Charlotte NC has become a critical access point for abortion patients from around the South—and a flash point for anti-abortion protestors emboldened by Trump 2.0. New @motherjones.com: @kbeccaandrews on the gathering storm www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This is such a horrifying, shameful story about what this country has become
“Right now, the thing that is going to win is community-led, community-decided solutions.”
The Trump 2.0 campaign to define "sex" isn't just an existential threat to trans people.
It gives the far right a powerful new weapon in their decadeslong war again equality for *all* women.
the great @msjpauly.bsky.social has the backstory @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The bored whims and futuristic fantasies of billionaires now shape how and where you live and work. They are remaking the country in their own decadent and extractive image.
Welcome to the American Oligarchy.
Highly recommend Madison Pauly's great--albeit chilling and maddening--profile of May Mailman, a prime mover in the Trump admin's war on trans folks and architect of anti-trans policies already undoing decades of feminist progress in general. s/o to @assignedmedia.org 's weekly digest for linking it
"Stephen [Miller]’s the ideas guy. And then I’m trying to be the one who makes it happen.” Meet May Mailman, the mastermind behind Trump’s sweeping anti-trans orders. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
“At the moment, the most painful, prejudicial consequences are for trans people, [but] the executive order absolutely has implications for heterosexual, cisgender women,” says Professor Kathryn Abrams to @motherjones.com: https://bit.ly/4rEiJl3
Meet the Mastermind Behind Trump’s Definition of “Woman”
May Mailman’s anti-trans crusade could threaten gender equality for all.
Mailman had spent four years working in the first Trump administration, becoming an immigration hawk and close ally and friend of senior adviser Stephen Miller.
May Mailman would prefer to be a tradwife but also wants "what's best for me." So she works in high-powered roles on anti-trans initiatives. Her allies--right-wing groups--work to undermine women's equality, and her ability to choose "what's best for me."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
You might know May Mailman as the woman who took on Harvard on behalf of the Trump administration.
But Mailman, a Stephen Miller ally, is also the mastermind of Trump’s most sweeping anti-trans orders— an extraordinary effort to reshape our ideas about who and what men and women are.
"Stephen [Miller]’s the ideas guy. And then I’m trying to be the one who makes it happen.” Meet May Mailman, the mastermind behind Trump’s sweeping anti-trans orders. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
You might know May Mailman as the woman who took on Harvard on behalf of the Trump administration.
But Mailman, a Stephen Miller ally, is also the mastermind of Trump’s most sweeping anti-trans order—one that could have devastating repercussions for the rights of *all* women.
"This is the story of an extraordinary effort by the second Trump administration to shape our ideas about who and what men and women are — a campaign that began targeting trans people but has vast implications for the rights of cisgender people as well."
You might know May Mailman as the woman who took on Harvard on behalf of the Trump administration.
But Mailman, a Stephen Miller ally, is also the mastermind of Trump’s most sweeping anti-trans orders— an extraordinary effort to reshape our ideas about who and what men and women are.
“The administration is telling us what their long game is, which is to treat women’s bodies as commodities and to create laws to exert control over these commodities."
Trans people were the proving grounds to normalize the made up term "biological sex"to roll back decades of progress on gender equality. When you get bioessentialist language, suddenly everything from gender roles to marriage becomes an argument about "biology."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I know that a lot of the obvious reporters are/feel conflicted out. But NYT/WSJ/whatever should tap other people in.
RFK Jr would probably NOT have been confirmed were this in the public sphere. And now we have a measles epidemic brewing and his agencies are killing childhood vaccines.
Do I like that Lizza (whom, full disclosure, I once managed when we were both in our early 20s) is dribbling this out rather than just putting the public interest first. No, I do not.
But that seems a minor infraction, comparatively.
Get it all out.
If Nuzzi & RFK Jr used a drummed up legal case against Lizza specifically to keep him from talking before nomination, that should be reported out extensively by the biggest media/political reporters around.
And if that WASN'T the reason it didn't come out prior, then that too should be documented.
To me, the things to report on are clear:
1) Did either Nuzzi or Lizza have facts that should have been before the public before election or at least RFK Jr's confirmation.
2) Did Nuzzi threatening Lizza with pretty profound legal consequences keep that from happening, or no.
his psychological abuse and manipulation of her, the lies he told publicly denying the relationship, his knowledge of Olivia’s wiretapping scheme against Trump at Mar-a- Lago, perhaps some of his bad poetry. This reporting could arguably be seen as “damaging.” But, of course, so is a lot of reporting. To keep it from the public before Election Day, as Bobby demanded, Olivia had to turn it into a criminal offense. So she manufactured out of whole cloth an allegation that I threatened to reveal this information only if she didn’t pay back our book advance, and then, in the ultimate narcissistic fantasy, she also alleged I blackmailed her into returning to our relationship. She did all of this without providing a single shred of evidence—not one text, email, or witness. Nothing. In Washington, D.C., the process for obtaining a two-week temporary protection order requires neither hard evidence nor a response from the counterparty. If a valid reason has been claimed, a temporary order is generally issued. The opportunity for the other party to contest the order and any claims in the application only arises later in the process. Importantly, a plaintiff making allegations in a court filing is also broadly protected from defamation claims, as is any reporter citing them. Olivia could make up anything she wanted in her application for the protection order, confident that the allegations would be widely circulated in the media, and that I would never be able to sue her or her lawyer for defamation as long as they didn’t make the same claims publicly—and they never did. The court that handles these orders is designed to act swiftly to protect actual victims of abuse, often women in imminent danger. This system is designed to cut through the bureaucratic red tape of the legal system for applicants facing serious threats. Bobby and Olivia weaponized the system to inject a series of fantastical lies about me into the media—and to stop my reporting about them
seems notable that there's been little independent reporting by media/political reporters into the key national interest parts of this melodrama.
To be clear, this story is NOT about another crisis pregnancy center. These exec level people—one said she was pro-life, another asked about partnering with an anti-abortion group—are now leading an actual PLANNED PARENTHOOD chapter. With @byninamartin.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
When a new top exec at one of the South's leading abortion rights orgs asks a staffer if they've ever considered partnering w/anti-abortion Students for Life, you know something VERY STRANGE is going on. @kieraevebutler.bsky.social & I dig in @motherjones.com
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Opinion: Supreme Court Conservatives Are Tired of Hearing About Racism. Guess What? Me Too.
@angryblacklady.blacksky.app Chronicles Drop.
Staffers fear a southern Planned Parenthood faces a “dangerous threat from within”
North Carolina Republicans just passed a new Trump-inspired congressional map to oust a Black Democrat.
Kristi Noem’s new private jets. A shocking White House demolition. The Trump administration’s gilded priorities are clear.
ICE has sharply increased its spending on weapons in 2025, coming out to more than 700 percent compared to 2024 levels.
Most of the spending was on guns and armor, but there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and “guided missile warheads and explosive components.”
