Andy Karlson
@andykarlson.bsky.social
Husband, father of 3, UU minister, hospital chaplain, dedicated amateur film photographer (unless otherwise noted, photos taken with my Google Pixel 7 Pro), opinions my own.
"I am at home with the me. I am rooted in the me who is on this adventure."
"I am at home with the me. I am rooted in the me who is on this adventure."
Pinned
Andy Karlson
@andykarlson.bsky.social
· Nov 13
Well, here we all are. I'm a dad of three, a hospital chaplain semi-reluctantly ascended to management, a film photographer, a board game fan, a reader, and a pizza topping maximalist.
My interests tend to run broad, and in this next political epoch I'm trying to keep my focus local and joyful.
My interests tend to run broad, and in this next political epoch I'm trying to keep my focus local and joyful.
Reposted by Andy Karlson
250 years ago today, Thomas Paine published his greatly influential Common Sense, which helped catalyze the American Revolution.
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
January 10, 2026 at 3:17 PM
250 years ago today, Thomas Paine published his greatly influential Common Sense, which helped catalyze the American Revolution.
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
Reposted by Andy Karlson
The elephant in the room is that mayors and governors across the country have very good reason to question the loyalty and allegiances of the state and local police forces and that’s one of the impediments to doing anything about the current occupations
January 10, 2026 at 1:28 PM
The elephant in the room is that mayors and governors across the country have very good reason to question the loyalty and allegiances of the state and local police forces and that’s one of the impediments to doing anything about the current occupations
It's not a huge crowd right now at the Capitol but we're here. And the Forward! Marching Band has deployed the battle sousaphones!
January 10, 2026 at 6:18 PM
It's not a huge crowd right now at the Capitol but we're here. And the Forward! Marching Band has deployed the battle sousaphones!
Reposted by Andy Karlson
a friend shared a new patch on facebook
January 10, 2026 at 4:45 PM
a friend shared a new patch on facebook
Reposted by Andy Karlson
yes! a good number of MAHA-approved products are just repurposed waste from beef production
i'm not saying this as anyone who knows anything about health; i'm saying it as someone who is an alleged expert in interest group politics: the American beef industry is all over MAHA, wellness, and podcast spaces.
remember "bacon mania?" totally a marketing strategy by the pork industry.
remember "bacon mania?" totally a marketing strategy by the pork industry.
New federal dietary guidelines give federal approval to beef tallow, a fat that both cardiologists and the U.S. government told Americans to avoid for nearly half a century.
January 10, 2026 at 4:57 PM
yes! a good number of MAHA-approved products are just repurposed waste from beef production
Reposted by Andy Karlson
This is for the base in red states
💩✈️ HEADS UP MINNESOTA‼️
⚠️ JD Vance has arrived to MSP
10:42am CST Saturday 10 Jan 26
⚠️ JD Vance has arrived to MSP
10:42am CST Saturday 10 Jan 26
January 10, 2026 at 5:00 PM
This is for the base in red states
Reposted by Andy Karlson
This thread reminds me of one of my regular rants:
I keep seeing researchers trying to make robot/AI "companions" to provide company or emotional support to disabled people.
I DON'T WANT A ROBOT TO BE MY FRIEND, I WANT IT TO CARRY MY SHIT FOR ME AND BECOME A SEAT WHEN I NEED TO SIT DOWN! 🤦♀️
I keep seeing researchers trying to make robot/AI "companions" to provide company or emotional support to disabled people.
I DON'T WANT A ROBOT TO BE MY FRIEND, I WANT IT TO CARRY MY SHIT FOR ME AND BECOME A SEAT WHEN I NEED TO SIT DOWN! 🤦♀️
There are absolutely zero useful, functional robots here. there is one that can "wave to people at a museum" and "talk to you" (in extremely narrow situations) and there are industrial ones I guess but there is no "robot revolution" and to report otherwise is misleading to the general public.
January 10, 2026 at 3:34 PM
This thread reminds me of one of my regular rants:
I keep seeing researchers trying to make robot/AI "companions" to provide company or emotional support to disabled people.
I DON'T WANT A ROBOT TO BE MY FRIEND, I WANT IT TO CARRY MY SHIT FOR ME AND BECOME A SEAT WHEN I NEED TO SIT DOWN! 🤦♀️
I keep seeing researchers trying to make robot/AI "companions" to provide company or emotional support to disabled people.
