[date: eyes silently turn into hearts]

Finally figured it out, huh? That you don’t know how fun works, paying people to max out your video game accounts instead of playing? Sending women sperm instead of finding love? Using your billions to build a robot that loves you instead of earning acclaim saving millions of lives? Fuckin’ donut.

Thank you, friend. When I went to the vigil tonight, I was wearing the pea coat you gave me. :)

Went to the corner candlelight vigil a block from home; about 65 people there, supportive honks from maybe a quarter of passing cars. No idea how many other street corners were filled in the cities tonight, plus regular protests. We can be all right. There’s enough good hearts in the world, still.

In these intense times, it seems apt to say to never post anything, not publicly, not privately, not in encrypted chats or friends-only or ANYWHERE, that you do not want read back to you in a court of law by someone with no sense of humor.

This is a reminder to Me.

they're executing moms and nurses in the street. they're using preschoolers as bait. they're stealing people's dads and grandmas and children. they're tear gassing babies. they're staking out schools. there is no remedy but abolition. any proposal that doesn't start there is an act of violence.

He’s identified officially by the MPD as Alex Pretti. Prelim searches show him as a nurse at the VA. Have now watched three videos. In all, he’s directing traffic and filming with his phone, no sign of anything else.

People are nervous about watching video, but this one is not of the murder, it's of the lead up, and people need to see it before the spin takes over.

Donate to Help Equip Twin Cities Legal Observers with PPE, organized by Jac Kovarik I have been involved in rapid response in the Twin Cities area since the b… Jac Kovarik needs your support for Help Equip Twin Cities Legal Observers with PPE

You know me I don't share fundraisers unless I can tell you I trust them with my whole heart and my own wallet. This one gets protective gear to legal observers in Minneapolis / Saint Paul

www.gofundme.com/f/help-equip...

That’s our Frey! Big words, no followthru. Gratifying to see the whole country discovering why local leftists can’t stand our Boy Mayor.

Gotta say, it’s gratifying to watch the whole country go thru the same arc Minneapolitan leftists did on Frey. “Hey, those are powerful words! This guy’s based!” “Hey, his actions favor big business and police over people, and now his words are mewling and pathetic! This guy sucks!” Yup.

Man, I hate posting in times like these, it feels so performative and useless. But I have to, if only for my own memory. So, for my non-Minnesotan friends, quick summary of what it's like to live here. I like it. It's cold in winter, yeah, and "Minnesota nice" is as much sarcastic as legit. And MAN, I have never lived ANYWHERE that's as preemptively defensive about itself. But one of the things I've loved about it, and have loved from my arrival, is how surprisingly diverse it is. Latinx (Mexico and elsewhere), African (East African/Somali, Ghana, more), Southeast Asian (Hmong, Thai, more). Philipino, Ukrainian, Middle Eastern, Lithuanian. Hell, unlike where I grew up (which got fairly fully emptied by the Trail of Tears), the Indigenous population here actually exists in decent numbers. Yeah, all of that diversity has tinges of societal failure (ghettoization, red-lining, disproportionate unhoused and imprisoned, and the genocide of Indigenous folks wasn't as complete but sure did happen), so this ain't no Utopia. But in the minds of everyone not from here, including me, this place should be wall-to-wall Scandinavians. And they're represented, holy HELL are they. But the truth is so much more colorful and amazing.

And what's going on right now is nightmarish. A literal masked secret police force, seemingly without limits or oversight, is stealing people off the streets, out of schools, from their homes. Leaving abandoned cars with smashed windows on the side of the road. Shooting people, lying about why, and getting called out on it by everyone except the folks who could punish them. Restaurants, bookstores, businesses of all kinds, are staying closed or keeping their doors locked and opened individually for customers, not because of roving gangs or criminals, but... well, because of a legal law enforcement group that acts more like a roving gang of criminals than anyone else in my 23 years here. They're TERRORIZING us. Doing horror, and threatening worse. And, in a way, the worst part is how normal it feels. I don't see any of that outside my window. It hasn't happened on my block. Yes, friends have been accosted. Had neighbors taken, children's teachers taken, witnessed strangers taken off the street. But I haven't. Outside of specific moments, specific places, it's easy to miss. Just as easy to ignore. And we can't. We can't put up with it. We can't ignore it. I'm not doing enough, I'm not out in the streets right now, I didn't huck water balloons at those CHUDs on Saturday. I give money to orgs and folks doing good work, I post statements here and via arts orgs that I help run. That's not enough. NOTHING is enough, until this shit stops and the folks that ran it are on trial and the structures that made it possible are torn apart so that it can't happen again.

