Mel Orr

Legacy newspapers: "Print media is dying, and the public will suffer for it."

Also legacy newspapers: "We can't offend the government with information and framing that helps the public."

😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡😡🤬😡🤬😡

White House looks for a loophole in the law that ensures federal workers get paid after a shutdown The memo suggests furloughed workers are not entitled to back pay, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed.

Trump and Republicans caused the government shutdown.

And now they’re hinting at breaking the law to steal workers’ paychecks.

This is blatantly illegal and we won't stand for it. www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

I'm in Chicago, getting reports that ICE fascists are occupying MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, IL.

The patient is allegedly in ICE custody, who is in plain clothes & wearing their firearm on their hip.

Previous admins banned ICE fascists from sensitive areas like hospitals & shelters. Not this regime

This is a difficult to watch at first but Chicagoans overcome these goons by the end.

Fuck ICE.

Dear fucking gods.

Between and the invasion of cities with federalized National Guards, we are witnessing the death of democracy in the United States.

Short thread...

This week ICE fascists:
•Attacked & detained Black U.S. Citizen children in Chicago.
•In a Chicago hospital ER, arrested Alderman Jessie Fuentes for demanding they show a judicial warrant before arresting someone.
•In Broadview, IL, arrested US Veterans peacefully protesting.

1/3

A selfie of Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Adelita Grijalva on the steps of the capitol building in a group of congressional democrats.

This incredible woman, @adelitaforcongress.bsky.social, is the duly elected Congresswoman from AZ and the final vote needed to force the release of the Epstein files. Speaker Johnson refused to swear her in before the government shut down.

They will do literally anything to deny survivors justice.

I know we’re resigned after so many years of it but for real, social media giving high-ranking elected government officials the ability to harass individual private citizens by name for an audience of millions as a recreational pastime is actually Caligula shit if you think about it

I'm down with that.

Fuck ICE. 🇺🇸

Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends. Please visit ED.gov for the latest information on the Department's operational status. Thank you.

Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.

NEW—US Department of Education sent out standard Out of Office language to employees on Wednesday in light of shutdown. Later yesterday, workers tell me they found someone had updated their auto-responses without consent to a new one blaming Democrats.

Version of original on left, updated on right:

This is so indefensibly insane: Speaker Johnson is refusing to seat Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva because she'll be the 218th vote to release the Epstein files. Johnson swore in Rep Walkinshaw (VA) w/in 24 hours.

Johnson is abandoning his job to instead protect a convicted child sex predator

And children are dying from lack of access to medicine because he spent a weekend “feeding USAID into the woodchipper”

For the Smallest Men in the World And a celebration of them.

"That was the whole point of the event. It had nothing to do with improving our national security and military readiness. It was a role-play session for undeserving straight, white guys who could never hack it and resent those who could."

"'So like the French,' murmured Mr. Evans. He was of those staunch patriotic Britons who, having made a portion of a foreign country their own, strongly resent the original inhabitants."

– "The Mystery of the Blue Train" by Agatha Christie, 1928

Deafening Silence After Mormon Church Shooter Not A "Transgender Leftist" But A Trump Supporter The event is a case study in how shootings are covered in America.

1. A day after the Michigan church shooting, Republicans are silent after learning the shooter was a MAGA extremist.

No investigations of Trump supporters as terrorists. No national conversations about the rights of cisgender men.

The silence is deafening.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

UK's Labour Party Abandoned Trans People. Here's What American Dems Can Learn. Democrats: There is no “middle ground” on equal rights. Take it from UK Labour.

UK's Labour Party abandoned transgender people. The gambit to pursue rightwing voters by abandoning a targeted minority failed, and now they're facing the prospect of a historic loss.

US Dems could learn a lot from their failure.

Great piece from S. Baum.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

My general belief is that Dems need to spend more time thinking about what they believe and less about what they think some imaginary swing voters want them to believe.

Political strategy will stem from an authentic set of beliefs.

Just in from the ICE facility in Portland

Nexstar and Sinclair bring Jimmy Kimmel's show back on local TV stations, ending boycotts Sinclair Broadcast Group has decided to bring Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show back to its ABC affiliate stations.

Nextar has now also folded and will start airing Kimmel again.

Remember this next time they tell you we are powerless in the face of rising fascism.

Companies capitulating to Trump need to feel heat.

Keep it going.

apnews.com/article/jimm...

Having a baby:
-physically risky
-alters the body in a way that can never be completely undone
-pain and symptoms are dismissed or left untreated
-costs a fuckload
-replaces hobbies
-interrupts career

And we're doing *nothing* to make it suck less. Gee whiz I wonder why women are opting out

1. MAGAs control the House, Senate & White House

2. Democrats want to protect the ACA & Medicaid & prevent more than 40M American citizens from losing healthcare

3. Ensuring undocumented people have healthcare access LOWERS the cost for all of us

So in short—stop lying & release the Epstein files

List 3 things you can talk about for 3 hours with no prep:

1. Doctor Who
2. Star Trek
3. Tintin

"Three rules, said Maya. "One, anything that belongs to this civilization remains here. If we aren't sure, we leave it . Two, damage as little as possible. Three, act with utmost respect and caution. Never forget we are trespassing."

– "The Stardust Grail" by Yume Kitasei, 2024

Holy fuck.

Perfection. No notes.

"Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”

Bowing down to a bully never works.

And we can’t become numb to this corruption in plain sight.

Excellent! Now I'm guaranteed to not restore my canceled subscription!

Thank you for convincing me!

Let's be clear: no one should be taking medical advice from the man who told Americans to inject bleach.

To moms worried about the Tylenol they took while pregnant: you deserve better than being RFK Jr's scapegoat.

And to the autism community: you are loved exactly as you are.

Gov. Josh Shapiro to NBC:

"Without question, they're trying to stifle dissent."

"Whether you agree with Jimmy Kimmel or not, whether you found him funny or not, to fire someone because he told a joke about the president repeatedly, and the president didn’t like it ... that is dangerous."