Mark Firla
LightNews LightNews
unioncat.bsky.social
Mark Firla
@unioncat.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.8K following 51 posts
From The Land of Steady Habits, Organizing makes me happy. Solidarity
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Mark Firla
trans.bsky.social
JOHN BROWN
POWER ARMOR
LET’S FUCKIN GO
Meme that I made of John Brown in Power Armor. It says: BORN TO RAID SOUTH IS A FUCK Free Em All 1859 I am John Brown 410, 747, 864, 530 DEAD CONFEDERATES
February 8, 2026 at 2:25 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
aaronsojourner.org
Anarchism is definitely having a moment in Minnesota. The anarchy is real, productive, and amazing here these days.
seachanger.bsky.social malena @seachanger.bsky.social · 1d
message from MN
From a Comrade 19h. C One of the nuts things about organizing in the Twin Cities right now is that even the most long term organizers who've been here for decades can't keep track of all the resistance that is going on. There are so many self-organized crews just doing work that in any conversation with someone from another neighborhood you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free. People delivering food to families in hiding. So many local rapid response groups that the number is uncertain but somewhere between 80 and the low hundreds- especially when one considers that several immigrant communities have their own non-English rapid response networks usually uncounted in the main English-language directories. People standing watch outside daycares and schools. This whole resistance has so many poles of initiative and leadership, so many layers of self-organization, that it's extraordinarily difficult for the state to repress or for opportunists be they Democrats or movement-riding parties) to co-opt and control. Of course, that's built up through many years and decades of organization, and not only through explicitiv political campaigns or formations built during times of crisis and rupture like 2020. It is also built through day-to-day mutual aid, culture building, workplace and tenant organizing, and simple, basic relationship building among neighbors and coworkers here. From a Comrade 19h. C One of the nuts things about organizing in the Twin Cities right now is that even the most long term organizers who've been here for decades can't keep track of all the resistance that is going on. There are so many self-organized crews just doing work that in any conversation with someone from another neighborhood you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free. People delivering food to families in hiding. So many local rapid response groups that the number is uncertain but somewhere between 80 and the low hundreds- especially when one considers that several immigrant communities have their own non-English rapid response networks usually uncounted in the main English-language directories. People standing watch outside daycares and schools. This whole resistance has so many poles of initiative and leadership, so many layers of self-organization, that it's extraordinarily difficult for the state to repress or for opportunists be they Democrats or movement-riding parties) to co-opt and control. Of course, that's built up through many years and decades of organization, and not only through explicitiv political campaigns or formations built during times of crisis and rupture like 2020. It is also built through day-to-day mutual aid, culture building, workplace and tenant organizing, and simple, basic relationship building among neighbors and coworkers here.
February 8, 2026 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
jamellebouie.net
this is so funny, god bless louise lucas, Hero of the Commonwealth
February 7, 2026 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
muellershewrote.com
NEW: Insurrectionist pardoned by Trump has been arrested for child sex crimes. www.texastribune.org/2025/02/06/a...
Houston man pardoned by Trump arrested on child sex charge - The Texas Tribune
Andrew Taake received a six-year sentence for assaulting officers on Jan. 6. He was arrested Thursday on an outstanding charge of soliciting a minor.
www.texastribune.org
February 7, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
atrupar.com
Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."
February 6, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
kimmclarin.bsky.social
m.youtube.com/watch?v=UBFD...
James Baldwin: How Much Time Do You Want For Your "Progress"?
YouTube video by The Bluegrass Professors
m.youtube.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
chadstanton.blacksky.app
Exactly! Don’t worry about why I’m mad, why aren't you?
February 6, 2026 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
historygirl.bsky.social
Looks like they are turning their attention more to NPS sites in general. The Evers site is an important inclusion into the Service and the person who shot Medgar was a racist and an asshole.

mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
🗃️
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
maryltrump.bsky.social
Every American needs to watch this:
February 5, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
mathewforesta.bsky.social
This is an underdiscussed issue in left spaces where it is unfortunately still socially acceptable to discriminate against sex workers. Rather than being treated with respect & nuance they are made a prop by terf groups & Christian rescue orgs, it's maddening. Decriminalization now. Support SWers
thrasherxy.bsky.social Dr. Thrasher's The Overseer Class is now available for pre-order @thrasherxy.bsky.social · 2d
I have a big story about sex workers coming out next week and they are salt of the earth heroes doing the Lord’s (public health) work, it’s enraging how much stigma is heaped upon their humble dreams of survival compared to the whims of the depraved ruling class
melissagiragrant.com Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 2d
cannot possibly convey how actually crazy-making it can feel, after spending 20 years monitoring all these orgs blaming sex workers and the internet for enabling a vast sex trafficking network, to now see Jeffery Epstein’s inbox
February 5, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
taniel.bsky.social
Brad Karp, the chairman of the Paul Weiss law firm who brokered that deal with Trump last year & agreed to provide $40 million of pro bono services for Trump's causes, resigns due to fallout over his emails with Epstein: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...
Brad Karp Resigns as Paul Weiss Chairman Amid Epstein Fallout
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
civilwarmemory.bsky.social
I am speechless.

