Sign in

Melissa Hall

@vrimj.bsky.social
1.4K followers 510 following 1.9K posts

I practice personal law at a queer law firm, am a big fan of my wife, my kid, Roller Derby, romance novels, dogs and places I can walk to.

PostsRepliesMedia
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Lately we have been using firm tofu pulled into rouch chunky puts with beef better than bullion and wosthcher sauce as a ground beef sub in a couple of recipes and I recommend it. It is cheaper but also it lasts longer meaning we can cook once a week without having to freeze anything.
220
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Money makes right has never been a more moral proposition than might makes right, it might not even be a different proposition at all.
120
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
But despite whatever conservatives say, governments which are popular are governments which make life *feel* materially better for the people they govern. The government that focuses on the day to day indignities of living in a place (for the poor and wealthy alike) is the one that governs best.
161
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If people cannot be trusted to know who they are the entire work of self government and civil society is undermined. Supporting trans people isn't a marginal issue, it goes to the core of everything I value in our social contract.
1102
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I joined the local exceptional makerspace and have been sewing things while listening to my law textbooks. Recommended.
160
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 11/09/2026
In an incredible move, Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, Canada has announced a gender-affirming care clinic for trans youth, asserting tribal sovereignty and defying the region's ban. It is one of the biggest cross-movement solidarity moments in Canada. Subscribe to support our journalism.
erininthemorning.com
Canada First Nation Leaders Announce They Won’t Comply With Alberta Trans Care Ban
“This is about more than one health service,” officials wrote. “It is about Indigenous sovereignty. It is about our responsibility to care for one another.”
2138941119
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Amy Sundberg @amysundberg.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Anticipating social awkwardness in my future as I ask folks to leave their new Apple watches at home.
0235
Reposted by Melissa Hall
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 04/09/2026
As Tim Wu points out, the money Amazon makes from payola exceeds the advertising revenue received by *all the newspapers in the world* by *300%*. 47/
116747
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Black holes - and really all degenerate matter - have that characteristic XKCD What-If? problem when you get anywhere close to them.
you would obviously die pretty quickly. You wouldn't really die of anything, in the traditional sense. You would just stop being biology and start being physics.
131
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Some things are even better with a chior youtu.be/8QGy9D_c1pY?...
youtu.be
The Ultimate "Leopards Ate My Face" Rendition!
YouTube video by Franchesca Ramsey
020
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Money is the acid of the soul. A little helps neutralize some of life's bitterness. A little more can add flavour. Too much and it starts to eat away at you. That's why truly good rich people work to give their money away, and why those who instead concentrate their wealth inevitably turn nasty.
0212
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
It sounds like a real non violent response can't happen with any involvement of the police or their dispatch center.
010
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is what a deep legal expert and academic has to say about this situation. In my own mind I have settled comfortably on the idea that both books are actually retellings or the original diary written by Sylvia that remains unpublished and without which both works would not be able to exist.
100
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This is the least realistic part of Reacher: that a 6'5" 250lb athletic man can find clothes that flatter him in a thrift store.
6181
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
All the exhibits are now posted here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/73489...
courtlistener.com
United States v. Sant, 0:26-cr-00115 - CourtListener.com
Docket for United States v. Sant, 0:26-cr-00115 — Brought to you by Free Law Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating high quality open legal information.
02815
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
It is hard to talk about how many really important things have changed for the better for me since moving. So instead I am going to talk about the absolutely pettiest improvement to my life. The US nickel smells so bad and now it is just not in my life anymore. Canadian currency doesn't stink.
3101
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
"I don't understand why you, a fantasy writer, don't appreciate the value of making bargains with the fae."
303014777
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The good news is most of the about 625 people who were stuck on this special hell will have the option of waiving the requirement of passing the bar www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/?fa...
courts.wa.gov
