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Lex McMenamin (they/them)

@lexmcmenamin.com
46K followers 3K following 2.5K posts

movement building reporter @us.theguardian.com forever philly, longtime nyc member @transjournalists.org TIPS: lex_mcmenamin.68 on Signal linktr.ee/lexmcmenamin

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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 1h
When federal agents fatally shot the US citizen protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis in January during the nation’s largest immigration-enforcement operation ever, it marked a turning point for the second Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. 🧵
Children look at posters honoring Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, who were fatally shot by federal immigration agents in separate incidents on January 24 and January 7, respectively, near the site of Pretti’s death, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 31, 2026. 

REUTERS/Tim Evans
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 3h
Today, @wired.com is publishing Choke Points, an 18-month investigation into how Israel’s network of checkpoints, gates, and roadblocks is reshaping daily life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. A thread on the reporting, and what we found:
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 2h
this picture is from 10 years ago in October. as students we took it upon ourselves to organize bystander intervention and consent workshops because our institutions let survivors down. it popped into my head this week considering how in some ways students today have worse material conditions
Lex in 2016 in college, holding a white board reading “it’s on us to end sexual violence because as a 2x survivor I am seeking justice by creating an accountable, healing and radically loving community”
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
brittany spanos 🧿 @ohheybrittany.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
my latest cover story is on megan thee stallion for marie claire 🧡 we went deep on her health scare during moulin rouge, life after klay thompson and what to expect with her upcoming album ‘act iii’ read here: www.marieclaire.com/culture/mega...
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Chicago Reader @chicagoreader.com · 29/09/2026
Read the full investigation by @mulchy.bsky.social here: chicagoreader.com/news/ice-flo...
chicagoreader.com
Feds tapped local surveillance networks in botched Chicago prosecutions - Chicago Reader
During their failed efforts to prosecute Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ruiz, federal authorities accessed a network of Chicagoland license plate readers and surveillance cameras.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Chicago Reader @chicagoreader.com · 29/09/2026
Federal authorities tapped into a network of Flock automated license plate readers and surveillance cameras while trying to prosecute Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ruiz last year, according to court records reviewed by the Reader. 🧵
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 29/09/2026
on top of the emails showing Epstein directly supporting individual predatory professors, a professor who planned a "campus rape and consent" conference with the intention of undermining mid-2010s attempts at progress around Title IX requested funding for it from Epstein
chron.com
Former UT professor sought money from Jeffrey Epstein Foundation
He sought $10K-$20K to cover the costs of a campus rape policy event.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 29/09/2026
Public backlash against ICE climaxed after the January 2026 fatal shootings of two US citizens in Minneapolis. Since then, stealthier arrest operations have fueled enforcement that is quieter but just as ruthless. The 24 hours between the mornings of July 13-14 stand out as exceptionally deadly. 🧵
Blood is seen on the pavement near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine.
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Bex 🖤🏴 @thinlyveiledtruth.cryptoanarchy.network · 28/09/2026
People are disappearing incredibly quickly. And part of the invisibility is that just when we need even more capacity for rapid response and patrols, public interest has turned away because people don't think it's a problem anymore. We're tired.
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Sandy Ernest Allen @sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Re-sharing (and shares welcomed!!!), my upcoming class for @shipmanagency.bsky.social … Starting this Saturday, on pitching, open to nonfiction writers of all kinds … Enroll today, if you are considering doing so, it’s last call … www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/craf...
theshipmanagency.com
Craft Seminar: The Art of the Pitch with Sandy Ernest Allen — The Shipman Agency
2 Sessions: Saturdays, October 3 + 10 1:00-3:00pm ET Sandy Ernest Allen Master the art of pitching with journalist and editor Sandy Ernest Allen. Sandy is a trans and queer freelance journalist, a...
