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[personal profile] gwydion
* I'm posting a partial again and early because of time critical Action Items.

* "No work, no school, no shopping: What to know about the Jan. 30 general strike:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/general-strike-nationwide-anti-ice
* "Israel demolishes UNRWA offices for Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/israel-demolishes-unrwa-offices-for-palestinian-refugees-in-east-jerusalem

* "UNRWA Commissioner-General: The burning of UNRWA’s headquarters is an unprecedented attack on the United Nations:" https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-commissioner-general-burning-unrwa%E2%80%99s-headquarters-unprecedented-attack

How to Help:
Revive Gaza's farmland: https://apnature.org/en/gaza
PCRF: https://www.pcrf.net/
HEAL Palestine: https://www.healpalestine.org/
The Sameer Project: https://linktr.ee/thesameerproject
Gaza Soup Kitchen: https://gazasoupkitchen.org/

******

* "Threat of US-Iran war escalates as Trump warns time running out for deal:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/28/trump-threat-us-iran-war-armada-nuclear-programme

*** Immigration/I.C.E/Autocracy/Slow Motion Civil War/Violent Illegal Occupation of Blue Cities News (Sort likely a little rough, Events are moving fast so items I added early in the week may be superceeded)***

* "Ecuador says ICE agent attempted to enter its Minneapolis consulate:" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g40k40xndo

* "Trump’s immigration crackdown led to drop in US growth rate last year as population hit 342 million:" https://apnews.com/article/census-bureau-immigration-trump-us-population-7130f180e3d8c03185932e3e6f9974e8

* "Trump's National Guard deployments could cost over $1 billion this year, CBO projects:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5690394/national-guard-deployments-cost-cbo

I think we found more government waste.

* "“This Is a Warning”: ICE Agents Follow Protesters Home:" https://newrepublic.com/post/205759/ice-agents-follow-protesters-home-maine-minnesota

* "Woman shot by Border Patrol in Chicago asks judge to let her release evidence:" https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/01/26/marimar-martinez-shot-border-patrol-chicago-asks-judge-release-evidence

* "Demonstrators, federal agents clash outside Eugene Federal Building:" https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/latest-news/2026/01/27/agents-pepper-spray-protesters-during-altercation-at-federal-building/

* "Anti-ICE protest inside Tribeca Hilton leads to dozens of arrests:" https://ny1.com/nyc/manhattan/news/2026/01/28/anti-ice-protest-inside-tribeca-hilton-leads-to-dozens-of-arrests

* "Man is released from detention after his case led a judge to order ICE leader into court:" https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/01/27/federal-judge-todd-lyons-court-summons-immigration-minneapolis

* "ICE arrested me without cause. What I saw will haunt me forever.:" https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/01/26/ice-detained-us-citizens-minnesota-arrests/88304880007/

* "Sarah McBride demands Trump administration release severely disabled Delaware resident from ICE custody:" https://www.advocate.com/news/sarah-mcbride-constituent-ice-custody

* "El Paso is now a hub for detentions and deportations:" https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/immigration/2026/01/27/how-el-paso-is-becoming-a-hub-for-ice-migrant-detentions-deportations/88364553007/

* "The Cruel Conditions of ICE’s Mojave Desert Detention Center:" https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-cruel-conditions-of-ices-mojave-desert-detention-center

* "Federal government intends to turn Hanover warehouse into ICE processing facility:" https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/hanover-warehouse-ice-facility-jan-22-2026

* "ICE Just Bought a Massive Warehouse in Hutchins:" https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2026/01/ice-buys-massive-hutchins-texas-warehouse/

* "ICE seeks to open detention facility in Washington County, lawmakers say:" https://www.wbaltv.com/article/ice-detention-facility-plan-washington-county-maryland/70061463

* "‘No plans to sell’: SLC warehouse owners address rumors of ICE detention center:" https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2026/01/24/ice-detention-center-ritchie-group/

* "Trump signals interest in easing tensions, but Minneapolis sees little change on the streets:" https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-immigration-enforcement-trump-ice-3a948e7e3a4d7e254e9c1fab93625953

