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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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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 9h
perfectly put
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 16h
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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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 18h
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 · 17h
the pic is of me! but i'm still in touch with many of them today :)
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 17h
there is a generation of current college students who didn’t realize that #MeToo didn’t end rape culture, in part because the adults around them ridiculed it for going “too far”; the generation in between was silenced and punished, while the schools let student turnover free them from accountability
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 17h
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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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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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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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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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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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 28/09/2026
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 28/09/2026
+
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 28/09/2026
+ this
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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 · 28/09/2026
I am being extremely well behaved and relegating my full thoughts about this to my book proposal
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 28/09/2026
+ this
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 27/09/2026
I am in hell
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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
plus role of frats + athletics
wafb.com
LSU football player accused of sexually assaulting student on campus
A criminal investigation has been launched into an alleged sexual assault involving an LSU football player and a student, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office confirmed in a statement Tuesd...
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
and:
wired.com
A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work
Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
honestly really impressive this eboard was able to run this without cornell locking them out of their office/dorm rooms
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
for example:
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
✅ exactly what journalism is for!
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
i tried to see if they'd let ME report on it 😭 and no dice yet lol
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
like, hella people in boston mask! what the fuck was this story framing! i really dont know man
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
like i went to a new lesbian bar in philly over the weekend and easily a quarter to a third of patrons were wearing KN95s. and because i have immunocompromised loved ones who are more informed than anyone else about what is safe for them, i was excited to feel like i had a new place to bring them
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
because if this WAS from a LGBTQ+ run newsroom, and particularly one with trans people in it, i think the covid aspect of it could've been handled much more carefully and without being ableist because taking COVID precautions is so totally normal in many, NOT ALL, but many queer spaces
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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
🙏🙏🙏
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
yeah this exact thing has been pmo so bad
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 25/09/2026
hey are your dms open? im trying to write about 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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