Why is Chicago a GREAT town for comics creators? Concordia University (IL) student reporter Eric Perry asked me and (separately) Jazz musician Joe Clark, who’s done some comics writing on the side. A great tribute to our community in this time of travail.

spectator.cuchicago.edu/7046/showcas...

So I dug deeper into why, with input from @haileypiperfights.bsky.social @thelincoln.bsky.social @bbolander.bsky.social

Big big gratitude to them for sharing their awesome insights.

undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io/why-do-we-st...

The notional stock price of my beloved National Guard continues to drop this week.

When the "Fox News-style" briefing videos they produce for Trump--since he won't read--become public, historians'll see all the fake shit Stephen Miller included. Trump literally thinks gangs have Arial "MS-13" captions with their tattoos. He'd probably deploy troops to Bikini Bottom if he saw this:

As a reminder, when Jack Posobiec was in the US Navy, they assessed his full capabilities and concluded that he was best suited to collecting samples for urinalysis

I’ve been circling a cursed thought for a while and it’s time to let it out: These guys are Disney Adults for fascism.

17 guardsmen died in what basically amounted to a private security service for rich West/South Texas patrons and he can still be re-elected until the heat death of the universe at this rate.

Not to be outdone, the secretary of housing and urban development will dress up like an apartment building.

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

Folks, if ICE shot a pastor in the head with a pepper ball on camera, what do you think they do to people behind closed doors?

"Veterans Lit" grows like a spider web, creeping into new genres & publishing opportunities ...

Follow a few veteran-owned & mil-friendly publishers:
- @tundraswanpress.bsky.social
- @cronegirlspress.bsky.social
- @middlewestpress.bsky.social
- @hogwashwriting.bsky.social

A STILT-MAN ZINE exists in the world?! "Things are really looking up!!!"

For those of us in higher education this company has snaked its way into our institutions—and this is the kind of care and thought they put into the risks of their products.
Do you imagine our students are safe with these people?

WE'RE 30% FUNDED!! 🎉🎉🎉 Apex will be open to nonfiction pitches FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! ✨

Want to unlock the next chapter of Apex? Please consider backing our Kickstarter and help us keep publishing the strange, surreal, shocking, beautiful stories you love!

www.kickstarter.com/.../apexpu.....

Highly recommended short, potentially applicable to PTSD warriors. A new fave!

It's banned books week and so I'm legally obligated to bully you, a person who has ever had their name on a book, into joining @authorsabb.bsky.social.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

We fight the source of book bans with calls to action, partnership w everyone in the game, and offer training.

My poem “Shapeshifters Local” has been published in the Autumn 2025 issue of @kaleidotrope.bsky.social, alongside what looks to be an amazing TOC. Read my poem here: kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...

*marc rebillet alarm song*

Open Call: Radon Journal February 2026 Issue ( @radonjournal.bsky.social‬ )
horrortree.com/taking-submi...
Due: Dec 31
Pay: Fiction: 2¢/word, Poetry: $20. Art: $110/cover, $50/back cover, & $20 for website art
Theme: Stories & poetry containing elements of scifi/anarchism/transhumanism/dystopia

20 years after Serenity, @thenerdypriest.bsky.social wrestles with a core premise of science fiction stories. When the world is at stake, is "getting out the truth" really enough?

reactormag.com/serenity-and...

Part of an on-going personal project to constructively complicate people's understandings of what it means to live and die in the Middle West!

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

I'll admit that for my entire life as a Canadian I have been a little unsure of what exactly Americans mean when they say "Midwest", so this is helpful. From now on I'll think of it as "from the middle to the east." (We don't have a leg to stand on, given where we put "Central Canada.")

If I Ran the Media™
Fewer stories on:
—How Dems Need to Change Their Messaging
—How [event xx] Will Play w [voter bloc YY]
—How 2028 Field Is Shaping Up

More of:
—Which points of resistance are actually working
—What specifically GOP Reps/Sens are so afraid of
—Real-world tariff/immig effects
—ETC