JFC.

I am still thinking about the fact that one of CBS Evening News's newly-announced core principles is "We Love America."

All of this is nauseating and profoundly embarrassing. Americans who can watch this without feeling shame and horror are inhabiting an alien moral universe I do not understand.

This is an emergency of the gravest kind. “We can do it again. Nobody can stop us” he said. It is the absolute and solemn duty of Congress to impeach and remove Trump from power immediately.

Wrote this 6 years ago and why is it even more applicable now than then 😐

Big week for Rhode Island icy pond rescues.

In authoritarian regimes, underlings signal loyalty to the ruler by publicly attesting to obviously false claims

At the gym, and half the TVs are on Sunday sports shows promoting gambling and the other half are on the Sunday news shows promoting war.

Scroll, baby, scroll.

OK, here's a 🧵 of DEA corruption and shenanigans. Starting with this paragraph from the New York Times, in 1977: www.nytimes.com/1977/05/22/a...

I'm just now realizing that the Drug Enforcement Administration led the Maduro capture/arrest. And -- hoo boy -- I know that agency well, since I researched it for my book and sued it under #FOIA in 2015. Its history is a total shitshow.

The U.S. is a country in precipitous decline, on multiple fronts.

Every time I see a news article about ChatGPT pushing vulnerable people to harm themselves and others, I want to know how the universities who have eagerly proclaimed their partnerships with this company intend to account for the increasing evidence of the harms of this tech

Babe wake up, new sickos meme just dropped

Of all the competitive authoritarian developments of the past year I think the fall of CBS News is among the most chilling. That this can happen to easily and so quickly freaks me the fuck out.

Providence.

Is ICE going to kidnap Maduro and return him to Venezuela?

this is just insane. I don’t have any other words for it

The House Armed Services Committee also was not briefed, I've confirmed.

POV: you're my friend and I'm giving you feedback on your book proposal.

I really hope PVD/Rhode Island doesn't lose @mapcenter.com.

The Washington Post is fully and truly cooked.

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"

I’ve been thinking lately about how all children learn how good and wise America’s constitutional structure is: three branches of government, checks and balances, etc. And then in the real world, they just roll over to whatever Trump does. The idea feels almost quaint at this point.

New circle of hell: gambling on war crimes.

Yikes.

This is true. But you might be more inclined to go forward anyway if your policy is lying about everything and/or blaming others; if Congress and the courts have shown themselves to be toothless; and if you can expect to distract folks from the mess by starting a new, bigger, different mess.

I'm sure the next Pentagon press briefing will clear things up. From last month:

Evergreen.

**places finger to earpiece** I'm getting reports that 2026 is not, in fact, more sane or normal than 2025.

Update: here's the post on the New Year's Eve protest at the Wyatt from @steveahlquist.bsky.social's substack. Text by Steve; photos and video by me. I am, honored, as always, to help with Steve's vital work of -- among the other things he covers -- documenting protests across Rhode Island.

[wakes up] “I’m sorry, what”

Semi-regular reminder that none of Sackler family members are in prison.

I’ve said it before, but the bottom line is this (to everyone’s peril): the law and rules are what powerful people say they are

This isn't about democratizing the news. It's about elevating "vibes" and "feelings" to be on par with lived experience and subject-matter expertise.

Yep, the level of vicious bigotry is extreme and we can cannot give an inch. There is a movement on the far right, supported by billionaires and powerful people in the White House, who want to ethnically cleanse Somalis from the U.S., and we must describe it as such and treat it as such.

I attended a wedding ceremony in this room today. I’ve lived in Providence for many years, but it was a first for me.

I have not one, but two, events this afternoon that require: [a] leaving the house [b] looking somewhat presentable. This felt documentation-worthy.

The actress is 14 and the character is supposed to be *eight*. We're all just supposed to accept this as the cost of being female?

Trying to kick-start my brain after a couple weeks of lounging around, watching TV, doomscrolling, and doing jigsaw puzzles. So far the results are mixed.

Oof. This is what a bought-and-paid-for opinion section looks like.

Meanwhile on X... Yes, this was actually posted by DHS!

A memorial in front of the Engineering Research Center honoring the two Brown University students who lost their lives: Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov. May their memories be a blessing. 🙏🏽🤍

I don't find this threatening. I find it what America is all about.

A few of my photos from last night's New Year’s Eve noise demonstration at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls -- Rhode Island’s only ICE detention facility. I covered the protest for @steveahlquist.bsky.social's newsletter. I’ll share the post when it’s online.

Millions for ice while libraries are closed.

I know very little of the Lobster Heist. But I'm definitely eager to learn more.

The final Calvin and Hobbes, which appeared in papers 30 years ago today.

-Rejection, by Tony Tulamathitte -Animal Farm, by Orwell -1984, by Orwell -Martyr, by Kaveh Akbar -Harriet Tubman Live and in Concert, by Bob the Drag Queen