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alex nguyen

@alexjn.bsky.social
5.9K followers 1.2K following 73 posts

breaking news reporter @motherjones.com, @cir-union.bsky.social | writing on labor and politics, fact checker | posts on good art sometimes Email: alexajn@proton.me Signal: anguyen.91

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Reposted by alex nguyen
Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
At least a dozen fraternity and sorority pledges have died in hazing incidents since 2020—that year, given the pandemic’s social distancing requirements, only one young woman died in a hazing ritual. That was the lowest number of hazing deaths in decades.
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Kate Manne wrote another brilliant essay about the Cornell case. This time, it's about her own experiences interacting with Cornell's police department.
katemanne.substack.com
Whose Side Are the Cornell University Police On?
Sharing my story of a disturbing encounter with CUPD in 2018
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Alison Veneto @vermilionpearlgirl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“We would really like to see this contract extended throughout the video game industry and for other studios to look at what Blizzard has done and follow suit"
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 27/09/2026
Women trying to succeed in Silicon Valley AI and effective altruist spaces are reporting feeling serious social pressure to attend sex parties - where people have reported being sexually assaulted, like below. Events like Aella’s “Slutcon,” which is happening again this weekend.
Ann Pierce
@itsannpierce
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I am disheartened by this as well. I already lost a bunch of followers for agreeing with @tautologer, but it's saddening to see local nerdy women being caricatured as Karen-like outsiders and getting pushed out of the scene. This is exactly why you hear so few concrete, names-attached stories of sexual harrassment and assault. I'm told there is a history of discrediting these because the "slut normalization" thing is top priority and these stories get inconveniently in the way of spreading this ideology.
I got roped into attending last year's Saturday Slutcon party because so many local and out-of-town friends were there (to echo sentiments @tautologer expressed about "slut events becoming central to the larger scenes). Mostly I hung out with people I knew and that was great. But in the course of my 3-ish hours there, there were 2 times my "no" was not accepted by a man I didn't know, and I was physically pushing a huge guy off of me who was rubbing his penis on me, who continued to do it despite my physical force against him, and after I finally wriggled away from him, told him I wanted to dance alone etc., he came back and did it again.
This was scary and bad, but it didn't even cross my mind to report this because one of the other people who didn't accept my "no" earlier in the night was the bartender (an officially sanctioned authority at the event), and I knew the event was organized exclusively by women into CNC (who are vocal about how rapey behavior turns them on), so I figured this sort of thing would just get me laughed at. And anyway, I heard there were a lot of other incidents like it. Later though, someone encouraged me to report this story to the organizers, and despite my embarrassment I did, so *they know* that this and other incidents happened. This is why they cut the Saturday night party this year and created a larger training program for the flirt girls - *because* of things like this last year. Yet the narrative bein…People who haven't been to Slutcon are saying "it's just group therapy," "it's just innocent flirting." But the environment is much like a sex party in that many people are nude, there is making out and sex acts happening out in the open. I think it's pretty unreasonable to expect that every nerdy girl who likes rationalist bloggers or is into EA/AI safety should automatically be comfortable with this! That if she's not, there's something wrong with her, we don't want her in our scenes, etc.
Not to mention, it's explictly an event *for men*, where men are the clients and the "flirt girls" are the product. Last year I overheard an exchange where a man felt "led on" by a flirt girl and was trying to get her punished/kicked out. (A dynamic that seems inevitable in this context!)
Anyway- it does sound like they've upped their consent education a lot this year, are more organized, and that's good! As I've told my friends who are attending: I hope they have fun!
I heard several accounts last year of women who had no problems and really enjoyed the event. That's great!
Just... can we live in reality about this? There are real reasons why male-female sexual dynamics are tricky.
Encouraging autistic men who can't yet read body language to go around asking to see womens' boobs is maybe a bit ill-advised. Maybe not everyone should be/identify as a slut; maybe it's not for everyone.
