Rachel Cohen Booth

I can’t stress this enough. The state of 4th Amendment law is that the cops can’t force you to type in a passcode but they can force you to swipe your finger or present your face. Never stop using passcodes/passwords to unlock your devices. And consider additional code to unlock Signal.

Guys if you see observers thank them. There’s real stress and burnout in the ranks right now. People understand they are waking up every day to chase and monitor federal thugs who can execute them. But they keep doing it nonstop to protect their neighbors

this was so good, and I had no real idea this was happening

Update:

The admin is moving to quickly deport witnesses who saw ICE detainee die.

They say the man was just trying to get his meds.

ICE guards shackled him

Then they choked him.

The admin moved to deport the witnesses — right after they spoke to WaPo.

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Also, when you defy Trump, you’re kind of implicitly making fools of the elite law firms and universities and media companies and billionaires and Congress, which is fun.

They expect - they NEED - the people they threaten to fall in line, like the law firms and universities and media companies and billionaires and Congress did. If you say “No, make me,” they simply do not have a Plan B. TRUMP DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH GUYS TO MAKE YOU.

just parody, @wsj.com

interesting!

"Both in Massachusetts and around the country, white and Asian parents were far likelier to pull their children out of public schools than Hispanics and African Americans." www.the74million.org/article/fall...

winning

What's surprised me most about pregnancy Little Yosemites

a little reflection from my third timester

rcobooth.substack.com/p/whats-surp...

I feel like "attention hacking" is most of politics now. The Minnesota aid fraud story is becoming a perfect example.

Recap: In 2022, the Biden DOJ filed the first charges against dozens of fraudsters, many of them Somali-American, who'd fleeced a state food aid program. (1/x)

some last thoughts on a big year open.substack.com/pub/rcobooth...

there's going to be pressure within Trump world in 2026 to rewrite the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to exclude patients undergoing IVF

@annanorth.bsky.social looks at the likely showdown at the EEOC www.vox.com/policy/47264...

The looming showdown over IVF, explained Trump says he supports IVF. That’s about to be tested.

I wrote about a schism on the right over IVF, that’s set to come to a head in 2026 (gift link)

and yes, many people in NYC spend even more than that!

the headline estimate came from the 2025 NYC comptroller report

bsky.app/profile/rcob...

Aparna Raj is running on it in Ward 1

Universal child care in NYC won't be easy. But it's possible, practical, and could give the United States a desperately-needed blueprint.

I wrote for @nytimes.com about what Zohran Mamdani will need to keep in mind as he looks to deliver on his campaign pledge

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/o...

Menin and Mamdani could find common ground on child care push The incoming mayor and speaker-elect are aligned on the $6 billion program, but will face major financial and logistical challenges.

"Democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and moderate presumptive City Council Speaker Julie Menin are seemingly on an ideological collision course. But free child care is emerging as one issue area they might potentially align on."

www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

ahh so cool! and thank you!

The immigration crackdown threatening to break America’s child care system What happens if the people caring for American children get deported?

I wrote about this risk back in the spring: www.vox.com/immigration/...

Chris Herbst and @erdaltekin.bsky.social find the increase in ICE arrests since Trump took office to be associated with 39,000 fewer foreign-born child care workers and 77,000 fewer U.S.-born working mothers (as of July)

www.newamerica.org/better-life-...

And being in those kinds of relationships but not helping at home also decreases likelihood of kids

More housework≠ more children inherently, but in the modern world a *lack* of gender equality does seem to make the birth rate fall even faster. (See South Korea/ Japan/ Southern Europe)

most women do not live anymore in a world where they need to settle for selfish/demeaning partners to survive. the "reservation wage" of entering a relationship, as Patrick Brown puts it, has gone up. & not entering those types of partnerships decreases chance of having kids

Traditional gender roles won’t get men what they want Men’s search for meaning is everyone’s problem.

I wanted to know...do men care if that makes fertility less likely? what responsibility, if any, do they think they have for all this? www.vox.com/policy/47078...

I started working on this one originally because I was struck by the fact that men were registering more concern than women about falling birth rates, but also voicing greater support for a return to traditional gender roles

claudia goldin apology form

yes! I saw an interesting study on that, because it could make men more aware of the costs so more wary about inflicting them on themselves. I think her point at the end was important, we don't know if it's possible to live in a more egalitarian world where birth rates are also going up

@philipncohen.com how is the line you quoted from TNR an example of birth rate "panic" ?

Traditional gender roles won’t get men what they want Men’s search for meaning is everyone’s problem.

There's a lot of reluctance to—and frustration with—studying men and masculinity in particular. But avoiding it won't make problems go away.

I wrote about why this all matters, not just for birth rates, but for gender equality and relationships (3/3)

www.vox.com/policy/47078...