Tom Zinnen
@tmzinnen.bsky.social
Retired outreacher, formerly at UW-Madison Biotech Center
This wins the Duh Award for February 17
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
President Trump “appears determined to prevent his party from achieving a durable majority coalition anchored by a multiracial working-class base,” Thomas Edsall writes.
President Trump “appears determined to prevent his party from achieving a durable majority coalition anchored by a multiracial working-class base,” Thomas Edsall writes.
Opinion | Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy
The president appears determined to prevent his party from achieving a durable majority coalition.
nyti.ms
February 17, 2026 at 9:29 PM
This wins the Duh Award for February 17
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
On this day in 1947, a white mob seized a 24-year-old Black man named Willie Earle from a local jail, brutally beat him, and lynched him near Greenville, SC. No one was ever convicted.
Feb. 17, 1947 | White Mob Lynches Willie Earle Near Greenville, South Carolina
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
February 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM
On this day in 1947, a white mob seized a 24-year-old Black man named Willie Earle from a local jail, brutally beat him, and lynched him near Greenville, SC. No one was ever convicted.
All the while we disarm ourselves against deadly diseases, we are becoming a 340 million-person sac of contagion, a pan-continental pustule of infectious pus, the great miasma of misery.
But if we eat right and exercise, somehow the microbial crocodiles won’t eat us!
Even the Grim Reaper laughs.
But if we eat right and exercise, somehow the microbial crocodiles won’t eat us!
Even the Grim Reaper laughs.
wrote about Rfk's attack on the mrna vaccines, and how the US has become a massive global public health threat. www.publicnotice.co/p/rfk-jr-mod...
Trump somehow got worse on public health after covid
He's incapable of learning lessons and actively resists it.
www.publicnotice.co
February 17, 2026 at 5:47 PM
All the while we disarm ourselves against deadly diseases, we are becoming a 340 million-person sac of contagion, a pan-continental pustule of infectious pus, the great miasma of misery.
But if we eat right and exercise, somehow the microbial crocodiles won’t eat us!
Even the Grim Reaper laughs.
But if we eat right and exercise, somehow the microbial crocodiles won’t eat us!
Even the Grim Reaper laughs.
Barn hall meetings?
What’s a barn hall?
Maybe grange hall meetings?
City hall.
Village hall.
Town hall.
Grange hall.
Let us celebrate the nearly infinite flexibility, plasticity, and masticate-ability of the English language.
What’s a barn hall?
Maybe grange hall meetings?
City hall.
Village hall.
Town hall.
Grange hall.
Let us celebrate the nearly infinite flexibility, plasticity, and masticate-ability of the English language.
Trump’s tariffs are hurting our IL farmers and their livelihoods. I currently stand with farmers across Illinois and will continue my support, advocacy and barn hall meetings in the U.S. Senate.
February 17, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Barn hall meetings?
What’s a barn hall?
Maybe grange hall meetings?
City hall.
Village hall.
Town hall.
Grange hall.
Let us celebrate the nearly infinite flexibility, plasticity, and masticate-ability of the English language.
What’s a barn hall?
Maybe grange hall meetings?
City hall.
Village hall.
Town hall.
Grange hall.
Let us celebrate the nearly infinite flexibility, plasticity, and masticate-ability of the English language.
From the explicit to the insidious and invidious, and equally pernicious and perfidious.
Gotterdammerung it, the thugs and their thuggery.
Gotterdammerung it, the thugs and their thuggery.
There is no drawdown. There is no retreat. ICE is just redistributing their assets to better avoid accountability.
The same day DHS announced the surge would end in Minnesota, ICE activity increased in small towns
The less densely populated areas outside the Twin Cities make it harder for protesters and observers to organize.
www.theverge.com
February 17, 2026 at 5:02 PM
From the explicit to the insidious and invidious, and equally pernicious and perfidious.
Gotterdammerung it, the thugs and their thuggery.
Gotterdammerung it, the thugs and their thuggery.
Whoa. I didn’t realize Decline and Fall first appeared in the early days of the foment and violence of the American Revolution. 🙏
17 FEBRUARY 1776, LONDON: “History is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortune of mankind”: The first volume appears of Edward Gibbons’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, one of the most famous works of history ever published.
February 17, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Whoa. I didn’t realize Decline and Fall first appeared in the early days of the foment and violence of the American Revolution. 🙏
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
ICE killed a teacher in Georgia today when they chose to chase a man who posed no danger and had no criminal history.
Savannah teacher killed in crash by man fleeing from ICE
According to the Chatham County Police Department, Monday morning’s fatal crash was the result of a chase between Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a suspect.
www.wtoc.com
February 17, 2026 at 12:28 AM
ICE killed a teacher in Georgia today when they chose to chase a man who posed no danger and had no criminal history.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
In Wisconsin, it's the long arm of the straw.
February 15, 2026 at 11:47 PM
In Wisconsin, it's the long arm of the straw.
Up in the air!
It’s a bird!?
