When I was young I read somewhere that if you want to picture the future imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever, much older now I cannot speak regarding forever but in the present you do not need to imagine that boot, no, you do not need to imagine it.

Remember that Grey's Anatomy where a guy with a Nazi tattoo came in in critical condition, and Yang treated him anyway? The modern version of that story would be about treating an ICE agent.

Another reason Democrats must stop, defund, and ultimately abolish ICE: voter suppression. ICE has forced a significant number of people of color to hide inside their homes. What if ICE patrols just outside key polling places during the midterms?

My wife, the morning poet: "I'm cold. And I'm old. I'm cold and old, and want KITTENS."

As we waited to check out the man in front of me looked at my cart and asked: “you also getting ready for what’s coming?” and I nodded at which point he asked “what’s with the mask?” and I responded “I’m staying ready for what’s already happening.”

Tech "I just had COVID again a few months ago." Me "Not good. Are you doing any vascular diagnostics to track possible vascular damage over time caused by the previous COVID infection?" Tech "Don't tell me that. Now I'm worried." Me 😔 Is it not better to know and act to prevent or remain ignorant?

Tyler O'Ryan Gramlin, 32, of Borden, IN is a Border Patrol Agent who has traveled from state to state committing extreme violence. On Jan 21, 2026 Gramlin emptied a can of pepper spray directly in the face of a prone protester at point-blank range in Minneapolis #MPLS #OneOfOursAllOfYours #UnmaskICE

This is probably a very good article. Doesn’t matter. No one should read it. It’s published on Sensible Medicine, Prasad’s monetized MAGA/MAHA disinformation substack. Doctors should certainly not publish anything there.

My aunt, the doctor, told me a new joke. She asked: Did you hear who the US withdrew from? I replied: From who? To which she responded: Yes, exactly, from the WHO. And then, after a quiet moment in which neither of us laughed, my aunt, the doctor, quietly said: fuck.

my phd mentor had a similar experience; responding to reviews of a submitted piece of empirical research where the reviewer suggested she had misunderstood the construct Ostroff developed and validated, she had to reply, 'but I am Ostroff'. may her memory be a blessing

Copy and paste the bunny and then put something else in their hand (\_/) (°-°) />😺< bunny haz kitteh

In case you're wondering why ICE is busting down doors now. "New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo..." apnews.com/article/ice-...

This seems promising, especially for immunocompromised folks (like my wife) who only get slight benefits from vaccination, having little or no immune system to train: www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office... cle-blocks-covid-19-infection--possible-new-treatment-on-the-horizon.php #covid #covid19

If you are wondering what you can do to protect yourself from the polar vortex: put on a mask, for it will protect your nose and mouth from getting cold, and as a bonus it will protect you from getting a cold (and other things).

Some people were confused by my ICE post. This should clear it up.

This cartoon I drew the other day sold, so I've made prints available for you. Just search the title I'm Not Mad At You. Please remember that part of the proceeds of all my art goes towards social justice people and organizations.

This little Nazi is not an attorney. He is wrong. He is crazy. And eventually he will spend the rest of his putrid little life enjoying all that is offered in a Federal Penitentiary.

As I entered the elevator the man inside looked at my masked face and declared: “that’s a blast from the past!” but then the woman behind him in the elevator began hacking into her sleeve and before I could stop myself I replied: “those are coughs in the present.”

As we stood outside waiting in the cold a young man in shorts walked by and my work friend said: “some people just don’t know how to dress for the season,” and as a coughing man walked by I looked from his unmasked face to my work friend’s unmasked face and said: you’re right.

So, if I'm reading this right: 4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer, and 6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow. (HT @benjaminkabak.com)

100% this!👇

"Not only is our health at stake, but this attack on science is an attack on freedom of speech and thought. What we have seen at NIH is a threat to the fundamental freedoms that all of us cherish." www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n...

