If you change yourself, you have changed the world

Like. I’ve always sorta understood that things grow moldy or stale or sour or such if left out, but I never really internalized it in a meaningful way.

But now I’m just like.

Yeah. The hungering dust. There exists omnivorous dust in the air that will eat my food if I don’t.

Those bagels have been sitting there for a week. Are we going to eat them soon or are we leaving them for the hungering dust?

Pizza’s been sitting out on the counter for an hour. Everyone’s enjoying the pizza, but if we don’t want “everyone” to include the hungering dust then we should probably put it away soon.

That’s just. That’s how food works to me now. There exists an invisible predator in the air that hungers for your yummies, and it will not hesitate to eat your food if you don’t make the effort to protect and preserve it. And eat what can’t be preserved before the dust can.

A brief summary of events, from someone who pays attention and also lives here, best taken with a grain of salt and some fact checking:

2020: George Floyd is murdered by Minneapolis police. There are weeks of protests about it. It makes national news. Protests happen in DC. The infamous Trump and his bible photo shoot happens.

2024: Gov. Tim Walz is Kamala Harris' running mate in the presidential election. He starts the "they're just weird" thing. Is folksy, Trump personally hates him.

November 2025: ICE starts showing up to "crack down" on "illegal immigrants" in our Somali community. I may remember the numbers wrong, but something like 90% of our Somali neighbors are either naturalized or were born here. People distribute ICE whistles and are on high alert. Localized to the twin cities.

December 2025: Nick Shirley is paid by a bunch of MN Republicans to do an exposé on daycare fraud. I didn't hear much about this. All I really know is this was an ongoing investigation that MN officials were already taking care of and some of the guilty parties have already gone to court from a COVID era food assistance program. Mostly, if not all, legal US citizens. He did a really bad job at doing journalism and just showed up to day cares with a camera crew and went "YUP nobody's here" as if they weren't in lock-down procedure because some fuck ass white men showed up with camera equipment that could easily be mistaken for guns. I believe. I will fact check all of this and will correct myself in a reblog if necessary. (source but not all the details that I remember hearing about but they said there was no recorded evidence of fraud)

Conservative internet explodes. Kristi Noem sends a mess of agents. I know it's more than a thousand more. They call it Operation Metro Surge. They are going everywhere. There are protests. People try to interrupt the arrests. It's a lot.

1/7/2026: Renee Nicole Good is shot by an ICE agent in the middle of a protest. A few blocks away from where George Floyd was killed. Broad daylight. In front of a crowd. While she was following instructions to turn her vehicle around. Jonathan Ross, the piece of shit Nazi who did it, was recording on his phone the whole time, switched his phone to his non dominant hand so he could more effectively shoot her in the face from 2 feet away. Claims self defense, several angles immediately disprove him. He releases his video, he calls her a "fucking bitch" as her corpse drives away. Does not help him at all. (source) He has not been seen since. Some photos/reports exist of a bunch of agents showing up to his house and taking some tubs and art away. His wife is an immigrant. (source but it's the daily mail so grain of salt.)

Not hours later they go raid a school and tear gas a bunch of kids. (source). Minneapolis has switched to distance learning. I'm not sure about St. Paul.

The last week: There are up to 3,000 ICE agents here. Keep in mind Minneapolis and St. Paul only have 600 or fewer police officers each. So these dudes are roaming in packs. It's 2-4 dudes to a car and 2-5 cars per pack. People are "commuting with" ICE agents to honk and alert people that they're there. People are going on patrols with their neighbors.

ICE is no longer asking "are you a citizen." They are simply walking up to you and taking you into custody. They are going door to door. They have started just breaking the door down if you don't comply. They are driving recklessly to just grab pedestrians and drivers alike (source). People are afraid to go get groceries. It's all over the state. I am learning names of cities in places I thought were just factory farm land and I've lived here my whole life because they're doing raids there. I had to text my family in the suburbs because I saw reports of my small little hometown an hour away getting door knocks today.

It's insane and I am not doing it justice. There are thousands of masked federal agents roaming around all of Minnesota with no warrant or specific goal. They are just trolling around looking for people. They are detaining anyone and everyone. They are beating people. They are pepper spraying people. They are kidnapping people. They are acting unconstitutionally, aggressively, and unpredictably. They are creating situations that are dangerous so that they can try to justify beating or shooting their way out. I will run an errand and then get fed a tiktok that was shot from the Cub Foods that I just left and there's 20+ ICE vehicles parked there now. They're taking people from work, from day care, from schools, from shopping centers.

Iceout.org tracks ice sightings. This is a screen shot with the date set to 12/1/2025.

And from today.

They have cut off SNAP and WIC benefits. Just for us. Not any other state, just Minnesota. They're saying it's because of fraud but I think it's because they hate that we use federal funds to give free breakfast and lunch to every public school student.