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For every story like the Cornell gang rape, there are thousands more that couldn’t make it into the light. I wrote about a few dozen of them at one university in On the Wrong Side. The university’s treatment of survivors is eerily similar to what Jane Doe at Cornell experienced.
bookshop.org
On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence
"Bedera dispels deeply ingrained campus rape myths and puts the innate violence of the campus sexual assault reporting process into focus."--Jezebel"The book's grim conclusions are tempered with a hop...
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And that brings us to present day. The most reliable way for a campus sexual assault story to make it into a newspaper is for the survivor to file a lawsuit against their school. And the two main vehicles survivors used to do that have been closed for years.
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 28/09/2026
cornellsun.com
Support the Sun! - The Cornell Daily Sun
The Cornell Daily Sun - Independent Since 1880.
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Will Craft @wcraft.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This story was a big collaboration between graphics, data, photo, and immigration. A story with bylines across 4 desks, which I think shows the seriousness with which The Guardian takes covering this
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
For every arrest that breaks through into public view, countless others happen quickly, before anyone can notice. Now ICE is anywhere and everywhere, embedded in all corners of everyday life.
theguardian.com
Gone in 90 seconds: an ‘invisibilized’ ICE is arresting more people than ever
After public backlash, the Trump administration changed its tactics from ‘siege’ to ‘soft feet’. Now, ICE is everywhere
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
But an increasing proportion of arrests have been made by local law enforcement in partnership with ICE, via 287(g) agreements. In many regions, it can be difficult to know when local officers are conducting routine policework or immigration enforcement. In many cases, they are doing both.
A chart showing immigration arrests by local police, which have increased steadily since ICE's new enforcement strategy began in April 2026, reaching its highest amount above 200 arrests per day in late June 2026.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
The biggest category of arrests this summer were people on probation, picked up by immigration officers at their work, or who were arrested in communities across the country.
A chart showing immigration arrests by immigration enforcement in communities, where arrests peaked in late June 2026 at over 1,000 per day.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
As has long been the case, ICE works with jails and prisons to take custody of immigrants after they have been booked in. Since Trump took office last year, only 46% of detainees have been previously convicted of crimes.
A chart showing immigration arrests by transfer from jail or prison, with daily arrests peaking over 600 in July 2026.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
And it's clear that ICE is using both familiar and novel tactics to maximize arrests, from jail transfers to so-called 287(g) agreements that deputize local police forces to carry out immigration enforcement on ICE’s behalf.
A chart that breaks down the trend of immigration arrests into four categories:

- Immigration enforcement in communities
- Transfer from jail or prison
- Local police
- Other
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
ICE is now lying in wait outside convenience stores, or at busy intersections. Agents are arresting people at international airports. Local police and sheriffs, deputized by the federal government, are detaining immigrants during traffic stops. ICE is now detaining more immigrants than ever before.
A chart that shows a timeline of ICE immigration enforcement against different significant events (Los Angeles raids, Minneapolis and Chicago raids), with a line in late March 2026 that says "New enforcement strategy begins" before a peak of over 1,500 daily arrests in July 2026.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
Gone are the mass raids and militarized metro operations. Gone are the pomp and pageantry. But ICE arrests have hit record levels. ICE operations are no longer concentrated in large American cities. Immigration enforcement officials are also working in suburban and rural areas, all across the US.
A map of the United States that shows immigration arrests per 100,000 people since ICE's new enforcement strategy began under DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
At the height of the ICE raids earlier this year, agents in armored military vehicles rolled through residential neighborhoods. Masked agents patrolled public parks and stationed themselves outside elementary schools; squadrons of ICE agents snatched pedestrians off the streets. 🧵
Federal agents line up in front of community members at the scene where federal agents fatally shot a man while trying to detain him, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 24, 2026.

