The bird feeder I recently bought has unexpectedly brought me an incredible amount of joy. Birds are good Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I saw a mama bird execute a classic "babybirding," repeatedly grabbing food with her beak and dropping it directly into her baby's open beak. Simultaneously gross and heartwarming, mostly the latter

Truly devastating news that's left me paralyzed all day. Michael wasn't just an excellent left radio host — he was a beautiful, warm, loving human being. There are few like him in left media. To say that he'll be missed doesn't begin to speak to how crushing of a loss this is.

https://twitter.com/majorityfm/status/1285342049039003648

Michael was so dedicated to using his platform to build a strong left, both here & abroad. His dedication to internationalism was obvious to anyone who heard him talk about Brazil & Lula, or watched his documentary on Michael Manley & Jamaica. And he was just a great fucking guy.

Went for a walk in my neighborhood earlier. Saw @chicagosmayor Lori Lightfoot eating outside at a restaurant. So I walked by her table and said politely, "Mayor Lightfoot, we need you to defund the police." She instantly stiffened and responded tersely, "That's not gonna happen." I tried to respond by arguing that Mayor Lightfoot's recent rejections of basically every demand put forward since the George Floyd protests began — defunding the cops, taking police out of Chicago Public Schools, etc. — were wrong, but I got intercepted by her bodyguard :(

Wow, the LAPD hired a guy named James Jarrett to infiltrate and disrupt a Black Panthers support group in 1970. He was a “veteran of the CIA’s Phoenix Program in Vietnam that had carried out the systematic murder of thousands...suspected of being Viet Congress sympathizers.” After a member was attacked (likely by a
right-winger), Jarrett urged Panther supporters to carry Mace. When actress Shirley Sutherland wrote him a check to deliver Mace to her friend’s house, he instead delivered a box of grenades. Which then was pretext for an LAPD raid. Insane

The last few days, I’ve endlessly scrolled Twitter at this time of night, observing innumerable instances of shocking police brutality, from old-fashioned beatings to military weaponry used on crowds. It’s been depressing. But I realized something today that made me feel better. US police are loaded for bear, w/ the most brutal & advanced weaponry money can buy. They get an enormous chunk of local budgets, often the majority, to beat down/lock up as many of us as they can. And yet that hasn’t been enough to force people out of the streets.

this book is making me feel like absolute shit although “feeling like shit” should not be confused with the section I just read on the millions (billions?) around the world “living in shit,” as in living in literal human excrement

I was at the Grand Rapids Bernie Sanders rally over the weekend. I've been to a number of his rallies during this campaign and in 2016, and watched who knows how many hours of Bernie speaking. But this one was remarkable for how he handled the Jesse Jackson endorsement. Bernie is running to be the most powerful person in the country, arguably the planet. So you'd assume he'd be the star of the show. But when Bernie came out, it wasn't to give his stump speech. First, it was to talk about what Jesse Jackson meant to him.

If 2020 Micah had told 2015 Micah that 2020 Micah actually believed that a socialist had a serious shot at winning the US presidency, 2015 Micah would have told 2020 Micah that he was absolutely delusional. Yet here we are. This country’s politics are moving leftward at warp speed. Polls show majorities supporting Medicare for All and free college for all. Exit polls on Super Tuesday even showed a majority of supporters in some states supporting democratic socialism (!).

We're supposed to believe UNITE HERE Local 226—one of the most effective/militant union locals in the country that's faced down the mob & struck the Frontier Hotel for 6+ yrs & built an incredible working-class institution—was scared off by mean ol' Bernie bros? Give me a break.

https://twitter.com/RyanLizza/status/1227726111020388353

The union's leadership is operating here under a conservative business union strategy. They're using their union's power to protect their members' benefits rather than fight to spread those benefits to workers everywhere.

Years ago at a Chi Board of Trade protest, traders dropped McDonald’s job apps on us. Now they’re spitting on striking educators. Absolute psychopaths who need to be taxed & taxed & taxed again and kept far away from the general public blockclubchicago.org/2019/10/24/tea… #PutItInWriting this is what traders in Chicago’s financial district are spending their time doing. totally normal

Last night, I was biking home and got hit by a car that was going very fast. I flew off my bike and landed on my back, and thought I might be seriously injured for a short but terrifying stretch of time. But I didn't call an ambulance, because I was worried about the cost. I probably should've called. I laid in the street moaning in pain for a bit. But the guy who hit me had stopped and helped me on my feet, and I realized I could stand up. So the first thing I did on my feet was weigh how injured I might be with how much an ambulance would cost.

Extremely Big Bernie Energy Bernie, 1992: "In case ya don't know, and you haven't seen the latest polls, the American people hold the president of the United States in contempt, they hold this institution in contempt, they hold the Republican Party in contempt, they hold the Democratic Party in contempt."

Freddie de Boer on the Left:"Powerlessness is a comfortable place to hide; if you have no ability to effect change in the world, you cannot really fail. Your ideas never make contact with reality and so there is no chance that they will be put to the test" fredrikdeboer.com/2018/06/14/bet… "Armed w/ powerlessness...practitioners of this brand of politics concentrate..their energies into the types of interpersonal politics that, for many, characterize left activism. You may not be able to slow global warming but you can ruin the reputation of someone..in your bloc"