Things We Can Do

to spread brightness in as much space around us as we can, especially if we’re in an area endangered by the Trump enforcement brigades we’re seeing. But even if we’re not, we can extend these actions locally to build community so we’ll be safer when it is our turn.

For Minnesotans afraid to leave home during ICE crackdown, this pizza joint delivers free food across the city

Jan 12, 2026 1:04 PM

As the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown ramps up across Minnesota — especially following a deadly shooting of a bystander named Renee Nicole Good last week — locals are rallying to support their vulnerable community members.

One such example is local pizza chain Wrecktangle Pizza.

“F—k ICE, eat pizza, and we love you,” representatives of the pizza joint and nearby sex shop, The Smitten Kitten, started a video on Thursday.

Here, they announced they were teaming up for a community initiative.

“We, at Wrecktangle, at all locations for the rest of the weekend, are going to donate one pizza for every single pizza sold, to families and friends that are affected by the increased ICE presence in Minneapolis,” one representative said.

In the caption, they noted that they are “set on volunteers” who would deliver pizza and other goods to people unable to leave home, but added: “We could really use some help raising funds to keep the momentum and keep people safe inside during these disturbing and uncertain times.”

Wrecktangle leaders said they started with $2,000 in donations from family and friends, and figured if they posted their Venmo information, they might be able to double that.

The support exceeded their expectations.

In addition to the collection of non-perishable foods and home essentials, two days later, they announced that they had received over $83,000 in donations.

Along with the donations, the local chain sold 2,291 pizzas between Thursday and Sunday.

“We couldn’t be more stunned — or grateful,” they shared on social media.

During this time, they distributed 600 pizzas, non-perishables, and toiletries to vulnerable families, adding that “we have been working only with volunteers we personally know and trust to ensure the safety of our community.”

But thousands more meals are being made and prepared for free delivery as quickly as possible.

Wrecktangle co-owner Breana Evans told Bring Me The News that nearly every local restaurant in their area has been negatively impacted by the presence of ICE.

“We have staff, coworkers who are directly affected and scared to come to work,” Evans said. “It’s not fair for our friends to be scared to provide for their families and make a living. We know how to make food. So, we said, let’s just start making food.”

The company began donating their 13-inch frozen pizzas privately by connecting with their network of neighboring businesses and organizations. But then they realized the community could expand their efforts even wider.

Trusted volunteers were sent off to deliver free pizzas and meal kits, and others came to the shop to help assemble the goods.

“I think that’s a testament to our community and that there’s more good in the world than this horrible bad that they’re making us go through,” Evans said.

After meeting an immediate need to distribute food, Wrecktangle owners are working to figure out how to best use the funds they raised to help the community.

A screenshot of an Instagram story from Wrecktangle pizza in Minnesota, sharing that 2,291 pizzas will be donated to people in need — *A screenshot of an Instagram story from Wrecktangle, sharing a weekend total of donated pizzas. Photo courtesy of Wrecktangle/Instagram*

“We are working hard with nonprofit organizations to make sure these funds do the most good. We have not yet touched a cent,” they shared on social media. “As soon as we have updates as to specifically where your kindness is going, outside of purchasing food and home products, we will keep you thoroughly updated.”

And on Sunday, to finish out the campaign, Wrecktangle encouraged supporters to spend their money with other local restaurants. For one day only, they accepted emails containing a photo of a receipt from any Minnesota restaurant, and an additional meal was donated on their behalf.

“A lot of our community wants to come back to work, and we need to make sure these restaurants can help support their staff,” Evans said in a social media video. “We need you to be there.”

s of Monday morning, Wrecktangle shared on an Instagram story that they received 176 emailed receipts, which translates to 176 more meals for vulnerable community members.

“This week has spread so much love and friendship,” the company added in an Instagram story. “And we couldn’t be more grateful.”

‍

Josh Day Next Day!

Enjoy!

The Zurich Protocol

Future of News

The Zurich protocol

They came for the newsroom. It was ready.

