Mitch Wagner

“It is the misfortune of Minnesota’s ICE contingent to have invaded the state with the second-highest levels of social trust, trailing only Utah…. stop spreading despair and nihilism. stop buying into the idea that nonviolent activism is useless, rather than (by far) the most effective form of protest…. “

Mecha Comet is a handheld, modular computer that runs Linux. It looks sweet, and it tempts even my Apple-pilled heart.

Word of the day: “Yegg.” A safecracker or tramp and thief.

Word of the day: “fantods.” “A state of irritability and tension.”

I’m making travel plans for conferences in the first half of the year. Visiting the press page for the DTW Ignite conference in Copenhagen in June, I saw this banner photo at the top. I’m second from right.

A friend and former colleague mentioned Xenix this morning.

I got a PR pitch for an article on integrating cannabis into healthcare. I am tempted to respond, “We are a telco pub. Why would you think this pitch is relevant to us? Are you high or something?” Cheap, obvious joke.

Federal agents continue to rain terror on Minneapolis, Minnesota, and other U.S. cities including Portland and Lewiston, Maine. That violence has made it crystal clear that the goal of attacking immigrants is not simply to create a white nation; it is also to terrorize Americans into accepting the domination of MAGA Republicans.

— Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From an American, January 28, 2026 (Wednesday)

This powerful and disturbing Lincoln Project video is a lesson in truth-telling. “We’ve lost two American citizens, but if we don’t stop Trump and MAGA in 2026, we’ll lose more than innocent lives; we’ll lose America.”

Democrats, do this.

Bell is mobilizing ‘sovereign digital spine’ for Canadian AI. Bell Canada is investing strategically to position itself as a full-stack AI provider amid escalating U.S.-Canada tensions. My latest on Fierce Network.

“I have been actively involved in protest movements for 24 years. I have never seen anything approaching this scale. Minneapolis is not accepting what’s happening here. ICE fucking murdered a woman for participating in this, and all that did is bring out more people from more walks of life."

Gun Rights Activists Briefly Pause MAGA Cheerleading To Half-Assedly Defend Rights Of Murdered Minnesotan. “They don’t honestly care how many people are killed by law enforcement officers. The only thing they care about is being able to open carry while shopping at Walmart or invading federal buildings to overturn elections. Everyone to the perceived left of their core membership can continue to get fucked.”

The nation’s founders worried that if the state had a monopoly on weapons, its citizens could be oppressed. Their answer was the Second Amendment. Now that our phones are the primary weapons of today’s information war, we should be as zealous about our right to bear phones as we are about our right to bear arms. To adopt the language of Second Amendment enthusiasts, perhaps the only thing that can eventually stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a camera.

— Julia Angwin

Want to Reach Nirvana? Try a Colonoscopy. “It turns out that despite everything you’ve heard, getting a colonoscopy is wonderful.” No. No, it’s not.

Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, Now a Rich Man, Receives a Letter from His HOA. McSweeney’s: “Your contract allows for a modest structure in the prevailing style of the neighborhood. It does not allow for a big tall house with rooms by the dozen.”

This just keeps getting better and better.