Karsten Wade

Sunday Pages: "Dirge Without Music" A poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

"My father is three years dead, my godfather is now dead, and at 53, I am nearer the end of the journey than the beginning. In the tortuous TSA line of life, I’m one step closer to taking off my shoes and walking through the metal detector to the great airport terminal in the sky."

Screenshot of Reddit thread from r/Lyft: Lyft has billed me for Lyft Cash I didn't order. Three times. The first time, the app notified me that I had $100 in Lyft Cash. I'd never heard of it, but I thought maybe they were rewarding me for being a loyal customer. No. I looked at my banking activity online and saw where it had been charged. Obviously, I disputed the charge with my bank and with Lyft, and it was refunded, no problem. A month later, Lyft refilled my Lyft Cash, but only for $25. This time, I just talked to customer service through the app, and it was refunded. I noticed that the customer service rep never exactly apologized or explained why it happened. The third time was 3 days ago. "Refilled" for $50 this time. And yes, my Auto-Refill has always been toggled OFF. So again I'm talking to customer service, and he promises a refund and says I can "rest assured" it won't happen again. So I told him I need two questions answered: WHY was I repeatedly charged for Lyft Cash I didn't order? How can I be sure it won't happen again? What steps were taken to fix the problem? No response from customer service. I'm using Uber or nothing from now on. I've changed the debit card on file with Lyft to an old, obsolete card, which hopefully solves the problem.

This is interesting—took Lyft for the first time in a year, loaded a new card for payment, & took 2 $10 rides. Afterwards we got an alert from the card blocking $100 of "LYFT CASH". WTF?

Pulled out the app, it was on the Lyft cash screen... a "pocket purchase" accident?

But I'm not the only one:

Sunday Pages: "Dirge Without Music" A poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

"More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world." - Millay

Thinking of my fellow nerds who woke up Saturday to discover what horrors their research project frontier model was used for

Stand With Minnesota Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

It’s day 89 of the ICE occupation of MN.

It may seem as if everyone in MN is furiously raising rent for our neighbors, trying to prevent a massive eviction crisis on top of the federal occupation.

That’s because Minnesotans know that we keep each other safe, and no one is coming to save us.

*Pulls up chair, takes long drag on cigarette* "Son, let me tell you about a man I once knew..."

Summers To Resign From Teaching Appointments, Relinquish University Professorship Over Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson Former Harvard President Larry Summers will resign from his academic and faculty appointments at Harvard at the end of the academic year, relinquishing his University Professorship — Harvard’s highest...

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
"Former Harvard President Larry Summers will resign from his academic and faculty appointments at Harvard at the end of the academic year, relinquishing his University Professorship — Harvard’s highest faculty distinction — and remaining on leave until that time"

Fucking Mencken, dude could make a point so sharp it pricks your fingers reading the page...

How to stop a dictator I spent months studying how authoritarians like Trump lose. The answer is shockingly simple.

I have spent the past several months studying the cutting-edge research on modern democracies that have defeated authoritarian leaders.

I've learned that the conventional wisdom on the topic is wrong — in ways that have clear implications for the US going forward

THREAD www.vox.com/politics/479...

Minnesota school districts say federal agents still causing daily disruptions School leaders say that ICE activity is continuing to interrupt daily life for students, staff and families despite the announced end of the two-month surge of federal immigration agents.

ICE activity continues to interrupt daily life for students, staff and families, despite the announced end of the two-month surge of federal immigration agents. Students attend school remotely, staff monitor arrival and dismissal, and leaders wonder when they can resume normal school operations.

It is my opinion that Mr. Schanck is a real dick.

And speaking of which, could Mr. Schanck be the rare man who doesn't think with his little brain? Bit too "absent-minded" to notice when a fine booty walks on by?

STOP THE SAVE ACT (Updated) All Eyes on the Senate

STOP THE SAVE ACT (Updated)
My new piece is up with lots of info about the SAVE America Act - the version of the SAVE Act that passed the House and is before the Senate this week. This is a MUST READ and then ACT.
open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

Feb 20: OJ Simpson

Q: Why were Black folk so happy when OJ was acquitted? To be honest, it feels disgusting. Why does it seem like you're happy he got away with murder?