Ben Werdmuller 13 Jan 2026 — 5 min read

There was little warning. Officers tumbled into the newsroom all at once, guns drawn, shouting into the common spaces. In the kitchen, someone was in the middle of drawing an espresso; overflowing coffee and steam began to drip onto the floor. Then, there was silence as the men took tactical positions in corridors and cubicles, opening closed doors and forcing the occupants of privacy rooms onto the main floor.

They lined up the editors first, zip tying their hands together and leading them into vans downstairs. Then they began to gather the rest of the journalists. Laptops were gathered from desks. The server room, such as it was in the wake of zero trust and enterprise cloud services, had its door kicked in, switches and rack servers ripped out of their frames. One IT support engineer objected and found a gun in his face, the safety off, its owner ready to make them into an example.

The people of color were led into one van; the white journalists into another. All were driven away.

The newsroom’s infrastructure was decommissioned that same day. The website was taken offline. Email accounts and cloud storage were trespassed, their contents downloaded for rapid analysis by the authorities using some central AI system; maybe Palantir, maybe something else.

Ostensibly, there would be a trial. In reality, everyone knew, the point was the intimidation, the unpublishing, the detainment of the people responsible for criticism. There was no time for due process, the administration argued. Across newsrooms, universities, activist organizations, there were too many people. As the newsroom sat chained to their seats, being driven to some incarceration center somewhere, they wondered how long it would be before their families knew. How long before the remote journalists were picked up in similar ways, perhaps in front of their children, their homes trashed.

It didn’t take long for the authorities to gain access to the devices they had taken. They forced journalists to open their phones and laptops at gunpoint; they’d all been trained not to use biometric IDs, that nobody could force them to provide their passwords and PINs, but none of that matters when you have a weapon in your face. The hard drives, though encrypted, were unlocked and accessed, the data on them cloned.

They expected to find source information: the identities of people within the government who had leaked information about detainment sites and immigration enforcement activities.

They found nothing.

The files were all gone. The emails were all redacted. The devices were as good as empty.

And no matter what they did, no matter who they threatened, nobody could restore them. Not a single member of the newsroom gave up their private information.

They couldn’t.

And for all they did to bring the website down, they couldn’t stop the journalism. There was no way to take it offline. Within moments, other newsrooms seemed to have become aware of the raid, and were pointing to the articles. Interest had increased, not decreased.

The newsroom had planned for this.

For months, all its journalism had been mirrored elsewhere. It had always been available under a Creative Commons license for anyone to republish for free — a model pioneered by ProPublica and then followed by The 19th, Grist, The Marshall Project and more, which this newsroom had used for years. But in that model, another outlet needed to choose to republish an individual article.

In contrast, this new active mirroring left nothing to chance. An independent group in Switzerland intentionally syndicated all non-profit journalism onto its servers, located in Switzerland and subject to Swiss law, out of reach by the US administration. The pieces were also, after a time delay to account for post-publishing edits, syndicated to IPFS, the censorship-resistant peer-to-peer content delivery network. Together, these measures meant that it was impossible to fully redact American non-profit journalism in the public interest. The website was gone, but the articles lived on.

The group had another purpose. Beyond mirroring the newsroom’s articles, it had access to its cloud storage, its email accounts, its databases, its infrastructure. It maintained independent offsite backups of the site and every custom application, all in Switzerland. And most importantly, it had a kill switch.

When the newsroom was raided, monitoring systems in Switzerland noticed an anomaly and automatically shut down the newsroom’s systems within seconds. Email accounts and cloud storage were drained, information was locked down. Now, it was fully under their control: no-one in the US could compel them to restore it all.

Instead, two people in Switzerland, employed by a Swiss organization, needed to independently determine that it was safe to restore data. They sat in two separate clean, glass offices. To restore the data and systems, they would need to speak to the employees in the US, monitor the sensors and the security footage from the US offices, and make their own decision. If they did determine that it was safe, they would do so quickly, but it was their choice. They had full, independent authority to keep data from the newsroom until they could make that determination.

And in this case, they could not.

Because the newsroom used cloud services with zero trust, with data shared using the principle of least privilege, the seized laptops and servers contained very little usable information. Where they did contain local data, it was encrypted using keys that were kept in Switzerland and withheld with the rest of the cloud-hosted data. There was almost nothing that the authorities could use.