* "‘I know who I’m dealing with’: Walz on why Trump really called amid ICE uproar:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/i-know-who-i-m-dealing-with-walz-on-why-trump-really-called-amid-ice-uproar-2484048451835

* "Maddow: Doors close on ICE as locals say no to immigration prisons:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-doors-close-on-ice-as-locals-say-no-to-immigration-prisons-2483597891851

* "Exposure of shocking conditions at immigrant prisons add to Trump’s burden as public loses patience:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/exposure-of-shocking-conditions-at-immigrant-prisons-add-to-trump-s-burden-as-public-loses-patience-2483835971540

* "Alex Pretti’s killers placed on administrative leave as Kristi Noem’s story of the shooting unravels:" https://www.advocate.com/news/alex-pretti-killers-administrative-leave

* "2 federal officers fired shots during encounter that killed Alex Pretti, DHS tells Congress:" https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-ice-b0cec9d1c5bae4b62469011775082300

* "‘Nothing about what is going on here is normal’: A fight over evidence in Good, Pretti cases:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/fight-evidence-good-pretti-ice

* "Feds Knew Who Alex Pretti Was—and Broke His Rib in Earlier Fight:" https://newrepublic.com/post/205769/feds-knew-who-alex-pretti-was-broke-rib-earlier-fight

* "'Pink coat lady' who filmed Alex Pretti's killing speaks out: 'It could be any of us':" https://www.advocate.com/news/pink-coat-lady-alex-pretti

* "Alex Pretti 'had a way of lighting up every room he walked into':" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/alex-pretti-remembered

* "Minnesota law lets licensed gun owners carry loaded firearms at protests, despite Trump officials' claims:" https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/minnesota-gun-laws-protests/

* "Gun rights groups blast Trump over Minnesota response:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/gun-rights-groups-blast-trump-over-minnesota-response-00748217

* "Blame game erupts over Trump team's false claim Alex Pretti sought "massacre":" https://www.axios.com/2026/01/27/trump-stephen-miller-massacre-minnesota-shooting

* "‘Undue command influence’: Toxic DHS leadership taints deadly shooting investigation:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/undue-command-influence-toxic-dhs-leadership-taints-deadly-shooting-investigation-2483822147929

* "Trump aides declared 16 DHS shootings since July justified before probes completed:" https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/jan/27/trump-aides-declared-16-dhs-shootings-since-july-j/

* "Calls for accountability for ICE run amok puts Noem in the hot seat:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/calls-for-accountability-for-ice-run-amok-puts-noem-in-the-hot-seat-2483829315963

* "‘History is being made here’: Chris Hayes reports LIVE from Minneapolis:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/history-is-being-made-here-chris-hayes-reports-live-from-minneapolis-2483791939878

* "‘Caring is political right now’: Hayes rides along with Minneapolis ICE Watch:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/caring-is-political-right-now-hayes-rides-along-with-minneapolis-ice-watch-2483796035511

* "Minnesota woman Sue Tincher was arrested by ICE while observing agents:" https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sue-tincher-minnesota-ice/

* "Tim Cook and Sam Altman refuse to condemn Trump admin after Alex Pretti’s killing:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/tim-cook-sam-altman-ice

* "The ICE shootings are a tipping point:" https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trumps-immigration-tipping-point

* "Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong:" https://archive.is/NWyPq#selection-622.0-622.1

* "‘Ground is clearly shifting’ against Trump as Americans rise up in Minneapolis, Pete Buttigieg says:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/pete-buttigieg-resistance-is-working

* "Outrage over Trump’s abuses extends beyond the political sphere:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/outrage-over-trump-s-abuses-extends-beyond-the-political-sphere-2484096067558

* "Bruce Springsteen releases anti-ICE protest song, honoring Renee Good and Alex Pretti:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/bruce-springsteen-protest-song

* "Knitters protest ICE presence in Minnesota with red hats, inspired by another historic act of resistance:" https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/melt-the-ice-red-hat-knitting-pattern

* "Massachusetts folks, call the governor about ICE and CBP (script):" https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/322838.html

More pro-ICE are calling! We need to make sure they know we are the majority!

