Kate Harding
@kateharding.bsky.social
Author and bookseller in Chicago. Owner of @jarvissquarebooks.bsky.social.
Reposted by Kate Harding
After Careful Thought, I Have Decided That Our Ship Actually Is Being Attacked by the Kraken
For a long time I resisted the idea that the multiple tentacles tearing at the thin wooden planks of our vessel represented some kind of 'sea monster' threat. But when the facts change, I change my mind.
For a long time I resisted the idea that the multiple tentacles tearing at the thin wooden planks of our vessel represented some kind of 'sea monster' threat. But when the facts change, I change my mind.
January 25, 2026 at 7:11 PM
After Careful Thought, I Have Decided That Our Ship Actually Is Being Attacked by the Kraken
For a long time I resisted the idea that the multiple tentacles tearing at the thin wooden planks of our vessel represented some kind of 'sea monster' threat. But when the facts change, I change my mind.
For a long time I resisted the idea that the multiple tentacles tearing at the thin wooden planks of our vessel represented some kind of 'sea monster' threat. But when the facts change, I change my mind.
A friend who's been organizing in her neighborhood since ICE first hit Chicago refers to their group as "Me and my 43 boomer aunts." And they're all incredible.
The majority of organizing happening in Minnesota isn’t just peaceful, it’s INVISIBLE. Moms showing up who won’t be interviewed on TV, people whose ICE patrols don’t turn into viral video. The grocery runs, the donations, the people filming bc they happen to be there. Please remember this.
January 25, 2026 at 9:23 PM
A friend who's been organizing in her neighborhood since ICE first hit Chicago refers to their group as "Me and my 43 boomer aunts." And they're all incredible.
Reposted by Kate Harding
"Those who were violent and those who were not have equal responsibility to be nonviolent" should lead to some pretty obvious conclusions. Unless you're NYT editorial in which case, "both the perpetrators and the victims had a responsibility not to do it but never mind who did it."
This is from the NYT masthead editorial about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The highlighted line invalidates not just the editorial, but the very idea of newspaper editorials crafted by the consensus of a board. Better to publish nothing at all than to publish a line like this.
!["The temperature in Minneapolis is dangerously high. There is an urgent need for the federal agents deployed to the city to step back and take a breath before more Americans are hurt or killed. [Highlighted]: Those protesting the Trump administration have an equal obligation to avoid violence.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:zknk3rjsatent75sdbbopown/bafkreid6g5bmlf3gyxj2egzcy33hkwiaqgrzuoh3yhbpenmvdmvyyobfq4@jpeg)
January 25, 2026 at 8:18 PM
"Those who were violent and those who were not have equal responsibility to be nonviolent" should lead to some pretty obvious conclusions. Unless you're NYT editorial in which case, "both the perpetrators and the victims had a responsibility not to do it but never mind who did it."
Reposted by Kate Harding
Details of each incident here: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Trump's DHS has shot 12 people during immigration enforcement operations since September. Here's what to know.
Federal agents have shot three people in Minneapolis in recent weeks, killing two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Videos contradict the Trump administration's account of their deaths.
www.nbcnews.com
January 25, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Details of each incident here: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Reposted by Kate Harding
The fact that every right winger with influence screams "who is paying for all of this" tells you exactly how awash in cash they all are, and how much they rely on that to keep their movement afloat.
James O'Keefe says he's never seen anything so organized as the anti-ICE movement, observers--he seems to think this term is code--everywhere he goes. Who is paying for it??? he demands to know. It's like he can't even imagine people caring for one another.
January 25, 2026 at 11:06 AM
The fact that every right winger with influence screams "who is paying for all of this" tells you exactly how awash in cash they all are, and how much they rely on that to keep their movement afloat.
