Anne Libera

Life lesson: a roasted chicken takes as long as a roasted chicken takes

Antique land - memorized it a while ago

I met a traveler from an ancient land…

‘ICE conveyor belt’ illegally detaining, moving Minnesota children to Texas faster than courts can respond ICE is pulling Minnesota immigrant families with legal status out of their driveways, homes and school commutes and send

ICE is running a “conveyor belt” of illegally detained Minnesota families.

Agents are arresting entire families with legal status and immediately shipping them off to Texas to deny them legal representation and avoid the federal courts in Minnesota.

The cruelty is endless.

Sheldon Patinkin used to tell a story about someone telling Andrea Martin how much they liked her on SCTV and adding that they loved the other three women on the show with her. All of those three women were Catherine O'Hara. Brilliant, funny, able to be over the top and simultaneously vulnerable.

Done

User @backintimeag: The text “Kirsten will be happy when ICE gets the fuck out of Minnesota” over a picture of 1850s immigrant and Minnesota-dwelling doll character Kirsten Larson in the snow.

In case anyone was wondering how it’s going over on American Girl doll Instagram

Alex Pretti "used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians. He bought me coffee when I had a really bad day as an intern...I laughed alongside him daily. He made a point to teach medical residents without judgement, but with a smile on his face and a joke."

Former special counsel Jack Smith offered a robust defense of his derailed efforts to prosecute Donald Trump, telling lawmakers in his first public testimony that the president “willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold.” https://wapo.st/4qFjsSX

But when I asked an organizer what they wanted to see out of press coverage, they told me they wanted people to see the beautiful things they are building here, and not just the worst stories of the worst of ICE's crimes.

What people are doing here is beautiful. It's a tragic beauty, but a real one

Opinion | In Minneapolis, I Glimpsed a Civil War

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

In improv, there’s an adage “play the scene you’re in” I think we’d all like to be in a world where the left could argue over minor points of policy. But this moment demands that we all work together to bring our country back from the move to fascism.

I have been thinking much the same thing. And that the point of these “operations” is less immigration enforcement and more to make blue cities feel fear.

whats missing from all the coverage is that the president is using the military to harass, brutalize and punish areas of the country that didnt vote for him

For those keeping score, Bellingcat, The New York Times Visual Investigation Team, & Washington Post's Visual Forensic team have all published analysis showing the ICE shooter wasn't in the path of Renee Nicole Good’s vehicle when he shot her, contradicting statements by the President & his cronies

Video: Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minneapolis An analysis of footage from three camera angles shows that the motorist was driving away from — not toward — a federal officer when he opened fire.

Excellent, damning analysis of the video of the killing of Ms Good, from the NYT, including a quick debunking of the “evidence” the President showed other Times reporters last night.

www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

As you listen to DHS and ICE offer their excuses and justifications for murdering an American mother in cold blood, a quickly-forgotten reminder from Chicago:
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Deadly Minneapolis ICE shooting echoes Franklin Park, Marimar Martinez shootings during Operation Midway Blitz The deadly Minneapolis shooting by an ICE agent that killed a woman Wednesday morning recalls shootings by federal immigration agents in Chicago during the height of Operation Midway Blitz in the fall...

Important context for claims that the Nicole Renee Good was obstructing/assaulting officers before she was shot & killed:

The last time immigration agents shot a woman (Marimar Martinez, Chicago) they made similar claims. Prosecutors have already dropped the charges www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

The right wants to talk about fraud? Somali fraud? Okay, give me 60 seconds.

Every once in a while I am struck again by the notion that if you cast someone who looks like Stephen Miller to play the evil government guy, everyone would say it was unbelievable because he looks too much like a villain

Treating people as things comes to my mind almost weekly lately.

Listen to Ben Shapiro for even 30 seconds and he is so so clearly a Debate kid

Like there is also a huge media-based pipeline of content designed to get men to gamble on sports but no one is postulating that this was a demand-driven phenomenon of men with "having excess money" problems.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Albert Brooks, best friends since they were 16.

A New Theory of Comedy I sat down with Anne Libera from Second City to discuss her groundbreaking new book.

open.substack.com/pub/beautifu...

"No one controls the music, Mr. Pretty - you know that. It just turns up when people have had enough. No one knows where it starts. People look around, and catch one another's eye, and give each other a little nod, and other people see that. Other people catch their eye and so, very slowly, the music starts and somebody picks up a spoon and bangs it on a plate, and then somebody else bangs a jug on the table and boots starts to stamp on the floor, louder and louder. It is the sound of anger, it is the sound of people who have had enough. Do you want to face the music?"

(From Pratchett's "I Shall Wear Midnight")

I hope, oh, do I hope, that I do not have to wait until 2026, or 2030, or until I die, for the rough music to begin to play for Trump et al.

I genuinely don't know if this is a "Minnesotan" thing or an "old guy of a certain age" thing but in case it's Minnesotan and people need an anger translator: this guy is so angry he could just about set something on fire with his mind.

Pretty sure that one of my students pitched this exact thing for five ish years ago for an Onion headline assignment

How about we worry less, as a society, about whether individuals might be cheating to get a disability accommodation or some help buying food, and more about whether extremely wealthy people and corporations are paying their fair share of taxes?

Rishi has a set of sparkling teas that aren’t sweet and have a bite that feels like a grownup alcohol drink without the alcohol