Melinda G.

Melinda G.

@melindag.bsky.social

I write, read, enjoy good beer, spend time with my humans & cat, and try to hold pockets of hope where I find it. Defend marginalized people. Trust science. Mask up.

574 Followers 1,506 Following 157 Posts Joined Nov 2024
4 days ago

I keep headphones with me all the time now. Not because I am listening to audio in public, but because I need an extra barrier between me and all the people who insist upon speakerphone everywhere.

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1 week ago

Every time.
Now, when I think I’m dying, or find myself in a terrible mood, I do a body scan that starts with “Am I wearing a bra?”
Generally, if I just take it off and give myself five minutes, I’m completely cured.

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2 weeks ago

I… wait… WHAT?

I thought I had some winners, but I think this takes the cake.

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2 weeks ago

This shit!
I come back to my desk to see the delayed “please confirm that you want me to print the thing you have asked me to print” window, asking me if I’m positive I want to proceed.

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2 weeks ago

Very stupid and I am very sick of it already.

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2 weeks ago

I absolutely audibly reacted to reading the news on that. Fucking sucks

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3 weeks ago

We were told to scrub "biodiversity" from our websites because of this shit.

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3 weeks ago

Love this. I publish a zine quarterly, and we’ve had hella conversations about this exact thing.
If we’re really good at it and really believe good art needs to exist, why would we stop?
But oh, the fucking times, they are a-tryyyyyiiinnnggg.
Gonna go print that Sayers quote for my desk

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3 weeks ago
Midnight, black cat with very green eyes, staring at the humans that feed the robot that feeds her. She knows her food comes from a machine and that we are no longer directly involved, but suspects we’re the real reason she doesn’t have a constantly full bowl available. 

In truth, it’s because she has binged and made herself ill every single time we’ve tried to let her self-manage her own food schedule. So now the machine feeds her, and she dramatically launches herself off laps and at the machine for every single meal, lest one of the humans decide to eat even a morsel of her food before she can get to it.

When our Midnight started waking up to 4A bird calls and deciding she needed breakfast at that time, we introduced an automatic feeder to the home. The machine feeds her 4x daily, so she gets mad at the machine for not being more generous, but mostly leaves us out of it. Highly recommend.

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1 month ago

Yall still need to cancel that service. If they did it once, they will do it again! Give them the Target treatment. Keep going.

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1 month ago

Moved from Chicago and missed a couple of years. THEN my partner learned how to make them. Don’t know how I navigated those dark earlier years.

One. More. Week.

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1 month ago

Kid Rock led a half time show for parents who have no-contact kids

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1 month ago

Definitely did; halfbeat before Mexico

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1 month ago

“Actually, I’m the one who handles that directly; how can I help?”

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1 month ago

It’s about to be…

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2 months ago

Every writer who generates a slop image for their work is a class traitor.

"I can't afford a visual artist"

So your solution is stabbing artists in the back? Stealing from them?

Furthermore, slop-generated imagery suggests slop-generated writing. That's how you're presenting yourself.

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1 month ago
In the last days, there has been an unprecedented attack targeting investigative journalists trying to seize their Signal accounts. This has gone largely unreported.

I have been repeatedly targeted by phishing, and I learned that also colleagues from other outlets were targeted, with the attackers unfortunately managing to compromise at least one colleague’s account. What’s worrying: this doesn’t seem like an isolated case. A broader wave is apparently hitting journalists (and some civil society actors) via Signal.

How it works: Attackers message you on Signal pretending to be “Signal Support,” warning about “suspicious activity,” and urging you to “re-verify” your account. Once you accept the chat, you receive a real Signal SMS verification code, because the attacker is actively trying to register your number on a new device. If you share that code, you’re handing them the keys. 

Signal’s extra protection is the Signal PIN. If an attacker also tricks you into giving up your PIN (or you don’t have strong protections enabled), they can see your contacts and networks, potentially join chats going forward, and lock you out by changing settings. 

Quick protections worth doing today:
- Signal will never contact you via a two-way in-app support chat. Treat those messages as hostile. 
- Never share SMS codes, Signal PIN, or anything called “registration lock.” 
- Turn on Registration Lock (Settings → Account → Registration Lock). 
- If you see a “safety number changed” alert: verify the person via a different channel (call/video), not just Signal text. 
- Report + block suspicious requests, and review linked devices. 

If you work with sensitive sources: this isn’t just about losing an account, it’s about exposing networks. Please share this with colleagues who rely on Signal day-to-day.

WARNING, fellow journalists: As @nicoschmidt.io explains, attackers are trying to hijack reporters' Signal accounts by tricking people into handing over their 2FA codes. www.linkedin.com/posts/nicosc...

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1 month ago

"They are forcing the public, and Supreme Court Justices, to have to rely solely on the Government’s inaccurate version of events. This Court has the power to shed light on the truth of what happened on October 4."

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1 month ago

We still don't know the names of the ICE agents who killed Gonzàlez behind the wheel of his car outside Chicago in September.

They were unmasked in this BWC footage from Franklin Park police.

If you have any information at all about these men—please text us on Signal at unraveled.66

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1 month ago
Preview
Donate to Help Equip Twin Cities Legal Observers with PPE, organized by Jac Kovarik I have been involved in rapid response in the Twin Cities area since the b… Jac Kovarik needs your support for Help Equip Twin Cities Legal Observers with PPE

You know me I don't share fundraisers unless I can tell you I trust them with my whole heart and my own wallet. This one gets protective gear to legal observers in Minneapolis / Saint Paul

www.gofundme.com/f/help-equip...

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1 month ago

Yeah this is EXACTLY what they did after killing Silverio Villegas González here.

The ICE agents who killed him walked around the scene, picked up dropped gear and a magazine, holstered their weapons, and then one drove their car away.

Cops helped them out and never even asked their names.

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1 month ago

He was doing what many have been saying white men should be doing. He went outside to observe, he documented, he put his body on the line to protect another person and for this he was murdered by the gatekeepers of the fascist regime.

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1 month ago

Mine edited a long, important client email, and then sent it!

Whyyyyyyy are they like this?

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1 month ago

It’s this shit, Fam. People always tell on themselves. You just gotta pay attention.

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2 months ago

We still do not know the names of the ICE agents who killed Silverio Villegas González on September 12, 2025 outside of Chicago.

If you have any information, please reach out on Signal at @tpf.99.

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2 months ago
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Happening now: hundreds have gathered in downtown Chicago to rally against both ICE/Border Patrol violence and US intervention in Venezuela.

This is one of only multiple anti-ICE demonstrations planned in Chicago this weekend.

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2 months ago

I hope a lot of white women are realizing it's better to be alone than to be living with someone who thinks Good deserved to be murdered.

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2 months ago

If you're not willing to arrest the killer, don't arrest the demonstrators.

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2 months ago
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Thousands here now. Absolutely enormous crowd.

People are chanting, "ICE out! Fuck ICE!"

Organizers are taking the street but it's a slow process because there is SO much ice (the water kind). People helping each other up left and right after slipping.

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