I DON'T WANT A ROBOT TO BE MY FRIEND, I WANT IT TO CARRY MY SHIT FOR ME AND BECOME A SEAT WHEN I NEED TO SIT DOWN! 🤦♀️
I reported this skeet and account for inciting violence.
Listen, we can be angry and feel like peaceful options for change are running out, but what we're NOT going to do is post legally actionable shit in a public forum.
Listen, we can be angry and feel like peaceful options for change are running out, but what we're NOT going to do is post legally actionable shit in a public forum.
January 10, 2026 at 4:51 PM
I reported this skeet and account for inciting violence.
Listen, we can be angry and feel like peaceful options for change are running out, but what we're NOT going to do is post legally actionable shit in a public forum.
Listen, we can be angry and feel like peaceful options for change are running out, but what we're NOT going to do is post legally actionable shit in a public forum.
Reposted by Andy Karlson
How bad is it out there? Well, here's my bishop-equivalent, who is not normally given to pushing his luck politically:
January 10, 2026 at 2:57 PM
How bad is it out there? Well, here's my bishop-equivalent, who is not normally given to pushing his luck politically:
Reposted by Andy Karlson
This is why the US has not, at all, acknowledged covid as a mass death event, and part of why it refuses to acknowledge it is also an ongoing mass disabling event (with millions more grieving for the futures it made impossible to them)
THE OPEN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GRIEF IS A POLITICAL ACT.
One of the things that genuinely shocked me as I read through surveillance logs for the police is how much of their energy and attention is dedicated to shutting down vigils and other ceremonies of remembrance.
January 10, 2026 at 5:03 AM
This is why the US has not, at all, acknowledged covid as a mass death event, and part of why it refuses to acknowledge it is also an ongoing mass disabling event (with millions more grieving for the futures it made impossible to them)
Reposted by Andy Karlson
Here's the map after 24 hours of launch. Find your event or get one up here: www.mobilize.us/map/?tag_ids...
January 10, 2026 at 4:11 AM
Here's the map after 24 hours of launch. Find your event or get one up here: www.mobilize.us/map/?tag_ids...
One thing I'm noticing about the 🐋 feed is that I'm only getting ~60% of the skeets. When I search "🐋" each day I see dozens of posts and replies that didn't show up in the feed for me.
Anyone else having this issue?
Anyone else having this issue?
January 10, 2026 at 5:29 AM
One thing I'm noticing about the 🐋 feed is that I'm only getting ~60% of the skeets. When I search "🐋" each day I see dozens of posts and replies that didn't show up in the feed for me.
Anyone else having this issue?
Anyone else having this issue?
Reposted by Andy Karlson
Luis Beltrán Yanez Cruz, 68, died in ICE custody on Tuesday after being held at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. Originally from Honduras, he had lived in the United States for more than three decades.
January 10, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Luis Beltrán Yanez Cruz, 68, died in ICE custody on Tuesday after being held at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. Originally from Honduras, he had lived in the United States for more than three decades.
I'm every inch a landlubber, but I love taking tours of boats. Love the USS Hornet, on Alameda Island, and the ships at Hyde Pier.
But hands down my favorite are the lake boats you can tour at some Great Lakes port cities. This table could be set at the William G Mather, in Cleveland.
(p. 152) 🐋
But hands down my favorite are the lake boats you can tour at some Great Lakes port cities. This table could be set at the William G Mather, in Cleveland.
(p. 152) 🐋
January 10, 2026 at 4:14 AM
I'm every inch a landlubber, but I love taking tours of boats. Love the USS Hornet, on Alameda Island, and the ships at Hyde Pier.
But hands down my favorite are the lake boats you can tour at some Great Lakes port cities. This table could be set at the William G Mather, in Cleveland.
(p. 152) 🐋
But hands down my favorite are the lake boats you can tour at some Great Lakes port cities. This table could be set at the William G Mather, in Cleveland.
(p. 152) 🐋
And that's it for Cetology! "God keep me from ever completing anything," indeed.
You can tell from the illustration that Moser was as baffled as anyone by whatever the hell Ishmael was trying to say about dolphins.
🐋
You can tell from the illustration that Moser was as baffled as anyone by whatever the hell Ishmael was trying to say about dolphins.
🐋
January 10, 2026 at 3:57 AM
And that's it for Cetology! "God keep me from ever completing anything," indeed.
You can tell from the illustration that Moser was as baffled as anyone by whatever the hell Ishmael was trying to say about dolphins.
🐋
You can tell from the illustration that Moser was as baffled as anyone by whatever the hell Ishmael was trying to say about dolphins.
