The Monarch Diaries
@monarchdiaries.bsky.social
Map to the corners; all of them. Life in the science mines.
Pinned
my first test of a social science hypothesis:
If you leave a sizable bucket near a public path people will fill it with small bags of shit.
If you leave a sizable bucket near a public path people will fill it with small bags of shit.
Slackwashing
NEW: Palantir workers had a lot of questions for leadership about the company's work with ICE this weekend, per staff chats reviewed by WIRED, and got some pretty defensive answers. @makenakelly.bsky.social has the scoop:
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Slackwashing
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Obviously I knew public schools were completely underfunded, but you still want to imagine that your tax dollars are out there doing good stuff for you. But no, we can't afford luxuries like "snacks" and "books" and "teacher salaries" when our poor cops are driving around tankless
January 26, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Obviously I knew public schools were completely underfunded, but you still want to imagine that your tax dollars are out there doing good stuff for you. But no, we can't afford luxuries like "snacks" and "books" and "teacher salaries" when our poor cops are driving around tankless
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I’m happy to share the main result of my PhD, which you can find on bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... If you are interested in learning about a new way to perform DNA-PAINT multiplexing, which we call Combi-PAINT, or if you are interested in the study of mRNA conformation, keep reading! 1/10
January 26, 2026 at 11:31 AM
I’m happy to share the main result of my PhD, which you can find on bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... If you are interested in learning about a new way to perform DNA-PAINT multiplexing, which we call Combi-PAINT, or if you are interested in the study of mRNA conformation, keep reading! 1/10
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
Huge congrats to @manuelthery.bsky.social and all the Cytomorpho lab. The "Living Architectures" performance at @museeorsay.bsky.social was breathtakingly beautiful
January 25, 2026 at 9:22 AM
Huge congrats to @manuelthery.bsky.social and all the Cytomorpho lab. The "Living Architectures" performance at @museeorsay.bsky.social was breathtakingly beautiful
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Can’t help but notice a lot of social media reports of Tik Tok censoring anti-ICE content in its first weekend under Trump-directed US management, and no mainstream news coverage thus far.
January 26, 2026 at 3:57 AM
Can’t help but notice a lot of social media reports of Tik Tok censoring anti-ICE content in its first weekend under Trump-directed US management, and no mainstream news coverage thus far.
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
Shocking absolutely no one, it turns out Larry Ellison is more trigger happy with the censor button than the Chinese Communist Party
January 26, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Shocking absolutely no one, it turns out Larry Ellison is more trigger happy with the censor button than the Chinese Communist Party
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Curious why ICE and CBP agents are so brutal? Here's a useful explainer I wrote last week, before Saturday's outrageous murder, about how uniquely unsuited ICE and CBP are for this moment—and why they were so corruptible into Trump's own fascist secret police: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-101-ho...
"ICE 101" — How Trump changed ICE and CBP into a fascist secret police
ICE and CBP are fatally flawed products of the post-9/11 War on Terror — now Trump has weaponized those very flaws to occupy America.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
January 25, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Curious why ICE and CBP agents are so brutal? Here's a useful explainer I wrote last week, before Saturday's outrageous murder, about how uniquely unsuited ICE and CBP are for this moment—and why they were so corruptible into Trump's own fascist secret police: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-101-ho...
Meth is such a great drug
Federal officers just came in and cleared the protest with tear gas. One officer asked press why we didn’t call 911 when the protesters were destroying the hotel and told us that we are bad Americans. Full video to come on @statuscoupnews.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Meth is such a great drug
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
Federal officers just came in and cleared the protest with tear gas. One officer asked press why we didn’t call 911 when the protesters were destroying the hotel and told us that we are bad Americans. Full video to come on @statuscoupnews.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:46 AM
Federal officers just came in and cleared the protest with tear gas. One officer asked press why we didn’t call 911 when the protesters were destroying the hotel and told us that we are bad Americans. Full video to come on @statuscoupnews.bsky.social
Pretty soon they're gonna start spiraling about OODA loops and shit. That'll be hilarious.
these guys are LARPing like siege commanders talking about "supply lines"
rightoids literally cannot comprehend the idea of a community caring for their own; these people live in Minneapolis their supply line is a five minute drive to the grocery store
rightoids literally cannot comprehend the idea of a community caring for their own; these people live in Minneapolis their supply line is a five minute drive to the grocery store
January 26, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Pretty soon they're gonna start spiraling about OODA loops and shit. That'll be hilarious.
