I love when people get mad at explanations of why people do bad things, as if any explanation other than "they're evil and they want to" is endorsing that behavior. I'm sorry, was the idea of ontologically evil people load-bearing to your Neo-Calvinist worldview? Fuck off! Exploring the reasons behind a behavior is the ONLY first step in getting people to stop. Anything else is just virtue signaling.

it does more harm than good to prop up the myth of the ‘neurotypical’ who completes tasks cheerfully with no issues. this person is a capitalist fantasy. the more you define yourself in comparison to this myth the more you justify social structures staying the same with minor accommodations to the ‘exceptions’ and the continued pathologizing of discomfort under hostile conditions

As someone in and around their 30’s it has been INSANE to see feminism in popular media descend through

7. She’s literally on her luteal phase, which means she can’t think rationally. Girlypop is out here fighting for her life in the supermarket. She’s just a girl. You can’t expect her to use her brain today because her uterus has taken over. It’s biology.

I'd like to propose a media literacy standard called "the Tide Pod test":

when you see someone on TV or the internet complaining about something "kids" are doing, ask yourself how many times - if ever - you've actually seen it happen vs how many times you've seen random third parties whine about it.

if the ratio of whining to actual incidents is more than 2:1, you can probably ignore the whole thing. if it's more than 10:1 you should be actively telling the people whining to shut the fuck up.

really fucking boils my cabbages when the right is completely correct that something is a problem in society they're just hyperbolically stupid about why.

eg falling birth rates are not a problem because something something the future of the white race and they're a sign that modern women aren't sufficiently interested in staying home and making babies. they are however a problem because a society with no economic safety net is not prepared to manage a demographic shift toward having more retired people than working people and they're a sign that millions of adults in 2026 do not feel financially stable enough to add to their families

people in the notes are saying "just allow more immigration" and like okay, I literally believe we should all have completely open borders (well actually I believe countries should not exist), so I'm on board there to an extent, but I don't think outsourcing reproduction to poorer parts of the world is a good long-term solution. we should probably actually do something about how so many "middle class" people are living on 15 knife edges simultaneously and can't imagine being responsible for children.

listen. There's a whole mentality shift that needs to happen culture wide here, from the schools to the public infrastructure to pet ownership to the justice system

The proper response to your dog doing a natural behavior you dislike (digging/barking/protecting etc) it to give them an appropriate time and place to engage in that behavior

The proper response to skateboarders damaging infrastructure is to build more and better skate parks, or build skate elements into the public infrastructure on purpose.

The proper response to homeless people sleeping on park benches is to build them houses.

you see how there's like, a commonality at play here?

The proper response to a disruption is to address the root of the disruption directly, not somehow attack the disruption itself -

you don't invent a muffler by swinging a bat at the engine noise, you don't relieve your hunger by punching yourself in the stomach, you don't resolve public unrest by sending armed men to control them and you don't prevent homeless people using bus shelters as a roof by removing the bus shelters.

a whole ass shift in a basic mindset, i'm tellin' you. We need it.

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:

is it a hot take to say that i think you need to understand why something is bad, not just that it simply is?

this is a part of the problem

you need to be able to explain why you shouldnt use ai rather than “oh well its obviously bad and you shouldnt use it or else youre a bad person” because that isn’t logic. “ai generates child porn based off of real children and whether or not it does is entirely up to how it is built and if pedophiles are able to find ways around those safeguards, because ai cannot in itself discern right from wrong” is a genuine criticism. “amazon tried to build a data center the size of tuson outside of tuson just to power their ai that would’ve increased the inability to stay alive outside in parts of arizona” is a genuine criticism. even “using generative ai teaches you not to learn how to do things yourself even when they’re difficult, devaluing necessary skills out of practice” is a genuine criticism when you look at the amount of people who think they are able of doing a difficult major when they couldnt write their own papers in high school.

but “ai is just bad because it’s bad” will convince no one and is a morally lazy position to take. about anything!

you need to know why reading someone’s diary is wrong if you want to learn about privacy and respect. you need to know why child sexual assault is wrong if you want to be able to help children form healthy age appropriate relationships. you need to know why capitalism is bad if you want to replace it with something else. you need actual concrete ideas and ideologies rather than “you should agree with me because i have the right vibe”

i truly think that this recent trend of “if you relate to a post about a different identity than your own you are ~derailing~ and taking over the conversation” is incredibly harmful.

i recently experienced some pretty severe transphobic abuse in my workplace (children’s home) that included having food thrown at me, being called slurs, being told i was a pervert because i am trans. one of the managers talked with me afterwards and shared that he had had a similar experience as an Asian man. this wasn’t him derailing my experience, or talking over me, or making things about himself. he was communicating “hey, i know how it feels and how much it sucks. you’re not alone.”

THAT is what solidarity IS. i don’t know what it’s like to be Asian, he doesnt know what it’s like to be trans, but we both had a similar experience and we were able to turn a horrible experience into an opportunity for bonding and comfort.

stop looking at people’s attempts as solidarity as an attack. and hey, you never know - you could find an opportunity to grow closer to other people.

A whistleblower at the fascist DHS has released the names of 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol agents, providing an unprecedented means to monitor and counter their local presence

i understand making fun of people for being immature assholes but does anyone else get increasingly uncomfortable with how quickly it goes from "lol that 30 year old is getting into fandom fights with teenagers" to "lol i bet they don't have a job and live with their mom and still watch cartoons and have an under developed brain" like ok........ ok hang on im seeing red flags here.... the ableism smoke detector is beeping gang......

it sucks that we have to do this all the time but here’s the gofundme page for the family of the woman who was murdered by ice(is) in minneapolis today.

She was a mother of a 6yo child whose father passed away in 2023. Renee was remarried to a woman - so, to put it bluntly, not only has a child been orphaned by both biological parents, but the possible ramifications of a same-sex stepparent keeping custody amidst all the scrutiny and awful, virulent rhetoric to come makes me nauseous just to think about. Not only will Renee's wife and child need support for therapy and other immediate financial impacts of such a traumatic loss, an ample legal fund may be needed as well. I hope I'm wrong. But in case I'm not, please consider giving as and how you're able.

Let this radicalize you, rather than lead you to despair.

for those wanting to help venezuelans affected by the bombings through donations, these are currently the best ways to go. will add more links as more is set up

cruz roja (red cross)

doctors without borders