The author of a controversial memo from centrist think tank Searchlight telling Democrats to abandon the slogan “Abolish ICE” is a senior advisor for WestExec, a D.C. shadow lobbyist for corporations in the defense, surveillance, and immigration enforcement industries. prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...

My second post on Substack is a brief essay called "Terror, Stupidity, and Barbed Wire" about Nabokov's resistance to authoritarian propaganda and violence. open.substack.com/pub/bdwlecte...

Another gift of an essay from @sarahkendzior.bsky.social in this time of burgeoning horror. Highest and most grateful recommendation!

"I didn’t feel like writing this week, but God decided to lay it on thick, so here we are." The first two weeks of this year have seemed like a decade. It's no small comfort to have @sarahkendzior.bsky.social to help guide us through the madness.

Definition of Ponzi Austerity, from here: theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/transcript...

True underwater photography in the 1916 version of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

She dragged her dog to a gravel pit and shot her. Later she dragged her pet goat to the gravel pit and shot him, because he smelled like a goat. Conclusion: So what's the problem dragging a few protesters to a gravel pit and shooting them?

Elon Musk is using Grok to fill the internet with child pornography. Some liberals object.

once again encouraging you all to support billionaire-free, worker-run, independent newsrooms how and where you are able

If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free. consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov

“Venezuela has become the laboratory for the new US security strategy. It is an experiment based on the economic control that the United States exerts over the region.” From the @wired en Espanol team, who’ll be covering this story from the region.

I have been thinking that the major divide in Canadian politics now is really wrestling with Trump’s US or wholly embracing it, and now Pierre Poilievre and Melissa Lantsman are praising Trump’s illegal attack on Venezuela while Danielle Smith pushes separation. It’s a really dangerous time.

it is incredible that the entire high level legal apparatus of the United States is "anything that helps people is impossible, anything that kills people is permitted"

It's not very popular but crucially most of that 11% are cable news producers and newspaper editors

This person went on a buying spree over the past 24 hours. Fresh wallet. Only existed since Dec 27th and has only bet on Venezuela-related markets. polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...

rubio pretty much believes in a reverse domino theory for latin america and since he is effectively running foreign policy in the region i would expect him to see cuba as his next target

an “inherent power” to respond to an “imminent” attack is just a license for aggressive war on the president’s whim

If Maduro is in custody my expectation is the admin will try to hold Dumb Nuremberg. They'll make it a judicial referendum on fentanyl and try to blame Maduro for the deaths from the opiate crisis.

So Russia stole a few Billion in gold from Venezuela & trump kidnapped President Maduro . ..

Number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills or illness-related work loss: 🇦🇺 0 🇨🇦 0 🇩🇰 0 🇫🇮 0 🇫🇷 0 🇩🇪 0 🇮🇸 0 🇮🇪 0 🇮🇹 0 🇯🇵 0 🇳🇱 0 🇳🇴 0 🇵🇹 0 🇪🇸 0 🇸🇪 0 🇬🇧 0 🇺🇸 530,000 There’s a lesson there.

5 million-plus kindergartners now live in counties where schools don’t have “herd immunity” for measles, Washington Post reporters found. WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county. Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al. (Gift link.)

Revelers recovering from New Year’s Eve celebrations on the steps of Grand Central Station, New York, circa 1940.

This is why they want us talking about day care scams.

The world’s 500 richest people have total wealth of $11.9tn. Their wealth up by $2.2tn in 2025. 8 billionaires accounting for a 25% of the gains. No one becomes this rich by working. They fund right-wing parties, oppose worker/human rights, cause more pollution than normal people.

Welcome to the Public Domain, ARCTIC ANTICS (1930) ❄️ 🐧 Another 10 Silly Symphony shorts join the public domain. No rattling bones like last year's THE SKELETON DANCE, but we do get up to some Arctic Antics 🐻❄️ Learn more ➡️ blog.archive.org/public-domai... #PublicDomainDay #PublicDomain

The first video I ever saw. It was in 1982 & changed my entire musical trajectory forever youtu.be/bJ9r8LMU9bQ

Niiweyizhiwe = S/he wins Ojibwe word of the day! Learning languages is fun and honors our ancestors and future generations. Follow #Ojibwe WOD: www.youtube.com/@anton.treuer Miigwech (thank you)! #win

Psst. Hey, come closer. No, closer. I have a New Year’s secret for you. It’s this: If you care about people you don’t even know, and try to live your life that way, you are absolutely beautiful no matter what you look like.

Me, waking up this morning, to 2026:

George Beranger stealing the show as a preening actor in ARE PARENTS PEOPLE?

A gateway drug for addicts of truth in trippin'. (Sorry. 😊) Highest recommendation!

I'm grateful for this review: substack.com/home/post/p-...

My first Substack essay is my first book review in many years, in this case, of @sarahkendzior.bsky.social's superb memoir, THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP. bdwlecteur.substack.com/p/the-last-a...

Every post from @sffreview.bsky.social - which I’ve now blocked - reads like genAI, and based on their posts, is an outlet no one should support in any way.

🎯🫠

Oh look, AI bros are grabbing what they perceive to be a disadvantaged group and using them as human shields. (See also: "Disabled people can't draw! Poor kids can't afford art supplies!") Must be a day that ends in y, eh?

And that the great monster is indomitable, you will yet have reason to know.

My latest for @filminquiry.bsky.social. ⛄ www.filminquiry.com/shieldmaiden...

Bari Weiss claims she killed the CBS CECOT story because it lacked Trump’s perspective. 1. That’s a lie. Trump has publicly commented supporting CECOT. 2. Refusing to comment is their choice. They are no victim. 3. Killing a story to protect power is State Run Media. Drop CBS permanently.

1) white people are crazy 2) maybe ask pickmybaby dot com for darker skin along with your blonde and blue eyes 🙄 because seeing a tumor board of a mid 20s person who presents with new seizures from hemorrhagic brain mets from #melanoma hits home what a freaking horrible idea this is

With support from Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify, Running Tide billed itself as on the cutting edge of carbon removal. In the end, it resorted to dumping thousands of tons of wood chips in the sea.

Parkinson’s rates in the US have doubled in the past 30 years. And studies suggest they will climb another 15 to 35 percent in each coming decade. This is not how an inherited genetic disease is supposed to behave.

We must lay down our swords and shields and study war no more

My thoughts are with all those affected by the horrific antisemitic terror attack on a Hanukkah event in Australia in which at least 11 people were killed. Seen below is Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old Muslim father of two who risked his life to disarm one of the gunmen and was also shot and injured.

I’m looking to do cover work. Tell your friends. More samples can be found here: admancartoonist.com/covers-splas...

Good night everyone. Thanks to everyone who donated to our toy drive today. There are still toys and gifts available to donate. [with the correct QT]

The titular wokeness being rolled back is the Civil Rights Act of 1964