Stand up for your neighbors, Massachusetts

* "Read This If You're New and Trying to Find Your Way:" https://inthesetimes.com/article/mariame-kaba-letter-to-young-organizers-on-hope-action

* Here are some ways to help Immigrants and the anti-ICE Protesters:

"Here are Minnesota groups that need your help organizing against ICE and DHS operations:" https://www.advocate.com/news/minnesota-mutual-aid-groups-ice
"How To Help if You are Outside Minnesota:" https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/
"Support minnesotans defending their communities from ICE:" https://www.standwithminnesota.com/
"When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE :" https://crimethinc.com/2025/12/03/when-the-feds-come-to-your-city-standing-up-to-ice-a-guide-from-chicago-organizers
Immigrant Defenders: https://give.immdef.org/give/545119/#!/donation/checkout
The Bail Project: https://bailproject.org/
National Bail Fund Network: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory
Amnesty International: protect asylum-seekers: https://donate.amnestyusa.org/page/113080/donate/1
The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights: https://www.theyoungcenter.org/
CHIRLA: https://www.chirla.org/
AL Otro Lado: https://alotrolado.networkforgood.com/projects/63833-al-otro-lado-fund
"Know Your Rights:" https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights
"Disappeared In America:" https://www.disappearedinamerica.us/


* "Why the Next “No Kings” Could Be the Biggest One Yet:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/no-kings-protests-minneapolis-march-28/
* "Health insurance costs are up. Women and LGBTQ+ people are paying the price:" https://www.advocate.com/health/health-insurance-costs-women-lgbtq

* "Senate moves toward Thursday shutdown vote:" https://www.semafor.com/article/01/27/2026/senate-moves-toward-thursday-shutdown-vote

* "Partial shutdown seems increasingly likely as Democrats demand ICE changes:" https://apnews.com/article/government-partial-shutdown-ice-funding-homeland-security-35abc94e6579e701f03d9c18ca5a7c44

* "In only a few minutes, you can make history with Farmworkers:" https://foodjustice.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=453&cid=23246&cs=e08eae05e5f533c437ac7580b4fdfe62_1769629088_168

* "Two Republican senators call for Kristi Noem to resign as DHS secretary:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/thom-tillis-lisa-murkowski-call-kristi-noem-resign-dhs-secretary-rcna256233

Please call to thank them and ask them to support impeachment.

Please contact your Congress Critters in general in support of Impeachment.
* Our until Midterms is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.

"Take action with Indivisible:" https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/

Trump 2.0 Indivisible Guide.  https://indivisible.org/resource/guide

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

Snail Mail Campaigns: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html

"Congress. gov:" https://www.congress.gov/

White house (Possibly Dangerous): https://www.whitehouse.gov/

ACLU advice for writing to your Critters: https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representatives

This tracks legislation: https://www.govtrack.us/

"The Public Comment Process (+ how to write effective public comments):" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/781844516804149248?source=share

"Swing Left:" https://swingleft.org/

Run for Something: https://runforsomething.net/

"Vote Smart:" https://justfacts.votesmart.org/

Protests: "50501 Events:" https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events

"ICE Raids Toolkit: Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests:" https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit/

Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/
* "Minnesota House gains 2 DFL members after special election wins restore tie:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/27/specials-elections-for-minnesota-house-district-47a-and-64a-favor-dfl-could-restore-tie

* "LGBTQ+ ally Amy Klobuchar launches strong bid for Minnesota governor:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/election/amy-klobushar-minnesota-governor-campaign

* "New High of 45% in U.S. Identify as Political Independents:" https://news.gallup.com/poll/700499/new-high-identify-political-independents.aspx

* "Gov. Mikie Sherrill - Affordability and Protection for New Jersey | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Rep. Ilhan Omar rushed by man on stage and sprayed with liquid at town hall event:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/27/g-s1-107625/ilhan-omar-sprayed-town-hall

It turned out to be apple cider vinegar. This could have been so much worse.

