Gabriel Liston
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lastwater.net
Gabriel Liston
@lastwater.net
1.2K followers 850 following 2.7K posts
Drawer, painter, illustrator, whistler
Images of water history and domestic life
he/himmish
lastwater.net
banner: oil painting of pink sky over Umatilla lands
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lastwater.net
Gabriel Liston @lastwater.net · Jan 24
Re-introduction: I am Gabriel Liston, painter.
Everything starts in a notebook, as a cartoon.
I was the twink in art school carrying the preschooler, a hunting knife, ibuprofen.
Now the old man scribbling in a library book.
Work for hire, work for sale. Happy to listen.
Lastwater.net
oil painting of an aspen tree meadow in autumn. There is a tiny apple tree in the foreground, a young woman with pink hair and overalls in the mid-ground, and a bit of an A-frame beyond the trees. The light is bright, the grass and clouds are tall.
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
nbedera.bsky.social
This is a whole thing right now.

Lots of people with power and privilege using the oppressed as a shield to justify their inaction—when the oppressed are actually already very much in the fight and need solidarity and support to strengthen their actions.
matthewborus.bsky.social Matthew Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 46m
One thing that strikes me here is that it has indeed been “lower-level” regular folks who have the most willingness to stand up to ICE

We can debate who *should* bear the burden of opposition. Or we can look at who is already doing so right now, and ask how to support and protect them.
charlottegarden.bsky.social Charlotte Garden @charlottegarden.bsky.social · 1h
The general theme of this commentary is "stop asking MN companies to ban ICE from their properties." The argument is that enforcing the ban would fall to individual low-paid employees, who would be placed in danger.

tcbmag.com/should-busin...
January 17, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
sammgreer.bsky.social
Makes me feel insane to live in a world that's persecuting trans folk while simultaneously doing big billboards advertising gender affirming care to cis people???
A London Underground advertisement for testosterone for men
January 17, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
clairewillett.bsky.social
ATTENTION GRANTWRITING FOLKS

my friends at the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition are in search of a volunteer grant writer; the person who had been doing it just stepped down from the board. I can't take it on myself, but I can mentor/coach/handhold for anyone who is interested and available
January 17, 2026 at 5:42 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
trungles.com
Abolish ICE. A little journal comic from South Minneapolis.

#iceoutmpls #iceoutcomics #iceoutofmpls
Just before Christmas, I got a puppy. Her name is Minerva, and we call her *Minnie. I'm still learning how to understand her. Me: Do you need to go outside? Do you need to go outside, little baby? Do you need to do a poo? Do you need to do a widdle piddle? Minnie: Arf! *I just call her "little baby" most of the time. I'm also realizing I can't turn off the baby talk now. Nobody tells you about that. I got so lucky with my first puppy. Her wonderful foster parents had her completely house-trained by the time we adopted her, so taking her outside for potty time has been pretty easy. I've got the puppy poopy routine pretty much down, now. Me, putting on my coat: Let's see... I got the little poopy bags, puppy treats for bribes, jacket, scarf, phone… I think that's everything… Oh yes! And my passport. I had been carrying around my passport for a while, but I knew it didn't matter. This is wrong. Nobody is required to carry around their papers. I became a US citizen when I was seven. Since I was born in a refugee camp, I was stateless. The US is the only nation where I've ever held citizenship. It's the only passport I've ever had, and it still felt important. Protective. I would hold it in my pocket like a talisman, like it might ward off ghosts or something. But I realized I was holding onto it basically out of superstition. ICE will pick up anybody. I know that. So I tucked my passport away. And I largely avoid leaving my house. I live a few blocks just South of George Floyd Square. I was in the neighborhood for that, too. And all the neighbors came together to protect each other. We're already organized. We'll do our best to get through this. Me, to my dog: I hope I can take you for a walk someday soon. Won't that be nice, little baby?
January 16, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
bluedelliquanti.bsky.social
Five minutes, twenty degrees, a dozen people. #IceOutComics #IceOutMpls
January 16, 1 pm, Richfield (just south of the Minneapolis border) fweet fweet honk honk HOOOOONK "Oh, jeez." A van with tinted windows pulls into the parking lot of the strip mall, with a few cars on its tail. This intersection's full of potential targets, even with all the locked foors and closures. Cafe, restaurant (closed), grocery store, school (went virtual this week). This isn't a crisis that ends at 60th Street. But the observers show up here, too. To my knowledge, the van drives off after five minutes without taking anyone.
January 17, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
emmahouxbois.bsky.social
hello friends, i wrote about how a canon rebel eos 40d came into my life, what i think it means to be a millennial with one foot in the analog world and one in the digital, and why generative ai in film is best understood as a prion disease www.patreon.com/posts/for-th...
For Those With Eyes To See | Veronique Emma Houxbois: Cartoonist
Get more from Veronique Emma Houxbois: Cartoonist on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
lizneeley.bsky.social
As I was reading this I was thinking about how useful it is to make a distinction between what seems “polite” or “calm” vs what actually is effective de-escalation.
nbedera.bsky.social Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 1d
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention.

