Tara E. Jenson
@tejenson.bsky.social
Compassionate nihilist & gender traitor | Queer AF 🏳️🌈 | Postdoc @ BUSPH | Located in Mpls | Occasionally actual environmental epidemiology content (dementia/Alz) but mostly jaded cynicism & swears | she/they
Pinned
Tara E. Jenson
@tejenson.bsky.social
· Jan 20
“I am, as you say, relentlessly cheerful because it’s the best fuck you I can think of to this terrible world.” - Senior Chief Petty Officer Jenks Khan, from “And the Mighty Will Fall”
Thank you @kbwagers.com for another joyful read, and the perfect encapsulation of feels I’m holding close today❤️
Thank you @kbwagers.com for another joyful read, and the perfect encapsulation of feels I’m holding close today❤️
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
February 10, 2026 at 8:18 PM
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
wait you're in town??? You're not usually here are you??
February 10, 2026 at 8:57 PM
wait you're in town??? You're not usually here are you??
China Mieville's The City & The City: 2 cities in same geography: "A denizen of one city must dutifully "unsee"...denizens, buildings, events in the other city."
MN as a whole feels like this right now - especially wrt outstaters like my parents who pretend/behave as tho this siege does not exist.
MN as a whole feels like this right now - especially wrt outstaters like my parents who pretend/behave as tho this siege does not exist.
Living in Minnesota right now feels like being in the emergency room. Literally everyone is suffering in different ways, even if it's "just" a badly twisted ankle rather than a kidney stone or a full-on heart attack. The staff are working as hard as they can but energy and resources are dwindling.
February 10, 2026 at 8:48 PM
China Mieville's The City & The City: 2 cities in same geography: "A denizen of one city must dutifully "unsee"...denizens, buildings, events in the other city."
MN as a whole feels like this right now - especially wrt outstaters like my parents who pretend/behave as tho this siege does not exist.
MN as a whole feels like this right now - especially wrt outstaters like my parents who pretend/behave as tho this siege does not exist.
They continue to pull, collect and use DMV data to track legal observers who are driving in our own neighborhoods breaking no laws, and to show us (and often tell us) they know who we are and where we live.
February 10, 2026 at 8:07 PM
They continue to pull, collect and use DMV data to track legal observers who are driving in our own neighborhoods breaking no laws, and to show us (and often tell us) they know who we are and where we live.
Nope - nothing has changed/de-escalated here. Sunday I was out observing ICE with others in my neighborhood and witnessed ICE (as per one of their usual intimidation tactics) lead us right up to and stop in front of the house where one of us in the group lives.
Q: Is Tom Homan easing the situation in MN?
Lyon: "We’ve seen a deescalation in the fact that the protests ... have subsided and ICE has been allowed to do their targeted intelligence-driven enforcement operations."
This is false. I talk to MN folks every day who say NOTHING has changed.
Lyon: "We’ve seen a deescalation in the fact that the protests ... have subsided and ICE has been allowed to do their targeted intelligence-driven enforcement operations."
This is false. I talk to MN folks every day who say NOTHING has changed.
February 10, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Nope - nothing has changed/de-escalated here. Sunday I was out observing ICE with others in my neighborhood and witnessed ICE (as per one of their usual intimidation tactics) lead us right up to and stop in front of the house where one of us in the group lives.
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
Living in Minnesota right now feels like being in the emergency room. Literally everyone is suffering in different ways, even if it's "just" a badly twisted ankle rather than a kidney stone or a full-on heart attack. The staff are working as hard as they can but energy and resources are dwindling.
February 10, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Living in Minnesota right now feels like being in the emergency room. Literally everyone is suffering in different ways, even if it's "just" a badly twisted ankle rather than a kidney stone or a full-on heart attack. The staff are working as hard as they can but energy and resources are dwindling.
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
Walking up to an open restaurant and pulling on the door before realizing it’s locked and you need to wait for someone to let you in. Pretty common experience the last 2 months around the metro.
Minneapolis, February 2026
Minneapolis, February 2026
February 10, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Walking up to an open restaurant and pulling on the door before realizing it’s locked and you need to wait for someone to let you in. Pretty common experience the last 2 months around the metro.
Minneapolis, February 2026
Minneapolis, February 2026
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
Bad Bunny did his homework.
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu
February 9, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Bad Bunny did his homework.
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.
February 9, 2026 at 11:56 PM
If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.
It was soooo ridiculous watching the opening ceremonies and the constant barrage of "YAY PEACE, WE LOVE PEACE, SPORT IS PEACE" but then the smallest expression by athlete or team of "hey just wanna mention we're getting war-crimed literally right now" is met with "HOW DARE YOU BE POLITCAL" by IOC
February 9, 2026 at 8:17 PM
It was soooo ridiculous watching the opening ceremonies and the constant barrage of "YAY PEACE, WE LOVE PEACE, SPORT IS PEACE" but then the smallest expression by athlete or team of "hey just wanna mention we're getting war-crimed literally right now" is met with "HOW DARE YOU BE POLITCAL" by IOC
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
this is my heated rivalry 👀🥵🏈🇵🇷🔥
February 9, 2026 at 3:06 AM
this is my heated rivalry 👀🥵🏈🇵🇷🔥
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
#BadBunny's performers continued to dance and party outside the stadium after the #SuperBowl #HalftimeShow
February 9, 2026 at 1:58 AM
#BadBunny's performers continued to dance and party outside the stadium after the #SuperBowl #HalftimeShow
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
The children see you, Ring
That Ring “search party” ad was unsubtle enough that even my 10yo watched it and was like “are they gonna use this for ICE?”
