A hallmark of an abuser is doing really messed up stuff and then telling you that you’re the crazy one. Or that you’re the violent one. That’s what Trump is doing.

Friends, I am LIVE AND IN THE CHAMBERS for tonight's meeting of the Somerville City Council. My wit has been depleted, but my civic virtue remains. somervillema.legistar.com/MeetingDetai... 1/?

He is literally being deported for live streaming a ‘no kings’ protest. So much for freedom of speech, peaceable assembly, and the right to petition for the redress of grievances. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...

Workers who respect the letter but not the spirit of the noise ordinance by arriving up at 6:30 in the morning and sitting with their truck motor running, playing morning talk radio so loud that I can hear it through the closed windows on their truck -AND- the closed windows on my upstairs bedroom.

The Camberville and Beyond newsletter is always solid, but today's short, punchy story about the epidemic of shoplifting in Central is really standout. mailchi.mp/bostonglobe....

Expect a packed house at City Hall tomorrow evening to celebrate a bunch of police promotions.

Just saw somebody almost get run over in a crosswalk at Assembly ... and then almost got hit myself in the same crosswalk just moments later. I get that visibility is crap this evening but watch yourselves out there, people.

I’m getting my COVID and flu vaccines today. If that’s not a bad idea for you, specifically, please do the same. #PublicHealth #CommonGood

The scientific method took a long time to take hold because it’s upside down from how we primates are wired to come to consensus about stuff that was important to our primate predecessors. We’re wired to ask ‘why is the bigger, confident primate right?’ Science asks ‘how might I be proven wrong?’

I am pleased to report that I have canned my final 3 pounds of tomatoes for the year into two half-pint jars of tomato jam. Details to follow. 1/?

Bridge opens when? *I can read the signs, thanks … I’ve just been waiting for this for a long time.

The american flag bandana worn to conceal the agent's face is just ... peak shittiness. They could at least be made to wear uniforms instead of dressing like the villains in an old western movie. www.cambridgeday.com/2025/09/20/s...

For the past 53 hours we have been trying to identify the man who was racially-profiled and abducted by ICE agents in East Somerville this past Saturday — his family and co-workers have now come forward to identify him as Magdaleno Pineda Avelar. More here: www.cambridgeday.com/2025/09/20/s...

Six months ago, I wrote about how masked federal agents had snatched Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts graduate student, off the street less than a mile from where I live. bsky.app/profile/some... 1/11

No need to pretend that this is about immigration anymore.

This is a fantastic metaphor. Billionaires (whether individual or corporate) distort and tear the fundamental structure of financial reality. The rules we learn in high school physics or economics aren’t going to work right when we’ve got singularities whistling through the lab.

There is no meaningful difference between putting unnamed people on secret flights to undisclosed destinations and sinking boats full of unnamed people in international waters. This is state sponsored murder. Crime against humanity. Demand justice. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

The "MA" in the TV/movie rating guide stands for "Massachusetts."

Biking to the north shore for a lobster roll and a beer is one of my favorite fair weather activities. Hello from the Lobster Shanty in Salem.

Copycats.

Copycats.

All the rumors are true.

Trail when?

I like my cash bribes taped neatly inside the lid of a delivery box from the original Buddy’s Pizza just south of Seven Mile Road in Detroit. If you want to get my attention, also include an eight square PBS. It’s the best.

No peace for #ICE agents staying at #MedfordMA hotel www.universalhub.com/2025/no-peac...

It’s important to not forget that these fuckos ordering the kidnappings and the murders and so on are not some grand genius hand of history types … they’re just corrupt, petty little men who would sell their own mothers if the price was right.

Proud to have @jtforward2.bsky.social representing me on Somerville’s City Council.

La migra just kidnapped an entire painting crew at the Dunkins on Broadway at McGrath in Somerville

I’ve got a crisp $20 that says that the people demanding city councilors resign over Facebook posts would be first in line to complain about ‘cancel culture’ and to extol the virtues of the ‘freedoms on which this country was founded.’ Hypocrites, all. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

The Republican plan to withdraw lifesaving medicine from kids, poor people, black and brown people, trans people, women, and everybody else they hate is accelerating. And I still see people looking at the markets and waiting for the midterms.

I kind of want to commission a collection of short stories from the sci-fi community on the theme of ‘Do Not Build The Torment Nexus,’ but I don’t want to give the tech bros any more ideas.

In today’s edition of ‘unclear on the concept …’

I would just like to point out that I called the cat mayor thing two months ago. #Crime

[Montell Jordan intensifies]

It defies belief, even by the deformed and corrupt standards of this liars administration, to claim that the democrats, the liberals, and the left are responsible for the escalation of violent rhetoric that is now spilling over into assaults and assassinations. Just … wow. 1/?

Co-worker 1: So, how about that election? Co-worker 2: Minerva. Me: Crime Both, nodding in unison: Crime

Nice night to catch a game.

Support @cambridgeday.com, @horizonmass.bsky.social, @binjreports.bsky.social and even, yes, the @bostonglobe.com. With money. Pay them money to do journalism. Amateurs on social media (like me) are useful seasoning and commentary, but real reporting is an entirely different animal.

I updated my phone and it is, once again, offering to do all -sorts- of spying on me. In these times of authoritarian crackdown, when the techbro oligarchs obey no law but cash … I really cannot overemphasize the importance of the basics of online privacy. Turn. That. Shit. Off. 1/?

Look, I love all our local political reporters ... honestly anybody who comes across the river is good by me. But also I think maybe that more reporters covered our cat mayor election than our real one, and that's maybe an issue, right? Right? www.instagram.com/reel/DOoPNic...

Unofficial results in Somerville suggest mayor Katjana Ballantyne has been outvoted by her two challengers in a preliminary election – and the November race may well be among two councilors. #Somerville

@jake4somerville.bsky.social and @willieburnleyjr.bsky.social advance to the finals. Ballantyne is out. @wilfredmbah.bsky.social with a solid lead for at-large. Thomas, Iaccarno, Klekota, and Spicer are out. Nobody knew how that was going to turn out, folks. Don't let anybody tell you they did.

Personally I love this, perhaps the last bastion of "look, you have to wait until we count the votes!"

Is anybody going to point a webcam at the air gapped vote counting computer tonight and if so what's the link?

Whatever happens, it’s going to be nice to have some real numbers on this election.

“Getting the rents under control is a good idea and sorely needed … but the city has yet to implement the registries of rental and vacant properties that we already require by ordinance, so enforcement seems like a distant hope.” medium.com/@fdmts/an-od...

“The core problem is that there are too many important things going on in the city to adequately address them all. Even a summary list of the top issues is enough to leave a person out of breath.” medium.com/@fdmts/a-qui...

“Watching the government bicker and spar with itself was awkward. It was like watching your date’s parents fight over a dinner that you didn’t want to be at anyway … in retrospect I have to remember that the net result was the same as if the council had done nothing.” medium.com/@fdmts/somer...

“We need leadership who will tell us the trade-offs … We need an administration who will own delays and slipped deadlines for what they are rather than letting the council take the heat while adjusting the goalposts.” medium.com/@fdmts/our-c...

The stein holding competition at Aeronaut this evening was unexpectedly awesome. The winner went more than seven minutes. I'm proud of my three and a half.