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Melissa Cosgrove

@melissacosgrove.bsky.social
1K followers 2.5K following 1K posts

Independent scholar. Chicago. A civic framework that rebuilds American governance around care and relation → towardreconstitution.org Essays on culture, politics, & current events through relational ontology → cosgrove.substack.com

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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I’ve made some big changes to TowardReconstitution.org that I haven’t talked about here yet. One is longer-form Analysis in the Risk Monitor. My latest looks at FHFA’s plan to cut 70–80% of its inspector general staff and end nearly all external criminal investigations. 🔗 bit.ly/4AT0my8
bit.ly
FHFA Budget Cut Would End Most Mortgage-Fraud Investigations — Toward Reconstitution
FHFA cut its inspector general’s 2027 budget to $20 million. The watchdog says the reduction will eliminate most of its staff and end nearly all external criminal investigations while it is still purs...
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Anu @nofirstorder.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
He literally used singular “their” in this exact sentence while whining about pronouns. You can't make this up.🤷🏻‍♀️😐
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🚨BREAKING: Supreme Court REJECTS Department of Justice effort to restore U.S. Postal Service mail-in voting rule. A huge victory for voting rights and free and fair elections. A defeat for Trump and his scheme to rig the elections. www.democracydocket.com/cases/trump-...
democracydocket.com
🚨 State of California et al v. United States Postal Service et al
Learn more here.
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Thom @nmfr.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The president of the United States is insane. That’s it. That’s the post.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If people inside AI labs are scared enough by what they’re building to walk away from it, but walking away doesn’t actually make anyone stop… then what? I have some thoughts. 🔗 bit.ly/3V4yYN3 #AI #AISafety #AIGovernance
Graphic of a teal office cubicle with an empty chair. Large text reads, “What happens when the people building AI think it’s too dangerous to continue?” with cosgrove.substack.com at the bottom.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
ICYMI! 🚨 NEW PODCAST! Episode 1 available now!
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
IT’S LIVE. Episode 1 of Toward Reconstitution is out now. It starts with one question: what is a government for? I’d really love to know what answer you have before listening, and whether it changes after. #Democracy #PoliticalPodcast
share.transistor.fm
What Is a Government For? | Toward Reconstitution
On June 14, 2026, a police officer in Senatobia, Mississippi fired into a car in a Walmart parking lot and killed one-year-old Kohen Wiley. His family is still waiting for a full account of what happe...
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Nancy Levine Stearns @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Good call, @muellershewrote.com. Costco Board urged shareholders in 2025 to vote to keep DEI. Costco shareholders voted to reject an anti-DEI proposal, 98-2%. After shareholders at 30 companies likewise voted to keep DEI, Trump killed shareholder democracy. www.thequeenzone.com/costco-board...
thequeenzone.com
Costco Board Defends DEI, Tells Shareholders to Vote on Jan 23
Costco board defends DEI initiatives amid shareholder vote on anti-DEI proposal at the upcoming annual meeting.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 26/08/2026
🚨 Must-read from @jvl.bsky.social about bizarre backstory of Natalie Harp & how her too-good-to-be-true tale about Trump saving her life was crafted to get attention in the MAGA media ecosystem The fact her biography is fabricated helps explain why she's resisted trying for a security clearance
thebulwark.com
Trump and Natalie: A F*cked-Up Love Story
The weirdest relationship ever just got weirder.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
towardreconstitution.substack.com
The Election Is Being Decoupled
Trump’s USPS rule is separating responsibility for the election from control over how it functions
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Ben Mullin @benmullin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
NEWS: The Washington Post has been ordered to rehire @karenattiah.bsky.social , the columnist it fired last year for posts made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's shooting. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/b...