* "Omar says Trump's 'hateful rhetoric' causes threats against her to 'skyrocket':" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/man-charges-rep-ilhan-omar-town-hall/story?id=129618409

* "Ilhan Omar speaks out after town hall attack: ‘I am not one to be intimidated’:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/ilhan-omar-speaks-out-after-town-hall-attack-i-am-not-one-to-be-intimidated-2484052547540

* "Lawmakers condemn ‘disgusting’ attack on Ilhan Omar at Minneapolis town hall:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/28/ilhan-omar-attack-condemned

* "Trans Girl Scouts On Cookie List Sell 71,000 Boxes Of Cookies And Growing:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trans-girl-scouts-on-cookie-list
* "NYC asks for 'patience' clearing snow. For the elderly and disabled, it’s a problem now.:" https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-asks-for-patience-clearing-snow-for-the-elderly-and-disabled-its-a-problem-now
* So the last week or two I've been harassed twice a day by a caller I was suspecting of being an insurance company pretending to be Medicare. They usually do this scam November - December, but I'm pretty good at spotting insurance companies doing this and they were being the right sort of subtle shady. Problem is, sometimes medicare doesn't bother properly stating who they are and why they are calling either, which means I couldn't block them without verifying and they kept talking over me or trying to forward me every time I tried to ask questions, which again suggested insurance company scammers, as they are technically legitimate companies, so they'd rather deflect, lie by omission, stonewall questions, and use carefully scripted deceptive phrasing than out right lying like regular scammers. Sigh.

So they call every day at too early in the morning and again in the afternoon or early evening. Sometimes, they'd hit right as I was leaving for, say, the dentist as they did on Monday or when I was on my way to the bathroom or too sleepy to fight. Sometimes they'd talk over me and or try to transfer.

The air quality's been bad whenever it's not raining. We think there must be a substrata burn somewhere and when there isn't enough airflow it pools in our little valley. I'm a lung patient and the air quality situation is just exhausting and makes everything harder including sleep.

It took ages to get to sleep and I was just slipping into REM when the assholes called again. Headachey and exhausted I snapped "Identify yourself" in the teacher command voice I used to use to stop middle school boys in their tracks in Spring, and it must have hit the caller right in the hind brain, because she instinctively obeyed. Some fucking insurance company I never heard of, which may or may not exist. I gave the do not call schpiel and hung up before she had time to recover.

At which point I realized I'd forgotten the call blocker code again, something that never could have happened before Biden improved the spam call situation in the US. I used to be limited to 20 blocked numbers, which I would cycle through as one of them was a time share auto-dialler bank with 15 or so numbers and the police Union charity scam had 8-12 at various points, plus the fireman scam, plus the your computer is hacker scam, plus the IRS is sending you to prison scam, plus the cancer charity scam, plus the burglars in your neighborhood scam, plus assorted Social Security and Medicare phishers, etc., etc..

Thanks to Biden I only need to block a number every couple of months and I'm no longer capped on how many scammers I can block at once.

So I try a few I think might be it. They aren't, which means bathroom trip then looking it up on line. By the time I blocked Asshole Archer Insurance Scammers I am very awake and angry, so they successfully stole about an hour and a half of sleep.

A few hours later I wake up to the smell of something burning. Not charcoal or wood fire, but the bad one you get when something with wiring is on fire. Fuck! So I'm up fast. I shut off the strip that run the air filter and fan. The smell is filling the room. Nothing is visibly on fire, but still. The smell is strongest by the fan, but it could also be leaking in from outside. I check the office space heater, which I know is unplugged, but the smell is barely there in the main area, so fan or outside. I poke my head outside and the air at ground level is a dingy yellow brown and the smell is Brutal. So either something big burning far away or something smaller, very, very close. I hope no one is hurt.

So no fan to sleep with, which added to smoke in my room makes me exhausted and hung over feeling. Plus everything hurts. It hurts so, so much, and even after lung treatment I'm snails' pace and not breathing well. Bonus: I had to lend Squirrel my sinus clearing thingie and the second one is now missing, so I can't even drain my sinuses. (It was an emergency. They got corn stuck up there. I have trained them to ask me first if they need a tool or have an non-ER grade medical situation, because I usually have a solution in a drawer somewhere). Squirrel, after recovering from the self waterboarding horror that is manual drainage: Wow! This feels amazing!

I gave myself a day off from physio, and I'm still struggling not to cry and/or throw up if I have to stand or move around more than a minute.

Today would be a great day not to be allergic to my emergency pain meds. Ugh.

