Laurie Hertzel
@lhertzel.bsky.social
Book reader, book critic, author "News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist." Next memoir, "Ghosts of Fourth Street," pubs in 2026. I review for StarTribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, LATimes and elsewhere. Teach in MFA program at UGA-Athens.
how can this be?
HAPPENING NOW: DHS just expedited Liam Conejo Ramos' asylum hearing to this morning, meaning it's possible the five-year-old and his family could be deported as soon as today.
Rep. Joaquin Castro: "The Trump administration is trying to take him away again." www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Rep. Joaquin Castro: "The Trump administration is trying to take him away again." www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Five-Year-Old Liam Ramos Is In His Asylum Hearing Right Now
www.huffpost.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:46 PM
how can this be?
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
1. It was not an accident.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.
February 6, 2026 at 5:42 PM
1. It was not an accident.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
@lhertzel.bsky.social on finding solidarity amidst the tear gas.
Letter From Minnesota: Our Community Grows Stronger by the Week
You might be surprised to learn how many kinds of gas masks there are. Some are effective if you get pepper-sprayed, others are better for mace or tear gas. Some cover the mouth and nose; others al…
buff.ly
February 6, 2026 at 3:30 PM
@lhertzel.bsky.social on finding solidarity amidst the tear gas.
I hope you've been following the excellent letters from MN that @lithub.com.web.brid.gy has been running--by writers like Kao Kalia Yang, Kawai Strong Washburn, Charles Baxter and so many others. Mine ran today, about buying gas masks for, well, the first time in my life. lithub.com/letter-from-...
Letter From Minnesota: Our Community Grows Stronger by the Week
You might be surprised to learn how many kinds of gas masks there are. Some are effective if you get pepper-sprayed, others are better for mace or tear gas. Some cover the mouth and nose; others al…
lithub.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:09 PM
I hope you've been following the excellent letters from MN that @lithub.com.web.brid.gy has been running--by writers like Kao Kalia Yang, Kawai Strong Washburn, Charles Baxter and so many others. Mine ran today, about buying gas masks for, well, the first time in my life. lithub.com/letter-from-...
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Over 73,000 people are currently in ICE custody, the most ever...
But that's not the only shocking number:
- There has been a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention on any given day.
But that's not the only shocking number:
- There has been a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention on any given day.
February 6, 2026 at 5:14 AM
Over 73,000 people are currently in ICE custody, the most ever...
But that's not the only shocking number:
- There has been a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention on any given day.
But that's not the only shocking number:
- There has been a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention on any given day.
I'm livid on your behalf! Thank you for all the great work you have done.
My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power
February 4, 2026 at 10:49 PM
I'm livid on your behalf! Thank you for all the great work you have done.
Yep. You can’t tell me that a billionaire businessman is so inept at running a newspaper that it just gradually falls apart. This was deliberate.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and publisher Will Lewis “are embarking on the latest step of their plan to kill everything that makes the paper special,” Ashley Parker writes. theatln.tc/UIN69Qt0
February 4, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Yep. You can’t tell me that a billionaire businessman is so inept at running a newspaper that it just gradually falls apart. This was deliberate.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.
February 4, 2026 at 4:29 PM
I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.
the thing is, the world of books is interconnected. book reviews drive sales, which helps bookstores and authors and publishing houses. reviews are NOT written to boost sales--but that is one of the byproducts of thoughtful and intelligent examination of books. what the WaPo is doing is a crime.
Goddamnit the world needs books and it needs book reviews and it needs intelligent critics and this is just a crime
The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody
February 4, 2026 at 7:44 PM
the thing is, the world of books is interconnected. book reviews drive sales, which helps bookstores and authors and publishing houses. reviews are NOT written to boost sales--but that is one of the byproducts of thoughtful and intelligent examination of books. what the WaPo is doing is a crime.
Yes.
Everything about the Washington Post news is depressing, but to lose what was once one of the best book sections in the English-language world is a gut punch.
February 4, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Yes.
Goddamnit the world needs books and it needs book reviews and it needs intelligent critics and this is just a crime
The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody
WaPo also closing Books section and downsizing International and Metro sections
February 4, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Goddamnit the world needs books and it needs book reviews and it needs intelligent critics and this is just a crime
Feels quite deliberate to me. Like somebody is following orders.
1. Build huge subscriber base by telling them their $ supports democracy.
2. Don’t establish other revenue sources.
3. Rug-pull subscribers by pushing opinion side to the right.
4. Subscribers leave, revenue falls.
5. Enact crippling newsroom cuts.
2. Don’t establish other revenue sources.
3. Rug-pull subscribers by pushing opinion side to the right.
4. Subscribers leave, revenue falls.
5. Enact crippling newsroom cuts.
February 4, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Feels quite deliberate to me. Like somebody is following orders.