Rainy day watercolor experiment. Make your own greens. Fully factorial design. My favorite combinations are marked with little red dots. Most combinations with quin gold seem to look pretty natural. Lemon yellow looks hideous

Ah yes, the Kavanaugh stop. A brief law enforcement encounter that lasts a mere *checks notes* 25 days.

I read an article, which summarized a new study from Griffith University, by stating: “COVID-19 leaves lasting changes in the brain, even after full recovery,” which I suppose is another way of saying that there isn’t really such a thing as a full recovery.

As the number of cases continues to rise the US is currently on track to lose its elimination status for measles in January of 2026, so if you are wondering if 2026 is off to a good start, know that it isn’t, know that it really isn’t.

So when can you start

ProPublica has found multiple cases of women with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions. Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old mother, was told by doctors there was no emergency before preeclampsia killed her. (Published November)

When she asked if I had any resolutions for the new year I told her my resolutions are to avoid getting sick and to avoid getting anyone else sick, and when she sighed and said that those had been my resolutions from last year I replied: I’m still working on them.

Please donate to your local food bank, folks! And if your locale has a Food Not Bombs chapter, consider giving them your perishables if you're not sure you'll get around to eating them. They'll put them in hungry hands the same day.

only realised this year it was Tilda Swinton stop motioning around a reassuringly 90s London in Orbital's The Box

The good news is, I figured out the sekrit menu which lets me open more than a hundred tabs on my tablet's browser. The bad news is, I have more than a hundred tabs open in my browser now, and it's that much harder to find the tab I'm looking for.

Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2 wins every argument by continuing to spread and mutate.

Make a Bond movie academic: Abnormally low mortality in subsequent diel cycle

Hohoho! I drew this year's holiday card for my art rep, Felix Comic Art. I wanted the recipients to get something that looked like a piece of vintage original art, but also couldn't help poking some fun at Felix's love for Dark Knight Returns.

I use the research by CCDH in my own work. This action by US government is shocking and unconstitutional. All researchers are in danger. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...

You know those stories about how the magic of Christmas miraculously restores your faith in humanity? It isn't working.

Not to be confused with "Dual Power" (qv Black Panther Party "Survival Programs"), whereby people provide government-like services to demographics under-served by the "real" government! Both involve "parallel institutions", but sometimes differences are more important than similarities.

Think about the amount of money AI companies have raised (estimated $335 billion). A typical tech startup spends at least 10% on marketing ($33.5 billion). That's more than twice the total campaign spending by both parties in the 2024 US election ($15.9 billion).

Oh my. They've made a horror movie about that very scary SARS-CoV-2 variant nickname. youtu.be/E5dKNC2a5Qw?...

I just had to block three entire /16 networks in China which were repeatedly attempting to exploit (non-existant) security vulns on my colo server -- 219.151.0.0/16, 219.152.0.0/16, and 219.153.0.0/16. Do bad guys wait until the holidays to launch these attacks, assuming everyone's on vacation?

Yes please, have more people do that. Also, spoof vandalism and amend outdated pages. A repository like Wikipedia needs these contributions to get the niche stuff getting added to the pool, rather than another random five-minute celebrity.

Once again, I accidentally welded together a bag in my microwave oven, a bag made out of polyethylene, which is notoriously hard to weld. It makes me wonder if we've just been approaching PE welding wrong, or something.

Pretty sure this means he's planning on stealing land and oil from Venezuelans, under the guise of combating drugs. My guess is that blowing up boats and stealing oil tankers were testing the waters, to see if there would be any pushback, and to make sure his constituents were good with it.

If mainstreamers are starting to internalize "older hardware is still useful", it threatens my entire jankputer lifestyle. www.servethehome.com/hyper-scaler...

Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale RTd this thread, which says Trump shld act fast & “Fire people who can't be fired. Force them to litigate. Mass deport people who can't be deported. Force them to litigate. Cancel 100s of billions in funding that are not lawful to cancel & force them to litigate.” 1/