Let me tell you about my dogs

Looking at what national news outlets are up to right now, one might not realize a whole major US metropolitan area is, you know, sort of under attack by paramilitary forces. Wild.

im sorry the What is being What now???

While it's not going unreported entirely, what's been happening in Minnesota and in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in particular since Renee Good was murdered is not getting the attention it should be.

There are already 2000 gangsters from DHS deployed, and "hundreds" or "1000" more are on the way, depending on which Trumpland person you ask. As a point of reference, the Twin Cities' actual police total just under 1200 (600 in Minneapolis and 590 in Saint Paul according to the depts' sites).

The feds there are more or less attacking people at random. They've gone door-to-door for "citizenship checks" (completely illegal). They've knocked doors down when residents haven't complied (obviously also completely illegal). In addition to abducting and brutalizing the immigrants they come across during their rampages, they've done the same to US citizens of color and are also harassing, stalking and physically attacking observers.

Here are some local sources:

ICE intensifies Twin Cities operation after killing of Renee Good, protests (MPR News—link won't embed)

Privacy advocates: ICE using private data to intimidate observers and activists (MPR News—link won't embed)

Below are some videos from observers. I'm linking to Bluesky because that's where I saw them, though many are originally from/also available elsewhere. I apologize for the rancid formatting below but it was the best I could do quickly-ish. The images are previews; click the links in the timestamps to watch.

Elliott Payne (@elliottpayne.org) January 12, 2026 at 10:49 PM

Mickey Kuhns (@mickeykuhns.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 10:58 AM

Dumb Meg (@dmbmeg.bsky.social) Jan 11, 2026 at 6:10 PM (You need to be logged in to see this—while it's unclear what happened to the victim in this one, there's no reported death so far; CW for heightened violence)

Dom Ervolina (@dominicervolina.com) Jan 11, 2026 at 8:42 PM (You need to be logged in to see this)

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 12, 2026 at 4:37 PM

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 12, 2026 at 7:22 PM

Sundae Gurl (@sundaedivine.lol) January 10, 2026 at 4:39 AM

Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 9:19 PM

SaltyBitchables (@saltybitchables.bsky.social) January 11, 2026 at 4:19 PM

News2Share has more on YouTube:

I also recommend checking out this guy's work:

But when I say the “wholesome and funny” YouTube short I have been handed of students surprise showing their teachers 10+ year old photos of themselves and most them were emo/goth in some way and every single one now has medium brown beach waves and is wearing head to toe beige and immediately screams and hides the photo like it’s the most embarrassing thing in the world is a hallmark of a deeply insidious tendency to associate socially acceptable WASPy aesthetics with maturity and responsibility and perpetuates the idea that everyone grows up, “gets right” and becomes the most digestible unobtrusive heterosexual I’m “taking it too seriously”

“It’s not that serious” oh but it issssss because every day we perpetuate the idea that non-conformity of any kind to the white straight middle class standard is inherently immature and gets “left behind” when someone becomes a socially acceptable adult

This idea that maturity is conformity is everywhereeee if you look for even a moment

I am 48 years old. I wear my curly purple hair in an undercut. I wear dresses with geeky patterns on them.

Keep you weird.

They De-Tumblrized Ms. Frizzle

@transfagsculine​

#how do yall whitewash a white woman 

why would you leave this in the tags lmao

Allow me to explain:

Everyone dropping this pic

And talking about how the new frizz her is her niece, allow me to do a direct side by side instead

These are STILL not the same woman. Where is the icon fashion, the earrings (the chameleon, which might be in the new show idk I haven't watched it), the prominent hooked nose, the broader shoulders, the volume to her hair, the LIFE IN HER EYES

This frizzle looks like she's been called into the school board for inappropriate behavior and dress one too many times and has been broken.

Also others have said it before me but I couldn't find it in the scroll backs but they whitewashed all the kids too. They same face syndromed everyone to either be easier to draw or be more ambiguous so as not to offend or both or something, and it just makes me sad

Fuck it I did the digging cause I'm still mad

And that’s not even to mention what they did to the bus itself.

The old bus had a personality and life and fun and now it’s just… a bus.

HOW DO Y’ALL WHITEWASH A BUS?!

It's gives "anti abortion Jehova's Witness cartoon" now

Vector puppet animation and a shocking drop off in investment in kidvid is largely at fault, but international marketing is also to blame.

What's important to remember is that the whitewashy approach to character design in kidvid is a backslide.

