The entrance to a building in #Roman #Pompeii, decorated with a beautiful monochrome mosaic - makes a very good first impression! #AncientBlueSky #AncientRome ##Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

Yesterday I saw this male Anna's hummingbird outside of their typically recognized natural environment This happened when I took a morning walk Anyway, I post this, because everyone likes pictures of hummingbirds

One for all my American and German followers. Today is Hedgehog Day - a very old German tradition celebrated on Candlemas Day (2 February). German immigrants to the US however needed a substitute as the Americas have no hedgehogs, so it became groundhogs. Happy Igel Day! 🇩🇪🦔🇺🇸

This is the Ukrainian ground drone armed with a machine gun that made history by becoming the first to capture enemy infantry on the battlefield.

Wisconsin joins multistate challenge to Trump's federal immigration enforcement www.channel3000.com/... #wipolitics

Such a rare survival - the nave ceiling at Peterborough Cathedral dates from the C13th - it has been overpainted twice but the original design remains - and original paint from the C13th has been found beneath the nail heads...

Warwickshire weather lore for this day: If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight. If Candlemas Day be wind and rain, Winter is gone and won’t come again. #CandlemasDay

The Nation's Favourite Stained Glass Window. The votes in our #DivineLight campaign are in and have been counted. We can begin to reveal the top 5 windows In 5th place is ..... the Great East Window at Gloucester Cathedral. Well done Gloucester! Read more about it ⤵️ https://ow.ly/bvcz50Y7qHn

Morning Lights. Sunday's sunrise in Chicago Harbor as the frozen lake starts to melt.

Yesterday I saw this female northern cardinal in my neighbor's front yard She is sort of backlit That makes her crest kind of glow

This day was full of surprises. #birds #birding #birdphotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #nikon #raptors #birdsofprey #kestrel #americankestrel #urbanwildlife #bluesky

trundle, trundle, trundle 😍 🌿

Black Redstart at Green Park Lake, Reading this rainy afternoon. Often flies over to the other side of the lake if a pedestrian walks by so patience is key. @berksbirdclub.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social @rarebirder.bsky.social

Your daily shelter cat…a beauty like this could be yours if you adopt, don’t shop 😽

Caught against the sun, a great egret (Ardea alba) displays the details of its wing and tail feathers, even the bone structure of its wings. Photo taken at Isleta Lakes, New Mexico on February 1, 2026. #nature #naturephotography #birds

One of the cats of #Pompeii, chilling on what was once a #Roman fast food counter 🏺 #AncientBlueSky

The agents who killed Alex Pretti are now identified by ProPublica. The man who shot Pretti in the back ("A4"), is Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa. The man who instigated the confrontation, then shot Pretti's prone body, is CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Not new hires - 8 and 12 years service. 1/

Emerging out of the gloom, Barn Owl at Snettisham this afternoon #UKBirding #norfolkbirding #birds

Following latest Epstein files, at least two legal paths to accountability are available: Congress and NY and other state/local prosecutors can now take up the charge. I explained the roadmap⬇️

“There’s no need to read between the lines. This is a blatant fascist slogan—an explicit threat rooted in neo-Nazi ideology. They’re not hiding it anymore. They’re saying it out loud.”

Here's my full 50-page indictment of CBP and ICE and decades of corruption, abuse of force, racism, and misogyny. I promise you — however bad you've ever thought it was, the full reality is even worse, deadlier, and more corrupt. This isn't a "Trump only" phenomenon:

"Criminality is so rampant inside CBP that it has seen one of its own agents or officers arrested every 24 to 36 hours since 2005... "Over the 20 years from 2005 to 2024 — the last year numbers are available — at least 4,913 CBP officers and Border Patrol agents have been arrested themselves"

Kicking off February with my favorite SE Arizona raptor, the Crested Caracara in fantastic light 🪶

Either you support execution-style murders and the tear-gassing of children or you don't. This isn't morally nuanced. If you support Trump, you're a bad person who is a danger to the rest of us.

Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning. Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.

Public outrage, sustained attention, and effort by elected officials can together make a real difference.