It's not about OJ. At all.

Read the whole thread. All of it.

3. For line numbers to appear in PDF, you **must** do 'File > Print > Destination > Save as PDF'.

If you do 'File > Download > PDF', it will strip the line numbers from the PDF.

If you need to number each paragraph, put a 'tab'-key of space after the numeral & before the paragraph starts.

2/2

Pro (se) tip for when you are ever preparing your own legal documents using Google Docs:

1. Turn on line numbers with 'Tools > Line numbers'
2. Set 'Format > Line & Paragraph spacing > Double', then remove all spaces before and after paragraphs, looking for strays

Next tip preserves line num:

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Opinion | Jeffrey Epstein, the Devil’s Concierge

I wrote about one of the worst aspects of the Epstein files

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...

Having a common cause is in some sense the easy part, compared to developing genuine solidarity in achieving it.

Omfg thanks Ian

Overhead view of CBP helicopter doing a loop from Moss landing over Corralitos and up the coast to

Near overhead view of CBP helicopter doing a loop from Moss landing over Corralitos and up the coast

This is art happening right now

Stephen Miller Paid Latino Thugs to Murder Alex Pretti - emptywheel Stephen Miller can only sustain his myth of white self-reliance by hiding the faces of those who murder white men in the streets of Blue cities.

Stephen Miller Paid Latino Thugs to Murder Alex Pretti

emptywheel.net/2026/02/02/s...

Now let's do "journalism vs content"!

@jayrosen.bsky.social wrote some great content about drawing distinctions in and around journalism.

EFF Town Hall: ICE, CBP, and Digital Rights You see it. We see it. ICE and CBP are out of control. Many people are exercising their right to say it's unacceptable. But what are the limitations around recording immigration agents? Is it true tha...

EFF is hosting a town hall online about ICE and CBP on Feb 5. Check it out. www.eff.org/event/town-h...

Chattel slavery is such an overarching crime against humanity, a superset of all the worst crimes against an individual or people, it's hard to imagine what an unreasonable response or reaction would be... an "axe to the back" seems like a kind death for a slaveowner...

* It became a guerrilla war

YouTube video by Gangstagrass Gangstagrass - Freedom - Exclusive performance for Barnstormers

Toe-tappin' & head-noddin', this song is a Mike Tyson blow to the face

When I was a kid and first learned (a flawed version of) the US history of slavery & the Civil War fought over it, I was amazed any slavers/slaveowners were allowed to live after they lost* the war.

1/2

youtu.be/kVDSsnPVLjE

Phenomenal reporting

When I was being driven around the Cities in lightly falling, fluffy snow, the whole scene was rendered in real-life grayscale. I had a shameful, selfish thought: This is the opposite of a color lead. My editor sent me all the way out here for this? I thought of all the useless video I had taken, and then of the terabytes more of data on a thousand other phones. All the interactions that didn’t escalate, or even turn out to be ICE action. All those videos are evidence of the terror, too—evidence of the wearying watchfulness that an occupation wrests from people. How occupations colonize memory as much as space. The shots of ICE agents leaving a scene, of storefronts that aren’t blasted through, of apartments whose doors remain whole—all of that is abundant but unaccessible proof of what can be accomplished without leadership, just community and will.

My report from Minneapolis, about the things you'll never see. newrepublic.com/article/2057...

Truth!

Good thread

Agent-402 Building Agent-402: Cryptographically-Signed AI Agents for Regulated Finance We built...

We built something interesting for a hackathon, do you know anyone interested in gas-free agentic micropayments with an x402 gateway?

dev.to/senayyakut/a...

I wonder how many attendees at the "Melania" movie will be extremely stoned people who cackle and yell things at the screen. (Not that I'm encouraging such boorish behavior. Forget I even mentioned it.)