Representation in cartoons had generally been on an upswing since the 1980s, even though efforts were often minimal, clumsy, or badly executed. Diversity helped sell action figures in the lucrative US/Canadian market and it was recognized as a prosocial value on the production side.

"Prosocial messages" are a major part of kidvid TV pitches and development, nearly every show has specific prosocial lessons the narrative themes are intended to work around, even if its an action-figure ad. These range from sincere expressions of the creator's intent (Gargoyles, OG Magic Schoolbus, OG He-Man (no, for real)) to the entertainment equivalent of carbon credits.

Slight aside. Actual ink-and-paint animation tended to lock characters down into more distinct tones because there were only so many standard paint colors. Which is why Kwame from Captain Planet, Roadblock from GI-Joe, and Tim from OG magic schoolbus all use essentially the same pantone.

Ralphie gets skinny because not only fatphobia, but I suspect because he would need slightly different rigging and would add just a teensy bit to the budget adjusting his animations when they could just copy-paste from one of the other identically built kids. If they need to put them all in spacesuits or diving suits or whatever, they just make the one body and slap the heads on, eazy-pezy.

Decals on the schoolbus mean they have to be tracked, they have to use different versions of the bus in flipped shots, same with Mrs. Frizzle's clothing patterns. Wouldn't want to spend time flipping Ralphie's "R' around.

And with the marketing for everything now being global, there's an impulse to average everything down to appeal to all markets to a general degree. Making stories oversimple makes them easy to translate. Humor varies culture to culture, keep it slapstick or quick quips that can be localized easily. Everything that makes the Chinese censor boards happy also makes US reactionaries less likely to kick up a protest, the incentive is to keep everything:

ALSO: These characters have the same face. They probably use the same eye and mouth parts for character animations.

It's all to do it as cheap and broadly appealing as possible, as determined by business weirdos who know nothing about art and care nothing about kids, and they're more than willing to leverage racism (or just ignore that its happening) for the promise of a tenth of a percent more profit.

And what's galling is that this kind of animation software doesn't have to make crap. It can be used to make amazing stuff and still be vastly cheaper than traditional hand-drawn, but the same quality at 60% of the cost is never going to beat 1/2 the quality at 5% of the cost for the money-men.

The path of least resistance rolls over a lot of people.

Reblogging for "the path of least resistance rolls over a lot of people"

We have lost the meaning of queerbait

Just because what you wanted didn't happen, doesn't mean it's queerbaiting. It is now being used an excuse when the ship you want didn't get together. Queerbaiting has to do with marketing.

Queerbait: A cookbook that you learned about from ads with pictures of people eating tasty looking soups and the author's social media posts about how soup lovers are going to love it, proves to have no soup recipes.

Not queerbait: A cookbook has no soup recipes. You assumed there would be some based on vibes and wishful thinking. No soups were ever advertised or promised.

Also not queerbait: A cookbook that was advertised as containing soup recipes has soup recipes but not for the types of soups you like.

Queerbait: The cookbook repeatedly mentions soups and how this or that sandwich would be great with soup ("wouldn't it be funny if we put a soup recipe here," it says, though it never does), and perhaps even having recipes for gravy, hot chocolate, and pasta sauce with photos of each thing in big bowls with a spoon in them so they appear to be soups at first glance (but of course anyone who says that they expected a soup recipe is a moron, and the cookbook spends a whole chapter making fun of people who like soup).

Not queerbait: The cookbook is published in a country where soup is illegal or highly stigmatized. For some reason the recipe for "mashed potatoes" calls for leeks and comes out way thinner than you'd expect mashed potatoes to be, and the "tomato pasta sauce" recipe makes way more than you'd need to top a couple of servings of spaghetti, but there's definitely no soup in here, nope nope nope.

Can't help but laugh at the amount of people who claim to be anti-imperialist but in reality are only anti-west and will luckily lick the boot of non-western empires

Ok now do NYT columnists

already this has tags in the notes like “#anti ai” but... this is just real life with almost everything. this is like grifter 101 please don’t exceptionalize needing to be critical of chatgpt.

This is literally how job interviews work, by the way, and then everyone is surprised the super-duper confident guy is also an incompetent moron.

It’s also where we get “con artist”, aka “confidence artist”. It’s someone who dazzles you with the assurance that they know what they are talking about because they speak with absolute certainty despite not knowing anything. I dare say it’s gotten worse with the internet because text and careful/exciting editing makes people seem more confident than before - and if you think you’re immune, you aren’t.

congratulations on making it through another really difficult year.

