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Rachel Browne

@rachelbrowne.ca
5.1K followers 315 following 23 posts

investigative journalist & documentary producer | contributing writer @thewalrus.ca | former VICE News | LET US PLAY for @beaconpress.bsky.social, out now! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/78…

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Reposted by Rachel Browne
Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · 24/09/2026
A story to send to every member of your family. @rachelbrowne.ca's latest investigation for @thewalrus.ca on the ubiquitous, ruthless grandparent scam—with a Shakespearean twist near the end. thewalrus.ca/grandparent-...
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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
AI is getting better at writing. Humans must get better at editing www.economist.com/leaders/2026... "Our investigation of the stylistic quirks of the big bots reveals how, with every update, AI writing is getting closer to human writing." Humans already can't (mostly) tell difference. Ugh.
economist.com
AI is getting better at writing. Humans must get better at editing
Our investigation suggests how
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Beacon Press @beaconpress.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Contrary to SCOTUS’s dismal yet predictable ruling on trans athletes, trans women and girls are not a threat to women’s sports. In fact, sports were never “fair” in the first place. @rachelbrowne.ca
buff.ly
Dismantling the top 5 myths about trans athletes
In a powerful and emotional journey, Harrison Browne shares his experience as the first transgender athlete in professional hockey. From the moment he took that first shot of testosterone, he knew he…
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Racheline Maltese @racheline.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Just because SCOTUS affirms a type of discrimination does not mean that discrimination is required. This decision should not cause us to weaken our efforts for trans inclusion in general or trans inclusion in sports in particular. Cis allies, you very specifically, need to double down.
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The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 17/06/2026
On January 18, 2021, Giovanni Costa was killed inside his home in Bolton, Ontario, the culmination of a decade of turmoil for the Costa family. Writers Rachel Browne and Brian Fitzpatrick unravel a story of violence, deception, and conflicting loyalties: ow.ly/2nJh50ZcAc2
On the left: an image of a cork board with photos from Ontario Criminal Court exhibits tacked up on it and connected by red string. On the right: text that reads “You’re a cop and your brother has ties to the mob. How far would you go to protect? The true story of how a murdered father tested the limits of family loyalty.”
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Maya Kaufman @mayakaufman.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
INVESTIGATION: 🚨 A Polymarket exec used a personal PayPal account to pay major political influencers like Riley Gaines and Brian Krassenstein, who then hyped how "accurate" Polymarket is at predicting outcomes. We uncovered $350,000+ flowing to influencers this way www.politico.com/news/2026/06...
politico.com
‘Unbelievable how accurate’: How paid influencers hype Polymarket’s odds
The company’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, used a personal PayPal account to send money to content creators, according to records reviewed by POLITICO.
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Christina Frangou @cfrangou.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
The Internet Has Become Too American to Trust thewalrus.ca/the-internet... via @thewalrus
thewalrus.ca
The Internet Has Become Too American to Trust | The Walrus
Trump and Big Tech have fused into a new kind of threat
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P.S. Literary Agency @psliterary.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Now available in paperback! In LET US PLAY, trans athlete Harrison Browne and investigative journalist @rachelbrowne.ca advocate for the inclusion of trans and nonbinary athletes across all levels of sport. Get it now! www.beacon.org/Let-Us-Play-P2544.as…
Image reads "Now in Paperback" and features the book LET US PLAY: WINNING THE BATTLE FOR GENDER DIVERSE ATHLETES by Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne. The cover art is a photograph of a towel draped over a bench in an empty locker room. The P.S. Literary Agency logo appears at bottom. 
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Beacon Press @beaconpress.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
From an athlete’s point of view, Harrison Browne sees that focus on hormones—particularly testosterone—as athletic destiny as both reductive and misleading. It overlooks the real barriers to fairness in sport.
buff.ly
‘Sports have never been fair,’ trans athlete Harrison Browne says | CNN
Harrison Browne, the first openly transgender professional hockey player and “Heated Rivalry” actor, wants people to know why inclusion is important in sports.
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Rachel Browne @rachelbrowne.ca · 20/05/2026
🙏 @cnn.com !!
