Leave messages with your reps now. It only takes a few minutes. (Illinois: Durbin's office doesn't take voicemail, but you can message him in the time it takes to post a rant here with @resist.bot.)

I'm old enough to remember this.

They're not even pretending this has any justification.

CONSEQUENCES 2026

ICE can't handle even a sprinkling of snow. 😆

Serious thing for folks to consider is, particularly for marginalized people, Grudges Are Self-Defense. What you may be interpreting as pettiness is probably closer aligned to "You have demonstrated you're not to be trusted." And knowing who REALLY has your back is more important that ever.

Similarly, Chicago just had a year of record low violent crime. (Fewest killings since 1965.) Crime in general is down across the board. For years now, the US has been safer than it was when we were kids. But you'd never know that from talking heads & media reporting. Crime sells.

What an epic start to 2026! You all, I've never seen so much tip money at a show in my life. 😂❤️

This is Chicago as well. The thing that gives me hope in a bleak time is how much ordinary people have stepped up. Keep fighting, all. At least the record will show we didn't go quietly. 👊

For folks still struggling with the math: There are ~345 million US citizens. There are ~245 million white US citizens. This is what they mean by "Peaceful ethnic cleansing." Their plan ends with deporting all non-white people. Not "undocumented criminals." Not even "all undocumented people."

Trump's lost the Falun Gong / Epoch Times crowd.

Trekked out to the suburbs on Monday for more Zoolights! (Brookfield Zoo.) IT WAS SO COLD. 😅😂

ICYMI I've been nominated for a SLEW of Chicago Reader Best of Chicago Awards! These are a huge deal. And voting closes tonight! - Best Dancer - Best Choreographer - Best Pop Artist - Best International or World Music Act - Best Singer-Songwriter

It is maddening how little doctors know about a condition that affects ~40% of the population.

I got into a bicycle accident many years ago (ended up with a substantial puncture wound & pretty beat up pelvis). A kind stranger saw me go down and walked me home (a few blocks), made sure I was OK. I was so out of it at the time I didn't even ask his name. But I remain grateful for his help. ❤️

"AI" is practically a marketing term at this point - it's vague & its definition keeps shifting to whatever techbros think will make them more money. "GenAI" is honestly pretty squishy too.

My team tested an internal federal gov chatbot that's currently live to see if it could help with some tasks. It couldn't even handle a basic document find/search - all it needed to do was scan an uploaded doc & spit out info from it. I shudder to think how much taxpayer $ was spent on this thing.

Rian Johnson rickrolling his entire cast is my new favorite fact. 😂

IS THIS YOUR KING?

What, you're saying you *don't* make sesame crackers from scratch when you want a snack at 3am? 🍽️ (Hi, my name is Dawn and I'm obsessed with food. Also I'm nocturnal & had an excellent 18-month Comté in the fridge that wanted to be eaten. 😂)

Going to Copenhagen in a couple weeks for the first time. I'll have 24 hours, twice. Solo. (Long layovers.) Any recs?

Name 1 movie from your childhood you were way too young to watch. Predator. Around age 6. In fairness though, it was a Singaporean censored version so it might have been fine? I have very little recollection of what I watched then vs. the full version when I was older.

every major US tech company is falling over themselves to be like IBM in 1939

I perform 90+ shows/year in bars, theaters, festivals. Teach weekly. Travel lots. See friends all the time. I still mask on the regular. Iota-carrageenan nasal spray when I can't. Clean air / outdoors when possible. I've only gotten COVID once. Risk reduction is risk reduction. Do what you can.

The land area of China is 2.2% larger than the US. I constantly bring this up with people who tell me that the US can't support high speed rail because we're too big. You all, we went to the freaking moon. We can do the rail thing if we actually care. (The spoiler is that we don't.)

It was reprehensible when people mocked condom usage at the height of the AIDS pandemic. It is just as depraved to mock those wearing masks to reduce the spread of airborne viruses today. Whenever someone takes any kind of step to protect public health, they should be applauded, not mocked.

Shel Silverstein on AI before GenAI.

Not to mention that 7 of the 10 largest protests in US history have happened under Trump. In spite of the risks. No Kings in Oct. was the largest single-day protest in US history, with 5-7.2 million participants.

In 2019, the rate of fatal police shootings in the US was 3.1 per million residents. By contrast, the rate in France was 0.14 per million, and in Germany, it was lower. In Germany, police officers discharged a total of 85 bullets at people in the entire year of 2011.

post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

This is Sam. He is Very Pretty. 😄 (This is Matt's mom's cat.)

A few hours in Milwaukee = a great time to visit my favorite coffee shop in an old water pumping station. 😄

Last night I needed a bow for a gift so for some reason I decided the thing to do was make an origami star out of gift wrap. I hadn't done origami since I tried & failed to make birds out of a book as a kid. So clearly I needed to try a fairly complicated shape off the bat. 😅🫠 But: Success! 🎉

This is a great expression of the thing I keep saying about text-generating algorithms: “Hallucination” isn’t some kind of glitch. ALL their responses are hallucinations. Sometimes they align with reality, sometimes they don’t.

I am a UX design manager, former senior front-end developer, and professional dancer & musician with a theatre & literature degree. They all compliment each other. * Honestly a thing I'm constantly telling artists is that our skills are transferrable to tech & business!

TIL Frank Sinatra was alright. :-)

Dean Martin, born Dino Paul Crocetti, son of Italian immigrant Gaetano Crocetti Frank Sinatra, son of Italian immigrants Antonino Sinatra and Natalina Garavanta Merry Christmas to everyone except Stephen Miller and his enablers and handlers

Approximately 95% of year's Christmas soundtrack: - BB King - Charlie Brown Christmas - Over the Rhine - Ramsey Lewis

Hahahahaha!

WaPo reports that ICE is planning 7 massive human warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people. Recalls the acting ICE director 2015 statement that he wanted to see a “business”-oriented approach to deportations, “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

People like this are why hell needs to exist as a real place.

Merry Christmas & Happy Life Day!

Merry Christmas from the bellydancing Wookiee! (That's me. 😂)

Periodic reminder that Jesus was a Palestinian Jew & refugee. He was not blue-eyed, pale, & blond. He was part of a marginalized group with few legal rights in an occupied land. He was poor. The whole Christmas thing? His parents were fleeing a genocide.

Update: The coquito got a thumbs up from both the Puerto Rican & Caribbean friends! 🍽️🎉 I steeped spices (cinnamon stick, ginger, cloves) in the coconut milk - worked nicely to layer depth of flavor. 😄

- Prime rib has been slow-roasting for a few hours - Ham is in the sous vide - Coquito & chocolate mousse are both chilling in the fridge - Most of the s'mores pie is in the freezer (made a graham cracker crust last night) Next: Making the marshmallow topping for the s'mores.

A truth about the internet: If you have mild criticism of "men" as a general category, men will pop up to #notallmen. "Men need to take more responsibility for pregnancy birth control." "Well *I've* always been good about using condoms." Good for you, dude. Would you like a cookie?

End private equity.

Tariffs = a whopping $75 shipping for some small items & then an email from FedEx saying you also owe $11 for duties. Which they will email you about (fine, you pay immediately). And then 3 hours later you will get a text in the middle of the night saying you need to pay AFTER YOU ALREADY PAID.

Starting Christmas Eve dinner prep (hosting 9 friends!). Current menu: • Slow-roasted prime rib • Brown sugar and honey ham (sous vide) • Broccoli soup • Miso butter glazed carrots • Mashed potatoes • Smores ice cream pie with salted butter chocolate sauce • Callebaut chocolate mousse • Coquito