What Wendy's Doing:

Read every article this morning like swallowing glass — bombs over Tehran, the Supreme Court handing Big Oil a loaded weapon, Kansas ripping IDs out of trans people's hands — sat at 9:47 AM, coffee going cold, pivoted from despair into fury, and wrote this anyway. Some mornings the newsletter is the only thing that makes sense.

Table of Contents

Stand Up Fight Back

Stand Up Fight Back

When Democracy is under attack what do we do? Stand Up Fight Back!

❄️ Weather Check ❄️

Atlanta: 55°, partly cloudy — soft enough to forget the world's on fire, which is exactly how they want you.

Detroit: 28°, wind-scoured iron gray — cold that doesn't negotiate, like the people who built this city.

Kansas City: 34°, frozen edge to everything — a state that just erased 1,700 IDs breathes cold air too, indifferent as bureaucracy.

New York: 38°, overcast and pressing down — the sky holding its breath the way the rest of us are.

San Francisco: 52°, marine layer thick as propaganda — the fog rolls in regardless; the courts roll on regardless.

Miami: 74°, warm and deceptively gorgeous — paradise weather while the Supreme Court sharpens its knife for the planet.

The Daily Gathering

The smell of jet fuel and political ambition hangs thick this morning — bombs falling on Iran while trans Kansans get letters saying they no longer officially exist, and nine robed motherfuckers are letting ExxonMobil fight off accountability in court.

First time here? Pull up a chair at thistleandmoss.com

Editor's note: Today is a watershed morning — real war, real erasure, real legal terror — and we do not look away.

The Brief

The Brief

The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors.

The Bombs Dropped While You Slept: US & Israel Go Full On

THE BOMBS DROPPED WHILE WE SLEPT: U.S. AND ISRAEL STRIKE IRAN

Smoke was already rising over Tehran before most of America finished its first cup of coffee — Operation Epic Fury, they named it, because irony is dead and buried.

Nukes are coming, you just wait

What he said: "We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground." — Trump, Truth Social video, Feb. 28, 2026

This cock-gargling shit-weasel didn't address Congress, didn't seek a declaration of war — just posted a video while two aircraft carriers launched what the Pentagon is calling a multi-day campaign. Strikes hit Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kermanshah. At least 5 schoolgirls killed when a girls' primary school was bombed in broad daylight — Saturday is the first day of Iran's school week. Iran retaliated: missiles at Israel, the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, Al Udeid in Qatar. This is the second U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran in eight months — satellites now show Iran actively rebuilding the nuclear sites supposedly obliterated in June.

Damage: Oman's FM reported "significant progress" in nuclear talks just hours before the bombs dropped. Contact representatives — demand Congressional war powers oversight now. vox.com/politics/480981/iran-us-attack-strikes-bombing

SCOTUS Is Entering The Big Oil Ring

The water in Boulder tastes like wildfire smoke — and the city has been fighting since 2018 to make ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy answer for it.

Boulder and Boulder County estimate $100 million in adaptation costs through 2050, arguing the companies accelerated climate damage while knowingly lying to the public. Two state supreme courts cleared the case to proceed. Now a Republican-supermajority SCOTUS has agreed to hear Big Oil's bid to kill it entirely — a ruling expected by October that will determine the fate of dozens of active climate liability lawsuits nationwide.

Alyssa Johl, Center for Climate Integrity: "No part of the Constitution gives corporations the right to lie to the public about dangers of their products simply because those products are fossil fuels." Support climate litigation: climateintegrity.org. earth.org/us-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-big-oils-bid-to-toss-climate-lawsuits/

Kansas Hit The Delete Button On 1,700 Kansas Trans Residents

Jaelynn Abegg opened her mailbox Thursday morning — Wichita resident, trans activist, Kansan her whole life — and the letter from the state told her she no longer had a valid driver's license.

Stakes:

  • Pattern: S.B. 244 immediately invalidated approximately 1,700 driver's licenses and birth certificates with zero grace period. Kansas is the only state to retroactively erase documents already issued.

  • Timeline: The bill was direct legislative revenge for a 2025 state appeals court ruling that found no harm in allowing gender marker changes — a practice Kansans had done since at least 2002 with zero complaints.

What the fuck is happening here isn't confusion — it's deliberate erasure. Republican AG Kris Kobach, a shit-gargling fuck-stick of extraordinary commitment, engineered this through a "gut-and-go" procedural maneuver bypassing all public hearings. The law also bans gender-neutral multi-stall restrooms and authorizes private citizens to sue trans people $1,000 per bathroom incident.

Movement: Two trans men filed suit the same day the law took effect, represented by the ACLU of Kansas. Trans Liberty PAC issued its first-ever statewide evacuation order. Support: aclu.org/kansas. lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/transgender-kansans-sue-over-head-spinning-revocation-of-drivers-licenses/

They can erase the license. They cannot erase the person who holds it.

