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There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.

I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.

As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.

Sources:

• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text

• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)

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ID screenshot of tag: “covid took this from us.” End ID. butch-king-frankenstein replies, “big vaxxed papi begs to differ,” followed by a screenshot of a tweet. ID: Hookah Doncic @ LukaTahcic says “They need to pin this tweet on the homepage of the CDC” in reply to a tweet by TY-RIN @ GothamCityGoon that reads: “Bitch text me and said she got the rona. I got tested & I’m negative which is crazy because I let her spit in my mouth. Big Vaxxed Papi untouchable!!!!” End ID

real love is spitting in each other’s mouths

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Chicken of the woods mini quilt! I messed up the positioning! It’s fine!

CotW is one of my favorite mushrooms to forage, it has such a good texture and it’s really versatile, even made jerky once.

Anyway.

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🇺🇸recall of various types of canned tuna due to fucking botulism <- CAN KILL YOU 🇺🇸

this involves some pretty big name tunas. if you eat canned tuna in the united states, you are going to want to check this list. botulism is one of the biggest deals in food poisoning. THESE CANS CAN FUCKING KILL YOU

EL SEGUNDO, CA, February 7, 2025 – Tri-Union Seafoods has made the decision to voluntarily recall select lots of canned tuna products sold under the Genova®, Van Camp’s®, H-E-B and Trader Joe’s brand names. This voluntary recall is out of an abundance of caution following the notification from our supplier that the “easy open” pull tab can lid on limited products encountered a manufacturing defect that may compromise the integrity of the product seal (especially over time), causing it to leak, or worse, be contaminated with clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning. Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled. Consumers feeling unwell should seek immediate medical attention. No illnesses associated with the recalled products have been reported and the recall is being conducted to ensure consumer safety. The impacted products were distributed to retail stores as follows: H-E-B label - Texas Trader Joe’s label – Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin Genova 7 oz. - Costco in Florida and Georgia Genova 5 oz. - Harris Teeter, Publix, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart, and independent retailers in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas Van Camp’s label – Walmart and independent retailers in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey

some emphasis mine. this is not a comprehensive list of retailers. these cans were sold in more stores than what is listed, and there is no complete list of affected stores. long story short the pull tab has a defect that makes these cans the perfect environment to give you botulism. and botulism is REALLY REALLY FUCKING bad. it is one of the deadliest forms of food poisoning and commonly grows in dented or damaged cans. unfortunately, the recall announcement does not currently include images.

tumblr does not let me make tables, so I cannot easily format all the necessary information in a way that I am confident will be easy to read and understand. so here is the list of names, and check the FDA link for the specifics of what can codes and best by dates are affected.

Genova Solid White Tuna in Olive Oil 5.0 oz

Genova Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil 5.0 oz

Genova Yellowfin Tuna in 0live Oil 5.0 oz 4 Pack

Genova Yellowfin Tuna in Olive 0il 7.0 oz 6 Pack

Genova Yellowfin Tuna in in Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Sea Salt 5.0 oz

Van Camp's Solid Light Tuna in Oil 5.0 oz

Van Camp's Solid Light Tuna in 0il 5 oz 4 Pack

Trader Joe's Solid Light Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil

Trader Joe's Solid White Tuna in Olive Oil

Trader Joe's Solid White Tuna in Water

Trader Joe's Solid White Water Low Sodium

Trader Joe's Solid White Water No Salt Added

H-E-B Solid White Tuna in Water 5.0 oz 4 Pack

if you recognize these types of tuna or buy tuna from those stores, stop reading here and click the FDA link at the top for more information. not all cans in these lines are being recalled, but the affected cans have best by dates into 2028.

from the wikipedia entry about botulism:

The disease begins with weakness, blurred vision, feeling tired, and trouble speaking. This may then be followed by weakness of the arms, chest muscles, and legs. Vomiting, swelling of the abdomen, and diarrhea may also occur. The disease does not usually affect consciousness or cause a fever.

