I live in Hayward, CA, a small city but one of the most diverse in the USA. Attended a ribbon cutting on Friday and seeing how many different backgrounds we had in one place there, all happy to celebrate a new business, just filled my heart.

I asked my husband to put the overnight French toast into the oven to bake this morning. I told him time and temperature. I neglected to tell him to take the plastic wrap off. 🤦🏼‍♀️

every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s

📽️ Marty Supreme: An asshole's relentless pursuit of ambition and ping pong. With detours. Or as my husband called it, "A very long episode of It's Always Sunny... without any humor." It's a well-acted pass for me. #filmsky

The Nobel Prize museum in Oslo subtweeting the fuck out of Trump today.

Poem written! It's so nice to have written. I still think those of you that love the writing itself are weird. 😉

🚨WHOA. The El Paso Medical Examiner says it will rule the death of a 55-year-old Cuban man at ICE's "Camp East Montana" tent camp as a homicide. He was allegedly choked to death by a guard during a "struggle" after he refused to enter a housing unit without his medications.

A classic pairing when I'm working in downtown Hayward for the afternoon: a stout from the Bistro and a treat from Max's Cakes. This time, it's a half pour of Temescal Brewing's double black Mexican chocolate stout, and a mimosa cupcake.

Yep. I also still call apps "programs" 🤷🏼‍♀️ Everything new is old again

I should have introduced myself to whoever owns this home, right? I feel like we're destined to be friends.

Do you like your grapes fermented? 😉 Interested in trying something other than cab sav and chardonnay? The Festival of Undiscovered Grapes is taking place in San Jose on January 31! Join me as we hunt down bottlings of these lesser known grapes. More info: thegourmez.com/blog/2026-01...

LA has been sneakily building a damn good subway system piece by piece while nobody was looking. It's the best way to get around half the city already.

Epstein-Barr Virus #EBV was linked to #MultipleSclerosis - now a plausible cause has been found, misidentification by longterm memory T-cells that pick on the wrong protein, ANO2, instead of the EBV-antigen. Massive inflection towards the elimination of MS!!! 🧪🧠Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The Hollywood Foreign Press has done very little to assuage doubt about why we should bother to care what their opinion on entertainment media is. Add in Poly market as a sponsor? And this (me!) awards junkie hasn't even looked up a YouTube clip from the ceremony. 🤷‍♂️

There's a whole lot of reasons why I prefer being a Grandma Millennial to a Baby Gen X.

📽️ No Other Choice: Halfway through, I thought the plot too slow and violent for me. But the last 20 mins made blistering clear that this was no journey of toxic masculinity or ineffectualism but one about sacrificing the self in the humanity-crushing machine of capitalism to protect your family.

Ken Burns Announces New 10-Part ‘Mr. Biscuits’ Documentary After Adopting Cat https://theonion.com/ken-burns-announces-new-10-part-mr-biscuits-documentary-after-adopting-cat/

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

To run outside in the cold into the hot hot tub or not to run outside in the cold into the hot hot tub? That is the question! I will be bringing a glass of wine with me into the hot tub, and that answers the question.

One of my freshman year floormates was Gifford's aide, Gabe Zimmerman, who was killed. I've been proud to donate to a scholarship in his honor at our alma mater UC Santa Cruz, from time to time. It supports students committed to public service. Donate here: give.ucsc.edu/campaigns/38...

The House just voted 221–205 to extend ACA premium subsidies, keeping millions of Americans from facing massive health insurance hikes.

Oh my gosh you guys! The House just passed my bill to extend the health care tax credits for three more years!

And my first thought is that my fellow Americans are more likely to be okay with killing many of the Greenlanders to take their land rather than paying them.

📽️ Song Sung Blue: It's amazing how wholesome a film with a motorcycle gang brawl, dismemberment, teenage pregnancy, and Hugh Jackman repeatedly singing in his underwear can be. Jackman and Kate Hudson are perfectly cast as a couple who re-invent themselves as a Neil Diamond band. Solid. #filmsky

📽️ Anemone: An art film composed of beautiful nature shots, Daniel Day-Lewis monologuing, and Sean Bean nodding along while Daniel Day-Lewis monologues. It's real pretty, and moments feel cathartic, including awkward old-men dancing, but the plot is 30 seconds long. #filmsky

Best article I've seen so far

“For his tireless work promoting the cause of children’s diseases, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being inducted into the Virus Hall of Fame,” @petridishes.bsky.social writes. She imagines the ceremony:

Enjoyed discovering Six Eleven in Martinez last year! My first time visiting the city as well, and I was charmed by its downtown...and by Six Eleven's cocktails and pastas! Review: thegourmez.com/blog/2026-01...

Applause

I just keep being amazed I'm supposed to believe that 80 deaths is just a typical cost of making an arrest.

kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life

Some good news: we're excited to announce that we've increased our payment rates for fiction. Our paid subscribers made this possible, and we are so grateful. Thank you!

I feel like letting every president of my lifetime get away with Unlimited War Crimes was a serious mistake

We got down to three tiles left in Carcassone... and Bemo decided she was going to win. 😆 Cats. 🤷‍♂️

my hope

Magic Johnson was the grand marshal of the Rose Parade today, and as someone who remembers his November 1991 HIV announcement: if you had told anybody that day that he would be alive and healthy 34+ years later, I don't think they would have believed you. Medicine and research—they work.

👇

An excellent TOC!

Hey everybody, I have a big favor to ask. I don't talk much about my day job, but the owner of my rad little neighborhood coffee shop had a stroke recently. A LOT of people asked how they could help so I've started a gofundme for him. He's a great dude & I hope you can help. gofund.me/416371283

Bemo's New Year's Resolution is slowly decreasing the space she must keep between herself and Mazu to avoid swatting.

FUN FACT 🚨: S&P 500 just posted its 3rd consecutive year of 15%+ gains, a streak that has now happened just 3 times in history 📈 The other two times were the run-up to the Dot Com Bubble and 2019-2021 👀

We interrupt your regularly scheduled for this Waffle House timeline cleanse. #DoomscrollingBreak

The army is ready! My recruit will join the 2026 fray tomorrow.

abcnews.go.com/US/californi... Squatter’s rights!

BREAKING: Explosions felt across New York City as full socialism begins

Great piece on the common naming of pets as "Mochi" in the Bay Area. I've named my pets after food items often since I was a kid, from Butterscotch the hamster to Licorice the dwarf rabbit.

Nice piece from @nberlat.bsky.social today on the importance of artists taking a stand against Trump's authoritarianism.

I've had my criticisms of both Whitehouse and Durbin, who are AWFUL on internet policy, but glad to see them at least calling out that there's absolutely no reason Wiles should have "seen the Epstein files" and her claiming she had should be seen as a scandal.

My senior kitty, who spends 70% of her day in my lap, may have fallen more in love with my lap when I positioned it next to the fireplace for the majority of the evening. (ps, our HVAC is out)