Washington State Courts - News, Reports, Court Information
200
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Since a certain Main Character claims Boots Theory doesn't apply because Pratchett is a fantasy author (with the implication he is just Making Things Up), let me instead posit the Dana F Purse Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness. 1/4
3186
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Crystal Fincher @finchfrii.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Corporations, not immigrants, are responsible for the vast majority of healthcare fraud, OIG report shows
theintercept.com
Corporations, Not Immigrants, Are Responsible for Vast Majority of Healthcare Fraud, OIG Report Shows
Trump officials are focused on immigrants, but the Department of Health and Human Services report on healthcare fraud doesn’t even mention them.
23012
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Anyway, your problem isn‘t finding the time to take notes. The problem is that taking notes is thinking and thinking has to be done by someone. women have been doing a lot of metacognition that looks like a task when it’s really thinking.
161871291
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The bar exam should end.
070
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Lawgeeks, here's one to watch that was filed on Friday. A lawsuit challenging DHS' use of facial recognition tech to collect info about ICE protesters and then retaliate against them by cancelling their TSA Precheck and Global Entry. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
7. Instead of adhering to these requirements, DHS secretly adopted its Protester Surveillance Policy and never publicly explained how and why it has decided it can collect such information—including under what authority it is being collected, how it is being stored, for how long, what DHS is using the information for, and why the information is necessary to accomplish a required agency purpose (or what that purpose even could be). 8. Because DHS’s secret policy of collecting, maintaining, and using personally identifying information of protestors and observers violates the Privacy Act and is arbitrary and capricious, and because under its policy DHS has retaliated against Individual Plaintiffs in violation of the First Amendment, this Court should declare DHS’s Protester Surveillance Policy illegal, vacate it, and enjoin DHS from acting in accordance with it.
110146
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Exclusive from me — Daniel Moraff, one of the political operatives behind Graham Platner's rise and fall, has been accused of sexual assault. Full story here:
thehandbasket.co
Exclusive: Political operative behind Graham Platner's rise accused of sexual assault
A spokesperson for Daniel Moraff said: “Any suggestion that he committed a criminal offence is false and without foundation."
26973532018
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Here is hoping this interview sells more copies of Surface Detail than shares of SpaceX
120
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 24/07/2026
New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. We've confirmed the phone was running GrapheneOS. Bypass for ad-blockers: web.archive.org/web/20260724...
techcrunch.com
US accuses American of allegedly wiping his phone using a 'duress' password during border search | TechCrunch
A U.S. citizen has asked a court to throw out the government's claim that he gave over a passcode to border authorities that wiped his phone's data, opening up fresh questions about a person's constit...
25980444
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Greg Muller (Dr Math) @morilac.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
It's not hard to see the line from this kind of overly simplistic modeling to the deepening wealth inequality that defines our society. The latter certainly has far more intentional and malicious causes, but there's also the simple fact that numbers are easy and people are hard.
031
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
This is a wild story. Fraud victims hire black ops corp to steal privileged data is just not something I expect to happen in the real world. And the details are weirder than that...
110
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I find the film The Odyssey extremely relatable because I too would fight my way across the known world, experiencing trials and horrors over the course of many years, for the opportunity to reunite with Anne Hathaway.
1202
Reposted by Melissa Hall
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 17/07/2026
Seattleites: if you, like me, have relied on @thestranger.com for election recommendations in the past, please be aware that those recommendations have been enshittified, likely due to changes in the paper's ownership. Use the Urbanist recommendations instead:
714567
Reposted by Melissa Hall
WIRED @wired.com · 17/07/2026
Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting. We stand by our work. That’s why we’re removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don’t want you to read, making them free for everyone.
9499182989
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 17/07/2026
Just a note to say: that ex-wife speaking out about her abusive ICE ex-husband is braver than all of ICE put together. No question at all.
22071370
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Unfortunately
DOn't ASSUME TURTLE IS DEAD
Please Do Not Assume A Turtle Is Dead