I hope the next one is kinder to you.

and I'm really glad you're around to see it.

characters raised to be tools

1. Weapons. Trained, tested, forged in steel and fire. Failure is an inevitability that ends in death. Pain should not be felt--it should be recognized, familiar, and inconsequential
2. Martyrs. In the form of servants and princes, of leaders and underdogs. If blood is necessary, the martyr will lift their hands and offer it all
3. Shields. Like tempering a sword, but only to bear and not to lash out. Wounds are medals--not symbols of pride, but symbols of worth. A pretty shield is useless; scars mean a job well done
4. Experiments. Raised on the cold comfort of a lab table. Restraints are only necessary when they're not in their right mind. Is it honorable, to be twisted beyond recognition? Or is it just a necessary evil?
5. Monsters. Cruelty, caution, and regarding one as a creature beyond reasonable thought is tempering in its own right. But if you keep a leash at the right length, perhaps the massecre won't reach you. One can hope.
6. Idols. Pretty face, pretty name, pretty hands around their shoulders and throat. There to seduce, manipulate, force any feeling to come to the surface and twist it to their favor. Any genuinity stays locked behind the guilded cage that surrounds their pretty little heart
7. Trophies. Status and wealth and the traditions that keep someone at their heels, on their knees, to display and serve and decorate one's ballroom.
8. Sacrifices. Drenched in honorable clothes, prepared and adored and cleansed. The gift of hope at the cost of one's life. Is it taken with no fight? How can you escape the ropes you were born in?

collecting these

HOW could i forget this classic

Anthony Theakston Sculpts a Spirited Flock of Bronze and Ceramic Birds

it doesn’t have to be good it just has to be done

The phrase "They don't want it perfect, they want it Friday" does wonders for my productivity.

I tell this story all the time but I'll tell it again! When I taught kindergarten full time, we had a working bee one weekend where we did a bunch of gardening/landscaping in the outdoor area. One of the dads put up a bit of fencing, then stood back and had a look, kind of frowning like he wasn't sure. His wife then came along, and the following conversation ensued:

Wife: GETMO?
Husband: (after a moment, with a sigh) Yeah, GETMO.
Me: GETMO?
Wife and husband, in perfect unison: Good Enough To Move On

Absolutely LIFE CHANGING acronym, friends and enemies.

Hi everybody. Eli here.

Here's that second part of the post I promised.

On December 19th, the day after signing that sale contract, we received word that the FDA had sent Shapeshifters a letter, and sent similar letters to eleven other companies that sell chest binders. The gist: they allege that chest binders are medical devices, and are subject to a large host of regulations. The FDA Commissioner also made a series of statements at the same time, which appeared to target the same set of companies, but did not align with anything said in the letters. (Source)

And of course: not every shapewear company received a letter like this. Underworks is absent from the list of recipients. So is Spanx. So is any company that sells compression shirts, rash guards, or sports bras. 

The target is clear. In all posted letters, any phrase that contains the word “dysphoria” is cited. In one case, “gender euphoria” is cited (source). If you use these words, you’re in violation. If you sell binders for cis men, you’re not.

This is a targeted action against transgender folks, just like every other targeted action against transgender folks that this administration takes. No-one we have consulted has been surprised, only grim. The only real option available to us is to respond within the system, with professional help, in expensive and stressful ways.

On top of all this, Shopify, the current store platform, just disabled its built-in payment processor because we have been anonymously flagged as “predatory or deceptive” by anonymous “banking partners” whose decision is final. If you’d like to let Shopify know what you think of them cutting off the income of trans people without process or recourse, I suggest sending a message to the “Trust and Safety” team at [email protected]. To be clear, this will probably have no effect.

A lot of really kind and wonderful folks have reached out to ask how they can help. So we set up a legal fund to defray some of the costs of responding to the FDA while the store income is down, and that is here: https://gofund.me/4dd707af7

All proceeds of this fundraiser will go to covering legal costs of responding to the FDA. If we exceed the goal, the excess will cover lost business income from Shopify cutting off credit card processing.

Bryce and Gwen are doing an incredible job of getting up to speed on all the regular operations of Shapeshifters amidst all of this shit, and I could not be prouder or more impressed by how they've taken the helm. I cannot wait to see how they run Shapeshifters when given a damn minute to breathe. Thank you all for your support in helping them get there.

All my love,

Eli

The ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, is "what the fuck is 6 7"

The computer, sadly, misinterpreted the space as multiplication.

Truly the best possible outcome this post could've had