“Where do you get your ideas from, Ms Le Guin?” From forgetting Dostoyevsky and reading road signs backwards, naturally. Where else?

This is how you live a life

“If you’re looking around and wondering who’s going to help, you should probably look at yourself” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/11/m...

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.

My latest investigation, and first in a series for @towcenter.bsky.social : How ‘Pink Slime’ Publishers Are Weaponizing FOIA In the past year, we found a news-appearing network called Metric Media filed more than nine thousand Freedom of Information Act requests across all fifty states.

NEW: A eulogy for The Post's sports department, which transformed the press box forever and created some of the best sportswriters in America www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest allows the public to vote for their favorite images from this year’s competition. See some of the entries:

"Those who were laid off include Caroline O’Donovan, the Post’s beat reporter covering Amazon"

That night when Toad went to bed he thought the biggest thoughts that he could think.

Fanatics makes more excuses than sellable jerseys:

they should make a movie series about how it’s irresponsible to use technology to mess with the natural order of things for profit

University of Illinois college republicans advocate for executing protesters as “traitors” with art that takes a disturbing killing and makes it even more extreme. dailyillini.com/news-stories...

Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

A judge has ordered the release of Twin Cities independent journalist Georgia Fort this afternoon, rejecting the U.S. government’s claims that her allegations constitute a crime of violence that necessitate keeping her detained.

Georgia Fort's is chilling, and it's being overshadowed by the equally chilling arrest of Don Lemon. A GoFundMe is being set up for Fort. In the meantime, you can support her work directly – without paying massive fundraising platform fees – through her website: www.georgiafort.com/support

Georgia Fort, an independent journalist and vice president of the Minnesota NABJ chapter, was also arrested by federal agents this morning I was sent this video of agents at her door:

it is certainly true that Western media constantly cast doubt on the Gaza Health Ministry's death numbers, but seeing this today made me think of the Lancet study estimating total deaths in Gaza to be as high as over 186,000 that came out in *July 2024*

In Opinion “More than anything else I have ever wanted, I want to stop this revolving door,” Madeline Till writes about her son’s experiences with mental illness. “I want schizophrenia to be treated with the same urgency, seriousness and continuity as any other life-threatening illness.”

Frog and Toad looked into a mirror. “We look brave,” said Frog. “Yes, but are we?” asked Toad.

ICE is changing tactics in Maine: "Now, the volunteers in Maine say federal agents have started showing up at their homes and intimidating them or threatening arrest. Some of them, masked and wearing tactical gear, have issued stark warnings not to follow them." www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...

The woman who survived five gunshots from a Border Patrol agent in Chicago, only to be criminally charged and then cleared, now wants a judge’s permission to share records showing how the feds respond when agents use deadly force. @chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

“At times, Minneapolis reminded me of what I saw during the Arab Spring in 2011, a series of street clashes between protesters and police that quickly swelled into a much larger struggle against autocracy,” Robert F. Worth reports.

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 26, 2026

News: The Washington Post is preparing to slash upwards of 300 staffers, incl sports, metro and foreign desks @nataliekorach.bsky.social reports. “The newsroom is being punished for absolute incompetence from the owner and publisher,” one staffer told @status.news www.status.news/p/washington...

The largest Trump superPAC donor so far this cycle is the president of OpenAI

In our first SLR original of 2026, writer Boen Wang returns with a deeply personal and historical examination of the Chinatowns of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the two cities that have shaped his life. Why did one thrive while the other barely survived? sundaylongread.com/2026/01/23/p...

ICE attacked an observer after they tailed a group of clergy on a spiritual pilgrimage. Our digital producer @sam.vp just so happened to be with the clergy on their journey. He spoke with the observer who was attacked and others who witnessed the assault.

Photo of anti-ICE rally and march in downtown Mpls in frigid weather. Haven’t heard crowd size estimates yet. www.mprnews.org for live updates.

Newly unsealed evidence makes it even clearer that Rubio and Noem knew they were targeting students based solely on their political speech and that they knew this policy was unconstitutional. They just didn’t care. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

“It just doesn’t feel like we’re living in the United States of America,” said Alexis Worn, who witnessed an ICE arrest outside her kitchen window Tuesday morning.

Take it easy and go quadruple diamond. The Eagles’ 1976 album “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" is the bestselling album of all time in the U.S.

In addition to being bad, this is all pretty stupid.

Toad sat on the edge of his bed. “Blah,” said Toad. “I feel down in the dumps.” “Why?” asked Frog. “I am thinking about tomorrow,” said Toad.

If you read one thing today, it should be this Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’ www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...

Protect journalists and their sources.

Experts say US homeland security secretary misused the 'domestic terrorist' label to justify shooting Renee Good.

Important information about Paul Mescal www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/paul...

NEW: After a mass shooting, should schools like Brown University demolish the buildings where the violence took place? My latest, via @bostonglobe.com w/ @shannonlarson.bsky.social Travis Anderson and @camilo-fonseca.bsky.social www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/09/m...

NPR built a visual archive of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, showing exactly what happened through the lenses of the people who were there. In Chapter 5, we look at how Trump’s pardons, political messaging and use of power reshaped the public story.

“What I saw in her work was a writer that was trying to illuminate the lives of others,” Kent Wascom, director of the creative writing MFA program at Old Dominion University, told me today about Renee Good. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...

"Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” her mother said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.” www.startribune.com/she-was-an-a...

Feeling the weight of this story's kicker: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/u...

Someday they should let the Falcons play a single game without people mentioning the most emotionally crushing moment in franchise history. as a treat

A weird ending note for a weird year: I wrote a manifesto for journalists in 2026. leahsottile.substack.com/p/66-clarity

"So many young people lack community, they say. How did you find this? Well, I didn’t find it. We built it." - @samanthajgross.bsky.social www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/25/m...

In theory, I want to give you more detail about my column, but I'm also struggling to find anything more concise than: We Live in Hell.