* Squirrel's results came back, and it's way worse than previously thought. They have three rotator cuff tears, one quite large, plus that locked shoulder thing and some shoulder joint deterioration. All physio has stopped because everything is so fragile. They are going for a consult and we expect surgery for rotator cuff repair. Let us hope it is not even more dire.

If they hadn't paid out of pocket for a second opinion, they would be even more fucked right now. So very fucked.

I am worried about what happens when they are fully laid up after surgery, but that is likely a February or March problem.

Some of their back pay came, as it is work related and the hospital stopped fighting compensation. This is good as things were getting pretty desperate.

In other news, While sorting out call blocking from Asshole Archer Insurance, I found a missed call from last Friday with yet more Surprise Emergency paperwork. Luckily, it was some of the same documentation from Monday plus a thing from the special folder I keep handy for things like this. (The only time since it's institution 16ish years ago that I haven't known where the folder was to the inch was when it was boxed for the Great Living room/Office Migration.)

I still had to drag myself out into rush hour traffic Wednesday morning as it needed to be delivered before month's end and sooner is better than later. I used the tiny half secret satellite office I usually do so the delivery it's self took about 5 minutes total in the office including buzzing for reception, pleasantries and xeroxing, but the getting there was extra because not only rush hour, but a lane of the highway was closed and I couldn't get off at the ramp just before the sign. Stop and go to the next off just before the closure. Sigh. Back was fine of course, as south usually is in the morning.

Then I made a sandwich, did lungs, Checked a couple things online, closed things down for sleep, and bathed. Livia was not best pleased as she had wanted me to go to bed instead of doing bureaucracy, but I don't fuck around with threats against the benefits that only barely keep us afloat as it is. She was even more distressed by me not coming right to bed, but while the air was much improved, I don't want to carry allergens to bed in my hair.

This ate nearly all the Wednesday spoons, but I did eventually force the Wednesday physio with looooong rests. I was very lucky New Millennial was here to feed me. I don't have much special vegetarian soup cups left, and I definitely don't want soup cups and crackers twice in one day, it is bad for morale. (I am having soup cups for second meal). I already burned through the emergency bars, because physio plus all the other things besetting me really are using all the spoons every day on the regular.

I am worried because car tax didn't come. After all there was no warning on the other stuff this week. I should go in person, I know, I know. Not this week though. I really need there to be No More Things this week. Phone bureaucracy is piling up and I am exhausted.

Anyway, here is hoping they can schedule squirrel's shoulder surgery soon and that it is just a cuff repair and not a nightmare replacement situation like mine. They are enough older than me, that odds are recovery would be even worse. shudder It probably isn't, but you see how our shoulder luck has been, and how fast the Squirrel situation escalated.

* "Bothersome Bows:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ttRlQb5XO2Q

* "Mycenaean Mythos:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-d8n5sJmkRA

* "Senatorial Sitcoms:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BJaFl6745fU

* "Silly Vikings:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PktcR_dKm0U

* "Knaveish Kings:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XyqLFcvCn6g

* "Avaricious Avocados:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bVp91_q7F3o

* "Gruesome German Tales:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Fv23VA-RyXw

* "Tolkien Treatise:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YuBPjU3LVI8

* "Kind-hearted Kids 5 (friends):" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0S8LRSXC_mU

* "Kind-hearted Kids 6 (Playdates):" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qcWmsLMsuD8

* "Signs You're A Doctor In A Midcentury Novel:" https://www.thechatner.com/p/signs-youre-a-doctor-in-a-midcentury?publication_id=5&post_id=185883677&isFreemail=true&r=ykw2&triedRedirect=true

*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* "When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE :" https://crimethinc.com/2025/12/03/when-the-feds-come-to-your-city-standing-up-to-ice-a-guide-from-chicago-organizers

* "Swing Left:" https://swingleft.org/

* Contains link to trans girl sales pages. "Trans Girl Scouts On Cookie List Sell 71,000 Boxes Of Cookies And Growing:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trans-girl-scouts-on-cookie-list

More )

Music Thursday

Jan. 29th, 2026 10:27 am
muccamukk: Maria gestures wildly. (Avengers: I have a point!)
[personal profile] muccamukk
Latest entry in the currently flourishing protest song genre:


What? Were you expecting Springsteen?

supposedly a day off of work

Jan. 29th, 2026 09:48 am
mellowtigger: (cooperation)
[personal profile] mellowtigger

We've reached that point of the occupation when I should not discuss publicly the events of the day, and it's not even 10am yet. That's a shame, since my neighbors make me proud to live here. I just wasn't certain if there would be enough community response here in my local warzone. There is.

