The New York Times has a frame-by frame breakdown of the murder of a Minneapolis woman by ICE agents on Wednesday. This is shameful behavior from a government agency. The fact that they are allowed to wear masks is inexcusable. None of these ‘agents’ have been taught de-escalation, which should be the first thing they rely on when dealing with the public, not reaching for their gun.
I don’t care who you are or what politics you belong to, but everything I have ever seen or have been told is that when a police officer or federal agent are involved in a shooting, THEY DO NOT GET TO LEAVE THE SCENE. They are held at the scene, their weapons are confiscated, and an investigation begins as soon as the area is secure. This guy, later identified as Jonathan Ross even though he was wearing a mask, jumped in another SUV and sped away from the area.
Well, it looks like I got my drone at exactly the right time. The US Government banned all new foreign-made drones in the U.S., essentially shutting DJI out of the domestic market as of yesterday.
Once upon a time, CBS News was the gold standard for TV journalism.
The Internet Archive has the full 60 Minutes segment about the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, which was supposed to run on December 22, 2025 but spiked by CBS news editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
X just added a new feature where users can see where a particular account is based geographically. In a shocking twist, it turns out that a huge number of high-profile pro-MAGA accounts are based in foreign countries: Africa, Russia, and India, for example.
Bookmarked: Here’s an excellent presentation on how to buy, set up and use a burner phone (especially when traveling into or out of the U.S. during this administration). This goes all the way down to less-obvious stuff like: buy the phone in cash and wear a mask; activate it on a public wi-fi network, and don’t do anything to attach your personal profile to the phone.
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Robert Reich, national treasure, details five things we can do to stand up to fascism.
- Call your representatives. 5calls.org is a resource he suggests.
- Attend town halls. (bring people with you).
- Join resistance groups. Indivisible.org | ACLU | fiftyfiftyone
- Boycott companies that support this regime.
- Protect the most vulnerable in your community.
“Democracy is not a spectator sport.” Truer words could not be spoken.
We’ve been buying renewable energy for over fifteen years through a program Maryland’s legislature put together, which allows for consumers to choose who their provider is (as long as that provider is part of the program). I just got a letter from our longtime supplier saying they’re withdrawing from the program based on Maryland Senate Bill 1, which imposes stricter regulations on retail energy suppliers to protect consumers from misleading practices in the competitive energy market. So I have to go shopping to see if there’s someone else we can buy clean energy from.
We’ve also gotten several notices from the Johns Hopkins Medicine group, which informed us that as of today they are no longer in UnitedHealthcare’s network, because they “have been unable to get United to agree to a contract that puts patients ahead of profits.” Johns Hopkins took absolutely world-class care of my family and I when I had cancer, and UnitedHealthcare’s coverage came through for us. But that was almost eight years ago, and the world has changed a lot since then. I’ve only got one more checkup scheduled with Hopkins before they cut me loose, but now I’m considering skipping that because I don’t have the money to pay for all of those tests out of pocket. Greatest healthcare in the world, etc. etc.
Tired of dealing with a pair of wired headphones for my work computer, and unwilling to use my AirPods with that machine, I bought a pair of Anker Soundcore P20i headphones from Amazon for $20 a few weeks ago, and I’ve been very happy with their performance. I’ve got a handful of Anker products here, and I have to say I haven’t been disappointed with any of them. As far as inexpensive Chinese brands go, they have had the highest consistent quality.
Speaking in an episode of the conservative “Ruthless” podcast released on Tuesday, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said the move was “basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion”.
The US is poised to gut its current carbon emissions standards as part of Project 2025, which is terrible, terrible news for our country, our children, and our environment. This clown referring to “Climate change religion” is telling; another way to weaponize words along the fascist playbook. Personally, I’m happy to belong to this religion instead of “soulless corporate greed fuck-you billionaire religion”.
The resin I ordered a week and a half ago appears to be shipping from an address in Great Britain by a guy with a Russian surname. A shipping label was created and then canceled and then re-created last week, but apparently it hasn’t left the facility it’s being manufactured at yet. I have no idea when it’s going to get here, but I’d love to take the next step with that project. In this day and age of Amazon and overnight shipping, I’ve gotten very spoiled.
This article hit my LinkedIn feed on Friday, and it answers a question I’ve had rattling around my head for a couple of months: How the cuts in foreign aid affecting my old employers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health? The answer is: scorched earth. Hopkins will have to lay off 2,000 people across the globe, with a large percentage here in Baltimore. My program was called the Center for Communication Programs, which was focused on teaching family planning in the global south, with a focus on educating and empowering women. We did a ton of partnerships with USAID, which is where I developed my intense hatred for their current logo, which I still have to deal with to this day. At that time our program was focused on preventative measures (we did not advocate or promote for the A-Word) but I’m sure whatever shape the program has taken now, it’s directly in the crosshairs of the right-wing christians. It was good work and it raised women up in places where they desperately needed it. I hope there is a way those programs can be kept alive.
In the meantime, one of the main offices for Social Security is about three miles north of here, and apparently the stooges are already there poking around.
98% of Costco shareholders voted overwhelmingly to reject a review of their ongoing diversity programs. The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, put forth the proposal, claiming DEI initiatives are somehow a risk to shareholders, which is fearmongering nonsense. We’ve been Costco members for years now, and I couldn’t be happier about it. In a time when we need to vote with our wallets (because our regular votes don’t seem to matter), this is one small bit of support my family can offer.