Grounded wisdom for curious souls

Good morning, beloved community.

It's Saturday, January 17, 2026. Today: DOJ goes after Minnesota Democrats, the planet's still cooking, trans elders deserve goddamn wrinkles, and the life hack that'll change your fucking week.

First time here? Join hundreds of seekers cutting through the noise. Sign up here.

Editor's note: The cold wants you quiet—stay loud as hell.

New York: 34°F, 80% chance of that wet-ass snow slapping your face sideways, gray as a motherfucking tomb—stay the hell inside.

Kansas City: 38°F, crisp and cold as a bitch, partly cloudy skies that'll trick you into thinking it's warmer than it damn well is.

Atlanta: 51°F, mild enough to make you cocky, 30% rain chance— don't be a dumbass, bring the umbrella.

San Francisco: 57°F, rainy season drizzle kissing your cheeks, misty and moody as all hell—gorgeous, honestly.

Detroit: 31°F, cloudy enough to crush your fucking soul, snow likely, that Great Lakes chill cutting straight to bone.

The subpoenas landed Friday like a punch to the gut—Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey now face DOJ grand jury investigations for allegedly obstructing federal immigration enforcement. Feel that? The metallic taste of democracy curdling on your tongue. ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, a Minneapolis resident, during an operation. Frey told ICE to "get the fuck out of Minneapolis." Now the bastards want his files.

The damage: Ninety-eight defendants charged in Minnesota fraud cases, $185 million frozen by HHS, and two Democratic leaders treated like goddamn criminals for protecting their communities. Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman calls it "total garbage"—the statute requires force or threats, and the First Amendment protects their speech. Democrats are rallying hard: Senator Amy Klobuchar calls it "an assault on our democracy." Walz himself put it plainly: "The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."

URL: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5693648-minnesota-officials-doj-subpoenas/

Close your eyes. Feel the heat radiating off asphalt in December. That's 14.97°C—the global average for 2025, just 0.01°C cooler than 2023. The past eleven years? The eleven goddamn warmest on record. The three-year average just crossed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time ever. We're staring down the barrel of the Paris Agreement's limit, and Carlo Buontempo of Copernicus says we're "bound to pass it."

The science: Oceans absorbed over 90% of excess heat—57% of global waters hit top-five warmest conditions. The Arctic reached its second-highest temps; Antarctica broke its fucking record. Wildfires ravaged California, Spain, Canada. This was America's third-costliest disaster year ever. Meanwhile, the richest 1% blew through their annual carbon budget in ten damn days. Oxfam projects their emissions alone will cause 1.3 million heat deaths by century's end.

URL: https://earth.org/this-week-in-climate-news-january-2026-week-2/

Nova Bright looks in the mirror and sees a gray hair. She smiles. "It reminds me, a trans woman, that I am growing," she writes. Only 0.26% of adults over 65 identify as transgender in America—historic invisibility made flesh. Trevor Project polling shows 90% of LGBTQ+ youth say recent politics hurt their wellbeing. Nearly half of trans and nonbinary kids' families are considering moving states.

The stakes: Bright names the most vulnerable—Black and Brown trans women, Indigenous and Two-Spirit folks, sex workers, foster youth navigating poverty. "We must build a world where trans people don't have to be resilient just to stay alive." This isn't about surviving. It's about thriving long enough to earn wrinkles through decades of laughter. It's about existing in bathrooms, airports, doctors' offices with dignity. Trans elders are living proof that survival is possible—and fighting for them means fighting for every queer kid who deserves to grow the hell up.

URL: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/we-deserve-wrinkles-the-fight-for-trans-youth-is-a-fight-for-a-future-with-trans-elders-in-it/

Vivian Wilson just showed up in Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Valentine's campaign wearing a rose-print bra and scarlet stockings, looking like a fucking goddess while her estranged father Elon Musk chokes on his own hypocrisy. She called him a "pathetic man-child." The campaign drips with defiance—Aphrodite was a savage.

URL: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/elon-musks-trans-daughter-vivian-wilson-stars-in-rihannas-latest-lingerie-campaign/

Robert Reich says your activism is working, dammit. Trump's approval ratings are plummeting. Democrats are winning special elections. That sick feeling in your gut? Channel it into organizing—the bastard's grip is slipping.

URL: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/veteran-politico-believes-the-end-is-near-for-donald-your-activism-is-working/

Lionfish are eating the ocean alive—a single one can reduce native fish recruitment by 79% in weeks. Mediterranean populations jumped 400% between 2018-2020. These venomous assholes lay two million eggs yearly and have zero natural predators. Taste them: eat the invaders.

URL: https://earth.org/the-invasion-of-the-lionfish-a-silent-marine-crisis/

279,000 Europeans died from air pollution in 2023. Italy lost 43,083 souls. Finland? Thirty-four. Breathe deep in Helsinki—choke in Rome. Ninety-five percent of urban Europeans inhale poison every goddamn day.

URL: https://earth.org/95-of-europeans-exposed-to-unsafe-levels-of-air-pollution-as-report-links-it-to-279000-premature-deaths-in-2023/

Democrats Rally Around Walz Amid DOJ Probe The Hill | Staff. The subpoenas smell like retaliation—Senator Klobuchar calls it "authoritarian," and Harry Litman says it's a legal non-starter. Read.

URL: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5693913-democrats-defend-tim-walz-minnesota-doj-subpoeana/

Former Prosecutor: DOJ Case Is "Total Garbage" The Hill | Staff. Harry Litman breaks down why the investigation lacks legal merit and what it means for officials who dare to speak out. Read.

URL: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5693944-harry-litman-doj-subpoenas-walz-frey-minnesota-immigration/

2026 Predictions:

Wonder: In 1996, archaeologists digging for a museum parking lot accidentally uncovered Aristotle's Lyceum—30,000 square feet of the first damn university, buried for millennia. Socrates debated there. Europe's first library lived there.

URL: https://nautil.us/the-accidental-discovery-of-aristotles-paradigm-shifting-school-1261603/

Clickbait: People born before 1970 ate fried bologna, Jell-O 1-2-3, and weiners wrapped in bacon—and somehow survived.

URL: https://www.upworthy.com/people-born-before-1970-share-what-they-ate-for-dinner-growing-up

Poetry and Feelings: thepoetmiranda.com
Personal Queer Journey: thistleandfern.org
Life Banter: brandonellrich.substack.com
Lisa's Porch Talk: wuzzittoya.org / wuzzittoya.substack.com
Presence Not Permission: presencenotpermission.beehiiv.com

Become a member: thistleandmoss.com/upgrade

Behind the Name: Beneath the noise, mycelial networks pulse—ancient knowledge threading through soil, connecting root to root in darkness. The Daily Gathering draws from that same wisdom: ancestral threads, quiet practices, the daily rituals that anchor us to each other and to what actually fucking matters.