February 9, 2026 at 3:56 AM
The children see you, Ring
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
The vibe of the Halftime Show
February 9, 2026 at 1:40 AM
The vibe of the Halftime Show
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
"In Minnesota, a community is coming together to push back against ICE and support their neighbors. It should surprise no one that much of this work is being led by women. Glamour reports from the front lines."
www.glamour.com/story/the-wo... @glamour.com
www.glamour.com/story/the-wo... @glamour.com
The Women Holding Minneapolis Together
In Minnesota, a community is coming together to push back against ICE and support their neighbors. It should surprise no one that much of this work is being led by women. Glamour reports from the fron...
www.glamour.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:13 PM
"In Minnesota, a community is coming together to push back against ICE and support their neighbors. It should surprise no one that much of this work is being led by women. Glamour reports from the front lines."
www.glamour.com/story/the-wo... @glamour.com
www.glamour.com/story/the-wo... @glamour.com
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
I've met men who literally told me they didn't know how to talk to me once they found out I wasn't single
Didn't
Know
How
To
Talk
To me
Asshole, just say words! *tears own head off and throws it at him*
Didn't
Know
How
To
Talk
To me
Asshole, just say words! *tears own head off and throws it at him*
the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex
February 5, 2026 at 5:49 PM
I've met men who literally told me they didn't know how to talk to me once they found out I wasn't single
Didn't
Know
How
To
Talk
To me
Asshole, just say words! *tears own head off and throws it at him*
Didn't
Know
How
To
Talk
To me
Asshole, just say words! *tears own head off and throws it at him*
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
video sent to me from the hennepin county government center this morning of hennepin county sheriff deputies standing by as plainclothes federal agents detain two people
agents have been hanging out in the lobby for days now
agents have been hanging out in the lobby for days now
February 5, 2026 at 4:15 PM
video sent to me from the hennepin county government center this morning of hennepin county sheriff deputies standing by as plainclothes federal agents detain two people
agents have been hanging out in the lobby for days now
agents have been hanging out in the lobby for days now
same - the view, any view, whatever the view - never gets old!
February 5, 2026 at 1:55 PM
same - the view, any view, whatever the view - never gets old!
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
There is no way to really separate these two parts of the Minnesota occupation (the ethnic cleansing and the ideological terror). Both of these two things are central to how ICE operates, so we’re going to see Homan saying how ICE is normalizing to make everyone forget about the ideological terror.
Something I've been trying to impart on people is that the ICE occupation in Minnesota is both an ethnic cleansing and an ideological terror campaign. It's clear that the second part has utterly failed; the community is not terrified. But ICE is now desperately trying to salvage the first part.
February 5, 2026 at 1:38 PM
There is no way to really separate these two parts of the Minnesota occupation (the ethnic cleansing and the ideological terror). Both of these two things are central to how ICE operates, so we’re going to see Homan saying how ICE is normalizing to make everyone forget about the ideological terror.
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
Goddamn
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Goddamn
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
February 5, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
A bizarre number of people have stepped up to defend Julie Le. What you see in that transcript is an attorney who chose to do evil work—deporting people for ICE then moving over to DOJ in early Jan. specifically to fight these habeas petitions—being called to the carpet. She's desperate, not heroic.
If you want to read the transcript of the February 3 hearing where Julie Le had her "this job sucks" meltdown, now you can:
drive.google.com/file/d/1FnY2...
drive.google.com/file/d/1FnY2...
This is unreal. An AUSA talking like that in open court is about as close as you can come to a total breakdown. Never heard of anything like it.
February 5, 2026 at 12:10 AM
A bizarre number of people have stepped up to defend Julie Le. What you see in that transcript is an attorney who chose to do evil work—deporting people for ICE then moving over to DOJ in early Jan. specifically to fight these habeas petitions—being called to the carpet. She's desperate, not heroic.
Reposted by Tara E. Jenson
The Wayback is now so load-bearing we should be protecting it with our actual lives
They closed the CIA World Factbook and deleted it entirely.
February 5, 2026 at 12:07 AM
The Wayback is now so load-bearing we should be protecting it with our actual lives
Slow news day or something as BBC reported today (paraphrased): "Giant planet Jupiter has a diameter that is actually 24 km shorter than originally estimated." My brother in christ that is like saying rather than 5ft 8in tall as I've always claimed to be that well actually I'm 5ft 7.98 in tall.
A bit of #Jupiter (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / John Downing)
February 5, 2026 at 4:44 AM
Slow news day or something as BBC reported today (paraphrased): "Giant planet Jupiter has a diameter that is actually 24 km shorter than originally estimated." My brother in christ that is like saying rather than 5ft 8in tall as I've always claimed to be that well actually I'm 5ft 7.98 in tall.