🐋
Cetology! "Everlasting Mephistophelean grin" is an absolutely bonkers way to describe a whale.
🐋
🐋
January 10, 2026 at 3:48 AM
Cetology! "Everlasting Mephistophelean grin" is an absolutely bonkers way to describe a whale.
🐋
🐋
Cetology! Lord, it is a relief to shift attention tonight away from the fascism in order to read made-up shit about whales.
Others have said it better than I, but Ishmael just declaring that whales are fish is an incredible bit.
🐋
Others have said it better than I, but Ishmael just declaring that whales are fish is an incredible bit.
🐋
January 10, 2026 at 3:37 AM
Cetology! Lord, it is a relief to shift attention tonight away from the fascism in order to read made-up shit about whales.
Others have said it better than I, but Ishmael just declaring that whales are fish is an incredible bit.
🐋
Others have said it better than I, but Ishmael just declaring that whales are fish is an incredible bit.
🐋
Reposted by Andy Karlson
Come out, free earplugs.
January 10, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Come out, free earplugs.
This is fucked.
NEW: These are ICE agents removing evidence from the shooter's home. They are not DOJ, they are Jonathan Ross's friends and coworkers, not DOJ.
This agent removing Ross's personal computer was reported yesterday Jan 9 for boxing in a volunteer and telling them "I'll dedicate my next arrest to you"
This agent removing Ross's personal computer was reported yesterday Jan 9 for boxing in a volunteer and telling them "I'll dedicate my next arrest to you"
January 10, 2026 at 2:12 AM
This is fucked.
Reposted by Andy Karlson
I’m a right to roam guy in general but beaches are so obviously a public right of way
Who has the right to walk along Lake Michigan’s shoreline? A Wisconsin man is challenging a trespassing citation in hopes of pushing courts to reconsider how shoreline access works in this state.
Read the story here:
wisconsinwatch.org/2026/01/wisc...
By Dan Egan for Wisconsin Watch
Read the story here:
wisconsinwatch.org/2026/01/wisc...
By Dan Egan for Wisconsin Watch
January 9, 2026 at 6:10 PM
I’m a right to roam guy in general but beaches are so obviously a public right of way
Mayor Pete, you win first prize in today's Wildly Missing the Damn Point competition.
@petebuttigieg.bsky.social: "We have an ICE agent who should have been trained not to be in front of a vehicle and never to shoot into a moving vehicle, and yet this happened on [Kristi Noem's] watch. The whole POINT of Homeland Security is to make this country more stable and safe."
January 10, 2026 at 1:47 AM
Mayor Pete, you win first prize in today's Wildly Missing the Damn Point competition.
Reposted by Andy Karlson
I was just at a vigil in Madison WI for Renee Good and all others harmed and terrorized by ICE and fascism. We are pissed and our resolve is unshakable.
January 10, 2026 at 12:39 AM
I was just at a vigil in Madison WI for Renee Good and all others harmed and terrorized by ICE and fascism. We are pissed and our resolve is unshakable.
Consensus is that the fish of light is from his flashlight, so enjoy these bastards eating shit without worry about stray bullets.
Welcome to Minnesota, fuckers. Also this is super disturbing because the ICE agent's assault rifle appears to fire as he falls down.
This was filmed by a friend near Chicago and Lake last night.
This was filmed by a friend near Chicago and Lake last night.
January 10, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Consensus is that the fish of light is from his flashlight, so enjoy these bastards eating shit without worry about stray bullets.
I wonder if Jonathon Ross realizes he's being hung out to dry, that Noem and Trump et al would be thrilled if someone decided to take justice into their own hands?
January 9, 2026 at 11:33 PM
I wonder if Jonathon Ross realizes he's being hung out to dry, that Noem and Trump et al would be thrilled if someone decided to take justice into their own hands?
Every Democrat Talk Like Ken Martin 2026 Challenge
You lying piece of shit. I chaired the Minnesota DFL for all three of your runs here. I watched you lose. Three times. Minnesota never bought your con. And now, as Chair of the DNC, I’m looking forward to ending Trumpism for good in 2028 — not with lies, but with votes. Again.
Trump: "I feel I won Minnesota. I think I won it all three times. Nobody has won it since Richard Nixon won it many many years ago. I won it all three times in my opinion. It's a corrupt state ... I did so well in that state. The people were crying every time after."
January 9, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Every Democrat Talk Like Ken Martin 2026 Challenge