November. They both declined to comment. The correct answer would've been an enthusiastic "YES". Opposition party? More like bootlicker party www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

School has been cancelled tomorrow and Friday across the city of Minneapolis, because our federal government has made it unsafe for children here.

Kristi Noem said that an act of domestic terrorism took place today in Minneapolis, what she got wrong was who the perpetrators were. The ICE agents are the terrorists. They have people afraid to go to work, the grocery store, their faith communities. Trumps goons are the terrorists.

We cannot be more clear. Leave us the fuck alone.

There’s only one thing for ICE to do. Get the hell out of Minnesota, indeed ICE has no place in this nation. We don’t need their terror or their violence.

So Trump successfully bullied a good man and his family. Because winning over Harris Walz wasn’t enough. Trump wanted to destroy him. Walz is making the right decision for his family. But the success of Trump’s grotesque bullying campaign is yet another frightening step in our national descent.

In light of all the thought pieces and punditry that are flying around, let's remember to pray for those who have been killed by American military in Caracas, those being killed in wars around the world, and those who are dealing with the weight of taking life in the name of war.

Thomas Merton 1961

I see people talk about all the deaths caused by communist countries. I never see those same people talk all the deaths caused by capitalist countries (like the USA). This leads me to believe that it is not the death of people that concerns them.

This is illegal occupation of a foreign nation on top of the abduction of the President and his wife.

People are going to try and lure you into debates about whether Maduro was a good guy or not and the thing is, it doesn’t matter for the purposes of discussing whether violent kidnappings and extrajudicial murders by the US government are ok. No, they aren’t! End of convo.

Trump has no interest in governing - but he loves the pageantry of the presidency and the power to order violence while “looking strong.” He has no coherent ideology, but a worldview defined by reactionary grievances and an insatiable impulse to dominate. An incredibly dangerous combination.

Lottie goes back in hospital on Monday and will be in for 5 days. Please help if you can and PLEASE SHARE. Thanks! gofund.me/5e6f8c3d6

This wasn't even one of the daycares featured. People are targeting Somali owned daycares to terrorize our neighbors. The burglar here stole employee files and personal data.

Various philosophies and theologies hold some sort of idea about suffering building character. While I think it is totally possible that suffering can build character I don’t think it always does. And the potential for character building is NEVER an excuse to permit, excuse, or pursue suffering.

Knives out: the upper middle class are squabbling vicious children who do not deserve their inheritance Glass onion: the new elite are the stupidest murderous cunts alive and deserve your scorn Wake up dead man: those preaching anger as salvation are leading you to death, hope and kindness matter

If all have warm safe homes, food to eat, care in times of need, and the loving company of friend and neighbor, then I don’t care if America stops existing and I never see a penny of my pension. All empires fall and money is only so good as it facilitates the wellbeing of people.

I’m no stranger to loneliness, as those with the patience to follow me here know all too well. But the promise of an AI “companion” who gives you what you want, and only what you want, when you want it, with no friction, no disagreement, no agency — that’s the Devil and his false promises.

On this Feast of the Holy Innocents may God be with those who have lost children this past year, especially those parents in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and all places in the midst of violence. May God be with children who’ve been forcibly separated from their families by ICE and other law enforcement. 🙏🏻