REUTERS/Tim Evans
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
The Xylom @thexylom.com · 28/09/2026
A group led by formerly incarcerated women spent years advocating for those trapped inside prison walls during Texas’ hot summers. This week, a federal judge ruled that the state must air-condition all Texas prisons by the end of 2029. This story was first published by @19thnews.org.
thexylom.com
The ‘Lionesses’ Who Sued To Get Air Conditioning in Every Texas Prison — And Won
A group led by formerly incarcerated women spent years advocating for those trapped inside prison walls during Texas’ hot summers.
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Kylie Cheung @kylietcheung.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I can't recommend @nbedera.bsky.social's book 'On the Wrong Side' enough. I interviewed her in 2024, this part really stuck with me. Rapists often don't just not face consequences but reap benefits bc the school is so sorry for even investigating them/afraid of seeming 'biased':
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 27/09/2026
I am in hell
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Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Revolving Door Project @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A combined 45 Biden administration alums now work at either OpenAI, Anthropic, or Meta.
therevolvingdoorproject.org
Tracking the Revolving Door Between AI and Former Biden Officials | Revolving Door Project
This tracker was first published August 3, 2026 and last updated on September 16, 2026.  The artificial intelligence industry is rapidly reshaping every facet of life, from the popularity of chatbots…
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
this is 100% true AND this story has esp pissed me off w/ the gutting of "mainstream" LGBTQ media + journos. there is a version of this story we could giggle at without Ted Cruz seeing but the LGBTQ newsrooms left are either all owned by same company or self-funded and struggling so instead, this
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
thousands of people protested in New York City streets over Netanyahu’s UN visit today. over 100 were arrested. on the ground with @alicesperi.bsky.social @us.theguardian.com
theguardian.com
Netanyahu’s speech at UN spurs protests in New York City: ‘Let Gaza live’
Actor Susan Sarandon, whistleblower Chelsea Manning and comedian Caleb Hearon are detained by NYPD
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Niko Stratis @nikostratis.com · 24/09/2026
Peak “Where we’re at” is a story designed to be cruel to people already living on the margins being given so many resources that it breaks containment and lures in the crowd willing to financially support anyone being equally cruel to those they’ve deemed unworthy of any grace or kindness.
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Mel Buer @melbuer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I will be covering a good chunk of this march from its beginning at Adelanto— Am available for assignment, btw ;)
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 24/09/2026
amid NYC Climate Week and the UN General Assembly (and months of climate catastrophe from Nepal to California), climate organizers from across the US protested at the offices of OpenAI, Google, and Amazon — arguing that AI doomsdaying is a convenient distraction from climate collapse and fascism
theguardian.com
Climate protesters say tech companies, not AI, are the real ‘danger to humankind’ – and the planet
Activists gathered outside the OpenAI offices on Monday during climate week in New York City
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 24/09/2026
I’ve seen several stories of young women describing rape and sexual assault on college campuses in the last week which strikes me not as a rise in assaults but, given the violence of some of the examples, I fear we’re back in an era of headlines about group assaults, for the Tate/Clavicular era
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Gender Liberation Movement @genderlib.com · 23/09/2026
Around 200 parents, trans people, advocates, and allies gathered outside NYU Langone to condemn the hospital’s decision to end gender-affirming care for trans youth and pay $8.5 million following its agreement with the Trump administration’s Department of Justice.
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 23/09/2026
cannot emphasize enough that sending establishment people in from out of state to run the Jackson campaign—after 2 out of state white guys fancying themselves as progressive challenger kingmakers handpicked Platner in the first place—is tremendously disrespectful to Maine voters
nymag.com
Troy Jackson, the Accidental Candidate
How the Democratic Party is seizing control of his Senate campaign.
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 22/09/2026
“…when The City Reporter tried to enter one of the new immigration courtrooms on the third floor Monday, security guards barred the reporter from entering. A DHS police inspector later threatened The City Reporter with arrest for trying to wait in an elevator bank outside the new courtrooms.”
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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The worst men alive all absolutely love AI and hate trans people. Huh. Probably no lessons for me to learn there.