There were collaborators: people on the inside who provided information. Some did it because they truly believed in the administration’s cause; some simply wished to ingratiate themselves to power. Even they could not provide more access to the data; they could not lead authorities to sources or compromise the investigations of other newsrooms. In the event, they were not spared. They, too, rode in the van.

Word spread quickly. Details of the intrusion were saved to an indelible ledger of newsroom raids, violence against journalists, and other threats that was peered with newsrooms worldwide. Notifications were sent to leaders at partner newsrooms within seconds.

Those partner newsrooms — protected by similar remote kill switch with other, similar Swiss groups — were able to access source information that had been set aside in advance so that stories in progress could continue to be reported. Some of those newsrooms were in the US; some were in other countries, so that if every newsroom in the US was compromised, others would still be able to pick up the stories elsewhere.

The people in the van did not disappear. Their names, identities, and job titles were all recorded and broadcast to other newsrooms. There would be pressure for their release. Some of them were dual nationals or foreign citizens, and their respective governments would add to the pressure. It wasn’t going to be an easy road, but the truth would endure. Their sources remained safe. Their work could continue. And it would not be in vain.

Some Words & Some Art For Today’s Shtuff

The Naked Pastor’s art has been posted here more than once. I receive newsletters since he got off Substack, (I think that’s how it happened? Or someone on Substack linked him.) Anyway, today’s newsletter is really nice to post with today’s news. I don’t have a link for the newsletter, so I’ll copy-paste it below. This is the link to his About page on his site. His site where all the art is!💖

Now here comes the letter. Many of the links go to his art pages, or authors’s Amazon pages, and he does sell his art to sustain his work (his work is not on Amazon, to be clear.) It doesn’t hurt to windowshop, but it’s perfectly fine to not click the links (except his About page!) I wanted to say something just in case going to a page might put someone off that this is all about advertising; it’s not. Again, here’s the newsletter! (And Bless The Badass is a fine piece of art!)

=====

Cartoon of the Week
Bless the Badass!
I bless the badass that you are! I am so inspired by so many women to be a badass myself! (BTW… several people have commissioned me to draw “Badass” for a loved one to make the person look like them.)

Dad Joke
What if God just came down one day and said, “It’s pronounced ‘Jod’! and then left?

Quote
From an expert criminologist on violence against women: “Statistically, we know now that once the hands are on the neck, the very next step is homicide… They don’t go backwards!” – Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. This next one is a fascinating book because it exposes just how thoroughly embedded is the patriarchy in our thoughts, attitudes, and treatment of women. “… if a woman became pregnant following her rape, it meant she had ultimately enjoyed herself.” – Eleanor Janega, The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society.

Women Suffer
The above quote about a woman getting pregnant from her rape meant that she enjoyed it is based on the “two seed theory”. This theory, which lasted more than 2,000 years, taught that the man and the woman each contributed a seed when they both orgasmed, that these two seeds mixed, and that the dominant one determined the formation of the child. The only way a woman could get pregnant then was if she orgasmed. How condemning! I believe the residue of that bad theology and science is still deeply embedded in the patriarchal psyche. Janega’s research also reveals that whenever women began to succeed, men would attempt to put an end to it. For example, it was believed that embroidery was a woman’s task. But when women began to build successful businesses by embroidering clothing for the wealthy… that is developing a fashion industry… the men took over the businesses, and put the women to work as labourers. There are so many stories like that. Interestingly, though, all of this patriarchal maneuvering is rooted in philosophy, theology, and even science. It wasn’t just the ancient philosophers who proposed and espoused the two-seed theory, but theologians like Tertullian and Augustine, and scientists like Hippocrates. The assumption was that man was the gold standard of what it meant to be a person, and women were a spin-off of that ideal and therefore second-rate. This, of course, is rooted in the creation story of Adam and Eve. But once this assumption of supremacy is embedded in our thinking, then it determines every other thought that follows. I have a personal story. Lisa and I finally got a new car… something we’ve needed for a long time. It’s a Toyota Rav4. We need a reliable All Wheel Drive because Lisa often drives to work as a nurse before the plows clear the roads of snow. I want her to be safe and secure. We love it. Or, I should say, I love it, and Lisa isn’t so sure anymore. Why? Because she can’t get the driver’s seat comfortable. I was talking to a neighbour about her work car, also a Rav4, and she said she wouldn’t get one. Why? Because she can’t get the driver’s seat comfortable. I’ve heard of a few other women with the same complaint. I googled it, and it is a thing. This reminded me of another book I read by Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed For Men. As the title suggests, the book is filled with data illustrating how the world is designed by men for men. It’s not necessarily malicious. But when a car seat used to be designed, manufactured, and tested by men, women inevitably suffered. (Is this still going on?) This included seatbelts, especially for pregnant women. As well as little things like lower temperature settings in offices where men warmly wear suits or at least sleeves, while women are expected to bare their arms, upper chests, and legs. Like I said, it’s not necessarily malicious, but women suffer as a result. Just like science believed that women could only get pregnant if they orgasmed. It wasn’t necessarily malicious, but women suffered for centuries. This is why I think it is so important to question everything, including our most cherished assumptions, and to consider the consequences these assumptions have on those around us.