And yeah, filtering the Bay Area Al safety scene down to only women who are super comfy with this eliminates *most* women - including many of the really smart, nerdy, weird women who've been in the larger scenes for years. What a loss for humanity.
I absolutely understand why people with a minority sexuality would want to create belonging, would want to create spaces for people like themselves. But why do it like this/at this cost?
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 27/09/2026
International politics and sports collide once again.
motherjones.com
Irish soccer fans call for boycotting matches with Israel
International politics and sports collide once again.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 25/09/2026
The video game industry is brutal. Now it's unionizing.
motherjones.com
The video game industry is brutal. Now it's unionizing.
Workers at Microsoft's flagship game studio have won a landmark contract after years of fighting.
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Eliel Cruz @elielcruz.com · 18/09/2026
They keep dropping these on Friday afternoon for a news dump. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doj-s...
justice.gov
DOJ Secures Agreements with NYU and UPMC to End Pediatric “Gender-Affirming Care”
Today, the Department of Justice announced agreements with two of the nation’s largest health care systems—New York University Langone Hospitals (“NYU”) and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (“U...
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
You can also just listen to Chat Pile like one of The Cut's "most eligible singles in New York City," Patti Harrison. www.thecut.com/article/the-...
A screenshot of a section of The Cut's article titled "The Most Eligible Singles in New York City." It shows part of a profile of comedian and actor Patti Harrison. A highlighted section says, "What was the last song you listened to?" Harrison replies, “PEN I S MALL,” Chat Pile.
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This interview is personal: Music, movies, television, and other art forms opened a door for me to engage with the outside world—something counter to my family from Vietnam, where ideas of that world often meant death, famine, and oppression. Chat Pile's music is one of those pieces of art.
The opening section of an interview with the noise rock and metal band Chat Pile in Mother Jones: 

"I grew up in a highly insular environment, never knowing—let alone interacting with—the outside world, in part due to my family’s history with war and struggle in Vietnam.

I can’t fully understand their experiences, but knowing the world often meant witnessing the violence of military personnel from France, Japan, the United States, and and other countries. They have told me stories of girls and young women covering themselves in mud to try to avoid rape by French soldiers during colonial rule, and people leaving Vietnam by sea in small boats in hope of a life beyond figuring out how to eat that day. My family understandably doesn’t talk about much of it now. Many may have felt like they could only manage to look after themselves and, if they’re lucky, immediate family members.

The result: a geopolitical history of trauma that reverberates with my own.

Music, movies, and television cracked my window a bit, and continue to serve as a way for me to try to peek into the experiences, feelings, and dreams others share with the world. Roger Ebert’s concept of a movie as a “machine that generates empathy” guided me into politics, and eventually to a job writing about it.

The noise rock and metal of the band Chat Pile is one of those bodies of art."
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sarah macdonald @sarahsmacdonald.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
i interviewed THEE carly rae jepsen! we talked about her new double album, finding joy again in making music, and my break-up, which if you can’t tell that stuff to the artists who’ve soundtracked some of your most emotional moments then who can you tell? www.socanmagazine.ca/features/car...
socanmagazine.ca
Carly Rae Jepsen feels it all - SOCAN Words and Music
I don’t mean to talk to Carly Rae Jepsen about my break-up but I do it anyway. It’s late August and we’re on a Zoom call, with Jepsen at home, her cantaloupe-coloured hair radiant in the sunshine, and...
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
On the victims of AI-assisted American warmaking and their absence from the “AI safety” discourse. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Killer AI is already here—we’re using it in Iran
Despite AI fears, a new poll shows few Americans know about the Pentagon's AI-assisted massacres.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
For @motherjones.com, I looked into how Meta could be using disabled people to promote its Meta glasses to the masses. As one expert told me, “companies have used accessibility...as a Trojan horse for a tool that poses significant privacy and security threats.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Is Meta using disabled people to promote its glasses?
AI glasses are a double-edged sword for disabled people, who face unique risks from surveillance.