nytimes.com
Washington Post Ordered to Rehire Fired Columnist Karen Attiah (Gift Article)
An arbitrator ordered the newspaper to reinstate Karen Attiah, who was fired after posting about “white men who espouse hatred and violence” following Charlie Kirk’s killing.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Trump has an entire White House at his beck and call. So why does Natalie Harp matter this much? New essay 👇 🔗 bit.ly/4wGh943 #NatalieHarp #Trump #WhiteHouse
Screenshot of a Toward Reconstitution Substack post titled “The Natalie Harp Problem,” with the subtitle “What happens when personal submission becomes part of presidential power,” by Melissa Cosgrove, dated Aug. 24, 2026. The post header includes a photo of Donald Trump seated at the Resolute Desk with Natalie Harp leaning over a laptop beside him and JD Vance standing nearby.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The backlash around @hankgreen.bsky.social made me think about what happens when answerability becomes an invitation to punish. #HankGreen #Accountability #Answerability #CareEthics
cosgrove.substack.com
Cruelty in the Language of Care
On Cruelty, Answerability, and the Power We Worship
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 13/08/2026
We covered this case in @autonomynews.co last summer. Get on our email list to stay in the know
autonomynews.co
The Plot to Effectively Ban Abortion Nationwide Is Unfolding Before Our Eyes
Lawmakers and activists are working to shutter clinics and restrict access to abortion pills. The end result would be catastrophic.
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Wouldn't it be easier & far less time consuming to just report when he actually tells the truth?
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
ICYMI! New podcast coming soon! #TowardReconstitution #NewPodcast #PoliticalPodcast #Democracy #PoliticalTheory #RethinkingDemocracy
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Exciting news! The Toward Reconstitution podcast trailer is live! Available wherever you listen. The season is one continuous argument about accountability, institutional design, and the growing distance between public demand and government response. First three episodes arrive September 2.
share.transistor.fm
Trailer | Toward Reconstitution | Episode 1
Toward Reconstitution is a thirteen-episode podcast examining how modern institutions preserve the appearance of public participation while systematically decoupling accountability. Hosted by independ...
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
WSJ: ".. There were no public meetings or votes before a lone city staffer gave Amazon the green light .. ".. 'Many if not most residents first learned about this project after construction had already begun ..'" @wsj.com www.wsj.com/us-news/how-...
wsj.com
How Amazon Built a Data Center in a California Town Without Anyone Noticing
The company and Gilroy, Calif., officials spent years quietly negotiating a $2 billion project that few residents knew about until construction began. Now, locals are upset.
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Just 3 weeks ago, JD Vance tried to use the Marine Two helicopter to send his 9-year-old son to a golf lesson. The helicopter costs between $16K-$25K per hour to operate and is paid for by American taxpayers. He has also used it for multiple recent “house hunting” trips in the DC suburbs.
ms.now
Vance’s security detail ‘fed up’ with hastily arranged personal and family travel requests
Secret Service sources said the Vance family asks included getting their young son to a golf lesson on a military helicopter.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I’m excited to share a new tool I’ve built: the Answerability Index. It’s an interactive way to examine how power actually operates inside a government, workplace, organization, movement, family, or relationship. 🧵 More info below. 🔗 www.towardreconstitution.org/the-answerab...
Radar chart from the Answerability Index on a cream background. Eight dimensions surround the chart in navy text, each paired with a question: Power, “Who gets to decide?”; Access, “Who gets in?”; Feedback, “Who gets heard?”; Agency, “Who gets to act?”; Care, “Who gets sustained?”; Accountability, “Who answers for harm?”; Repair, “What happens after failure?”; and Adaptation, “Can the system learn?” A coral polygon with circular points sits in the middle range across all eight dimensions. The center is labeled “dominion.”
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
This is rape culture.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
It's demoralizing living in a nonstop Abuse-a-thon: we've had to learn the sordid details of so many men's abhorrent behavior; I mean this summer has been Graham Platner, Andrew Tate, Jared Leto, Max Miller, plus the horrific L.A. rape-murder of the child by the rapper, to name a few lowlights.
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 04/08/2026
If you want to know how Flock got so big so fast in Illinois, look no further than our sitting Attorney General (who refused to comment for this story!):
unraveledpress.com
Eyes on the heartland
A vast network of new license plate cameras has exploded across Illinois in recent years—paid for by state grants to fight retail crime. With the federal government clamoring for more information on p...
