Jeff Tessier

Image of the cover of the August 8, 2025, issue of the New Yorker magazine featuring a painting by Amy Sherald. The painting is of a Black trans woman posing in the style of the Statue of Liberty. She has red hair, wears a blue dress, and the torch she carries is topped with orange flowers.

How many millions of people will now have a copy of the Amy Sherald painting JD Vance said had to be excluded from her upcoming show at the Smithsonian because it does not align with admin values (she refused and instead cancelled the entire show) that thousands would have seen? #transformingliberty

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

A family opened a town’s first bookstore. A bathroom bill is driving them away. The Phelans ran the only bookstore in Vermillion, South Dakota. They sold it and moved after a new law would’ve required their daughter to use a boy’s bathroom.

A story designed to break my heart specifically: "The Phelans ran the only bookstore in Vermillion, South Dakota. They sold it and moved after a new law would have required their daughter to use a boy’s bathroom."

Thread

A cute baby elephant

Elephants are born weighing 250 lbs. They are the biggest babies on earth except for motorists when they see a bike lane

“.. traffic has dropped by only a single percentage point as a result of leaving Twitter ..”

@niemanreports.org #Hellsite
niemanreports.org/npr-twitter-...

Seems like this basic fact needs to be stated over and over again jfc

Truly imagine if Mamdani had used the word “Shylock.”

It would have quite literally destroyed his career and every org and leader calling him out would be making this into a month long news cycle.

Trump? Hardly a peep.

When you accept antisemitism from the president, you aren’t fighting it.

lol love it, it's the positive version of 'Wherever you go, there you are'.

Eric Adams is out here like "How dare Zohran appropriate the lived experience of Black identity for personal gain. I love Israel."

it’s worth making this more explicit:
The NYT is suggesting Zohran lied by checking off both “Asian” & “African”, because (in their view) someone of Indian descent born & raised in Africa isn’t “truly” African. Which was also how Idi Amin justified expelling Zohran’s father & thousands of others.

‘New York Times’ Announces New Columnist Will Contribute Nothing To Society 3 Times A Week

‘New York Times’ Announces New Columnist Will Contribute Nothing To Society 3 Times A Week

Sad to hear this. I discovered Langewiesche after his book on the WTC cleanup and I clearly remember thinking, "I've got to read everything this guy's written" (and I did, plus his dad's book on flight lol).

"Transgender for everybody" ??

LFG!!

One thing that’s absolutely bonkers about the USTS study is how many people are in it. Proportional to the size of the adult trans population, it’s as though you had a study that included 13.5 *MILLION* U.S. adults.

Hmm, I don't get the R.E.M. connection. ? I always thought that was more or less a song for Courtney Love.

So the NY Times actually can write about trans issues while 1) allowing trans folks to speak for themselves, 2) treating them with a basic level of dignity and respect, and 3) not problematising their very existence. Huh.

The house has passed a ban on coverage of gender care for all ages under Medicaid, CHIP and ACA plans. I don't know what to say to anyone this morning other than that the hundreds of thousands of people who are about to lose access to the care they need to stay alive deserve better than silence.

Adriana Smith was 9 weeks pregnant when she died. Her body has being kept ‘alive’ by machines for the last 3 months, (and is ongoing) forced to grow a foetus that has fluid in the brain and may not survive birth. All because of Georgia’s abortion ban.

This is absolutely sickening.

In a world of Elon Musks, be a Robert De Niro

‘I can't think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorizing the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist’

~ Pedro Pascal

Yeah, unfortunately @sovietvisuals at the other place hasn't opened a Bluesky account

A news article headline reads, "White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy." The subheadline states that the decision is part of a broader effort to push universities to end diversity programming and adopt stricter discipline. Below the text is a photograph of a historic building on the University of Pennsylvania's campus, with a statue in the foreground and leafless trees framing the image. The article is authored by Alan Blinder and Michael C. Bender, published on March 19, 2025.

A news article continues discussing the Trump administration's decision to suspend $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania due to its policies regarding transgender athletes. The article references a White House social media account announcing the move, citing Penn's support of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas as a justification. A response from Penn states that they have not received official notification and assert they are in compliance with all relevant regulations.

You wouldn't know from reading this New York Times story about Trump punishing the University of Pennsylvania for trans athletes that there are no trans athletes on women's teams at the University of Pennsylvania because the New York Times didn't find that detail worth including

I decided to start a #thread 🧵 of stories about legal residents and tourists being (illegally) arrested, detained and/or deported by the Trump regime. I'll only post stories from serious sources, as rumors and conspiracies are really not needed in this authoritarian moment.

This is really good political communication, because it's forceful but also pedagogical on the fundamental issue, but also because while he mentions the audience's potential reaction to Khalil's views, he doesn't try to pander by distancing himself from them.

"A screenshot of an NBC News article headline. The headline reads: 'Texas bill would make identifying as transgender a felony punishable by jail.' Below the headline, a subtext states: 'The bill, while unlikely to pass, highlights the increasing extremism of legislation targeting trans people, especially in Texas, in recent years.' The NBC News logo is visible at the top, along with a navigation bar that includes a 'WATCH' button and a user profile icon."

I need y'all to sit with this headline and understand what is being done to our community. They're trying to criminalize our very existence.

This is a campaign of eradication.

www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/rcna...

The California aisle at the LCBO. So far the resistance is largely alcohol-centred.

Image of a bill in a shop window promoting Shabbat with Sarah, a ceremony to mark the beginning of Shabbas being held at the campaign headquarters of Sarah Jama Friday February 21 at 7 pm. The event is sponsored by a group called Jews 4 Jama.

Sharing this because I haven't seen this event promoted much. Tomorrow night at @sarahjama.bsky.social campaign HQ.

It feels like Cable 14 really could have done a better job managing the visuals for tonight's debate. Was no one paying attention to how this was going to appear to viewers?

Opinion | Trump’s Shameful Campaign Against Transgender Americans (Gift Article) Trump’s attacks on trans people are on the wrong side of history and humanity.

"The chaos of these past few weeks shouldn’t mask that in this period, Trump has also waged as direct a campaign against a single, vulnerable minority as we’ve seen in generations."