If you have money to give, give it to help. I, and I'm sure others, will post good places to do that in the comments here. If you have time to give, call your senators and insist that they not increase ICE funding in their vote on the 30th (link for specific info, including what numbers to call, in the comments). If you vote Democrat, vote in the primaries for GOOD candidates, not just Not The Worst, so that we have good choices in the midterms and next presidential election. If you vote Republican, think about that. Think about what you were promised, and what you're getting. Look into your hearts. Is this worth it? Is burning down the country to kill scapegoats worth it? Is destroying tens of thousands of lives in order to (usually accidentally) catch one or two actual criminals worth it? How long can a society do this to itself before it can't recover? How long before it doesn't deserve to? Most of all, stay loud. This isn't okay. This is wrong. Don't let up. Don't get used to it. Hell, if you're offended when protestors get violent, guess what? Nonviolence only works, ever, if the society as a whole responds to it with moral clarity. If everyone responds to images of nonviolent protestors getting maced with indifference, then nonviolence doesn't work. So don't get indifferent. Stay loud. Stay offended. Stop supporting leaders who fail you, who fail us. Stay angry. Use the anger to fight evil. I love you.

Long cross-post

It does my heart so much good to see how many Twin Cities businesses are closed tomorrow in solidarity against ICE. Yeah, some are because of the weather and just saying that to hop on the bandwagon, but I don't even care. It means "the bandwagon" is still "anti-ICE", which is a damn good sign.

I have three ancestors on the Mayflower, and every newly-arrived East African in my town is as American as me.

Artist! Quote with your most detailed art!

podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/e...

Artistic treasure GdT, everyone.

ICE to launch operation targeting Somali immigrants in Twin Cities, federal official says, as Trump calls community ‘garbage’ | CNN A new Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, will target undocumented Somali immigrants, a federal official told CNN on Tuesday.

...pardon me whilest I scream out the loudest f-bomb I have ever used

www.cnn.com/2025/12/02/u...

11:11 YouTube video by Rufus Wainwright - Topic

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdoM...

Support BWJ for Minnesota Fringe Festival on GiveMN Help preserve our freedom of expression and keep the performing arts accessible to all.

Back from voting? Good. Now, gimme some money.

Or rather, give Minnesota Fringe some money thru my page. They’ve meant a lot to me over the past… quarter century, damn, hell. If you give thru me, I’ll give you a little written gift, check the page for details!

www.givemn.org/story/bwj4fr...

Hey, go vote! Minneapolis and NYC friends, go vote for mayor! Other places too probably, but I know those two. And vote for Good, not just Better Than Worst! Good actually has a shot this year, which is neat and we should take advantage.

Well hey. Welcome to manhood! It’s uh… it’s weird and dumb over here too, fair warning.

Interview: Brian Watson-Jones - Sounds of Cinema Sounds of Cinema interview with Brian Watson-Jones, the cast director of Transvestite Soup, the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW shadow cast in the Twin Cities Metro Area.

Rocky Horror 50th anniversary work continues! Busy year, y’all. Anyway, did a radio interview, if anyone wants to hear me ramble about this big part of my life.

soundsofcinema.com/features/aud...

Nothing quite like calling Portland “war-torn” to confess you’ve never seen a war.

Just heard an ad on a podcast for new Converse sneakers that come with airtag tech that stops your kids’ shoes from being lost. That… I’m not clever for seeing dozens of ways that’s bad, yeah? Somebody’s kid is gonna get kidnapped because a pervert remote-hacked their shoes. This dystopia is stupid.

(2/2) They want to use a horrible tragedy to fuel and drive another horrible tragedy. Mourn how you must, act how you can, but don’t let them trick you.

(1/2) There’s a certain segment of the reactionsphere that always, always, reports that a new mass shooter is trans. The fact that, this time, they’re accurate doesn’t mean that they’re correct. Their agenda isn’t honest, doesn’t care about the kids that died.

I’m as delighted as anyone that Newsom is hitting Trump this hard, but we all know not to like him for it, right? Looking good compared to Trump is the easiest thing in the world. Newsom sucks; trans rights, unhoused issues, that damn podcast guest list. Don’t hope he’ll be president, he’s awful.

As someone who watches every Frame Rate movie before listening to the pod (well, except “I Love You Daddy”), may I just say- aw shit, fuck, shit.

Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel

Aw. We lost Tom Lehrer. No surprise, he was 97, but still. My favorite lyricist of all time. He built the most effortlessly tortured rhymes I’ve ever heard.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72...

Hot Dogg article?