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
What would accountability look like if institutions had to maintain relationships, respond to rupture, and actually repair harm? I talked about that with the VHC Initiative on Voices in Vulnerability. Many thanks to @mlafineman.bsky.social! 🔗 bit.ly/4waGa7l
soundcloud.com
Rupture, Repair, and Care: Accountability with Melissa Cosgrove
How can institutions hold themselves accountable through ongoing relationship maintenance? Learn about Melissa Cosgrove's care paradigm and how it relates to vulnerability theory. Find Cosgrove's wo
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
DOD is not letting trans service members attend their own separation hearings unless they conform with Whiskey Pete's notion of their gender. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...
At least six of Ms. Rashid’s clients were barred from attending their own separation board hearings because they refused to cut their hair and appear in the uniform of their sex assigned at birth. One was a master sergeant in South Korea with 17 years of service who was allowed to testify by video, but only if she turned off her camera.

“I have gone to pretrial confinement hearings where somebody is so addicted to meth that they are throwing up on my shoes,” Ms. Rashid said. “They were allowed into their own hearing.”
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
😍😍😍
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
static.klipy.com
Denzel Washington: Whew! Thank God
ALT: Denzel Washington: Whew! Thank God
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Trump’s speech last night was DARVO at national scale: deny the attempt to overturn an election, attack every institution that stopped him, then cast himself as the victim. New essay up. #TrumpSpeech #DARVO #Democracy 🔗 bit.ly/4gK0t7E
bit.ly
The Politics of Permanent Illegitimacy
How Trump turns institutional failure into a politics of personal loyalty
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Wrote something hard this week, about Nolan Wells, Mamie Till-Mobley, and why the work of forcing a country to care still gets handed to the very people it's failing. 🔗 bit.ly/4ykpjkK
Screenshot of a Substack post on cosgrove.substack.com titled "The Burden We Keep Giving Black Mothers," with the subtitle "On witnessing, public grief, and the harm America declared resolved without repairing." By Melissa Cosgrove, dated July 13, 2026. Below is a photograph of Nolan Wells, a young Black man in a dark suit and striped tie, standing and smiling with his arm around his mother, Christine Wonsley, who wears glasses and a black shirt and smiles beside him, the two posed together in front of a paned window at home.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I’m so tired of these rich, narcissistic, arrogant, entitled jerks from great inherited wealth polluting our politics while claiming they understand the struggles of working people and care about them. It’s about their ego and desire to manipulate, not about us.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
....whoa.
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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 11/07/2026
60% of youth in custody are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD – compared to just 11% nationally. Kids need care, not cages.
Graph showing the prevalence of diagnoses among youth in confinement: 4% autism spectrum, 27% learning disabilities, 60% ADD or ADHD
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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
We’re still talking about Democrats and republicans but I think we need to shift to think of for-profit and for-people candidates. The reason why establishment Democrats are on camera blaming voters for their vote is because they’re also not interested in democracy or your wellbeing.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
New post: the EAC collapse wasn't just Trump's doing. Fixing it would have meant limits Democrats didn't want on themselves either. 🔗 bit.ly/4eWCPn7
Photograph of an empty Senate committee hearing room, viewed from behind the dais. Four empty black leather chairs sit behind a wood-paneled bench, with a marble-framed door and an ornate brass wall sconce in the background. A man in a suit stands at the edge of the frame on the right, papers visible on a desk in front of him. Overlaid text reads: "The Complicity of Convenient Powerlessness. Both parties benefit from an accountability mechanism that stays weak. Toward Reconstitution. towardreconstitution.substack.com.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
It’s Trump’s MO. Gut the mechanisms of accountability, then shrug when the consequences arrive. He evades accountability by dismantling the institutions meant to impose it. Democrats have spent years disincentivizing themselves from responding because it threatens their own power & interests.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Elite ambition keeps getting packaged as working class rebellion. And those of us actually from the working and poverty class, trying to make change without that machinery behind us, are left nearly invisible.