In other news, this morning I finally completed an order for hand and foot warmers. At another website, I also ordered a single pair of heated gloves that allow the fingertips to roll back for operating a phone. I'll let you know if that HotJak brand works well or not in Minnesota cold. I guess, for now, I'll have to keep wearing my silk long johns all day long, so it doesn't take me as long to suit up appropriately and head out the door. This all would be so much easier and faster if I still had a car.

P.S. As training goes more national, if you intend to take "constitutional observer" (sometimes called "legal observer") training, then I recommend that you try to attend one from two different organizations. The core is the same, but the 2 that I attended online were still different enough to be very useful separately. Here are the ones I know where virtual training is sometimes available, but they're mostly focused on Minnesota/Minneapolis for now. The trainings are useful only if you intend to be on the ground observing federal agents. If not, then it's not really useful, and you're better off letting others in your community take those training seats.
https://indivisibletwincities.org/
https://monarcamn.org/training
https://dfl.org/observers/#dates

Arctic Freeze

Jan. 29th, 2026 10:32 am
mallorys_camera: (Default)
[personal profile] mallorys_camera


The 100-yard electrical relay to the chickens' water has failed again. The extension cords are buried beneath a foot and a half of snow, and I'm not even going to fantasize about digging them out because that would be impossible. I'm just gonna have to haul fresh water out to the chickens every day and hope they can drink enough in the 20 minutes or so before that water freezes—the temps at night have been going down to -7°F (real feel: -15°F) and barely graze 20°F (real feel: 5°F) during the day—not to die of thirst.

I don't know what else to do.

This Arctic front has been brutal. My share of the electric & heating oil bills this month came to $500, and honestly? I don't know how I am gonna pay it. I suppose since I will be out of here come spring (please, please, please, Universe), the smart thing would be to tell Icky to take it out of the rental deposit. I mean, there are certainly many folk I could plead my story to who would be happy to help me out, I suspect, but how humiliating is that? Come rescue me! I can't take care of myself!

If Brian were alive, this would not be an issue. He would give me the money & tell me to shut up when I tried to thank him.

###

In more amusing news, Facebook has decided to give me a professional account because many, many years ago, when I first signed up for FB, I facetiously gave my profession as "Cat News Aggregator" and started a regular posting feature called "Today's Exciting Cat News." Apparently, that little daily posting feature attracts some threshold number of eyeballs. An FB professional account gives one access to all sorts of interesting user-tracking info.

And my Substack attracts more (free) subscribers every day, though it's a long way away from being monetizable.

###

Life is just very stressful right now. A real slog. I remind myself that it won't be that way forever, but one thing about me: I live very fully in the present tense; in fact, Ichabod told me once I was the most existential person he had ever known. When things suck, it's very hard for me to envision a future point in which things will not suck, and that renders mobilizing future options for non-suckitude solely an intellectual exercise. Emotionally, I just want to curl up somewhere & cry.
autumninpluto: Kaminari with a dumb expression on his face ([mha] wheyyy kaminari)
[personal profile] autumninpluto posting in [community profile] icons

my hero academia: team-up missions - various characters (UA students, pro heroes)

see more here @ [community profile] joicon

neonvincent: Ambassador Vreelak from DS9 (Fake!)
[personal profile] neonvincent
I originally planned to include this song in the post that became Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, and the Marsh Family sing about Minneapolis, Minnesota, but Springsteen and Bragg crowded it out.

Yesterday I beat ARTORIAS

Jan. 29th, 2026 11:13 am
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
And I am still buzzing and I am so so so proud of myself and I need to talk about it and I only know two people who know what it means.

If anyone has 80 seconds, I rec watching Symbalily's first encounter with Artorias the Abysswalker:



Like O&S, this is one of the most iconic fights in the entire Dark Souls series. But I would say it's as much of a difficulty spike again relative to them as they are to the game before them.