The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
Opinion | I'm a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here's how ICE observers are helping.
Research into how violence occurs shows that disapproval from the people around you can help reduce it.
www.ms.now
January 17, 2026 at 5:39 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
sludge.bsky.social
New: We built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.

readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
The Companies Behind ICE
Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.
readsludge.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
tressiemcphd.bsky.social
It’s the latter. And it answers a question I kept posing: how do you punish people with complex bureaucracy if you dismantle…the complex bureaucracy that can punish?

You can’t.
robertkelchen.com Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 23h
On the Friday afternoon before a three-day weekend, the Department of Education announces that borrowers will not have their wages or tax refunds garnished for being in default on their student loans. This could be driven by political considerations or difficulties in actually collecting funds.
U.S. Department of Education Delays Involuntary Collections Amid Ongoing Student Loan Repayment Improvements
ED announced that it will delay the implementation of involuntary collections on federal student loans, including Administrative Wage Garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program, to enable the Departm...
www.ed.gov
January 16, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
ecosozialismus.bsky.social
Republican candidate for Governor, Tina Kotek, says “fuck you” to the climate and environmental movement (again) by endorsing false solutions that imperil the Columbia River basin.
Energy Gov. Kotek backs controversial $3B Port Westward biorefinery Site Plan A rendering of the proposed NXTClean Fuels facility. NXTCLEAN FUELS
January 16, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
raea.meangirls.online
incandescent rage. people not subject to criminalization in this country don’t understand that this. is. policing. and this type of sexual violence is completely inseparable from it.
The two were questioned separately by ICE officers, and Sofia was subjected to particularly invasive and humiliating questions. They asked her if she had had a sex change and if she had a penis. Alice said back in the cell Sofia told her she answered truthfully to both questions to avoid the officers from groping her for answers.
January 16, 2026 at 7:26 PM
lastwater.net
F'kin' Harold.
January 16, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
lauropea.bsky.social
'i'm big in stocks' i say, leaning over my drink on the bar, before i realise it's time for my shift, put on my jester's cap and go over so the nobles can lock me up and pelt me with bones and rancid fruit
January 15, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
littlebadger.bsky.social
Children of Owl is coming fall 2026, y'all.
In the early years of abundance, we lived across the land of many houses. Then, colonizers slapped a border through our home, parceling it into countries, and they prayed for their treaty to erase us, for the land to open along their imaginary line and swallow the Lipan whole. Obviously, it didn’t. But Momma warns me that it’s risky to remind people that we’re still here, 'cause our existence raises uncomfortable questions about the nature of borders and unfinished business. From Children of Owl.
January 16, 2026 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
assignedmale.bsky.social
Praxis
4 frame comic. In the first frame, JD Vance is in Greenland. Text reads : praxis is a start-up funded by american billionaires and Trump backers such as jd Vance's puppeteer Peter Thiel and open AI's Sam Altman. its aim is to create "freedom cities" outside of democratic regulations and managed by a "king-ceo leading citizen-shareholders."* Second frame shows some houses of Nuuk, in Greenland. Text reads : in 2023, praxis founder dryden brown went to greenlAND TO Attempt buying it (or at least a sizeable chunk of it), without success. he said in 2025 : "we think Greenland is a very in- teresting place. we view it as one of the last frontiers on earth."** Third frame shows an iceberg. Text reads : he spoke for many. in April 2025, Reuters reported that tech investors in silicon valley were "promoting the frozen island as a site for a so-called freedom city, a libertarian utopia [sic] with minimal regulation."*** Fourth frame shows a Twitter screenshot reading 'according to plan." Text reads : since then, ken Bowery, Who co- founded a venture-capital firm with his PayPal buddy Peter thiel, has been appointed u.s. ambassador to Denmark, with the express order to lead greenland-acquisition negotiations. praxis reacted to the news by posting on Twitter: Sources are indicated at the bottom of the first three frames from Le Monde (Peter Thiel, the libertarian billionaire waging war on government), The New Republic (The oligarchs pushing for conquest of Greenland) and Reuters (Greenland freedom city? Rich donors push Trump for a tech hub up north)
January 15, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
sifill.bsky.social
U.S. citizen detained by ICE:

“…they finally told me that they could offer undocumented family members of mine legal protection if I have any…or money, in exchange for giving them the names of protest organizers, or undocumented persons. I was shocked, and told them no.”
ziibiing.com ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 4d
just a reminder that we aren’t even seeing the worst of what is happening in Minneapolis from someone detailed at the Whipple Federal Building yesterday
Eyewitness account: Good morning, My name is Brandon Siguenza, and l am a US citizen from Minneapolis. Yesterday, while doing legal observation, ICE stopped their cars to harass my friend and me. They sprayed pepper spray into the vent of our vehicle. We held our hands in the air and told them we were not obstructing, that the car was in park and they were free to drive forward and away. There was no active immigration raid. They returned to their cars, and drove forward a bit, then decided to stop again. They surrounded us, smashed the windows of our car, opened the doors (they were unlocked), ripped my friend and I out of the car and arrested us on charges of obstruction. I was put in an unmarked SUV, separated from my friend. As I was put in the back seat an ICE agent tore the whistle off my neck and said "I'll be taking this, I might need it later." My phone was knocked out of my hand while being arrested. As we drove away I asked the driver and the passenger if they wouldn't mind buckling my seatbelt, as they were driving erratically. I was ignored. I asked them if I could have the handcuffs loosened, as I was losing circulation, and was told no. At one point the passenger realized his own driver's license was in the backseat next to mine, and tried to surreptitiously grab it without me seeing it. We were taken to the Whipple federal building, where I saw dozens of brown people being processed in an unheated garage. I was frisked, told of my charges, and saw buses and vans being prepped. I later learned that these were being filled with detainees and driven to the airport for deportation. As we were led in, I noticed that the building was very busy. I got the impression that one of the 2 agents bringing me around was being trained. At multiple points throughout my stay, government agents were unable to open doors, not sure where they were meant to be going, and overall confused and overwhelmed. They couldn't figure out how to use the building phones, or complai…
January 13, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
mamasand.bsky.social
Building capacity is one of the best things we can do. This is good stuff. I’ll try to post more from a somatic lens later.
theradr.bsky.social Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 2d
We must all have ways to hold, release, some of the devastation and fury in these times of terror and rage.

When we do, we may have more capacity for useful action.

Because we must take action.
But we must have capacity.

Some words, and some resources:
how to face the horrors of now
feel, then do
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
esqueer.net
The fascist playbook is always the same. Create chaos through targeted violence. Use the existence of that violence as a justification and rationale for implementing autocratic rule to end the violence and chaos they caused.
January 15, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
lastwater.net
Here are six panels about getting my bell rung hard on New Years Day.

#concussion #migraines #Colorado #ice #comic
1/
An ink and watercolor cartoon of two people and a dog walking a snowy path, an abandoned railroad track runs on the left. Text reads, A New Years Day walk in fresh, scant, Colorado snow. D had recently slipped. She stuck to the gravel along the sidewalk.
January 15, 2026 at 4:21 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
josephcox.bsky.social
New: meet ELITE, the Palantir app ICE is using to find neighborhoods to raid. Map interface; officers search for immigrants; click person to bring up individual dossier. This is clearest link between what Palantir is building and ICE's activities on the ground yet www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...
‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...
www.404media.co
January 15, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
naomikritzer.bsky.social
I just want it to be really clear, to people from out of the area, if they see pictures of fires in Minneapolis: THEY WERE STARTED BY ICE. NOT BY PROTESTERS. NOT BY RESIDENTS.
quick13.bsky.social quick13 @quick13.bsky.social · 2d
So not only are they shooting our citizens they are setting the city on fire. #MFD did respond. Someone get an Air Quality check in #Minneapolis with the volume of Flash Bangs & Chemical Irritants.
statuscoupnews.bsky.social Status Coup News @statuscoupnews.bsky.social · 2d
🚨BREAKING: Multiple fires have broken after ICE unleashed ANOTHER ONSLAUGHT of flash bang grenades and chemical gas at unarmed Minneapolis protesters in WAR-LIKE attack. LIVE NOW ⬇️
January 15, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Gabriel Liston
candaceavalos.bsky.social
Dan Ryan also lied by saying he didn't know anything about the article after I literally watched him scrolling it on his phone next to me on the dais 😭
January 15, 2026 at 6:39 AM
lastwater.net
Thank you. I feel incredibly fortunate to have good migraine meds these days. I know (all too well) how much worse it could be.
January 15, 2026 at 5:50 AM
lastwater.net
Thank you!
January 15, 2026 at 4:54 AM
lastwater.net
Here, with a little more context, is what I sent out to subscribers today (but hand-posted to the Lastwater blog, because I still can't figure out how to get my newsletters to auto-post there).
Got my bell rung good — Gabriel Liston
If I thought my memory was already plenty slippery, I was wrong. I took a fall on New Year’s Day and, though I am feeling better, it takes extra effort, and a peek at my notes, to recall what I was...
www.lastwater.net
January 15, 2026 at 4:54 AM