And this is breaking just now, 1/13/2026: the DOJ is trying to investigate Renee Good's widow. 4 people have resigned about it. (source). I don't even want to read the article to see what they're saying.

So that's a brief history.

Unicorn Riot is doing a lot of good reporting and they don't seem to have the spin that a lot of local news stations will have where they downplay everything. This article specifically goes into a lot of the specific instances of brutality.

It's also a rumor on TikTok that all of the videos of ICE and protests and the such and the like are being geo locked. So my feed is all footage of people being detained and talking about the "commuting" they're doing and what they're seeing but people outside of the state are not seeing it. So if you're also on that infernal app, try searching for Minneapolis or Minnesota and see what you see. I'm kind of curious if this is true. Because I've been living and breathing ICE and doomsday prepping content for a week. I'm sure those two topics aren't connected.

I don't really know what my goal with this post is. I'm tired. I'm in the first ring of suburbs, so it's been pretty quiet. But I have friends in south Minneapolis. And I'm worried for them. And I know it's a matter of time before my quiet pocket is affected. Because they're coming door to door.

There are some Twin Cities activists who have been very clearly laying out what they're doing, and why it's effective at slowing down ICE. It sounds like all you really need, is neighborhood group chats where people can let one another know when and where ICE is present, and then people show up, start recording, and blowing whistles, and then ICE will leave again more often than not. This VERY SHORT thread by a Twin Cities activist outlines what to do and how it works.

Also: Minnesota Public Radio has been doing great coverage of what's happening, and the local NBC affiliate has some excellent interviews with activists who were arrested and detained for hours.

Unfortunately for ICE, we also already had systems in place for widespread and immediate protest action since George Floyd was murdered. We're tapping back into a lot of those networks and expanding them rapidly, but there's only so much we can do on the ground.

Also unfortunately for ICE, it's fucking January in Minnesota and a lot of them are from out of state, so there are a number of videos of them slipping on literal ice to watch to de-stress after the heavy stuff.

But there's plenty of heavy stuff.

Agents are breaking car windows and dragging people out of their vehicles. They're running people off the road and snatching them out of crash sights. They're teargassing us. They shot a man in the leg when he was trying to flee from them. They gassed a car full of children after telling the father they could leave, and the infant stopped breathing (the kids are all okay but 3 of the 6 were hospitalized). They detained 3 members of the Oglala Sioux tribe. Restaurants and businesses are closing because their employees are scared to leave home.

Hell just today I went to get groceries after hyping myself up for two hours and came home with nothing but wet socks and a sore throat because there was an SUV trolling the parking lot waiting for brown people to walk out the doors, and I and the group that formed screamed ourselves hoarse until they were outnumbered and left.

This is not normal.

And all our local government can do is beg us to remain peaceful and not fight back so Trump doesn't have an excuse to use the Insurrection Act, which is what the whole exercise was for in the first place. He's punishing states that voted against him, and he started with us because we're so tired and pissed off that it should have been easy for them to get us to the breaking point.

But there is so much community action going on behind the scenes, and it's not all obvious on social media because ICE is paying people for organizer info. So just know that we're fighting back every way we can. Please donate to local charities, funds, and businesses if you can.

Me: that wringing technique is really clever. I've got to try that with my sheets

Me: WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS IT BLUE?!?

Amazon made their service worse, to force people to pay for Prime.

Nowadays, if you order from Amazon, there is a week long delay before your package is shipped. (on purpose)

I remember when orders would ship out the same day. (I remember - it was real)

YouTube didn't used to have ads. Now, ads play in the middle of videos. (it's worse than TV ever was)

The best can opener I have owned is over 40 years old. Modern ones just don't hold up as well. (The ones I bought new broke ages ago)

The bread machine my mom got for her wedding lasted 30 years. It's been replaced twice in the last 5 years. (How can you fuck this up?)

The cardboard tubes in the middle of toilet paper rolls have gotten larger. (This too?) Companies increasing the price of the product while selling you less. (REALLY?)

It sounds crazy. (it's the truth) When you talk about it, YOU sound crazy. (it's true)

Even when people believe you (do they really), all they can say is "it sucks". (it's too big) Because the problem is so big, so pervasive, what can we even DO about it???

To get the necessary laws written and passed, we need politicians, to get the politicians elected we need information campaigns, to fund campaigns we need money, and all the money is being hoarded by the people profiting from enshittification. (it sounds so fake)

For Jackass: stop hiking your shoulders up to your ears. This is pretty much a stress thing, it’s human instinct to protect our neck when we’re under stress so that predators can’t get at it. Easiest way to do that is be elevating the shoulders, so. Periodically take not of where your shoulders are at.

Absolute Fuckwaffle: stretch out your chest. The rhomboids on the back work to keep our shoulder blades back, so when we’re hunched forward they are constantly straining to do their job. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as telling you to stand up straight, since our pectorals get chronically tight and prevent us from doing so. Step one: pectoral stretches. Hold for at least 20 seconds.

