One of the reasons Epstein was a sex trafficker was that he was also an information broker. A spy, but more. It's probably how he made most of his money.

The one with chocolate-covered strawberries.

We're going backward.

David Horsey adds to his chilling cartoon with a chilling essay. Those of us concerned about interlocking board memberships in the 1970s and '80s had no idea how deep the rot would go...or had already gone.

I've admired @david-mack.bsky.social David Mack's watercolor illustrations/comics for decades.

Only the viewers of Fox News etc.

Good news. Now let's see the follow-through.

All the recent talk about trying to make ICE drop their masks and wear their numbered badges reminds me of the cartoon that @redcolumbine.bsky.social and I did in 2020 in response to NYC police covering their badge numbers during BLM protests. (In 2020, the mask was for COVID.)

30 Jan--1 Feb I took a 3-day watercolor workshop with Tim Saternow, under the auspices of the New England Watercolor Society. The workshop was held at the Guild of Boston Artists on Newbury Street. These are the pieces I painted based on photos I'd taken in 2012 in Latvia.

"Freedom" means those already super-rich get to do what they like with the rest of us. Small businesspeople, inventors, researchers -- we're all NPCs to them.

The stock market is not the economy. 🤷

I grew up in PA on the other side of the river from Trenton. I spent little time in Camden, but this is coming close to home.

I feel this way about pretty much all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. You shouldn't be allowed to dump cyanide into municipal drinking water and you shouldn't be allowed to recreationally spread viruses around shared public spaces.

We've been building the surveillance state over the past 25+ years. Little did we know how bad it would get.

Not correctly, just confidently.

All of your pain was worth it all to US.

"The room set aside for dangerous criminals and violent offenders was empty."

Conway is right.

A+++ post

I'm giving another free Zoom reading of a Blaster Al Ackerman story, in this case the "essay" "Ack's Wacks: The Macaroni Column". The reading is on Sunday, 22 February, at 8 PM EST. www.eventbrite.com/e/february-2...

Loathsome.

Don't put it past them. It's one of the reasons they're accelerating hiring.

We noticed.

We keep saying "Defund ICE", but the deployment of CPB in Minneapolis (well out of their usual purview) has been an integral part of the problem there.

Not even complaining that some white person deserved a particular prize over her. Just acknowledging her achievement. These people can't feel good about themselves without erasing others, thus proving their inherent mediocrity.

Pandering loses readers/viewers without gaining any new ones, because the MAGA crowd already knows what media they trust. They've been told for years which ones to DIStrust, and a hard pivot in coverage is not going to change that.

Puffins! You have to count them during the breeding season. (That may give the false impression that their beaks are always that bright.)

Sort of like moving a pedophile priest to another parish.

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

It’s not that I think a general strike wouldn’t work. I absolutely think a general strike would work. My problem is that you folks want to skip to the end but you get angry and defensive about discussing the road through. There is no infrastructure in place to initiate, let alone sustain a strike.

"Minnesota nice" means standing up for neighbors, not caving to bullies.

The idea of doing something simply because one cares just doesn't register with some folks.

I wish this weren't so, so we could simply blame the Democrats who voted on the DHS spending bill.

My first 2026 Blaster Al Zoom reading "2,976 Vienna Sausages". The reading is THIS Sunday, 25 January at 8 PM EST. Sign up now on EventBrite to receive the Zoom link for this FREE performance. www.eventbrite.com/e/january-20...

Nephew of the late editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette. Powerful stuff.

Did she write that memo about not needing judicial warrants? Or did she just ask an underling to do it?

Strange and charming.

In other words, ICE has been breaking the law on the regular, and needs to be held accountable. Not just have more rules laid on them, but having the existing rules ENFORCED against them.

George L., is that you?

Once again I'm at Arisia Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, returning as last year to the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MA, Friday--Monday, 16--19 January. I'm on the program and have some of my more fantastical art in the Art Show. www.arisia.org

Who trusts the gang in Washington to use this information to "fight antisemitism?"

We need good chants like this.

a lot of people think the cops should be allowed to shoot you dead if you disrespect them. No word on what you should be allowed to do when the cops disrespect you.

Well, we WERE about to have a whole slew of windfarms and solar farms come online, but you-know-who canceled them.

My first Blaster Al Ackerman Zoom reading for 2026 is his classic story, "2,976 Vienna Sausages" on Sunday, 25 January at 8 PM EST. Sign up now on EventBrite to receive the Zoom link for this FREE performance. www.eventbrite.com/e/january-20...

Wow.

For some reason I was thinking of re-watching this movie. This or "The Wages of Fear," on which it is based.