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
What he doesn't realize is if the yuri writers get replaced, their backup plan is to finish their papers on probabilistic approaches to nonlinear dynamics. So, it should all even out.
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Center for Victims of Torture @cvt.org · 11/09/2026
“The system has expanded to new uses, new targets, new opportunities to vilify, to punish, to create division,” said CVT's Yumna Rizvi to @hurwitz.bsky.social at @motherjones.com on how natl security strategies took on new meanings and new uses after 9/11. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The religion of national security
After 9/11 national security meant everything. Today it means nothing at all.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 10/09/2026
The Senate investigation into OpenAI’s breach of Hugging Face looks more like a mild concession to growing opposition toward the AI industry and its conduct, rather than a path toward meaningful safety and regulation.
motherjones.com
Don't be fooled—Congress isn't cracking down on OpenAI
The tech giant is crying to be regulated while dodging investigation after investigation.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 10/09/2026
The Mount Sinai hospital system in New York announced that it had reached a settlement with the DOJ, agreeing to stop providing gender-affirming care to trans patients under 18. This leaves families like Angelica Jadunandan's, who moved to New York with her two daughters, to fend for themselves.
motherjones.com
Blue-state hospitals fold on trans youth care as families ask why they moved
In New York and other progressive states, providers are leaving transgender kids to fend for themselves.
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Rachel Santarsiero @rsanta.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“After what happened, I was afraid of everything on the ground. Any piece of metal, any strange object—I did not know what could kill me and what could not.” My latest for @motherjones.com with @hurwitz.bsky.social: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The impossible struggle to demine Gaza
Israel isn't allowing mine clearance groups to remove the explosives that litter the strip.
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Madison Pauly @msjpauly.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Former Levi's exec Jennifer Sey fanned a culture war over trans athletes in a league that has none—to the benefit of her clothing brand, XX-XY Athletics. "I know my mom isn’t that invested" in the WNBA, her son told me. "But...I guess the vultures will circle." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The woman profiting off the WNBA's trans panic
Sophie Cunningham set off a firestorm. Jennifer Sey was ready to capitalize.
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Hi! If you’re a currency expert of some kind and you want to explain to me - why we have so many commemorative dollar coins in the US (many of which, it seems cost more than a dollar) - who buys them - what’s the history of all that, anyway… please help a reporter out, and dm me! Thank you 🪙
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Thank you, Frankie! That means a lot!
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Frankie de la Cretaz @thefrankiedlc.news · 23/08/2026
This article from @alexjn.bsky.social is one of the better pieces I’ve seen about the anti-trans demonstrations & the resistance to them. This is how you frame the issue:
motherjones.com
In New York, rallygoers met the trans athlete culture wars with celebration
“This new generation of kids understands gender and sexuality in a way that has not been seen before," said Danielle, a public high school teacher. "They’re going to lead the way.”
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Ok also the Liberty just won
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
And this extends to the basketball game itself: While the result has little explicit weight on trans rights in sports, "it's a beautiful opportunity for a tangible moment of catharsis where there is a winner and a loser. So much of this shit happens it back rooms with people of billions of dollars."
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
At its peak, the rally appeared to have a few hundred attendees.
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Given that they see most discussion about trans athletes in women's sports online, they found the various reactions to the rally from fans entering the arena interesting: "It's so rare with the circumstances around trans rights that we get to see a real thing in real life in front of our eyes."
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Another attendee, who describes themselves as a non-binary lifelong New Yorker, said the rally was "one of my first times joining a joyous trans action."
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Kristen, a Liberty season-ticket holder, ordered a "Trans kids belong" t-shirt a couple weeks ago and was planning to go to the game with it—even if alone. Kristen then heard online there would be a gathering for trans rights and said it was "really meaningful" that so many had a similar idea.
An attendee, Kristen, at the rally holds up a sign reading "Liberty fans stand with trans kids." Kristen is wearing a blue shirt and long blue skirt and is standing outside the Barclays Center.