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Jessica Luther @jessicawluther.com · 18/05/2026
This is a review essay featuring three books on trans-inclusion in sport: @katiebarnes.bsky.social's Fair Play, Harrison Browne and @rachelbrowne.ca's Let Us Play, and Ellie Roscher and Anna Baethe's Fair Game. I recommend them all! I recommend reading them all together.
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Jared Holt @jaredlholt.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Talked to @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social for this piece about the suspect in the WHCD shooting www.ms.now/news/cole-al...
ms.now
Before he allegedly tried to kill Trump, Cole Allen aired frustration with nonviolent protest
The Justice Department is investigating Allen’s possible ties to broad leftist networks. His social media posts paint a more nuanced and isolating picture.
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
What happened to Gisèle Pélicot was truly heinous but it was not isolated. This CNN investigation is profoundly harrowing, so please exercise caution.
cnn.com
Exposing a global ‘online rape academy’ that is teaching men how to abuse women and evade detection
CNN exposes an online network of men encouraging each other to drug and assault their partners, and swap tips on how to get away with it.
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Beacon Press @beaconpress.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
The trans kids Harrison Browne and @rachelbrowne.ca write about in LET US PLAY are just like the trans kids who are fighting for their right to exist today. They should be able to play to their hearts’ content. 🏳️‍⚧️ #TransDayOfVisibility
beaconbroadside.com
They Grow Up So Fast—Fighting for Their Rights: Trans Kids vs. Anti-Trans Bills
By Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne | Sunny Bryant is a ten-year-old trans girl who lives with her family in the Houston area. She’s got bright blond, shoulder-length hair and a wide, infectious s…
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 02/03/2026
NEW FROM ME: While US and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran this weekend, Global News' The West Block host Ben Mulroney reposted video of fighter jets that had been miscaptioned as American F-15s attacking Iran I double-checked. Ben was actually sharing footage from a video game
pressprogress.ca
Global News’ Ben Mulroney Shared a Video of Airstrikes. The Footage is Actually from a Video Game.
The host of Global News’ West Block gets lost in a misinformation-driven fog of war as American and Israeli forces strike Iran
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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
100 accounts are behind majority of conspiracy theory content in Canada www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/25/n... "...analyzed over 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada, and found that 87% of conspiratorial claims come from influencers." Those on "X were the biggest culprits."
nationalobserver.com
One hundred accounts are behind the majority of conspiracy theory content in Canada
Researchers analyzed more than 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada and found that 87 per cent of conspiratorial claims come from influencers, with just 100 users responsible for near...
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Gerry Doyle @mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
a key feature of this is there is no public benefit to it at all. it is legislature designed to harm a specific group, nothing more.
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Xtra @xtramagazine.com · 26/02/2026
Senior editor @melwoods.me breaks down the implications of last week's B.C. Human Rights Tribunal decision ordering former school trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 for his posts sharing anti-LGBTQ2S+ discrimination and hate speech
xtramagazine.com
What the Barry Neufeld tribunal ruling means for trans rights in Canada | Xtra Magazine
A former Chilliwack school trustee has been ordered to pay $750,000 after years of anti-LGBTQ2S+ posts
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the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
The Epstein documents released weeks ago are full of university administrators, professors, and trustees. With students demanding transparency and accountability from their schools, academia faces a nationwide reckoning over how it courts and indulges deep-pocketed benefactors.
wired.com
College Campuses Are in Upheaval Over Faculty Ties to Epstein
From small art schools to large public universities, the new DOJ release of emails reveals just how deep the financier’s influence in academia went. Students are demanding accountability.
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Julie K. Brown @jkbjournalist.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Never in a million years did I ever fathom when I resurrected the Epstein story in 2018 that it would lead to first arrest of a British Royal in four centuries. Not since King Charles I was arrested in 1647. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...
open.substack.com
Prince Andrew's Arrest
Across the pond in Britain, justice and accountability is a serious matter
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 18/02/2026
Breaking News: Facing threats of losing federal funding, a major Manhattan hospital has closed its program for treating transgender youth.
nyti.ms
Manhattan Hospital Ends Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth
NYU Langone Health cited the “current regulatory environment” in its decision to discontinue its gender medicine program for minors.
