New York: Touch the bitter fucking air at 37°F - ice crystals whisper across gray sidewalks, that metallic winter cold stinging nostrils as clouds sag low and heavy with the threat of more goddamn snow.

Kansas City: The brutal 30-degree hell grips the heartland - wind slicing through coats like razor blades, sky the color of old bruises, ice coating everything in a treacherous crystalline fuck-you to anyone who dares venture outside.

Atlanta: A merciful 50 degrees kisses southern skin - mild enough to taste hope on your tongue, clouds breaking occasionally to let weak winter sunshine warm bones that remember what heat fucking means.

San Francisco: Cool 55-degree fog rolls off the Pacific like an old friend who won't leave - damp air clings to everything, that particular Bay Area chill that seeps through layers no matter how many you wear, the bastard.

Detroit: Motor City shivers at a brutal 30 fucking degrees - snow-crusted streets reflect pale light, Lake Effect winds howling through empty lots, the kind of cold that makes your teeth ache and your soul question every life choice that led you here.

Grounded wisdom for curious souls

Good morning, beloved community. It's Tuesday, January 20, 2026. Today: Trump's GOP senators hit their breaking point, that motherfucker's year-long climate catastrophe examined in detail, Nicki Minaj proving she's a complete piece of shit, and the life hack that'll change your fucking week.

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Editor's note: Inauguration anniversary - one year of watching democracy get gutted while the planet burns.

Feel the sweat beading on Republican foreheads, that acidic taste of fear coating tongues as poll numbers crater. Two weeks into 2026 and Trump's own party is fracturing - senators whisper that he can't handle even minor policy disagreements without making it intensely fucking personal. The man screamed at Susan Collins for nearly twenty minutes over the phone, his rage so volcanic that staffers could hear him through the walls. Five GOP senators broke ranks on Venezuela military action, so Trump demanded they all be "ousted from Congress" like the wannabe dictator he fucking is.

The damage goes deeper than tantrums. Republican strategists see midterm wipeout coming - Trump's approval underwater on every single issue, his Greenland obsession polling at 17 percent support, his economic messaging calling affordability concerns a "hoax" while vulnerable members beg for coherent talking points. One anonymous senator admits the quiet part: "He can't handle any level of what he considers to be personal criticism. People feel like they have nowhere else to go." Midterms loom like a reckoning, and these cowards know it. Read the full breakdown

Taste the ash of burning regulations, feel the heat rising from a planet this administration gleefully torches. One year since Trump's second inauguration, and the devastation is comprehensive: mass firings of climate scientists, billions cut from clean energy, fossil fuel extraction unleashed across protected lands. The bastard declared a fake "national energy emergency" on day fucking one despite the US producing more oil than any nation in history, then used it to gut every environmental protection Biden built.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge opened for drilling. Coal plants revived like fucking zombies. Wind energy slandered with brazen lies while Trump pushes his "drill, baby, drill" agenda into Venezuela's oil fields. He stripped $20 billion from climate grants mid-project, leaving communities in limbo. He deleted scientific websites, terminated the US Global Change Research Program, pulled out of 66 international climate bodies including the IPCC and Paris Agreement. State laws protecting the environment - California's cap-and-trade, New York's climate superfund - all under attack. National parks hemorrhaging staff. Wildlife protections dismantled. The EPA now refuses to calculate healthcare savings from pollution rules, prioritizing industry costs over human lives. One year of methodical climate murder while the planet screams. See the complete horror

Hear the slur dripping with homophobia, watch her double down with that smug fucking grin. The rapper called gay journalist Don Lemon a "cock sucker" after he reported on ICE's church presence, then when called out for her bigotry, she purposefully wrote it that exact disgusting way again. "I purposely wrote it that way," she bragged, proud of weaponizing homophobia for clicks.

Don Lemon came back hard: "You are a homophobic bigot. You don't care about African-Americans. You're not an African-American. You are reportedly an undocumented citizen, so you should be deported under Donald Trump's rules." He reminded everyone her husband is a registered sex offender, her brother serving 25 years for child rape. This is the same Minaj who praises Trump's "cool kids" supporters, who attacks trans children, who performs at AmericaFest celebrating fascism. Pride organizations are calling for boycotts. The LGBTQ+ community she once claimed to support now sees her clearly: she's not their friend, she's their fucking enemy. Full story here

Japanese Pop Group Evolves Beyond Gender - Feel the shift in your chest, that warm expansion when art transcends boundaries. XG, formerly "Xtraordinary Girls," just became "Xtraordinary Genes" one month after member Cocona came out as transmasculine nonbinary. The seven-member group's management announced the evolution represents "innate creativity, individuality and forward-thinking energy" as all members entered their twenties. Cocona shared about their top surgery earlier in 2025, and the group responded with full fucking support - redefining their entire brand rather than forcing anyone into boxes. This is what real allyship looks like: not performative rainbows, but actual structural change that says we see you, we've got you, we're evolving together. Read more

Texans Fight Nuclear-Powered Data Center - Smell the fear in small-town meetings, watch billionaires laugh at concerns about waste. Billionaire Toby Neugebauer actually laughed when Amarillo's city council asked about nuclear waste from his planned 6,000-acre datacenter. Just met with Governor Abbott, who made clear any radioactive shit needs to go to Nevada - a state that's not fucking taking nuclear waste right now. "We don't have a great long term solution for how we're doing nuclear waste," Neugebauer admitted while smirking. The resistance group "806 Data Center Resistance" fights Project Matador, this massive facility being built by Fermi America, a company Neugebauer founded with former Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Locals told this is "inevitable," but Texas communities are done accepting tech billionaires' environmental nightmares. Full investigation

404 Media | Joseph Cox

Feel your face scanned against your will, watch the algorithm return two wrong names for the same woman. When ICE agents used their Mobile Fortify facial recognition app on a detained woman, it misidentified her twice - first as "Maria," then as someone else entirely. Both names: completely fucking wrong. ICE claims this app provides a "definitive" determination of immigration status and should be trusted over birth certificates. The incident reveals the terrifying reality: this technology doesn't work, but ICE uses it anyway to decide who gets deported, scanning faces on American streets without consent, treating errors as acceptable collateral damage. "There is no advice I can give on this because you can't change your face," one security expert noted, "and if you don't submit to their demands ICE has demonstrated that they are willing to shoot you." Trump's administration has built a surveillance state that criminalizes brown skin, powered by failing technology and backed by state violence. Read the full exposé

2026 Travel Predictions: Everyone's fleeing winter for Fiji's "Bula spirit" hospitality, Galápagos wildlife encounters, Antigua's 365 beaches (one for every damn day), Turks and Caicos's powdery sands, Seychelles's car-free La Digue island, or Australia's Whitsundays where Great Barrier Reef snorkeling meets Hamilton Island luxury. Translation: rich people escaping their collapsing societies by jetting to tropical paradises while climate change drowns those same islands. See the destinations

How Dogs Choose Their Favorite Person: Dogs decide their very favorite human by who gives the most consistent, high-quality attention - not who feeds them, but who actually engages. Physical affection matters: ear rubs, scratches, that good shit. The first six months are crucial, but the mailman who gives daily head scratches can still beat the owner who doesn't. Dogs respond to emotional connection, tone of voice, body language - they're reading your energy and choosing accordingly. Stop bribing with treats and start being fucking present. Learn the science

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: The Gathering threads you into the underground mycelium network - that hidden web of roots and spores carrying wisdom beneath the screaming surface world. We're not here to amplify the noise. We're here to help you feel the pulse of what actually fucking matters: the ancestral knowing in your bones, the daily practices that keep you tethered to truth while everything else burns.