It’s a plane!!
No, it’s Collaborator Copter!
It’s a bird!?
It’s a plane!!
No, it’s Collaborator Copter!
So… let it be known that Minnesota State Patrol helicopter has been out assisting MPD at least five of the last 7 days after being mostly parked during the occupation.
Also let it be known this is the plane with full military-grade ISR intelligence.
Also let it be known this is the plane with full military-grade ISR intelligence.
February 16, 2026 at 9:16 PM
Up in the air!
It’s a bird!?
It’s a plane!!
No, it’s Collaborator Copter!
It’s a bird!?
It’s a plane!!
No, it’s Collaborator Copter!
Even worse, his bedrock reason for invading Iraq was to get back at Iraq for targeting his daddy.
I'm sorry but invading a foreign country for no reason and slaughtering thousands of people actually is "worse." Please do not give this war criminal a free pass on President's Day
February 16, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Even worse, his bedrock reason for invading Iraq was to get back at Iraq for targeting his daddy.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
And torturing, waterboarding them.
I'm sorry but invading a foreign country for no reason and slaughtering thousands of people actually is "worse." Please do not give this war criminal a free pass on President's Day
February 16, 2026 at 8:51 PM
And torturing, waterboarding them.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
/2 Anyway, this is what the Smoking Gun was reporting TWENTY YEARS AGO in 2006. It was horrifying then and it’s still horrifying and it unequivocally shows child abuse.
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/se...
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/se...
Billionaire In Palm Beach Sex Scandal
JULY 26--Prepare to take a shower after reading this remarkably sleazy probable cause affidavit filed in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who was arrested Sunday for soliciting s
www.thesmokinggun.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:53 AM
/2 Anyway, this is what the Smoking Gun was reporting TWENTY YEARS AGO in 2006. It was horrifying then and it’s still horrifying and it unequivocally shows child abuse.
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/se...
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/se...
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Folks look at you like you're crazy when you say we're in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in American history, & then this happens again, for at least the second time this week, & we are not a serious country.
man ... lying under oath really ought to be a crime, you know?
The acting director of ICE told Congress, under oath, that local law enforcement in Colorado leaked raid plans, allowing gang members to escape.
After 9NEWS questioned ICE's claim and its timeline, ICE deleted the claim from its social media platforms.
After 9NEWS questioned ICE's claim and its timeline, ICE deleted the claim from its social media platforms.
February 16, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Folks look at you like you're crazy when you say we're in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in American history, & then this happens again, for at least the second time this week, & we are not a serious country.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
“If a government’s actions in a democracy require masks — if the people being governed in that democracy cannot know who is acting — that is a problem with what the government is doing, not with the governed.”
Yeah, this went quickly from happening to me seeing it to “I should write about this” to me being unable to do anything else until I got this out.
Here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/tom-homan-...
Here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/tom-homan-...
The Trump admin argument that masks "are for officer safety reasons" is actually an admission
Tom Homan highlights how secrecy aims to block accountability, the immoral lawlessness at the core of the Trump administration. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.
www.lawdork.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:42 AM
“If a government’s actions in a democracy require masks — if the people being governed in that democracy cannot know who is acting — that is a problem with what the government is doing, not with the governed.”
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
RFK, jr & team are trying to squash the market for vaccines and US funding for vaccine R&D and thereby cut off vaccine development globally. It's incumbent on other powers (including e.g. US states) to act to preserve the vaccine development system with research and vaccination funding.
Trump and the future of health services research and policy in Europe: A view from the US - Scott L Greer, 2025
journals.sagepub.com
February 16, 2026 at 4:15 AM
RFK, jr & team are trying to squash the market for vaccines and US funding for vaccine R&D and thereby cut off vaccine development globally. It's incumbent on other powers (including e.g. US states) to act to preserve the vaccine development system with research and vaccination funding.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
/23 That’s the story of the Emperor’s Eight Favorite Horses, by the way, a very popular theme of Chinese art. The horses apparently have individual abilities and colors, sort of a pre-modern My Little Pony.
February 16, 2026 at 4:56 AM
/23 That’s the story of the Emperor’s Eight Favorite Horses, by the way, a very popular theme of Chinese art. The horses apparently have individual abilities and colors, sort of a pre-modern My Little Pony.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker, gets gardening time, sports, therapy dogs, and spa products in prison.
Migrant children in custody are sleeping on concrete floors without enough food or clean water.
Our priorities are so fucked.
Migrant children in custody are sleeping on concrete floors without enough food or clean water.
Our priorities are so fucked.
February 16, 2026 at 5:57 AM
Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker, gets gardening time, sports, therapy dogs, and spa products in prison.
Migrant children in custody are sleeping on concrete floors without enough food or clean water.
Our priorities are so fucked.
Migrant children in custody are sleeping on concrete floors without enough food or clean water.
