Larks in a Caper

While Twitter is full of Nazis, over on Threads people are debating whether the blizzard was created by the government because the snow is melting quickly or the previous storm was created by the government because that snow took forever to melt.

There was a twenty degree temperature difference.

(But seriously, her platform is a MAGA checklist. Do not applaud.)

Facebook screenshot: An image posted in the MAGA Facebook group "Rhode Island True Grit": A photo of Republican gubernatorial candidate Elaine Pelino standing in front of a multiracial crowd that has been AI generated. Everyone is smiling, and the people in the crowd, all dressed in business attire, are all clapping their hands. Some, like an Asian woman at the front of the crowd to the right, have extra fingers. Most prominently, a Black man to the left of the image has two very obvious extra hands.

While some Republicans lament the alleged lack of white people in the Super Bowl Half-Time show, this Rhode Island politician is hoping for the multi-ethnic mutant vote. I think she should be applauded with all four hands.

A Mandaic curse bowl in the Royal Ontario Museum. It has a spiraling Mandaic text that leads to an encircled x at the center.

This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.

Trade balance soared 94% in November and was higher than a year ago, despite tariff efforts The U.S. deficit with its global trading partners nearly doubled in November as the shortfall with the European Union swelled.

Meanwhile: Remember when Trump's tariffs were supposed to fix the US global trade deficit, if that's a thing that bothers you? After dropping to its lowest level since 2009 in October, that deficit is now higher than it was a year ago: For *some* reason, Europeans have stopped buying from us.

America-in-2026 quote from the interview above: Despite occasional aggression from the Feds inside the Whipple Building, the interviewee's eleven-year-old son feels perfectly safe camping out to help recently released detainees:

“I'm more likely to get killed at school.”

Donate to Haven Watch MN – Support at the gate, care beyond it, organized by Haven Watch Safe Haven was created to help individuals released from ICE detentio… Haven Watch needs your support for Haven Watch MN – Support at the gate, care beyond it

They have a GoFundMe to support their work (buying warm drinks and food and burner phones for the recently released, gas to drive them home, helping them with other emergencies, etc.):

www.gofundme.com/f/safe-haven...

Inside the group that helps ICE detainees released from Whipple find warmth, phones and rides The members of the new organization, Haven Watch, spend their days outside of the federal Whipple building, waiting to meet people released from detention to help them stay warm, contact their loves o...

Those snatched by DHS in Minneapolis who are released from the Whipple Bldg are being shoved out into the cold without their phones and otherwise with only what they had when they were abducted--so, some don't even have coats. Here's a group that helps them get home:

www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...

Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

Here are some ways to help Minnesota with all the essential but less visible needs.

But also, go get involved with your own community. Make new friends. Get those networks going. Learn what orgs in your city are already doing good work that needs support. Don't wait.

www.standwithminnesota.com

i've been watching the coyote on Alcatraz's progress with great interest. a week-ish ago, a coyote SWAM to Alcatraz for the first time and looked fuckin rough after the dangerous swim. but the coyote is doing fine now, gorging itself on unprepared birds & rats who are dealing with a sort of Godzilla

[Citizen Kane applause GIF]

The NRA and some other gun-rights groups objected to this kind of language over the weekend, while still finding a way to blame Democrats for "tensions" that led to the actual deaths.

"You raise your voice, I erase your voice."

ICE in Minneapolis are erasing your rights.
Please share our new video of what's happening in our city. youtu.be/W1dyNcRGRXY

Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...

The compartmentalization I’m doing right now is crazy work, like in the same day I should not be all “hey make sure you have your papers on you when you go to walk the dogs” and then an hour later at the store like “fuck they’re out of capers”

Republicans are monsters

Oh, hey, the government still occasionally cares about stuff like this? That's something, I guess.

omg

Stephen Miller Reminds Picky-Eater Son That There Starving Kids In Basement

Stephen Miller Reminds Picky-Eater Son That There Starving Kids In Basement https://theonion.com/stephen-miller-reminds-picky-eater-son-that-there-starving-kids-in-basement/

Cool that this racist babbling old child rapist can have my fellow Minnesotans murdered with impunity. Great job, USA.

This slogan adopted by Kristi Noem, "One of Ours, All of Yours," is taken from the Nazis, who retaliated for the killing of an SS officer by murdering all the inhabitants of the Czech village of Lidice, apparently none of whom had anything to do with it, and razing the village to the ground.

Holy shit.

That the Fed chair puts out a recorded statement on a Sunday night to announce the DOJ has served grand jury subpoenas is extraordinary, and not in a good way.

Like Powell says, allegations of lying to Congress or mismanaging funds are pretexts to undermine Fed independence.

Text: ICE: We’re going to bring hell to your city. Protestors: Here are videos of ICE agents bringing hell to our city. ICE: We’re going to bring hell to the terrorists who demonize ICE agents. Background: Photo of ICE agents in military gear surrounded by smoke or tear gas.

Context: A decade ago, Border Patrol agents had to be ordered not to put themselves in front of moving vehicles as a pretext to use deadly force
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/new-dir...

Evergreen:

The first thing cops say after an incident is always a lie.

What if none of these things is a distraction from the other things and instead they're all just horrible things

I want to remind everyone that the US has sanctioned members of the International Criminal Court for going through a formal legal process to identify international leaders who engaged in war crimes, making them vulnerable to arrest.

So it seems like Congress and everyone else is doing “you get one free” with Trump and Venezuela because everyone is afraid of the consequences or inefficacy of standing up. So what happens when he grabs Colombia or Greenland next?

The is a declaration and act of war without congressional approval, and imperialistic jingoism.