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Akbar Shahid Ahmed @akbarshahidahmed.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Part of why the US could sustain a horrific Gaza policy: credulity in the press corps around Dems post-Trump "A lot of journalists were willing to believe Biden's team could somehow bring this under control.. [because of] green-room coziness+an assumption of good judgment" nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com
The Long Shadow of Biden’s Gaza Fiasco
Can Kamala Harris chart a new course on the Israel-Palestinian conflict?
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Frankie de la Cretaz @thefrankiedlc.news · 17/09/2026
I am less than 100 subscribers away from hitting 4,000. I would love to hit that milestone by the end of the month. If you're interested in women's sports from a queer, trans inclusive, anti-capitalist lens, Out of Your League is for you: www.thefrankiedlc.news
thefrankiedlc.news
Home | Out of Your League
Dispatches from the intersection of queer sports and pop culture.
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Michael Calderone @calderone.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I spoke with @akbarshahidahmed.bsky.social about how the Biden administration bungled Gaza and the ongoing political fallout for Democrats ahead of Tuesday’s launch of “Crossing the Red Line” nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com
The Long Shadow of Biden’s Gaza Fiasco
Can Kamala Harris chart a new course on the Israel-Palestinian conflict?
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 20/09/2026
Exactly. I’ve been saying this since I started the tracker last year, and it’s why I don’t call them deportations. gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...
I am using the term "third-country removals" instead of "third-country deportations" here, because the latter is a legal process in which a migrant is resettled in a safe third country. What is actually happening, in nearly all cases, more closely resembles chain refoulement, rendition, or kidnapping - and may violate U.S. and
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 18/09/2026
was thinking the same thing
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Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Periplus, a mentorship collective serving US-based early-career writers of color, is now accepting applications for our 2027 class of fellows! Apply by Oct. 11: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... You can learn more about Periplus (including fellowship eligibility requirements) at bit.ly/periplusfaq
docs.google.com
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 12/09/2026
i am incredibly excited to share our research about how paying people’s rent through mutual aid made an impact on minnesota this year we accidentally collected more data than anyone ever has for an effort like this, and can very seriously say we prevented an eviction bubble that everyone expected
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"No one is going to vote for a Democrat because they came out for a trans sports ban. No one is on the fence being like, "If they just came out for a trans sports ban, then I would vote for them. I don't think that person exists," says @evanurquhart.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2154...
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 17/09/2026
“The reality lately has been a heightened cost-of-living crisis... more beloved small businesses and institutions shuttering for good, more police and surveillance, and the proliferation of more sterile, corporate tech culture that people are bored and sick of.” www.coyotemedia.org/san-francisc...
coyotemedia.org
Forget Lurie’s Boosterism. SF Artists Say Only DIY Organizing Can Save the Scene
While the mayor boasts about Vogue World as a win for the local “creative community,” one thing’s never been more clear: A healthy art scene can’t depend on politicians or wealthy donors.
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 17/09/2026
it would be cool if people wanted to talk about how trans people are organizing for their rights and safety as much as people want to talk to cis people about what they think about the existence of trans people
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 17/09/2026
Democratic Candidate for Ohio's 9th Congressional District Marcy Kaptur announces in an ad that she "voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools." It's one of the most hateful anti-trans ads ever released by a Dem. Subscribe to support our journalism.
erininthemorning.com
Dem. Ohio Candidate Marcy Kaptur Releases Ad: “I Voted With Republicans To Keep Transgender Ideology Out Of Schools”
She also said in the ad, “let me be clear, boys should not play girls sports.”
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Them @them.us · 17/09/2026
Police are still looking for a suspect in the fatal shooting.
them.us
Sophie Lee, a Black Trans Woman and Ballroom Mother, Killed in Baltimore: “She Was Loved. She Mattered”
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 17/09/2026
I have a story coming in the next few weeks speaking to exactly this — I’m hearing it from organizers in rural and urban areas alike
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