So my friend, if we want to build a more just, compassionate world, we have to be willing to ask hard questions about where our ideas come from and who they are leaving out. It is not just about our personal beliefs. It is about recognizing the ripple effects those beliefs have on others. Sometimes the harm was not intentional. But it is harmful nonetheless. I say, let’s ask more questions!!!

With love,

David

https://nakedpastor.com/pages/about

A Tuesday Comic

Be kind to yourself! 😃

https://www.gocomics.com/chuckdrawsthings/2026/01/09

More Fun With Weird Art On Book Covers!

Cover Snark: Lord Gumbert Rubberthwaite

by Amanda · Jan 12, 2026 at 2:00 am

Welcome back to Cover Snark!

Amanda: This gives me Barbie animated movie vibes.

Sarah: His head is so big, and his neck is so long, and I’m also confused by the size of her head and the length of her arms.

This is giving me the uncanny valley vibes of that one Julie Anne Long Cover – not the smirking git one, the giant head lady one.

This one:

Sarah: “Head too big, arms too short” will be the name of my podcast about disturbing cover art.

Elyse: That’s similar to my favorite kitten/puppy stage “ears too big, legs too long”

Sarah: His neck is long, right? It’s not just me?

Elyse: I think it’s not long, it’s broken.

Sarah: “How.”
” How what?”
” How did you know that my father was Gumby?”
” Everyone knows your father is Gumby, my lord.”

Elyse: LMAO

Sarah: “I thought we had hidden it.”

“You thought you had hidden your lineage and connection to Lord Gumbert Rubberthwaite, Earl of Stretetshingtonshoreley?”
…
“Which is pronounced ‘Stretchley?’ Really, you thought that was a secret?”

Elyse: I would read that book.

From Kelly B: One-the title is Behind the Net but they are clearly in front of the net. And two-the physics required to sit on a hockey net like that.

Sarah: This is just awful on so many gravitational and proportional levels.

Amanda: Girl has got to be engaging her core like crazy.

(snip-go read it-it’s hilarious! And post your own comments below!)

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/01/cover-snark-lord-gumbert-rubberthwaite/

From Ten Bears:

Things That Make You Go “Hmmm … “

NASA says targeting ISS medical evacuation for January 14

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Most of these terms annoy me. Many more not mentioned here also annoy me. I very much dislike what we used to call “cliches,” and other trendy terms and phrases that get used as if they’re proof of membership in some sort of club, or something. It really messes up language and clarity, IMO. “Woke” is one that just irritates me so much I need calamine lotion. I remember I first saw the term in 3d grade, reading a biography of a runaway slave who used the Underground Railroad. The term started out in slavery times, with people of color-slaves, newly freed people-telling each other to stay woke, meaning be aware of your surroundings at all times because of danger. That was passed down the lines for generations, always meaning to be aware of potential danger always. Look at it now. I don’t believe woke should be retired, simply given back to those who need it. IMO! Anyway, on with the article; everyone’s mileage will vary (and maybe that phrase ought to be in here; I use it frequently) on these. Enjoy!