Reposted by Kate Harding
Related: supply drive for menstrual products and diapers will continue this week — drop them off at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social
Organized by Our Justice abortion fund, managed by Community Aid Network MN
Throw some pads & diapers into yr cart of groceries and swing by the shop on the way home
Organized by Our Justice abortion fund, managed by Community Aid Network MN
Throw some pads & diapers into yr cart of groceries and swing by the shop on the way home
January 25, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Related: supply drive for menstrual products and diapers will continue this week — drop them off at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social
Organized by Our Justice abortion fund, managed by Community Aid Network MN
Throw some pads & diapers into yr cart of groceries and swing by the shop on the way home
Organized by Our Justice abortion fund, managed by Community Aid Network MN
Throw some pads & diapers into yr cart of groceries and swing by the shop on the way home
Reposted by Kate Harding
I just want to make it clear that it was *Border Patrol* agents who murdered Alex Pretti, and those fuckers murder people regularly here along the border.
Renee Good´s murderer is also a former Border Patrol agent (currently ICE).
Disband ALL the paramilitary groups and prosecute every member.
Renee Good´s murderer is also a former Border Patrol agent (currently ICE).
Disband ALL the paramilitary groups and prosecute every member.
January 25, 2026 at 3:28 AM
I just want to make it clear that it was *Border Patrol* agents who murdered Alex Pretti, and those fuckers murder people regularly here along the border.
Renee Good´s murderer is also a former Border Patrol agent (currently ICE).
Disband ALL the paramilitary groups and prosecute every member.
Renee Good´s murderer is also a former Border Patrol agent (currently ICE).
Disband ALL the paramilitary groups and prosecute every member.
People in the Twin Cities remember that's what Philando Castile did right before he was shot to death, in a car with his girlfriend and a small child inside. Good behavior will not save you from an agent of the state who feels entitled to kill you.
Chip Roy: "As someone who carries a weapon in TX, if I'm in front of law enforcement or if I get stopped, I tell them that. I tell them that I've got a concealed carry permit. I show them my ID. I tell them where the weapon is bc that's what we're supposed to do. That's not what I think I saw here"
January 25, 2026 at 1:34 AM
People in the Twin Cities remember that's what Philando Castile did right before he was shot to death, in a car with his girlfriend and a small child inside. Good behavior will not save you from an agent of the state who feels entitled to kill you.
Reposted by Kate Harding
The fuck did you just say to us
January 25, 2026 at 1:06 AM
The fuck did you just say to us
Reposted by Kate Harding
I'm not a sports person but it feels like we really should be asking European allies to push for a boycott of all sporting events hosted in the US, very much including the World Cup.
And it should be explicitly in response to human rights violations, not just IR horrors.
And it should be explicitly in response to human rights violations, not just IR horrors.
January 25, 2026 at 1:17 AM
I'm not a sports person but it feels like we really should be asking European allies to push for a boycott of all sporting events hosted in the US, very much including the World Cup.
And it should be explicitly in response to human rights violations, not just IR horrors.
And it should be explicitly in response to human rights violations, not just IR horrors.
Reposted by Kate Harding
“ICE > MN” is impeachable by itself.
This is an actual post from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: Praising ICE after Alex Pretti was killed, blaming the Democratic leadership of Minnesota, and writing that ICE is greater/better than Minnesota.
He is actively demeaning the people of Minnesota just hours after Pretti was murdered.
He is actively demeaning the people of Minnesota just hours after Pretti was murdered.
January 24, 2026 at 11:06 PM
“ICE > MN” is impeachable by itself.
Reposted by Kate Harding
but wait, I was assured by some of the dumbest assholes in the history of the world that it can only be fascism if its practitioners can state, in the king's english, their precise rationales for acting as they do, and cite their historical precedents by name and year
"There are many who do not know they are fascists but will find it out when the time comes."
Ernest Hemingway
It really sucks to be living at a time when this quote is relevant.
Ernest Hemingway
It really sucks to be living at a time when this quote is relevant.
January 24, 2026 at 10:25 PM
but wait, I was assured by some of the dumbest assholes in the history of the world that it can only be fascism if its practitioners can state, in the king's english, their precise rationales for acting as they do, and cite their historical precedents by name and year
Reposted by Kate Harding
Demonstration popping off now inside Dilley ICE detention in Texas in response to the news from Minneapolis and the mistreatment of 5 yr old, Liam Ramos.
