Casual reminder that a bill must pass *both* the House and the Senate (and get signed by POTUS) to become law. The DHS / ICE appropriations bill passed the House. It still needs to pass the Senate with 60 votes. That vote will be *NEXT WEEK* Call your Senators.🔥📞🔥

Primary ALL of them. Supporting violent, masked state police is inexcusable, especially after all the videos have shown them to be domestic terrorists who constantly ride roughshod over both people and the Constitution.

Today in solidarity I’m demanding Hilton choose us: truth, freedom, the constitution and our communities. Stand with me in demanding Hilton stop siding with ICE actionnetwork.org/letters/tell... #ICEOUT

A lone hoverboarder on a silvery Half Moon Bay yesterday

in a world of social networks churning with artificial slop trends, we prefer to be your social network trusted for actual slop treatment.

Enterprise is renting thousands of vehicles to ICE. Tell them to side with us, not the feds terrorizing our communities. actionnetwork.org/letters/tell... #ICEOUT

Neighborhood watch is taking on a new form in Minneapolis and other cities under occupation by federal immigration agents: ICE Watch. These folks, who're tailing federal agents as they make arrests, are passionate, determined, and just about everywhere—and ICE is getting frustrated.

"It's frightening." U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff after an oversight visit to California's largest immigrant detention center. calmatters.org/justice/2026...

If you have a Dem rep, call them. If you've called them before, do it again. They may be limited in what they can do, but it's still not a good reason for a failure in leadership and the ability to stand together as a party.

I wrote about the limits of the authoritarian assault – and the need to push back against the idea that America is inevitably and irresistibly marching towards a Trump dictatorship. Trump’s authoritarian desires are limitless. But his ability to impose them on America is not. Resistance matters.

Oxalis in afternoon sun yesterday

Submissions to our annual summer flash fiction series are now open!

Just a reminder that we are OPEN for previously published writing! Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, hybrid! Surprise us! 💡

The light is on for Debra Mihalic Staples! @dmihalicstaples.bsky.social💡 “Distilled: The Legend of Jane Bald” is a gorgeously composed piece of creative nonfiction about the namesake of Jane Bald, a part of the Appalachian Trail. Check out Debra’s incredible writing over at the site!

Trick of the light (any physicists out there?)

We're still looking for someone in the Inland Empire area to adopt or foster this little tortoiseshell kitty. I'm willing to drive halfway to L.A. if anyone there wants to meet up to take her.

When my mom’s dementia got really bad (which seemed to happen very quickly), she got fixated on wanting things she couldn’t have—in her case, to move the dining room of her former house into her nursing home room. She also wanted two pianos. Would not let go.

i think this MLK day the thing to focus on is the strategic focus and tactical brilliance of the civil rights movement and the way it was laser focused on a set of achievable goals

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

Gallego ("moderate" Dem) is going with "ICE needs to be totally torn down" (not "reform and retrain"). This is a pivot point for the country on immigration. You have been seeing this in the data for a while, and now officials are snapping to the public opinion www.gelliottmorris.com/p/ice-is-a-7...

Zoom in to see the plovers

Pescadero Beach (Blair Witch was here)

Can’t get enough of these willows from Pescadero Marsh

Have you encountered The Submissions Grinder yet? It's pretty good at marking markets as open or closed. thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com

My newsletter features only fee-free opportunities (that also pay for published work). Lots of those listed in the January issue (went out Dec. 31) are still open. erikadreifus.substack.com/p/the-practi...

This is a very good essay: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...

this is the sickest shit ive ever seen

A writing practice that seems to work for me: if you’re not in love with something you’re working on, read something really good. Not necessarily with a similar plot or theme, and perhaps it’s better if it’s dissimilar…

Question from what’s left of normal life: which lit journals are open for submissions now? I have a slightly speculative short story (3600 words) about to set forth.

wrote about the occupation in minnesota with a closing note on how the white house has exactly one tactic — repression with goons — but no particular strategy for dealing with entrenched resistance. gift link.

"Vast majority of men are only willing to engage in public violence if they feel like the people around them will approve of — and reward them for — that violence. ICE Watch works because it surrounds men seeking approval with people loudly expressing their disapproval." www.ms.now/opinion/minn...

I felt like making some art last night/today and could have made something beautiful and/or meaningful but I made this instead. It's a Barbie Yaga Malibu Dream Hut. No regrets. Can't defeat fascism without joy.

In every state, kick every one of the self-dealing, pocket-lining, know-nothing, cronies and crooks off public university boards.

they are weak. finish them

DHS is only funded until January 31. Tell your elected representatives that under no circumstances can they cut a blank check for Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino and their crew of brownshirts to murder us in the streets. act.indivisible.org/sign/ice-out...

Whew, this new CNN poll is brutal.... 58% say first year was a failure. Net approval on key issues: - Venezuela: -16 - Immigration: -16 (was +3 in Mar) - Economy: -21 - Foreign affairs: -21 - Job approval: -22 (39-61) - Tariffs: -25 (new low) - Healthcare: -27 (new low) www.cnn.com/2026/01/16/p...

Postcards to Voters is organizing volunteers to mail handwritten reminders to Florida Democrats to enroll/re-enroll in Vote By Mail. We are going county by county to reach two million voters before the mid-terms. ‪Get in on this important project by emailing [email protected] Write now!

Spindrift

My friend @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov led the fight to protect our state against this unlawful action, and President Trump backed down. This is a big win for Californians (2/2)!

At my advanced age, I have finally started learning Spanish, and it is a *blast.*

Bless the Ford worker who called Donald Trump a pedophile protector to his face today, which made President Pedo Protector throw up his tiny middle finger.

“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” said TJ Sabula, the UAW worker who heckled President Trump and who Trump flipped off and cursed at. “And today I think I did that.” Gift link: wapo.st/4sG38CD

The light is on for Bob Armstrong!💡 “Succession” is an intense and gripping short story told from the POV of a wolf. Come over to the wild side with Bob’s fantastic writing!

A neighbor was taken to a care facility, and her little tortoiseshell kitty was left behind. I can't take her in but I've been feeding her and giving her water every day. No one in the neighbor's family can take her in. Is there anyone in the Inland Empire area that could foster or adopt her?

Cc @liccardo.house.gov @schiff.senate.gov @padilla.senate.gov

This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.

big big list of places you can support Minneapolis folk with mutual aid

Here are five guidelines for how to respond if US federal immigration agents stop, approach you, or knock at your door. zeteo.com/p/what-to-do...

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream." - Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House