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Danielle: "We make it a celebration of trans life and trans joy. I saw people kissing and I saw bubbles—people dancing, singing, and chanting. That's what our movement is about...And I think we're going to win."
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Danielle, a public high school teacher and parent of a transgender kid, said her students "don't care" for anti-trans attacks: "This new generation of kids understand gender and sexuality in a way that has not been seen before. They're going to lead the way."
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Multiple sign on top of an outdoor table that reads "Trans people belong in sports". The background of the photo is the colors of the transgender pride flag.An individual walks down the line of attendees toward the arena entrance.
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Folks cheer people walking into the arena, as many applaud them back, about an hour before the game.
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Poster for Trans Safety Alliance NYC's rally. It shows the NY Liberty mascot Ellie the Elephant in a basketball jersey and reads in part: "Join join and support Trans Joy and Inclusion"An individual who attended the rally wearing a "Free Britney Griner" shirt and holding a sign that says Pro: drawings of the Transgener pride flag, Palestine flag and a basketball. Anti: a figure dressed in a white hood depicting the Ku Klux Klan. A photo taken behind some people who attended the rally. One sign reads "Made in a trans classroom." Two people are wearing shirts that read "liberty equality trans solidarity" A crowd of a few dozen attendees at the rally, with many holding signs. The one nearest reads "trans people belong here."
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
At the rally outside Barclays Center hosted by Trans Safety Alliance NYC before the NY Liberty vs. Indiana Fever game tonight. About 100 folks are here as anti-trans attacks targets women's basketball—a league with no openly trans women players.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
An ICE agent directed Emilio, a Venezuelan Deaf man, to get onto a bus. He asked for an interpreter and didn’t get one. When he saw a Mexican flag, he realized he was being deported to Mexico, sans passport. My latest for @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
How Trump’s deportation machine deprives Deaf people of their humanity
An extra layer of cruelty is added by limiting communication access for Deaf people.
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Inae Oh @inaeoh.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
wrote this back in March! but with all this egg freezing + Karoline Leavitt (allegedly) ditching the white house bc the boss kept interrupting her maternity leave, it's back on the BRAIN www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
MAGA's baby boom and me
I've been wracked with indecision over having a second child. Then came a series of public pregnancy announcements.
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This story’s got everything: Spiderman-villain weaponry, Black Hawk Down, vaccine conspiracy theories, weird YouTube videos www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The Orwellian Company Behind ICE’s New Electric Shock Gloves
“With a glove, there are no burn marks or scars.” That makes it hard for victims to sue.
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Schuyler Mitchell @schuylermitchell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“If my brother hadn’t been deported, he might still be alive.” @hurwitz.bsky.social has a beautiful & important piece on Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz & Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz—the St. Louis couple murdered in Guatemala last month after being deported www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
She followed ICE’s advice to self-deport. Five weeks later, she was dead.
A St. Louis mother took her three daughters to reunite with her deported husband in Guatemala. Neighbors found the couple bound and shot in a sugarcane field.
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Mothership @mothership.blog · 31/07/2026
We don't define the feminist games canon — nobody does! So we asked our contributors to share the games that have shaped their feminism. By @exalclaw.com @amandatien.bsky.social @applecider.bsky.social @nicoleclark.bsky.social @candemald.bsky.social and @saoirsestone.bsky.social!
mothership.blog
What's in the feminist games canon?
It's complicated! But here are some recs from our regular contributors
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Maanvi Singh @maanvisingh.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
New: The Trump admin subjected at least one person on hunger strike in immigrant detention to forcible medical treatment. A document from the ICE Health Service Corps confirms the first case of forced treatment since Trump's second term. w/ José Olivares
theguardian.com
Trump administration forced treatment on hunger striker in ICE detention, document reveals
ICE report reviewed by the Guardian discloses a patient was ‘subject to force feeding, hydration or urinary catheterization’, which experts have described as torture
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
New: Spotify's AI problem has got so bad that random people are stepping in to track all the slop. There are now multiple sites/leaderboards that people can use to identify “AI artists hiding on Spotify. No bands, no studios, no soul, just machines and melody.” www.404media.co/spotifys-ai-...