27 words and phrases that people agree are overused and need to be retired in 2026

“Every term invented to get around TikTok censors.”

Heather Wake

It’s pretty customary for humans to collectively latch on to certain words or phrases for a time, only to grow tired of them once the trendiness wears off. That’s by and large how we get generational slang in the first place. One man’s “rad” is another man’s “bussin.” The linguistic circle of life, as it were.

But the rapidity of social media has certainly seemed to make this turnover move at the speed of light, hasn’t it? It takes a fraction of the time for words to get overused, misused, change meaning, and lose meaning altogether.

That’s probably why when someone on Reddit asked, “What overused word or phrase needs to be retired in 2026?” there was no shortage of passionate answers. From warped psychology terms to nonsensical Gen Alpha brainrot words, people delivered.

Keep scrolling for our favorites.

Sensational journalism words

1. ’Slammed’ by the news.”

2. “Also while we’re at it, ‘bombshell,’ ‘destroyed,’ ‘meltdown,’ and ‘disaster.’”

3. “Blasted. Clap back.”

“Those are telltale signs that what you’re about to read is heavily biased and was written to evoke emotions instead of giving just the facts so it’s basically trash.

Therapy speak

4. “Gaslighting. People love to use this term wrong. It doesn’t mean ‘lying,’ it means ‘manipulating somebody into believing they’re crazy.’ That involves lying, but they’re not the same thing. Also every term invented to get around TikTok censors. ‘Unaliving,’ ‘graped,’etc.”

5. “Calling anyone who does anything slightly annoying a narcissist.”

6. “Similarly, anytime someone feels just a little proud of themselves for something and/or compliments themselves, it’s ‘ego.’ Not hating and constantly putting yourself down isn’t ego. It’s healthy.”

7. “Trauma.You don’t have trauma from the Starbucks barista mispronouncing your name, Djoeffreigh. And if you do, I am not interested in hearing about it.”

Aggressively passive-aggressive phrases

8. “People who use ‘the ick,’ ironically enough, give me the ick. Now I’ve given it to myself.”

9. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

10. “Louder for the people in the back.”

11. “‘Let that sink in.’ ‘Read that again but slowly.’ ‘I don’t know who needs to hear this, but…’”

12. “‘Just saying’ after being very aggressive.”

Social media buzzwords and phrases that have been run into the ground

13. ”’Let’s normalize this.’ please no.”

14. “Tell me you’re Y without saying it.”

15. “I’m begging people to stop saying’”its giving.’”

16. “I’m literally obsessed”

17. “X lives rent free.”

18. “That’s iconic, she’s iconic, they’re iconic.”

19. “Today years old”

Weird, cutesy parenting terms

20. “Boy mom”

21. “I also hate ‘littles.”

Words that do not mean what people think they mean

22. “’Underrated’. Sick of seeing ‘OMG! This band/singer/guitarist/drummer is so underrated’ when they’re clearly millionaires from the musical success they’ve enjoyed for years.”

23. “‘My truth.’ I like this one because it lets me know the next words out of their mouth are going to be bullshit.”

24. “According to AI.”

Phrases that kids today use that all us olds hate

25. “The grandkids are slowing down on 6 7 (FINALLY), and I haven’t heard them say ‘sigma’ for a while, so HOPEFULLY those are both going away forever!!

26. “‘Lowkey’ we’ve run it into the ground.”

“The new ‘literally.”

“Omg it’s low key every second word my teen says.”

And finally…

Words that have lost their original meaning due to overuse

27. “‘Absolute game changer .’ I do product reviews, and I want to smack people for this one. Everything is a ‘game changer’ or a ‘holy grail.’ Bullshit, it is. That 5 star game changer is usually an overpriced piece of crap lol.”

So What’s Everyone Reading These Days?

When not finding dependable news, and all the other things that make up your days? I just finished Judy Blume’s “Smart Women,” and am now reading a Courtney Milan M/M romance set during the US’s very early days; the protagonists are a white British absconder, and a freed Black US soldier, and they’re making their way to Rhode Island to the Black soldier’s family who they hope will be safe at home. I’m not very far into it, but they’ve self-acknowledged that they’re having feelings for each other, and had tacitly acknowledged they know, to each other. Tonight over supper, I will read on. It’s got a lot of humor, from the British guy.