Context: Artorias is the great legendary hero you've been hearing about all through the base game. But now he's been defeated by the Abyss, with his left arm shattered (his sword arm, so he's fighting you by swinging a sword with his off hand) and his mind mostly gone.

(There is meta to be meta-ed about FromSoft's long line of incredibly badass disabled characters; I don't know if it's necessarily #unproblematic #goodrepresentation, given that so many of them are trying to kill you and it's often being used to evoke ruin and tragedy, but it's not nothing either. Adaptive king Artorias.)

The way he howls and shakes reminds me of nothing so much as the Tumblr story about the rabid raccoon. It's eerie and wrong and awful.

He is incredibly aggressive and incredibly fast, and if you start chipping his health down he draws on the Abyss to power himself up further in a way that can rapidly make his hits unblockable (at least for most builds), so you can only try, desperately, to dodge. And after one or two power-ups, he can and will one-hit kill you, and then do front flips on your corpse.

I think I had to level my brain up to do this fight. Holy shit.

I have been IMMERSED over the last few days, learning his patterns and rhythms, and now I feel weirdly close to Artorias and emotional about it. More than any of the other bosses so far, Artorias feels like fighting a person. I gave his soul to an old friend of his to take care of. Sleep well, dude.

meanwhile, up in the arctic

Jan. 29th, 2026 05:45 am
ljgeoff: (Default)
[personal profile] ljgeoff
A sudden stratospheric warming has caused the polar vortex to collapse, sending a mass of cold air over the mid-latitudes.

Just like this time last year, 2026 is today lowest extent in the 47-8 year satellite record with volume also around record lows and temperatures remaining high. If it chases 2025's trajectory toward another record low maximum I guess that might indicate a possible structural shift in the freezing season in that winter 'recovery' may be weakening for the long term with a potential new baseline for the winter freeze? I guess we'll know the decadal trend for certain in another 0.5–1 decades.
Zeug Gezeugt, (pseudonym), Arctic Ice Forum

multifandom icons.

Jan. 29th, 2026 12:41 pm
wickedgame: (Ilya & Shane | Heated Rivalry)
[personal profile] wickedgame posting in [community profile] icons
Fandoms: Bad Behaviour, Dynasty, Good Trouble, Heated Rivalry, Mako Mermaids, Neumatt, Namib, Nancy Drew, One Trillion Dollars, Skymed, Stranger Things, Supergirl, What It Feels Like For a Girl

wat-skymed-hayley1a.png heatedrivalry-1x06cottage1.png wat-supergirl-6x13.png
rest HERE[community profile] mundodefieras 

Photo cross-post

Jan. 29th, 2026 02:35 am
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker


Nature is looking particularly fractal this morning.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

ysabetwordsmith: Text says New Year Resolutions on notebook (resolutions)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] goals_on_dw
How to cope with broken resolutions and the mid-January slump

January is a difficult month for many people. We come in at the start full of excitement and hope, determined to accomplish our goals, only to find by the middle of the month, we have already failed to follow through on our resolutions. Add to that feeling of dejection days of minimal sunlight, and, for some, seasonal depression.

Yes, January can be tough. However, January can also be freeing and satisfying. As a person born in January, this month holds deep meaning for me, and I hope the ideas shared below serve you well in the coming weeks and beyond.


Aurendor D&D: Summary for 1/29 Game

Jan. 29th, 2026 12:38 am
settiai: (Siân -- settiai)
[personal profile] settiai
In tonight's game, the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Jonathan Coulton: Mandelbrot Set

Jan. 28th, 2026 09:19 pm
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
Ran into a post on Quora where a guy wrote a Mandelbrot generator in 20 lines of code - HTML/JSON! Someone in the replies posted this song.



https://qr.ae/pCxSS8

Back to work tomorrow

Jan. 28th, 2026 10:49 pm
cornerofmadness: Angel in drag holding up cards (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
So I did try to get out of here. My hill is an ice floe but I got up there and the main highway is fine. BUT both counties are still on level 2 snow emergencies. Students are whining about it. I point to Canvas where I left them a message saying if you don't feel safe don't come. I'll put up a recording and you go suffer through that.