Viscous/vicious – Viscous is generally used to describe the consistency of blood or other thick liquids. Vicious is used to describe something or someone who is violent. 

Piqued/Peaked/Peeked – To pique someone’s interest is to catch or tease their attention. When something peaks, it reaches its total height or intensity. To peek (at) something is to look briefly, or glance. 

Discrete/Discreet – this is a tough one. Discrete means to be separate, or distinct, i.e., two discrete theories. Conversely, when someone is discreet, they are being secretive or cautious to avoid attention. 

Segue/Segway – one is a transition between things, the other is a thing you can ride at the park and definitely fall off of.

Conscious/Conscience/Conscientious – to be conscious is to be awake, i.e., not unconscious, or to be aware of something. Your conscience is the little voice in your head telling you not to eat the entire pint of ice cream. Finally, to be conscientious is to be good, to do things thoroughly, to be ruled by an inner moral code. 

Taunt/Taut - Taunt is a jeer or provocation, taut means to be pulled tight, or not slack

Weary/Wary - weary means tired and wary means cautious

Rogue/Rouge - rogue is a person who has unaffiliated themselves from what they were before (is the general understanding); a person or thing that behaves in an aberrant, faulty, or unpredictable way - rouge is red

Wonton/Wanton - a wonton is a dumpling, wanton is (of a cruel or violent action) deliberate and unprovoked and/or sexually unrestrained

Haphazard/Halfhazard - haphazard means to  have a lack of plan, order, or direction - the other isn’t a word

Corporal/Corporeal - corporal is a lack of plan, order, or direction and corporeal is to have a physical existence: to be tangible: of a person’s body

Peck/Pec - the first is a kiss (peck) and the second is the shortened version of pectoral (pec)

Virile/Viral - to be virile is to have strength, energy, and a strong sex drive (typically said about men) and then this last year (2020) has personally taught us, is how viral a plague can really be, so of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses

Vulnerable/Venerable - vulnerable means being susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm, and if a person is venerable they’re accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character (or if you’re religious, holy)

“oh well my therapist thinks pretending to be the Batman will help me exert some perceived control over my life, because I’ve suffered from an absence of agency ever since my parents were brutally murdered in front of me as a child”

and then the security guard is nodding because hey? that kind of makes sense. But can he do any flips? Like the ones the real Batman does?

Bruce can do one flip. He’s very proud. The security guard claps politely, because, yeah, this kid is definitely fucked up. But he just did a flip!

The security guard asks what kind of therapist prescribed Batman roleplay to deal with his childhood trauma. There’s loud snickering from one rooftop over. Bruce seems to ignore this, so the guard does too.

“My butler is board certified,” he says, and the security guard nods again. That makes sense. He’s heard about all the things butlers do. Rich people really have no concept of the word “overtime.”

Bruce waves him off. Apparently he’s going to keep practicing his flip on another rooftop so he can see the city better.

“I put the cowl on and then I practice my affirmations,” he tells the guard seriously, “I am enough. I am loved. I am vengeance.”

The guard points out that the last one is Batman’s affirmation, actually.

“No, I know that,” Bruce says, then waves, “have a good night!”

The guard’s shift ends a few minutes later, and he goes home and researches LARPing as a form of cognitive behavioral therapy.

He has a whole playlist too:

“How to Save a Life” “Stayin’ Alive” “In My Time of Dying” Any song by Crowbar the band “Live Like You Were Dying” “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” etc

my identity is *mine* and cannot be dictated by others, no matter the complexity

it is okay to never ever want to have sex, to want to hook up 4 times a week, or to have any number of partners (or lack thereof) and as long as it's consensual it is not a blight on your worth/choices

same thing with romantic relationships

you can have a close meaningful incredibly important relationship with someone platonically and you do not have to devalue your friendships just because society sees partners as most important

its okay to be unsure, it's okay to change your mind, it's okay to identify as whatever makes you most comfortable, and you are not evil if you think a label fits you but later find out it doesn't

you deserve to be able to live in financial physical and emotional stability even if you're single, and it's not your fault society is built around the demand that you won't be

you are a whole person on your own who does not require one specific special person to "complete" them otherwise there is something "missing" about you

meanwhile, aphobic people have time and time again said shit like:

witholding sex from a partner is *abusive* and if you don't want it you need to either "tough it out" (that's sexual assault???) or die alone

lacking a romantic or sexual partner is a moral failing that makes you worse, uninreresting, and less of a person

friends are never going to be as important to anyone as their partner and if you don't find a partner you'll never have full security

any closer relationship structure that doesn't fall into fully romantic, sexual monogamy is Lesser and Bad

being unsure or having a "phase" is a blight and wrong and you must always know who you are or you're an evil invader

if your attraction is lacking, YOU are lacking. if you're not actively seeking sex or romance, you're broken, bitter, cold, or mentally ill, and just don't know yourself.