OK, so I ran across this list from The Root, and thought a snippet could be of interest here I’m also leaving in the related-or-not links because those stories are also of interest. Enjoy!

January 2026 Books By Black Authors You Need To Read

From a Kenan Thompson picture book to a memoir from the CEO of The Honey Pot, the first month of 2026 is full of great Black books for lovers of every genre.

By Angela Johnson Published January 10, 2026

A new year is here, and if one of your resolutions is to cut down on your screen time, you’re in luck…because with a new year comes great new books by Black authors for every kind of reader, so make room on your bookshelf!

Why the Tragic Shooting of Keith Porter Jr. by ICE Is Not the Same as Renee Good in Minneapolis

New Footage Shows Ice Agent’s View During Fatal Minneapolis Shooting, From George Floyd to Renee Good: Minneapolis Faces New Trauma After Shooting, Zohran Mamdani and Brandon Johnson React to Deadly ICE Shooting, Why ICE Agent Killing a White Woman Could Actually Make a Difference, Jasmine Crockett Calls Out Republicans in Emotional Response to Renee Good, Tim Walz Warns Minnesota Residents of Martial Law and Everything We Know About the Dec. 7 Tragedy

January 2026 Books By Black Authors You Need To Read

Samuel L. Jackson, John David and Malcolm Washington on ‘The Piano Lesson,’ Family and Legacy

SNL star Kenan Thompson’s hilarious picture book, The Honey Pot CEO Beatrice Dixon’s story of her road to success and Dr. LaNail R. Plummer’s guide to counseling Black women are just a few of the books by Black authors we can’t wait to read this month.

“Unfunny Bunny” by Kenan Thompson with Bryan Tucker (Jan. 13)

SNL star Kenan Thompson can add children’s book author to his already amazing resume. “Unfunny Bunny” is a picture book that centers around Bunny, who wants to be the funniest kid in his class, but worries when his jokes don’t land with his classmates.

“With Love, From Harlem” by ReShonda Tate (Jan. 27)

Set in Harlem in 1943, ReShonda Tate’s novel, “With Love, From Harlem,” is inspired by the life of jazz performer Hazel Scott and her relationship with pastor-politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and how they balance their relationship with their personal ambitions.

You’ll love the references to Harlem legends, like Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin.

“The Soul Instinct” by Beatrice Dixon (Jan. 27)

“The Soul Instinct” is an inspiring memoir from The Honey Pot CEO Beatrice Dixon. In the book, she writes about a dream of her grandmother that led her on a journey to create a successful line of feminine care products now available in more than 30,000 stores across the United States, and how she had to learn to trust herself along the way.

“Sweet, Sweet Memory” by Jaqueline Woodson (Jan. 20)

“Sweet, Sweet Memory” is a beautiful children’s book by Jaqueline Woodson about a young girl who learns about the power of community and our connection to our ancestors after the death of her beloved grandfather.

“Behind These Four Walls” by Yasmin Angoe (Jan. 1)

“Behind These Four Walls” is a thrilling new novel from Yasmin Angoe. At the center of the story is Isla Thorne, who met her best friend, Eden Galloway, while the two were growing up in a group home. The two planned to run away to Los Angeles when they turned 16, but Eden never made it. Now, ten years later, Isla is determined to solve the mystery of her friend’s disappearance.

“The Book of Alice: Poems” by Diamond Forde (Jan. 20)

Winner of the 2025 James Laughlin Award from The Academy of American Poets, “The Book of Alice” is a collection of poetry inspired by the life of Diamond Forde’s grandmother Alice, who found her way to New York City during the Great Migration. Using stories from the King James Bible, Forde draws parallels to the Black experience.

“Black Founder: The Hidden Power of Being an Outsider” by Stacy Spikes (Jan. 24)

In “Black Founder,” MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes writes about his journey to becoming a successful tech entrepreneur and how he found power in his position as an outsider to fuel his success and disrupt the status quo.

