Karen E. Ice

Watergate kicked off a multi-decade project by the right wing to insulate Republican leaders from accountability.

A conversation I had last night.👇

Democrats shouldn't hesitate to "politicize this tragedy" because it is a politicized tragedy. Republican propaganda fueled yet another mass shooter, and at the very center of the lies are Trump's own appointees, including his malicious and amoral Health Secretary.

A map showing the southern tip of Lake Michigan along with portions of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The map shows elevation relative to the surface of Lake Michigan.

Chicago is pancake flat because it rests on what was once the bottom of Lake Michigan (or rather, the proglacial lake that preceded Lake Michigan). The ancient lakeshore is easy to see in this "elevation" map that I made by joining the lake's bathymetric data with a digital elevation model.

timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine...

This is a delightful poll.

(Sadly, I’m unable to focus well enough to read for pleasure these days—perhaps not *the* most soul-wrenching aspect of my depressive episodes, yet undoubtedly a strong contender for the medal stand—but I’m enjoying the idea of fun reads nevertheless.)

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

Don’t try to avoid jury duty. We need you now more than ever.

I sometimes wonder if a species is not meant to be this safe and secure at all time and therefore we just manufacture insecurities

Yes. And the actual existential threats are too large to comprehend or fix on an individual level so we'll ignore those and tilt at windmills.

Working While Homeless: In America, It’s All Too Common

This book from @brian-goldstone.bsky.social is astonishing: about the millions of working homeless people who are excluded from the (already insufficient) social safety net. 'Evicted', for a decade in which this country is somehow even crueler to poor people than it's ever been. Highly recommended.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but relax your shoulders and unclench your jaw.

This school rejected a student because his parents are gay. Now some parents are leaving. - LGBTQ Nation “Silence is acceptance,” said one school parent after the kid was kicked out.

shit continues to unfold at St. Agatha y’all

—parents pulling their kids en masse
—teachers resigning
—lemonade stand over the weekend raised $1500 for LGBTQ rights
—protest outside Mass got spicy
—cowardly priest flailing, desperate to pass buck to Archbishop Sample
—the mood is EXPLOSIVE

New non-profit law firm in DC aims to challenge Trump’s executive power | CNN Politics A group of well-known Washington lawyers is opening a law firm focused on challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders and agency actions as he strives to dramatically reshape the federal gov...

A group of well-known Washington lawyers is opening a law firm focused on challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders and agency actions as he strives to dramatically reshape the federal government during his second term.

What I find fascinating about these stories is how are there fentanyl dealers and users then? Like if casual contact causes one hit damage that drops a healthy person, well how does anyone handle it? You telling me dealers and users are taking all these precautions with hazmat suits?

BREAKING LEGAL NEWS: A federal district court has ruled that an Arkansas law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public-school classroom and library is "plainly unconstitutional."

So apparently, it may turn out that The Wizard of Oz at the Las Vegas Sphere wasn’t entirely made in AI and Google threw the VFX crew under the bus by claiming it was all done by artificial intelligence.

If true, then fucking yikes.

People who get paid a lot of money have been telling us for years that the GOP would never take away abortion, or Medicaid, or social security.

The GOP overturned Roe
The GOP is gutting Medicaid
The GOP is killing social security.

Don’t recall who coined it, but The Deconstruction Age is here.

👇🎯 The rocky shore upon which every techbro/finance/CEO "run the government like a business" view crashes

I never get tired of reminding people that famous celebrity Donald Trump's very first appearance in the New York Times was when the Nixon Justice Department sued him and his father for refusing to rent to black families.

Killing Democracy—And Not Bothering to Hide It The assault is happening in plain sight, from the Epstein case to Texas reapportionment to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Once, if a president or his subordinates wanted to cover up a problem, even a crime, they made labored efforts at obfuscation and concealment. Coverups were, as the term implies, pursued under cover of darkness. The Epstein coverup is happening in broad daylight."
www.thebulwark.com/p/killing-de...

trump is inventing entirely new forms of racism every day

'This is domestic terror': Shaken by ICE raids, pastors rethink ministries (RNS) — The fear of raids has pushed some congregations back to pandemic-era worship strategies.

NEW: @rns.org has tracked at least 10 incidents of apparent federal agents conducting immigration enforcement activity on church grounds or in the immediate area, with incidents spread across five states and Puerto Rico.

“This is domestic terror,” one pastor said. religionnews.com/2025/08/04/w...

Refuse to normalize fascism.

Refuse to brush this off as "business as usual."

Refuse to frame hate as just a difference of opinion.

Refuse to betray trans* people for political gain.

Refuse to allow the name of Christ to be used to sanctify white nationalism.

Finally, a united nation.

Lot of folks are showing their whole asses on this non-issue of trans kids in sports, parroting Buttigieg’s “leave it to communities” line.

Do y’all not hear how that echoes “states’ rights” calls of segregationists?

You’re saying the federal govt should abdicate its role in ending discrimination.

<sigh>

I’ve always believed that the political destiny of great nations has often turned on weak men’s reaction to the equivalent of “Jenny laughed when I asked her to the Spring Formal”

Shape reality, look like a truthteller: "The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error...Mass leaders in power have one concern which overrules all utilitarian considerations: to make their predictions come true." Arendt

Elrond: Here’s the plan. See those manlets rambling on about second breakfast and elevensies? We give them the ring of ultimate power. You know, the one the enemy needs to doom us all. We have them walk where he lives and -

Boromir: Give me the damn ring.

Elrond: Why are you being so unreasonable?