This is what I’m hearing. It breaks my heart.
No more Washington Post book section?
February 4, 2026 at 2:26 PM
This is what I’m hearing. It breaks my heart.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Side note:
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
I just got off the phone with Elizabeth's dad...she and her mom were freed tonight! Updated story: sahanjournal.com/education/co...
February 4, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Side note:
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
Observers arrested at gunpoint in Minneapolis.
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
February 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Observers arrested at gunpoint in Minneapolis.
Curious what it's like here in Minnesota for those of us who are not in the epicenter? It's still very hard and very sad, but community helps. The N.C. Writers Network asked me to write about it. My essay is here: www.ncwriters.org/news/blog/a-...
A Friend of the Network Writes from Minnesota | North Carolina Writers' Network
Read the latest in the online journal of the North Carolina Writers' Network.
www.ncwriters.org
February 3, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Curious what it's like here in Minnesota for those of us who are not in the epicenter? It's still very hard and very sad, but community helps. The N.C. Writers Network asked me to write about it. My essay is here: www.ncwriters.org/news/blog/a-...
I see that Michelle Obama's documentary is soaring on Netflix even as the other first lady's is tanking. Someone on Instagram wrote, "When Melania goes low, Michelle goes high," and i thought that was pretty funny.
February 3, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I see that Michelle Obama's documentary is soaring on Netflix even as the other first lady's is tanking. Someone on Instagram wrote, "When Melania goes low, Michelle goes high," and i thought that was pretty funny.
Oh, Minneapolis! If you win I know 100 percent you will not give the award away. We here across the river in St. Paul salute you and follow in your peaceful footsteps. @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/acti...
“The Nation” Nominates Minneapolis for the Nobel Peace Prize
With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for “the positive affirmation of peace.”
www.thenation.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Oh, Minneapolis! If you win I know 100 percent you will not give the award away. We here across the river in St. Paul salute you and follow in your peaceful footsteps. @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Yes!!
WERE NOT PROTESTORS WE JUST LIVE HERE AND DRINK COFFEE
January 28, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Yes!!
The journal @lithub.com.web.brid.gy has been running Letters from Minnesotans this week, essays by some of our most respected writers. Today's from Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong woman and a brilliant and honored writer, might break you. But all of them are powerful. lithub.com/letter-from-...
Letter From Minnesota: “If They Take Me and Leave the Children…”
Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. I got gas for the first time this year by myself. The gas station was mostly empty. I drove into the station, heart thudding in my chest. I did everything as f…
lithub.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:23 PM
The journal @lithub.com.web.brid.gy has been running Letters from Minnesotans this week, essays by some of our most respected writers. Today's from Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong woman and a brilliant and honored writer, might break you. But all of them are powerful. lithub.com/letter-from-...
She has a fundraiser to help her pay for security. The government does not protect her and she must hire her own guards. And the president continues to attack her verbally, including yesterday right before this attack.
The courage of Ilhan Omar to hold a public town meeting. I don't think Republican representatives do that anymore. And her courage to continue, after this man attacked her!
Here’s the face of the man who attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar with a spray. Pure rage.
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
January 28, 2026 at 1:50 PM
She has a fundraiser to help her pay for security. The government does not protect her and she must hire her own guards. And the president continues to attack her verbally, including yesterday right before this attack.
The courage of Ilhan Omar to hold a public town meeting. I don't think Republican representatives do that anymore. And her courage to continue, after this man attacked her!
Here’s the face of the man who attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar with a spray. Pure rage.
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
January 28, 2026 at 1:43 PM
The courage of Ilhan Omar to hold a public town meeting. I don't think Republican representatives do that anymore. And her courage to continue, after this man attacked her!
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Here's what ICE is up to in Northeast Minneapolis today. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Warning: video is hard to watch
Warning: video is hard to watch
January 27, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Here's what ICE is up to in Northeast Minneapolis today. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Warning: video is hard to watch
Warning: video is hard to watch
Hearing folks are bummed they missed the Eyes on ICE training - but good news, it's all recorded and public! We'll be holding more live trainings soon, but if you aren't one of 200,000 who already watched it, find it here: www.youtube.com/live/zqka9fU...
Eyes on ICE: Document and Record
YouTube video by No Kings
www.youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
ICE deported a 5-year-old US citizen to Honduras, where she had never been, after holding her & her mother in a hotel room 80 miles from home for several days and not allowing them access to a lawyer www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Five-year-old deported to Honduras despite being US citizen is latest child victim of Trump crackdown
Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:42 AM
ICE deported a 5-year-old US citizen to Honduras, where she had never been, after holding her & her mother in a hotel room 80 miles from home for several days and not allowing them access to a lawyer www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...