“Fire Sword and Sea” by Vanessa Riley (Jan. 13)

“Fire Sword and Sea.” is a page-turner based on the story of real-life female pirate Jacquotte Delahay, Set in 1675, Delahay is the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy tavern owner on Tortuga who hides her identity for the chance to explore life at sea.

“A High Price For Freedom” by Clyde W. Ford (Jan. 13)

“A High Price For Freedom” is a new book by historian Clyde W. Ford. In the book, Ford explores some of the most fascinating moments in Black history and sheds new light on the stories we thought we knew.

“Just Right” by Torrey Maldonado (Jan. 20)

“Just Right” is the first picture book by well-known middle grade author Torrey Maldonado. The story, which deals with the special relationship between a little boy and his uncle, emphasizes the power of positive adult role models.

“Getting to Reparations: How Building a Different America Requires a Reckoning with Our Past” by Dorothy A. Brown (Jan. 20)

“Getting to Reparations” is a new book by Dorothy A. Brown, which explores the idea of reparations for Black Americans through the lens of other communities that have been compensated by the government for past wrongs throughout history.

“The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women” by Dr. LaNail R. Plummer (Jan. 27)

In “The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women,” mental health expert Dr. LaNail R. Plummer shares a guide on how mental health professionals can best support Black women on their healing journey.

“The Ex Dilemma” by Elle Wright (Jan. 27)

“The Ex Dilemma” is a fun romantic novel that tells the story of nepo baby Wesley Batchelor, whose dating life is put on blast by a mysterious social media influencer. Things get even more complicated when a private investigator, who just so happens to be Wesley’s ex, is hired to find out who is working against him. (snip)

Sigh …

Texans Are Fighting a 6,000 Acre Nuclear-Powered Datacenter

Matthew Gault ·Jan 8, 2026 at 9:49 AM

Billionaire Toby Neugebauer laughed when the Amarillo City Council asked him how he planned to handle the waste his planned datacenter would produce.

“I’m not laughing in disrespect to your question,” Neugebauer said. He explained that he’d just met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who had made it clear that any nuclear waste Neugebauer’s datacenter generated needed to go to Nevada, a state that’s not taking nuclear waste at the moment. “The answer is we don’t have a great long term solution for how we’re doing nuclear waste.

(snip-you can hear a 404 Media podcast if you click through to the story on 404, up there in the post title.)

The meeting happened on October 28, 2025 and was one of a series of appearances Neugebauer has put in before Amarillo’s leaders as he attempts to realize Project Matador: a massive 5,769 acre datacenter being built in the Texas Panhandle and constructed by Fermi America, a company he founded with former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

If built, Project Matador would be one of the largest datacenters in the world at around 18 million square feet. “What we’re talking about is creating the epicenter for artificial intelligence in the United States,” Neugebauer told the council. According to Neugebauer, the United States is in an existential race to build AI infrastructure. He sees it as a national security issue.

“You’re blessed to sit on the best place to develop AI compute in America,” he told Amarillo. “I just finished with Palantir, which is our nation’s tip of the spear in the AI war. They know that this is the place that we must do this. They’ve looked at every site on the planet. I was at the Department of War yesterday. So anyone who thinks this is some casual conversation about the mission critical aspect of this is just not being truthful.”

But it’s unclear if Palantir wants any part of Project Matador. One unnamed client—rumored to be Amazon—dropped out of the project in December and cancelled a $150 million contract with Fermi America. The news hit the company’s stock hard, sending its value into a tailspin and triggering a class action lawsuit from investors.

Yet construction continues. The plan says it’ll take 11 years to build out the massive datacenter, which will first be powered by a series of natural gas generators before the planned nuclear reactors come online.

Amarillo residents aren’t exactly thrilled at the prospect. A group called 806 Data Center Resistance has formed in opposition to the project’s construction. Kendra Kay, a tattoo artist in the area and a member of 806, told 404 Media that construction was already noisy and spiking electricity bills for locals.

“When we found out how big it was, none of us could really comprehend it,” she said. “We went out to the site and we were like, ‘Oh my god, this thing is huge.’ There’s already construction underway of one of four water tanks that hold three million gallons of water.”

