rather than adopting the view that America is a sinful, evil place, maybe you should ditch the bad calvinism and consider the cost of alternatives

“For families like mine in Wichita Falls, Texas, @pbs.org was oxygen,” writes @briangaar.bsky.social . “It was proof that humor could be silly, intellectual, and a little dangerous all at once. thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/28/p...

Houston: voting is open TODAY and TOMORROW (Jan 28 & 29) in the Congressional District 18 special election runoff. Or you can vote SATURDAY (Jan 31, election day). 🧵 If you're confused, here's some information: www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Someone needs to put a Home Security jacket on this.

if they’re going to require judicial warrants instead of administrative, that is an *enormous* change that will *substantially* reduce the number of people DHS can legally detain. whether they comply with that is a totally different question.

this is a good line. ill hand that to him.

Just visited with Liam and his father at Dilley detention center. I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him.

The timelines during the Guadalupe Flood are excruciating. A true “flash” flood. #AMS2026

There's quite a lot going on, so it feels weird to be like HEY HEY LOOK AT ME, but maybe you like books, and like books by me, and want to see the cover to my next one, coming in August:

Kao Kalia Yang at @literaryhub.bsky.social - "If they take me and leave the children." One of our great local writers at this moment of crisis.

I checked in on how "Melania" is selling in Texas. In big cities, people are passing. But in the suburbs of Houston, Dallas, and Austin, Melania-heads are out in full force: www.chron.com/culture/tv/a...

The Royal Ontario Museum added thousands of objects to their only museum catalogue last year—which now totals almost 90,000 objects. My favorite remains this late antique child’s sock from Roman Egypt. 🧦 collections.rom.on.ca/objects/3736... The ancient world was full of kids and color.

RIGHT WHALE BABY BOOM www.wired.com/story/a-nort...

if you want to actually read up on Northerners' feelings when they encountered slavery in practice - to say nothing of the vast and pugnacious anti-slavery movement before the war - then try WHEN THIS CRUEL WAR IS OVER. As it is you are repeating lies *created by Confederate racists*

Hey cuties. Everything sucks ass. Get some valentines and send them to your friends. I'm sad. You're sad. They're probably sad. Send them a valentine. It keeps Skype a Scientist running, which hey, is very good too. squidfacts.bigcartel.com/product/deep...

CSNY released Ohio with similar urgent turnaround. Here's some of the songs from artists you may know who've come out so far:

In the shade of the winter wood, the Tree Sprites may be sleeping, but it doesn’t mean that their dreams don’t walk. – Lou Kemp on her 1982 painting 'Wood Sprite Scratch IV'

National Zoo Cheetah Cub Cam! (Cubs currently in Den 2) nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/chee...

omg

Ad astra Challenger crew. 40 years.

Pretty books

started some sweet pea seeds to soak. never planted sweet peas and i imagine it'll get too hot too fast for them but if it doesn't, i'll have sweet peas!

Horrible horse for a horrible new year...

British.

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Some days it really baffles me how we can all be so obviously exhausted and rent by this veritable menagerie of shit and yet somehow still not stop it.

"They told us what they were going to do. They published it. They put it on a website. And when it happened, the press was surprised." Hoo boy, everyone should bookmark this @parkermolloy.com piece & make sure everyone involved in media reads it.

welcome to the jungle / we got lots of trees / you can do anything you want but please don't touch the bees

The central failure of US immigration policy over my entire adult life is that it has always put xenophobia over facts. This is the result. And if we were talking about facts, this one would be setting off all our alarms. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

The Texas Tribune is dedicated to helping Texans vote. Ahead of the 2026 election, we’ve collected our voting resources on this page for you to easily find and share them with others:

I don't believe we'll win, I know we'll win, but the cost on the way is something we're still only getting a glimpse of - not least because we know that we only know a little about what they're doing - and that cost & that not-knowing feel especially heavy this morning.

On this day in 1986, seven astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger — Ellison S. Onizuka, Mike Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Greg Jarvis, Ron McNair and Judy Resnik — died when the spacecraft broke apart 73 seconds into its launch. Learn more: https://to.pbs.org/4hr9ob7

Quick iconic comic cover edit to laud Ilhan Omar.

The way they all join in...

Street art memorializing Alex Pretti in Seattle. Per r/Seattle, it was painted on a building facing Swedish Hospital in the First Hill neighborhood www.reddit.com/r/nursing/co...

These words demand attention. “In a real sense this is holy ground, consecrated by blood spilled here. The cost is high, and so I had to be here to stand in the very place where this tragedy unfurled… I think we’re at a defining moment for our country…” ~ Rev Warnock Take a moment, so much more…

recently learned about “dek bass”, a sound system culture in rural West Bengal, using cassette decks and homemade systems, and it’s remarkable because 1) the music and equipment are sick and 2) the DJ always looks like he’s being briefed on a national security issue

If his friend has got the weapons, he's a Fed 👏👏 If his friend has got the weapons, he's a Fed 👏👏 If you're running off your mouth And his buddy lives down south And his friend has got the weapons, he's a Fed 👏👏

it is beautiful how we are having another moment of Bluesky unity. everybody basking in the glow of how Ilhan Omar was very visibly gonna punch that dude in the mouth

*does not apply to the US government agencies and officials.

when the internet finds out Megyn Kelly hates whistles 🤣

Sal Buscema, the comic book artist best known for The Incredible Hulk, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Rom: Spaceknight, has died at 89.

Look, it's been hard for me to figure out how to talk about the difference between healthy masculinity and bullshit, weak, fear-based control fantasies, but BOY HAS THIS WEEK MADE EVERYTHING MORE CLEAR.

Wyden, Merkley and Markey www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-r...

So which politician is calling for the dismantling of the probably illegal database that ice & this government is collecting biometric data of protesters?

1/27/2026 - Minneapolis ICE just attempted an illegal entry into the ECUADORIAN CONSULATE to abduct someone They did not have a warrant

The Shoah is the murder of six million Jews, the Holocaust is the murder of eleven million people.

Am a French historian looking for good articles/books that discuss the origins of the social bonds that we are seeing in action in #Minneapolis. Doesn't have to be abt #Minnesota. Social structures that generate strong communities. Historians? Sociologists? Political scientists? #Skystorians

Corner of Vin Scully and Stadium Way, Dodger Stadium.