...and these vague symptoms, which may not even all appear in someone with botulism, eventually lead to muscle weakness and paralysis to the point someone is unable to call for help, and might eventually stop being able to breathe. while fully conscious.

from the foodsafetynews article on this recall:

In foodborne botulism, symptoms generally begin 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated food. However, symptoms can begin as soon as 6 hours after or up to 10 days later.

according to the wikipedia article, 5%-10% of people who get botulism will die with timely medical intervention. without medical intervention, botulism kills 50% of the people it infects. this is emergency room ASAP level stuff.

please send the FDA link to anyone you know who eats canned tuna in the US. although no illnesses have been attributed to this defect yet, it may only be a matter of time as the seals on these cans degrade. please do not become the first.

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K

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youre weirdly obsessed with finding meaning

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posted on Kate Bornstein's substack

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Chinese artist Shou Xin creates the most wonderful cats with just a few pencil lines

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This is badass: Medieval Nubian Fashion Brought to Life. Click through to the link because there’s more replica clothing and it is all stunning!

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I've said it before but I love this post bc I like to look back at what I've previously said. Right now I think I'd choose Russian, Czech, Arabic, Georgian, and Mandarin

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idk how I feel about Bourdieu generally, but he makes the argument in On The State that the state legitimizes itself by presenting itself as “the viewpoint that produces all other viewpoints,” that it structures how we think about and understand what gets counted as “just a particular point of view” or “just an opinion,” and through this production it ceases to be seen as a viewpoint itself, which is to say, it ceases to be viewed as biased or partial by the public, and is therefore “outside the social space.” He means this specifically in the context of state reproduction, that the state is doing this to reproduce and perpetuate itself by building a public consensus that agrees that the state is legitimate (and thus unbiased). He's engaging with Weber’s idea of the rational logic of the modern state, that rationality is understood as objective, above mere opinion, and that to be legitimate is to exist outside of the domain of opinion (ie, the social).

and talking with a lot of particularly nihilistic liberals, this framing feels pretty instructive - the state doesn’t actually exist within the social realm, it’s basically just a fact of nature, like a lion or a forest, and the primary problem that arises within the state is when it takes on the characteristics of the social space by suddenly appearing partial and biased. The real crime of Trump and other “populist” right-wing politicians is that they are dragging down the state to the low space of the social realm and doing with it biased and partial things - the lion is now in the circus, and so it must be released back into its proper dignified place in nature. “fake news” and “alternative facts” are rendered oxymorons that endlessly drives liberals insane - how can facts be fake? How can the head of the state lie? Misinformation becomes the whole terrain of battle, of trying to maintain the boundary between fact and mere opinion, and through this battle the state will be cleansed of the social realm.

and ironically this is a disengagement with empiricism entirely, an irrational commitment to the rational, to the state. because at no point is there any actual reckoning with the state as an institution that emerged out of history and struggle, as something that is co-constitutive with the social realm, as an authority that decides what is impartial and unbiased, as an authority that can be challenged, it’s just an animal that does things, existing forever in time, and sometimes evil people make it do things that go against its beautiful, unbiased and impartial nature 

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every day on this beautiful earth a pair of transgender breasts grow larger

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Commission for Lucy for their partner for Christmas.

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Hope as a Discipline: from an interview with Mariame Kaba on the Beyond Prisons podcast

(transcript and audio here)

Kim: I think someone retweeted something you posted the other day and the last few days, it just really resonated with me and just has helped me tremendously. There are a lot of times where I’m kind of lurking on Twitter, not necessarily engaging for a lot of reasons, but I saw this… it is something you wrote about hope being a discipline. I got to tell you, it made my day, if not my week, absolutely! Because it’s something that… it is easy to get down on everything that’s going on.

Mariame: Sure.

Kim: It’s really easy to kind of look around and be like, “Oh my God, everything… set it all on fire and let’s just be done!” [laughs] Especially right now and I think that plugging in with folks and reading things and listening to things that are affirming and uplifting and do allow you to focus on the hopeful side of things are part of abolition. I’d like you to say something about that, but I have another part to that question because they are both related or at least, in my thinking, which is about self-care for those of us doing this work. And that’s something I spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about as well with the folks that I’m connected with.

Mariame: I always tell people, for me, hope doesn’t preclude feeling sadness or frustration or anger or any other emotion that makes total sense. Hope isn’t an emotion, you know? Hope is not optimism.

Keep reading

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animals are quite funny.. you show them a Thing and theyre like "ok i will Sniff this"..