For Kay and others, water is the core issue. It’s a scarce resource in the panhandle and Amarillo and other cities in the area already fight for every drop. “The water is the scariest part,” she said. “They’re asking for 2.5 million gallons per day. They said that they would come back, probably in six months, to ask for five million gallons per day. And then, after that, by 2027 they would come back and ask for 10 million gallons per day.”

During an October 15 city council meeting, Neugebauer told the city that Fermi would get its water “with or without” an agreement from the city. “The only difference is whether Amarillo benefits.” To many people it sounded like a threat, but Neugebauer got his deal and the city agreed to sell water to Fermi America for double the going rate.

“It wasn’t a threat,” Neugebauer said during another meeting on October 28. “I know people took my answer…as a threat. I think it’s a win-win. I know there are other water projects we can do…we fully got that the water was going to be issue 1, 2, and 3.”

“We can pay more for water than the consumer can. Which allows you all capital to be able to re-invest in other water projects,” he said. “I think what you’re gonna find is having a customer who can pay way more than what you wanna burden your constituents with will actually enhance your water availability issues.”

According to Neugebauer and plans filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the datacenter would generate and consume 11 gigawatts of power. The bulk of that, eventually, would be generated by four nuclear reactors. But nuclear reactors are complicated and expensive to make and everyone who has attempted to build one in the past few decades has gone over budget and they weren’t trying to build nuclear power plants in the desert.

Nuclear reactors, like datacenters, consume a lot of water. Because of that, most nuclear reactors are constructed near massive bodies of water and often near the ocean. “The viewpoint that nuclear reactors can only be built by streams and oceans is actually the opposite,” Neugebauer told the Amarillo city council in the meeting on October 28.

As evidence he pointed to the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona. The massive Palo Verde plant is the only nuclear plant in the world not constructed near a ready source of water. It gets the water it needs by taking on the waste and sewage water of every city and town nearby.

That’s not the plan with Project Matador, which will use water sold to it by Amarillo and pulled from the nearby Ogallala Aquifer. “I am concerned that we’re going to run out of water and that this is going to change it from us having 30 years worth of water for agriculture to much less very quickly,” Kay told 404 Media.

The Ogallala Aquifer runs under parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. It’s the primary source of water for the Texas panhandle and it’s drying out.

“They don’t know how much faster because, despite how quickly this thing is moving, we don’t have any idea how much water they’re realistically going to use or need, so we don’t even know how to calculate the difference,” Kay said. “Below Lubbock, they’ve been running out of water for a while. The priority of this seems really stupid.”

According to Kay, communities near the datacenter feel trapped as they watch the construction grind on. “They’ve all lived here for several generations…they’re being told that this is inevitable. Fermi is going up to them and telling them ‘this is going to happen whether you like it or not so you might as well just sell me your property.’”

Kay said she and other activists have been showing up to city council meetings to voice their concerns and tell leaders not to approve permits for the datacenter and nuclear plants. Other communities across the country have successfully pushed datacenter builders out of their community. “But Texas is this other beast,” Kay said.

Jacinta Gonzalez, the head of programs for MediaJustice and her team have helped 806 Data Center Resistance get up and running and teaching it tactics they’ve seen pay off in other states. “In Tucson, Arizona we were able to see the city council vote ‘no’ to offer water to Project Blue, which was a huge proposed Amazon datacenter happening there,” she said. “If you look around, everywhere from Missouri to Indiana to places in Georgia, we’re seeing communities pass moratoriums, we’re seeing different projects withdraw their proposals because communities find out about it and are able to mobilize and organize against this.”

“The community in Amarillo is still figuring out what that’s going to look like for them,” she said. “These are really big interests. Rick Perry. Palantir. These are not folks who are used to hearing ‘no’ or respecting community wishes. So the community will have to be really nimble and up for a fight. We don’t know what will happen if we organize, but we definitely know what will happen if we don’t.”

About the author

Matthew Gault is a writer covering weird tech, nuclear war, and video games. He’s worked for Reuters, Motherboard, and the New York Times. More from Matthew Gault