Our priorities are so fucked.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Elon probably meant to say "Scots-Irish" and probably knows more of the history here than you might assume since white supremacists like him regard the Plantation of Ulster and displacement of the Catholic Irish as a prototype for later white supremacist settler colonialism (like South Africa)
February 15, 2026 at 10:12 PM
Elon probably meant to say "Scots-Irish" and probably knows more of the history here than you might assume since white supremacists like him regard the Plantation of Ulster and displacement of the Catholic Irish as a prototype for later white supremacist settler colonialism (like South Africa)
All dismissed? No accountability?
I did nazi that coming.
I did nazi that coming.
This is wild.
41 DUI arrests by a Tennessee trooper. All dismissed. 22 drivers were completely sober.
He “resigned”. No explanation. No accountability. No apology. His personnel file doesn’t even mention the cases.
Police departments shouldn’t be in the business of shielding corrupt officers.
1/2
41 DUI arrests by a Tennessee trooper. All dismissed. 22 drivers were completely sober.
He “resigned”. No explanation. No accountability. No apology. His personnel file doesn’t even mention the cases.
Police departments shouldn’t be in the business of shielding corrupt officers.
1/2
February 16, 2026 at 1:21 AM
All dismissed? No accountability?
I did nazi that coming.
I did nazi that coming.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Madison, Wisconsin — 2026
Built in 1917, the Wisconsin State Capitol is a Beaux-Arts masterpiece constructed materials such as Algerian onyx, Italian marble, and Wisconsin granite. Designed by George B. Post, its massive dome is one of the largest masonry domes in the world. FORWARD!
Built in 1917, the Wisconsin State Capitol is a Beaux-Arts masterpiece constructed materials such as Algerian onyx, Italian marble, and Wisconsin granite. Designed by George B. Post, its massive dome is one of the largest masonry domes in the world. FORWARD!
February 15, 2026 at 3:38 AM
Madison, Wisconsin — 2026
Built in 1917, the Wisconsin State Capitol is a Beaux-Arts masterpiece constructed materials such as Algerian onyx, Italian marble, and Wisconsin granite. Designed by George B. Post, its massive dome is one of the largest masonry domes in the world. FORWARD!
Built in 1917, the Wisconsin State Capitol is a Beaux-Arts masterpiece constructed materials such as Algerian onyx, Italian marble, and Wisconsin granite. Designed by George B. Post, its massive dome is one of the largest masonry domes in the world. FORWARD!
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Ofelia Torres, the teenage Chicago Public Schools student whose fight against cancer while her father was detained by ICE came to represent the federal government's overreach during Operation Midway Blitz, has died. Brave young woman. I will never forget her. RIP.
February 15, 2026 at 1:54 AM
Ofelia Torres, the teenage Chicago Public Schools student whose fight against cancer while her father was detained by ICE came to represent the federal government's overreach during Operation Midway Blitz, has died. Brave young woman. I will never forget her. RIP.
They love Paul, tho.
You know, the guy who never met the historical Jesus.
The fervor and fever of the convert is not to be underestimated.
You know, the guy who never met the historical Jesus.
The fervor and fever of the convert is not to be underestimated.
"the two most dominant forces within right-wing Christianity are fundamentalism and Christian nationalism. These two umbrella-term movements wield the Bible to gain control over society in different ways, and they both suffer life-threatening allergies to the actual teachings of Jesus.". - Fugelsang
February 14, 2026 at 10:27 PM
They love Paul, tho.
You know, the guy who never met the historical Jesus.
The fervor and fever of the convert is not to be underestimated.
You know, the guy who never met the historical Jesus.
The fervor and fever of the convert is not to be underestimated.
Pancreatic Cancer is the Grimmest Reaper.
Gotterdammerung it, and those who shackle this research
Gotterdammerung it, and those who shackle this research
Of so many things to be infuriated about, this is perhaps my biggest gripe. Pancreatic cancer patients, who face a future without hope, are being denied a potential game-changing therapy
www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrn...
www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrn...
February 14, 2026 at 10:21 PM
Pancreatic Cancer is the Grimmest Reaper.
Gotterdammerung it, and those who shackle this research
Gotterdammerung it, and those who shackle this research
Suspended?
When will the agents be arrested for lying to police??
When will the agents be arrested for lying to police??
Hey remember the shooting in Minneapolis that happened between Renee Good and Alexi Pretti, the guy they claimed was shot by an agent after he had attacked that agent with a shovel? I know it's hard to believe but the agents' story fell apart and charges were dropped. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/u...
February 14, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Suspended?
When will the agents be arrested for lying to police??
When will the agents be arrested for lying to police??
Not for the first time the police became the leading problem.
More Andy, Less Bovino
More Andy, Less Bovino
“I’ve never seen federal agents so out of control and acting in such a malicious manner,” a former federal prosecutor and federal judge said. “They said they were going after ‘the worst of the worst,’ then they became the problem.
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters
Federal immigration officers have repeatedly used force in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, NBC News found.
www.nbcnews.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Not for the first time the police became the leading problem.
More Andy, Less Bovino
More Andy, Less Bovino