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If you haven’t read it, this is a good book by a Black man from MS who found his parents’ names in that agency’s files when they were made public, and set out to find out more.
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007...
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007...
Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi's Dark Past A Memoir
Like the renowned classics and , captures the spirit and feel of a small Southern town divided by racism and violence in the midst of the Civil Rights era. Part personal journey, part social ...
www.amazon.com
January 25, 2026 at 10:50 PM
If you haven’t read it, this is a good book by a Black man from MS who found his parents’ names in that agency’s files when they were made public, and set out to find out more.
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007...
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007...
Oh, John Yoo says?? John YOO??? THAT John FUCKIN Yoo??? John water boarding child genital crushing Yoo?
What the fuck, guys, that dude shouldn’t be able to show his face at an El Cerrito bridge club, much less foist his unwelcome presence on “elite discourse”. Jesus fuck.
What the fuck, guys, that dude shouldn’t be able to show his face at an El Cerrito bridge club, much less foist his unwelcome presence on “elite discourse”. Jesus fuck.
International law no longer serves as an instrument of global stability—and the U.S. should use this moment to argue for a different approach to the rules of war, John Yoo argues.
A New International Law Can Rise From the Ashes
The United States should use this moment to argue for a different approach to the rules of war.
bit.ly
January 25, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Oh, John Yoo says?? John YOO??? THAT John FUCKIN Yoo??? John water boarding child genital crushing Yoo?
What the fuck, guys, that dude shouldn’t be able to show his face at an El Cerrito bridge club, much less foist his unwelcome presence on “elite discourse”. Jesus fuck.
What the fuck, guys, that dude shouldn’t be able to show his face at an El Cerrito bridge club, much less foist his unwelcome presence on “elite discourse”. Jesus fuck.
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the atlantic has been like this for a long time but man, it really blows that the flagship publication for american liberalism has abandoned *liberalism* wholesale because of trans athletes and woke student governments
International law no longer serves as an instrument of global stability—and the U.S. should use this moment to argue for a different approach to the rules of war, John Yoo argues.
A New International Law Can Rise From the Ashes
The United States should use this moment to argue for a different approach to the rules of war.
bit.ly
January 25, 2026 at 4:40 PM
the atlantic has been like this for a long time but man, it really blows that the flagship publication for american liberalism has abandoned *liberalism* wholesale because of trans athletes and woke student governments
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“outside (trained) agitators” has been the term of art within the right for well over 50 years now
January 25, 2026 at 4:00 PM
“outside (trained) agitators” has been the term of art within the right for well over 50 years now
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In the early 1930s the SA was roughing people up, creating chaos in neighborhoods, seeking to terrorize with the occasional killing. By the late 1930s it had been supplanted by the SS, which was much better trained.
Also, may I say that I don’t agree with people saying ICE and CBP need “more training.” They’re doing exactly what this administration has trained them to—impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up root and branch.
January 25, 2026 at 3:50 PM
In the early 1930s the SA was roughing people up, creating chaos in neighborhoods, seeking to terrorize with the occasional killing. By the late 1930s it had been supplanted by the SS, which was much better trained.
Crucial point. Minus the ongoing avalanche of cash and in-kind support from the obscenely wealthy, the entire American right wing project collapses. They can’t conceive that this isn’t true for everything.
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 3:49 PM
Crucial point. Minus the ongoing avalanche of cash and in-kind support from the obscenely wealthy, the entire American right wing project collapses. They can’t conceive that this isn’t true for everything.