404media.co
Spotify's AI Problem Is So Bad Random People Are Stepping In to Track the Slop
Spotify doesn’t label AI music on its platform, so websites like SoullessMusic.com and SlopTracker.org do it instead.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
For Americans with Disabilities Act anniversary, sharing this interview I did with ADA's primary author Tony Coelho last year at @motherjones.com. He shared the importance of bipartisanship in getting it across the line. Something that seems impossible now. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The ADA is turning 35—and it's in Trump's crosshairs
Tony Coelho, the Americans With Disabilities Act's main author, sees a new wave of threats looming for disability rights.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 21/07/2026
On Monday night, Senate candidate Troy Jackson, Maine Democrats’ likely replacement for Graham Platner, was the subject of reports from colleagues accusing him of bullying. Jackson reportedly has a history of cursing at co-workers and allegedly threw a water bottle toward another lawmaker.
motherjones.com
It's fine to criticize Graham Platner's replacement
Colleagues allege that Troy Jackson's bullying kept Maine Democrats from getting more done.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
You know the ICE officer who killed someone in Maine and was then accused by two ex-wives of abuse? Turns out he was likely eligible to skip a significant portion of training after ICE hired him, due to a policy change under this administration. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
What ICE should have known when it hired David Brouillette
The officer who killed a young father in Maine had been accused of abuse by two ex-wives. He was also eligible to skip weeks of training in Georgia.
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Rainesford Stauffer @rainesford.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
"With no savings, she had to decide between paying her rent to keep her baby and her 5-year-old housed, or paying the application fee — $555 — plus nearly $800 in attorneys fees she usually pays to ensure the application is done correctly. She chose rent."
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Laura Morel @lauracmorel.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
This week, TPS for Haitians is expected to end. No state will feel the impact more than Florida, home to roughly 350,000 -- many of them healthcare workers. “The workers are suffering, but the patients are going to suffer more.” My latest for @motherjones.com: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Florida's nursing homes are bracing for life without Haitian TPS workers
The Supreme Court ended its legal status. Their patients will pay the price.
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
A cop in Wisconsin used Flock to search his ex’s license plate information 200 times. Months later, the officer assigned to investigate him was criminally charged for doing the same thing. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Police keep losing their jobs for using Flock cameras to stalk people
Advocates say it's too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.
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alex nguyen @alexjn.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Also, Adams County Health Department said earlier this month that GEO Group blocked its investigation into a possible tuberculosis outbreak at the same ICE facility in Aurora. As of Tuesday, at least 12 detainees have reportedly tested positive and they are under quarantine without air conditioning.
coloradosun.com
Investigation into possible tuberculosis spread at Aurora ICE facility blocked by private company, health officials say
GEO Group, which operates the Aurora immigration detention facility, is blocking a tuberculosis investigation, county health officials say.
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
ICE agents keep killing people. Now, they aren’t even trying to explain it away. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
What ICE didn't say about its latest killing
The agency is no longer even claiming its officers feared for their lives.
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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 13/07/2026
“The data indicates that 74.2% of North Carolina’s 143,998 private school students received an Opportunity Scholarship during the 2025-26 school year.” We’re living through the resegregation of US education. Read more at: www.newsobserver.com/news/local/e...
newsobserver.com
Most NC private school students now get a taxpayer-funded voucher to pay costs
North Carolina now provides vouchers to nearly 75% of private school students, up from a quarter of pupils two years ago.
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priscilla page @priscillapage.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
mandatory reading
"SAM NEILL
- If you were to commit a murder, how would you do it?
- It's got to be big! No slipping something into someone's drink, that's just pathetic. I'd use a steamroller, just leave a stain on the road. There's probably a couple of people I'd put under a steamroller, but I won't say who they are, otherwise when they see a steamroller coming their way they'll be on full alert. And steamrollers don't go very fast..."
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