Rocket is being the best boy, finally using the damn litter box. Guess it got too cold to go pee outside. (He has only used that box a handful of times in 4 years. Today he walked in and did his business while I'm there like a good boy. He still wants out mind you but then he gets over it.

Another day of failing to clean (I have no energy today) but I made an eye appt, paid my membership dues for my pro organization, bought the work con and the hotel, contacted the steampunk con about their teacher discount, got the hotel for the loveland frogman festival in march (watch me get snowed into Loveland)

I did a bad thing. I took an Amazon prime trial membership because I HAD to spend the gift cards I got last work con and the items I wanted were over 50$ cheaper when I did that. Now to remember to cancel it in march.


What I Just Finished Reading:

A Curious Kind of Magic - I enjoyed this cozy mystery/fantasy thought the flawed main character did get on my nerves some times

Sugar and Vice - it was fairly fun

Sally Ride - I thought this was a YA book it was barely middle grade, more like 5-6th grade (I hate that my library system uses some reading level thing that means nothing to people who aren't parents. It's from the line that Chelsea Clinton started after the whole and yet she persisted dust up and it was nice for what it was.


What I am Currently Reading:

Zombie Day Care and something by Alison Bechdel about being superhuman. Oh joy an exercise memoir. Nearly done.

Luna Park history - it was an amusement park in Pittsburgh around 1910. Mostly interested because it feels like a place to set a story. I mean a lion escaped from it and ate a woman.

What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia and some fantasy sapphic comic where chefs fight monsters...with giant forks. I know I know, the prompt is sapphic comic and this is the only one I haven't read yet at my library (I didn't like their other offerings enough to reread)

RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

Jan. 28th, 2026 10:37 pm
silversea: Cat reading a red book (Reading Cat)
[personal profile] silversea posting in [community profile] booknook
Happy Wednesday (it's still Wednesday here)! What are you reading?

(no subject)

Jan. 28th, 2026 10:28 pm
ahunter3: (Default)
[personal profile] ahunter3 posting in [community profile] queerly_beloved
I'm seeking feedback on my book Within the Box right here on Dreamwidth, one chapter at a time.

It's 1982; Derek is a femme, one of the males who is more like one of the girls, what we'd call genderqueer nowadays but there was no word for it yet.

Derek's worried parents are putting him into a fancy rehab facility, the kind of place where high-end psychiatrists try to reprogram people — but this time the shrinks may be biting into more than they know how to chew.

I'm hoping people will read it and comment on it as I go. I'm hoping that if they like it, they'll spread the word.

When I get to the end, I'll start over with the first chapter, by which point I'll no doubt have made changes.


Follow the action at ahunter3.dreamwidth.org

Congress: don't chicken out again

Jan. 28th, 2026 10:19 pm
cellio: (Default)
[personal profile] cellio

Constrained by the limits of the web form, this is what I sent Senator Fetterman on Sunday:

Senator,

In October, you joined Republicans to end a government shutdown without getting any meaningful concessions for the top issue at the time. Health care costs are out of control for ordinary people, and losing the subsidies made it worse. Now, another shutdown looms and there is an even bigger issue: ICE is out of control, using excessive force to kill citizens who posed no threat and to suppress lawful dissent. The Senate has an opportunity to strip DHS funding from the measure and fund everything else. This is important: if you roll over again, you will be complicit in Congress's failure to be a co-equal branch of government. You will let executive abuses, abuses that are KILLING PEOPLE, go unchecked. How many more people will they kill and how many more cities will they destroy if you fund them for the next eight months?

Congress has abdicated its duty to stand against authoritarian rule. You have a singular opportunity to push back. Please do not squander it again. It was bad enough when Congress's actions only endangered our finances and livelihoods; now you risk endangering our lives. Vote NO on DHS funding until it is held accountable and reforms.

Fetterman is afraid of government shutdowns, but he should be more concerned about unaccountable thugs.

Still Here...

Jan. 28th, 2026 10:05 pm
dewline: Text - "On the DEWLine" (Default)
[personal profile] dewline
...and am keeping busy.

I used to do long-form writing reasonably well.

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