✊✊✊
80% of the detainees, 1500 people many of them children are chanting and disrupting prison operation.
x.com/EricLeeAtty/...
✊✊✊
80% of the detainees, 1500 people many of them children are chanting and disrupting prison operation.
x.com/EricLeeAtty/...
January 24, 2026 at 10:13 PM
Demonstration popping off now inside Dilley ICE detention in Texas in response to the news from Minneapolis and the mistreatment of 5 yr old, Liam Ramos.
✊✊✊
80% of the detainees, 1500 people many of them children are chanting and disrupting prison operation.
x.com/EricLeeAtty/...
✊✊✊
80% of the detainees, 1500 people many of them children are chanting and disrupting prison operation.
x.com/EricLeeAtty/...
Reposted by Kate Harding
Multiple officials of the US federal government are spending their day rather blatantly obstructing Minnesota law enforcement and covering up a murder.
January 24, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Multiple officials of the US federal government are spending their day rather blatantly obstructing Minnesota law enforcement and covering up a murder.
Reposted by Kate Harding
Democrat leaders should be in Minnesota right now, standing side by side with Walz and Frey and the community.
They need to show solidarity and a united front.
They must say Abolish ICE.
They won't but they should. Trump is going to unleash hell on that state.
They need to show solidarity and a united front.
They must say Abolish ICE.
They won't but they should. Trump is going to unleash hell on that state.
January 24, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Democrat leaders should be in Minnesota right now, standing side by side with Walz and Frey and the community.
They need to show solidarity and a united front.
They must say Abolish ICE.
They won't but they should. Trump is going to unleash hell on that state.
They need to show solidarity and a united front.
They must say Abolish ICE.
They won't but they should. Trump is going to unleash hell on that state.
No way they didn't sign NDAs upon hiring, for exactly this reason.
Where are the resignations from ICE and CBP??? I guarantee you there are at least *some* who know this is wrong but arectaking the path of least resistance (“following orders”). They need to step down and speak up
January 24, 2026 at 9:42 PM
No way they didn't sign NDAs upon hiring, for exactly this reason.
Reposted by Kate Harding
"Access to state voter rolls" gives away the game. Everything they are doing is about trying to pursue the same insane election conspiracy theories that led to the massive SSA data breach. This is about punishing the electorate in a state Trump lost but wants to believe he won.
Fox News: "I've gotten my hands that AG Bondi said she sent to Gov. Tim Walz. It is strongly worded. The AG calls for the governor to support the men and women of ICE, to repeal the state's sanctuary policies, and to allow the DOJ to access state voter rolls."
January 24, 2026 at 8:35 PM
"Access to state voter rolls" gives away the game. Everything they are doing is about trying to pursue the same insane election conspiracy theories that led to the massive SSA data breach. This is about punishing the electorate in a state Trump lost but wants to believe he won.
Reposted by Kate Harding
The regime will lie. That's what fascist regimes do.
It will continue to murder people in different ways. That's also what fascist regimes do.
Regular people will continue to refuse and to not cooperate and to fight back in all of the ways we can.
It will continue to murder people in different ways. That's also what fascist regimes do.
Regular people will continue to refuse and to not cooperate and to fight back in all of the ways we can.
January 24, 2026 at 8:06 PM
The regime will lie. That's what fascist regimes do.
It will continue to murder people in different ways. That's also what fascist regimes do.
Regular people will continue to refuse and to not cooperate and to fight back in all of the ways we can.
It will continue to murder people in different ways. That's also what fascist regimes do.
Regular people will continue to refuse and to not cooperate and to fight back in all of the ways we can.
Reposted by Kate Harding
This is a white supremacist paramilitary operation. Their goal—their stated goal!—is to force America to submit to the President's racist domineering vision for the country.
The sooner everybody starts confronting it on the terms that they themselves have stated, the better.
The sooner everybody starts confronting it on the terms that they themselves have stated, the better.
