Carol Ayres

The perfect bird feeder doesn't exi--

There is an impulse in moments like this to appeal to self-interest. To say: These horrors you are allowing to happen, they will come to your doorstep one day; to repeat the famous phrase about who they came for first and who they'll come for next. But this appeal cannot, in matter of fact, work. If the people well served by a system that condones such butchery ever truly believed the same butchery could one day be inflicted on them, they'd tear the system down tomorrow. And anyway, by the time such a thing happens, the rest of us will already be dead. No, there is no terrible thing coming for you in some distant future, but know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness. Forget pity, forget even the dead if you must, but at least fight against the theft of your soul.

One of many moments in Omar El Akkad’s new book, “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” that will stop you in your tracks.

Eclipse from LA. Looking downtown from the Park Row Bridge. 💕
Composite image, foreground and moon shot separately. Foreground F/16 30sec at 21mm. Moon: F/6.3 0.8sec at 400mm.

#eclipse #LA #losangeles #lunareclipse #moon

BREAKING: Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier released from prison after nearly 50 years

“Catastrophic”: Trans Youth Losing Access to Care As President Trump continues to sign new executive orders attacking transgender people and their rights, we hear voices of protest from New York, where hundreds of people rallied Monday outside NYU Langone...

"Catastrophic": Trans Youth Lose Access to Care as Hospitals Capitulate to Trump Attacks

Anti-ICE protesters are blocking both sides of the 101 Freeway near the Alameda Street exit in DTLA. The CHP has since closed that portion of the freeway.

Anti-ICE protesters in California have shut down the 101 freeway in Los Angeles marching towards City Hall.

A Brutal Beginning: Orienting Ourselves Amid the Shock and Awe We must be prepared to live and act defiantly, deriving no legitimacy from the illegitimate brutes who would govern us.

I wrote about Trump's executive orders, including his attacks on trans and undocumented people, and how we should be orienting ourselves to defy fascist violence in this moment. This piece includes commentary from @chasestrangio.bsky.social and @silkys13.bsky.social.

Palestina Libre, San Salvador, El Salvador
#FreePalestine

Astro-wrap, 2024 ✨
Whatever else it holds, may #2025 also bring #wonder and the light of other, possible worlds, including, especially, here on earth. #happynewyear

Short-eared #owl.

#oregon #woods #birds

M33, Triangulum Galaxy

A little bit of Supernova remnant IC443, Jellyfish nebula, taken from roof, Bortle 9