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Jen St. Denis @jenstden.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
I spoke with an extremism expert who examined the online footprint of the Tumbler Ridge school shooter. Steven Rai found that Van Rootselaar had an account on a website that posts extremely violent videos. 🧵 thetyee.ca/News/2026/02...
thetyee.ca
What We Know about the Online Life of the Tumbler Ridge Shooter | The Tyee
An expert digs into the social media accounts of Jesse Van Rootselaar.
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The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 12/02/2026
The response to the #TumblerRidgeShooting from far-right media, online commentators and even an elected official in Canada is another dark example of how pervasive anti-trans misinformation has become, even in Canada. Mel Woods writes. #bcpoli #bced
thetyee.ca
As Tumbler Ridge Mourns, Anti-Trans Misinfo Spreads | The Tyee
No good will come from the conservative rush to weaponize the shooter’s identity in this story.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
“.. reading about the excesses of the Palm Beach cops, I had to drop you a line of support,” Pottinger wrote in a note forwarded to Epstein in September 2006. “The small minded of the world don’t like thinkers and doers, especially when they succeed.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/us-news/igno...
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The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 03/02/2026
Ring a doorbell. Pick a code name. Choose a booth. Receive critical care. At Canada’s only supervised consumption site in the North, people come in alive, and they leave that way. Rhiannon Russell takes us to the front lines of Whitehorse’s overdose crisis: ow.ly/VoVU50Y7SPU
On the left: a photograph of the exterior of a single-story building in the snow. On the right: text that reads “Inside the only supervised consumption site in Canada’s North. The Whitehorse facility has reversed hundreds of overdoses while navigating politics, burnout, and fragile funding.”
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404 Media @404media.co · 25/01/2026
THREAD: 404 Media has been covering ICE and the technology they've been using to surveil and raid "targets", detain people based on a flawed facial recognition app, and lie about violence on the streets. They have established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.
404media.co
DHS Is Lying To You About ICE Shooting a Woman
At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
They are going down the list of amendments now. And the entire ICE action is the most obvious violation of the Fourth Amendment this country has ever seen.
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Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Hannah has been a top, top reporter on all things DOGE and the federal government. Hard to see this other than anything but an attempt to chill journalism and the First Amendment protected right to a free press. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/u...
nytimes.com
F.B.I. Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist for Classified Material
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ACLU @aclu.org · 13/01/2026
Politicians are hoping to not just ban trans kids from playing sports with their friends but also open the door to all sorts of discrimination against transgender and other LGBTQ people. We'll be at the Supreme Court tomorrow to stop them.
theguardian.com
How the US supreme court case on trans athletes could unravel LGBTQ+ rights
If bans on trans youth athletes are upheld, more girls could face ‘invasive sex testing’ and trans people could broadly lose civil rights protections
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Huge. www.advocate.com/health/macke...
advocate.com
MacKenzie Scott donates $45 million to LGBTQ+ youth mental health nonprofit the Trevor Project
The donation comes as recent studies show increasing mental health concerns among LGBTQ+ youth.
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
This is probably the greatest threat to Canada. That we concede so much to the US to avoid further threats, that we’re effectively a vassal state www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 11/01/2026
A group of European countries, led by the UK and Germany, is discussing plans to boost their military presence in Greenland to show US President Donald Trump that they are serious about Arctic security and tamp down American threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory.
bloom.bg
UK, Germany Discuss NATO Forces in Greenland to Calm US Threat
A group of European countries, led by the UK and Germany, is discussing plans for a military presence in Greenland to show US President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security and to try to tamp down American threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
New: we've obtained material explaining how an ICE surveillance system, called Webloc, works. Draw shape on a map, see all phones available there, follow them home. All without warrant “This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.” www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
404media.co
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
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Julian McKenzie @jkamckenzie.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
"...But the fact that hockey players are watching the show? The fact that the failing NHL is using us to bring people in?" I wrote about Heated Rivalry and the conversation to be had about its effect on hockey culture for the LGBTQ+ community. @theathletic.com www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...
nytimes.com
Hit show ‘Heated Rivalry’ became a TV phenomenon. Can it change hockey culture?