Life Survival: Silence

"Hope will never be silent."Harvey Milk,

Milk as his most joyous

Survival wisdom: Milk said it before they killed him — and they killed him because he meant it. Hope that won't shut up is dangerous, and dangerous is what we need right now. Kansas tried to silence 1,700 people with a letter in the mail. A lawsuit landed before sundown. That's not coincidence — that's what Milk was describing. You don't wait for permission to exist. You exist, loud, and let the noise carry someone else who's too tired to make their own.

Community & Culture

Heated Rivalry effect: A married Irish man wrote to RTE Radio 1 to confess his love for a Gaelic footballer not seen in 30 years — inspired by the show's 9 million weekly viewers. Art reaches rooms where laws can't. lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/man-pens-heart-wrenching-confession

Garcia vs. Mace: Out gay Rep. Robert Garcia publicly called shit-breathing cock-roach Rep. Nancy Mace a liar and demanded Trump testify before Congress — all on the record. Using his seat exactly as intended. lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/gay-rep-robert-garcia

Nature & Science

Ancient carbon leaking from Congo: Congo Basin blackwater lakes are releasing CO₂ from peat thousands of years old — up to 40% of emissions from ancient stores. The Congo holds a third of all tropical peatland carbon on Earth. The vault is cracking. sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260224023201.htm

Fastest glacier collapse ever: Antarctica's Hektoria — 115 sq. miles — lost 8 km of ice in 60 days, lifted off flat seabed and shattered. Scientists warn larger glaciers have identical conditions. Implication: sea level math just got worse. sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260226042454.htm

Life Hacks

Streaming waste ($50–80/month average) → Search bank statement for "subscription," cancel anything unused 30 days. That's a utility bill you're gifting corporations. Feeling: Like finding cash in a coat pocket, but repeatable.

Bulk grains over packaged → Farro, millet, oats from the bulk bin: 40–60% cheaper. One Sunday pot = five lunches. Exact same grain. Zero box. Feeling: Full fridge, light wallet.

Food & Nourishment

Roasted parsnips with brown butter → Halve lengthwise, roast 425° for 22 min, finish with browned butter and thyme. Winter's best-kept secret. Late roots doing their quiet work right up until spring shows up.

Grow microgreens on your windowsill → Tray + potting mix + sunflower seeds = greens in 10–14 days, under $5 for weeks of harvest. The supply chain cannot reach your sill. Sovereignty smells like dirt under your fingernails.

Life Survival: Visibility

"We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are."Marsha P. Johnson

Moving forward — your armor for today: Marsha wasn't asking for tolerance — she was throwing bricks and making room. When Kansas sends a letter saying you do not officially exist, that is a government performing power it doesn't have. You existed before the license. The license was just the state catching up. Build what catches up — the lawsuits, the evacuation funds, each other. Today is brutal; you don't have to pretend otherwise. But you are here, real, taking up space — and that remains a revolution nobody can legislate away.

Heroes Of Our Time

The Two Trans Men Who Filed Same Day: Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe filed their constitutional challenge the same day S.B. 244 took effect with the ACLU of Kansas. 1,700 licenses erased overnight; two lawsuits filed by sundown. That's a body standing in a doorway, not moving.

Jaelynn Abegg, The Woman Who Won't Leave Quietly: Led 50 protesters through Statehouse bathrooms on Feb. 6, live and on camera. Received her own invalidation letter Thursday, called it heartbreak — then kept organizing.

Rep. Robert Garcia, Gay and On Record Called out Mace's lies publicly, demanded Trump testify before Oversight Committee. Zero apologies. lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/gay-rep-robert-garcia-basically-called-proud-transphobe-nancy-mace-a-liar/

Three fronts. Three refusals. The movement doesn't pause for bombs.

In-Depth Must Read

Losing the Thread: Tech InnovationSweaty's Corner | Geoff Anderson (Gathering publication partner). Tech's latest pivot: from crypto grift to prediction markets to Substack embedding FanDuel-adjacent gambling widgets. Geoff traces the full enshittification arc and asks who's left holding the depleted wallet. sweatyspice.com/losing-the-thread-tech-innovation/ Tech monetized attention; now it's coming for rent money dressed as innovation.

A Diseased Tree Offered Me Its FruitBrandon Ellrich is So Gay | Brandon Ellrich (Gathering publication partner). A self-described Christian left a vitriolic Substack comment. Brandon responded by having a beautiful weekend, kept writing, kept being gay and happy about it. brandonellrich.substack.com/p/i-responded-to-a-diseased-tree Rotten fruit offered. He kept growing.

logo

Hit the paid button to get the killer content

Become a paying subscriber to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Upgrade

Paid subs get.....:

  • Secure Chat Access
  • Slack Access
  • Pre-release content
  • Special content
  • Store Discounts

Reply

Avatar

or to participate

Keep Reading