How do butterflies remember their past lives as caterpillars and what does it mean about the possibilities of change in an uncertain world?

No new ICE camp in Maryland--for now Because bodies are objects that excrete

I was inside the courtroom listening to DOJ lawyers defending the Trump administration's plans to convert a warehouse outside Hagerstown, MD into a detention camp.

**They had the LAMEST arguments**

My full account on Cross Pollinations

substack.com/home/post/p-...

You know what other animals find beautiful YouTube video by Sonia Shah

From the Pixar film Hoppers to Thomas Nagel’s famous 1974 essay “What is it like to be a bat?,” the idea that other animals are unknowable ciphers is a canard of industrial society.

But in fact we do know what they desire—and even find beautiful.

youtube.com/shorts/qRW58...

You know what other animals find beautiful The mystery of our shared aesthetic preferences

You know what other animals find beautiful--and so do I. But just why that is is a mystery. The story plus link to a quiz that tests your ability to distinguish between sounds our fellow animals find attractive or unattractive, at Cross Pollinations 🌺
open.substack.com/pub/crosspol...

I don’t think a lot folks understand how massive Péter Magyar’s election was today in Hungary over Viktor Orbán.

It was a massive 33% swing in votes. That’s insane. That would be like a Democratic supermajority being created in Congress overnight.

Holy shit.

I cannot wait until we have this moment in the USA.

1. A lot of people are focused on the apparent contradiction/absurdity of Trump blockading the Strait if he wants to open it. And yes, that is a real issue. But the even more immediate concern is what the U.S. Navy must do to actually put this plan into effect.

Everyone please welcome CBS News Immigration Analyst Viktor Orban.

NYT: Vance Faces a High-Profile Test of His Negotiating Skills With Iran Talks 5 MIN READ

his what

US has let in 4,499 refugees since October - all but three were South African Trump has given priority to Afrikaners, a white minority group he says is being persecuted. South Africa has objected to his characterisation.

BBC picked up the story, great to see it getting more visibility - I just hope it leads to action: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trump was ranting about birthright citizenship at 4 am on Easter Sunday.

But it's not just about the Constitution--it’s about who we are biologically. The landscape changes our physical bodies and our behaviors in eerie and incredible ways.

More @Cross Pollinations crosspollinations.substack.com

ICE is now pretending that they're only planning to imprison 540 people--not 1500 people-- in their Hagerstown warehouse.

Why would anyone believe this when they paid over $100 million for the warehouse PLUS $113 million to retrofit its **825,000 square feet of space** into a camp

“I can generalize” is Trump saying “I’m a fucken racist lalala” knowing that no national press outlet or pundit will say a goddamn thing about it.

Giving all these different locations the same name is also stupid just from a navigational standpoint

Sonia Shah (@soniashah2) Organizing mass protests is not just about making political change. Although few organizers would openly admit it, it’s also about altering our brain chemistry in strange and necessary ways.

Just admit that we go to big rallies for the weird neurohormones

substack.com/@soniashah2/...

That weird feeling from No Kings has a name How mass protest scrambles your brain

Organizing mass protests is not just about making political change. It’s also about altering our brain chemistry in strange and necessary ways.

Read more at Cross Pollinations, my new Substack about science, politics & humanity's place in a world on the move

Iran's forbidding mountains loom Why are we not seeing this in daily news coverage?

At this point, any map of the Strait of Hormuz that does not include topographical features constitutes an act of misinformation

soniashah2.substack.com/p/irans-forb...

Have we won the war in Iran? Do elephants weigh more than ants? Are there no kings in America? How we know what we think we know

The implausibility of the Trump regime's lies exploit a key aspect of human psychology--which is actually quite beautiful

open.substack.com/pub/soniasha...

What We Need to Know about Immigration Right Now: A Conversation with Sonia Shah Full audio and video clips enclosed

Repeat after me: migration is not a crisis, it’s the solution

If you’re curious about the social and ecological value of migration for humans and for our fellow species—and why we’ve been moving all along—check out my recent convo with the lovely Gabriella Souza

open.substack.com/pub/gabriell...

Two things here.

One, you don't sit there and whine about media coverage and headlines if things are going well.

Two, the administration is just outright saying that they fully expect Ellison to use CNN to be a Trumpist propaganda organ.

Court order ordering work to cease at Williamsport ICE detention warehouse.

JUDGE GRANTS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, HALTING PROGRESS ON WILLIAMSPORT, MD. DETENTION WAREHOUSE.

There’s never been a time when only White people ilved in the US.

What this Nazi is talking about is wanting whites to dominate all others. He’s fine with us as his nannies, cooks, cleaners, drivers, etc.

Classic white supremacism: stay in your subordinated place or else.

Not going to happen

Former ICE Facility Worker 'saw people laying in feces' at Baltimore Detention Center Whistleblower provides internal documents alleging severe overcrowding, mistreatment months before viral video sparked national outrage

www.wusa9.com/article/news...

Antierinnerungskultur Photojournalism exploring the the surrounding area of the planned ICE detention center in Hagerstown, MD.

Posting something a little different this week. @soniashah.bsky.social and I went to explore the Hagerstown area where DHS plans to put an ICE detention center. This is the result of that trip.

As American Views of ICE Dim, Warehouses Become a Symbol of Resistance

"“Everywhere that this has happened has been kind of a real dumpster fire,” said Steven M. Neuhaus, a Republican who is the Orange County executive. “It’s been greeted with controversy, protests, violence, and it’s not something that we want in this sleepy county.”"

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/n...

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FRITZ EMMANUEL LESLY MIOT, et al., Plaintiffs, Case No. 25-cv-02471 (ACR) V. DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: "America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions." More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington's vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take.? eSec Noem I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies. Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom-not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS. WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE. 6:52 PM - Dec 1, 2025 - 13.2M Views ' Letter from George Washington to Joshua Holmes (December 2, 1783). 2 Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl.) 1110 n.91. But see supra n.l.

So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) "damn" countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti's TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, "killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies." They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer's disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) 1 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. 1 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. | 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. 9| 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. 9|5. They claim that Secretary Noem's decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary's decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI.

Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things— in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.

BREAKING: Judge Ana Reyes, in DC, issues a stay of DHS Sec. Noem’s decision to end Haiti’s temporary protected status (TPS) designation, a decision that was to go into effect on Tuesday and could have ended legal status for up to 350,000 people overnight. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump says Republicans should 'nationalize' voting in at least 15 places President Donald Trump said on Monday that Republicans should "nationalize" and "take over" voting in at least 15 unspecified places, reiterating his false claims that U.S. elections are marred by wid...

Let me guess. Fifteen swing districts?

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Today, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction allowing construction to resume on Sunrise Wind offshore Long Island. With the ruling, all five under-construction offshore wind projects halted by the Trump administration have been allowed to resume work.

Every cruelty and incompetence of the Trump regime coming together.

Exclusive: ICE officers in Minnesota directed not to interact with 'agitators' in new orders The new internal guidance reviewed by Reuters also orders U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to only target immigrants who have criminal charges or convictions.

A vague gesture toward professionalism but better than nothin

www.reuters.com/world/ice-of...