The show has taken over pop culture and is opening up conversations about a complex topic within hockey.
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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 05/01/2026
This case is an important one to watch if you care about your own right to know. If the police are free to arrest, detain and block journalists while acting on industry's behalf, our whole information ecosystem gets eroded.
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Tim Bousquet @timbousquet.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
They have no intention of stopping with Venezuela.
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Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
media.tenor.com
the woman is wearing a pink top and earrings and making a funny face .
Alt: the woman is wearing a pink top and earrings and making a funny face .
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Canada's National Observer @nationalobserver.com · 01/01/2026
Canada's National Observer is looking for a reporter in Ottawa to cover the federal government and its relationship with Vancouver, BC, for a Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) position. This is a full-time, 8-month contract (backfill) position. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/31/n...
nationalobserver.com
We're hiring an Ottawa reporter to cover the federal government's relationship with Vancouver
Canada's National Observer (CNO) is looking for a reporter in Ottawa to cover the federal government and its relationship with Vancouver, BC for a Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) position.
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The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 15/12/2025
Congratulations to The Walrus contributing writer @rachelbrowne.ca for her nomination in the Best Investigative Article (Media) category at the 2025 Canadian Online Publishing Awards! Read her nominated story here: thewalrus.ca/is-your-blood-cl...
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Beacon Press @beaconpress.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
With @rachelbrowne.ca, Harrison Browne wrote LET US PLAY to dismantle the false argument that trans people are a threat to sports. So proud to see @torontolifemag.bsky.social recognize him as a rising star! 🤩
buff.ly
Toronto's 25 Rising Stars of 2025 - Toronto Life
Our annual list of the up-and-comers shaping our city and the world
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs
nbcnews.com
Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs
The wholesaler is the latest company to sue a federal agency over the president's signature economic policy.
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The Local Magazine @thelocal.to · 29/11/2025
In the wake of our AI freelancer investigation, The Walrus editor-in-chief @cstarnino.bsky.social got the Local’s @nickhunebrown.bsky.social on Zoom to talk about the future of journalism in a world of “Victoria Goldiees.”
thelocal.to
The Fallout From Our AI Freelancer Investigation | The Local
A conversation about the future of journalism in a world of “Victoria Goldiees.”
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Rachel Browne @rachelbrowne.ca · 13/11/2025
So proud that my brother, Harrison, has been named one of @torontolifemag.bsky.social’s Rising Stars this year!
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New York Magazine @nymag.com · 20/10/2025
Every weekday on Broadway, undocumented immigrants line up to enter 26 Federal Plaza. They enter harshly lit hallways where ICE agents mill around — waiting to take people away. For our cover story, Stephanie Keith captures the anguished scenes of arrest in downtown Manhattan. buff.ly/N6JNPUP.
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Brandy Zadrozny @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
This story has all the best things, mystery, heartbreak, libraries
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Libraries worldwide have been impacted by Trump's tariffs. Books that are on loan from US libraries to international libraries are getting tariffed on their way back in, getting books from international libraries has turned into an expensive nightmare, etc: www.404media.co/libraries-ca...
404media.co
Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs
Libraries have shared their collections internationally for decades. Trump’s tariffs are throwing that system into chaos and can ‘hinder academic progress.’
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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...
mediaite.com
Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report
Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...
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Elizabeth Thompson @lizt1.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
The Canadian government has updated its travel advisory for the U.S., warning that those who have X listed as their gender on their passports could have problems at the border. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
cbc.ca
Canada issues new warning for citizens with gender-neutral passports travelling to U.S. | CBC News
The Canadian government is warning citizens who list "X" as their gender on their passports could have problems entering the U.S.
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Xtra @xtramagazine.com · 27/09/2025
A report from the Trans Journalists Association found that 43 outlets published misinformation about “transgender ideology” after Charlie Kirk’s killing
xtramagazine.com
At least 43 outlets shared anti-trans misinfo after Charlie Kirk shooting: TJA | Xtra Magazine
A report from the Trans Journalists Association found that 43 outlets published misinformation about “transgender ideology” after Charlie Kirk’s killing
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