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:
January 25, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
Huge scandal that Minneapolis has been crawling with terrorists this whole time. They've been living among us undercover as poets and nurses. And would've continued to, had it not been for the work of our bravest child kidnappers
January 25, 2026 at 12:44 AM
Huge scandal that Minneapolis has been crawling with terrorists this whole time. They've been living among us undercover as poets and nurses. And would've continued to, had it not been for the work of our bravest child kidnappers
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Do you honestly think people in the civil rights movement and other nonviolent movements faced no violence themselves? They practiced nonviolence because it works, because the oppressor wants a shooting war, which is the war it will win
How's your non-violent working Mr Gandhi stancil? They will kill each and everyone of you right if they had the chance and you will still be writing Kumbaya.
Observers have been working day and night to protect these neighborhoods from ICE, make the streets safe so kids can go to school and people can go to their jobs. Burning down the street undoes all our work. The people setting fires haven’t been putting in long hours watching plates or doors.
January 24, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Do you honestly think people in the civil rights movement and other nonviolent movements faced no violence themselves? They practiced nonviolence because it works, because the oppressor wants a shooting war, which is the war it will win
Putin Schmutin.
Enough with the weird Putin worship. It’s generic authoritarian bullshit, exploited and encouraged by tinpot authoritarians everywhere. Enough with the evil mastermind crap.
Enough with the weird Putin worship. It’s generic authoritarian bullshit, exploited and encouraged by tinpot authoritarians everywhere. Enough with the evil mastermind crap.
Putin pioneered this. No opposition is legitimate. Regular, decent, “ordinary” people cannot possibly be against us because only we represent “the real people.”
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
January 25, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Putin Schmutin.
Enough with the weird Putin worship. It’s generic authoritarian bullshit, exploited and encouraged by tinpot authoritarians everywhere. Enough with the evil mastermind crap.
Enough with the weird Putin worship. It’s generic authoritarian bullshit, exploited and encouraged by tinpot authoritarians everywhere. Enough with the evil mastermind crap.
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it shouldn’t matter at all what the background of someone murdered by fascists is
“he was no angel” is horrible, bigoted bullshit
but it does affect people’s perception and they fucked up really really bad here because they appear to have shot an actual saint
“he was no angel” is horrible, bigoted bullshit
but it does affect people’s perception and they fucked up really really bad here because they appear to have shot an actual saint
By Saturday afternoon, some Trump admin. personnel had already begun scouring the internet and other resources trying to find information on Alex Pretti, including social media posts, that could tie him to what Team Trump call “extremists,” two sources familiar with the matter tell @zeteo.com …
New: Alex Pretti, the man killed by the Trump-Vance mob of agents was an outdoorsmen, a mountain biker, an ICU nurse who "would go out of his way to help," say Veterans Affairs colleagues.
Cheerful. Funny. Gentle.
And still, per sources, Trump officials are urging staff to call him a "terrorist."
Cheerful. Funny. Gentle.
And still, per sources, Trump officials are urging staff to call him a "terrorist."
January 25, 2026 at 5:58 AM
it shouldn’t matter at all what the background of someone murdered by fascists is
“he was no angel” is horrible, bigoted bullshit
but it does affect people’s perception and they fucked up really really bad here because they appear to have shot an actual saint
“he was no angel” is horrible, bigoted bullshit
but it does affect people’s perception and they fucked up really really bad here because they appear to have shot an actual saint
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 25, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
This moment in history provides us with incontrovertible evidence that all the conservatives who claim to be extremely devoted to freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, and opposed to the encroachment of tyranny, are completely and totally full of shit.
It's all white supremacy and greed.
It's all white supremacy and greed.
January 25, 2026 at 2:03 AM
This moment in history provides us with incontrovertible evidence that all the conservatives who claim to be extremely devoted to freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, and opposed to the encroachment of tyranny, are completely and totally full of shit.
It's all white supremacy and greed.
It's all white supremacy and greed.
Want a shot at redemption, ICE guy? Send us the group chats. Yeah, those ones, the Signal chats, all of them. That’ll be a start for you.
so you’re a low-level agent of a state apparatus responsible for a high-profile incident of unjustifiable violence. never fear: your boss is a capricious layabout whose defining characteristic, aside from disloyalty, is his annoyance at anything that distracts him from looking at a hole in his lawn
January 25, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Want a shot at redemption, ICE guy? Send us the group chats. Yeah, those ones, the Signal chats, all of them. That’ll be a start for you.
Reposted by The Monarch Diaries