"The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.'" 🗃️ mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
brandonfriedman.bsky.social
This should be front page news. There should be hearings about it.
seancasten.bsky.social Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 4d
"For much of the 2010s and likely before and since, it appears the crime rate of CBP agents and offices was higher PER CAPITA than the crime rate of undocumented immigrants in the United States."
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/accountabi...
Accountability for ICE and CBP
However bad you think the corruption and misconduct at ICE and CBP is — the reality is far far worse.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
February 4, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
craigcheslog.com
Jeff Bezos could have spun off the Washington Post into an independent nonprofit with a few billion dollars for an endowment and been a hero by spending what, for him, is pocket change.
February 4, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
samhalpert.bsky.social
This is brilliant. I'm so grateful for this testimony. I've transcribed it to use in letters I'm writing. Sharing the full transcription here (see alt text to copy/paste it):
"I'd like to share a story from a local paper in Coldwater, Michigan dated to the 9th of April, 1945. It tells how the US Army, under General Patton--the US 3rd Army--came onto what you might call a detention center just outside the village of Ohrdruf, Germany. The US Army brought the leading citizens of Ohrdruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A US Army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes, without muttering a word, that they were to blame. One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was (quote) 'done by a few people, and you cannot blame us all.' And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said, 'this was done by those that the German people chose to lead them, and all are responsible.' The morning after the tour, the Mayor of Ohrdruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don't know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse. But we know enough. I ask you to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought, 'how is this my fault? I have no jurisdiction over this.' Maybe he would have said, 'this site was not subject to local zoning, what could I do?' But I think, when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp, just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew--as we do--that we are all responsible for what happens in our community. I urge the council to take action to stop, or stall, or at the barest minimum to think creatively about how to exercise oversight over this proposed ICE facility. Thank you."
February 4, 2026 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com
"rich dipshit owner doesn't understand the industry he's bought into and clumsily destroys what made it good" feels less like a narrative unique to the washington post and more like the music that's been playing in the background of all our lives for at least 40 years
February 4, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
mattgertz.bsky.social
Spitballing/bargaining stage of grief: A “Washington Banner” outlet, spun off the successful Baltimore Banner and taking advantage of its backend, built out of laid off Washington Post Metro and Sports staffers and funded via a mixed nonprofit and subscription model…
February 4, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
jamellebouie.net
one thing the trump era has made clear, i think, is that the american people themselves are far more committed to the values of our founding documents than our elites
February 4, 2026 at 4:07 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
jackiantonovich.bsky.social
MacKenzie Scott has the chance to do the funniest thing right now.
February 4, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
azrww.bsky.social
Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
February 4, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
alexwinter.com
If this is all they demand, then they're not serious, it's theater. When we see prosecution for the murderers on the table, they're being serious.
schumer.senate.gov Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · 4d
Democrats want commonsense reform for ICE:

End the roving patrols and racial profiling.

Take accountability and abide by the same rules as local police.

Masks need to come off, body cameras need to stay on—no secret police in the United States of America.
February 4, 2026 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
inquirer.com
Gov. Josh Shapiro called District Attorney Larry Krasner's comparison of ICE agents to Nazis "abhorrent." Krasner responded that Shapiro is "not meeting the moment."
Philly DA Larry Krasner says ‘don’t be a wimp’ after Gov. Josh Shapiro decried his comparison of ICE agents to Nazis
www.inquirer.com
February 2, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
birdrespecter.bsky.social
Josh Shapiro is a disgusting worm. Krasner’s opinion here should be the message of every elected democrat in the U.S.
February 3, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Mark Firla
marynmck.bsky.social
A journalist and author living in Minneapolis describes what everyday life is like there now.

There was no pivot.

deardara.com/so/adPmSCLoz
Dara's Guide to Handling Reality
Minneapolis, inside the economic blockade zone where we are pioneering nonviolence, whistle edition
deardara.com
February 3, 2026 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by Mark Firla
clancyny.bsky.social
Excellent piece!
February 3, 2026 at 8:30 PM