Trump is demanding that taxpayers pay him $10 billion, and guess who'll decide whether he gets it? He will! Even in the most corrupt presidency ever, this bit of self-dealing stands out. My latest at MSNOW: www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

Here’s a gift link to a NY Times story explaining Trump’s huge financial claims against the U.S. government and how he may use his position as president to order underlings to transfer taxpayer money to him personally. Outrageous.

A quick skim above a very frozen & snow-covered South branch of the Chicago River this afternoon. This view will transform quite a bit once “The 78” is developed.

February from The XII Mounthes of the Yeare in the Habits of Severall Nations, c. 1621/23: The sun now with the fishes doth conspire And faintly yet returns his winter fire Whilst the Islander & Lapland people goe In fox-furr'd coats to quell the native snow (British Museum)

Reading the Epstein files leads to the conclusion: The closer you get to Putin and his supporters, the higher the density of pedophiles gets. It explains a lot.

Bald Eagle cruising over the Rock River dam tailwaters looking for shad: #photographersofBlueSky #NaturePhotography #Photography #BirdsOfBluesky #WildlifePhotography #Illinois #raptor

Democrat Christian Menefee wins a special House election in Texas, narrowing the GOP's slim majority: apnews.com/article/cong...

The Bean with a Beanie. Frozen February is here. This morning in Millennium Park with the Bean in reflection.

Happy Februarius! Originally the last month of the #Roman year, February -the shortest month - later became the second month after calendar reforms. Named for februa, rites of purification, it was a time of cleansing & transition before renewal in March. Mosaic of the Months, ElDjem, Tunisia.

Very serious risk of a coup attempt in 2028-29. It could focus on DC only, and we already saw them try when they were in worse position. But as 2025 and special elections show, the regime can’t control lower elections and is getting overwhelmed by popular backlash. Positive sign for the midterms.

Hungary’s elections aren’t really free and fair. Orban’s corrupt control of most of the country’s media and courts renders it so. But the elections are still somewhat competitive, and the most plausible mechanism to get him out of power. It’s hard, but backsliding can be stopped, even reversed.

This morning I signed the “ICE On Notice” executive order, laying the groundwork to investigate and prosecute ICE agents if they break the law in Chicago. There is no such thing as absolute immunity in America. Chicago will not stand by as ICE terrorizes our communities.

A wee little Welcome Swallow. A tiny bird with big attitude! #BirdPics #NaturePhotography #WildlifeLovers

🐶💕 Burlingame, CA! #AdoptDontShop

Warming pan, brass, 17th century, English (V&A museum, London)

Red Crowned Crane one of the world's largest cranes, standing up to 5 feet tall with an 8-foot wingspan southeastern Russia, northeast China, Mongolia and eastern Japan Endangered 📷: Chen Chengguang #birds

Sutton Hoo helmet. Excavated 1939 in a 7thC ship burial, both functional as a helmet & highly decorative. Helmet, which had degraded to fragments over centuries has been painstakingly reconstructed more than once. On display @britishmuseum.bsky.social #suttonhoo #suttonhoohelmet #anglosaxon #saxon

⚡️ Polish hotel to donate far-right party’s event proceeds to Ukraine. The Arche Hotel group will transfer all revenue from a convention held by the anti-Ukrainian "Confederation" party to Kyiv’s defense efforts, Rzeczpospolita reports. 1/2

1/2 Thousands have lined the streets in Copenhagen to support Danish veterans as and protest outside the US Embassy over Trump’s claim that NATO troops avoided the front line during the war in Afghanistan #Denmark #TrumpLies #Greenland #NATO

New Yorker with shocking headline: Trump’s Profiteering Hits $4 Billion. The message: ape Putin. Use politics to loot the democratic state. And fear not: no constitution, no elected politician, and certainly no Republican is going to stop you.

Minnesota Resistance logo

The Tudor Heart Pendant. A spectacular 16th-century gold pendant linked to Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon. Discovered in Warwickshire by a metal detectorist in 2019. British Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

"James, how can I get a copy of the Epstein Files myself?" I'm glad you asked! 🎩 1. epsteinfilesarchive.com 2. vault.fbi.gov/jeffrey-epst... 3. oversight.house.gov/release/over... 4. www.justice.gov/epstein #EpsteinFiles