January 24, 2026 at 6:22 PM
This is a white supremacist paramilitary operation. Their goal—their stated goal!—is to force America to submit to the President's racist domineering vision for the country.
The sooner everybody starts confronting it on the terms that they themselves have stated, the better.
The sooner everybody starts confronting it on the terms that they themselves have stated, the better.
So we'll risk it. What other choice is there?
They are telling us in unequivocal terms that if you show solidarity with immigrants who are in the literal crosshairs of Trump/MAGA, you're risking a death sentence.
newrepublic.com/article/2055...
newrepublic.com/article/2055...
January 24, 2026 at 7:46 PM
So we'll risk it. What other choice is there?
Reposted by Kate Harding
Message to fellow journalists (and anyone claiming to be one): do not “police-involved shooting” executions in broad daylight.
Obfuscating language like that is completely journalistically unnecessary and, even worse, sanitizes reality.
Words have meaning. Use the right ones.
Obfuscating language like that is completely journalistically unnecessary and, even worse, sanitizes reality.
Words have meaning. Use the right ones.
January 24, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Message to fellow journalists (and anyone claiming to be one): do not “police-involved shooting” executions in broad daylight.
Obfuscating language like that is completely journalistically unnecessary and, even worse, sanitizes reality.
Words have meaning. Use the right ones.
Obfuscating language like that is completely journalistically unnecessary and, even worse, sanitizes reality.
Words have meaning. Use the right ones.
Reposted by Kate Harding
Yall outside of MN need to know that observers are STILL out protecting their neighbors. Right now. They know the news and they’re still out there.
January 24, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Yall outside of MN need to know that observers are STILL out protecting their neighbors. Right now. They know the news and they’re still out there.
I keep thinking about all the unarmed Minnesotans (and Mainers, Angelenos, Chicagoans, etc.) who keep running toward the danger in the hopes that they can help somehow. And comparing that to piss baby cops who brag about putting their lives on the line, then shoot anyone who makes them nervous.
January 24, 2026 at 4:22 PM
I keep thinking about all the unarmed Minnesotans (and Mainers, Angelenos, Chicagoans, etc.) who keep running toward the danger in the hopes that they can help somehow. And comparing that to piss baby cops who brag about putting their lives on the line, then shoot anyone who makes them nervous.
Reposted by Kate Harding
7 democrats in the house voted for this, leadership told them to do it to provide cover for the rest of the party
Nearly half a dozen agents wrestling one individual to the ground and then one of them just starts shooting in the dog pile, steps back and unloads on the guy on the street.
January 24, 2026 at 3:57 PM
7 democrats in the house voted for this, leadership told them to do it to provide cover for the rest of the party
Reposted by Kate Harding
the biggest No Kings march in Denver (with a metro population ~80% of Minneapolis’) was ~25-30K people, on a partly sunny 60° day
Today, Minneapolis maybe doubled that, in subzero temps
I’ve always deeply believed that it matters to show up in the streets so this is math that feels like hope to me
Today, Minneapolis maybe doubled that, in subzero temps
I’ve always deeply believed that it matters to show up in the streets so this is math that feels like hope to me
I was marshaling for most of the time at the corner of 4th and 4th (street and avenue). I tried to estimate how many people were walking past. My ballpark was 300-500 people a minute. I was in that spot for two hours. That’s 35,000-60,000, not counting however many didn’t pass that intersection.
There were an estimated 50,000 people marching in the streets to support an economic shutdown, in temperatures so cold your tears freeze to your face and exposed skin is in danger of frostbite. That was preceded by pickets, civil disobedience, and arrests.
January 24, 2026 at 4:28 AM
the biggest No Kings march in Denver (with a metro population ~80% of Minneapolis’) was ~25-30K people, on a partly sunny 60° day
Today, Minneapolis maybe doubled that, in subzero temps
I’ve always deeply believed that it matters to show up in the streets so this is math that feels like hope to me
Today, Minneapolis maybe doubled that, in subzero temps
I’ve always deeply believed that it matters to show up in the streets so this is math that feels like hope to me