Chris Polansky

New 10-minute Jens Lekman track, hell yeah

Sometimes you put your hand in your jacket pocket and find a balled-up straw wrapper. And you think “hmm I haven’t used any straws lately” and start to roll it around in your fingers trying to figure out what it is. And then it stings you, because it’s a large bee. It happened to me!

furthest i’ve been:

north: Sala, Sweden
east: Moscow
south: Honolulu
west: Honolulu

And they weren’t even the best scallops I had in Scotland!

Scallops on the halfshell.

A seaside cemetery.

A lighthouse.

View of Lagavulin Bay through a bedroom window.

As are the scallops and the views.

The Lagavulin distillery

The Ardbeg distillery

The Ardbeg distillery

The Laphroaig distillery

Just back from Islay. It’s true, the whisky’s good.

Lololol

On a flight to London 😎

My checked suitcase has been left behind at Bradley 😔

Why do I feel like I’ll never see my things again

I wonder what it’s like to not have come from a “get to the airport many hours early or you’re a moral failure” family. I will wonder this as I hang out in the terminal for the next few hours

‘An abdication’: CT reacts to hospitals’ end to gender-affirming care for young people Advocates, elected officials and families of patients expressed fear, anger and disappointment.

“This is one of the most vulnerable groups I can think of, and so parents are rightfully very worried when health care providers arbitrarily and unilaterally make decisions about cutting off care.”

“To me, it’s unconscionable.”

www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-07...

Overheard in a Connecticut Jersey Mike’s: “Are you serious? Be so serious right now, you’ve never seen Beverly Hills Chihuahua? WOW”

‘An abdication’: CT reacts to hospitals’ end to gender-affirming care for young people Advocates, elected officials and families of patients expressed fear, anger and disappointment.

“This is one of the most vulnerable groups I can think of, and so parents are rightfully very worried when health care providers arbitrarily and unilaterally make decisions about cutting off care.”

“To me, it’s unconscionable.”

www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-07...

Fun resolution is that despite my doctor trying really hard they still won’t give me my medication, so I get to withdraw from something I’m not supposed to stop taking while in another country. It’s how you like to see the world, really

Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest Video from Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio, 18, puts fresh scrutiny on the harsh tactics used to reach the Trump administration’s ambitious enforcement targets

Another officer says, “They’re starting to resist more now,” to which an officer replies: “We’re going to end up shooting some of them.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The only problem with this video is that people don’t get that it’s a joke and thus miss out on hearing the actual sound the mummy makes in the real news segment, which in my estimation is way funnier

I have been visiting the pharmacy and on the phone with insurance every day this week and I am no closer to getting my medically necessary medication before I leave this weekend. I love the American health care system. I love CVS. I love Anthem Blue Cross. I love it all

Yale Medicine’s and Yale New Haven Hospital’s pediatric gender program has offered high-quality care to patients with questions or concerns related to gender identity. With specialists including pediatric-trained endocrinologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, the program provided options that included medication treatment, when indicated following a thorough assessment, for its patients experiencing gender dysphoria. The program did not include surgical interventions. We have been carefully monitoring federal executive orders and administrative actions relating to gender-affirming care for patients under age 19. After a thorough assessment of the current environment, we have made the very difficult decision to modify the pediatric gender program to eliminate the medication treatment component of the gender-affirming program for patients under age 19. This decision was not made lightly. We are aware of the profound impact that this decision will have on the patients treated in this program, as well as their families. We are committed to offering transitional support as the medication treatment component of the pediatric gender-affirming care program winds down, and our providers will continue to provide mental health and other health care services to these patients in a compassionate care environment.

Yale New Haven Health joins Connecticut Children's in terminating gender-affirming medication treatment for young patients.
Yale: "This decision was not made lightly. We are aware of the profound impact that this decision will have on the patients treated in this program, as well as their families."

A black and white mixed breed dog lies his head between two outstretched paws

Moping

He can tell I’m going on a trip soon and leaving him behind

A black and white mixed breed dog lies his head between two outstretched paws

Moping

Trying to get a prescription filled a few days early because I'm going overseas and my insurance and the pharmacy are acting like me and my doctor are asking for state secrets or royal jewels

Connecticut Children’s ‘winding down’ youth gender-affirming care The hospital cited the ‘government landscape and pressure surrounding’ gender-affirming care for transgender youth in an internal memo.

Via @ctmirror.org:

"Connecticut Children’s Medical Center confirmed Wednesday it is shutting down the program that provides gender-affirming health care to transgender and gender-diverse patients."

"Since [Trump] took office, his administration has targeted gender-affirming care for children."

Advocates, officials call for release of Afghan man arrested by ICE in CT “Following the rules is supposed to protect you. It's not supposed to land you in detention,” the man’s lawyer said.

"We have seen DHS in numerous cases, over and over and over again, make things up, stretch the truth, outright lie to the American people,” VanDiver said. “These people are full of shit."

www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-07...

Found your park

Advocates, officials call for release of Afghan man arrested by ICE in CT “Following the rules is supposed to protect you. It's not supposed to land you in detention,” the man’s lawyer said.

"We have seen DHS in numerous cases, over and over and over again, make things up, stretch the truth, outright lie to the American people,” VanDiver said. “These people are full of shit."

www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-07...

‘Daddy, police!’: New video shows masked ICE agents arrest father outside child’s school in Beaverton Newly published video provides insights into the immigration arrest of a chiropractor outside of his child’s Beaverton Montessori school.

An Iranian national who is married to a US citizen and is in the pipeline for a green card was pulled over by ICE while driving his child to daycare in the suburbs of Portland. They broke his car window in the day care parking lot and he’s now being detained in Tacoma. www.opb.org/article/2025...

Mountain Goats live 3LP set? Recorded in New Jersey? Won’t be available on streaming services? Folks, they’re forcing me to buy it

FEMA search and rescue chief resigns after frustration with Texas flood response | CNN Politics The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.

Head of FEMA Urban Search and Rescue branch resigns.
He told colleagues that TX delay was tipping point after months of admin efforts to dismantle the agency. DHS Sec Noem took 72 hours after TX flooding to authorize the deployment of FEMA’s search and rescue network
www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/p...

The great defeathering

“Since AFP was founded in 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner.

But none of us remember witnessing colleagues die of hunger"