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Alisha Grauso (She/Her) @alishagrauso.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
What's the worst-kept secret in Washington right now: a. Trump has advanced dementia (and they're hiding it, badly) or b. Mitch McConnell is functionally braindead (and they're hiding it, badly)?
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Re: Platner. This is the nice guy trope in political form. It’s the guy who says the right things, adopts the right language, declares himself different from “those men,” and then expects access, forgiveness, admiration, or leadership as the reward for having changed. We shouldn't be surprised.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Rape is domination made intimate, then protected socially and legally by systems that make the victim carry the burden of proving their own humanity.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Not even pretending there’s a line between public office and personal favor anymore. Just openly saying the state is a rewards program for people useful to him. #deathofaccountability
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
“Faith” is a funny word to use when the graphic is just a cross doing state branding in front of a flag.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
The president marked America's 250th birthday by calling communism scarier than Pearl Harbor and 9/11, then pitched a bill to ban the mail-in ballots he personally used two months ago. Nothing says "happy birthday, America" like a two-night infomercial for restricting how other people vote.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Two hundred fifty years ago today, this country wrote liberty into its founding promise. It never wrote in care or accountability. That omission isn't ancient history. It's the reason so many of our systems still fail the same way, generation to generation. #Semiquincentennial #TowardReconstitution
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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
People who are unfamiliar with the UCMJ may not realize that for an active duty major to do this in uniform, the consequence can be court martial and incarceration. All of it is prohibited, but the wearing of the uniform was an intentional choice, and a likely forfeit of both his career and freedom.
cnn.com
US service member arrested at Capitol after calling for Trump’s impeachment | CNN Politics
A US Air Force major was arrested on the steps of the US Capitol on Wednesday after delivering a speech calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
The same administration says the transgender athlete ruling and the TPS ruling are settled, final, done. This one goes against them, so suddenly it's a "mistake" that needs correcting. The Constitution isn't what's being defended here. It's whichever ruling they wanted.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Whose death counts, then? Mullin says one death in an immigrant's hand is one too many. But 20 people have died in ICE custody this year, and his department writes no cause of death. Every life matters, until it's a life he takes. #ICE #DHS #ImmigrationDetention #Accountability
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stands at a podium in front of the Homeland Security seal and two Coast Guard officers. Text below reads: DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, today: "One death in an illegal's hand is one death too many." 20 recorded deaths in ICE custody this year, according to DHS. towardreconstitution.org
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Does “one death is too many” apply when the death is caused by ICE or DHS?
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Gave a talk at CERC 2026 and adapted it into an essay. Pando is one organism that looks like a forest, and I used it to argue that care is not a feeling but the structural condition that determines whether a living system renews itself or steadily falls apart. #CareEthics #Ecology 🔗 bit.ly/4gawfue
Claude responded: Screenshot of a Substack Notes post showing the essay "Pando and the Law of Relation" by Melissa Cosgrove, with the subtitle "Care as Structural Condition, Tol…Screenshot of a Substack Notes post showing the essay "Pando and the Law of Relation" by Melissa Cosgrove, with the subtitle "Care as Structural Condition, Told Through an Aspen Clone," published June 27, 2026, with an aerial photo of the Fish Lake Basin below.
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Melissa Cosgrove @melissacosgrove.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Why does this pamphlet cost $7.76? One shilling. The price of Common Sense in 1776, adjusted for inflation. Toward Reconstitution (the civic document) is now in print. The PDF is still free. towardreconstitution.org #Semiquincentennial #CommonSense #ConstitutionalReform
Cover of Toward Reconstitution by Melissa Cosgrove. Cream parchment background with "Toward" in italic coral and "Reconstitution" in navy serif type, a coral rule, and the subtitle "Repairing the Constitutional Omission of Care" in navy italic. Flowing waves in gold, coral, and navy at the bottom. Softcover, digest size.
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