By Kelly Wallace



Turtles have thrived for over 200 million years but now face their most significant challenges in our modern world. The most typical place to find an injured turtle is either on the road or along the side of a road. Making roads and motor vehicles major contributors to population declines, particularly through the nesting season from mid-May to mid-July. During this time, female turtles leave the safety of the water to lay their eggs on land, making them vulnerable to vehicle strikes. Despite their vulnerability to motor vehicles, turtles have shown remarkable resilience. Many who receive prompt medical attention can recover from their injuries, and the precious eggs they carry go on to survive. This is a testament to their strength and the hope they bring to grassroots conservation efforts.
041
Reposted by Melissa Hall
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 10/07/2026
Corporate personhood has been a catastrophe for human thriving, conjuring into existence a new race of immortal, pluripotent colony organisms we call "limited liability corporations." 25/
28111
Reposted by Melissa Hall
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 10/07/2026
But while extending rights to *natural* things produces positive spillovers for human thriving and rights, the *opposite* happened when we extended personhood to *artificial* constructs. 24/
1514
Reposted by Melissa Hall
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 10/07/2026
The best argument for this is that every time we extend rights to the nonhuman world, we end up treating *each other* better. Movements to extend moral consideration to animals raised uncomfortable questions about the treatment of humans: slaves, workers, poor people, women, children. 22/
1531
Reposted by Melissa Hall
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 10/07/2026
The idea that teaching too many words to the word-guessing program risks creating a "superintelligence" that awakens and converts all into paperclips is absurd, a silly idea akin to the notion that if we breed horses to run ever faster, one of our mares will foal a locomotive. 18/
211327
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Grandma's Twitch Stream would be amazing.
000
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Holding elected office is care work.
030
Reposted by Melissa Hall
charlie @spacehearts.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
my brother & his partner are telling me an insane story about this local deity called "st. rat" which is apparently a mosaic relief put up by some queers in seattle. the city kept trying to paint over it, but people would repeatedly just use acetone and remove the paint until the city gave up
a mosaic relief to st. rat
10487822988
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Why are white het guys so passionate about making the case against allowing white het men to be candidates? And why do they also think it is inherently absurd? No one else was allowed for most of the party's existence.
030
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Frances K R 🌌 - ×10💉 @aphotic-ink.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
I cannot express the extent to which I am delighted by the specificity of the expanded term.
131
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
So the way you have fun is having behavior standards. Not having rules does create license for the powerful but it also means they are the only people allowed to have fun. And they are kind of bad of it usually.
000
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Dolly Parton. If they are also designing the ceremony Lady Gaga If a Supreme Court Justice counts Justice Jackson
160
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
We were watching Best In Show last night and I discovered the Wikipeada page includes the registered but not the call names for all the featured dogs
020
Melissa Hall @vrimj.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
It feels like a serious oversight to the one thousand true fans theory that the number also probably includes at least one person who actively wishes you ill (Ratios will vary)
010
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Dana Fried @leftoblique.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Every time I see those posts by Europeans I'm like, "bitch you don't have to LIVE here". But then I think, maybe this isn't so much the unwashed masses fawning over superior US wealth and culture, but Marco Polo writing of the wonders of the Great Khan in Xanadu; a kind of occidentalist exoticism.
051
Reposted by Melissa Hall
Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
In light of yesterday's decision in Al Otro Lado, in which SCOTUS, 6-3, by Justice Alito decided to ignore the obvious—that the Trump administration would use the decision to block asylum seekers entirely—I was talking to @stephengutowski.bsky.social about the lies the justices tell themselves. 1/
Last, respondents’ argument that the Government might someday prevent all potential arriving asylum applicants from reaching the point where they could file an application addresses a hypothetical future policy, not the rescinded metering policy at issue, which merely delayed entry to improve conditions at certain ports of entry.
47219
Reposted by Melissa Hall
John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
"Broom the soup." A lot of centrists are freaking out right now, and people are both reading too much and too little into the DSA victories, but a metaphor from my career may be helpful here. 1/?
271437613
Reposted by Melissa Hall
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 24/06/2026
this is a great illustration of one of the fundamental insights of democracy — that there is no such thing as "the people" and that majorities are elusive and ever shifting. no election, no decision, is final and treating an election as a final decision is profoundly undemocratic.
13688141701